On Frocks & Books
A few things to tide things over..
- With a few modifications, this is how I'd like to live. I would not sort my books by colour (in fact, it is a pet-peeve of mine), I would tone down the pattern-upon-pattern thing, and I would go for a different IKEA sofa*, but overall this is my sort of home. It has that Scandinavian-midcentury/vintage-thriftiness/art-junkie aesthetic I like.
- As I keep saying, I am not getting back into dress-making. Nope. Not a chance. Having said that, I am drooling over this sewing project. There is no way that I'd look anything like the girl in the photos, but that is one fetching dress. I never know what to wear during summer but I like the idea of wearing pretty cotton frocks. But I'm not going to make one for myself.
- Not getting back into dress-making does not mean I cannot look at gorgeous fabric, though. Spoonflower supplies a design/print-on-demand fabric service. Look! Steampunk-inspired fabric! Fabric inspired by early American feminist writer! UK-based company, Clothkits, sells beautiful Liberty fabric designed by Grayson Perry. Sigh.
- Meanwhile Danish ladies' magazines keep publishing lovely free knitting patterns (mostly donated by yarn companies). My recent finds include this awesome cardigan, and a very cool top. I might even have yarn for the top.. Hmmm.
* yes, I have opinions on IKEA sofas. I'm a bit scared by this.
And on a completely different topic, take a look at this MeFi post about the quality of paper used in contemporary publishing.
"Eight years ago we started to notice the shift in buying patterns from free-sheet Permanent Paper to groundwood paper for hardcover books. Groundwood is the type of paper used in newspapers and mass market paperbacks, and its production is such that it is much lower-quality and degrades more quickly than traditional book publishing paper." What makes a book permanent?
The discussion quickly descends into a "well, why print books at all now the digital revolution is here" argument. I have nothing against digital publishing nor against digital archiving (in fact, I support digital archiving as it allows for storage on an unprecedented scale whilst not taking up much room), but I do take issue with people saying books are going to vanish within the next thirty years because they are too low-tech to be anything but obsolete. Despite globalisation, that is a very First-World argument.
The Book's low-tech nature is exactly why it is going to survive - and why books needs to be of better quality. Needing the Book is not about cherishing the object itself, but understanding its role in the dissemination of knowledge. Oh, but the internet! Oh, but Kindle! Oh, but what about people who have no access to the internet, or have limited/censored access? What about people living in areas where electricity is a scarce commodity reserved for the elite? Picking up a book "only" requires you to be able to read. Using a Kindle or the internet requires compatible technology, electricity, the ability to navigate and process information online, stable access, knowledge of how to download content/patch your software .. and then how to use your reading device.
(I miss working with print culture - can you tell?)
Knitting Millbrook
My Millbrook cardigan is technically done. I have finished knitting it, in other words, but there will be quite some finishing to do.
1. I have knitted with oiled yarn, so I am yet to see what the actual fabric will look like once the oil has been washed out (note. I did knit a swatch and washed it - but that was with another colourway one year ago). This cloud of unknowing feels quite exciting and a bit whatwasIthinking.. Right now the knitted fabric has a flimsy feel to it, but I expect/hope for the fabric to bloom.
2. I am thinking of reverting to the picot-edging used in the original pattern. The neckline feels quite bare. Last night I tried knitting a little collar and it did not look quite right. Then I crocheted an edge around the neckline which stabilised it, but still looks too bare.
3. I still have not decided on buttons (this will have to wait until I have washed the cardigan and figure out just how stable/unstable the buttonsholes are - cf. flimsy material). Currently pondering whether to crochet buttons myself.
4. And, finally, the usual flurry of finishing: weaving in ends, tightening buttonholes, blocking (as it is a lacy cardigan) etc.
I have tried Millbrook on and it is a seriously cute, vintage-looking cardigan which is perfect for spring/summer-wear. I need to think more about what I need to have in my wardrobe and Millbrook fulfills a need I did not even realise that I had: a light woolly cardigan to wear underneath my spring/summer jacket.
