Wednesday

Day 3. Today dawned bright and sunny. I prayed the sun would hold out for a while and it did. It was gorgeous all day long. The weather had predicted rain for the rest of the week, so I was really blessed that I had such a wonderful day. And what a wonderful day! I spent waaayyyy too much money on clothes and yarn. Oops! I figured that I was not going to let my natural restraint take hold. I usually talk myself out of buying things for myself (except yarn), but I saw things that I never see anywhere at home. Ok, I don’t look for them, but I bought a fun sweater that was completely impulsive. It was ₤29.99. That doesn’t seem like much for such a cute sweater. I bought boots for ₤40.00 and gloves for ₤9.99. I was looking for the boots and gloves. I also bought 4 pasha mina scarves and a plaid scarf for Rex. I’m going to have to stay away from Oxford Road. I discovered Selfridges, a huge store with wonderful things. The kitchen section had these cool cutting boards and sieves in great colors that fold flat for storage. The same designer, Joseph Joseph http://www.josephjoseph.com/ made a pump whisk, and a pump potato masher. Innovative! I loved the window displays at this store. Gee, I wonder why? ;)

  

The yarn shop, Loop, www.loopknitting.com is in Islington, a cute little arts district northeast of the center of town. Loop is a teeny, tiny store. I missed it when I first walked down the street. It was standing room only. Check out the picture from their web site. That’s pretty much it. No comfy couches to sit and knit awhile, unless that’s downstairs. It looked to me like it was the storeroom. Despite that, I got some great yarns and the shopkeeper was great. I heard her talking to another patron about moving in June or July. I hope the new space will give them  room to grow. I loved the way she decorated the shop, hanging handspun yarns in the window and piled on the mantelpiece. I will definitely visit again if I come back to London.

I got 3 skeins of beautiful yummy yarn. Two of them I probably could have gotten in the States, although I have never seen them in person or been able to pet them before. One Be Sweet Magic Ball in the Oceans color way and

Handmaiden Laced Silk in a lovely blue.
The Be Sweet profits go to a good cause anyway. http://www.besweetproducts.com.

The other skein is The Knitting Goddess. www.theknittinggoddess.co.uk. It is a purpley blue. The shopkeeper asked if I was going to combine the three skeins because all the colors look great together. I hadn’t thought about it, but I might. So far I don’t have plans for these skeins. I know, dangerous. They could sit in the stash for a while before I figure it out. I just couldn’t resist. I also bought a Knit Kit which I had been wanting for quite a while. All your tools in one place. Perfect for travel.

I had to hurry back because we had tickets for We Will Rock You, a musical featuring the music of Queen and a tribute to Freddy Mercury. We had a great time. If you’re in London you’ve got to go see it.