KnitWit

Under the arches #2

One of the selling points of my new flat was two old coal bunkers that had been refitted and made waterproof by the agents. We couldn't get over the time and care that the agents had taken over reclaiming these arches which had been bricked up for year — it seemed too good to be true, to be able to have your own "cavern" in central London. Obviously my cavern is destined to be a perfect craftroom, which I'm so excited about I can hardly believe! Over the last couple of years, I've really enjoyed looking at  photos of other people's studios, it can be really interesting and refreshing to see how other people arrange every day spaces.

The last couple of places I have lived, having my own craft room hasn't really been possible so I'm dusting down things I have bookmarked or written in notebooks and am enjoying spending time making it my own. We painted the floor with concrete paint, it is a joyous colour (egg blue — but I have to say concrete paint is really horrible and I'm sure toxic, so use it well ventilated or find a better alternative!). I am determined to use furniture that we have already or from freecycle so I think it is going to take a while to get it exactly how I want it, but I'm so happy with it so far.

Obviously to fully celebrate the room, you need bunting. So I finished up some bunting which I had started in February, the fabric is from Eric Carle's book, The Hungry Caterpillar and I love how bright and cheerful it is.

I hadn't made bunting before and this is quite rough and ready, I cut out the triangles with pinking shears and then used ribbon as the backing.

I also made a cushion for my chair. This was a simple design which I started on an afternoon sewing course in Dulwich and I'm quite pleased with it. The fabric is one of my favourite from Rowan, I think it is a Kaffe Fassett design called Paperweights.

Its very simple design but I'm pleased with it. I've decided the way to improve my sewing is just to keep doing it, some of the finishing might not be that good but over time I'm sure I'll get better at keeping in straight lines and its fantastic having space to be able to do this in! 

Tastes of autumn

It's a well known fact that I heart autumn but I've really noticed that my tastes have changed this year. While in the past, I was happy to eat ratatouille all year round, I really savoured my last batch as I'm aware that aubergine and courgettes won't taste as good again for a while. But more than that I have really been wanting food containing squashes, corn on the cob, carrots and kale. Alice's photos of her new vegbox have been haunting me, as have Katie and Kate's allotment shots and its the Flower and Produce Show on The Archers. It appears I am obsessed with autumnal produce and am itching to get my container kitchen garden up and running so I can have my own veggies next year. I like to think that I will become south-east London's Alys Fowler ;)

Today, my meals have all included foods that I think taste of autumn. (As I write this, I can smell a bonfire, whoot!)

Breakfast

Plum jam on toast. I made the jam last week from this recipe which I can vouch for as being excellent. I hadn't made jam before, marmalade and chutney had been the extent of my endeavours so this was new ground for me.  I used two punnets of plums, no vanilla, and made one and half jars which tastes lovely and gives me a boost every morning on my toast. (It won't last long, I may have to freeze more plums)

Lunch
My first batch of soup for ages, Potage Bonne Femme by Elizabeth David, I love how luxurious it tastes when it is so easy to make and basically carrots, potatoes, leeks and stock with a touch of creme fraiche. It is probably a bit wintery for today but I really fancied it and will take leftovers to work which is always a bonus. Also even though I think it translates as Housewife's soup, I do love the idea that this is soup for the good women because I think good women always deserve excellent soup! 

Finally, dinner — apple crumble!
For the last few weeks, I have been (virtually) skipping to the farmers market for the last couple of weeks on an apple quest. Every week there seems to be new varieties available at farmers market and I have been sampling them all. All my apples come from Chegworth Valley who are opening a shop (in Notting Hill naturally), and are either organic or apples from land that is still in conversion. Most of all, it makes me very happy that they are a range of sizes and tastes from sharp small red apples to lovely Coxs. I always come away with a pick and mix selection and then get surprised at work with the variety of tastes and textures. Like many people, I like the section of Little Women where Jo is sitting in the attic, reading and eating a bag of apples and I'm determined that one day soon, I'm going to find me a sunny spot and read a trashy novel with apples on the side. Anyway, that was a long way of saying, I made crumble and it was tasty.

Completely unrelated: I went to see Emiliana Torrini last weekend at the Southbank and she was great. It is safe to say that previously I had been an unbeliever and thought she would be quite wispy and annoying, but she was really funny and witty and excellent live. Listen to her latest album, "Me and Armini"; I love the optimism of "Big Jumps" and defy anyone not to wiggle their hips to "Jungle Drum".