This sudden realisation that I need to knit wearable pieces stems partially from the Millbrook epiphany, but also from reading Cargo Cult Craft. Essentially a sewing blog rooted in a love of social history, Cargo Cult Craft is a thought-provoking blog with eye-candy. I am quite intrigued by its Fashion on the Ration! project:
I’ve allotted myself 66 clothing “coupons” — the 1941 ration for each man, woman and child in Britain. Like the original, my ration will have to last me one year — from January 23, 2010 to January 22, 2011. Armed with my ration, my stash and period tips and techniques, I will maintain my everyday wardrobe while sewing a wartime wardrobe from vintage patterns and style sources.
So far Fashion on the Ration has been a bit of an eye-opener for me, despite my initial misgivings ("gimmicky" and "bit precious"). By thinking very hard about her choice of material and what basic needs her clothes have to fulfil, the blogger is engaging with her clothes-making in a very interesting way. My favourite part? She jots down notes on what she has learned from every project. And I'm learning from her despite my craft of choice being different from hers.
PS. I have finished reading Sarah Waters' "The Little Stranger". More on that soon.
Day Four: A New Skill
Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here.
I knit a lot of lace. One of my favourite projects ever was my Ceramium shawl (or "Glaminaria" has it was dubbed by friends), my version of the Laminaria shawl. The pattern was always interesting, just on the right side of challenging and extremely fun to knit.
I so wish I knew how to design intricate lace shawls because, my word, I enjoy knitting them. I do not aspire to Laminaria-esque heights (i.e. intricate Estonian stitches, modular stitch count, jaw-dropping beauty), but I have these ideas in my head about angular shapes growing into elaborate edgings. You see, I like my early 20th Century art and architecture (Cubism, Bauhaus, Art Deco) and would love to approach lace knitting using that sort of formalised, geometric "language".
Alas, I have no idea how to go about all this.
I have knitted a triangular shawl of my own design, Bruges, but mine was a very simple idea: I wanted to use a chunky wool and combine it with a fine edging. The yarn did most of the hard work for me as the chunky wool was self-striping (and I opened it up with a few k2tog, YO rows) and the fine wool, my beloved Kidsilk Haze, gave the edging a gorgeous halo.
I am sure there is a simple mathematical logic to lace shawl designs. I can knit a stocking stitch triangular shawl, but I am yet to suss out how to plug in those seductive lace patterns. Oh, how I wish I could just sit down and design one..
.. instead here are some of my favourite shawl patterns which I am yet to knit or which I simply just admire:
- Aeolian Shawl
- Andromeda Shawl
- Bitterroot Shawl
- Vernal Equinox Shawl Surprise
- Knitted Shawl in Alpaca
PS. I'd also really, really like to learn how to read a book and knit at the same time. I'm reading much less than pre-knitting-rediscovery and this bugs me.
Day Two: Inspirations & Aspirations
Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here.
As I wrote yesterday, my grandmother has been knitting me jumpers and cardigans all my life. My all-time favourite jumper was one she knitted me when I was eleven. I chose the colours myself - forest green and dark red - and I wore it until my gran decided she had better knit me another one. Unfortunately I did not get to choose the colours second time around as I was living in London, not rural Denmark, and I ended up with a beige/fawn combination which I loathed.
Last time I went to visit her, my grandmother had uncovered the pattern she had used for the two jumpers. The apple does not fall far from the tree, because Gran had obviously modified the pattern. Instead of a cardigan knitted in pieces, she had knitted the jumper in the round with subsequent steeking and whatnot.
I want to knit that jumper. I want my forest-green/red jumper back and I have the pattern right here in front of me. It is a 24-stitches/37-rows repeat, and fortunately I have Gran's marginal notes so I can follow her math. I plan on knitting it in the round as well, but I am not sure about the sleeve construction. Should I steek for drop-shoulders? Should I attempt to re-chart the pattern for a round yoke? I know I will be wanting a high-turtleneck.
Gran used postal order wool (I still remember pouring over shadecards with her). The actual pattern calls for a yarn which is miraculously still available - Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt (and rav link). It is a standard double-knitting pure wool yarn which should be easy to substitute. The real concern is if I can get the colours I want. Jamieson & Smith seem an obvious choice, but I'm also wondering if I should go for a slightly different look to my original jumper by choosing Rowan Felted Tweed (Rage and Pine would look so very lovely together).
