Posts tagged self

The Traveller’s Lament

By on November 11, 2011

I visited London yesterday for a work-related event. I had to get up at 4am to make it to my 10am meeting and I wasn’t home until 11pm. It was a very long day – not made any easier by my sudden head-cold.

I was sitting on my flight last night and seeing it was a clear night, I could follow our path moving northwards through England. After the pilot informed us we had just passed Manchester, the lights below started become more and more scarce. I leaned against the window. Some time later I saw a massive flood of light in the distance and seeing that the flight path would not have taken us towards Newcastle, there was only one city that could be that big, that lit-up: Glasgow. Home. My body and mind relaxed in that moment with that undefinable, warming sense of belonging there. I have spent so many years feeling like I did not belong somewhere that I still bask in the glory of being home.

Knitterly content: I have three Finished Objects to show off, but no photos so that’ll have to wait. I only have one WIP which is completely disgusting. I do have one project in mind which I’ll start later today..

I have also read several books recently. I’m in a very Victorian mode at the moment.

A few links and quotes:

The New Statesman published an excellent column recently: “You should have your tongue ripped out”: the reality of sexist abuse online.

While I won’t deny that almost all bloggers attract some extremely inflammatory comments — and LGBT or non-white ones have their own special fan clubs, too — there is something distinct, identifiable and near-universal about the misogynist hate directed at women online.

I contacted the columnist afterwards and told her briefly about my own experiences with “interesting” comments on my old literary blog. A male blog reader started stalking me in real life claiming I was “putting it out there” and I had to get the police involved (which was problematic in its own gender-political way).

Nowadays my blog is .. well, I guess this is a craft blog, of sorts, which is situated within a mostly-female space or community. There are still gender issues at play within this ‘community’  – first of which is “can we even lay claim to this being a community”, of course – but it is definitely a different set of issues.

Sarai Mitnick of Colette Patterns went to Quilt Market and was slightly ambivalent. However, I was struck by one thing she wrote:

My impression is that crafty women today (and I include myself) are interested in all kinds of handmade stuff, including clothes, items for their homes (like quilts), food, gardens, you name it. It’s all about bringing the magic of the homemade into every aspect of our lives, of living a life of creativity and meaning, of renewing and reinvigorating a range of traditions.

Finally, have you seen Margaret Atwood has knitted a Great Auk? She is on Ravelry too, of course..

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

Ghost World

By on November 2, 2011

With great joy comes great heartache, so my great-grandmother always said. One of the hardest things about being an expat is that I am far away from people who matter very, very much. My dearest and best friend and her boyfriend visited us last week. I was overjoyed to see them arrive and I was unsurprisingly miserable when they left again.

But we did have a lovely week together.

Highlights included watching the ever-changing skies over Loch Lomond (pictured left), having an afternoon pint of local brew in The Falls of Dochart Inn (out of tourist season significantly less Brigadoon than I suspect it’ll be in high season), doing the obvious Monty Python jokes at Doune Castle, buying yarn at New Lanark, playing Munchkin in the evenings, having a tremendous dinner at Fanny Trollope’s and .. just hanging out with some of the best people I know.

Of course I was also working my usual hours and trying to deal with paperwork, so things were slightly less relaxing than it could have been. I also miss our guests in a raw, unsettled way. Still, I feel nourished and ready to tackle what is ahead.

What is ahead? I am heading to London for work next week, so I need to prepare myself for that. I also have a couple of patterns to write and a lot of things to finish. Somehow I have also talked myself into a rather big homemade Christmas present that needs to be finished by early December.

Ulp.

Finally, and wholly unrelated, I went down to Occupy Glasgow’s camp yesterday and I had to laugh out loud when I saw a sign saying “Daily Mail, We Don’t Respect You Either“. How marvellous.

This entry is filed under Personal, Scotland and tagged , , , , , , .

Survival of the Knitter

By on October 21, 2011

We went on a much-needed mini-break this week.

(And by ‘much-needed’ I really mean ‘if I don’t get out of this place for more than one day, I will start shouting at strangers on the street and actually bitchslap them if they keep stopping right in front of me.’ Have I ever mention that I am a city girl who’s not a huge fan of crowds or human beings?)

Anyway. Mini-break.

I brought some knitting and made headway into a project I shouldn’t really have cast on (I have too much work knitting to do, but these past few days were me-time). D. brought some books and finished two. I only checked mail twice (good girl) and I lived on a carefully balanced diet of cheese, wine, coffee, and cheesecake. It was lovely.

