Yesterday Mr JK and I got up at some unearthly hour to catch the train to London. We were going to meet some friends who were visiting the UK from France for the New Year. I had some knitting for the journey - I decided to tackle one of my New Year's resolutions head on, and cast on for a blanket. A few years ago, when I started knitting again, I fell in love with the bright colours of Noro yarn, and started buying odd balls of Silk Garden. I originally wanted to make a Lizard Ridge blanket, but found it tricky knitting from both ends of the ball. My knitting kept getting into one almighty tangle. I then switched to the Ten Stitch Blanket, but wasn't happy about how my knitting looked at the join. I browsed on Ravelry, found the Noro group and made my way through the list of blanket suggestions. My final choice was 64 Crayons. It's knit in strips, using two balls of Noro yarn. I chose a mainly green ball and a mainly purple ball for my first strip and soon got started. It's knit in 1x1 rib, but as the rows are quite short, it isn't too tedious. Here's how my first strip is coming along.
Even if I get odd places where the colour stripes are fairly similar, I don't think it's going to matter too much, as the overall blanket is going to be very stripy! My friend Kim has a stash of Noro Kureyon yarn, so we are going to cheer each other on across the Pond to get our blankets knit this year. I will keep you posted on its progress through the coming months.
It was a beautiful crsip winter's morning in London - blue skies and sunshine. We walked through St James's Park to get to Piccadilly, the start of the New Year's Day parade.
Crossing the Mall, we had to wait for the Guards to pass us on horseback, on their way down to Whitehall. I just love all these traditions, it makes me proud to be British!
The parade was a huge mixture of marching bands and floats. There were lots of different riders on horseback......
....... pearly Kings and Queens from various London boroughs..........
........ Morris dancers ..........
...... stilt walkers .......
......flamboyant costumes .....
....... and balloons!
After a late lunch, we walked alongside the Thames towards Tower Bridge. The Shard looked magnificent in the late afternoon light.
Tower Bridge is such an impressive construction.
It looks even more amazing lit up........
There are lots more photos over on my Flickr pages if you are interested. Happy days everyone! xxx
9 comments:
Oh, thank you for such wonderful pictures of the festivities! I love Morris dancers and all the costumes are amazing!
Happy New Year to you and Mr. JK! (and Florence too, naturally!).
I like the Noro yarn, but it can be quite expensive. I really love the pictures of the parade. I would fall on those stilts.
Happy new year to you. Good luck with the blankie .Kindest REgards Linda
What lovely photos, looks like you had a great day. Good luck with the new blanket. I do like the pattern, and you've just reminded me that I had started the Ten Stitch Blanket. I didn't get very far with it, and can't even remember where it is!
What great photos , it looks like great fun. happy New Year to you xxx
Thank goodness it didn't rain.I like the look of the blanket.
What a lovely day out. London looks magic. I've just realised that we miss all the pretty night lights because we always visit in Late Spring when the days are sooooo long and I begin to wish for night to fall. Must plan a visit for Winter.
Love your blanket pattern
oh wow! that blanket pattern is amazing!! i'm going to enjoy watching yours grow.
thank you so much for taking so many pictures of your new year's festivities! such great photos and it's so fun to see what's going on over on the other side of the pond!
happiest of new year's to you!!
-melissa
It seems like we were right there along with you with all the wonderful pictures!
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