Music in the City. . .

What a great city this is for music - of all types -  as my excursions last week proved.  This is a picture of the Liverpool Philharmonic - a gorgeous Art Deco building with great acoustics and a lovely cafe in the basement.   

I've been to a few classical concerts already but last Monday I headed there for something completely different.  Last month, the Philharmonic had a promotion, offering £1 tickets for several of their upcoming shows. I was more than happy to line up for three hours, and one of the gigs I jumped at was  the Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers - a Scottish group that practices Japanese Taiko drumming.

It was an exhilarating performance and what a workout for the drummers! At one point several were sitting on the floor with their feet wrapped around medium sized drums and basically doing sit-ups while drumming.  You could definitely see the grimaces on their faces.  I loved the energy and the choreography - it was all just fantastic.

Wednesday night I headed off to the Capstone Theatre, part of Liverpool Hope University, for a night with jazz singer Stacey Kent.  I previously wrote about my appreciation for her here and was thrilled when I saw she was coming to Liverpool.

She had a great band and it was a very enjoyable night with a mixture of American songbook classics, a bit of French and Serge Gainsbourg, a little bit of bossa nova, and the premiere of yet more quirky sad songs written for her by her husband Jim Tomlinson and the writer Kazuo Ishiguro.

Then last night it was back to the Philharmonic for a concert I've been so looking forward to.  Listening to this band completely brings me back to my university days and they were just fantastic live.  One of the best concerts I've ever been too - it was impossible to get to sleep last night, I was so wired.

A really nice surprise was the opening act, Blueflint.  I'd never heard of them before but immediately fell in love. They are a five person band from Edinburgh with two female singers and lots of banjos, bass and fiddles.  They made me nostalgic for bands from Nova Scotia and the East Coast - foot stomping music, great lyrics and songs about boats and water.  And with the purchase of their CDs you got a free tea towel!  Now how often does THAT happen at a rock concert?

Knitting Dreams. . .

Is it a bit crazy that I'm drawn to this sheet set featuring a print of knitting?  Oh, the Liverpud would never go for it.  Maybe for the guest bedroom (which also doubles as my craft room).  Or maybe I could get away with just the pillowcases.

Unravelling Revelry. . .

In the "wish I could have been there" department - look at what Toronto's Knit Cafe did for Nuit Blanche this year!

They had a series of knitted Russian dolls and all night, every hour, they UNRAVELLED one to reveal the next hiding underneath.  Great photos and a full description of this very cool project can be found here.   I used to love going to this shop which also had a cafe, a great selection of yarn (Madtosh! Madtosh!) and very friendly and helpful staff.  I've been to several really good yarn shops in the UK but there isn't a dedicated independent one in Liverpool proper, which is a shame.  Mind you, I probably have enough stash to last a decade.

Daytripping: The West Pennine Moors. . .

Another sunny fall weekend and our anniversary to boot, so off we were for another day-long hike. This time we headed to the West Pennine Moors, not far from Bolton.  We started our walk along the Anglezarke Reservoir.

And through some peaceful forest paths.

 Working our way ever upwards where the majority of the hike was on gorgeous open moorland - my favourite type of walking terrain.  It was a bit boggy in spots, but much of the path was on paving stones or gravel so it wasn't too hard going.

In the distance is Pendle Hill infamous for its witch trials in the 17th century

Along the way there were plenty of sheep to accompany us.

And several hours and miles later we completed our circular route and were overlooking the reservoir again.

Another beautiful walk within an hour's drive of Liverpool.

Daytripping: The Tarnished Old and the Shiny New. . .

About ten years ago I spent three weeks taking a summer course at Oxford in their Continuing Studies department.  I loved everything about it.  My room was on the top floor of a tower and climbing seven stories of stairs several times a day was completely worth it. I'd open the windows to the summer evening and gaze on the spires and listen the the choir practicing in the chapel next door.  During the day I'd be reading Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf in the Bodleian Library and working on an essay in-between lectures and tutorials. I went punting, saw lots of theatre and popped into London on the weekends. It was one of the best "vacations" I'd ever taken and the experience totally inspired me to go home and get my Masters in English Lit.  So I was very much looking forward to returning for a day trip.

