So, you see, everybody in Berlin has a perfectly marvelous roommate.  Some people have two people.

Which in case you don’t recognise it, is the first line in the song Two Ladies, from Cabaret.  If you pressed me, I’d have to say it was probably my favourite moment from the musical version, which I was lucky enough to see last Thursday night at The Lowry in Manchester.

Staring Will Young and Louise Redknap it was wonderful, they were wonderful, as was the rest of the cast, the songs, the set, etc, etc.  Maybe I’m a little biased as the film is one of my absolute favourites and to be honest I haven’t been to the theatre in years.  As you might expect it was a little raunchy in places and quite rightly so, the Kit Kat Club just isn’t meant to be for the easily offended.  Perhaps, raunchy isn’t the right word, but I’m at a loss of which one would suit better.  There was a little nudity, bums mostly, but they weren’t out of place and nothing about the whole thing was gratuitous in anyway.

The husband is not really one for musicals, so I was worried he’d hate it, but he tells me differently, so maybe I’ll be able to convince him to try another?  I wonder if I could convince him to dress up next time?  One step at a time me thinks.

Our visit to Manchester was planned around the Christmas Markets and a visit to the Nottingham Yarn Expo, Cabaret was just a happy addition.  Since leaving the shop, I’ve come to the conclusion that I bought into everybody else’s Christmas a bit.  Having seen the magic of Christmas through the eyes of Little People, I’ve found that it doesn’t have the same effect now they’re all grown up.  It was only after I closed the shop that I realised how experiencing the build up to Christmas through all of my lovely customers and getting the shop ready had helped.  I’ll have a full house this year, so I’m determined to make this Christmas special and getting into the spirit of things early is part of it.

The Manchester Christmas Markets are my first experience of a ‘proper’ set up.  They officially opened on Friday 10th November, although I’d somehow managed to convince myself that this would take place when the lights were switched on?  They didn’t, in fact they all just opened, with little or no fanfare, which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity if you ask me.

They were fun, there were lots of things to buy, lots of things to eat and lots of things to drink.  The markets are spread out around the city and as you can see from the map, there are quite a few different ones to visit.

Except they’re not really that different, well most of them aren’t anyway.  I expect there’s a reason for that and I’m guessing it’s because it must cost a fortune to have a stall, so if you’re going to have one, well then you might as well have several.

To be fair, there were some lovely handmade crafts available at the markets, I just didn’t have my thinking cap on at the time.  We’d done the typical City break routine of walking for miles and it had gotten rather cold by the time we had decided to pay serious attention to what was on sale.

Food wasn’t a problem, we indulged in some Strudel and munched our way through a chocolate, marshmallow kebab each – bliss on a skewer 💟

Neither was drink.

A Hot Chocolate with Baileys for me and an Espresso Martini for the hubby, brought about some much needed warmth.  I sat and knitted a little whilst waiting for my drink to cool, but my fingers were none to happy with being exposed to the November air.

There didn’t seem to be much in the way of music, but to be fair it is still November.  I imagine that as December rolls in, there will likely be carol singers and bands playing.

Purchase wise, I kept my money firmly tucked in my purse because nothing shouted ‘buy me’ and lets be truthful here, I was visiting the yarn festival the next day (more about that on the Olann and blog when I’ve written it up).

All of which reads as though I was disappointed with them and I guess in part I probably was.  It’s my one and only experience of a Christmas Market, so I’d be interested to know what they’re like in other countries (please tell if you have some experience).  The Manchester Christmas Markets have won awards which is why we visited, well that and the fact that flying out of Cork to most other market destinations is nigh on impossible.

Happily, my trip has definitely kick started the Christmas cheer though and I am already planning lots of things to make and my Christmas knitting is well underway.  Which of course means I can’t show you any of the projects I’m working on at the moment.  Between Christmas knitting and Olann and knitting, everything is Top Secret, although I have been posting a few images up on Instagram, that hopefully don’t give too much away.

If you saw the last episode of the Olann and Podcast, you’ll know that I’ve cast on a pair of Selbu Mittens by Skeindeer Knits.  I ended up ripping them back because they would have been far too big for me.  Hopefully, I’ll find some time to work on them a little this week in between my other knitting commitments as I’m desperate to wear them.  Perhaps I’ll just wear one and keep my other hand in my pocket?

Before I forget, I did also finish the Sunshine & Sprinkles Cowl.  It’s up in Dublin with my son now, so I’ll have to ask him for a little feedback about it.  The colours really look good together and because of my alterations, I have quite a bit of the yarn left.

I’m desperate to get some work done on my Lady Marple cardigan and did I mention that I need mittens?

I’m off to have a cuppa and peruse Ravelry, I mean knit a few more rows of the sample for Olann and 😉

Happy Making

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