Why is this an inspirational pattern for me? I know I have the skills to knit this - but I am actually a bit afraid of undertaking this project due to its many layers of meaning. By undertaking this project I will be admitting that Gran is no longer able to knit me a jumper and that I am, in a sense, "taking over" from her. In fact, I am now knitting her things, not the other way around. By knitting this jumper I am also reaching out to my own younger self - that young girl who feared so many things and felt so horribly out of place. And I am attempting to replace something which meant a great deal to me and I am afraid that my recreation will not measure up.
Who knew that sticks and string could be so .. meaningful, eh?
Day One: Starting Out
Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here.
My great-great-grandmother, Ingeborg, died in the 1960s but lives on in the stories told by my grandmother and my mother. Ingeborg was nearly blind when she died, but she kept knitting socks until her final days. My grandmother tells me that Ingeborg would worry about her tension becoming wonky and about dropped stitches, but despite failing eyesight Ingeborg's socks were as immaculate as they were back in the early 20th century when she kept her sons and one daughter, my great-grandmother, in steady supply of socks.
Intriguingly, Ingeborg used the English method, unlike her daughter (and subsequent generations) who were/are Continental knitters. I was taught to knit by my great-grandmother who was an important influence upon my life. She would knit long strips of garterstitch and sew them together into huge throws (and as I am writing this, I am awaiting a parcel from Denmark containing one of her huge, colourful throws). She would normally use whatever she had to hand - my momse had raised eighteen children through the 1930s and 1940s, and had very little time for anyone complaining about fibres or colours: if it kept you warm, you better be happy (and keep quiet about blue not being your favourite colour).
My grandmother has influenced me more than anyone else. Whenever I am with her, we make things. Arthritis has sadly put a stop to most of her creative endeavours, but she is a wonderfully multi-facetted crafter: sewing, knitting, crocheting, hardanger-embroidery, cross-stitching, and .. I can think of at least five other crafts she has tried.
She started knitting me pullovers and cardigans when I was a baby and, well, she has only stopped now due to her arthritis. My grandmother made me the pullover I am wearing in the picture below. I think I am about six years old in the photo. She favours cables and textures above all other things, although she is also extremely fond of fair-isle knitting, and as Gran has never done lace knitting, I made her a lace shawl for Christmas (it was very well-received).
The most important craft lesson she has taught me? You can make it yourself.
My mother is no less crafty, although she channels her creative energy into other things such as gardening and writing. Mum crochets more than she knits and she tends towards making things for her home: table cloths, napkins and doilies. I think I get my love of delicate projects from her, as she prefers extremely fine/small-gauge work to quick projects. Her attention to details is legendary.
I do not remember when I was taught to knit or crochet, but I know that all my life I have been Making Things (and now I live with someone who also Makes Things). As a child I would knit fair-isle pullovers for my dolls(!) and made quite good pocket-money selling dolls' clothes to the neighbourhood kids. As a teenager I was mostly caught up in crocheting (and calligraphy, but that is another story) and made myself some, ahem, interesting pullovers. I abandoned knitting and crocheting for almost a decade, but rediscovered my roots when I found myself with some unexpected downtime. Nowadays I cannot imagine myself not creating things with my hands. It calms me and strengthens me in often surprising ways.
And, most of all, I am a fifth-generation* crafter and I feel connected to my family history every time I pick up my needles.
*at least
Going Places
Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes, a book on how to make geometric models using needlepoint, has won a prize given to oddly-titled books.
Written by Latvian mathematician Daina Taimina, it was adjudged the winner of the annual Diagram Prize after a public vote run by the Bookseller magazine.
I think it says a lot about me that I didn't batter an eyelid at the title. Besides, Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes does not hold a candle to books like Highlights in the History of Concrete or Bombproof Your Horse, both previous winners.
I finished my Monkey socks this weekend. They are very pink/lilac, but they do warm my feet (perfect for that impending snow we are supposedly getting). I'm just happy I won't have to use the Yarn Yard Bonny again. Just too synthetic for my taste. I have wound two cakes of delicious sock yarn - The Thylacine's Wellington BFL/nylon and Old Maiden Aunt's merino 4ply - and have scoured Ravelry for sock patterns. Like Ms Mooncalf, I think it is time to admit that sock knitting is no longer abhorrent or strange. It certainly has a place in my life.
