Conflicting Emotions

Being back in my native Denmark feels bitter-sweet. On one hand, I'm loving speaking Danish. It's really, really good seeing my loved ones. I am enjoying simple pleasures taking a walk around the beautiful countryside with its gentle rolling hills and soft green hues. The food is super-fresh and tasty. The streets are clean and public transport is a joy.

On the other hand, Denmark is populated by Danes. I need to write about my nationality and why I continue to have huge problems embracing my being a Dane - but I have limited computer time at the moment, so watch this space post-holiday. I have also received some upsetting news from Scotland, so I'm feeling a bit strange.

Long live retail therapy, then, and particularly the yarn shops. Today I went to a local sheep farm where I bought both some of their own "homegrown" wool as well as some beautiful 1-ply mohair/silk in stunning colours. Yesterday I went to a more traditional yarn shop and spent almost two hours looking through their inventory. I escaped with a sought-after pattern book and enough wool for a pullover. I also found a 1940s knitting book in a second-hand shop and it is proving a most educational/entertaining read.

Tomorrow looks to be another day of sunshine, excellent food and maybe a yarn shop or two..

If all time is eternally present ...

A deadline has been and gone. Yesterday, in fact. So I can finally start thinking about packing for Denmark, buying Branston Pickle for my Danish friends (don't ask) and even post-Denmark things. As I'm flying out on Monday, you could argue it is about time.

I'm still torn on whether I should buy A.S. Byatt's new novel, The Children's Book, for my holiday or whether I should wait until I come back and will have actual time to read (isn't it funny how these things work?). Part of me wants to tear into it as soon as possible and another part of me wants to savour it. A new Byatt novel is always a cause for celebration, even The Biographer's Tale which I read travelling around New Zealand and cannot remember very well except for a faint pang of disappointment.

After the deadline was met yesterday I met up with Tigerlilith as she wanted my opinion during button shopping. We found the perfect buttons at Mandors where they also had the most stunning Liberty fabrics. Specifically this red/blue print called out to me - I was already visualising a 1930s inspired tailored shirt when I reminded myself that I need a new hobby like I need a hole in my head. A reminder I also needed last night when Kirstie Allsop was trying to wheel-spinning yarn on primetime TV.

Finally, I'm completely sold on Patrick Wolf's new single, Vulture, and the streamed bits I've heard of his forthcoming album, The Batchelor, sound amazing. My 2007 was soundtracked by his The Magic Position and if 2009 turns out to be soundtracked by him again, I shall be rather pleased.

(Title is from TS Eliot as per usual, you might say..)

Linkage

Link dump day! + Europe, Explained: a nice map which summarises it all for confused non-Europeans. + Puppets need puppets too. + Vegetarian-friendly roadkill carpet + The prettiest yarn shop in Denmark? I like my yarn shops over-stuffed, but if you like minimalism.. + Sweden has its own Etsy-like site. + This is a real film: Tiptoes stars Matthew McConaughey as a "normal-sized dwarf", Gary Oldman as his, er, dwarf-sized dwarf brother and Kate Beckinsale as the love interest. Peter Dinkdale features as a a crazy French radical dwarf. I kid you not. + 13 Alien Languages You Can Actually Read. + This is what happens when knitting gets serious. Like, REALLY serious. Sock Summit 2009. Check out the graphics. + Maia Hirasawa: The Worrying Kind. A stunning, stunning cover where I don't think you need to know the original to appreciate it. + Jar Jar Binks salad + British Library's treasures. You could spend an entire afternoon just faffing about (well, I could). + Field Notes. I covet. I covet badly.

Why It's Bad To Know Other Knitters

I blame Bells. I was sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee, having a spot of lunch and then I began reading Bells' love letter to Ishbel (a shawl pattern by everybody's favourite Scottish knitting pixie, Ysolda Teague). Bells' paen to Ishbel wore away at me and before I knew it I too had purchased the pattern. Shock, horror.

I'm totally justifying the purchase to myself by saying "Well, I need a portable project to take with me to Denmark" and the project would also be a stash-busting exercise, as I am the proud owner of a great deal of laceweight and fingering weight yarns. I have singled out two different yarns which would work perfectly in each their own way.