Exploring

When I returned from my holiday, I decided that exploring my local patch was a top priority and I have been busy keeping a mental list of suitable South East London Adventures. Over the bank holiday I had a perfect long weekend pottering around and ticking a few things off my list.

I started off at The Deptford Project. In an old railway yard, it is a cafe in a 1960s converted train carriage. Apparently the site was London's first suburban railway station dating from 1836 but now it is part of a larger regeneration plan for the area with a small craft market (and I think it will also get an art gallery in the future).

I was expecting it to be über-trendy and not really my scene but I thought the train cafe was simply fabulous, I absolutely loved it. The whole place was bright and shiny with lovely airy interior and decking area with palm trees, and a toilet in a shed that was homage to Elvis! But it was the interior that I loved most; there were locally made lampshades, tea cups used as sugar bowls, brown sauce in unlabelled bottles and amazing seats.

The stools had different messages that were cheekily inviting people to sit down and the sofa was kitschly covered in collaged tea towels. I would love to try this at home if I discover a sofa on freecycle and have a surfeit of tea towels.

Its really worth a visit if you are in the area, the breakfasts were really tasty (but they also do really good cakes and salads) and they source ingredients locally with their own free-range chickens and sustainable coffee. They have recently launched a new craft market (they are on the look out for more stallholders) and they are using the space for different projects, when we visited it was local city farm including piglets and pygmy goats. (I do love a goat, I spent a lot of time at Woolfest this year making friends with them.)

Also on our travels we visited Arch materials (next to the Arch Gallery) which was a lovely shop selling all manner of oil pastels and art paper. 

Next stop was The Laban Centre for contemporary dance, which was designed by the same people as the Tate Modern/Bankside power station renovation. It is a lovely building which I had long admired from the train, so it was nice to see in person. I have earmarked the cafe as a spot for a future trip, as it looked like it was doing a roaring trade in soup and sandwiches. I particularly liked the geometric grassy hillocks outside.

We then walked into Greenwich (checking out local libraries, swimming pools and cycling shops) and then walked back up Royal Hill where discovered some excellent local shops. Royal Hill is home to the Greenwich Union pub (the tap of the local Meantime brewery), which serves excellent fruit beers. However I also discovered a row of shops I'd never noticed before including florists, cheese shop, butchers and fishmongers. The Creaky Shed, the fantastically named greengrocers had the most fantastic display outside and I'll definitely be cycling down here to buy food from them in the future.

Finally, we had an afternoon cuppa at the Royal Teas which is small but vibrant. (Apparently there has been some recent controversy so they can't serve the vegetarian food they used to.) Good stop for tea and cake with community noticeboard and the papers. The bird clock, in particular, caught my eye — I think it is a decal with clock face overlaid.

It was really nice discovering how Deptford and Greenwich linked together and find new places that are close to my house. The Royal Teas and Creaky Shed were also members of the wedge card which reminded me that I should join up to support local shops and traders.

FO: Pom Cosy

Tea is one of my most favourite things. It's a bit of recurring theme with my friends and family - there are few things I love more than afternoons with a pot of tea with lovely people and quality conversation. This afternoon I'm meeting up with some of my top girlfriends to quaff tea, help plan a veggie patch in my friend's back yard and make some lists of things to do before we all turn thirty. 

I started this cosy in January as a housewarming gift for my lovely friend Sonya. However, while I managed to finish the sides and sew it up quite quickly, it did languish in various parts of my house for months until I got round to making the pompoms (and overcame my desire to keep the it for myself!). The pattern was from the same book as the Sheep, I am very pleased with the finished result. When parcelled up with some chocolate buttons from Greensmiths, Sonya was also quite chuffed. One of the reasons I like it is that before poms were added, it did look very like a sea anemone: I see more anemone/sea urchin cosies appearing in the future...

I knit it in Sirdar Click. While I don't usually knit with acrylic, I did want something very washable. I bow to the very sensible advice from Abby, Annabel and Ellen who helped me buy the wool: I think it helped to create a nice springy effect and I liked the effect of the floats on the inside.

All details are ravelled here.

If you haven't already seen it, I thoroughly recommend Kate's marvellous post on tea and the
exploitation of female knitters on Shetland. Well worth a read.

Rogue

This fine sunflower greeted me this morning on my way into work, springing up from the scrub ground to add a spot of sunshine to the middle of the Elephant and Castle* roundabout.This has pleased me greatly and I like to think that someone may have planted them there on purpose. I'm now going to do a regular detour pass the sunflower so I can monitor progress.

