Life is a drama!

Life's irritations number 13

Don't you just hate it when someone changes the rules half way through!

A couple of weeks ago the drama group to which I belonged in my teens, Youth Action Theatre were told by the local council that the scheme that allowed them to use a local schools premises for rehearsals at no cost to them was being discontinued next year. They had no real idea of the financial value of this scheme because the money passed directly from the council to the school so it was a bit of a surprise to learn that it amounted to about £10,000 a year.

The Crucible 1972

Right from the start in 1970 when the group was founded by Eric Yardley the ethos was that membership should be open to all between the ages of 16 and 25 years without cost. There weren't so many groups around then and although there seem to be an influx of 'theatre schools' these days fees are costly at an age when young people are striving for independence, starting work or incurring student loans in order to continue their studies.

The only income the group have is from the sale of tickets which are mostly sold to other young people. Although they produce about four show a year, after production costs, profits are small and certainly wouldn't cover hiring rehearsal space at market value for all the hours required.

A request went out from the management committee to members and supporters for testimonials and this is what I wrote. You can also see it here on the website.

'On Monday 6^th September 1971 at the age of 17 I stood in the playground of the old Collis School alongside other similar teenagers, male and female, one or two I know but most I didn't. I can’t say I was shy and lacking in confidence but many of the others were, coming from various schools in the area, we were a motley bunch. Over the coming weeks we got to know and trust each other, learned discipline, commitment and teamwork, grew in confidence, explored possibilities, solved problems and under the direction of a very special man produced a play which was not written down by anyone but sprang from the group. This could have been a risky course of action but no ideas were ridiculed, each was tried and the best included in the pubic performance which resulted less than four months later. New members joined and the group expanded, no one was turned away, the only requirement was an interest in theatre.

Although I had taken part in a couple of plays in school and my local community, even attended courses to put on shows, this was different. The mix of young people came from diverse backgrounds, some attending private schools and others going to the local secondary, the fact that there was no charge removed any barriers to joining. The shared interest and working together on the next project made everyone equal, each had his or her part to play and that wasn’t necessarily on stage, each role was as important as the next. No one was belittled or bullied, our differences were respected and friendships were made for life.

What did it do for me? As well as life long friends, I worked on six plays, it gave me (and others) the skill and confidence to study dance and drama at college, allowed me to share the things I learnt with other young children, equipped me with strategies that I use in my working life, instilled in me a love of the performing arts that I still have today and gave me a purpose at an age when many of my contemporaries were sitting on street corners complaining that there was nothing to do.

And 43 years later, YAT is still doing all these things for 16 to 25 year olds who are not so different today. Hundreds of young people (including two generations of the same families) have experienced the joy of YAT during that time, some have gone on to pursue professional careers in the theatre, TV and films but they have all taken part in over 150 plays or shows in a variety of theatre genre, performing to audiences all over the world.'

How do you put a price on a formative life experience, not just for me but for so many others as well? Young people are so often given a bad reputation as disinterested, lacking in motivation or drinking to excess but these young people have a passion for theatre which they share and want to continue sharing, surely that should be encouraged! 

Rumour has it that YAT is like the Hotel California 'you can check out......... but you can never leave'!

And what's on my needles right now?

I have been busy since my last post (all right I know it has been a while) but things seem to be a bit repetitious. I am now on my third, yes third Barbs Koigu Ruffle by Churchmouse yarns. It is a quick knit and a simple pattern, the only down side is the number of stitches that need to be cast on before you can get started as it is knitted sideways.

This is the first one, a gift for a friend who I spent an enjoyable weekend with. It is knitted in an older colour-way of  The Natural Dye Studio Dazzle 100% Blue Faced Leicester wool sock yarn, not being sure of her favourite colours I chose this blue green mix.

I knitted the second one for myself and had to cast on even more stitches as I wanted it a little longer. I used a single skein of  Lleyn wool and mohair, beautifully hand painted by JillyBean Yarns in a colour-way called 'Whacky Sky'. This British yarn is sourced from small flocks of rare breads and Jill can often even name the animal who produced the wool. 

