cordeliaknits

It's been a bit crazy around here...and around other, undisclosed locations!
I was away this past weekend interviewing and preaching, but I can't say where! Let's just say it was a beautiful, fun and exhausting weekend, and I would love to have good news (and more specifics) to share with you soon!
I'll be off again this weekend at a different church interview...when it rains, it pours!
Today I feel like doing a bit of sewing...maybe something to decorate my new office? ( I Believe in the Power of Positive Crafting)
More pics to come, as I know I've kept you waiting too long!

I'm home!

Just a quick post to say that we got home last night, had a good long sleep, and are in the midst of laundry, unpacking, yard work, and kitty loving! I was doing well until a few minutes ago, when I started to crash...guess I didn't dodge the jet-lag after all!

I'll continue with my England pictures in my next post, but for now, here's a shot of my beautiful Deacon, who has been super cuddly and sweet since I got back.  (right now he's squished up against me, purring and kneading--such a lover!)

Lately, he loves to pose on the deck, like the supermodel he is.  I'm happy to be home with sun, kitties, and my own bed, and relieved we didn't run into any volcanic ash issues on our journey home!

Stitching in England

Knitting Crocheting on the train to York!  No, I haven't completely defected over to the dark side, but I do like to flex my crochet skills every now and then, just so I remain an expert at most things fiber-related!

I do love trains in Europe.  I love to sit at a table with coffee and crafts and reading material and music and whatever else I want to spread out with while I look out of the window and enjoy the view.  It's so much more civilized than flying.

I'm playing with a shell bookmark pattern, crocheted in Malabrigo Merino Worsted and a fairly chunky crochet hook.  It will make a cute scarf, I think, if I have enough yarn.  I was thinking of teaching a class with this pattern at my lys.  It shouldn't be too hard for an intermediate or advanced beginner, and I like the way it's working up in the variegated yarn.

Last night I finished a pair of Turkish Bed Socks that I intend to wear with my Dansko clogs.  (no pic yet, as I finished them right before bed)  Unfortunately, my gauge was off on the second sock, so that one is a bit too big.  Hopefully they will still be wearable, considering they are the first pair of socks I've made in years!

I used Shibui Sock in the Dragonfly colorway, which I adore (both the yarn and the color, that is).  I think I need to knit a sweater in that color, but definitely in one of their worsted weight yarns!

Where's Waldo?

Greenwich trip on the Thames

For some reason, every pic I took of Liz the other day has her looking very skeptical.  Hmm.  This was on the boat to Greenwich, which we did on Saturday.  It was a cold and dreary day, which is probably pretty common around here, but we were determined to have a fun time on the Thames, which we did, despite the look on Liz's face!

Seriously!

There are funky painted elephants all over London right now.  This one was at an entrance to the Greenwich Market, where we found a gift for our cat sitter, one for Little C, and one for me--A super cute purse with apples on it!

I have about twenty pictures of the Tower Bridge, and no patience to sit and edit them right now to find the best one, so here's one that represents the cold, gray day pretty well.

For some reason, when we got off the boat after our Greenwich jaunt, everybody was in costume.  We liked these Army Guys the best, but I was too shy to ask to take my picture with them!

It was a lovely little trip, with just the right amount of shopping, pub sitting, people watching and cold river cruising.  By the time we got back to the hotel, though, we were so cold and tired, we could only muster up enough energy to order Indian food to be delivered and watch strange British comedy.

Pictures from the V&A

Guess what?!  I got my camera battery charged!!  I finally found a camera shop (surprisingly much harder to find one than one would expect!), and explained my problem.  I thought maybe I could just buy a new battery, but they explained that a new battery wouldn't be charged either.  But then, the very nice man said if I would leave my battery there, they would just charge it for me with one of their chargers...so I did, and came back two hours later for my fully charged battery, FOR FREE!  It was such a nice surprise that I didn't have to spend any money to solve my problem, and it's been great to be able to take pictures again!

 

I spent the day at the V&A yesterday, which is one of my favorite places to go in London.  I will be going back again to see the special Quilt show(!), but yesterday I just visited the collections, wandering happily all over the place, snapping pictures and dodging noisy groups of children with cute accents.

Some of the things they have are pretty amazing.  How did they even get these columns inside?!

Another lovely thing about yesterday (though how could it get much better than a day to myself wandering around London?), was that it was the first mostly sunny day we've had here so far.  See that beautiful blue sky?  When I was done with the museum for the day, I took a long walk in Kensington, enjoying the weather, then took the tube a few stops away, looked in some shops, and then had a piece of cake and a glass of wine at a little gay cafe so I could have a peaceful knitting session.

Whew.  So much more to share, including some things I can't share, but would like to (there's been some exciting stuff on the job front, but I'm not allowed to talk about it!), and things that I just won't have time to share, and unfortunately didn't get pictures of.  So that's it for now.  I promise to take more pictures today and blog again soon.

Good News: I'm in London!

Bad News: My camera battery is dead and I forgot the charger.

Aargh!