Skip to content

Between Days

Blog silences happen when un-bloggable things are happening.

So, bloggable things in quick recap form:

  • I’m reading a lot of Georgette Heyers at the moment. I’m on my third in less than a week.
  • I’ve cast on for Helga Isager’s Pine in a new Scottish handknitting yarn. I will have to rip it out as I started the brioche stitch section last night at knitting group and Something Clearly Went Wrong.
  • Wimbledon is in its second week and I’m really enjoying the coverage. I have always loved watching tennis – not just Wimbledon – and it makes for great knitting TV. Andy Murray is the homegrown hero, but I’m finding it slightly difficult to warm to him as he’s of the Agassi school of tennis and I’ve never been a huge fan of that particular style.
  • And I also watched a bit of Glastonbury coverage on Auntie Beeb. Blur were fantastic (surprisingly so as they never were the best live act out there) and made me super-nostalgic for my youthful days.

Back to un-bloggable things.

2009 07 01 Karie Literature
Music
Personal
Popular Culture Comments (2) Permalink

Recent Acquisitions

wk09 041 My good friend, the old maiden aunt better known as Lilith, is away on holiday and yesterday I went down to West Kilbride to look after her workshop.

What did I spend my time doing? Did I pet her handdyed yarns or fondle the abundant piles of spinning fibres?

Of course I did, but actually I spent most of my times winding yarn. You can see the result on the left hand side. My arm hurts ever so slightly today (Lilith needs to get an electric ball winder, I should get myself a ball winder or perhaps I should just stop buying so much laceweight and 3ply).

Here are some of my favourites:

wk09 031

This one just glows, doesn’t it?

It was a birthday present from Therese, my creative, funny and amazing friend from Sweden. The yarn is 1-ply organic Gotland wool painted with organic dyes for the Färgkraft co-op. The wool has that rustic, rough handle which I love with all my heart and the colour .. well, my favourite colour  in the whole wide world happens to be moss green.

In other words, this is the most perfect yarn in the entire history of wool.

While I am tempted to cast on for yet another Laminaria, I think this wool doesn’t need fancy Estonian stitches or super-complicated patterns. It has so much character that I think we are talking garter or stocking stitch here. Any suggestions are very welcome – right now I’m leaning towards a Faroese style shawl or something similar. You can take a girl out of Scandinavia but..

wk09 034 .. and then this beauty which was a thank-you gift from Lilith for my help. I got to choose any yarn I wanted in her shop which was an absolute treat. I ended up with a 50% suri alpaca/50 % merino laceweight (shock, horror) dyed in the Bracken colourway which forms part of Lilith’s Homecoming collection.

I really like the subtlety of Lilith’s dyeing. Lilith gets that colours need to work together in order for the knitted-up fabric to work – something many indie dyers forget. This colourway is green but also beige and a bit gray and a touch of light brown with juuust a hint of creamy yellow-green. I don’t know how she does it, but it looks stunning and elegant. I might just use this yarn for a very special birthday that’s coming up next year.. or another Laminaria for myself?

wk09 045Finally, a little treat for myself.

West Kilbride promotes itself as Craftstown Scotland which means the high street is littered with interesting little workshops. Lilith’s workshop is one; Lorna’s Chookiebirdie studio is another.

Lorna’ s work is handstitched and handfinished using vintage fabrics. She works a lot with tartan cloth, tweed and Scottish lambswool and does very embellishments with beads and buttons. The first time I encountered her work, I spent a long time drinking in her style and flair. I’m not a handstitcher, but I can definitely draw inspiration from the way she uses embellishments in her projects.

And then I commissioned this little needlecase from her. I love the owl and the moon – and the craftsmanship is astounding. I know a certain widely-read Scottish crafts blogger has been told by Lorna not to blog about her work until Ms Chookiebird comes back from holiday, but seeing as I’m a completely obscure bloggerista, I’m risking Lorna’s wrath..

2009 06 26 Karie Craft
Purls Comments (1) Permalink

“Are You Sure It Isn’t Just Some Fanboy Thing..?”

I saw this* and then I started missing academia once more and also really, really wanted to move to London. But, you know, life isn’t so bad. Thursday I’ll be baby-sitting the Old Maiden Aunt studio as Lilith’s away, so do pop by West Kilbride if you fancy buying some lovely handpainted yarn and a chat over some tea and knitting.

Via John (and presumably everybody else on the interwebs): Buffy Summers meets Edward Cullen.

“It’s an example of transformative storytelling serving as a visual critique of Edward’s character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy’s eyes some of the more patriarchal gender roles and sexist Hollywood tropes embedded in the Twilight saga are exposed in hilarious ways.”

As John says, “..I have a sneaking feeling that a Spike meets Edward Cullen remix would [also] be a thing of beauty and a joy forever.”

* I nearly fainted when I saw Jewel Spears Brooker was speaking on “The Fire and the Rose: Eliot and Julian of Norwich”. Phoawr!

