Posts tagged love

What You Can Do With Kaldred

By on August 10, 2011

One of the best things about designing and writing patterns? I get to see what people do with my idea. It is immensely gratifying and so, so, so cool.

My crochet bracelet pattern, Kaldred, has been the subject of a crochet-along on Ravelry and people have come up with really fantastic projects.

And it was all kick-started by Merri who arranged the crochet-along after seeing Debi’s this stunning version:

Crochet cotton with beads. Debi chose very earthy, bronze-like colours for her Kaldred and I think her Kaldred looks flirty and fun.

Colour choice play a huge part in determining your look. Denise of FabEWElous chose to make her Kaldred out of black crochet cotton and added jet-black beads for effect. I think this version does indeed look fabulous: very chic and very gothic.

Shelley of CrochetedSass has made several Kaldreds, each with their own style. She even made one as an ankle bracelet! I really like this particular bracelet, though. Shelley explains that she thinks this one is more a cuff than a bracelet and I agree: this chunky Kaldred looks casual and contemporary.

Thank you for allowing me to use your photos, ladies!

I’m sure there are many other ways you can use the Kaldred pattern. Why not use it to make a necklace or a headband? Use a very chunky/bulky yarn and make a scarf? Add sequins or buttons? I think it is one of those patterns you can vary endlessly.

ETA: Oh, my word. I just love this version crocheted by Anne (aka FrozenP) in gimp. So textural:

This entry is filed under Craft, Personal, Purls and tagged , , , .

I Saw the Best Minds of the Rebellion Eaten by Sarlacc…

By on July 30, 2011

Who on earth likes both Star Wars and 20thC poetry? ME! And this is one of the funniest things I have seen on the internet this week:

so much depends
upon

a scarred young
jedi

stitched with cyber
netics

beneath the black
helmet

Or how about

For I have ordered them, ordered them all—
Have crewed the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have crewed my life with storm-troop goons;
I know clones dying with a dying fall,
And Alderaan, beneath the Death Star’s doom
The soundless, vacuum-muted boom.

Or indeed

There died Hunter Fugitive.
And the best of them, among them
For old Boba gone in the teeth
For a botched storyline.

There is just a smattering of Shakespeare in the linked post, which is fine by me, but I do think this cries out for some rock’n'roll 17th C poetry. A bit of Andrew Marvell – but sadly filking is beyond my abilities. I can but dream.

This entry is filed under Fandom, humour, Literature, Popular Culture and tagged , , , , . | 2 Comments

A Visit To Old Maiden Aunt & Other Knitting Plans

By on July 3, 2011

Old Maiden Aunt yarns had an open studio day/housewarming yesterday, but as I could not make it, I travelled out to West Kilbride to help Lilith set things up. Her new studio space is marvellous: there is a real shop front where she can display her yarns and host workshops with a huge, airy workshop space in the back for the dyeing and drying of yarns.

Now, Lilith and I go back years (our friendship is an ace story I must remember to blog at some point) and I am over the moon that she has managed to build her business to a point where she has been able to get such a wonderful space for Old Maiden Aunt and that she has such a huge amount of support from the knitting community. It makes me so damn happy. It could not have happened to a nicer person.

Gushing over ;)

Lilith and I spoke about my Karise shawl and I realised that my inner diary was out of sync. I thought Knit Nation was this forthcoming week when it is actually the following week. I was going to release the Karise pattern tomorrow, but instead I am going to take advantage of the extra week to work out the laceweight instructions. I was always going to include laceweight instructions but thought I would have to do that with a later update. Not so .. huzzah!

My head is buzzing with shawl design ideas and I’ve begun using Pinterest as a way of creating micro-mood boards (Polyvore might have been more obvious, but I don’t like that community all that much). I was watching a documentary on the Ballets Russes the other night and started looking through my old source books on early 20th C design. I’ve also been swatching a tiny bit, but I need to finish writing Karise before I let myself begin something new.

