Light Night in Liverpool. . .

Toronto has its Nuit Blanche; Liverpool has Light Night, which took place yesterday.  Many of the museums, art galleries and public buildings were open late and music, food and art events were taking place all over the city, coinciding with the launch of Look /13, an international photography festival that will be taking place over the next few weeks. It was a lot of fun going from venue to venue.  We grabbed some food in the market behind the town hall . . .

 . . . before entering the hall itself which has a spectacular dome.

There was yarn bombing outside the Bluecoat.

And lots of photography within.  I particularly liked Identity Documents by Adam Lee, who photographed people's bookshelves.

There was five minute storytelling in the Anglican Cathedral in that white bubble in the middle of the pews that that zipped closed like a tent.

 Followed by a walk through the candlelit labyrinth.

But the grande finale of the evening was the opening of the new Central Library and it is truly spectacular. Located next to the Walker Gallery, here is the outside with the new cafe and patio.

You approach the entrance along a sidewalk with book titles engraved into the pavement.

And then straight into the newest part of the library.

Over to one side is the older section and where you'll find the fiction in the renovated Picton Room where you have to go up spiral staircases to access the books.  Isn't this lovely?

There are other display rooms with some of the library's rare collections including medieval manuscripts and a copy of William Morris's Kelmscott edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  And up on the top floor is a roof top terrace with lovely views of the city.

The library was PACKED with lots of families and kids which was lovely to see. Nevertheless, I did manage to take out three great knitting books and I'll definitely be back to explore the stacks in more detail. I can see myself spending a lot of time here. A world class city always needs an amazing central library and I feel really proud and excited for Liverpool.

More projects on the go. ..

As if I didn't have enough unfinished projects on the go, I'm itching to start some new ones with the yarn and material that I recently picked up in London.  On the left are two skeins of good old Cascade 220.  Most of my hexipuffs have been knitted with this yarn and I want add some more neutrals into the mix. Then I was completely seduced by the huge red hank of Tvinni wool.  I also found a skein of Crazy Zauberball that picks up the red but also has several shades of blues and browns in it. I was thinking about a huge cozy winter shawl. A really, really big one. And then lo and behold, a woman in my knitting group came into the cafe wearing the perfect one - Ann Weaver's Chittagong.  I only hope I have enough yarn for it, but it does seem like a pattern where the size can be adjusted.  

Once in Ray Stitch, I couldn't resist picking up three of these little sets of fabric 2.5" squares called Comma, by Moda Fabrics. There are 42 in each pack, with six different graphic patterns in a bunch of coordinating colours, all of which look great with the gray, black and white squares that are included. I particularly love the punch of the orange and yellow.  They are just adorable and I'm going have fun trying to assemble them into a pleasing quilt pattern (hmmmm, need to look through my Kaffe Fassett quilt books).  I also bought half a metre of the yellow polka dot fabric because it was flannel and soft and happy looking and I just needed to own it. I think it's asking to become a cushion cover.   Or I may incorporate it somehow into the quilt.

Speaking of a punch of orange with gray, I also picked up two books. At Persephone, I bought their 100th publication, The Persephone Book of Short Stories - it contains stories by so many of my favourite writers - Penelope Fitzgerald, Katherine Mansfield, Kay Boyle, Diana Athill, to name a few, that  I can see this living permanently on the bedside table.  And then just around the corner from Persephone on Great Ormond Street, I discovered a gift store called Volte Face. They had a display in the front window of Melville House books (which is always the sign of great taste and discernment) which drew me in.  I actually had all of the Melville books they stocked, but found another gem instead.  All I needed to see was the title - 70% Acrylic 30% Wool by Viola Di Grado translated by Michael Reynolds, and the distinctive look of the publisher, Europa Books (another great indie press) and I was sold. It promises to be an original and fascinating read.

The Ground Beneath My Feet. . .

Walkers in the U.K. are often divided about their favourite hiking areas with many people favouring Wales over the Lake District.  So I was very excited to book last Sunday with my ramblers' group as the destination was near Cader Idris, in the southern part of Snowdonia National Park.  This is a part of Wales that I've never been to but I have seen some pretty spectacular photos. So even though I knew I'd be tired after getting in late from London, I was really looking forward to the walk.

But I didn't reckon on the weather - hadn't even checked it.  And of course it poured all through the walk.  In fact, this was the worst weather I've walked through since joining this group.   At first I was optimistic as it was a light misty type of rain.  We started from the small village of Abergynolwyn and made our way up to a railway that was used to carry the slate from the nearby quarries.  This is what's left of the old tram lines that would transport the slate down the hill to the railway.

Remnants of the area's industrial past are quite visible on the landscape and we passed many piles of slate as we made our way up through the forest. 

The one good thing about all this rain is how green everything has become. Any intense pops of colour (thanks Kaffe) now really stand out and there is new growth everywhere.

However, this was all about half way up and as we kept climbing, the rain and wind intensified and so did the mist.

Almost half of our nine mile trek was out in the open, climbing steadily, exposed to a biting wind that just blew sheets of cold rain into our faces.  Instead of being able to see the summit of Calder Idris and its surrounding peaks, I could barely see the person in front of me or where the trail was going.  This was my main view for most of the five hour walk.  One foot in front of the other, head down, slog it out. It was quite simply awful.

