I’m back from London. We stayed a week, mostly in town (there was one day trip, which will be pictured shortly), hanging out with our friend K, and just seeing the sights. The above pictures are from our first day (last Friday), which was of course the day after we pretty much stayed up all night to fly over, so we were desperately trying to do things to stay awake as long as possible. A nice walk along the Thames helps for a bit.
Speaking of walking, we were averaging around eight miles a day. We regret none of it, but man, are we getting old. There were aches and pains I don’t remember before. (Hell, we napped on that first day, and we’ve never had to do that before.) That is the odd downside of being in a city (hell, region) with fantastic public transport – you want to walk all of it. I am not ready to be at the phase in my life where I have to start pacing myself. But apparently, I am.
Here’s my souvenir haul (not including presents). If this doesn’t pretty much sum up my interests, I don’t know what else will. I’m pretty excited about the yarn – it’s heritage British sheep breed yarn, as well as some German sock yarn that has always been rather legendary in the (Ravelry) sock knitting world, and which I’ve never been able to see in person before. I’d already planned this as a exemption in my Cold Sheeping this year, but I wouldn’t feel bad about it even if I hadn’t. I was really careful about what I bought – while it was a large chunk of change at once, I really wanted this yarn.
You can also see in the haul the set of fat quarter equivalents I allowed myself from Liberty. I have long been a fan of their fabric, and their general historical aesthetic. It’s definitely worth a look around – the building is so incredibly unique. And I do love their products, even if I’m not willing to pay for a lot of them. (There was also some gift buying for the niece there, courtesy of the current partnership with Uniqlo that put them into my price range. The rest of the items in the children’s section were gorgeous, but I am not paying those kind of prices for something a kid might only be able to wear for a few months before they grow out of it.)