Gormley with guerilla crochet

Have you seen this? 







I love Anthony Gormley's figures - in Merseyside or in Edinburgh. The ones in Crosby have been decorated with crochet (not sure how someone who's trademark is crochet can be described as a knitwear artist!) Dontcha just love a bit of yarn bombing? 


Full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18261992

Knitters place

Tomorrow I'm involved in a meeting about some research we have been doing. We are meeting beforehand in a local cafe and gallery.

It's a knitters sort of place with cones of bright yarn lined up in the window, and textiles in the galleries.

As if that wasn't enough, hot drinks come with their own knitted cosies - which are really cute. And, there are scrummy cakes with and without gluten.

Do try it if you are in town: the dovecot cafe and gallery, infirmary street, Edinburgh.

Waving, not drowning

Yesterday, a short session in the gym ended with a knee injury. Nothing to do with technique or pushing the limit, just slipping on a wet floor in the changing room. Grrr. I suspect a medial cruciate ligament strain, so I am resting on the sofa while the others are out.

The view is not too bad (see painting below), and I am making some waves of my own with my blue ripple blanket. I'd rather be on Bryher with the others, but as things go it's not a bad place to put your feet up.

Scilly

We are on Tresco in the isles of scilly for a week. We are enjoying sunshine and playing on the beach, pootling on bikes and looking at the sea and the sky.

(and doing yarny things)

Deli..cious

I think I mentioned the endless trim on Deli, which I have been knitting for most of the past year month week or two (really, who would attempt to sew that on?!!!)


Well - it's finished - not quite, but the end is almost in sight, and I've managed a sneaky trying-on session to see how it looks. 

I like it. 


It doesn't look anything like the one in the book (which is very long and more like a coat than a cardigan), but it seems to fit me well. 


We'll be away next week on our hols, so expect some Scilliness (we are going to the Isles of Scilly). Haven't decided what knitting to take with me. Something small for sure, but what else?  I could really do with some more cardigans in my wardrobe, but it's so much easier, not to mention quicker, to knit something for a small person. 

Hat attack (FO x 4)

Here are some pics of those baby beanies I've been knitting... so cute. The top one is made with a really nice sock yarn. I can't decide whether to use the rest to make some socks, or another hat (or two).

Clickety Clack Hat (FO)

I've got another one of those bugs. You know the sort.

When you know you should be knitting something else, you just have to keep on scratching a particular sort of itch. 

At the moment it's hats. Not just any hats, baby hats. Plain and striped baby beanies are springing off my needles one after the other after the other. I'm on no. #7 now. 

7!! I've hardly managed any FOs all year, and then there's a blizzard of them... I also managed to finish those birthday socks, and gifted them a week or so back, (but failed to take any pics, doh). 

The first beanie is for my babylost friend and her new rainbow baby (kisses to you all x o x ), and the others are all for the Pregnancy and Parents Centre. If my premium bonds ever come in, then they'll be top of my list for a large donation for the quiet work they do with parents across Edinburgh. I used the centre during both of my pregnancies - attending yoga classes there and their home birth group. But it's not all yummy mummies and yoga classes, they have breast feeding support and international groups and nearly new sales and counselling and all sorts. It's a great place, always in need of funds and volunteers. And I'm hoping to help by making a few wee hats for a few wee heads. I'm just using my baby beanie recipe and any odds and ends of 4ply/sock yarn (of which there are plenty - so we all win!) I'm planning to make about 10 or 12 and then drop them off for the PPC to sell. 

In other news, I've started plodding away at Deli's endless lacey trim. I have devised a method for knitting this *onto* said garment and not knitting it separately to sew on late (seriously? sew it on?) I'm still only about a third of the way round though....

and yarn bombs...

On my way to the station this afternoon, and only minutes after my previous post, I came across these knitted tree cosies. Sheffield proved to be such an interesting place to be....

Sheffield steel

I'm in Sheffield for a work conference, and enjoying the streetscape.

Bike Pride

I am a cyclist. I cycle with my children. I love my bike. I love moving around without an engine, with the wind on my face, and under my own steam. My son can now cycle confidently on his own bike, and can manage rides of several miles without difficulty. That's liberating for us all, because I can now cycle with both children: one self-powered on his own bike and one on the back of my bike.


But. 


Our towns and cities are not well-designed for cyclists, and we lack some of the brilliant facilities which cyclists in other countries and other cities enjoy. The Scottish Government says very clearly in its planning guidance that pedestrians and cyclists are the top priority when it comes to designing streets - but this guidance is yet to bring about a material change in Scottish travel habits, or to make our streets really safe for cyclists. 


So, on Saturday 28th April I joined with thousands of others (yes, thousands!) - and with my family - to pedal on parliament, and ask the Scottish Government to do more, a lot more - to promote cycling, to invest in cycling and to make cycling safer. It will be good for all of us. Good for our health, for our cities, for our planet, for air quality and climate change and peak oil and quality of life and humanity and liveability and sociability and well, just about everything. And yesterday I used my vote in the local elections to vote for more investment in cycling. 


If you are so minded you can see more about the pedal on parliament manifesto, sign the petition or follow the Times campaign for safer cycling. You can also find lots of photos of the day in various places (like here, and here). You could also have a look at a friend's new blog about cycling with children.... 


Happy Bicycle Month!