One afternoon we walked from one small finishing fishing village to another. A scrambling, rambling walk of some 6 miles. Fresh air, plenty of wildlife, and beautiful scenery. Another night we had dinner at Lairhillock Inn which was spectacularly charming: it is a 200-year-old coaching inn set in the countryside about 15 minutes from Aberdeen by car. The inn had a lovely, cosy feel with its dark wooden beams and log fires – and the food was surprisingly excellent in the gastro-pub vein. Locally sourced and freshly prepared food, yum. I succumbed to slow-cooked lamb shank with rosemary mash while my serving of cranachan was so generous, I had to leave half of it.

Do I feel refreshed and ready for another stab at Glasgow life? Uhmm.. er.. we have some very important visitors heading our way next week so hopefully that’ll register on the internal energy & joy metre. I just wish I could have enjoyed this view a bit longer this week –>

While I have been away, the Man Booker Prize was announced which went to that jolly good egg known as Julian Barnes (also known as the man who wrote one of the most awful books I have ever read). I have not read his book but I suspect it was the least objectionable and most save-our-face book on the shortlist. I look forward to the Man Booker 2012 long list already. To celebrate I have begun re-reading the 1990 Booker winner. It’ll be my .. seventh? .. time reading AS Byatt’s Possession: A Romance and like all (good) books it is able to change and grow just as I am changing and growing.

Between Byatt, visitors, cranachan and The Daily Puppy, I may just yet survive.

This entry is filed under Literature, Personal, Scotland and tagged , , , , , . | 6 Comments

Here, There & Everywhere

By on October 10, 2011

A couple of announcements:

My Karise shawl has been chosen as a pattern for the next Old Maiden Aunt knitalong on Ravelry. To celebrate this, I am offering a whopping 20% discount on the pattern until November 30, 2011! Just cite OMAKAL as your discount code. More information in the Old Maiden Aunt Ravelry group.

I have been re-jigging my social media commitments, so I now have an open-to-all Twitter account that you can follow. If you used to follow me on Twitter, you may want to follow the new account instead. Knitterly stuff guaranteed, but I’ll basically be tweeting about anything that takes my fancy. A condensed version of this blog, if you like.

(Speaking of which, I have managed to delete my entire folder of knitting blogs from Google Reader. I have tried to reconstruct my reading list of 300+ blogs but if I usually comment on your blog and you think I haven’t been around lately, do let me know.)

This Saturday I will be teaching a lace shawl class at Wool 4 Ewe in Aberdeen. I think the class has filled up pretty well already, but any Aberdeenshire dwellers can check with Kathy whether she has had any cancellations. Hopefully I will see you there – and if not, feel free to drop in after the class to say hello!

So, yes. Busy times!

I have actually finished quite a few things, but I’ve not even made any Ravelry project pages for them, let alone managed any pictorial evidence.

This is a brand-new project. I’m using one ball of Rowan Kidsilk Stripe for a very straightforward triangular shawl.

Kidsilk Stripe is a new Rowan yarn: essentially 2 balls of Kidsilk Haze in one ball and combining shades of KSH to create lovely stripes. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much life the stripes have. Purple isn’t just solid purple but has all sorts of subtle variegations. I hope my photo hints at that. I’m using the Twillight colourway for this shawl  (greens and purples) but I also really like the Cool colourway (teals and deep pinks).

And I have new specs! I was lucky enough to win a free pair of spectacles from Edinburgh-based Spectacles Direct via a Facebook(!) competition. I never win anything and I was in dire need of new spectacles, so I was very, very thrilled.

How do you like my “awkward MySpace photo pose? Ahhh, what you don’t do to appease your mother when Official Photographer is at the other end of the city.

Finally, I finished reading Alan Hollinghurst’s The Stranger’s Child last night. It is exceptionally well-written (as you’d expect from Hollinghurst who is probably the finest stylist of his generation) but it is also exceptionally dull. I was going to write a full review but I would struggle to find enough interesting things to say.. ironically enough,  the exact same problem the book has.

This entry is filed under Blogging, Books 2011, Craft, Personal and tagged , , , , , . | 6 Comments

On Fashion & Making

By on September 30, 2011

This BBC article, Why are Women Finally Designing Women’s Clothes, makes me so damn angry. I will give you a few choice quotes.

“Of course there are many more gay male designers,” [designer Tom Ford] said. “I think we are more objective. We don’t come with the baggage of hating certain parts of our bodies.”