Some exciting news: I will be teaching knitting and crochet classes in Glasgow this spring. Topics include the usual beginners' courses in both knitting and crochet, but also some advanced courses such as Continental knitting, Fair-Isle knitting combining English & Continental techniques, beading, finishing techniques and, yes, sock knitting . I'll be posting more info on the Glasgow and Scots Knits Ravelry groups soon or contact me directly if you want to know more. All the courses will last one hour and are free. Woohoo!
Finally, two blog posts about how we relate to our bodies. Kate Davies writes eloquently about how to formulate and describe the relationship (particularly if you have fallen ill) whilst Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt writes about feeling disconnected from her body. Both posts ask pertinent questions to which I can relate. I wish I felt ready to write about my personal struggles in terms of body and mind, but maybe someday I feel comfortable adding my thoughts. I thank both Kate and Lilith for being bolder than me.
(Ain’t) Misbehavin’
I like late nights. I like staying up till the world around us grow quiet and I can hear myself thinking. I like caffeinated drinks: coffee, tea and various soft drinks. And I like working away until I finish things and then have a long, meandering chat with the Boyfriend. Unfortunately my body does not agree with me and so today I am incredibly shattered to the point that I began crying in public today for no apparent reason. Embarrassing, yes, and also worrying.
Pledge to myself: I'll quit misbehaving and begin listening to my body again. Everything else is just plain silliness and I'm too old to be silly.
A few random links:
- Les Garcons de Glasgow. A Glasgow street style blog. I'm slightly unsettled by how many of these people I know (sort of) and how many photos have been taken in our neighbourhood. Also: looking like a drunk East German hairdresser circa 1983 is really not cute (or go the whole way and get yourself a Trabi)
- Caring for Your Intro-Vert: I spent years and years thinking I was a quiet extro-vert. Yeah, I know. Link via Anna.
- Interior Design from Scandinavia. My old Copenhagen flat looked like a cluttered version of this photo. You can take a girl out of Scandinavia..
- And if you are in London, make sure to catch the V&A exhibition on quilting. It looks fabulous and I wish I lived close enough to actually make my merry way there. So catch it on my behalf, mm?
A Long Post About You Know What
Someone brought the camera with him to work, so I cannot show you all the things I have been working on lately.
I am playing around with a few yarns: Rowan Lima (a great review by Clara Parkes), RYC Cashsoft DK and Rowan Felted Tweed. I'm knitting up a small sample of Lima just to see how it responds to textured stitch patterns, while the Cashsoft DK will be given a test-knit to see how it works with 'everyday' stocking stitch. I started some mitts in Felted Tweed some weeks ago. I was particularly intrigued by how the Felted Tweed responded to being knit on 2mm (US 0) needles. It is a real treat swatching and playing with these yarns - just figuring out how they respond to needle sizes and types of stitches. I may finally have become a real knitting geek because at the end of it all I will have very little to show despite all my efforts.
I can, however, give you a little glimpse of yet another shawl I am working on. The photo was taken last week when we still had snow. This will be my fourth shawl since 2010 began and I am a bit .. shawled out now. I am knitting Kiri which is a top-down version of the lovely Birch shawl by Sharon Miller. I would have knitted Birch except it calls for 2-and-something balls of Kid Silk Haze and I only have two balls of KSH Liqueur. The shawl is working up really well. Just one more repeat and then the edging.
I sometime wonder where I fit in. Am I a Danish blogger due to my nationality? Do I qualify as a British blogger because I write in English and live in Britain? I read many Danish knitblogs, but I do not really feel part of the Danish knitblog scene because I do not meet up with anyone at Danish knitting events nor do I knit any of the popular Danish patterns in the yarns currently de rigueur in fair Denmark. But Lisbeth K obviously thinks I qualify because I was given this little "creative blogger" insignia by her. Thank you, Lisbeth! I am not usually one for internet memes, but this is delightful.
The little award comes with obligations. First I am to share seven facts about myself and then I am to pass this award to seven others.
- My favourite colour is somewhere between peridot green and moss green.
- Peridot is also one of the very few gem stones I wear (along with amber, moonstone and pearls). I rarely wear jewellery, though.