Having seem this second one my Mum said that she would like one as well,so still on my needles is number three. I took her a number of skeins of yarn in different colours from which to choose and she plumped for the autumn colours of  Natural Dye Studio Dazzle in Puzzle Combe. I'm two thirds through and should be finished in a day or so. 

What will I knit next? I need to find something as I am going on Yarn in the City's Road Trip to Bath Christmas Market next weekend and there will be plenty of knitting time on the bus!

Great London Yarn Crawl

Life's irritations number 12

Don't you just hate it when you plan a journey and there are engineering works!

There are engineering works on my local train line each weekend during September, I need to travel this weekend and next Saturday is the 2nd Great London Yarn Crawl!

Last year two friends Rachel of Porpoise Knits and Allison of Champagne and Qiviut had a great idea. Both knitters, as newbies from across the pond a couple of years ago, the pair enjoyed exploring the many yarn and fabric stores there are in this large city of London to which they have both moved.

Yarn Crawls have taken place in some US and Canadian cities for a few years so why not in our very own capital and these two set out to make it happen. After months of planning over 70 knitters spent a day travelling in 5 colourful groups under the direction of volunteers around London each visiting 4 different yarn or fabric stores. Rachel and Allison had thought that most participants would live in London but they were wrong with an equal number travelling into the city from all over the South of England and possibly further.

Purple Route preparing to enhance their stashes!

Meeting in a local coffee shop, each crawler received a goody bag and, after a little refreshment and a chance to freshen up following their initial journeys, the members of Purple Route started with  Loop in Islington, possibly the holy grail of yarn stores to knitters in the know.

Moving on by bus to The Handweavers Studio and Gallery in Finsbury Park, where the spinners amongst the group were in seventh heaven cooing over spinning wheels and fleece. Then tube and bus to West Hampstead and  after a stop for lunch to The Village Haberdashery who stock a lovely range of fabric as well as yarn.

And here are Purple Route standing outside.

And our last store was Sharp Works in Herne Hill, which provided a small bank of cinema seats in the shop to rest the weary legs of  the by now tired crawlers.

Heavy with their day's purchases the crawlers took their final train and tube to the after party in a pub near Waterloo, where all the 5 routes met together to show off the day's haul, have a drink and cross their fingers that they might win one of the many lovely door prizes that were up for grabs. I with my usual luck in raffles and tombola's won nothing!

No time was wasted!

There was, of course, plenty of time for knitting on the day and needles came out whenever the chance arose.

Although this was all great fun and an opportunity to spend money, there was also a more serious note to the day. The profit raised from the event was donated to Refuge, a charity who help women and children in situations of domestic violence.

This year's crawl takes place on Saturday 20th September and there will be even more crawlers on the 9 sheep named routes so an much bigger venue for the after party has been sort at Kings Cross. Most of the routes are sold out but if you hurry you could just get one of the 2 remaining tickets here.

And what's on my needles right now?

I've knitted a couple of things since my last blog. 

I have finished Blackcurrant Swirl from August Lets Knit issue 82 in The Natural Dye Studio Dazzle HT sock yarn in a blue green yellow colour way called Weir Waters Wood but still have to block it.


Also the Sweetheart Shawlette from September issue 102 of Knit Now magazine. It is knit in Juno Fibre Arts Mytle yarn which is a mix of  50% Merino and 50% Tencel in an unusual colour called Undercover.The yarn was great to knit with and the pattern was a very quick knit, I finished it in 10 days which surprised me as I only knit at lunch time, in the evening or at weekends. Unfortunately Juno Fibre Arts are giving up dying yarns and their Etsy shop will shut at the end of October.

Both these shawls form part of the study of shawl anatomy which I am undertaking to understand the construction of the various styles which I hope might help me to start designing. You will have to watch this space on that one!

Knit my Year

Life's irritation number 10

Don't you just hate it when the years fly by (and your mother tells everyone how old you are!)

I have been very remiss, I haven't posted a blog for a month and you, lovely readers, have kept visiting so now my view total is up to 1200 which is amazing! I have done what I promised myself I wouldn't do when I decided to write a blog and that is be inconsistent, I promise to try harder in the future. I have a number of unfinished posts, include a half rewritten one which previously disappeared into cyberspace, but I just haven't been able to get down to posting any of them and my only excuse is that it is my birthday on Monday. You all know the sort, one with a zero at the end and I am being dragged kicking and screaming towards it.

