Harlot Saturday

First, the latest shawl for the Wrapped in Care project. This one a lovely mixture of colours, remarkably subtle for such a budget purchase. The pattern is simply that basic triangle, with moss stich on alternate chevrons to give some textural interest. I hope it does give some comfort to the recipient.

On Saturday, to London to the i-Knit event in Westminster, to hear Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee, the Yarn Harlot. I have been amazed by her posts on London in the last few days. How many of us could hit the National Gallery, jet-lagged, exhausted and basically lost, and write so well and with such relish about the paintings there? The times I have visited galleries while abroad and been already footsore and past it before I even reached the art-works. Venice, now, is as she describes, an unexpected treasure at every turn, but who would see London in that way?

So, her talk was a delight, her accent and delivery slow and warm. Knowing her audience obviously helped, as it must have done over all those other dates on the tour, but she was funny and serious, not the easiest combination to manage. And the audience! Looking along the row it seemed like everyone in the place took out their work in progress and knit through the talk. Where else would that happen? Yet how many meetings and courses might be vastly improved if it were the norm? Someone was even spinning with a drop spindle - this seemed a bit extreme, as the range of movement required was wider.

The mittens I knit that day, one during that talk.

With me at the fair was my sister. We found just watching the crowd fascinating: the range of hand-knits on display. Always a fine line, that one, even at a knitting event. Large shawls may once have been universal female dress, as in Mitchell and Kenyon's films of factory workers coming off shift, but what messages do they send on a wet Saturday in September in broad daylight? Small shawls seemed like the way to go, not least because the price of lace-weight never fails to astound.