Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Knitting & Yarn Shopping with my Pen Pal


I've never known anyone in a city I visit  on vacation, so this trip gave me a lot of new travel experiences. I was so excited to meet my pen pal Kim during our time in London. She is an art student, illustrator, and knitter extraordinaire and I was so excited to spend the day (or two!) with a true Londoner. :)  The first day we met in the tube station and I knew we were going to have a great day.  We went to the Victoria & Albert museum, Liberty, and the cutest yarn shop in Kingly Court called All the Fun of the Fair. I couldn't get enough of the beautiful yarns and cute knick-knacks for knit lovers. Also, it was a little surreal shopping for yarn with my London knitting buddy! 
We had so much fun that we decided to get together again on our last day in the city. We got lunch and then went over to the department store John Lewis on Oxford Street because Kim said they had a great yarn selection. What? Yarn in a department store? I'm thinking of Macy's...not Hobby Lobby. But I was proved wrong! On the fourth floor, we found a huge selection of yarns in the store's very own craft area. Kim and I had fun picking out yarn for our traveling pen pal knit project, something to work on together even though we are on different continents. After purchasing our yarns, we knew our visit wouldn't be complete without actually sitting down and knitting together! We took the tube to Hyde Park and set up under the shade of a tree. It was the perfect way to end our time in London, just relaxing, knitting, and chatting in the park on a beautiful day. The only negative was the creepily curious squirrels that got a little too close for my comfort. I may or may not have freaked out a few times. I don't trust their beady little eyes...

I am so glad I got the opportunity to meet Kim! I already miss her so much. Too bad we can't go to the park and knit all the time. We will just have to keep writing letters and hope that I can come back to London someday soon!

Have you ever met one of your pen pals in person?

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40 comments:

  1. It looks like you had such a good time!:)
    I'm planning a trip to London/Paris too coincidentally, Did you find any knitting stores worth noting in Paris ?

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  2. I love your knitting in the park pics! What project are you both working on??

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    1. Thanks Amy! We will definitely share pictures when we get further along. :)

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  3. I met my pen pal of 20 years about 5 years ago and I ended up being her maid of honour at her wedding! We still write to this day.

    I recently blogged about All the Fun of The Fair too :-)

    http://claireabellemakes.com/2012/05/31/knitting-with-all-the-fun-of-the-fair/

    claire x

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  4. Oh, all of that yarn just looks divine! I wish I had a fancy yarn store here...this just further fuels my desire to open one of my own someday.

    I hope you're having a lovely time on your vacation!
    xo, Allie

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  5. What a lovely write up Mere. I know Kim LOVED meeting you ..... this is Bev, Kim's Mom.

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    1. Hi Bev! It was so lovely meeting Kim! Too bad I didn't get the chance to meet you too! I guess that means I should visit again soon, right? ;-)

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  6. That sounds like so much fun! How lucky to meet your pen pal in real life ♥
    A pen pal knitting project is a great idea, too. ^_^

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  8. Oh, how lovely! What was it like to meet for the first time? Did you feel as though you've known each other your whole life? Xx

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    1. It was so cool meeting for the first time! Kim and I kept laughing and kind of pinching each other because we couldn't believe we were actually in the same place. So fun! :)

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  9. AW!!! This is so, so sweet. :D Congrats on meeting Kim in person and knitting together. :D What an awesome shop!!!

    P.S. Trust me, squirrels are amazing little friends!!!

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  10. All the yarn looks so lovely! What fun, to knit in such a beautiful park!! xo Heather

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  11. I've been lucky to have met all of my penpals. I think it makes the whole 'relationship' that more real to get to know them in the flesh, and to see with your own eyes what they talk about in their letters.

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  12. This why being a blogger is so awesome, you build up friends in all sorts of different places and being penpals is exactly the same. I'm so pleased you had a lovely time in the UK, I loved seeing all your instragram pics during your stay. Hope you get to visit again soon!

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  13. you could not rip me away from that yarn store!!!
    never had a pen pal, always wanted one, Kim seems so sweet .
    Great pics!

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  14. Sounds like an absolutely fantastic day! In the last few months, I've had several pen pals because of the Correspondence Club I started on my blog and it would be so cool if one day I could meet all of them :)

    Also, that knitting store that you went to looks so awesome- I could spend hours in there! And I'm dying over those yarn covered chairs! :D

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  15. I LOVE your blog! My friend showed me to it and as an aspiring blogger myself (my page is not a nice or put together as yours) I find you really inspiring. I crochet and sew but I have decided to give knitting a shot because you make it seem not so scary to learn! Anyways just wanted to thank you for being so inspiring!

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  16. It looks like you had an amazing time! There's no better way to see a city than with someone who knows it well! And the yarn shop looks so cute!
    http://theknitographer.blogspot.co.nz/

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  17. Hi Meredith
    I have loved looking at all your London posts. I am so glad you liked our country and what an amazing time to come at the jubilee! John Lewis is a great place for yarn considering we are a country of tea drinkers and knitters! Very sweet photos of you and your pen friend too.
    Abi

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  19. Ok, I think Kim and I look almost exactly alike...at least in pictures.

    On another note, how fun to meet a pen pal in person! I'm loving all your pictures by the way. I haven't been to London since I was a kid but you're making me want to go back and visit!

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  20. Love this post! <3 I miss you too!

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  21. Oh Meredith, this post makes me so happy!! I love seeing friends meet :)

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  23. I love this post! I was in the States and I met my boyfriend through an art group on facebook, now I'm living in England with him. So I guess he was my pen pal or facebook/skype pal haha. Love those first few shots. The Jubilee has everyone streaming the UK flag everywhere and the post I just did was shots of the flags. You can see them here http://tamaralynnphotography.com/2012/06/07/jubilee-flags/

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  24. Looks like you had an awesome time! I want a pen pal now too. And I want to go to London too. Super jealous :P

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  25. Look at all that lovely wool! It's so nice you were able to meet up with a pen pal. xx

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  26. awesome day, love those chairs with knitted covers! never had a proper pen pal, if any of my friends when i was young moved away, we'd write to each other. but after about year the letters would eventually stop arriving

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  27. That sounds like so much fun! I wish I could meet up with my pen pal but she lives in Russia, haha.

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  28. I've seen yarn in department stores in Germany too, I wish it were the case here in Italy too! Looks like you had a fun time!

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  29. hOW AWESOME !!... A pen pal ??? thats amazing, I had one when I was really young , she was from new york , but I just never met her...I love this post... How do you get a pen pal>>>?

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  30. Such pretty yarns! I need to find myself a knitting pen-pal. :)

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  31. Lots of yarn! So fun!! :D Those chair cozies are pretty awesome too.

    I've never met a blog friend in person, but think it would be pretty cool. Glad you had a great time!

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  33. Reading this was so surreal...
    I went to Northgate High School with Kim before she moved to the UK.
    Such a small world!

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  35. Your toy it's so beautiful, I like it vey much, I also bought one at cheap prada handbags
    , If you want one too. can visit this address, The backpacks are beautiful at there. I think you will be love it too.

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