Georgia Farrell – Sew much to do

“A Built World” travels to Edinburgh

Hello from Scotland!

This week I am on holiday in Edinburgh, my first trip here and so far, I love it! The strangest thing was that this week’s pattern by Georgia Farrell for her “A Built World” Knit Along with Rowan is inspired by a building in Edinburgh so obviously I had to visit and take my knitting with me!

The building in question is The Museum Of Scotland and Georgia has chosen the new extension. I could see why when I got there! What a beautiful structure and the colours in the stone are stunning!

The Museum of Scotland is Georgia's destination for week four — **The Museum of Scotland is Georgia’s destination for week four**

**Part of the stunning new extension to Museum of Scotland**

We spent a lovely couple of hours walking around and enjoying the exhibits … I particularly enjoyed the textile and fashion sections. I sat and did a couple of rows of the block while I was there too. My husband took a photo but I can never understand how he manages to make it so unflattering!

**Relaxing with my week four knitting in The Museum of Scotland**

This block was a very simple one to do which was lovely for a trip as we went by train so I was able to relax into the rhythm of it on the journey.

We are thinking of maybe doing this KAL in the shop as a course? What do you think? Would you like to come along and knit it with me? We can help each other out, drink lots of tea and talk about holidays! Let us know if you’d fancy this, it will be great for those new to knitting … as long as you can cast on, knit and purl, you can do it … and great if you’ve never done a KAL before and a little scared of doing one!

The clues are out for the next block and I must admit, they had me quite stumped! I got my husband onto it and he worked out that we will be heading to Beijing! Unfortunately I haven’t got a holiday booked for there next week so I will be back knitting at home in Suffolk!

Take care,

Jenny x

Hello London for week three of “A Built World”

Heavens to Betsy, working in the shop really does make the week fly by! I have started doing some knitting on my lunch break at work now to play some catch up as I am on the drag with the KAL. Unfortunately I had four days of gastric flu and simply didn’t have the energy to knit!

I am still only half way through the Toronto squares, but I’ve laid them to one side temporarily so that I can get at least a couple of this week’s squares done before next week’s release!

So this week I knew immediately where we were going as it is my home town … London. I was born and raised in the east end of London and no matter where I am in life or the world, I will always leave a big part of me there. I love it! I love how cosmopolitan it is, how the old and the new sit side by side contentedly. I love the juxtaposition of standing in a modern glass building gazing at a centuries old stone fortress and vice versa. I love it’s smells, sounds, dirt and grime, the business of the city streets and the tranquility of the extensive parklands. I love the history, the secrets that are hidden around every corner and, of course, the architecture!

I was excited to see which building Georgia chose…so much choice! Would it be old or new? Or would it be a bridge? (I have a thing for bridges!)

I recognised the building instantly of course, it is City Hall. I love this building. I love how it is iconic yet comparatively small. It would be lost amongst the Shard, the Gherkin, the Walkie Talkie, et al, but to me it is more magnificent in it’s compactness. When I visit London I spend a lot of time in it’s vicinity and never fail to take a photo of it glinting in the sun or reflecting the grey skies.

So, now that I am well again, Toronto has been placed temporarily to one side and I am busy knitting away at London.

Week Three of "A Built World" stops off in London — **Week Three of “A Built World” stops off in London**

Again the pattern looks like it is very complicated and difficult but with Georgia’s video and support on the pattern and the Facebook group, it is definitely achievable … And Toronto taught me that I cannot knit and watch television at the same time as I do with crochet!!

London's City Hall in stitches — **London’s City Hall in stitches**

Anyway, I am away now on a wee holiday in Edinburgh so the next post will be a little delayed but excitingly, the next stop on the KAL trip is a building in Edinburgh!

See you soon, take care

Jenny x

We’re off to Canada for week two of “A Built World”

Hello!

Back again for another week of Georgia Farrell’s new Knit Along for Rowan: “A Built World” … and I have to admit I was a bit stumped by this week’s destination clues!

Georgia’s clues for the next step of the journey definitely kept me guessing this week – I guessed by the names of the sports teams that we were in the continent of North America and as one of them had the name of ‘Maple Leafs’ I was guessing at Canada. While thinking about the clues, I realised I knew very little about Canada! I think my knowledge amounts to: they play ice hockey, half of it is French, Celine Dion and Justin Bieber, oh and their president is really cool and quite dishy!

I could only name Ontario, Ottawa and Toronto as cities, and had no idea which one (if any) was the capital! Appalling! So now I have a new task of learning more about Canada!

Anyway, onto the KAL … It turns out that this week’s inspiration is indeed a building in Toronto. It’s the Royal Bank Plaza building and the design of this week’s square is really beautiful.

"A Built World" Week Two: Toronto - image from Georgia Farrell's Facebook page — **“A Built World” Week Two: Toronto – image from Georgia Farrell’s Facebook page**

Now, as a beginner knitter I would normally look at this pattern and think … I won’t be able to do that, it’s beyond my ability! However, I not only have faith in Georgia’s reassurance that it would be easy to follow, but this week she has also made a video for us to follow!

This video has been really helpful. If I’m not sure exactly how to do a stitch, seeing it being done really does help make it clearer.

One of the benefits of doing a Knit Along is the community of knitters you get to meet and get support from. I have enjoyed following the Facebook group that is running with the KAL and seeing everyone’s colour choices – and I also picked up this really handy tip: I am doing two squares at a time on the same
needles. This makes so much sense and really speeds things up.

**A handy tip this week: Knit two squares at a time**

So far, the week two squares are going well I think but definitely take a lot more concentration, so are taking me a little longer to do. I often find with a pattern that changes each row, that I lose where I am in the instructions. Thankfully Georgia gave us a great tip for following a chart and I’ve found this also helps with keeping me on track with the written instructions. I can’t deny, I struggle with charts and much prefer the written instructions.

**A handy tip from Georgia for following a chart**

Hopefully I will manage to progress far enough to get pictures of at least two of these Toronto squares ones onto my next post!
Best get back to it, take care
Jenny x