London, baby!: Wednesday

Wednesday was a busy, busy day. It was a day for

Sightseeing, boutique shopping and yarn groping!

We started out the day with yet another hearty breakfast, and then bought tickets with a tourist sightseeing bus company thing. They had stops all over central London, with either a live commentary or a recorded one. Then you drove around London, saw the main sights and got some small snippets of information on the way. It was lots of fun, and I really enjoyed the odd bits of info: like why the buildings have so many chimneys. Apparently, each room had a fireplace a long time ago (1800-something?) and they all had their individual flues. We also saw places were some of the Beatles had lived and written songs, and the guide also marked places where London had burnt down in 1666. It was very interesting!

We got off near Waterloo station in search for the first yarn shop of the day: iKnit. I have to admit that I wasn’t very fond of the neighbourhood – maybe because it was so different from what we’d previously seen. We actually passed the shop once before we found it, and I think we only found it because I saw some baskets of yarn and thought “Huh, there’s yarn! … wait. That’s iKnit!” – but that was mainly due to me not being able to find my way round. ;)

iKnit has been hyped a lot. A LOT. So I was very, very excited to visit! I had this idea that dad could get a pint while I was looking around. I forgot to take a picture of the storefront, but dad took a picture of me browsing the store:

I have to admit another thing: I was a bit disappointed with iKnit. This picture might not show it, but I wasn’t very impressed with their stock. They did have some nice yarn, but I guess I was just expecting … more. I found it a bit dark and cramped; furniture in the middle of the shop took up a lot of floor space, and mannequins were blocking a lot of the yarn I wanted to see. I think I was also expecting a bit more high-end yarn? I don’t know. I did leave with some nice stuff though!

The new Knit.1 magazine. I knew I wanted to get this while in London because it costs almost twice as much to get it shipped to Denmark, and there are some really cute tops in here. Like the Leaf Yoke Top, the Tie Back Shell or the Short Sleeve Pullover (which I would make in a wool yarn instead of cotton). There’s not much substance to Knit.1, though, compared to IK. I mean, the articles are shorter and they’re a bit bleh. Quickly read, not much content. But the patterns are nice.

A skein of Manos Clasica in colour “Limpopo”. I bought this a bit on a whim, not sure what to make with it.. Perhaps a hat or a cowl? I just fell in love with the colour, I think it’s gorgeous! It’s also softer than I thought it would be. I could make a sweater of this stuff!

Finally, a skein of Knitwitches Seriously Gorgeous Laceweight Kidsilk in colour “Seamist”. The label says approx. 600 yards, Ravelry says 650. I was thinking I could use it for any pattern that uses 3 skeins of Kidsilk Haze – there are some pretty lace tees out in Ravelry Land for that kind of yardage! :) It’s very soft and slightly semi-solid (I think). It was a bit pricey, £17, but I like it a lot.

So that was iKnit. I might go back for a second look next time I’m in London. The staff was very nice, pretty much left me alone to browse, so nothing against them at all! It just wasn’t what I expected, considering all the hype it’s been getting. Oh well.

We went back on the bus and drove to Covent Garden where we got some ice cream and looked at the small shops there. We stopped by the Tea House, I got a tiny round tea sieve and some English Afternoon blend. I haven’t tried it yet (need to wash off my teapot) but it smells really nice. I had trouble deciding on a blend since I know nothing about tea. I almost went for a peppermint blend, but figured I could just get that at home if I want.

Covent Garden was very cozy; I almost stopped by L’Occitane (I LOVE their products, you can’t get them in Denmark) but figured I wanted to spend some money at Loop as well. I have a habit of buying shower gels when on holiday, and then it takes me 6 months to use it up because I don’t want to use it, you know, because it’s like a souvenir… Which is why I shouldn’t go on holiday very often, or my bathroom will overflow with shower products. I have some cherry blossom shower gel that I bought in Paris (March/April last year) that I still haven’t used. It’s ridiculous.

 After Covent Garden we took the tube to visit Loop and the restaurant Ottolenghi nearby. And can I just say how much more I like Loop than iKnit? The selection was much better (not perfect, but no yarn shop is…), the staff were super-friendly and chatty, and while the shop is small it didn’t seem dark or cramped. There was even a chair outside on the deck where my dad could sit while I browsed the store!

