Knitters 0 Non-knitters 2

After last year's attempt to beat the Eggheads we were up for another challenge and a few months ago we entered BBC4's newest quiz show Only Connect. The Knitters teams was made up myself and Tom, reprising our roles from Eggheads, and new member Esther. The episode was broadcast on Monday night and you can still find it on BBC iPlayer if you're quick. Actually, it's funny how you misremember things - I wasn't looking forward to watching but it wasn't as bad as I thought. We did OK, and certainly have nothing to be too ashamed of...all I kept thinking though was how rough I looked and that I don't smile much ;( We take some comfort in the fact that we were beaten by a team of Quiz Professionals who run their own Quiz Show company! (Though not sure why they were the 'Lapsed Psychologists' and not the 'Quiz Quiz Quiz' team...?

The game itself was a good one. If you're into useless trivia it's perfect for you! What really got the nerves going was when we heard the string-heavy theme tune which made me think...oh dear, this sounds like it's going to be a bit too highbrow for my liking. Indeed, some of the questions in the rehearsal (and the show) went right over my head (I still have no idea what a quark is) but I am especialy proud that we managed to get the pilots of the Thunderbirds in the right order for one point, even if we didn't know any novels by Evelyn Waugh. But our winning streak still hasn't started! Two done, two lost....next time victory is ours.

In a nice twist, Gerard and I went off to our semi-regular pop quiz at our favourite London pub, the Retro Bar last night. With 19 out of 20 we won the bloody thing! hurray. Our prize....we didn't get the money but we did win the 2009 Cliff Richard calendar, which they give away every year in the quiz. Secretly I was quite pleased and I kept hold of mine. So he might be a homophobic hypocrite but he was a bit of a looker once and his tunes (pre-1981) aren't bad. Last time I mentioned Cliff on this blog we had a barrage of Cliff fans getting in touch and commenting to preserve his sainthood. This week they failed to get him to number one in what was a gimmick that actually just tarnishes what is an amazing pop career. It's a shame he had to try so hard with a crap song and a crap gimmick. Re-release some of his good stuff and he's more likely to to get to number one again. There's some kind of irony in Cliff, once a supporter of the hateful Festival of Light, that he's sandwiched between Sex on Fire, I Kissed A Girl and The Pussycat Dolls!

Craig

We are the champions...

One of favourite haunts for the last few years, and an oft-visited pub for the I Knit London knitting group nights, is the Retro Bar, just off the Strand, in what landlady Wendy jovially describes as 'piss alley'. Lovely. Anyway, Tuesday nights is pop quiz night, which we've been going to for years but recently had to give up as the Vauxhall shop closed at 9 and getting across town, even pedalling at the speed of sound, wasn't possible. Now we're in Waterloo it's just a short skip across Hungerford Bridge and we're there.

So, last night we WON! Hurray. With the combined brainage of Gerard, SueMoon, Retro Rob and myself we managed 19 and a half (how do you write that properly on a computer?) out of 20! Blimey. Our knowledge of Barry Manilow and 90s trip-hop saw us through in the end. It's another personal notch on my own quiz show league table (you're in the presence of The Weakest Link winner here folks, as well as Blankety-Blank - I'll show my chequebook and pen if you ask nicely!) Just don't mention the Eggheads...what was that, did someone just mention the Eggheads?

Craigx

I Knit London...I heart/hate London...

It's been an interesting week, starting last Sunday (24th), while gerard was chatting with the world's media we were setting up at the Vauxhall Park Summer Fair, sadly damp and rainswept. We set up a pitch making pom-poms, knitting with the giant needles and teaching folk to cast on...plus Jon joined us with his spinning wheel,but his fleece didn't react well to the damp air! We still made a day of it in the park and had a good day in our little knitting tent - Joanna Lumley, local resident and crocheter, opened proceedings. The weather has put a depressing stop to many events so far this summer, but it managed to stop for the Bonnington Square Festival on Sunday 1st (see previous post).