*It has to be said that while I was distinctly sniffy about working near E&C to begin with over time it is growing on me...

Beyond living memory

"My subject is war and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity."
—Wilfred Owen


(Photo taken at Berwick church, Sussex as part of anti-war mural)

Tomorrow the last remaining UK veteran of the first world war, Harry Patch, will be buried in Wells Cathedral. The former plumber was conscripted into the army aged 18 and was the last remaining survivor of the battle of Passchendaele in 1917. I found it very moving that on returning from war, Patch didn't talk about his experiences for 80 years. He gave an interview in 1998, realising he was one of the last living links to the war.

While I was at school I became very interested in the poets of the first world war, and in particular Wilfred Owen — the quote above was stuck on my bedroom wall for many years. I am quite a militant pacifist (if there is such a thing) and I appreciate this is a difficult point of view for a lot of people — certainly it has led to difficult conversations with friends over the years but I'm sure that this interest in the first world war has instilled a deep belief in the pointlessness of war which has never gone away.

Thinking about the variety of different ways writers and artists have tried to communicate the horror of this war, I am always struck by the inadequacy of language to convey how horrific the experience must have been and the scale of losses suffered. The battle of Passchendale is a case in point: 325,000 allied casualties and over 260,000 Germans were killed. Over 99 days in battle, an average of 3,000 British troops were killed, wounded, or captured daily. (By contrast, in Iraq 4,330 US soldiers have been killed since the war started in 2003). In the end, the battle ended just five miles beyond the starting point. For me, that just doesn't seem like enough of a win.

One thing that struck a chord with me when I watched interview footage with Harry Patch as part of his
obituary, was the lack of animosity as he described how the Germans "suffered the same as we did" —  full of humanity and compassion for those involved. And although I can vividly imagine Septimus Smith in Mrs Dalloway, Prior in Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, feel like I was wading through the mud with the horses in Warhorse and listen to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, there isn't anything quite like hearing from an ordinary man who was there. 

Thom Yorke heard an emotional interview with Harry Patch on the Radio 4's Today programme which had profound effect on him. Radiohead wrote a tribute to Patch which has been released today on the Radiohead website. It's available for £1 and all proceeds go to the Royal British Legion. On the Radiohead blog he 'hopes the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.' I think it does but it isn't for faint hearted; it had me crying into my peppermint tea on first listen. Harry Patch had 80 years to think of the way to describe his experiences and for me I cannot think of a better way to talk about it then these simple words.

Harry Patch (In Memory Of)

I am the only one that got through
The others died where ever they fell
It was an ambush
They came up from all sides
Give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
I've seen devils coming up from the ground
I've seen hell upon this earth
The next will be chemical but they will never learn

Further reading: This article in the Guardian about cultural remembrance of the first world war is very interesting

The Farmers Market

One of the best things about moving to Blackheath (of which there are many and I am bound to bore your pants off with them), is the farmer's market. While not as huge as the Oxford Farmer's Market or as comprehensive as the Covered Market, it is a lovely weekly treat for me. Every Sunday there is a lovely selection of veggies, fruit, plants and flowers. I can feel myself creating excuses for why I need to be in the area every Sunday morning. Over the last few weeks I have developed an obsession with dahlias of which the lovely red beauties above are my latest haul.

This week it was a fairly bumper week of purchases, partly because I was cooking lunch for five, but mainly because there was so much amazing produce on sale — including yellow courgettes, plums and chillis. Since moving I have stopped my veggie box, which has made me realise that it is easy to fall into a vegetable rut. So this week I deliberately bought things I wouldn't usually choose, like globe artichokes, to experiment with.

Although I have been visiting my beloved for the best part of four years here, I haven't felt like a "regular" until just recently; I have finally started enjoying banter with the stallholders about my purchases, and I'm becoming excited about new foods as they come into season. This week, it was the first Discovery apples, and they look and taste mighty fine.

Under the arches #1

Leake Street, underneath Waterloo Station, was a place I had passed by many times until I heard about it through publicity for the Banksy exhibition there a couple of years ago. The tunnel is a free space for street artists to do their thing, free from legal constraints. I often nip through it when I'm in the area to look at the ever changing display and enjoy the mix of simple tags, more complicated murals (and the smell of spray paint).

Yesterday I Knit had organised a spot of "gritting" in the tunnel promising to be 'a fusion of can and craft' and despite the rain, I wasn't disappointed, there were mushrooms and snails springing up from the concrete, poms covering the fence and my particular favourites, a Banksy Style Rat and spray cans.

