Time flies!

Blimey! Where did the last week go? It just whooshed by! I've been meaning to tell you about our trip to London all week, but just haven't managed it until now. We had a lovely weekend. The weather was fabulous, cold but sunny, so we wrapped up warmly, and packed in loads! We visited the Imperial War Museum, and spent a couple of hours totally engrossed in the World War 2 section. There's a beautiful knitted dress on display that belonged to a little girl who came to England on the Kindertransport. She was probably dressed in her best clothes when she left her homeland to escape persecution. Very poignant, but I guess that the fact her dress is there, meant that she must have made it to safety too. Mr Josiekitten bought me this postcard.....

I bet the yarn that was used then was rather itchy! Not like the lovely, soft, squishy skeins we are spoilt with today. Outside the museum, we saw a piece of the Berlin Wall.

After a rather yummy sausage sandwich lunch, we headed into the centre of London, to Trafalgar Square, and visited the National Portrait Gallery. I especially loved looking at all the portraits of Henry VIII and his family. Having taught the Tudors for several years, and used postcards of these portraits with the children, it was brilliant to see them up close.

We called in at Loop, so Mr Josiekitten left me there and went off to seek out a pint! The shop was tiny, and there were loads of people in there, which made it hard to really get a close look at all the yarns. I did fondle some rather lovely Blue Sky organic cotton, but there was nowhere to sit and browse through patterns. I guess I was tired, as I normally wouldn't pass on an opportunity to buy yarn, but I left the shop empty handed, and met up with Mr JK before he'd even found a pub! On Sunday, we headed back in to London. I knitted on the Underground, and was an object of interest, particularly to youngish women. Maybe they are the generation that missed out on learning how to knit? We went back to Trafalgar Square, this time visiting the National Gallery. We took an audio-tour and visited the 'main' works of art. Again, incredible to see paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Constable, Turner, Monet, Seurat, Van Gogh......... the list is endless. I hope that the people of London realise just how lucky they are, having all these museums and galleries on their doorstep, with no entry charge! After lunch we went to the Shaftsbury Theatre to watch the matinee performance of Hairspray. Brilliant!

School has been hectic this week, and I haven't had a lot of time for knitting. I've finished the first of Charlotte's purple socks, and have knitted past the heel on the 2nd, so they should be done in time for her birthday next weekend. I've also finished my 'Heart' for the Valentine's swap that I'm taking part in, but I can't post any pictures until my swappee has received her parcel. Here's sock number one, just so that I've shown you something woolly this post!

Henrycat is back to his old self again now, thank goodness. He went for a check up at the vet's this week, and had put on 1 kilo in just 7 days! If he carries on at that rate, he'll have to join the fat cats' diet class there! He is much more chunky and solid now, and back to his normal weight.

I must just share with you my latest purchase. I blame Ozzy Blackbeard entirely! I noticed on her blog that she'd bought a lovely buttony mug. I wanted one too! So I went in search and found out that you can have mugs, jugs and teapots too! I'm making do with a mug at the moment. Anyone fancy a cuppa? See you soon.