Archive for the Denmark Category

Last Thing

By on December 31, 2010

Tonight I’m a cooking an almost full-blown Danish Christmas dinner (only ‘almost’ because I’m only serving one type of meat). We decided to make this a tradition so every time we celebrate Christmas in the UK we get a Danish Christmas dinner a week later and vice versa. It’s a new tradition, though, and it is the first time I’m cooking the dinner on my own. We are having duck breasts (scaled down from an entire duck) with two types of potato (boiled and sugar-glazed potatoes), braised red cabbage and duck gravy. Normally I would also serve roast pork but it is nigh impossible to get the correct cut here in Scotland unless you order it well in advance. For dessert I’m serving risalamande with hot cherry sauce. I bought the cherry sauce when I was in Denmark in November!

Food is such an expat thing, I tell you. I never used to care so much about traditional Danish food as I do now. I saw tea rusks in my local supermarket today and could almost taste hot elderberry soup right there and then.

(And seeing this little guy try out salty licorice (salte fisk!) made me beam. He’s a very cool kid even if he says that salty ammoniac licorice requires “an advanced palette”.)

Happy new year – happy Hogmanay – godt nytår! I’m off to try and balance four pots cooking at the same time..

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Wordy

By on November 10, 2010

A linguist friend once told me about a second language acquisition theory: different people store languages in different ways. Some brains work like a giant filing cabinet: words, phrases, idioms and syntax are all neatly filed away so the brain goes to the cabinet, looks in the Spanish drawer, cross-references this with the English drawer and consults the syntax section before proceeding. Other brains have languages stacked on top of each other and perform advanced archaeological excavations every time they need to switch from one language to another.

Guess which type of brain I have.

Ten days in Denmark. The longest I have been back since my big move some four years ago. Today I was standing in my local supermarket wondering why an elderly couple was speaking Danish. As it turned out, they were not – but right now my brain automatically assumes background noise must be in Danish and I have to makes a conscious decision in order to recognise the language as Scots English. Likewise, I’m searching for words: what’s English for parabolantenner or ‘Bare på beløbet, tak’? I know these words, of course, but I have to dig deep before they pop into my head.

Interestingly enough, I only have these problems with spoken language, not written. I’m sure there is a perfectly good (neurological) reason for this.

However, I refuse to believe there is a valid neurological explanation for the way the Danish language is being mangled by people who really ought to know better. Danish is being invaded by English – and it is not even correct English in many instances. I have never been a militant language purist (the way I acquire and use language prevents me from being too holier-than-thou) but I think I am becoming an old grumpy lady. WHY write “den perfect carwash du altid har drømt om” when the correct phrasing would be “den perfekte bilvask du altid har drømt om“. WHY WHY did my gran‘s woman’s weekly write about “en crunchy banankage” when Danish already has several words meaning “crunchy” AND most of the magazine’s readers do not understand English in the first place? WHY WHY WHY would a major national newspaper gleefully write “livet er one long bundy jump” in the middle of an interview with a Danish designer thus mangling BOTH Danish and English? I nearly cracked when I was sitting next to a bunch of Swedish golf-buddies on the plane back to Scotland who kept shouting “EXACT!” but I’m told that is a valid Swedish expression which admittedly feels a bit deflating after I’ve been foaming at the mouth since Monday night.

Last day of my holiday today. I shall celebrate with some knitting and some tidying. I finished reading David Mitchell’s latest novel last night but I need to mull over it before writing anything about it.

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Selected Highlights

By on November 9, 2010

  • Learning how to use a lucet. I love the Danish word for it: “at nulre”.
  • Biking around Copenhagen. Easily the best way to navigate Cph City.
  • Being told I’ll get a sewing machine for my birthday in February.
  • Walking around the new prehistory section of The National Museum. It’s really good.
  • Having way too much good food – and bringing back various specialities.
  • Finding a beautiful hand-embroidered table cloth for just 50p.
  • Spending time with people who really really matter.

I have a few rants to share – the state of the Danish language, how embarrassing people can be in an airport, biased TV-journalism – but I’ll save them for a rainy day. Likewise, I have a few knitting-related things to discuss but I’ll get back to them after I’ve done the laundry (it is so good not living out of a suitcase) and unpacked my things.