In the past I haven't worried about saying my age but this is the birthday I am not admitting to. Others have often been surprised when I've told them how old I am, most people say I seem much younger. Having a child in my late 30's probably helped, mixing with other mums who were younger it is easy to be thought to be the same age as everyone else. Keeping up with a toddler, coping with the school run while working and going through the teenage years also keeps one young. I am also lucky to have inherited good female genes from my mother (who is now 88) and my grandmother.

I have never managed to do things at an 'age appropriate' time, I had my tonsils out in my late 20's and a few years ago I had grommets fitted and booked cataract surgery in the same week, too old for one and too young for the other.

1967 Guide Camp

At 13 I was a skinny tomboy, much later to 'mature' than the rest of my class mates and even when I did get my first bra there really wasn't much to put in it. Even in my 20's, when larger busted friends complained of laying on their back and it flopped into their armpit, mine only went concave!

This late start to womanhood also meant being late crossing the finishing line. That was another thing my mother went round tell people and my GP claimed that I was the oldest patient he had ever seen whose hormones were still moaning!

So you see, my body (and my mind) are not in agreement with my mother or my birth certificate who are insisting that I was born sometime in the 1950's.

The Government no longer think that this particular birthday is 'special' as they have taken away most of the presents they used to give women at that age and will not give them back until they have worked another 5 or 6 years, which is the average time people stay in a job so could be a whole new career if employers were open to taking on workers who are over 50. They do still give free prescriptions but that could be a cunning plot to keep you well so that you can carry on going to work and, along with your birthday cards, the NHS will send a little screening kit!

Am I odd in my reaction to my birthday? Have others felt the same way or have you all welcomed and embraced this formerly 'special' age? Is it just a sign of changing times? Please leave a comment to let me know if I am totally out on a limb on this one.

Courtesy of Jean Paul Gaultier

So you see, in this centenary of Dylan Thomas birth, I will not 'go gentle into that good night' I will 'rage against the dying of the light' and when I feel old and need to use a shopper to carry my weekly shop home it will be one like this!

And I will probably wear purple!

And what's on my needles right now?

Or rather what will be on my needles in the coming months.

I saw something somewhere about this very interesting project Knit a Year and I thought what better time to do this than at the start of a new decade.

I have kept diaries on and off during years of my life and it is interesting to look back and see what I was doing and thinking at the time.

So every day for the next year I will knit a few rows in what ever colour, yarn or pattern that I fancy that day, I will also keep a brief log with a sample of the yarn and any pattern notes. I will also let you see how I'm getting on.

But I won't start it until Monday! 

Wanderlust!

Life's irritation number 8

Don't you just hate it when you know everyone else is having fun and you are left at home?

That is just how I feel as I know that the annual banquet of yarn addiction that is Wonderwool is taking place in Wales this very weekend and many of my knitting friends will be there enjoying the myriad colourful sights, sounds, smells and feel of yarn, fleece and real live animals, sheep, alpaca, angora rabbits!

With over 200 exhibitors and 3 halls it is the premier wool and natural fibre festival in Wales, one that everyone talks about and one that I have NEVER been to!

It is all I can do to stop myself getting in the car and driving there even though I know that it is nearly 190 miles each way and would take about three and a half hours to get there. How do I know that? Because I've checked it out, I've never been but I've checked out the route just in case I was to jump in the car and drive there over the weekend. I know I'm not going but if I was I'd know how to get there.

I don't actually need yarn, I have a stash that risks outliving me but buying yarn is only part of the reason one goes to yarn festivals. There are workshops to take (and we all know what a sucker I am for a good workshop), things to see, favourite independent yarn suppliers to see, new suppliers to suss out and friends to meet up with.

Oh well, maybe next year.

And what's on my needles right now?

Having finished my Miss Winkle which is waiting to be blocked at the weekend and for me to rewrite the Lost In CyberSpace blog post, I have been working on my sock and have just turned the heel so will soon be on the home straight.