Thinking all things England....

It usually starts a few weeks before any of my planned trips to London...I start gearing my mind towards the UK. I normally tune my radio to BBC news broadcasts several times a week anyway but this goes WAY beyond that. Usually the first sign is when I dust off my copy of Bill Bryson's book Notes From A Small Island. To give you a bit of back ground, Bill Bryson is a Yank who grew up in the Midwest, visited the UK when he was 20 something, fell in love, married and raised his family there for 20 years. He has another great book about his move back to the US called The Lost Continent.... but that is a whole other story.
Bill Bryson's "day job" is writing for National Geographic magazine where is stories are extremely detailed and informative in keeping with the magazines format. But Bill's own books are a study in sarcasm, totally brilliant and a true study of the differences between the American and British cultures. I've read his books dozens of times. The very first time I read this book I remember actually laughing so hard out loud that I disturbed my children. I had such belly laughs that I couldn't physically read the book and had to resort to the audio taped version. I've since fell in love with audio books because you can enjoy them AND knit.

Then theirs music! I shocking realized a few years ago that my entire music collection is basically British. This is in keeping with my theory that God played a serious joke on me and planted me at birth on the "wrong side of the Pond" (aka the atlantic ocean).
So I start to pull out all of my beloved tunes...
First obvious choice...The Beatles...but then it continues to spiral out of control...
Herman's Hermits...H'enery the 8th
Jerry and the pacemakers "Ferry cross the Mercey"
The Rollings Stones
The Who
Trex
Led Zepplin
Queen
David Bowie
Sting
Van Morrison
Coldplay
And...when I pull out my collection of Scottish bagpipe tunes and start playing Scotland the Brave repeatedly, my husband steps in and usually says something to me.

Then there are TV shows!
I LOVE Netflix.com because I can get all the BBC shows that I love...
Vicar of Dibley
AbFab
Monarch of the Glen (Brian and I honeymooned in this manor house!)
MI5
Keen Eddie
As Time Goes By
Mr Bean
Monty Python
Black Adder
Wallace & Gromit
Faulty Towers
Are You Being Served?
Last Days of Summer Wine
All Creatures Great & Small

Next Installment...we'll talk about favorite Movies!

Rainy Day Bookstore Afternoon

I love to spend rainy afternoons in bookstores. Don't ask me why but they just seem to go together. It's been a year or so since my last trip to London so I thought it best to get an updated map and perhaps a new guidebook. There are a plethora of travel book choices for London so it does take some time to sort through all the offerings. Rick Steve's guidebook seemed to speak to me. Maybe it's because I've enjoyed his PBS Travel TV shows Rick Steve's Europe Through The Back Door. Maybe it's because I had the pleasure of meeting Rick a few years back at a travel conference. After a quick flip thru the pages I noted the usual maps and diagrams but this book included self-guided walks and even self guided tours of London's major museums and attractions. One of my favorite walks in London is a simple stroll along the Thames. I've done it dozens of times. As I read Rick's Bankside Walk suggestions I began to read about all the history I failed to grasp during my many trips along the river. I scurried to the check out and headed for home.

My husband Brian is addicted to my Banana nutty muffins. They are the mainstay of his work day breakfasts. The cooler weather today was the perfect opportunity to bake a few dozen ahead for our freezer. I certainly want our freezer to be well stocked "whilst" I'm in London.
While waiting for the first batch to be done I started into Rick's London Guide book.
I read quickly thru his introduction chapter...yeah, yeah, yeah...typical stuff I know from my trips to London...even noted a few things that I need to email Rick's publists about. The last page of Rick's introduction is titled Back Door Travel Philosophy. Here Rick shares his own humble opinions about being a world traveler. I whole heartedly agree with his opinions about travel being addictive and how globe-trotting destroys ethnocentricity.
BUT...I was very struck by his closing statements that I must share with you here...
Rick says travel changes people - "It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life....Their prized souvenirs are strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character. THE WORLD IS A CULTURAL YARN SHOP. And Back Door travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry.
Wow...Rick really gets it and said it best. Boy did I pick the best guide book for our London trip or what!

Tick Tock, knit knot

I know...I know...I promised last time around not to be such a stranger to this blog but time happens! I've been busy booking knitters for our Debbie Stoller Stitch N Beach Cruise.
I've also been chatting with knit lovers all over the far reaches of this planet trying to create some interesting knit trip itineraries for 2007. Did you know that there is an endangered flock of sheep that live on an island off the coast of Scotland. They live on the beach and their main food is a certain kind of seaweed that supposedly makes their wool incredibly soft...Who knew?
Or that men in Iceland used to give their sweethearts intricately carved knitting needles as a sign of their love and affection?
So many great places to visit and so little time!!!!
Off to knit...I'm diligently trying to finish my husband's Alice Starmore sweater.
Jeez I need more discipline in my life!

MIA & Lost photos.

OK, it's been a while and I apologize. I set this insane expectation on myself to always have a photo along with my blog...silly I know. I take the photos, and then family members do crazy things with the camera which results in lost time and no photos.
I did have some photos from the Phila knit and crochet show. One photo was of our lunch. Nine of us traveling on our London trip met at the Phila show and it was great fun! Somehow when I went to retrieve this photo I instead found dozens of shots of my husband's salt water aquarium. The show was fabulous! I took design classes with Gwen Bortner, Melissa Leapman and Lily Chin. All have their very own tricks and techniques to creating sweater patterns. As Lily uses the least amount of math, I used her ideas to FINALLY pattern a knit jacket out of my "honeymoon yarn". I PROMISE I'll post a photo of this soon...PROMISE as it turned out divine!

Since my last post, I also completed a 2000 mile road trip moving my youngest daughter home from her internship in West Palm Beach Florida. During her last day of work I had the time to visit several South Florida Yarn shops with with my new friend Joan Davis...a very talented crochet designer that I met at the Phila show. Joan brought me to two of the "Great Balls of Yarn" shops in Palm Beach and I felt right at home. First because the owner Robin is a local girl from Bethlehem PA and secondly because these shops carried all of Kraemer's yarns from our local yarn mill. Joan is just flashy and fabulous and I really enjoyed my day out with her!

Back at work, I've been finalizing all the travel details for our London Trip AND helped arrange
a fabulous cruise with Stitch & Bitch queen Debbie Stoller which is hosted by the Bonita Knitting Store of San Diego California. Also starting to work on 2007 itineraries so it's not like I haven't been busy!

What little free time I have, I've actually started some of my own designs. I have this grandiose idea of publishing a pattern book some day that relates to all of my travels. I will either shock myself or end up with a wet felted mess in my washer so stay tuned!