This month, the EEWI ladies made their way to Walthamstow for a little gallery outing. It's our monthly "coffee morning" which usually takes place in an East End coffee shop. This month was different. We were heading William Morris-wards; tea-time, pimpernel and glorious gardens awaited.


The gardens were just lovely. The sun was out, the flowers were looking fabulous, and we took tea on the balcony overlooking the garden where we discussed London buses, bags, patchwork, credit cards, bees and birthdays.


The inside of the gallery was appealing, but the outside. Oh, the outside! I could spend days in this garden. If it wasn't so hot, I daresay I would have happily taken my shoes off and worked in the sun instead of heading back to the office.

This week, the East End WI got involved in a bit of craftivism. We joined the #imapiece campaign which is an art installation dedicated to raising awareness of the injustice of world hunger in advance of the G8 campaign. Also, there were ukuleles. Unrelated. We all met up in the Fabrications Imaginarium on Broadway Market for a bit of tea and crafting, and got stuck right in. The Imaginarium is a beautiful area below the Fabrications shop; it has the most fabulous natural light which streams in to create a bright and airy craft space - ideal for when you're stitching little letters onto fabric jigsaw pieces. Also perfect for the many workshops held there.

Nothing says "hello" like a friendly EEWI name-tag. Thanks to Colleen for the pic x

Sometimes, it makes the world of difference to just take time off.

It doesn't have to be a lot of time.

It can simply an hour to yourself, in a quiet little spot with breakfast.


The EEWI coffee mornings are my favourite time of the month. I always arrive at least half an hour too early, and I get to sit down with a coffee and watch the world go by. It's a rare treat at the end of a busy month, and I look forward to this little "time out" as my once a month treat.



This month we met at Larder, a little restaurant on Globe Road in Bethnal Green. It's very pretty inside, the staff are welcoming, and the toast is delicious. You can always judge a restaurant or café by the quality of its toast, I think.

I find good toast is deeply satisfying, and is even better with a knob of butter and a small pot of home-made jam. I rather like that Larder serves their toast only with a knife, forcing you to use your hands to eat and enjoy a quintessential toast tradition on your quiet Friday morning.

Larder filled up rather quickly, and the lovely Colleen and Janet joined me for slow Friday morning musings on poetry, the seaside, and overlockers.

And who can resist a trip to Prick Your Finger when visiting Globe Road?


Shelves and shelves of beautiful yarn, each with its own story. Ask and ye shall receive, as Rachel, Prick Your Finger proprietor, tells you the history of each shade, each ball, each sheep.


With varying weights, colours and wool mixes, the Prick Your Finger yarn collection is like a treasure trove of texture. And they don't mind at all if you touch everything in the shop.


I bought this. It's a collection of (approximately) metre-lengths of yarny oddments. There's some ribbon, some ric-rac and some pearls. The colours all coordinate perfectly. They hang rather beautifully as a decoration, I'd imagine, or you can knit them up into something a little mad. You could also knit something sensible in a coordinating colour and weave through the various bits of treasure in a fit of imaginative creativity.

As much as I'd love to keep it, I bought this perfectly pink bundle for somebody special who loves pink almost as much as she loves cupcakes. I hope she'll love it.

Tonight, Aneeta Patel of Knitty Gritty fame (she wrote the book) is coming to talk to the East End WI ladies.


So, in the spirit of things, I'm going to be taking along my current knitting project so I can also get into the knitty gritty of things. I know, it's likely to be a day full of puns.


This is going to be one of my Christmas presents this year: a Whirligig Shrug. It's for a little girl I haven't met yet. No pressure.

I'm knitting it in Sirdar Snuggly Kisses in the Twinkle colourway, which is a sort of light grey, slightly blue and white variegated yarn that is oh so soft, and an absolute dream to knit with. I picked it up at the Knitting and Stitching Show last month (definitely a good purchase!).

I think the shrug is going to need something girly to finish it off - a ribbon to tie the fronts together, perhaps? Or, maybe just a little crochet flower on the front. I'll come up with something.


I was inspired by Kate from TwoLittleBanshees who has been knitting up plenty of cute Whirligig Shrugs for her little Olive (a new addition to the family). I'm convinced it looks far too small - who could fit into that, anyway?


I was suspicious of the "U Cable" at first, but it turned out really nice. Altogether, quite pleased.

I must admit, I had to look up "Ally Pally" when I received the information about the Knitting and Stitching Show. Where was this mystical place? What is a Pally? It turns out, it's really Alexandra Palace, the "People's Palace", built in 1863 in 196 acres of parklands. It has burned down a few times, been used extensively over the last 150 years for exhibitions, shows, theatrics and community events, and has even now got an all-year-round ice rink. There's your history lesson for this icy Saturday morning, and know we all know.


Yes, it's a spectacular building, and the view from up there is incredible - even on a cloudy, wet morning - but we were more interested in what was on the inside. 



Why hello, Knitting & Stitching Show. With EEWI ladies and knitting friends aplenty, we set out for a yarny adventure through the many halls of Ally Pally.


We admired the knitted village, complete with prize-winning fire station (and fire fighter brooches!), a Stratford-upon-Avon styled cottage, and a maypole.