At the same time I am also yearning for a big, big project. This year has been a year of small projects that I finish relatively quickly, but I want to sink my teeth into a really juicy project. One that I won’t finish in two weeks. I just have to bide my time, because I know my big juicy knit will be a colourwork project from Rowan Nordic Tweed (out on August 1st). I’m torn between three projects from that book, actually: a cardigan with intarsia reindeers(!) knitted in Rowan Colourspun and Kid Classic (it has a sort of faded, vintagey sense of glamour to it), a lusekofte-inspired jumper in Rowan Tweed (very fitted, very lovely), and a cool shrug/bolero/sleeveless cardigan with selbu-motifs done in a sort-of positive/negative colour way which is also knitted in Rowan Tweed (very, very cool looking and knitting it might hurt my brain).

Perhaps I should start by ripping out two half-sleeves and reknit them before I contemplate doing anything. A month .. I should totally be able to finish that red cardigan of mine..

This entry is filed under Personal, Purls and tagged , , , . | 1 Comment

Response

By on June 16, 2011

Many of you have left thoughtful replies to my review of Jane Brocket’s knitting book. I have also received a few mails and tweets. Thank you all. Some of you wondered I made no mention of “Brocket-gate” – i.e. the mainstream media and blogosphere response to Ms Brocket’s The Gentle Art of Domesticity – and whether or not I was aware of it.

Yes, I was aware of the response to The Gentle Art of Domesticity but I did not think this response particularly relevant to The Gentle Art of Knitting. I could write a long and boring paragraph about how I read books (I’m one of those girls who went to university and lost her intellectual innocence to literary theory) but suffice to say that I tend to focus on the book itself rather than any outrage surrounding its author.

And so I approached this new Jane Brocket book as I would any other knitting book: did I think it useful? did I find the patterns interesting? did it inspire me? did it teach me anything new? I hope I answered those questions in my review.

Some linkage:
+ Women of the Vortex. MARVELLOUS pictorial evidence of daring lady painters of a young 20th century. I find Vorticism endlessly exciting. I wish I could go to Tate Britain and shout about machines, speed and modernist epistemology. BLAST!
+ A Knitted Garden. This totally made my morning when I first saw it.
+ Modern day Hollywood has nothing on the stars of the Big Studios years. Clark Gable & the Scandal That Wasn’t is an excellent read.
+ Speaking of entertaining reads, this review of “Rushed to The Altar” from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books had me howling with laughter. The review is definitely not for the faint-hearted and it is NSFW, but it is also hillarious.
+ It is a good thing I did not have my own webspace back in 1996, because I would definitely have set up an early prototype of My Daguerreotype Boyfriend.
+ Neil Patrick Harris’ opening number at this year’s Tony Awards = possibly the best 6 minutes of 2011 so far?

I have finished no less than three projects this week, so there will be plenty more knitting content over the next few days, but I’m also trying to work out a response to China Mieville’s Embassytown which does not involve me muttering about Martian poetry. Cross your fingers hard.

This entry is filed under Blogging, linkage, Literature and tagged , , , , , , , . | 3 Comments

Lovely Things

By on June 3, 2011

This has to be my song of summer 2011. It’s so lovely in all its pomo pop glory.

Other lovely things right now:

  • I find this picture of David Tennant in the Fright Night remake strangely compelling. I always did have a weakness for almost-Glaswegian men wearing eyeliner.
  • “Not since Bowie before him had anyone been as responsible for raising awkward questions between parents and their sons as Brett Anderson.” Suede is back in fashion here in the UK – so the media say. Suede fell hard from grace when fey, lithe men wearing girls’ shirts were displaced by laddish beer lout music (i.e. Oasis). I particularly liked the quote: “Apparently it wasn’t just me who’d been sat at home in 1995 doused in glitter and eyeliner watching Performance on repeat” .. oh no, dear journalist, oh no.
  • I should rewatch Velvet Goldmine soon too.
  • Moving on from eyeliner and glitter, how about a Warhol Spock? Okay, so it’s Leonard Nimoy wearing makeup but it’s slightly different..
  • My beloved kiwi band The Phoenix Foundation is being championed by the mighty hipster godfather himself, Jarvis Cocker. Going Fishing is always on my iPod. Kiwi music is the best, honestly.