The one consolation was that the pub had a fireplace.  And though I had wet sleeves and mitts and the rain had seeped through parts of my windbreaker, my body did have that happy fitness feeling that good exercise brings on. But alas, the delights of Wales will have to wait for another day.

A Fab Day in London. . .

I don't think I'll ever tire of the thrill of popping down to London for the day.  It's always been my favourite city to visit and no matter how many times I go, I always discover something new.  Despite the early train (5:47am) I was raring to go; it truly was an exciting day, full of inspiration and great company (thanks S, S & J).  First stop was London Bridge tube station and Borough Market, nestled under the railways bridges in the shadow of the Shard.  I'd never been here before and I can't recommend it enough. 

It's just brimming with stalls full of gorgeous food of every variety, colour, texture and of course smell!

The cover of this patio nearby made us all smile.  Fortunately we only experienced a few drops of rain the entire day.

Our main reason for the trip (we're all knitters) was to check out the Kaffe Fassett exhibit at the London Fashion and Textile Museum and we weren't disappointed. We've all been fans of his work, but to see all those colours and patterns in one place is quite overwhelming.  Quilts, knitting, tapestry, mosaics, costumes, paintings - all were juxtaposed against each other in a stunningly visual kaleidoscope.

I think all of us came away immediately wanting to start new projects based on some of his patterns or colour combinations. And as knitters, we took heart. There's no denying Fassett's talent for design and colour mastery, but when you look closely at many of his knitted works (which of course we did), I have to report that he's not the greatest knitter.  His tension is all over the place, there are dropped stitches, and he often doesn't weave in his ends, or does so rather clumsily.  But what does it matter? Take two steps back and gaze at the same piece and all you see is the brilliance.  And yes, you too can knit a gorgeous scarf in multiple colours of Kidsilk Haze using plain stockinette.  The price for one in the gift store?  £600! It was all very empowering.

But our day didn't stop there.  Speaking of colour and inspiration, it was then off to Persephone Books   which we'd all just like to move into.

Then of course we needed to visit a wool shop, so went to spend a glorious hour oohing, aaahing, squeezing and deliberating over the tantalising yarns and patterns at Loop.

Followed by a mad dash to Ray Stitch, five minutes away, and closing in fifteen.  This is a wonderful haberdashery shop/cafe and needless to say, I blew my budget both there and at Loop.  I'm blaming it all on Kaffe.  I'll assemble all my goodies in an upcoming post.  My head is exploding with various ideas on what to do with it all but suffice it to say I think there's some intarsia and quilting in my near future.

Re-imagining the Classics. . .

I'm sure that for most classical music lovers, it's fairly sacrilegious to write that I'm not the greatest fan of Bach.  I can admire his technical mastery, but I start to twitch if I have to listen to his music for too long (give me Beethoven or Rachmaninov anytime ).  

However. . . 

Add a double bass, a guitar, a drum and the bad boy of British violins, Nigel Kennedy, and all of a sudden Bach sounds bloody marvelous. 

Kennedy was playing at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall last week and it was so fantastic to hear him live. He showcased music from his latest CD, Recital, in which he not only re-arranges Bach but several Fats Waller tunes (I dare anyone to listen to I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby and not break out into a smile). There's  a very interesting version of Take Five, made famous of course by Dave Brubeck and his band, and some original compositions, of which Viper's Drag is my favourite; it's extremely catchy and slinky.  The CD is a wonderful mixture of musical influences and I've been listening to it almost non-stop since I bought it. 

I was also able to catch Matthew Bourne's production of Sleeping Beauty. It was Tchaikovsky's music, but with the added subtitle of A Gothic Romance and came complete with a vampiric fairy (he bites the hero, allowing him to still be around a hundred years later to kiss the princess awake), dancers in modern day hoodies and some fairly innovative and amusing puppetry.   I saw Bourne's amazing all-male Swan Lake several years ago in London, and while I don't think Sleeping Beauty was as good choreographically, it certainly was visually stunning, both the set and costumes, and I can definitely appreciate the creativity that went into the production.  I'm never a purist about these things - I really do appreciate artists who take the classics - in any genre-  and re-interpret them in interesting ways.

Bank Holiday Projects. . .

My second Selbu Modern Hat is finished (and it fits!!!!) just in time to be put away for the autumn.  We've had lovely summer sunshine this long weekend. I weeded the garden, baked a chocolate cake and got stuck in on knitting several projects. 

I'm not ready to apply for the Great British Sewing Bee just yet, but am chuffed with finally getting around to sewing up this cozy cushion.  Here's the front which I finished knitting several months ago.

And the back, using up some of my too large quilting stash.  Okay, so the overlap doesn't line up, but I only had one fat quarter to work with.  I still love it.

A friend is having a baby in July so I've gotten a good start on a baby blanket.  The pattern is fabulous - it's Umaro by Jared Flood and I'm using Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo which has a bit of a sheen to it and is smoother to knit with than cotton.  I'm thinking of using the pattern for a lace scarf later on.

And finally, my carry-around project is a colourful summer scarf.  I'm going to the Kaffe Fassett Exhibition at the London Fashion and Textile Museum in a few days and found this skein of Misti Alpaca cotton/silk blend in my stash.  I love the colours.  This will be the perfect bit of knitting for the train down to London.