It’s good to be home. I just miss people already.

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Wonderful, Wonderful..

By on November 4, 2010

The train journey from my childhood landscape to Copenhagen takes about 90 minutes. The distance from Glasgow to Edinburgh, more or less. I often think about the cultural divide between Glasgow (young, vibrant, edgy) and Edinburgh (heritage, self-aware, conservative) – but this divide pales when compared to the cultural divide between my childhood landscape and Copenhagen. Today the train took me from rural Denmark to urban Denmark; from the way things have always been to the way things are; from my childhood to my adulthood. Every time I step aboard that train, I grow up.

This is a roundabout way of saying that I am in Copenhagen once again.

During the 90 minute train journey I was working on a shawl. A girl came up to me asking if I knitted the jumper I was wearing. Seeing I was wearing my Snorri jumper, the one with the Icelandic yoke, I was happy to confirm her suspicions. This led to a long discussion about how she did not knit, how she admired people who could and where she could learn to knit .. and how I found the time to knit. I maintain that most people should be able to find pockets of knitting time: I knit on public transport, I knit during my commute to and fro work, I knit during lunch, and I knit whilst watching TV or listening to the radio. Knitting is an addition to my daily routine, not something which stops me doing things (Except reading. I still haven’t cracked how to knit and read at the same time. No, audiobooks do not count).  I do not think I convinced the girl to give knitting a try, but I demystified a few things. I’ll continue to preach the gospel anyhow.

A crafts happening was taking place in the Central Station when I arrived. It was a good omen.

Copenhagen has been lovely. I picked up some Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish yarns (mostly laceweight and “sheepy”; definitely things I could not find in the UK) as well as some .. fabric. I learned that I’m getting a sewing machine early next year, so I thought I’d get a few interesting fabrics whilst in Denmark. Do not give me that look..  Anyway, I’ve also been biking around the city and seeing some very lovely people. It’s almost like I never left .. except a few things have changed such as my leg muscles (tomorrow my muscles will ache in interesting places) and my ability to deal with impolite customer service (eyerolling may have been involved).

I’ll be in Copenhagen for a few more days. More people to see. More muscles to re-discover. I am breathing again.

PS. Actually, right now I could be anywhere. I’m listening to BBC Radio 4, the rain is pouring down, and I’m typing away..

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Family

By on October 31, 2010

The Danish landscape is more subtle than Scotland’s but no less beautiful.

My parents live on the outskirts of a large bog area famous for its archaeological finds (link in Danish) and today we went for a long drive through the area: small lakes, rolling hills, undisturbed bogs, Viking settlements and numerous megalithic tombs. I always wonder why Denmark does not market its history as a major tourist attraction (Scotland has already twigged that tourists love history). My childhood landscape is steeped in impressive history and I think tourists would love to visit these places.

I spent the afternoon having a mutual brainstorming crochet workshop with my mum. We were armed with crochet hooks and various balls of wool. It was a lot of fun and super-inspirational. We were both tossing out ideas, workshopping to find solutions to conundrums, and trying out techniques. Crochet has always felt more intuitive than knitting and I really enjoyed what we ended up working on .. I’m the latest one in a long line of crafters and doing a workshop with my mum felt fabulous. If we lived closer, I could definitely see us collaborating on a few projects.

Incidentally, iSketch is way too much fun.

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DK: Knit

By on August 30, 2010

DK: Knit is an exhibition of contemporary knitwear design by graduates from the Kolding School of Design currently on display at the Danish Cultural Institute in Edinburgh. Being both of the knitterly and the Danish persuasion, I thought I might as well check it out.

Unsurprisingly, most of the pieces are machine-knitted and at a fairly fine gauge. Some pieces explore garment construction (like the piece shown left), other pieces explore the idea of “fabric”. One particular piece resembles a big pink bath sponge plunged on the floor – I can admire the skill in its construction whilst at the same time reject its aesthetic, can’t I? – whilst another piece looks like an upmarket version of IKEA curtains (and uses the same stitch pattern as the Summit Shawl).