Oh dear. . .

Yes, the beautiful buildings are still there and the cows are still grazing on Christchurch Meadows, and the students and faculty still whizz by purposefully on their bicycles.  And it seems ridiculous to say a place that has existed for centuries has changed in the last decade.  But I went not just to wander old haunts, but to browse the bookshops, in particular some of the quirky used bookstores I remember.  And they are ALL GONE!  Oh, the Blackwells is still there and as extensive as ever, but two used bookshops in particular (I've forgotten their names but definitely not where they were) that I used to frequent are no more.  How utterly sad because if Oxford of all places can't support a couple of used bookshops, who can?  Apparently the rents have risen so high that they've had to close. Rising rents also seem to be threatening some of the independent businesses in the covered market, although you can still get a good meat pie for lunch.  It was all rather depressing and I think I have Oxford out of my system now; I really don't have any desire to go back.

I had to change trains in Birmingham and with an hour to kill, I ventured out towards the markets and to see this rather iconic building which houses the Selfridges department store and certainly a complete contrast to their flagship store on London's Oxford Street.  As unique as it is, I have to say I prefer the London shop; this building looks fab from the outside, but inside it reminds me very much of the duty-free shops in airports.  Rather soulless.

Daytripping: Walking in the Clwydian Hills. . .

We're trying to make the most of every good hiking day this fall and yesterday was perfect - crisp, fresh air, lots of sunshine and no rain in the forecast.  So armed with bacon butties, a flask of tea and chocolate, we headed out to one of our favourite places for a day hike. About an hour's drive from Liverpool is the lovely Clywdian Range in North Wales.  We parked at Loggerheads, walked about three miles through a forest path and a bit of steep road to the little village of Cilcain where a plaque on the local pub proudly points out that scenes from the 1998 film Hilary and Jackie were shot here.

On we went along tracks such as this, gradually climbing.

Our ultimate destination (and where most paths in this region lead) was up to Moel Famau, the highest hill in the Clwdyian Range.  On the top are the ruins of the Jubilee Tower, first built in 1810 to commemorate the fiftieth year of George III's reign.  You can just see it on the crest of the hill.

The tower seems to have been doomed from the start with bad construction and it's been crumbling ever since, despite many attempts to reconstruct it.  Still, you can't beat the views and on a clear day you can see all the way to Liverpool (impossible to capture with my tiny camera).

We took a long leisurely route back to Loggerheads that gently descended through another quiet forest path with tall majestic trees around us and the smell of pine needles everywhere.  A five hour, ten mile hike in beautiful scenery is just the perfect way to relax on a sunny Saturday. 

A Country Book Swap. .

One of the things I look forward to each week is my knitting night; I meet up with a lovely group of women at a cafe not too far from where I live, and we drink lattes, eat cake, knit and discuss all manner of subjects. The group is a nice mixture of ages, with some born and bred in Liverpool, and others who are newcomers to the city, one even newer than myself.  We exchange a lot of tips about the city and have the odd moan or two about British bureaucracy.

One woman who moved here from Prague several years ago, is a big reader and we recently exchanged books by favourite authors from home.  I gave her Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God (which fortunately she loved - she's asked to borrow The Fire-Dwellers next), and she in turn pressed Bohumil Hrabal's I Served the King of England, translated by Paul Wilson, on me.  I think the only Czech writer I've previously read is Milan Kundera and I was excited to finally give Hrabal a try, having two other books by him on my to be read shelf - Too Loud A Solitude and Dancing Lessons For the Advanced in Age.  I've also seen the Czech film Closely Watched Trains that was based on his novel and shares some of the same youthful and sexual antics.

