Monday Mood

We have a pile of wrapped presents in our living room. David is celebrating his birthday this week and I finished wrapping his presents yesterday whilst he was out looking at naked ladies at his art class. I also made a head start on wrapping the Christmas presents. Now I'm all antsy because we have a pile of wrapped presents in our living room and I really want to open them all. I have never been the most patient person in the world. David's birthday means that I will not be able to go to Gourock on Saturday. Scotland's newest yarn shop, Once A Sheep, is hosting an Ysolda Teague event and I would actually like to meet some of the Edinburgh knitters I only know online. I'm also one of the few knitters who do not own a copy of Ysolda's new book and the event at Once A Sheep would have been a perfect time to buy it. Oh well. Maybe I should just go to Edinburgh soon?

(Speaking of crafty things .. if you fancy some Malabrigo, Madelinetosh or some luscious Debbie Bliss Tweed, head over to Make Do & Mend. Mooncalf is doing a blog giveaway. She is a lovely woman.)

Finally, I have begun yet another lace project. I'm convinced it is because I'm stuck doing the sleeves for David's sweater. I really should focus on the sweater, shouldn't I? After all, it is the boy's birthday later this week..

Look! A Yule Pig!

My gran sent me a pile of knitting patterns from her ladies' magazines. I always enjoy looking at these patterns. Many are reprinted patterns from yarn companies' leaflets, but they are recent reprints and often patterns I would not have had access to by virtue of being in another country. I have never made any of these patterns, though. Until now.

Just look at those POTHOLDERS! Yes, fair isle potholders with traditional Scandinavian Christmas motifs (a Yule Pig! a Yule Buck!) with crocheted edgings! I'm terribly excited by these super-Scandinavian potholders and I have the urge to buy some Rowan Handiknit Cotton right this minute!! Exclamation Mark!

(Sanity? What sanity?)

My gran also sent me various craft kits for Christmas decorations. It's a bit early for me to get crafty but I predict that next Saturday will be spent at the dining table with scissors and superglue. I'll be making kræmmerhuse (stitching not included) and julehjerter whilst scoffing gran's peppernuts and IKEA's pepparkakor. And Dave will be somewhere else because he always bit nervous when I go into full Scandi-Christmas mode.

Unrelated: stay tuned for a finished object. My Byronic Percy Shawl is currently blocking and it's very, very pretty (and very orange).

Croak, Croak

Health update: I think I'll be okay as long as I a) do not talk, b) do not laugh and c) keep drinking rum toddies. It is a slightly flawed plan, so I have stocked up on Halls Soothers. We are also on our third day of curly kale soup - it is my first time cooking this soup which was one of my great-grandmother's special dishes and I'm happy with the result although I'm going to tweak my recipe a tiny bit to make it a bit more like my nan's - and hopefully all those fresh veg will also make a difference. Knitting update: I have stalled on the first sleeve of Dave's pullover and am seven rows away from finishing my shawl's Chart B. Onwards, ever onwards. I am still pondering NaKnitSweMoDo (interNational Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon) for next year although both my knitting group and my beloved claim I will grow bored and whiny. We shall see. It depends upon the stash.

General update in the form of one link: These literary clutch bags make my heart go all a-flutter although I am most definitely not a clutch bag girl. They combine so many of my loves: books, paratextuality, craft, things handmade and geekdom. Be still my heart.

Also, I'm getting a bit nostalgic about the noughties almost being done and dusted, so expect wallowing entries in the near future.

A Work In Progress

Remember how I angsted* over knitting my partner a pullover? I just need to do the sleeves now and I'm halfway in love with how this self-designed pullover works. David picked out the yarn himself (New Lanark Aran, a local organic wool, in the Bramble colourway) and said he would prefer a round yoke. The body was knit in stocking stitch in less than a week (hurrah! amazing what a mild flu can make me accomplish) and then this weekend I began working on the yoke.

My first take on the yoke was inspired by Danish fishermen ganseys. I loved the idea of combining Scottish wool and Danish knitting traditions, and so bands of textures travelled up the yoke. David tried on the pullover and we were both horrified by how heavy and unbalanced the yoke looked. Back to the drawing board.

