Sarah Jane Humke

Monday I went into the city and sat in Trafalgar Square knitting with probably about 20 other people.  

For those of you who do not listen to Brenda Dayne of Cast On or do not live in the UK currently I am going to give you a quick tutorial as to why I did this.  There is an art exhibit currently on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square.  Now, the fourth plinth is empty so that the art on it can change.  During different times of the year there will be statues or other interesting things hanging out on it for a few months before something replaces it.  There are 3 other plinths in the square and each of them have permanent statues on them of the standard statue type.

Currently, on the 4th plinth there is a rather extraordinary art project called One & Other (do click on this link, there is live feed 24 hours a day as to what the folks are doing up there!) going on.  What it does is gives normal everyday Brits the chance for an hour on the plinth to do whatever they damn well want so long as it is within the law.  In addition to spinning and knitting last night, I saw a person dressed in a gorilla suit, a guy grilling food and throwing it down to the people below and a woman trying to raise awareness about the discrepancy between funding for mens’ sports versus womens’.  People are chosen for this honor by the use of a lottery that is supposed to chose by random selection according to your postcode.  What this means is that in theory an equal number of people will be chosen from Guernsey as from London.

Last night there was a knitter at 6pm up on the plinth and a spinner at 10pm.   The folks at IKnit sent out an e-mail about it as well as Brenda Dayne podcasting about it.  So, with that much armtwisting encouragement there was no way I couldn’t go!  I got there right at 6 and there were a few groups of knitter sitting about but of course no one that I knew.  So, there was an open spot on one of the benches and I asked if it was free and sat down.

The knitters that I met were mostly from London, but some were from all over Britain.  Brenda Dayne was there and was in fact one of the knitters on the bench that I sat down on.  Everybody was very fun to talk to and there was even some folks filming for a documentary about rare breeds of sheep and how their wool is used.  For a little while we all went to a nearby pub for a drink (and to get out of the ever increasing chill) and commandeered a corner of it for knitting and crochet.  We then went back at 10 to cheer on Alix as she spun up on the plinth for all to see.

It was a very cool night and it was really an honor to meet Brenda Dayne in the flesh.  

Of course, as usual, I forgot to bring the camera so all photos were taken with the camera phone….

Now, I promised pictures of the yarn that I have spun recently and here they are.

First is the on purpose crazy random chunky yarn that I spun out of some merino tops that I got last year at the Handweavers Studio.  I mixed them together on the drum carder and just had some fun with them.

 

 

Next is the yarn that I spun from a batt that I got while in Coventry for the UK Ravelry day at the Fyberspates booth.  It turned out a lot more mellow than I expected but quite pretty.

 

I’ve also been spinning up one of the fleece from Rhinebeck like crazy as well.  I’m not really pleased with how it is plying in a two ply so I may try a three ply or even Navajo ply it.

My WIP’s are coming along.  The sock gets worked on whenever I can’t bear to work on the scarf anymore (it is starting to get to that part where it has gone on forever and it seems that there is still most of a ball of yarn left).  The blanket for Cesar and Pam gets sewn on whenever I can but it gives me a headache if I do it for too long so it is moving slowly as well.