catching up – iknit!

Well, where have the last couple days gone? It’s been sort of a blur of trains, knitters, more trains, and Paris (more on that a little later).

Saturday morning we moved house from where were staying in Twickenham to another house-sitting gig in White City – much more central (as in, on the tube’s Central line) but still a bit of a trip to get anywhere, really. After a bit of a rest and some food (lugging our stuff around London was pretty damn exhausting!) we finally headed out to iknit. We got a little lost along the way, but were pointed in the right direction by some knitters on the street!

iknit

We managed to arrive right in the middle of Stephanie’s talk, which was in the next building, so the marketplace hall was really quite empty! I guess that’s what happens when 700 people exodus to see Stephanie speak.

iknit

We managed to find our way around to some pretty awesome yarn – I got a bunch of organic merino and some cashmere! Okay, a lot of the merino. Once we got back to White City I put it all in the compression bag I’d been waiting to bust out (it’s from MEC and it was brand new). Wow, that thing does a great job! Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the yarn before putting it in the bag…

yarn from iknit

That’s like, 15 skeins of yarn in there! And it fits into my suitcase at the moment…although I did leave some stuff back in Edinburgh that will need to go in there. Plus there was a skirt in a shop here that I’ve decided to buy. And whatever other shopping we do here….hm. My suitcase does expand, which I haven’t used yet, so that’s promising! My backup plan, which might actually need to be used, is to find another bag to use as my carry on and check my backpack.

Anyway. More Saturday continued, after we bought some yarn, we headed out to a pub to have a drink with a bunch of London knitters, which was really cool. Then it was back to iknit in the rain, to pick up Stephanie for dinner – we walked around a bit trying to find a place, but it turns out that central London is pretty dead and closed on a weekend! We ended up at a mediocre Italian place.

what a weird dinner

Unfortunately all the cheese and wheat made me feel rather queasy on the way home and that evening, and I splurged on a taxi to take us from one tube station to back home to avoid taking another tube and walking. It was worth the money, though – I had a pretty tough evening. All this travelling might not really agree with me, thank goodness for Rescue Remedy.

And the worst thing for a travelling knitter?

uh oh!

This was *after* iknit! Argh! Stephanie offered me a set of 2.25mm needles, but since I’m using 2mm I declined – in hindsight I should’ve taken them! We’re headed to a yarn store tomorrow here in Paris though so I’m hoping to find something there.

Hoo boy, this entry is getting long! I’ll try to condense Sunday – we met up with Ysolda’s friend in Camden Market, walking through Regent’s Park on the way. The crowds at Camden – ugh! So crowded that we sort of had to leave (more of my feeling-ill-ness, sigh) after not much time, although I don’t think either of them minded much. Not our style of stuff to buy, either!

After a detour to King’s Cross to pick up our train tickets to Paris, we decided to finally do the touristy stuff on our last day, and hopped a bus up to Trafalgar Square.

ysolda's sock does trafalgar square

We walked around a bit, then went up to Buckingham Palace, saw the Canada Gate, then took a nice walk along the Thames by the Houses of Parliament and finally into the Underground at Westminster station. Flickr Uploadr is being a little weird right now, so I’ll upload some more photos later!

More on Paris in another, probably lengthy, post!


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11 responses to “catching up – iknit!”

  1. Stacy Avatar

    Sounds like a great time. I love London!

  2. fleur Avatar

    So you’re in Paris right now? Where are you? Sorry, I didn’t get it right ;-)
    And what are you doing in France?
    (except the Pope I don’t see any event?)

  3. Alice from france Avatar

    What a trip! That’s great Laura!! But you should be exhausted! I will check tommorow your thoughts about Paris!

  4. Rita Avatar
    Rita

    I hope you will feel better when you eat some french food, thanks for all the pictures and stories. That is so nice of you, because it is really work and you are supposed to be on vacation. You even got in some knitting, hope you will find your #2’s. My husband is leaving in the morning for Spain, I can’t go because I am awaiting shoulder surgery( too much knitting and crocheting and sewing.) I hope to go to Europe next year, I was born in Switzerland, so I will go home first, and then travel around some. Love, Rita

  5. cici Avatar

    Thanks for sharing with us. So nice you got to hang with The Yarn Harlot. Hope take some time to rest a bit. I am sure you will find your #2’s in Paris.:D

  6. Christi Avatar

    Your European knitting adventure sounds so cool. I desperately wanted to find a way to get to iknit, but it just wasn’t in the cards. There is a talk of a UK trip sometimes between Christmas and February though, so maybe I can have my own knitting adventure!

  7. Cobbalicious Avatar

    Remember, yarn is light and cheap to mail. :)

  8. mooncalf Avatar

    It was knotanitter and me that pointed you in the right direction in the street. I was so busy dealing with competing giddy-fan-girl and polite-british-leave-the-nice-people-alone impulses that I wasn’t sure I’d conveyed any useful information at all. I was so relieved when I saw photos of you both at IKnit day appearing on people’s blogs!

    Glad you had a good time!

  9. Shameka Avatar

    Thanks for sharing your trip. That is such an amazing experience. Well, except for the needle breaking. Hmmm… can crazy glue fix it?
    By the way, what yarn are you using for that sock? It’s gorgeous. I have to have it. LOL!!! Those are my favorite colors.

  10. Alyssa Avatar

    Wishes she could have dinner with the Harlot!

    sounds like fun!

  11. Daveigh Avatar

    Gee wililrkes, that’s such a great post!

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