Lady Chapel

It's going to be a month for seeing sights and meeting and re-meeting people - part of the reason I thought this NaBloPoMo thing was a good idea... So, last night, Anna, Chris and Suzanne and I went over to Ely to see Show of Hands perform.

Yes, I know I've bored anyone who might be reading this about Mr Knightley and Mr Beer (and Ms Sykes) before; but I'm bending you gently to my will here (and that's a Phil Beer anecdote and a half...). And if you have seen them, you'll know why I go on about them...

They were at the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral as part of their Spires and Beams tour.

If you haven't been to the Lady Chapel, it's pretty spectacular. It was also one of those buildings that Cromwell (Richard, not Oliver) knocked about a lot - all the friezes around the edge have figures with no heads, and none of the statues in the niches survive now - and I understand that it was the most vandalised/whatever-they-thought-they-were-doing of any chapel in England, because of the sheer numbers of 'idolatrous' statues in it. There's been some controversy about the new Lady statue (who does, in all fairness, look as if she's about to jump...); but I like her, and it's a beautiful space and I was very curious about what SoH would do with it...

As ever, my pictures of the event are a bit awful. I have a history of bad SoH pictures and this was never going to be any different (I don't like this camera much and didn't manage with success with the previous two!). I spent a lot of time trying to take a picture of Phil Beer who was looking even more than usually like Rosso Fiorentino's Angelo Musicante but it didn't work... So here are two pictures of what happened during the set with the lighting during The Dive

and during Roots

They'd tailored the set to the space, and there were some wonderful moments - Down in Yon Forest was one, the new Steve Knightley song Poppy Day another (drawing parallels between Flanders field, the poppy fields of Afghanistan and small-town heroin-dealing in the West Country in a way that only he could, really). Steve's slightly scary version of Widdecombe Fair (sung from from the back of the chapel) was another, but one I'd seen done acoustically before. But Phil Beer did a solo acoustic combination of an Irish tune blended with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's Factory, from the centre of the chapel, which was wonderful; and everyone had a good singalong to Roots, Cousin Jack and Country Life - all seemed a little subdued because, slightly, we were in church...

The only combination I don't like of SoH's (in the last god-knows-how-many-years), which starts with The Train and improves rapidly thereafter, appeared before the interval, so there was a small 'Oh thank goodness we've got that over with...' factor for me ... I'd have loved to hear The Setting/Mary from Dungloe in that space... But we got The Crow on the Cradle, and blimey, they were good.

I don't think it's the best Show of Hands gig I've ever been to - I think that will have been at a festival. I think that sometimes their respect for the place, and what had happened there, almost overwhelmed their musicianship; although the music was always superb.

It did whet my appetite for their gig at the Junction on November 26; but I'll be at this at the time; and it was a really interesting experience, watching three superb musicians exploring a space; it was certainly everything I'd hoped for from the evening... And I also came out with a copy of Phil Beer's wonderfully titled solo album Rhythm Methodist, which I'm intending to play today...

Morris, Molly and the Mummers

I have knitting to blog. Quite a lot of knitting, in fact. But yesterday I went to Ely Folk Festival with friends, and there were colourful things... From the colour of the sky on these photos you can tell the weather was... changeable. But it's a small festival, so when the heavens opened, as they did twice fairly spectacularly for about 10 minutes' each, there's enough tent space to cower under.

First the Morris - women's morris, in fact. There was a display by one side of men's morris while we were watching, but I was chatting to a friend while that was going on. Here are some women and girls from the Young Miscellany Folk Dance Group.

Then the Gog Magog Molly - I've blogged them before (although possibly not explained that the Gogs are the names for the nearest things to hills we have around Cambridge, and are related to Wandlebury Hill Fort); a mixed side entirely in mad colours.

And which traditional East Anglian song were they dancing to with their squeezebox and violin, you might ask? Erm... The Lion Sleeps Tonight (and if you follow that link, you'll be reminded that they don't make videos like they used to. Thank God.)

Some of the Morris sides are seriously scary. Here's one of the Witchmen (who advertise Morris from the Daarkside) with his regalia. The top hats with pheasant feathers, painted faces and great big sticks are quite threatening. (The sunglasses and umbrella somewhat less so.) Didn't see them dance this time - but saw them in Ely market place a couple of years ago, and they were impressive.

After the morris, there were the Bradshaw Mummers, performing a hilarious version of Robin Hood. This guy was the Crusader who was vanquished by Robin Hood, and did a cod Monty-Python French-type-person accent...

I'm not sure who the guy with the camera was, but he was interviewing Phil Beer a bit later - am hoping the festival will have something on their site if it was more than the local news...

OK, on to the music. Highlight of the afternoon was Martin Simpson; who turned up onto the stage immediately after the previous act, strummed a couple of chords and was ready to go about 90 seconds later...

