Reds & Greens

November is never a great time to take photos, blue-tinted light and all, so excuse the slight bluriness and blueness of these photos. I have been working on this Kim Hargreaves cardigan ever since Touching Elegance was published. It should not have taken me this long but a lot of things have conspired against me: other projects, a sudden lack of knitting mojo, stressful time at work, injury-prone hands..

Luckily I was able to devote some proper time to the cardigan during my holiday and the second front knitted up in less than four days. I found my homemade spreadsheet absolutely invaluable: all the increase and decreases which make for a slightly biased fabric and create a gently sloped front edge were just too much to keep straight in my head. I'm a visual learner and I think I'll make these spreadsheets a lot in the future unless I'm dealing with extremely basic shapes.

Whilst I was in Copenhagen, I decided to search for suitable buttons. The original pattern just calls for five buttons, but I had decided to incorporate a sixth buttonhole to help stabilise the fronts as I've knitted this cardigan with negative ease. I found the perfect buttons in a fabric shop and I'm very pleased by how I managed to find some in the same shade of red (it's not an easy shade of red to match - it is a coral-ish, slightly cool red). My original plan was to find some navy and white buttons to give the cardigan a nautical feel, but these buttons make it a much more versatile garment. Score!

Incidentally, this is the best piece of knitting advice I have ever been given (thanks Gran): Use the most expensive buttons you can afford. Cheap buttons will make even the most luxurious garment feel cheap whilst expensive buttons will make a simple garment look like a million.

I have also been knitting socks. Well, mini-socks to be precise.

I'm running a Christmas workshop later this week and have been playing around with scrap yarn in preparation. The grey sock is knitted in 4ply yarn and the red sock in aran-weight yarn. I plan on adding embellishments (beads, buttons, glittery yarn) and see where that takes me. I also need to tweak the 'heel' as I'm not very happy with how it looks.

I'm doing yet another Christmas workshop next week - that one is about crocheting Christmas ornaments and we'll be using a pattern which has been handed down my family. I have already done a few swatches for that one whilst in Denmark (we called it 'mother-daughter bonding over Christmas crafting') but I might do a few more. Just for kicks.

Finally, thank you so much for all your comments and Rav messages lately. I'm running way behind schedule in answering all of you but I will get there!

Plans Afoot

Early next year I am getting a sewing machine and I am so excited. I have been trying to figure out which machine to buy and so far the Janome dc3050 is the frontrunner. I have tried it and I like its versatility - I am just not sure it is not a bit too fancy and it is perhaps also a bit pricier than I would have liked (especially for a model which has been on the market for years). What machine do you have and what would you recommend? I am not a complete beginner - I just haven't sewn for a few good years. I have also spent time thinking about why exactly I want a sewing machine.

Of course I want to make my own clothes. Being a proficient knitter has taught me how amazing it feels to wear something that fits 'just right' and in colours I like. Like many others, I find clothes shopping an ordeal - partly because I never seem to fit into one particular size and partly because I don't like most of the clothes bought in shops. Upcycling old textiles is also greatly appealing (and nothing new to me - my favourite pair of trousers as a teen were fashioned from old 1950s curtains) and being able to mend things in my home strikes yet another cord. Perhaps I'm just trying to convince myself that this is not just another act of consumerism but actually a practical purchase. That is how my head works.

However, I do find myself slightly scared by venturing into the world of dress-making. I went into a few fabric stores in Copenhagen and I was petrified. This was presumably how I felt the first time I went into a yarn store, but I really cannot remember nowadays. I was surrounded by rolls of material and I had NO IDEA what most of them were or how they could be used. I have mostly dabbled in cottons, so I was quite unprepared by the sheer variety available.

I am still knitting, of course. I finished a project whilst on holiday, but I need to sit down and work out pattern before I post more details. It's an own design and it'll be available in a range of sizes. I have a lot of things on my plate work-wise (going on holiday is great; coming back is always slightly stressful) so I don't know when I'll publish it. I only have the sleeves to do on my red alpaca cardigan. I have two more charts left on my Faroese yarn shawl. And I have a sample I need to knit with the deadline looming (yes, it's for a publication; no, not my design; yes, it's super-pretty). All so many projects almost done.. just not there yet.

Random links:

• This headline made me convulse with laughter.
• What a shame my Christmas shopping is done.
• Some people are geekier than me. Or you. Or my Significant Other. Although he enjoyed that site.
• What a way to wake up every morning.
• The geekiest thing I've seen on YouTube. Well, today.
• 10 Essential Books from the Last 25 Years. Exactly what it says on the tin.. not. Too token, too white, too male, and much too US-centric. Also curiously omitting the book which named the referenced generation and no Atwood either (take your pick but The Handmaid's Tale would be my choice).
• This Danish criminal case has rattled me. For years I lived very, very close to where these crimes took place and when I heard about the police trying to find the perpetrator, I had a horrible feeling I knew the guy. I'm very, very, very glad to be proven wrong (if indeed the arrested man is guilty).

