Garterstitch100 seeks to celebrate the centenary of International Women's Day - and you as a knitter can help. The artists are hoping to make a blanket consisting of 100 million stitches. They need you to knit them a square or set up a public knitting station where knitters can come and knit. There are a myriad other ways that you can help out. I'll be lending a hand - will you?
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).
Packing
When did I lose my sanity? I have no idea but I clearly lost it some time ago because I'm looking at my luggage thinking: "Denmark. Ten days. Three knitting projects. Should I bring a fourth?!?" I have had a truly delightful day in Edinburgh with work today. I do not get to see many of my colleagues all that often as we are spread out across the British Isles. While some of us keep in touch on-line, it is always good to sit down and compare notes face-to-face. I'm bringing a hefty dose of inspiration with me on holiday.. so maybe a sketchpad and some pencils will be in order.
And not a fourth project.
Wool Week
Did you know that next week is Wool Week? Well, actually Wool Week kicks off this Saturday with tonnes of events throughout the UK lined up for the rest of the week. Wool Week is part of The Campaign for Wool which seeks to promote the benefits of using wool - here in the UK the focus is primarily on locally produced wool and the campaign is backed by the Prince of Wales and The Wool Marketing Board. As a knitter I am mainly concerned with hand-knitting wool, but the campaign actually focuses on how diverse and sustainable a product wool really is. I also remember the huge buzz surrounding British wool when I was at the Knit Camp marketplace in August and next week I will be part of a Wool Week event - these are exciting times to be a knitter.
Everybody's already seen this one, but I thought it wonderfully apt..
(Meanwhile I appear to be dying of the common cold. Send me good vibes. I hate being ill.)
Idunn
Pope Benedict XVI is visiting Scotland and England over the next few days. I have never lived anywhere with a big Catholic community and it is interesting to see how Glasgow is reacting. I do not know if it is the result of the Glasgow Airport terrorist attack, but the amount of security is quite surprising; The main motorway is being shut down for an entire day, several areas surrounding the park where the Pope will address pilgrims have been shut off and certain trains are designated pilgrims-only. This reminds me of when George W. Bush visited Denmark at his height of his unpopularity - boy, it was fun to navigate Copenhagen that day - but mainly it strikes me as odd that a religious leader can generate so much fuss. Then again I identify as a secular humanist. One of these days I need to make myself a "Humanist; Not a Dawkins Fan", though. One of the Pope's aides have pulled out of the UK visit following an interview wherein he criticises the UK for "a new and aggressive atheism". The media have reacted strongly to this, of course, but I think I know which brand of atheism the aide is referring to and, honestly, it is a form of atheism that makes me uncomfortable too. I need to write more about this, but suffice to say that a) I'm puzzled by the Pope's visit and b) I hope all my Catholic friends in Glasgow will have a memorable and good day.
If course there is one religious belief with which I do feel connected: Forn Sidr or Asatru, the belief in the old Norse gods. I grew up with the stories and while I do not believe, there is definitely a connection. I think it is about growing up in a landscape where you see remnants of the ancient past everywhere and seeing the forces of nature unfold before your eyes. Again, I need to write more about this.
And there is a knitting aspect, of course.
Last night I cast on for Idunn. I assumed this would be a commuter project: The February Beret by sockpixie. I made this hat in orange last year and it turned out to be the most flattering hat I have ever owned - well, apart from the rusty orange hue. As soon as I finished it last year, I began thinking about those two precious balls of Scottish Tweed DK in "Apple Green" from my stash. Ever since Rowan discontinued Scottish Tweed due to supply issues, I have been acting all dragon-like what with the hoarding and jealous guarding.. but yarn is really meant to be knitted up and so here we are.
And Idunn was a Norse goddess associated with apples.
I don't think it'll be much of a commuter project because I'm halfway done. Just in time for the first autumnal winds and heavy rainfall. I love being a knitter.
PPS. I shall be in Copenhagen November 4 until November 8, so get in touch if you know of any knit night/knit event/yarn sale.