Chickadee Manor

Piano!

Last night we (and by we I mean Dwayne, my dad, and a couple of friends) moved the piano from the old house to the new one.  Yay!  It has been almost 6 months since I've been able to play it.  At the moment it sits in the middle of the living room waiting for me to make space for it.  I have to figure out where to move a rather large desk and hutch that holds our computer before I (and again, I mean Dwayne & company!) can move it into it's proper place.  That hasn't stopped me from playing it already though!  I played from the only three music books that aren't in boxes at the moment - a Jane Austen themed one with pieces from Sense & Sensibility (Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet & Hugh Grant version) and Pride & Prejudice (1995, Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle), a collection of hit movie songs, and The Lion King.  Ha!  It was fun.

 

 

 

Knitting with YouTube and Jane Austen

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along today.

As you can see, progress is being made on my cowl.  Hooray!  I am slowly making my way through Sanditon, a few pages at a time.  I have also downloaded a free Persuasion podcast by LibriVox from iTunes to listen to as I knit as I am nowhere near being able to knit and watch TV at the same time!

It has been such a long time since I've attempted to knit anything that I had forgotten how to cast on!  I am very much a newbie.  I have probably knit about 6 times in my whole life and it tends to be several years between sessions.  Not so great when you are trying to learn a new skill.  I needed help!  Enter YouTube.  I found a great site for tutorials.  It is so much easier for me to pick things up if I can see someone else doing them.  Here is the video I found useful:

 

After I got the hang of the casting on and knitting again I had another hair puller - I kept adding stitches somehow.  I pulled my work out a few times.  It seemed to be going so well and then all of a sudden I'd have one or two added stitches when I counted at the end of the row.  I think I was adding stitches due to not switching my yarn from back to front when I went to purl or from front to back when going back to knitting.  It's all good now!

 

 

Winchester Cathedral

I recently returned from a trip to England to tour museums and collections of historical fashion, participate in the Grand Regency Promenade in Bath (part of the annual Jane Austen Festival), and visit historical sites relating to Jane Austen.  Here is the first of a series of posts on my travels.

 

 

Winchester was a lovely place to visit.  There is so much history!  It was once the seat of Anglo-Saxon and Normal royalty and has seen and withstood many changes.  Winchester Cathedral itself was quite fascinating.  The cathedral has it's roots in the 7th century and you can elements of it's development in different sections of the cathedral.  There is a memorial to St Swithun, patron saint of Winchester Cathedral, mortuary chests containing the remains of King Cnut and William II, as well as the grave of Jane Austen in the north aisle of the nave.  

 

 

Many stained glass windows remain, dating from the 1500s to the most recent installation in 1992.  

 

 

 

The architecture itself is amazing, I could sit and stare at the ceilings all day!

I love the roof bosses that cover the intersections of the ribs of the vaults.  

 

 

I also enjoyed studying the textiles to be found in the cathedral.  Most were created from the 19th century to the present day.  The embroidered bench cushions are quite elaborate.

 

The 13th century medieval floor tiles in the Retro-choir captured my attention and I snapped photos of as many different patterns as I could find.  I think the designs would transfer well into quilt or textile designs.  I also like the idea that I am walking on the same tiles that were trod upon 800 years ago! How's that for craftsmanship?  

 

 

It has also put me in the mood for watching and reading Cadfael...

 

I wonder how I can work this colour of blue and gold stars into our decor...

The cathedral library also holds a 12th century illuminated Bible crafted in the great priory linked to Winchester Cathedral, which I didn't get to see!  If you are interested in learning more about Winchester Cathedral, the cathedral's website has a lot of information and images.  I would love to go back someday after further study.