Modern London As I've Never Seen It Before. . .

London is a city with so many literary and historic layers to it, that you can easily spend days, weeks, wandering the streets, engaged with all the fascinating architectural detail.  And most of the tourist areas are focused in and among the city's older and magnificent treasures.

But London is also a very modern working city too, and on our recent mini-break, the Liverpud and I decided to undertake a walking tour of the financial area and get up close with some of the buildings we'd only see from afar across the Thames.  There are lots of architecture walking tours offered in London and you can pay quite a lot for some of them, but I'd recommend downloading this free guide produced by the City of London and just doing it yourself.  It took us about 2 hours and it was fascinating.

But actually, in order to get the best views of the new, you need  to climb the old.  So we started our tour at the Monument , which at 4 pounds, is one of the best tourist deals in London.

When you get up to the viewing platform, you are right among the modern buildings.  Here you can see the "Walkie-Talkie", the "Cheese-grater" and the "Gherkin".

With a great view of the Shard on the other side of the river.

Then it was off to St. Paul's Cathedral which I'd never actually been in before.  This is a bit more pricey but I thought it was worth it.  There is no photography allowed in the cathedral, but as you climb up to the viewing platform, you pass the Whispering Gallery (great fun to test out!) and then at the top of the dome, there's this tiny window in the floor which looks straight down onto the beautiful floor.  So you need to climb quite a few steps to take a photo!

You also get this view of the city.

 

And you can look down on Paternoster Square where our walking tour will begin in earnest.

And a reminder that the city's wealth initially owed a lot to sheep.  This is part of a statue called Paternoster by Elisabeth Frink.

I won't go through all the buildings that we saw, but here are a few that I particularly liked.  This is One New Change, built in 2010.  It uses more than 6,300 glass panels in 22 different colours.

 I love how it can just blend into the sky.

100 Wood Street takes classical Portland stone and alternates it with glass.  I like the pattern on the roof.

There's quite a trend for buildings to show the inner workings from the outside, or indeed on the outside.  I was drawn to the cheery yellow of the pipes and lifts on display at 88 Wood Street.

This is Ropemaker Place, and it has indigo-hued windows that change with the sun's position and help reduce the energy needed for cooling the building. 

And this building at Broadgate is huge!  Set back in its own courtyard of shops and restaurants, it's the kind of building you'd never come across in London unless you worked in the area. 

Lots of buildings such as the Broadgate Tower, like to feature parts of the engineering on the outside.

And the Gherkin is pretty impressive up close.

I particularly loved this kinetic bicycle sculpture by Ai Weiwei called "Forever" that is in front of the Gherkin.  From all angles it looks as if the wheels are turning.

More interesting outside cladding on the Cheese Grater building.

And the Lloyd's Building.

And you have to remember to look up to appreciate how the curves and glass in this area frame and reflect the sky and the architectural landscape. There's a strange beauty to be found among these steel boxes.

And no doubt the landscape will constantly change. I do like how London buildings are given a nickname.  No doubt we'll be back to see how "The Scalpel" looks when it's completed.

I highly recommend having a walk around this area (and there are plenty of coffee shops scattered about to keep you hydrated and energised -  I can highly recommend the pistachio macarons at Paul's).  There are hidden sculptures and quite lovely courtyards and we even stumbled on an unexpected skating rink.   We ended the day by crossing the Thames and walking along the South Bank, having dinner along the way, and then enjoying the city lit up at night.

Just remember that even with comfortable shoes, pounding the hard sidewalks is much tougher on the feet.  I was so glad our hotel had a nice big bathtub.

A Day With My Knitted Boyfriend. . .

Meet Fritz, a knitted boyfriend that I made for a friend's birthday.  

I have to admit I grew a little smitten with him. And so before I let him go, I spent a full day with him appreciating his many good qualities - he is very good at listening, he never talks back, and is perfectly happy to do whatever I want.

He even got completely immersed in the book that I'm currently reading.

And he too loves his lattes on early morning train journeys.

He even helps out with the knitting.

We went on Saturday to London - one of our favourite cities.

We love to walk along the South Bank, stopping occasionally to watch the world go by.

Fritz was quite dwarfed by the public statues.

But he loved watching all the traffic on the Thames.

Especially this boat painted in a very modern, abstract way.

Which was the perfect thing to see en route to the Tate Modern and their fabulous Sonia Delaunay exhibit.

It's on until August 9th, and I highly recommend visiting it.  She was so multi-talented - a painter of whirls of colour and movement and energy (her paintings of tango dancers are fantastic); a fashion and costume designer (there was a gorgeous coat, hand embroidered with wool on fabric, that she made for Gloria Swanson and a vibrant knitted swimsuit as well); a fabric designer (gorgeous swatches on display, swathes of silk and shapes and colours),  a graphic designer working on lots of art magazines, and she even designed a unique bookcase intended for a student dorm.  It was an enormously inspiring exhibition.  One of my favourite bloggers, Kate Davies, has enthusiastically written about Delauney's influence here and here and the latter link shows some of the exhibit (photos weren't allowed but she went to the opening).   Fritz enjoyed it too.

No trip to London would be complete without a quick stop at Loop.

Fritz had fun among all the skeins of gorgeous yarn.

And he helped me pick out my first ever skein of Wollemeise in a colourway that made me laugh - it's called Franz with Chicken Pox.  This is begging to be a shawl - I will just need to find the perfect pattern.

I grew very attached to Fritz and we had a great day together.  But he wasn't for me and I didn't want the Liverpud to get jealous, so off he went to surprise my friend who will take excellent care of him. And lo and behold, he met another Fritz at the same party!  They are now best buddies.

And if you want to knit your own Fritz, you can get all the patterns from Knit Your Own Boyfriend by Carol Meldrum.  The book is very funny to read as well.  I will admit to find the process a bit fiddly, not having previously knitted any toys, but I got there in the end.  I enjoyed knitting the fair isle sweater and the goatee especially and there are patterns for all sorts of hairstyles and accessories so you can really customize your own boyfriend.

A Pop of Colour on a Gray Day. . .

London is lovely in the sunlight but a gray day also has its own beauty; if nothing else it just makes the colours pop.  I can never resist walking along the South Bank. I love the energy, the music from the buskers, the smell of the food vans and the sight of crowds of tourists from all over the world enjoying the river views. It's one of my favourite city walks. I love these birch trees outside the Tate Modern. They make me want to weave in and out of them in some mad dance but of course there are always too many people around. 

Further along, heading west is The Shed, a temporary space constructed at the National Theatre while renovations are in progress.  I love how vibrant that red is, especially next to the tired concrete of the rest of the building. 

And heading across the river and up to Trafalgar Square,  there's no mistaking the latest art piece to adorn the fourth plinth. Hahn/Cock is by German sculptor Katharina Fritsch. 

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.