It's in the Air

IKEA's Christmas 2010 wrapping paper and Christmas cards include Selbu motifs. Very cute. Clearly I had to buy a roll of wrapping paper. Other recent shopping include a trip to Granny Would Be Proud, a fairly recent addition to the Glasgow crafts fair scene. Today they had set up camp at Hillhead Book Club, an atmospheric and eclectic bar/restaurant just off Byres Road, and we could not resist going. It was a good mix, actually. I tend to be fairly critical of crafts fairs as they can easily be quite bland or veer into unfortunate handmade-irony. The craft fair seemed well curated with some lovely touches: a photo booth where you could get photographed wearing vintage gear and Vintage Spectacles which let you try on frames dating back to the early 20th century. I tried on several 1930s and 1940s frames and now know where to get my next set of glasses. I may also have succumbed to some handmade buttons whilst looking wistfully at Sylvia & Nicola's bespoke dresses.

Somewhere else entirely I came across tops labelled "1930s handknit" which were neither. That is the side of the vintage industry which I really do not like.

Anyway, I have been buying Christmas presents too - and sent off my own wish list to my Danish family. I managed to think of other things besides 1-ply Faroese yarn and I'm pretty proud of that. Note self: I need to start utilising various online wish list facilities, so I do not start to panic come present-buying season. I tried using Wist but it never really clicked for me. Apart from the obvious Amazon wish list feature, do you use any other wish list facilities? Any recommendations?

(I cannot believe I'm already writing about Christmas! Then again I have just been swatching for some Christmas workshops I'm doing later this year..)

Things I have liked recently: + I met a girl recently who wore the nicest cardigan. I nearly ripped it off her back and ran away. + People can be incredibly wonderful sometimes. + Pretty film posters. I'm not sure I'm interested in the film, though. + We are now spending time apart but this is pretty sweet.

Highlight of my weekend? Probably not doing the laundry but it needs to be done, so I can start packing for my holiday. Not that I'm counting the hours or anything..

Sufjan Is Just Like You & Me

After his experiences of recent years, I’m almost afraid to ask what’s next. Well, bizarrely, and quite endearingly, [Sufjan] Stevens likes to spend his downtime knitting.“Yes, I still knit,” he says, laughing. “I’m part of a knitting group of mostly women, but there are a couple of guys who crochet. It’s pretty casual, but I like to do hats and scarves. Occasionally I’ll try something harder, like a sweater.”

Sufjan Stevens talks about his new album and, yes, knitting with The Irish Times' Sinéad Gleeson.

Old Skool Sufjan video below.

Sunday Round-Up

"Is Toíbín's Brooklyn a chick-lit novel?" ponders the Anti-Room. Oh, but I have Opinions with a capital O. The commentators at The Anti Room mainly regard the novel as being a relationship novel, a novel about families. "An old-school Maeve Binchy novel", remarks one commentator. I am wondering whether the commentator has read any Maeve Binchy novels or, indeed, if any of the commentators have read Toíbín's book. Brooklyn is not a sentimental book about family and settling down - it is an uncomfortable book about being an emigrée, about the loss of personal identity, and about cultural identity. I wonder if the chick-lit question would have been asked if the protagonist had been male?

Self-Stitched September is bringing out some old knits (as is the crispy weather). I uncovered the very first project I completed after getting back into crocheting/knitting. I am not sure I ever blogged about it at the time (and my current readership would certainly appreciate a refresher, I am sure).

The pattern is Jennifer Appleby's Hot Cross Slouch Beret from Interweave Crochet Winter 2007. I modified the pattern slightly - on purpose! - as the hat was coming out rather dreadlock-sized. I used around 1.2 balls of Twilley's Freedom Spirit - a middling yarn I  use for crocheting rather than knitting - and originally I had added some ceramic buttons from Injabulo but they have since been re-purposed for another project (which I'm tragically still to do). It's a cosy little hat. I just feel very Bohemian every time I wear it.

I also need to do something about those layers my hairdresser put in against my will.

Full SSS update: Serenity (Thursday), Haematite (Friday and Saturday) and Green Crosses/Millbrook (Sunday)

We went bramble-picking yet again today. Last week D put together a bramble crumble which turned out too dry. We'll have a second go (top tip: always use more fruit than you think you need) tonight. My fingers are stained with berry-juices, my stomach is full of lemon drizzle cake from Auntie M's Cake Lounge and I think I'm going to try out for world domination once more.

Momse's Sewing Box

The parcel man brought me my great-grandmother's sewing box yesterday.

It contains buttons of varying sizes and colours.

And things that may look like buttons but have clearly been put there by one of my prankster uncles (yes, that's sweets wrapping paper).

And "Chinese thread" (I presume it is linen thread - do any Danes know?)

And a beautiful little container of French linen thread. I dare not break this open. So pretty.

And old coinage. 1960, 1969 and 1985, respectively.

And this is my favourite: a button from one of Momse's dresses. The colours & design are so her. I miss her.