It wasn't the case last Wednesday when we held our knitting group meeting at the Bread and Roses in Clapham - I decided against all obvious wisdom to cycle up the road to the pub and arrived rain-sodden and mud-speckled. It was a small but dedicated turnout for the knitting,

and some of us ventured upstairs for the Frenzic Theatre's Victorian do, where they were partying like it was 1899 (as Prince Albert might have said). The evening was most memorable as the farewell knitting night for long-serving IKLondoner Chris who has moved out of the city for Leicester and who we'll really miss. Chris first arrived on a Wednesday night at The Salisbury last summer and has been a Wednesday knitter off and on since then. She is completely lovely and has the distinction of being IKL's first ever customer, when we opened the shop in September last year she made the inaugural purchase and for that, and much else (not least a LOT of sewing of blue squares) we will remember her. Leicester isn't too far away, she's already sought out a new knitting group there, and hopefully we'll see her back in London shortly. Thanks Chris, for being part of this adventure with us and that friendly smile!

While Chris leaves London, we continue on, and tonight has seen the usual contradiction that this city offers in infuriating chunks. Our crochet lesson finished we headed to the Retro Bar for our first smokefree pop quiz (the Retro has always been a smoker's haven, but tonight it was genuinely nice not be so smelly). We found ourselves in Trafalgar Square at 11.30pm, which isn't late when you consider this a 24 hour city...but, sadly, I don't think it is! Those of us who want to go dancing are foiled by friends who can't get home afterwards, those of us who want to move on for somehting to eat have no choice except Tesco Express pre-packed sarnies, and those who need to use the boy's room are in for a long wait before they get home! Don't get me wrong, I love London - neither of us here at IKL are Londoners born and bred, but after 10 years I am proud to be here, and proud to be part of this city (especially at times like these), but comparisons with other world cities just doesn't wash. NYC is alive, 24 hours a day, and London just doesn't compare...the capital is all but closed after 11pm, and we'll never have the same vibrancy as New York unless we sort that out. 24 hour Tubes, black cabs that most of us can actually afford, 24 hour culture and PLEASE some more public toilets! Some of us don't like urinating up the nearest alleyway! (Don't worry folks, I didn't). Having said that, the trip home on the #87 was a blast - Battersea-living, not-quite-in-Fulham-yet couple discussing the pros and cons of police stop and search procedures under the new terrorist climate was worth the wait - "yah, but Rosie...where's this Utopia, this Meccaland that we're all striving for...?"

alpaca blanket and last night's Retro Bar...

I've just finished this baby blanket. I think it is among the top 5 of my favorite knitted things. Not just because it's so simple!

There is a moss stitch border to the central stocking stitch panel, 110 stitches on 44mm needles - simple as that. I used Artesano Hummingbird 100% alpaca in Woodpecker. It's designed to be a thick sock yarn but I need a blanket. It is so soft that I think I might have to cover my pillow with it!

The colours are amazing, you can see the pattern is incredible! It came out all on it's own! People keep talking about why knitting is so popular at the moment - it's due, at least in part, to the amazing yarns available that not only look and feel great but they are exciting to knit with, too!

Gxx

Last night's knitting group met up at our favourite bar in London, Retro Bar, down George Court. This is our local when we're not knitting (even if it's not actually that local!), but the upstairs bar is a great place to snuggle up in the booths and get the needles out. It was a good laugh last night - we taught Phillip the barman how to cast on, cast off, knit and purl all while he was in between serving up the drinks!

I have a sneaky suspicion he's done it before because he picked it up like a natural! It's always great to meet new knitters and the best thing about the meetings for me is that it's got really nothing to do with I Knit London - - everyone just turns up and gets on with it, meets new knit mates and has a laugh. So, thanks to all the old and new faces who popped in during the night - as always a few hearty souls managed to knit all the way to last orders....

Ann, Donna (aka Dolly) and Jo

Tanja, who we haven't seen for a while, was there and I just had to share her ingenious double-magic-loop method for knitting socks. She said that she once knitted from the top down down but on one pair of extra long socks she got to the end of sock 2 only to run out of yarn. Since then she's knitted from the toe up, both socks at the same time from the same ball of yarn! The mind boggles but it makes so much sense - both socks will be the same length AND all the yarn is used up. I love it, and it probably eliminates SSS (second sock syndrome)

!

Craig
xx