The second take is what you see in the photo. I calculated a slip-stitch pattern which would work with the decreases and added stripes of leftover Noro Kureyon. The colourway may not have been the best match as some of the stripes really pop and others blend in, but overall I really like the effect. I'm particularly proud of the subtle texture of the slipped stitches. It looks really ace all the way round.

I'm thinking I might have to nick the yoke pattern for a pullover of my own, although how tragic would it be to knit "his'n'hers" pullovers?

Wardrobe Re-Fashion is hit-and-miss, but it does make me want to pull out my sewing machine. However, given that I'm still quite woozy and a bit dizzy, I should probably stay away from sewing machines.

(* "angsted" is so a real word)

Mad, Bad & Orange To Know

Being ill has its benefits. Last time I was stuck in bed for more than two days in a row, I ploughed through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell which I had previously failed to get into (the plot starts unfolding one-third through the novel). This time around I am knitting whilst listening to podcasts on John Milton (interesting) and Ezra Pound (dull and I even mouthed 'WRONG' at my ipod at one point). I'm knitting with my bright orange 2-ply baby alpaca (yes, the colour is accurate in the photo). It is underspun, rather fragile and almost angora-like soft. And I'm knitting Percy, a pattern which I have previously attempted to knit. I'm now halfway through my second repeat of the dastardly Chart B and I might add in another repeat before doing the edging chart, just to make the shawl a bit bigger. It almost seems a shame to knit an intricate pattern in fuzzy yarn, but the process knitter in me actually Does Not Care. It'll be a mad, colourful and warm shawl - and I will have conquered Chart B. That is all that matters.

I am still ill, alas, but I think today I will actually get dressed!

And here's a little news story which may cheer you up:

Rumors of a city of 25,000 lesbians have led hordes of men to contact Swedish tourist authorities and swamp the nation's Internet providers. Chinese media especially have spread the tale of “Chako Paul City,” supposedly founded in 1820 in northern Sweden by a man-hating widow who banned males, reports Australia's Daily Telegraph. Inhabitants then turned to lesbianism “because they could not suppress their sexual needs,” goes one recent account in China’s Harbin News service. Swedish tourist authorities are baffled. “I've no idea where this came from, but it's not true," said a spokesman. “At 25,000 residents, the town would be one of the largest in northern Sweden, and I find it hard to believe that you could keep something like that a secret for more than 150 years.”

(I cannot remember how I came across it - if it's via you, please let me know so I can credit)

The End of Something

My autumn/winter mitts have been blocked and subsequently worn for several days with much pride. It is a stash-busting project too as I used partial skeins of Lett-Lopi and New Lanark DK I had left over from previous projects. What is not to love? Taking a decent photo of them, however, proved too much for my photography skills, and it wasn't until this afternoon that Official Photographer went for a walk in the rain with the camera, that an in-focus photo appeared.

The pattern is free, but be warned that it needs to be tweaked in order to work. As written, the thumb increases do not match up with the colourwork and if i were to knit these again, I would go down a needle size as the mitts are a smidgen too wide across my hands despite going with the smallest size. On the positive side I can fit a pair of gloves underneath these for extra warmth.

Now to something completely different.

I first read Schrödinger's Rapist - or a Guy's Guide to approaching Strange Women Without Being Maced a couple of weeks ago and it has been on my mind ever since. In a strange way, the blog entry manages to explain exactly what it feels like being a woman and make me aware that this is how it feels for me. Honestly, I do not think about my body or my gender most of the time. My body is just there as a vehicle for my brain and, well, I have never felt like I was part of any Special Sisterhood. And yet, that blog entry made me finally acknowledge to myself that being a woman is not like being a man. I'm in my early thirties and I finally admitted this to myself.

Deep down, though, I must have known and sought to protect myself. During most of my twenties I hid in baggy black clothes. At one point I even preferred being severely overweight to having a healthy weight and receiving attention. Today I wonder why, although I have some residual fear of walking on my own in remote places and I never go outside at night unless someone is with me. For someone who is not all that aware of her own body (and, believe me, having a body never ceases to confound and surprise me .. especially after I have walked into yet another door or stumbled), I do seem to be aware of the dangers connected to having one.

After reading the initial blog entry, I wound up reading the long Metafilter thread/response. Nattie's response was particularly thought-provoking and I found myself nodding to several points she made - and surprising myself by being able to nod. I need to think a lot more about this and work out my own response. Somehow this feels like an awakening.