Skip to main content

The last FO of 2011

Yesterday we went to London's Natural History Museum, one of my favourite places in the city, to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. We went with our good friends Paula and Brian who are also travel and photography fans.

The exhibition was surprisingly quiet so there was plenty of space to take in the awe inspiring images as well as chat about travel, photographic techniques (In camera double exposure anyone?) and of course, the wildlife.

Paula and I were both taken with this abstract image of a spider's web, by Finnish photographer, Antti Partanen, titled A Spectrum of Silk.


There were also some outstanding entries in the Black and White categories. This photo of a chachalaca (it's a bit like a jungle turkey) , by Gregory Basco, would make a lovely fabric print.

If you can't make it to the exhibition you can view all the images online.

So where is the knitting in all of this? Well back in the summer I asked Brian which bespoke knitted item he would like for his birthday. He asked for socks. I started the first sock on our holiday to The Philippines and finished the first sock on the flight home. 

I'd been meandering along with the second sock, other projects took priority, but I completed it just before Christmas, or so I thought... 

MrG to tried on the socks to check the fit and despite looking the same length when flat, the leg of the second sock was about 1.5cm shorter than the other.

Me being me, I left ripping back the second cuff til yesterday morning, just before leaving for the museum. I grabbed my DPNs, a sewing needle and of course the socks and yarn and knitted on the underground...

Underground Knitting


... and in the members room of the Natural History Museum, while we all had a post exhibition cup of tea and cake, til the cuff was reknit and the correct length. 

Brian then kindly modelled the finished socks for me with some interesting objects in the background.


IMG_0079

IMG_0081

After the photo shoot we went to a new Lebanese restaurant, near the tube in South Kensington, called Comptoir where we had a slap up meal of mezze, mmm, falafel. I'd recommend it if you are visiting the museums there. It's reasonably priced and delicious.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to learn how to make my own falafel, baked rather than fried.

After a late lunch Mr G and I walked to Peter Jones to buy some new pillows. This was surprisingly exciting, though I was disappointed to see I was the only person in the shop using their head to test the pillows, rather than their hands.

On the walk there we spotted some interesting lights.

Firstly a giant penguin...

IMG_0084

Then the lovely Michelin building which is worth a look during daylight hours too

IMG_0086

and finally the mass of lights outside Peter Jones, reflected in the windows opposite, which we spotted while waiting for our bus home. Which was a very comfy bus ride thanks to the new pillows we were carrying. IMG_0089
 A very nice way to end 2011.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We have a winner...

Check out my pea seedling, how intact and un-nibbled it is. My mysterious object, as correctly guessed by Madmurdock and Montyknits, is a gastropod guard. It seems to be working. I'd heard that slugs and snails don't like slithering over hair. I tried using hair clippings a few years ago as a barrier. It worked for a few days, til I found chewed, leafless stems and on further inspection a guilty slug covered in ginger hair. Hopefully the fleecy barrier will stay in place and mean I get a good late crop of peas. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who took part.
4 comments
Read more

Unravelling the NHS

If you follow me on twitter you'll already know I have a healthy interest in politics. Our current government is slowly and steadily dismantling our beloved NHS (National Health Service) from one with full public accountability to one which is more dependent on profit margins rather than evidence based medicine. THIS MAKES ME VERY ANGRY. There's a lot of despair at the moment, many of us feel our government is not listening to us, the people, or experts in the field such as the British Medical Association or the Royal College of Nurses. Yesterday our unelected second house, the house of Lords, voted through the government's ill-advised health reform bill. We all felt hopeless, then I read this blog post . You should read it too. Many of us are working out what to do. How can we reverse this disastrous decision when essentially the democratic process is failing us. "The NHS reforms did not appear in either the Conservative or Liberal ...
4 comments
Read more

TOTOROOOOOOOO!

I finally handed over the Totoro hooded top to it's two year old recipient today. It also fits his four year old sister which is good as she likes Totoro too. They both looked very cute in it. We met up at the Wellcome Collection which has a lovely airy cafe and free exhibitions. The Totoro kids mum is a fellow scientist so we went round the Exquisite Bodies exhibition explaining why calves are sometimes born with two heads, how babies are made (the four year olds current interest) and lots of other science fun to the kids. If you visit the Wellcome centre with kids ask about their young investigators pack. It's really cool (I was disappointed I didn't get one) and it's free. Brilliant. The staff were really helpful and pleasantly surprised at seeing young kids enjoying a strange exhibition, rather than being freaked out by it. Personally, I did enough human dissection as part of my degree to make me not want to see another cadaver ever again, although the models wer...
4 comments
Read more