My favourite Glasgow Boy is undoubtedly E.A. Hornel whose collaboration with G. Henry, "The Druids Bringing In the Mistletoe", you can see on the left (or at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum). It is such an strange, unsettling painting filled with arcane symbolism,  and up close you can see the layers of paint smeared upon the canvas. It is not a beautiful painting nor is it particular skilled in a strictly technical sense - but it stays with you. I actually prefer Hornel's Japanese paintings where he becomes almost abstract when depicting kimonos and Japanese gardens, but "Druids" is arguably when he first sets off on his own path.

Later this year Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery will be showing a major exhibition on The Glasgow Boys (which will travel to London, I believe), but if you are interested in learning more about the Glasgow Boys, the late 19th century arts scene in Scotland, or simply want to know more about Scottish culture, I can recommend A.L. Kennedy's radio programme (which also features Alasdair Gray). I am not sure if it will be available outside the UK although I remember listening to Radio 4 whilst in Denmark..

Yesterday I received a lovely email from a long-lost, but dearly-remembered Danish friend. Coupled with the sunshine and the promise of spring, I am almost cheerful today.

Wall behind the Hunterian Art Gallery and most likely part of the Glasgow University Campus

I have a real weakness for old bricks. They come in all sorts of colours depending upon where they were made; they can be handmade or marked with the manufacturer's insignia; and they tell stories. We have too many brick photos to mention.  Thankfully my partner understands why I always just need one more photo of an old wall, a bricked-up window or even just an unusual pattern.

Plus, you know, I had the following exchange today: "Can I talk to the lady in charge of this?" - "That's me. " - "No, I want to talk to the slim one." Ouch. Maybe a soft, clingy knitted dress is a very bad idea, full stop.

Anyway. Finished object: my Kaiti shawl knitted in Rowan Kidsilk Haze (shade: Liqueur). I used just a smidgen over two balls (and you could totally get away with just two balls) on 4.5mm and although I really wanted to knit Sharon Miller's Birch, I used the top-down version, Kiri, to maximise the shawl-to-yarn ratio. This is a supersoft and very, very warm shawl.

(I'm not-so-slowly getting addicted to Kidsilk Haze - I'd love to knit a cosy jumper in KSH and have fallen in love with yet another Kim Hargreaves design: Veer from Rowan 32. The simple lines plus the quirky little details just stole my heart. )

Photo taken at the Kelvingrove Museum which is my favourite Glasgow museum, hands down. No matter how often I visit, I see something new and interesting. They even have a small, but exquisite collection of Early Modern Period art (one of my favourite ages). Afterwards we headed towards the Hunterian Art Gallery where, be still my heart, we saw a special exhibition on Albrecht Dürer in Italy and printmaking (including an incunabulum, phroawr). Seriously, seriously good stuff. I love my neighbourhood.

"..there is beauty in everything. What 'normal' people would perceive as ugly, I can usually see something of beauty in it" - Alexander McQueen

British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen committed suicide today. He was only forty years old. McQueen was one of the very, very few who deserved to be called a genius in his chosen field. I am deeply saddened by his death.

"There was always some attraction to death, his designs were sometimes dehumanised. Who knows, perhaps after flirting with death too often, death attracts you."

Karl Lagerfeld on the untimely passing of McQueen.

All that aside, my first reaction was: "Oh my giddy aunt, northern Norway? Philip Pullman got it right!" This reaction was quickly followed by: "Northern Norway? Wonder if there is a Bad Wolf Bay close by..? Oh no, not Rose again?!" And then I realised that maybe I am a bit of a geek after all..

Speaking of which, we watched Duncan Jones' Moon the other night. I enjoyed it, although it did not move me (but I do not think the film intended to move me and I appreciate that). A man stuck on a lunar mining base with a three-year contract about to run out, a robot to keep him company and an unreliable video link to Earth. Space is not a brilliant, adventurous place. It is lonely, cold and remote and it forces people to address questions about human identity, the frailty of memory, and the relationships between Man and Machine. Maybe this sounds dry, but Moon is a good film. Recommended.

And the other side of my geekiness: literature. This photoblog of literary tattoos has me wishing I wasn't so scared of needles, because, seriously, there are some really amazing tats there. One of my favourite songs of this past decade (and just maybe of all-time) is about a literary tattoo: The Lucksmiths' "Fiction"(youtube link)

Oh, and the new Drops Summer Collection has just been unveiled. Voting decides which ones will be given full translation priority, but I just enjoy looking at the patterns. A few look interesting, but, really I'm not that bowled over. Perhaps it's because it's not even Christmas yet and they are talking about summer designs?!