And with that, I am off to back my bag. Not-so-sunny Aberdeenshire awaits and I have books and knitting to pack.

This entry is filed under Music, Popular Culture and tagged , , , , . | 3 Comments

Ode to Joy (& Knitting Lace)

By on May 30, 2011

May 2011 126Just as you are, perfect
Just as you are
I’ll give you the time you deserve

I was listening to an old album the other day while I was knitting up these two swatches. Quite apart from reminding me about another time and place in my life, it also made me think about the place knitting has in my life.

On a very personal level, knitting is about mindfulness. It makes me slow down, it clears my head and it makes me focus on the moment. I have always been very good at thinking thirty steps ahead of myself, of overbooking my diary, and of trying to be too many things to too many people. Knitting has changed me in many ways, but I think this is the most important one.

Some people swear by knitting plain stockinette in the round, others by turning heels and planning toe decreases. I love knitting lace. My head is at its quietest when I follow lace charts – at their best, the charts are simple and elegant ways of conveying complex information – and I love learning intricate repeats of  yarnovers and decreases. And I love the amazing transformation known as blocking.

Blocking is simple: you soak your shawl in water, you pin it out to dry and somewhere along the line your knitting goes from being an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan. Look at the photo. I knitted two identical swatches and blocked one of them. Isn’t it amazing? Imagine if life could be controlled in the same manner: “ooh, life’s a bit lumpy and crumpled up today, so I’ll just soak it in lukewarm water for 15 minutes and apply a few pins..”

Today has been a day of making charts in Excel (there are plenty of great tutorials available online, so I’m not going to bother writing one up, sorry!) and of writing about knitting lace. It has made me reflect on the joy that I feel when I knit lace – and how I approach lace knitting.

I do not arm myself with blocking wires, lifelines, or special lace chart reading tools. I just use a pen to mark my position in a chart, I use one safety pin (to mark the centre stitch) and I use cheap stainless steel pins. Words are so interesting: to arm oneself .. as though I was about to wage war on my knitting or seeking to conquer a chart. No. Lace knitting is my personal time. It is self-indulgence (for, lo!, I rarely wear my shawls), it is downtime, and it is peace of mind.

Three quick non-lace links (and congratulations to non-knitters making it this far):
+ Pop Culture paper-cuts. How many do you recognise? And did you know that Silhouettes are named after Étienne de Silhouette, a French finance minister imposing harsh taxes after The Seven-Year War? I wonder what will be Gideon Osborne‘s legacy? Nothing as enduring nor as artful, I’m sure.
+ How to Knit A Giant Lego Brick Doorstop
+ Top Tips for Budding Lyricists – why you shouldn’t write what you know and why it is sometimes okay to make up your own language.

 

This entry is filed under Knitting, Personal, Purls and tagged , , , , . | 1 Comment

In the Middle of Something

By on May 17, 2011

I’m due a short break shortly and oh how I need it. Casa Bookish has seen a series of minor calamities recently – not least upstairs neighbour managing to flood their bathroom so thoroughly that water came pouring through our ceiling on a late Sunday evening. So far it looks as though our wallpaper may be the only major casualty but I shall know more after we have had an inspection on Friday.

So faced with minor calamities I do what I do best: I knit and I read. I am soldiering on with some deadline-knitting and I have read two books. They have not been great books by any stretch of the imagination – oh the anachronisms and plot holes – but I needed a distraction. I am now reading China Miéville’s new novel, Embassytown, which is a giant step up in quality (and I say this only one chapter in).

I’m going to leave you with my favourite act from Eurovision 2011. They may not have won, but I adored Moldova’s entry. I may have voted for this track – and done so very unironically. Hanging out on Twitter during Eurovision shows can also be highly recommended..

This entry is filed under eurovision, Personal and tagged , , , . | 7 Comments

Boom! Boom! Chaka! Chaka!