2009 06 23 Karie Craft
Fandom
Literature
Popular Culture Comments (4) Permalink

We’re Not in Denmark Anymore

june 107

2009 06 22 Karie Photography
Scotland Comments (0) Permalink

Hello, it’s Me Again

junedoorI have had the strangest weekend ever. Okay, maybe not ever ever, but it was strange. We went up to Aberdeenshire and strangeness ensured. I’m home now, thank heavens. My partner, Dave, is away at Dr. Sketchy’s and it’s quiet here. I have ripe plums waiting for me and I am enjoying having bare feet. It’s the small things, you see.

Two things, though, before a brief spiel about another Finished Object (pictured left):

1) Yes, I speak excellent English. This is not the result of me having met David and lived in Scotland for a few years. You do not need to compliment me on how fast I’ve picked up English. And do take note when I talk about having lived in the UK on and off since the mid-90s and having a degree in English. This means I’m not an illiterate foreigner who moved here because Scotland is flowing with milk and honey. Yes, really, I get that my English is surprisingly good for a non-native speaker. I KNOW THIS. I DO NOT NEED YOU TO KEEP TELLING ME.

(wow, that felt good)

2) We travelled from Aberdeen to Glasgow on a bus filled with tipsy Aberdonian mums-off-the-leash going to see Take That in concert at Glasgow’s Hampden Park. That was slightly .. unsettling. I tried to doze to shut out the painful conversations behind me, but to no avail.

Finished object, then.

I was making a cardigan out of two different colourways of Kauni yarn. The idea was to make a crocheted top-down yoked cardigan (these words make sense if you are a knitter or crocheter, believe me). I finished the main bit of the cardigan, crocheted buttonbands and .. it looked frumpy. No, it looked more than just frumpy: it looked like something taken from What the Hell Is This? modelled by Monica Lewinsky. So, scissors came out and fiddled around with the fabric until it dawned on me that I was holding a rather cool top. I just needed to crochet it together and leave enough room for my big head to pop through.

Thus the Kauni top (also known as Sun Ray) came into existence. I’m rather fond of it as it warms my always-cold backside whilst leaving my arms free to do whatever my arms do. I am already planning a few more – possibly in Kauni, but definitely crocheted in the round. The photo is rather arty and doesn’t show the top well, but I was having an awkward photo day and this one is at least semi-presentable.

Next: another crazily busy week interspersed with knitting and hopefully some relaxation. Ha.

2009 06 21 Karie Personal
Popular Culture
Purls Comments (0) Permalink

Home: Refugee Week 2009

What does home mean to you?

When I left Denmark in 2006, I spent the last few weeks living out of my suitcase and sleeping on friends’ floors. I liked this sort of transitory existence because I knew I was moving from my old home in Copenhagen to a new home in Glasgow. What I did not know was that this transitory existence would continue for almost a year.

I moved to Glasgow with a suitcase. Twenty-four boxes and a chair followed quickly. I slept in a proper bed and I had a wardrobe for my clothes, but the place never felt like home. My keys did not work, my books were all in boxes and my name was not on the door. This is when I learned how important Home is.

If you do not have a home, you will not feel like you belong. If you do not have a home, you will not feel like you have rights. If you do not have a home, you do not feel safe. If you do not have a home, you will not feel whole.

We moved, of course, and I have a home now. We have bookcases (and need more, quite frankly), unwashed coffee mugs, internet connection, window sills with an ever-growing collection of clay pipes, a cupboard of yarn, and a view of green treetops. I have we because home is not home without David.

Moving to Glasgow exhausted me, mentally and physically, and mine was a voluntary move – I cannot begin to imagine what an involuntary move somewhere (caused by war, famine or persecution) would do to a human being.

(Thank you, Katherine, for alerting me to Refugee Week Scotland)

2009 06 15 Karie Personal Comments (0) Permalink

Worldwide Knit In Public Day, Glasgow Edition

A big thank you to everybody who showed up for the Worldwide Knitting in Public Day in Glasgow.

We had a lovely picnic at the Kelvingrove rockery (you can even see Lord Kelvin in the background looking at us – we thought about knitting him a beanie). It turned out to be so much fun that we are thinking about having another knitters’ picnic later this summer. It was great to see so many people from various knitting groups and places (New York! New York!!).

Thank you to everyone who brought cake, fruit, homebaked bread and sunscreen. A special thank you to the amazing Jen who had devised a knitting game with fabulous prizes (handspun yarn! spinning fibre! dyeing kit! handdyed yarn!).

And now to apply copious amounts of aftersun lotion..

2009 06 13 Karie Craft
Scotland Comments (4) Permalink

FO: Laminaria

lam “See,” Personal Photographer said, “you totally look like Naomi Watts“. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment; it’s more that I think Personal Photographer might need glasses. Or maybe he just thinks that my red Laminaria is glam and I agree with him on that. I’m not tiny, blonde or Australian – but I am feeling very glam when I wear my shawl.

Lamniaria, oh, Laminaria. Where to begin?

