Going Underground. . .

While I'm waiting for a chance to get some Mind the Gap yarn (the dyer can only do so much at a time and it sells out quite quickly), I'm also coveting this boxed set of twelve books, by twelve different writers, all celebrating 150 years of the London Underground.   The writers include John Lanchester, Lucy Wadham, William Leith and John O'Farrell, and each has written about one of the tube's lines.  I really like the design of the collection.  And I want to knit a colourful scarf with the yarn to go along with it.

I Love, Love, Love Lemon. . . (and Lime). . .

I've finally got around to trying the recipe on the cover of the September 2012 issue of Delicious magazine (which is why I bought it).   So this is what Rick Stein's version looks like. 

And here's mine:

I still have to work on my pastry; I find it really hard to roll it out thinly enough.  However the filling was absolutely delicious with just the perfect balance between tart and sweet, (it contains the juice of three lemons and one lime) and it was very simple to make.  This has become my new favourite lemony dessert.

Fair Isle. . .

I've had a fascination with Guernsey ever since reading The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards, which looks at life on the Channel Island through most of the twentieth century and features a wonderfully cranky and astute narrator. 

So I was really pleased to find a new crafty podcast called iMake, created by Martine, a knitter and all-round crafter living on Guernsey.  She also has a great blog and regularly posts pictures of life on the island. One of her new year's resolutions was the same as mine - to finally tackle fair isle and stranded knitting.  And she led me to a great pattern - the Selbu Modern hat, designed by Kate Gagnon Osborn.  It took a bit of time to get used to holding the two strands of yarn at the same time and I'm not sure about my tension at times, but hey - I'm about a quarter of the way through and a pattern is definitely emerging!  It's really fun to do; I can easily see myself getting addicted to fair isle. 

I Wonder. . . .

The only moment that I laughed during Terrence Malick's new movie To The Wonder, was when the credits were rolling, the lights had come on and an elderly woman with a loud voice and quite a distinctive Scouse accent bellowed out, "What the hell was that all about???"

Fair enough. It's not a comedy. And if you didn't like Malick's previous film Tree of Life (I was lukewarm) then this probably isn't your cup of tea either. Given a choice between the two, I prefer To The Wonder although parts of it left me yawning. I had high hopes with the beginning, suggestive of one of those French movies that loves to intellectualize relationships. We have a woman's voice-over in French, (Olga Kurylenko) talking about the deep connection she feels with her lover (a rather bland Ben Affleck - the guy really is no good at brooding) as the two cavort around Paris and take a trip to Mont St. Michel. The scenes at this medieval landmark are truly beautiful and haunting, especially those where the couple are wobbling precariously on the shifting sands as the tide comes in. We then shift to a sterile suburban neighbourhood in the U.S where the couple live in a large empty house with minimal furniture and absolutely nothing that denotes any personality whatsoever.  Meanwhile Javier Bardam plays a priest who has lost his faith and is trying to find it amongst his most downtrodden parishioners. Affleck tries to find love amongst the buffaloes, with an old flame played by Rachel McAdams.  All four characters mostly speak inaudibly but it might just be that the wind -  which is constantly blowing -  is taking any dialogue along with it.  There are some lovely shots, but to be honest in the second half  I found myself more interested in Kurylenko's knitwear (gorgeous sweaters and wraps), than any plot development, such as there was. I can appreciate the ambiguity and the questioning of faith and human connection, but surely love (or the search for it) is more wonderful than that.

My Perfect Night at the Theatre. . .

Remember Edward Petherbridge who portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in the BBC series?

He's one of a handful of British actors (well, there are scores actually) with such a smooth musical voice that if he were reading the shipping forecast, even I would find it mesmerizing.  And last night I got to see him live in Liverpool!

He's performing this week at the Unity Theatre with Paul Hunter in a brilliant two-hander called My Perfect Mind that recounts his experiences having a stroke just before he was due to play King Lear in New Zealand.

Alongside flashbacks to his childhood growing up in Bradford, reminiscences of his mother who had a stroke two days before he was born, and his deceased brother who worked as a policeman, there were also plenty of entertaining and wry observations about the crazy world of theatre with some particularly hilarious encounters with Laurence Olivier (Hunter plays all the secondary characters with enjoyably manic aplomb and the simple use of props).  We also get a taste of what his Lear would have been like as the audience are treated to plenty of scenes from the play,  including a surreal storm scene, after which Petherbridge (who flits back and forth between himself and Lear) turned to the audience and remarked something along the lines of: "This isn't the production of Lear that I wanted to be in. It's the Tate Modern on a really bad day." Which rather sums up the zaniness of the production that was mostly conducted on a stage tilted at a 45 degree angle. 