The top cake is Fyberspates Faery Lace in a one-off colour way purchased at a Fyberspates trunk show last year. 1200 yrds of soft turquoise, sea green and cream. The bottom cake is is 2ply merino which I bought in Copenhagen last year. 440 yrds of rich chocolate brown softness. At the moment I'm leaning towards the latter, although the Faery Lace continues to haunt my imagination.. Every time I open the storage box, I look down at it and think "Oh, turquoisey cobweb .. whatever am I going to do with you?".

I have completely omitted to talk about what is currently on my needles. Geno is no more: it was a case of the right yarn and the right pattern in the wrong colour being knitted up at the wrong time.

I'm knitting up the Cafe au Lait mittens in Rowan Wool Cotton to match a beret I made from the same yarn. Not only am I deeply in love with twisted rib - it looks so elegant! so crisp! - but I'm also in love with Wool Cotton - the stitch definition! its softness! the marled grey!

I'm also working on my handspun yoke cardigan. I'm almost done with the first sleeve, which means I only have one sleeve and the button band to go. I'm thinking I should be able to finish that before my fabled trip to Viking Land.

My fellow knitter-in-crime and good friend, Kathleen, is churning out one inspirational project after another at the moment. She recently finished a stunning, stunning hap shawl in plant-dyed cashmere/wool from a indie dyer on the Isle of Skye. A few weeks ago I tried on the hap shawl and I had to fight my urge to just run away with it. I have been taking a long, hard look at my stash and I think I can make myself a hap shawl out of my amassed collection of New Lanark (I might have to order an additional skein or two - what hardship!). I have also been eyeing Kathleen's striped shoulder shawl (rav link) and her Girasole. Seriously inspirational stuff, I tell you.

Why it's bad to know other knitters? Too many ideas, too little time.

Gifted

This is the week of receiving gifts, it seems.

When Kirsten Marie visited, she offered to make me some bling out of materials we bought at The Bead Company. I don't wear much jewellery, but I do appreciate handmade things. And so a few weeks later these earrings arrived by post and I think they are very, very pretty. I'm not a Slytherin but I am  a sucker for all things green and/or silvery. Thank you, Kirsten Marie!

And then Other Half gave me an abecedarium (of sorts) because he knows I love typography and lettering above most other things in life. And he got me a pop-up abecedarium! It's amazing. You can see how Marion Bataille's ABC3D works in this little YouTube video:

And .. relax.

They have suspected it for a long time and now our neighbours are sure: Casa Bookish is a really weird household. Taking photos of brickwork? Yes, weird but it could be for an art project. Taking photos of rusty iron gates? Quite weird, but could just be interested in getting stuff fixed. Photographing a bit of knitting? Totally and utterly weird. The project? Ah, I'm glad you asked. I have finally begun knitting Geno from Rowan 43 after procrastinating for about a year. I started it some days ago and have been knitting up a storm .. on size 2.75mm needles which means I have about 8 inches done. It is not exactly an instant gratification project, but it is gratifying nonetheless. I'm using Rowan Fine Milk Cotton in "Water Bomb" (a duck's-egg-blue) and the yarn is surprisingly velvety. It's a good summer project.

True to fashion I'm obsessing over which buttons to use. I have bought some bog-standard mother-of-pearl buttons from John Lewis, but they are rather .. bog-standard. So I began sorting through my vintage button stash and came up with various possibilities.

In the top-left corner you get some fake-ivory buttons, on the right you can juuust make out some carved mother-of-pearl(?) flowers with some nice staining and on the bottom you get some utterly adorable red plastic flowers (1960s?). I rather fancy the red flowers but I only have four of those and the pattern calls for at least six. I'm also very, very, very taken by these buttons found on Etsy (of course).

Maybe I should just keep knitting?

Maybe I should just do that and relax a bit seeing as the majority of this weekend has involved me poking about the inside of our PC. Long story short: what I thought was a relatively simply problem with overheating turned out slightly more complicated. I'm now extremely tired of computer parts salesmen ignoring me and talking to D. exclusively - just because I'm a woman. Unfortunately (for them) I'm also the computer savvy one, so their über-complicated "you need a new motherboard" sales talk with D. was all in vain. Anyhow, new fan-cradle and CPU fan has been installed and I resisted the lure of shiny new RAM.

PS. This entry has been written on-and-off whilst renegade kids, the Fire Brigade and the Police have been passing by our door. I am in dire need of relaxation now. Knitting, here I come.