Then it was on to the Urban Village Fete in Bar Story under Peckham Rye station, to visit the lovely Loumms stall.

The Fete was small but perfectly formed, with interesting stalls, DJs and a laid back atmosphere.
I would definitely like to try the bar on a Saturday night or for a chilled out Sunday with knitting and the papers. I really liked the Bobbie and Lola stall which featured excellent notepads and cards made from recycled paper/cardboard - I bought several notecards and a notebook made from old cake mix packets. I am also now a proud owner of a 'Grow Your Own Soup kit' from Loumms and I'm really looking forward to getting my rocket, basil, spinach and watercress seeds on the go!

Cheers!

The Fourth Plinth

*Warning! Contains gratuitous Archers segue*

After work I went to Trafalgar Square to see Marian Cinnamond on the Plinth. Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth project has been running for a week but is set to run for 100 days (until October time) and will feature 2,500 people over this time period. Tonight seemed to be knitting night because although plinthers had been randomly chosen, two knitters were featuring and Iknit had organised a knit around the Plinth.

I have to confess that I am slightly obsessed with the idea of the Plinth - I love the social aspect to it and I have found myself quite frequently wondering who is on it at various moments. I'm loving the range of the different things people are choosing to do, like raise awareness of a particular organisation, cooking food or having a tea break. I'm very jealous that one of my co-workers has a space on the Plinth although he is having no truck with my attempts of trying to teach him to knit. There is still time to knit a flower for Anne Makepeace going up on the Plinth on Sunday 26th July so I might just have to be content my doing that!

(And as I can't keep The Archers out of any discussion of the Plinth, I did think that although the contest for the Ambridge Plinth did start off in an inspired fashion with Jill Archer baking bread at height, the culmination on Sunday of Gormley opening the fete and Joe Grundy as the Angel of Ambridge was a tad disappointing I feel).

Anyway, we trundled along and knitted and got some slightly strange looks but had a lovely time nevertheless. Marian knitted with aplomb and also drank tea out of cup & saucer which was fab. Hurrah for knitters! 

Liz and Felix were there with Brenda Dayne. It was very nice to meet Brenda (despite not being an avid Cast On fan) and we somehow got on to a discussion about strawbale building. I have a secret desire to build a strawbale house and Brenda shares my enthusiasm.  As she is currently living in Wales and being active in searching for land I suspect she might be in a better position to make it a reality some time soon but nevertheless it was a lovely discussion. 

For strawbale inspiration, for people interested:
- North Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire is the first local authority in the UK to use straw bales to construct social housing which I think is very exciting.
- Ben Law's amazing and beeeeutiful woodland house in Grand Designs can be seen here.  (It always makes me cry this episode)

(Liz and Brenda working it for the camera!)

We also had a discussion on knitting community and my militant public knitter views were exposed. (If it is possible to be such a thing) I have always felt strongly that knitting has a social role and I have always loved the way that with knitting, discussions across a wide range of topics (from personal, political & technical questions) intersect with projects and conversations almost seen knitted into the fabric of the knitting. I did get quite indignant when a local cafe owner argued that the knitting group would be better suited to a community centre rather than a busy, public cafe. For me, I love the reclamation of knitting from a largely private, domestic sphere and drafty community halls where it is too easy to ignore,to be a more visible social activity and it was nice to be able to celebrate this on a sunny evening in Trafalgar Square.

A-sides, besides and seasides

There's been a lot going on over the last few months — two weddings of people very dear to me, a holiday to my most favourite place, a new job, a new flat and a fest of wool. Much excitement and lots of time spent with some of my most favourite people. But also lots of changes to digest and some much needed time out.

I've read some books, done a modest amount of knitting, walked, paddled and eaten some tasty food. I'm sure lots of stories will feature here over the next couple of weeks while I find my feet but for now I shall leave you with a photo and a few of the things that I have been enjoying over the past few months...

- David Attenborough's Life Stories - Lovely short histories of animals and plants, I loved the one about sloths particularly.
- My new flat (more on that story later...) and becoming a regular London bus knitter!
- Florence and the Machine - my latest band crush, listen to Rabbit Heart loud and the drums sound so good (Raise it up!)
- River Cottage Spring - I still *heart* Hugh and they had a evening where they had to make food for the cafe using leftovers which I thought was just so good.
- Landshare, which I think is a really inspiring way of linking communities together through the sharing of land and growing of food.