I had no problems with the pattern: it was extremely well-written, the charts were crystal-clear and the designer has made some very helpful Ravelry notes regarding yardage. In fact, I zipped through most of the charts without a hitch (even the much-fabled Transition chart – you just need to count your increases). If only all patterns could be as well-written as this.

My main concern was the 1-ply kidmohair/merino yarn I was using. It had fallen apart on me during the first chart – literally, fell apart rather than snapped – and I was anxious that it might fall apart again or break during blocking. As KV suggested, I knit a test swatch and blocked it before blocking the shawl itself. Surprisingly the yarn really came into its own during blocking and I had no qualms about subjecting the shawl to some pin action.

I will knit this shawl again – possibly in some Old Maiden Aunt merino/silk I have in my stash.

More photos at the Ravelry project page (and I do not look like Naomi Watts in any of those either).

2009 06 10 Karie Purls Comments (8) Permalink

Cast-On Frenzy

june-029 Laminaria is done. Tomorrow we are heading out for a proper photo shoot, my Personal Photographer and I, so this little sneak peak will have to suffice for now. As you can see, the shawl survived the blocking.

When I finished the shawl I cast way more projects than I usually have on the needles at any one time. Perhaps it was because I had been so focused on Laminaria – monogamous knitting and all; perhaps it was because I wanted to do so much things all at once; perhaps my head’s just full of ideas and I needed an outlet?

Don’t snicker at back, please, but I have cast on for another Ishbel shawlette. I know, I know.. I didn’t like knitting it first time around, and I’ve even cast on in Kidsilk Haze in a really, really drab grey-brown colour. My best explanation is that I wanted something completely different from Laminaria. Something to cleanse my palette.

I’ve cast on for the Topstykke tunic which I bought as a kit in Denmark. It’s a top-down tunic with puff-sleeves, an interesting decorative feature on the front .. and it’s knitted in light fingering wool on 3.5mm (US size 5) needles. So far I’m struggling to get my knitting brain to read Danish (my native language too!). I’m predicting this’ll be a long-term knitting project that I’ll knit when I’m watching TV or the like. Did I mention that the light-fingering wool is .. grey?june

Third project, then. It is the most immediately interesting project of the three. It is a crocheted top-down cardigan made from two different colourways of Kauni 8/2. Yes, stripes! Inspiration comes from a Danish blogger, Liselotte Weller, who made a stripey top-down crocheted cardigan in Kauni – but I’m not exactly following her sketchy pattern. I have a very, very relaxed attitude towards crochet (it used to be my craft of choice for years) and I’m pretty much making it up as I go along. Crochet is so very forgiving.

Finally, some months ago I made up a crochet pattern for a cowl. I’ve been asked for the pattern and thankfully I made a few notes. I have a test crocheter all ready to get going, so watch this space.

2009 06 09 Karie Purls Comments (3) Permalink

“Because I know I shall not know”

I have read poetry most of my life, it seems. I was a quiet Danish teenage girl who read Lord Byron and Rupert Brooke in the school library, swooning over the bold romanticism of the poets’ words and lives. When I was sixteen or seventeen, I bought a slim volume of poetry. Away from school, I discovered Sir Philip Sidney, Lord Tennyson and DH Lawrence. Poetry became an escape from the clutter and clatter of my everyday life. And, yes, I romanticised poetry.

Then I began University and one morning between classes I was catching up with my reading. That is when I encountered The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by TS Eliot and, although I normally try to avoid hyperbolic blanket statements, that poem effing changed my life. It was like language streaming straight in my veins and I felt drunk on poetry for the first, but not the last, time.

Let me confess: I have a special place in my heart (and brain) for High Modernism. Earlier I described High Modernism as

“that vast array of strange and deliberately disconcerting art forms which emerged in the Western part of the world around 1908-ish and which petered out towards the end of the 1930s. Shklovsky’s definition of остранение (ostranenie or ‘defamiliarisation’) describes my favourite art works so splendidly: they unsettle the readers/listeners/spectators by forcing them to acknowledge the artifice of art (and thereby making a clean break with the naturalist tradition of art).”

This is an intellectual sort of enjoyment: I enjoy the game of making meaning; I derive pleasure from understanding patterns emerging from seeming chaos. I really like poets like Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein for these reasons. I have to work to get at the ideas behind the poems. TS Eliot fits in with all this, of course, but I also derive a very raw emotional pleasure from his poetry.

For me, Eliot’s poetry is about understanding life. It is about finding your own way between one word and the next, between one moment and the next. It is about being intellectually curious, acknowledging how that is both a gift and a curse, and finding methods of dealing with this. It is about fragments and meta-narratives. It is about hope and loss of hope. It is about being human. It is tough, raw, almost unbearable and yet so .. beautiful.

My favourite Eliot poem is probably Ash Wednesday (from which the title is taken). An odd choice for an agnostic woman, perhaps, but it marks the transition from Eliot the High Modernist to Eliot the Religious Poet. I have always been drawn towards liminality.

2009 06 06 Karie Language
Literature
Personal
Philosophy Comments (3) Permalink