Great stuff - blistering guitar and great singing and a combination of traditional English folk, bluegrass, bayou and anything in between...

Second up in the evening were Mawkin:Causley, presumably slightly affected by Jim Causley having had a "blonde moment" (after acquiring a new hairdo and bleach-job in the morning, he'd then left his accordian at home by mistake; although he did inform us he had a full array of haircare products with him instead)... not that you'd tell by their performance. Brilliant high-energy stuff, and I'll be back at Ely in October when they're on at the folk club. Two full-length tracks available at the above link...

And then the highlight of the evening, and probably the reason the festival sold out in advance for the first time in its history. I have something of a tradition on this blog of including execrably out-of-focus photos of Show of Hands, and now that they're headliners and performing after dark at these things, this streak seems doomed to continue - Phil, Steve and Miranda in blurry glory.

Hardly needs saying that they were fantastic. They always are. One new song, one solo song from Miranda, and a mix of old and new which will probably have converted the three and a half people who didn't turn up for them in the first place as well as making their usual following very happy...

Until it got dark I did do a bit of knitting - here's a Firestarter sock, in this time's Rocking Sock Club colour The Incredible Shrinking Violet. The club pattern was also by Yarnissima, but after I'd knitted a bit, it didn't appeal, so I reverted to one of her earlier patterns...

I was wearing one pair of my knitted socks under hiking boots yesterday; and then in the middle of the night was so cold that I got up and found a blanket and another pair of socks to wear in bed. On July 12th. Summer??? The weather's better today - let's hope all that dancing has done some good...

Handbasketry

Long catchup post... due to trips to London (one to see Show of Hands who were as usual superb; and one to the Science Museum with the Fibrefusion group and to meet Jan), general autumnal lethargy, teaching myself Mountmellick to teach to classes, joining new team at work and shifting desks and seeing the odd friend or two around here, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Yesterday, I braved the Special Circle of Hell reserved for small shopping centres at the Grafton Centre, Cambridge; but also saw the Harry Potter film and went for a pizza. Today, I've done an Augean Stables job on the house between whitework and online Christmas shopping sessions, and have declared it's now officially Evening and a Weekend Well Spent. So, some pics.

First, some baskets, made on the course at Cambridge Botanic Gardens on November 2 and 3.

The plain one with the handle is made of yellow Flag Iris leaves, and the greener one with the sparkly bits is made of Iris siberica with a strand of Louisa Harding's Sari Silk plaited in. They're both made with a strand of 5-plait which is then wound round and stitched with jute, and a viciously sharp sailmaker's needle (knitting gauge included for scale).

It was really good fun and although I loved dealing with the leaves, I can see lots of uses for weird materials in this technique. I'm wondering about plastic carrier bags to start with (if I can bribe someone to cut them into strips for me. I really don't know enough biddable and desperate children)... The tutor on the course was Tricia Lilley (highly recommended), and the technique is a traditional East of England one for making useful baskets.

And a couple from the Science Museum trip. Shamingly, this is the first time I've been in there although I've been to both the V&A and the Natural History Museum many times. The thing which caught my (and the whole group's) attention was the 'Challenge of Materials' section, which pointed out how high-tech some of the materials we take for granted are; and how simple some of the things we think high-tech. Some of the recycled materials were also fascinating. A couple of little things though; this sent a bit of a shiver down my spine

[The caption says: The Negative of Glory. Metal shavings produced during the process of making medals. With thanks to the Royal Mint. Cornelia Parker: Artist in Residence]

And I loved the display of casein items, having fallen in love with the Swallow knitting needles this year. Haven't been to a UK museum where they're so laid-back about taking photos too; including with flash (yes, permission was asked...)

And some knitting. The MW jumper went back from being a Finished Object to this

yesterday evening. Took forever to unpick - hadn't realised my finishing technique was that... erm... permanent... think the likelihood of wearing this at Harrogate is somewhat remote; although it was quick to knit up last time.

Meanwhile I've finished the final pair of Christmas socks, and also knitted this, for my mother-in-law (Cloud scarf/wrap pattern; used twice the no. of stitches recommended for the scarf, in Cherry Tree Hill merino laceweight, colour Peacock, from Woolly Workshop; pattern from Get Knitted; still needs blocking);

and this; which I may well just keep (Socka Color sock yarn, shade 2419 bought from Web of Wool at Ally Pally). I need more of this yarn. And I've knitted up everything I bought from them at Ally Pally, so I reckon I can justify some, too! One ball makes a scarf about 130cm long on 4mm needles. This one also needs blocking.


Am already having 'are we nearly there yet?' feelings about Harrogate. Three days at work, a Fibrefusion session, a Mountmellick class and a 3.5 hour train journey to go...