I Served the King of England follows many years in the life of Ditie, a young man from humble origins who works his way up from busboy to millionaire hotel owner and back to the ordinary, learning many life lessons along the way. It's a simple, basic plot but what makes this novel quite extraordinary and very enjoyable to read is Hrabal's sheer imaginative exuberance and excess of detail. The characters and situations that Ditie encounters are completely over the top but it doesn't matter; the scenes are fully and convincingly drawn out and played for both comic and poignant effect. Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy the narrative ride. Descriptions range from the simple image of stark white underwear discarded from hotel windows only to be caught on hooks wielded by his grandmother, to lavish, spectacular feasts involving stuffed camels and the Emperor of Ethiopia, to an imaginative hotel concept that becomes for Ditie not just a financial but a satisfyingly artistic success.  Memorable characters abound from a tyrant boss in a wheelchair, to the all-knowing head waiter who credits his success to having served the King of England, to Lise, the powerful German woman that Ditie marries just as the Nazis are coming to power. Believe in the unbelievable is a key theme of this novel where class, belonging and the need for acceptance from one's peers is a strong undercurrent. Hrabal suggests that the real richness of life is the beauty and wonder of the world not so much in nature, but in the accumulative human nature that we encounter with all of its crazy intricacies and eccentricities.  And Ditie only discovers this when he hits rock bottom doing hard labour repairing roads.  In his solitude comes understanding, restorative reflection and creativity:

And I said to myself that during the day I would look for the road to the village, but in the evening I would write, looking for the road back, and then walk back along it and shovel aside the snow that had covered my past, and so try, by writing, to ask myself about myself.

I loved the enthusiastic prose, the narrative rush, the cynicism, imagination and originality behind this novel.  It made me smile and count my blessings as corny as that may sound.  I'm looking forward to reading more of Hrabal's work.

Daytripping: York. . .

York is a lovely historical city to spend a day in, nestled under the towers of the majestic York Minister.  The last time I visited it was almost twenty years ago and then it was primarily to catch a bus to Castle Howard, where the original mini-series of Brideshead Revisited was filmed.  By the time I returned to York and found my hostel, most of the shops were shut which was fine as I didn't have much money or space in my backpack. I remember just walking around a city that was fairly quiet after the tourists had gone and I've always wanted to return and explore it in more detail.

It's a very compact city and easy to walk to the centre from the railway station, and once there you can see and do a lot of things in just a few hours (I had about six in which to explore).  Thanks to this post by blogger TravelKnitter, I downloaded the York Crafter's Trail brochure - a really smart marketing tool that  highlights all of the craft shops in town.  You can also pick up copies at any of the stores or at the York Tourist office. It's a bit small to read, but even if you aren't interested in craft shops, I'd still recommend following most of the route as it takes you through and around most of the city and down streets I might have missed otherwise. And there is plenty to inspire - York is terrific for shopping and getting those creative juices flowing. There are tons of independent shops on quaint streets that have you stopping every five minutes to pop in or window gaze, especially if you like antiques, second hand bookshops, jewellery or chocolate!  A major tourist destination is The Shambles where the streets are narrow and the medieval houses almost lean towards each other.  This picture doesn't really do it justice.

It was here that I found a delightful wool shop called Ramshambles and bought a few skeins of a fiery orange Harris tweed.  

I also really liked Grace and Jacob, a beautiful store that sold knitting, quilting and craft supplies. They had some lovely yarns, hand-dyed by the owner, and the fabrics and ribbon trims were stunning.  I could easily have bought enough fat quarters for several quilts but restricted myself to four.  Such a lovely, lovely store - definitely worth a visit. 

My third favourite was The Viking Loom - just a good general craft store where I picked up some beads and found some size 0 knitting needles.  They also had a good selection of fabrics.

Also on the Craft trail is the Quilt Museum and Gallery which I enjoyed visiting.  It's quite small and there is an admission charge, but I'm quite happy to support craft galleries, especially textile ones.  There was an exhibition by quilter Pauline Burbidge who makes very modern quilts, often in black and white, using interesting long stitches and inspired by nature and her own photography.  The museum also has a very nice little shop and some gorgeous Japanese fabrics that were tempting.  I did buy two of their printed sashiko squares that I'll probably turn into cushions.  This is a great idea - the pattern is printed on the fabric so you can stitch right over it and then it apparently washes away.  I've been wanting to try this form of embroidery ever since reading this tutorial on the Purl Bee blog.  I know it's traditional to use white thread, but I'm tempted to do something with Noro and maybe even fill in some of the spaces.