My favourite knitting village entry was this little farm. Look at those knitted piggywigs in the top left!


We admired the handiwork of Mr X Stitch.


Here's a close-up. I love this piece - it's a brilliant use of juxtaposing materials (in function as well as ideologies!) and the colours are perfect. I love, love it. I really like Mr X Stitch's work, but this one bumped him up to a whole new league in my book.

And, when we were done admiring the "serious" straight-faced art...


... we frolicked with the dinosaurs who were all very welcoming and generally fun. How fabulous is that triceratops? And the bobble trim on the ankylosaurus!


Black Sheep Wools were on top form with their yarny bargains, as always. We stopped for a chat with some other WI-ers and all around us, knitters were frantically rummaging for bargains in the pile of yarny goodness. Some even seriously considered diving in. We saw women making off with armfuls of yarn they could barely carry, trying to decide the best way to get home.


I bought this: 10 balls of Sirdar Snuggly Kisses in Twinkle colourway. It happened upon my feet as we stood at the edge of the rummage pile and for £16.00, I thought it was quite good. It's a soft variable grey/white yarn that is going to find its way into a blanket, I think.


From another stall, I bought a strip of Makower Space Labels which I'm going to make into a string of bunting for somebody special who celebrated his 6th birthday this week.


I bought some cheery fat quarters as well. The stripes and strawberries are for appliqué purposes (watch this space for tea cosies!), and the coordinating floral fabrics are just to admire. Like you do. It's totally normal.


I also found a Simplicity sewing pattern for £4, which is quite reasonable (I like to think). We saw the dress on the left made up and on display (made out of a distinctly retro lime green and blue quilting-weight cotton) and I really, really wanted it. I don't like the lack of sleeves, so I would make the middle dress which is the same, but with little sleevelets. I like the fullness of the skirt and the length is just right. Of course, I've never sewn a full dress before, so this is one step closer towards achieving my new year resolution!


Our group split up as it tends to do at these large, busy shows and so the lovely Nikki and I hastened to the shortest tea-serving queue and ordered hot drinks. They happened to be accompanied by scones with clotted cream, which we ate gracefully on the floor of Ally Pally with about 100 other people who couldn't find seating.


There was plenty to look at in the afternoon after our tea, like this wall of colour at Jamieson's where I enjoyed the fair isle bunting and Colleen chose yarn for knitting pebbles.


I find it hard to resist such striking displays of colour. Each ball of yarn here is a different shade, in a subtle variegation of a colour that really you can't help but admire. Now THAT is a good display.


I had come to the show with the intention of finding knitting patterns that I actually like, and I was successful. I bought three magazines for £5, and they came with a set of enormous plastic knitting needles which will make a rather cheerful addition to my growing collection. I like the look of those "easy" strawberry socks, and there are some nice quick-knit patterns so I can start using up my modest collection of yarn. Speaking of strawberries, did you notice the strawberry tea cosy peeking out from behind the giant knitting needles? Ha!

And so, we left Ally Pally all rather worn out and successful. I'm ever-grateful to Elizabeth for saving me from the underground trains and giving me a lift to AP, and the brilliant EEWI company which always makes the day that much more pleasant.

I've always referred to knitting as my "winter sport", and it's definitely getting to that time of year with glum weather, icy cold breezes and a definite need to turn the heating up. Brr. Time to get out last season's unfinished bag project...

St Mary-le-bow is the home of the Bow Bells, so says my book of London Lore.






















The Bow Bells are quite an audible landmark here. John Minsheu is quoted in the OED as having defined a Londoner as someone "who is born within the sound of Bow Bells". That was way back in 1671. I wasn't born within the sound of the bells, but I distinctly remember the name - after a bit of reading, my persistent memory can be attributed to my fondness for rhymes and jingles. That's because The Great Bell of Bow is one of the big 'uns in the nursery rhyme oranges and lemons.

And so, last week, the East End WI visited St Mary-le-Bow to marvel at its architecture, to admire the bell, and to take tea in the crypt.

















As you do.






















We enjoyed sourdough toast and tea/coffees various at The Cafe Below St Mary-le-Bow. The service was a bit slow, but the atmosphere is rather lovely and the company was excellent.

Colleen, you should know, is rather brilliant. Our coffee morning included an expedition to the Guildhall Library where she had arranged for Peter Ross, head librarian and foodie extraodinaire, to take us through the library's extensive cookery book collection and history.

















We oohed and aahed.

















We learnt.

By the by, I particularly love this picture. Beware Pedestrians.

















We zipped through the nation's history of cookery books. We touched well-loved pieces of history. I learnt about Eliza Acton (I had encountered her as a poet, but never as an expert on household management and cooking!) and Mrs Marshall's Ices.

















I think all cookbooks should include a section on Whip Syllabubs.

















After our fabulous and fascinating talk on cookery books old and new, we were allowed down into the depths of the archives. Oh, how I miss the smell of archives and old books!

There were some amazing titles down there.






















This particular book included recipes for love potions, powders and philtres as well as aromatic oils and waters, and the recipes for famous cosmetics. A modern book of secrets!

I'm really really enjoying my little work vacation. One week left: I plan on doing a lot of sewing.