It was great fun and that voice has not lost any of Wimsey's drollness.  I absolutely loved it.

Obsessing About. . .

Capes!

I really want to knit a cape. They are coziness personified, perfect for transitional weather, for keeping my shoulders warm while reading in bed and for hopefully giving me Super Knitting powers.  Look at these lovelies, starting with the Solfar designed by Stephen West.

 And I love the collar on this elegant Careen Capelet, designed by Louise Zass-Bangham.

But just as I was fantasizing about capes, who should come out with the most gorgeous design of all?  None other than the amazing Kate Davies.  Check this out (and see more stunning photos on her blog here.) It's probably not the project I should be tackling for my first ever attempt at fair isle, but it is just so gorgeous, I may just dive in. At any rate, I'm definitely purchasing the pattern.

Things That Make Me Happy. . .

Another glorious, mild and sunny weekend with absolutely nothing planned. Never really having had a garden before, I'm fascinated to go out each day and see the progress of what's growing.  Not long to wait now for the daffodils.

And soon the camellia bush will be in full bursting bloom.

My tulips continue to grow.

And Sponge is back, basking in her favourite sunny nook.

I've also finished two knitting projects.  The first is my Leftie scarf, designed by Martina Behm, which I've been working on for months. It was probably crazy to do this in laceweight, but now that it's done, I love the softness and drape.

I also knit a hat for the Liverpud taking a Woolly Wormhead pattern from the latest issue of Simply Knitting.   It's a teeny, weeny bit small, so I may redo it and knit him the larger size, as it was a fairly quick knit.  He seems to like it, just wants it to cover his ears. 

A Three Seasons Walk. . .

The Liverpud and I have joined a local walking group and yesterday was our first outing travelling by coach for a day's walk in the Lake District.  We were dropped off in Ambleside and made our way to Grasmere - the hard way of course, over the hills.  It was a brilliant walk and I couldn't help feeling by the end of it that I'd passed through multiple seasons - spring, winter and fall.

We started out with the sun shining, the grass quite green and we soon passed a bright rainbow-marked flock of sheep which certainly put a smile on my face.

A little further on, we passed Rydal Mount, the former home of William Wordsworth.  No daffodils in sight however.

There were waterfalls.

And don't you just love those textured nubbly hills?

I was thinking I'd put on far too many layers and really needed my sunglasses, but the weather can change very quickly in the hills, especially the higher you climb, and we certainly could see snow on the  mountain tops.

Soon, we were actually walking on the white stuff but it did give us the opportunity to try out our new YakTrax.

Our leader cut the walk a bit short because not everyone in the group had the ice grips and it would have been a bit treacherous going any further.  I didn't mind at all; the wind was extremely fierce up there.

Once below the snow line the afternoon sun was shining and the landscape changed again reminding me very much of rich autumn colours.

The walk ended with half a pint of shandy and a quick trip to the Herdy Shop in Grasmere where I bought this cute little sheepybank.  I have to start saving for Woolfest in June!

A Little Drama. . .

I've probably written this before, but it bears mentioning again - there is some really great theatre in Liverpool.  Today, I caught a matinee at the Playhouse of my favourite Moliere play, The Misanthrope. The translation is by renowned Liverpudlian poet and playwright Roger McGough ( he's to Liverpool what Dennis Lee is to Toronto) and in his very entertaining version, when Alceste decides to forsake flattery for plain speaking, he also stops speaking in verse unlike all the other characters who use couplets as a sign of their upper class:

From henceforth . . . No verse!
I will say it as I see it, I will say it like it is,
Plain prose, unadorned
No frills, no iambics, no alexandrines, no relentless rhythm, no fancy word juggling. No couplets with a rhyme bomb ticking away. Philinte, if I am to act according to what I believe I must speak as I live, truthfully, directly and a plague on those who would be discomforted.

This of course leads to several comic moments when he accidentally forgets, or he needs to stop and substitute a word because the best one to use is one that frustratingly does rhyme. It was a very clever and witty rendition (McGough has previously translated two Moliere plays) and a good, fast-paced production with a cheeky modern twist at the end, a sort of theatrical wink that I really loved.  It's on at the Playhouse until March 9th and I believe is touring the UK afterwards. It's well worth seeing.