My favourite pieces are the ones which add twists to so-called classic knitting: items that acknowledge their debt to generations past whilst still trying to pave the way forward.

Hans-Christian Madsen has two pieces included in the DK: Knit exhibition and I really liked both. My favourite was the pullover shown right: a traditional Icelandic yoked sweater in subtle colours – but when you get closer, you can see that the colourwork yoke incorporates unusual materials.The surface is broken up – but by texture rather than colour.

Katarina i Geil also draws upon knitting traditions – most obviously from her native Faroe Islands – but uses cables in a really organic, free-flowing way. I am also impressed by her use of embellishment and contrasting texture. One piece is handknitted(?) in rustic wool with clever crochet ornaments in silk. Sadly my photos has not turned out well nor does she have any web presence, so you will have take me at my word.

For a handknitter, DK:Knit is not the most inspiring exhibition. I can see some possibilities in the play with surface textures, but I think fashion students will find it more worthwhile. I did enjoy my chat with the friendly staff and I was alerted to a new Danish bakery in Edinburgh. Mmm, tebirkes!

The knitterly content continues tomorrow..

Yes, there is more. Oh yes, there is more.

This entry is filed under Art, Craft, Denmark and tagged , , , , .

Midsummer

By on June 23, 2010

Call for test-knitters! I have a pattern I need test-knitted before I can make it publicly available – we are talking one ball of Rowan Kid Silk Haze plus beads. Knitted lace. Get in touch by email (distantsunATgmailDOTcom) or via Ravelry.

Today is Midsummer’s Eve. In Denmark they will be lighting bonfires and singing songs right now. I always miss my Danish friends and family whenever special events come around. Midsummer’s Eve, or Skt. Hans Aften, is that curious Danish blend of pagan and Christian traditions. You gather with people near water – beaches are popular although many places it will be near a lake – and when dusk falls, you set fire to a big bonfire adorned with an effigy of a witch which is said to “fly to Blocksbjerg” (most Danish names for Hell are places in Germany. I kid you not). Oh, and the Danes sing. We sing whenever we can and, since Midsummer’s Eve is a Big Thing, we even have a special song (although most people prefer singing the modern version).

The photo was taken in 2006, my last Skt. Hans Aften in Denmark. I’m feeling a bit nostalgic tonight – especially because I know tonight most of my Danish friends are gathered just north of Copenhagen and I would have liked to have celebrated the longest day of the year with them. The older I get the more attached I become to my personal traditions and I have lost a fair few of them in recent years. It’s a bit difficult to stage a big bonfire here in Glasgow without getting arrested for disorderly conduct .. “Honest, guv, I was just celebrating Midsummer’s Eve. That old woman burning up? Well, it’s tradition..”

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I Need Distractions

By on June 14, 2010

My great-grandmother’s bedspread/blanket arrived today.

Every single square was knitted individually in moss-stitch and then sewn together before she picked up stitches, knitted an edge, cast off, and crocheted a decorative edge. (So much work. I can deal with the huge amounts of mustard yellow in the spread, in other words.) I wonder if I should drape it over our sofa.. We live in a rented flat, so some of the furniture is not exactly to our taste (particularly the pink-yellow chintz sofa).

Thank you for the comments on Becoming Less than a Magpie. After writing it, I went straight to Ravelry and started weeding out my queue. It has gone from 247 patterns queued to 77 projects queued. It feels very liberating. I know the new autumn/winter collections will be hitting the web soon, so I am prepared to see my queue get a bit longer, but I am keeping the following self-imposed rules in mind:

  • Will it flatter my figure?
  • Will it work with existing items in my wardrobe?
  • Do I already have similar objects in my wardrobe?
  • Will I get any use out of it?

In other words, I will assess concrete things like gauge and shape as well as abstract things like style and wearability. Also, I will no longer be queueing fifteen patterns when one well-chosen pattern suffices.