• Why not visit Pompeii from the comfort of your own home? The ruins of Pompeii are now available on Google Street View.
• This is absolutely lovely: Flare, a wind-sensitive electronic dress. "As the wind gently caresses the dress or if you "blow" on the dandelions themselves, a pattern of lights will twinkle across the dress."
• I have fallen head over heels with at least three of the garments in Rowan 47. A preview is available from Rowan's site (it is slow-loading, beware). My current favourite is the pink filly concoction in KidSilk Haze. I might knit in another colour, mind.
• An illuminated snowflake. At some point I will get one of my scientist friends to show me how to make these.
• A YouTube clip chronicling Franz Ferdinand's use of Soviet interwar avant-garde graphic design/art. Ah, El Lissitzky. Be still my heart.
• Starbucks will start selling  Flat Whites in the UK in the new year. I love Flat Whites and hope they'll become available in Glasgow too. Yum. (thanks, Kimfobo)
• This little clip makes me a little sad that I won't be in Blighty for Christmas (thank heavens for iPlayer)
• Finally, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The first sleeve on David's pullover is done! Let me do a small \o/ - and as my stepfather's Christmas is done , I feel like I can cast on the delightful Yule Pig potholders in good faith that they'll be done before Christmas. I might even throw in a Christmas tree or two, thanks to these spiffing Christmas socks.

But look at that photo. Isn't it stunning? I keep meaning to write about what inspires me as a knitter (and as an artist - I splash paint on canvases occasionally). Art history is a huge source of inspiration as is vintage fashion plates and photography. I continue to be fascinated by how other people approach and use colour. This photo is a brilliant example: the red playing off the teal blue with small hints of pale yellow/gold(?) offering a bit of calmness. I can see those colours being translated into, say, some beautiful teal/red colourwork mittens with a tiny pale yellow motif around the wrist.

Speaking of colourwork, I started knitting the Selbu Modern beret the other night. I uncovered two colours of Sandnes Tove in my stash and cast on cheerfully. I completed eight rows of colourwork before admitting to myself that I did not like how it was working up: the grey main colour was overpowering the purple contrast colour. Time to rip out. I'm currently considering whether to use the purple yarn as the main colour and go grey for the contrast - or whether to dig deeper into the stash.

Wholly unrelated: if you want to chill out with a little flash game this weekend, may I suggest Small Worlds? It's short and you have no enemies to kill - but it is extremely atmospheric and, dare I say it, haunting.

Have a lovely Saturday, everyone.

(Title taken from my favourite Frida Kahlo quote)

"This is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England… as radically, if not more so, as the Sutton Hoo discoveries. Absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells." - Leslie Webster, Former Keeper, Department of Prehistory and Europe, British Museum

The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure has been discovered buried beneath a field in Staffordshire by an amateur metal detector enthusiast. The Staffordshire Hoard comprises of more than 1,500 individual items and most objects appear to date around the 7th century. You can read the entire press statement here.

I am incredibly excited by this hoard. One of the items which really intrigues is a strip of gold bearing a Biblical inscription. I'm excited because we don't often see examples of handwriting from this age as most writing would have been done on (easily perishable) wax tablets. The Lindisfarne Gospels date from around the same period, of course, but seeing writing employed outside a manuscript page is just really, really fantastic - particularly as you are seeing a religious inscription on an arguably secular item.

You can see beautifully detailed photos of the hoard on Flickr and while the Staffordshire Hoard website is currently struggling to cope with the number of visitors, I encourage you to seek it out.

• This is my new favourite cartoon. Strong words lurk within, beware.
• Robert Barclay Allardice - The Celebrated Pedestrian: "His most famous feat was the walking of 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in 1000 hours for 1000 guineas in 1809."
• Fancy Fast Food: "Yeah, it's still bad for you, but see how good it can look!" This one is particularly disturbing.
• How To Speak With A British Accent (youtube) is a series of educational videos teaching non-Brits how to perfect their British accent. Well, except that the videos are unintentionally hilarious. I've linked the "Unique Words" video but there are several other gems.
• My mum's local paper had a "best summer photo" competition. This is my absolute favourite entry. Nothing says "Danish summer" like a wheelie bin.
• Via John, the Armenians may be taking Eurovision a tad too seriously..
• The Beauty of Accidents. When a potentially ruined photograph turns out to be strangely beautiful and even better than what you had in mind. Something to keep in mind in these Photoshop days..
• Finally, it took a long time while for Casa Bookish inhabitants to notice but now we're all about Plants vs. Zombies. Pole-vaulting zombies! Dolphin zombies! Pea-shoots! It's maddeningly addictive.

Glasgow has a very proud music hall tradition, actually, and tomorrow we are off to The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall for a steam punk craft show. The Panopticon is the oldest surviving music hall in Britain - the place where Stan Laurel of Laurel & Hardy made his stage debut, no less, and where a young Cary Grant performed while he was still Archie Leach - and it is a beautiful, almost derelict building. The Panopticon Trust has been trying to save the building for about a decade now but it is still fragile. For more information (and a bit of singing), this youtube clip from the AyeWrite literary festival features Judith Bowers, local historian and secretary of the Panopticon Trust, talking about the music hall. If you are local and you have never been, you can visit the building during the Glasgow Doors Open days in September.

Finally,  I recently subscribed to My Vintage Vogue which is a tumblr feed featuring glamorous photo shoots from the Vogue archives. And I refuse to believe there has ever been a woman quite as beautiful as Cyd Charisse..