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...

I've had a quiet stitchery week: I've done a lot of late-night working, and deadline-meeting, and workshop-teaching, and all things work-related. But, still, my Up & Away stitchery progresses for quiet moments of happiness that punctuate the real world. Oh, to be in a balloon away from wi-fi and technology and projects.


Thar she blows! It's looking rather colourful now with the minty stripe which makes me think of this as toothpaste rather than some intensive cross-stitchery. And yes, that is Mary Berry in the background; she's looking rather lovely in her chic French stripes. And what's that big white cloud in the top right?


I may have been working on my Garden Party Quilt. Just maybe. It's slow going. I'm stitching straight lines on my machine, then weaving in all the ends by hand. It's lovely. I'm sorry I didn't dye the back a light duck egg blue (ah, hindsight), but the white will grow on me when I add in the stitched floral borders in pink and green. I think. I hope. I still need to stitch a label for the back so it may suddenly have a surprisingly floral burst of blue on the back. I love those kinds of surprises: the secret kind, that are only found when you really look for them in unexpected places. Like the last Reece's Cup which fell out of the packet and into the bread bin to be saved for later. Or a flowering Orchid bud that has sprouted under a leaf long after all the others have died off. Or even an unexpected bit of fabric that you bought ages ago and has since found its way to the back of the stash pack, wrapped up in a plastic bag. Those kinds of surprises. Mm.

It wasn't the best weather for visits to Bath, but visit we did.


Even with thunderstorms looming, the buildings of Bath are eerily beautiful.


Ah, where to start? We only had a few hours.


As with all Janeites, a walking tour of the Austen Hot Spots was in order. Luckily we've done this a number of times before, so we scurried off to the best bits for Mother-in-law-on-the-highlights-tour purposes. Here's Bennett Street.


At the end of the circus we stopped to have a picnic with fruit cake ala The Great British Bake Off book. When I watch TV, I watch crime drama like NCIS, Castle, Grimm (my guilty pleasure).

But, The Great British Bake Off.
Oh.
It caught me unawares.

I love it. This Fruit Cake is from last year's book, and it's the easiest and most delicious fruit cake. A bit crumbly, but that only means that it needs to be sliced quite thickly before serving. I'm not complaining.


This is inside Bath Abbey. It is very grand with its leafy vaulted ceilings and intricate stained glass windows. Churches make me uncomfortable, but this one is very interesting - there has been a church on this site since 757 AD! It's also the site of all coronations for the Kings and Queens of England.


Also on display in the Abbey were Sue Symon's rather unusual artworks. They are a series of 35 pairs of framed pieces - the one on the left is a hand-illustrated drawing and lettering bonanza, and the one on the right is an embroidery/fabric piece.  Here's a close-up of my favourite hand-drawn image. There is a lot of pencil in the images which makes me feel uncomfortable (from years of rigorous training in art where pencils under images were absolutely verboden) and the embroidery was quite modern for my tastes, but on the whole, the diptychs are rather quite lovely to look at and added something extra to our little afternoon visit.


The deck chairs were out, despite the bad weather. I particularly love this one! Although, it does seem grossly unjust to sit on The Garden Party deck chair while you're enjoying a holiday at the seaside or in the sun.


.... and no trip to Bath is complete without a visit to the Regency Tea Rooms at the Jane Austen Centre. We shared scones, tea cakes and bath buns with plenty of jam and clotted cream. Afterwards we ambled around the streets of Bath to the Assembly Rooms, down to the Pump Room, and around the shops.


We hastened to the Makery Emporium of Mollie Makes fame for a rummage around buttons, ribbons, spools, fabrics and other haberdashery whatnots.


I love the floral love birds and robot ribbons on giant wooden spools. I could have a shelf like this in my makery.


In the middle of the teeny tiny shop was a table full of cups and bowls and buttons. I particularly love the little chalkboards they have to price the buttons - albeit, priced rather - ahem - generously, I thought.


Tape! Jars! Ribbons! So much to look at. I bought a handful of small wooden spools. All in all, a lovely way to end our little trip.

It's Thursday. I know.

I my defence, I didn't have computer access yesterday, and I did try to post this blog post last night using about a thousand mobile thingy-whatsits. It just wasn't meant to be. It's a "Wednesday WIP" in spirit.

















And so, here's my progress. I changed the colours a little bit and have decided to use the mint green instead of lime green. I like it. The stars along the top alternate in bursts of pink and yellow, and then there's another row of the pink sea waves in blue.

It's coming along rather well, despite the frequent colour-changes and details. I do feel that the scalloped detail along the bottom of the balloon might need to be outlined, it seems to get lost in the oatmeal canvas.

In other news: my mother-in-law leaves London today. We're going to jet off this morning to do last-minute visits, and then it's up, up and away. The luggage scale is going to be put to good use, there will be a lot of repacking, there will definitely be a few tears, and I plan on taking my balloon stitchery for the ride. More updates soon!

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.