There's a wonderful tradition in some British theatres (London's Royal Court does this as well), whereby the programme for a premiere also includes the entire play itself. It's a terrific idea; it serves both as a souvenir of the production, and allows you to own an affordable copy which in turn might encourage people to read more drama as literature in its own right, something I do regularly.  One of my favourite playwrights to both read and see performed is Alan Bennett, something of a national treasure in England and a writer I can always trust to make me laugh. He frequently explores a topic I'd not given much thought to and puts a deliciously cynical and intellectual twist on it.  I picked up a copy of his latest play People  which is a lovely antidote to the soap opera that is Downtown Abbey.  What happens to those huge historical manors when the families die out (or their wealth does) and they can't afford the upkeep?  Bennett posits a couple of options, from leaving it in the hands of the National Trust to renting it out to film crews involved in more sordid undertakings than what goes on at Highclere Castle.  And when a character called Brit is literally getting screwed in the background, well, the metaphoric possibilities are endless.

Currently on at the National Theatre in London, and starring Frances de la Tour and Linda Bassett, the production is one that will be broadcast live at cinemas around the world in April, including Liverpool's FACT.  And yes, I have booked my ticket - can't wait!

Tempted. . .

This is just too cool.  From Trailing Clouds comes this striped sock yarn, aptly named Mind the Gap which includes all the colours of the different tube lines in the London Underground map. This might be the yarn that finally gets me knitting socks. . .

And a new e-book from Piecework Magazine features American scarf patterns from 1918.   Check some of these out. I particularly love "Zella", the one on the far left.  Very glamourous.   More info here.

 

 

One bit of temptation that I have succumbed to is a Rowan Magazine subscription. I've bought a few back issues and they are so beautifully and lavishly produced with lovely paper, interesting articles and photography, often showcasing models looking gorgeous against a rugged British countryside. Yes, I want to wear those clothes and strike a similar pose. And then there are the patterns. Yes, some are completely outlandish and others are way beyond my skill level, but I have done one Rowan pattern successfully and the sizing fit me perfectly, so I have faith and trust.  Really it's all about the ultimate in wish fullfillment fantasy knitting and I'm sold.  Plus you get a gift with a subscription; I chose three balls of Rowan DK wool.  I'd love to say that I'm going to commit to knitting at least one article from each magazine. . . . we'll see.

Food, Glorious Food. . .

I'm obsessed with a cooking site called Food 52 that I've only just discovered, which has a TON of wonderful recipes all showcased with fantastic photography and pulled from a multitude of blogs, sites and contributors.  Check it out here. They are also hosting The Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, inspired by and using the format of the Tournament of Books that I follow each year (that'll be starting in March - details and the list of this year's battling books here.)  Judges for the Piglet include foodies from magazines and also Stanley Tucci!  Lots of fun and a great way to check out new cookbooks.

In the meantime to beat the winter blues, I'm craving all things lemony.  Type "lemon" into the search engine at Food 52 and you'll get, well, a list to keep you happily occupied for months. Snow peas with lemon-chili breadcrumbs, grilled lemon and herb flatbread, a leek and lemon quiche and of course the perfect lemon tart are all going onto the must-try list.  In the meantime, I'm quite chuffed with my first ever attempt at lemon meringue pie. It came out a wee bit tart and the meringue wasn't quite as thick as I'd like it, but it was still quite tasty and much easier to make than I'd anticipated.

Out and About. . .

It's been a wonderful weekend in Liverpool, sunny and mild with temperatures hovering around 8 degrees. You just can't stay indoors when it's so nice, so the Liverpud and I went for a long walk through several parks, and down to the city centre via the long path that runs alongside the Mersey.  The daffodils are starting to pop up everywhere (except in my backyard, but I keep checking - can't be long now).

Our ultimate goal was to check out the HMS Illustrious (nicknamed Lusty) which sailed into Liverpool on Friday. It's the Royal Navy's last remaining helicopter carrier and was in town to kick off a series of events that will be taking place in the city during May to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, when lots of ships from around the world (including Canada) will dock. There was no mistaking Lusty, even from quite far away; it is one big boat.

And here's a close-up.  Unfortunately we arrived too late to take a tour as they had closed the queue, but it was still quite impressive to behold from the outside.

AAAAAAGH!!!!

Ever have one of those moments when you cast off and proudly smooth your bit of knitting out, only to see a major mistake?

This is how my cables should look and were looking at the beginning:

Before they turned into this:

How did I miss it? Oh, I really am kicking myself.  Obviously I need to pay more attention to mindless TV knitting. This project was the bottom bit of a caplet but I am going to have to rip back and start again. It's chunky wool so it shouldn't take long, but I'm really annoyed at myself.  This is the third project I've started this year that has turned into a problem (my lace shawl has run out of wool with about ten rows to go and I've fallen out of love with the colours in my variegated scarf). Phooey - maybe I need a break from the needles.  Or to finally finish something successfully!