By on May 11, 2011

This is one of my favourite weeks of the year: the Eurovision Song Contest week. For my non-European readers, imagine American Idol with 45 different countries competing. Then add xenophobia, bad blood, neighbourly love, dubious ethnic costumes, weird instruments, and mangled lyrics. The combination is oddly compelling.

The first semi-finale took place yesterday with the second one happening tomorrow and the finale is on Saturday. Here are some selected highlights:

(* I have heaps of ideas of who to represent the UK at the ESC. Alexandra Burke, Little Boots and The Saturdays would be fabulous if completely unlikely competitors.)

Just to finish off, some of my recent ESC favourites: Turkey 2008, Bosnia & Herzegovia 2008 (which included knitting ladies!), Romania 2006 and France 2007. For sheer WTF-ness, try Azerbaijan 2008. For cuddliness, try Norway 2009 (which won).

And Sweden 1983 which spawned a life-long Eurovision love.

This entry is filed under eurovision, Music, Popular Culture and tagged , , , , , . | 8 Comments

Shiny Special One

By on April 28, 2011


Happy birthday, dear Darth Ken. The Buffy to my Xander. The Rosenkrantz to my Guildenstern.  The Han Solo to my Chewbacca. The Kirk to my Scotty. My most frequent blog commentator.

(Somewhere in my vault, I have a photo of Darth Ken wearing crushed velvet and a Plaster of Paris grotesque half-mask . In the same photo I am wearing black sparkly lipstick, a bodice constructed out of a pair of leggings and a velvet skirt. Man, the mid-90s were really scary. That photo will never see the light of day).

This entry is filed under Personal, Popular Culture and tagged , , , . | 1 Comment

Sunshine on Leith

By on April 27, 2011

Certain times of the year are always more fun than others. I’m entering a really, really busy and really, really fun part of the working year for me – which may mean I won’t be able to blog as much as I usually do. Having said that, it might also result in more blogging because I have many things buzzing about my head. Hmm.

On a related note, a big thank you to supreme Swedish knitting e-zine and website, Stickamere, which is doing a KAL for my free fingerless gloves pattern, The Vicar’s Fields. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all do with my pattern!

Today I went to Edinburgh. It was an exceptionally beautiful day (Scotland is always exceedingly pretty in April. April and October) and I was lucky to lunch in a place with a most extraordinary view over Leith and the Firth of Forth. It all made for a good day away from Glasgow and I felt rejuvenated by good company, fine conversation, and post-work Danish pastries with Katherine.

I also slipped in a post-work browse of the McAree Brothers’ knitting shop close to The National Portrait Gallery. I had never been to McAree before but I actually left feeling very, very impressed by the shop. It does not have a big buzz about it – possibly because it does not stock fancy handdyed yarns or cool designers or does that elusive Ravelry vibe, but it does exactly what I want a LYS to do: it does depth. It has baskets upon baskets of seemingly random yarns, it is stocked to the rafters with workhorse yarns, and it has put an enormous amount of time and effort into its displays. It’s not the sort of place which only does five balls of something when you really want three sweaters’ worth. Even better, it has a wealth of long discontinued yarns hidden away in its Aladdin cave, so if you are the type of knitter who is always two balls short you just need to call the lovely McAree staff. And I have not even mentioned the great assortment of books or the knitting notions or the charming staff..

.. I actually left empty-handed (mostly because I’m drowning in yarn already) but anyone visiting Edinburgh should pop into this little LYS that can because it so clearly does care.You might not get unicorn yarn handdyed by elves in McAree, but you won’t lack for everyday yarn and sometimes everyday yarn is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Finally, I overheard this on Edinburgh’s High Street (walking towards my Danish pastries): “In Melbourne you really do get four seasons in one day.” Certain readers will know why that comment put a smile on my face..

.. and here’s a song about sunshine on Leith (youtube link). I think I have gone native, dear readers, because this song is as Scottish as it gets and I love it in a terribly, terribly sentimental way.

This entry is filed under food, Personal, Purls, Scotland and tagged , , , , . | 3 Comments

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