On Saturday we went to see Mumford and Sons on their 'Gentlemen of the Road' tour, it was held at Greenhead Park in Huddersfield and although I've lived here a long time I'm ashamed to say I had never visited the park. My 'other half' is a keen Mumford fan and I bought the tickets as a birthday present. The weather had been good all day but by 4pm it had turned grim and we were experiencing Yorkshire 'moor grime' or drizzle! I wasn't really looking forward to it......anyway, its many years since I've done the outdoor concert scene but I had a great time. It was very civilized, good food: venison - locally sourced, ostrich!! - and alcohol was on offer at affordable prices: just a shame about the queues. There was plenty of entertainment and sideshows and the whole event was a mangeable size: 8,000 there I think.
Mumford came on @ 9 and they were awesome! They played all the tracks from 'Sigh No More' and quite a bit of their new stuff. What a fab set of guys, they had created a day that was full of entertainment - 4 bands and sideshows - and they had really thought about choosing Huddersfield and had spent time learning about the area.
My other half was a very happy bunny, he said it was the 2nd best act he had seen - Rufus Wainwright being the first: and he wasn't even a fan - but he even put it above The Pogues: and that takes some doing. Here's some pics and check out the music if you get the chance.
A bit of culture now....the image that I have chosen to use for fairislerona is the painting 'The Fair Isle Jumper' by the Scottish Artist Stanley Cursiter. Cursiter was a post-impressionist painter born on the isle of Orkney and I saw this painting at the Edinburgh City Art Gallery and never really forgot it. I think the lady in the painting is quite gorgeous and she is wearing a piece of my favourite knitwear: fair isle.
As well as teaching textiles I am also a qualified textile designer and I design machine knitted knitwear: in particular fairisle and when we are in the wool wearing months I sell my knitwear on 'Etsy' : the craft site.
I design and love fair isle, I'm named after the island of Rona: so fairislerona was born....