Style is quite abstract, isn’t it? I am not fashionable (although for one brief month back in 1995 I was outrageously trendy) but I do think a lot about style. Being Danish I have grown up with a certain Nordic aesthetic – you might best know it from countless IKEA catalogues. Scandinavians like their simple lines, plenty of light and very little nonsense to their architecture/furniture/designs. A typical Danish knitting design would be something along the lines of Topstykke, Duet or Granite. Plain knitting with a little twist. On the other hand I have never been a very good Dane and I turned into an bit of an Anglophile when I was very young, cue the love of tweedy things with cables and fair-isle (or, in other words, everything Rowan). Add to that, an uncompromising love of Modernist art and design (and that pesky Scandinavian mid-century modern influence) and that is pretty much where “my style” is at.

See why my queue has shrunk so much? Yeah.

Now I’m off to wave a tiny Danish paper flag about. The Danish football team is playing their first World Cup match today and I’m slightly worried as they are meeting one of the top contenders, Holland. It is going to be tense and I still cannot knit.

This entry is filed under Craft, Denmark, Personal and tagged , , , , , . | 4 Comments

The Candle in the Window

By on May 4, 2010

I put a lit candle on my window-sill tonight. It is a Danish tradition to do on the evening of May 4 in memory of May 4, 1945, the evening the Nazi Occupation of Denmark ended. I lit the candle in memory of family members, now long gone, who fought with the Danish Resistance. I also lit the candle thinking about democracy and the forth-coming British general election. I cannot vote in this election, and I have a sinking feeling about its likely outcome, but I appreciate living in a democracy (albeit one with a wacky voting system).

I liked this little re-drawn map of Europe (and in related news, my Eurovision Pundit Podcast debút)

And BIG, MASSIVE congratulations to the Hand-Knitted Pirate who is now Doctor Hand-Knitted Pirate.

This entry is filed under Denmark, eurovision, News, Personal and tagged , , , , .

Catching Up With Myself

By on December 30, 2009

Sitting comfortably? Good.

Just before Christmas our computer finally died on us. This was not totally unexpected after some emergency surgery earlier this year, but still came as a surprise as the computer had been really fine and well until we left it for a few days in order to travel to Aberdeenshire (a journey which was traumatic enough sans computer death – we were stuck on snowy roads for nearly three hours as traffic stopped moving following a black ice accident). On our return there was no response. I went out into the heavy snow to get spare parts, but spare parts did not work. We had to leave the UK knowing that our little home was without a working PC. It was not a happy thought. As you might have twigged by this very update, we have managed to bring a swanky new PC into our life and I’ll end this extended metaphor before it gets out of hand.

So. Holidays, then. Aberdeenshire was snowy and cold. Denmark was surprisingly less snowy and not as cold. I had fun introducing David to Danish Christmas traditions and we all enjoyed ourselves eating far too many home-made chocolate nibbles, reading books and watching TV. On the picture on the left you can spot a bit of my parents’ garden (we loved watching the variety of wildlife eating treats left for them) and also a bit of the beautifully trimmed Yule tree (spot my mum’s folded stars? She’s thinking of doing craft fairs next year).

We also made it to Copenhagen where the lovely Kirsten Marie graciously let us borrow her flat. This was a real treat as I usually see an insane amount of people whenever I’m in Copenhagen and do not really get to spend time in a city I called home for twelve years. Last time I saw 19 people in three days. This time we saw three people in 1-and-a half days. The rest of the time we just walked around the city, shot a few photos, walked some more, defrosted our cold bodies with super-expensive coffee (I had forgotten how expensive Denmark is!) and walked even more. Yarn shops may also have been involved, but more on that in a later post. Finally we made it out to regular blog commentator Darth Ken’s flat for yummy food and great conversation. I continue to be ambivalent about my erstwhile home, but I cannot deny it was great just letting myself relax into a familiar space.

Scotland is still snowy, dammit. It is also really, really cold in our flat and I may have given in to this “heating the flat” thing because I’m almost wearing as much indoors as I am when I go outside. And we have a swanky new computer! Tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve (Hogmanay) and we are determined to have a very quiet night after the rather leisuredly busy Christmas.

So, tomorrow: an FO, some new yarn and a tiny bit about something else.

This entry is filed under Denmark, food, Personal, Photography, Scotland and tagged , , , .

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