- I used to have fuchsia-pink hair. I was being very ironic in that special early-twenties way.
- I like my own company far more than I like being around other people. I am not anti-social (indeed, I am not) but I need a lot of solitude and quietness in order to be at my best.
- My perfect home would be an 18th C cottage with an open fireplace, bookshelves lining the walls, worn leather sofas with handmade throws and a sleeping dog. Unfortunately this sort of cottage does not sit well with my other requirements: a local Fair Trade coffee shop, a Mediterranean deli around the corner and excellent public transport.
- I would still really, really, really like a dog. And the handmade throws.
- My birthday almost always coincides with seeing the first few snowdrops/vintergækker.
I am passing this on to Paula (one of the most multi-talented creative people I know and a fantastic friend to boot), Ms Mooncalf (who is slowly taking over Scandinavia with her crafty blog and thus deserves a Scandinavian creative blogger award), Bells (for inspiring me daily both through her projects and through her words), my dear friend Kathleen (whose projects always fill me with awe and admiration - her Hap Shawl is my favouritest project ever), Anna (who thinks amazing thoughts about crafting and also conjures the most beautiful things out of seemingly nowhere), Meg (because she uses her crafty talents for nefarious things such as steampunk costumes and awesome jewellery) and finally Louise of Garn & Gammelt (a recent blog discovery but I love, love, love her style and creativity).
She Comes Scattered
Just a little peek of my just-off-the-blocking-board shawl. It's beautiful, it's warm and it's mine. Sorry. I notice how my projects travel by colour. I had a green phase last spring/summer, then recently I have knitted a lot of blue-ish purples and pink fuschia, and now I appear to gravitate towards rich reds. I hope I will never have a pastel phase. I do not think I'd be able to keep my sanity. Anyway, proper photos to come this weekend after Official Photographer and I manage to have a full day together.
Official Photographer called me this morning to let me know that Crowded House will be touring the UK this spring and that tickets go on sale tomorrow. I have written about this before, so it suffices to say that Crowded House provided the soundtrack to most of my life. I connect places I have lived or been with their songs, and although I no longer listen to them on a regular basis, they are "my band". For one glorious moment I contemplated seeing every Scottish gig, but then I checked ticket prices and also remembered that I will be on my way to West Yorkshire for work reasons when they play Aberdeen. If you had told me ten years ago I would have to forego seeing Neil Finn live for matters involving sheep, I would have thought you mad.
Anna has written an interesting post about her relationship with "things", crafting and feminism. I enjoyed reading it. You may too.
Lines
Like so many Danes I like straight lines, orderly things and being in control. I incorporate this slightly manic trait in my crafting in a myriad of ways.
Occasionally a project flies under the radar and I only mention it when it becomes a Finished Object on Ravelry. This little project was in danger of becoming one of those stealthy projects, but I could not resist shooting a photo this morning.
David likes his crocheted hats and I'm making him his third. The first was a bit too small (and the peak of the cap very wonky) but he wears the second version quite frequently. The third incarnation is made from a woolblend yarn (machine-washable!) and I'm playing quite a bit with the structural elements. Using UK crochet terminology, I have turned the half-treble crochets at the edge of the hat into single crochets crocheting into the back loop only. The firm fabric is a very pleasing result, but I really, really like how the resulting horizontal lines break up the vertical lines of the half-treble rows making up the hat itself. I won't have a chance to crochet the peak this weekend, but I'm pondering how to make it as pleasing to the eye as the rest of the hat.
And now for yet another instalment in my songs-of-the-decade rundown. Madrugada and their haunting song, "Majesty" . The Kids Are On the High Street is equally good.
More songs: Kylie Minogue: Can't Get You Out Of My Head. I suspect we'll still be singing along to this one in 2030. Lady Gaga: Bad Romance. Yes, it has just been released, but I cannot stop listening to it. Brilliant pure pop. Les Fatals Picards: L'Amour a la Francaise. France's 2007 Eurovision entry. Costumes by Jean-Paul Gautier. Song in the grand Plastic Bertrand tradition. It is a beautiful thing. And to round off this rather poppy segment, who better than Madonna and her fabulous Hung Up?