Derby

Today saw the husband and I travel to Derby, for a day trip. But first - what to knit on the 2 1/2 drive there and back?? My afghan square required too much looking at charts for in-car knitting, so I grabbed my spring green Lana Grosse sock yarn from Leuven, and the pattern for Papirkirvens' Pointless Wrap (available free on Ravelry), and cast on. Such a good feeling! I have knit the Wrap before, as a commissioned gift for a friend's mother, and always planned to do one for myself. It's a great pattern for one 100g ball of sock yarn, it's very easy and fits the bill perfectly for in car/after work knitting, and as you know, readers, that is exactly what I don't have on the needles right now - until now.

So - to Derby. Derby has a yarn shop:

Strand Wools is on The Strand, right in the city centre, and stocks a serviceable range of yarns - mostly Sirdar and James Brett, so most are wool blends, but there is plenty of 100% merino and cottons to choose from, and quite a good sale rack too. I made a little purchase, but not of yarn - instead I bought a pattern leaflet from a James Brett designer, and some very reasonably priced buttons:

I have way too many pattern leaflets, magazines and books already, and one of my knitting goals is to work to my own patterns more anyway, but I love leafing through them for inspiration. And, to paraphrase Flannery OConnor, good buttons are hard to find! I always buy nice buttons when I see them, and these were 5p each - can't argue with that.

Other Derby highlights included the old Silk Mill, which predates the Industrial Revolution - in its heyday it would have looked something like this:

Only a small part remains now by the Derwent, and although housing only a temporary exhibition space, it does have a few cabinets which tell of its historic textile past:

And slightly out of the city centre is the Royal Crown Derby works

where the gold and jewel colours, history and fantastic patterns of the crockery on display inspired me to think about colour and pattern in design (although sadly the colours do not show up well on this photo):

This was the crockery that went down with the Titanic, and of which some pieces can cost upward of £2000. We bought seconds, in modern designs for £3 a pop - a bargain!