Just wandering the streets and shopping took up much of my day but I did make time to walk the city walls.

And to relax with a drink and some chocolate in the beautiful York Museum gardens.

 And my final stop was a brief encounter with The National Railway Museum, having a bit of a train fetish.  I just love seeing those old carriages and powerful engines.

York's own station is quite impressive too - I just love all those architectural curves and old clocks.

Curry Flavour. . .

My favourite magazine this week is the latest from Jamie Oliver.  The Brits and my Liverpud love a good curry so I snapped this up as soon as I saw it on the stands.  He's done it again - this issue is just packed with wonderful recipes (not all of them curry related).  I particularly liked the article "Tradition With a Twist" which blends Indian cooking with traditional British recipes such as Fish & Chips, pasties and Yorkshire Pud.  There are also very useful recipes for making five different curry pastes from a Korma to a Vindaloo.

The only curries I've ever done have either involved a sauce from a jar or using pre-made curry mixes, but this magazine totally inspired me to try one from scratch. I chose the Chicken Tikka Masala and just mixing up all the aromatic paste ingredients was so much fun.

And hooray, I did it! And it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought.  I added some spinach and served it over brown basmati with some (store bought) naan on the side and a good bunch of coriander on top.  Spicy and yummy.  I'll be trying some lentil curries next.

Lots of Knitting FOs. . .

I've been knitting like a fiend lately and have several finished objects off the needles.

First up, I finally, finally finished this baby blanked I've been working on since June for the Liverpud's sister-in-law.  The baby boy is due in mid-October so I'm relieved to have this done in time. I adapted a snowflake stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's treasury books and added a seed stitch and then a blue i-cord border.

Then I finished my second mystery KAL.  The pattern was Out of Darkness by Boo Knits and it caused me some grief as halfway through I caught a couple of stitches on something and there were these two really long loops hanging from the back of the knitting that I couldn't suss out so I had to rip back and start all over.  I have never used so many beads in a project before (approximately 600) but I like the matte pewter colour against this green. The yarn is Madeline Tosh Prairie in the colourway Oak.  This will be a really nice shawl to go over a black dress.

It's getting a bit chilly here in the UK and I've been yearning for a cozy cowl.  I picked up some lovely yarn at Baa Ram Ewe in Leeds (on sale too!) called Colinette Art which is made in Wales. The colour is called Copperbeech and it has every fall colour in it that I like - a purpley-brown background with flecks of blue, orange and red.  It's 79% wool and 21% bamboo which gives it a bit of a sheen and it's very soft.  I wanted a stitch pattern that wasn't too heavy so the cowl wouldn't be too hot.  Back I went to my knitting guru, Barbara Walker and found her dewdrop stitch which I did up on larger 6.5mm needles.  I used an i-cord edging which keeps things neat and also makes it very easy to weave in ends, and used Kitchener stitch and a provisional cast-on for the first time.  I really love it.

And finally, I've been doing some volunteer knitting.  Lipservice Theatre Company is putting on a production next month called Inspector Norse - I think it's a spoof on both Inspector Morse and The Killing.  Much of the set is going to be knitted and when the call went out, I thought it would be fun to get involved. So I've been knitting leaves and have sent them about two dozen.  I hope to catch both the show and a glimpse of my handiwork when it comes to Liverpool's Unity Theatre.

Hoop Dreams. . .

Every time I check out the Purl Bee blog, I want to immediately get on a plane and head to New York City and visit their store in person.  Honestly, the ideas and projects that they come up with (and patterns offered up for free no less) are SO inspiring.  I haven't done embroidery since my teens but if there was anything that would get me back into it (and I still have a large stash of embroidery thread) this kit would be it. 

 Isn't the wood grain amazing?  And how fun are those letters?