A nice American woman commented on my Icarus, and her and the guy in the store (Stephen? Stephan?) touched it and asked what yarn I’d used and said it was lovely. I always get embarrassed and self-conscious when I get that kind of attention from other knitters, so I never even saw the face of the woman and could only stutter “wool-silk. Zephyr.” and “… getting kind of worn…”. And flush. But it felt awesome having other people comment your knitting skillz!

I did not buy the Amber book I’m holding in the picture. I almost did, but I decided on another book, “Knitting Socks On The Road” by Nancy Bush.

Another book I’ve been wanting to buy for years. I think I may have been able to save a pound by buying it online, but oh well! There are so many pretty patterns, and I’m thinking of a Nancy Bush sock-marathon kind of thing – knitting one pair of socks from this book per month. Or something like that. The next sock knitting book I’m getting is her “Vintage Socks” collection!

As mentioned, I really liked the yarn selection at Loop. They had some awesome, awesome stuff. And I didn’t find any of it overpriced at all (iKnit took £10 for a skein of Malabrigo Lace, Loop only charges £8… and I’ve bought it on Ravelry for £6.50, but Loop’s price seems to be the norm), which was nice. I often find that real-life knitting shops seem a bit pricey. The yarn I bought at loop was Alpaca Silk in colour “Peacock”:

Three skeins for Delphine from French Girl Knits (and the book excerpt in IK). I’m a bit nervous about the sizing of the garment, but perhaps if I go up a needle size it’ll fit. The middle size (35″) seems way too big for a lacy garment for me, and the smallest size (27.5″) seems way too small. Has anyone made this that can shed some light? I can’t wait to knit with this yarn, it feels luscious! They even wound it for me, and I would’ve had all my yarn wound (that I bought there) if I didn’t feel guilty for leaving my dad outside for so long. ;)

Two skeins of Malabrigo Worsted (ooooh!) in “Polar Morn” for Laura Chau’s Just Enough Ruffles. The picture doesn’t quite show it, but it has a pink tinge to it. Very pretty! I was very excited to see they had so many colours in stock, but I settled on just two skeins (though I could’ve bought a tub full!). It’s soft, just like everyone says, and I can’t wait to knit with it! It was also cheaper than I thought (£8.99) so that was a pleasant surprise!

Finally, I got:

a skein of Handmaiden Casbah in colour “Hemlock”. I got this almost solely for the name, the rest for the colour. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and I don’t think I’ll be making socks with this. This might be one of those ’special skeins’ that you pull out now and again, but don’t know what to make out of because it’s so pretty that you don’t want to spoil it with a bad pattern.

After Loop we went to Ottolenghi, which I thought was a bit pretentious. The food was fine, if very ‘new wave healthy living’ -ish. Very minimalistic decor, and I felt they were trying a bit too hard. But then maybe I just don’t understand that kind of restaurant! We went back to Covent Garden for the rest of the bus tour, but by that time the weather had turned grey and windy, and while on the bus it started to rain. I enjoyed the rest of the ride, even if it was hard to take pictures (like Big Ben, which was smaller than I’d imagined), but when we came home I was feeling quite sick. We ate at the hotel restaurant that night because I didn’t want to wander around Soho looking for a place to eat. I’m glad we did because if we’d gone out I would surely have caught a cold! The food was great though, and our waiter was new, I think – he dropped things occasionally and forgot to ask how I wanted my lamb. I sympathised with him – it’s always hard being the new guy (or girl).

All in all Wednesday was a lovely day, and I loved visiting yarn shops. We only got to visit those two, as Socktopus didn’t open until 3 p.m. during the week and Stash had pretty much the same as I could get at Loop and iKnit (with the excemption of Dream in Color, which I would’ve liked to take a look at!).

And I have to say, you should visit Loop. I’m sure iKnit is great, it just wasn’t the day I visited. Perhaps they were low on stock, or having a slow day, or whatever. But Loop was magnificent. I loved it there, and I’ll definitely spend money there again, also in their online shop! I have my eyes on some Hiya Hiya needles and some bamboo yarn…