“Designers are normally men. I don’t know of an eminent motorcar or motorbike designer who was a woman. Or many female architects.” It’s not because of any lack of ability but because women aren’t as “pushy” – designer Jeff Banks

Men like Lagerfeld, McQueen and Galliano were defined by the need to be spectacular, unlike the “self-effacing” [Sarah] Burton, who has won great acclaim since replacing McQueen (..)  “Men put on great shows. Women design clothes that people want to wear” – fashion editor Lisa Armstrong

Mmm, makes you wonder why they want to make us clothes in the first place, doesn’t it? Or maybe that explains the clothes we get? Don’t you just love the implied sneer at the idea of ‘wearable clothes’?

I believe the handmade movement can offer a useful counterpoint to the fashion world’s often misogynistic view of women. Handmade clothes can be stunningly beautiful, full of showmanship, flattering to the female form, and within reach.

Female entrepreneurs like Sarai of Colette Patterns and Ysolda Teague are not just examples of young women setting up their own businesses, but also of women giving other women the chance to reject token notions of female beauty and the confinements of the high street/runway by making our own clothes. Locally I see the Glasgow Craft Mafia leading with a strong, clear voice that makes my heart sing: independent small shops abound where you can buy handmade clothes designed and stitched by female designers.  Craft Mafias exist throughout the globe and I recommend you seeking them out if you want to get involved or are simply interested in learning more.

I find that the more interested I become in fashion, the more I find it imperative to question it. Making parts of my own wardrobe (and hoping to create larger and larger chunks of it as I improve as a sewer) continues to be an important part of this questioning.

This entry is filed under Craft, Personal and tagged , , , . | 5 Comments

Cakes & Books

By on September 29, 2011

When I asked my Twitter and Facebook pals about their favourite cakes, I was not prepared for the deluge of replies. Everybody has an opinion on cake, apparently. Who knew?

I have a handful of go-to cakes – the classic pound cake, upside-down caramel & pear spiced cake, lemon & raspberry meringue, Danish ‘dream cake’, and (the latest addition) chocolate and beetroot cake – but am always interested in expanding my repertoire. My good friend Liz makes a stunning, but super-easy, ‘medieval’ apple tart as well as the best lemon drizzle cake I have ever tasted. I need to try making both of those cakes. I have also sampled a take on Nigella’s chocolate/guinness cake which I’d be interested in tweaking a tiny bit.

Here’s a recipe for Caramel/apple cakeone of my cakes. It is not vegan, it is not gluten-free, and it is not healthy – I’m not one of those bloggers (and I’m also not a food stylist as you can tell from the photo) – but it is really tasty.

Upside-down caramel & pear cake

60 g butter
100 g brown sugar (you can use either light or dark depending upon how you feel about strong flavours)
4 pears (or apples – you can use either)
—
125 g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cinnamon
75 g dark treacle (use honey or syrup if you don’t like strong flavours)
1 egg, beaten lightly
125 g brown sugar (you can use either light or dark depending upon how you feel about strong flavours)
60g butter
125 ml milk
—
butter for greasing the pan

Preheat oven to 175C/350F.

Prep the pears by pealing them, removing the grit and dividing them into quarters. Place them neatly in the greased cake tin. Melt sugar and butter in a saucepan. Watch the mixture closely as it’ll turn to sticky, HOT caramel and you don’t want to burn it (or yourself). Pour the caramel mixture on top of the pears.

Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl: beaten egg, treacle, sugar, butter, and milk. Combine the wet & dry ingredients and beat until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the battern on top of the pears and bake for approx 45 minutes. Test the centre of the cake with a knitting needle or other sharp, pointy implement. The needle should come out of the cake without anything sticking to it.

This cake is extra good the next day. I’d usually serve it with honey-laced Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche, but it is also very good on its own.

–
My baking soundtrack was courtesy of local indie pop band, Belle & Sebastian. If you ever wonder about my neighbourhood, go watch all their videos as they like to film them here in Glasgow’s West End. This one, Wrapped Up in Books, was filmed in Caledonia Books just down the road from me. I sometimes worry that my life has become one long Belle & Sebastian video: bookish, arty girl wearing retro clothes around the West End and looking a bit twee in her handknits. Hmmm… worse things could happen.

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

Some Thoughts About Yarn

By on September 20, 2011

A long time ago I wrote about books. I remember one specific thing I wrote: how I built my library on the ideas of possibility and potential. My books were purchased because I wanted the possibility of spending a heady afternoon with lord Byron or a quiet, thoughtful evening with AS Byatt. Often I wanted the potential read more than I wanted the actual read. I think the same thing goes for yarn.

The other evening I saw a moth fly out of the yarn cupboard. A tiny, beige creature of winged doom. I opened a bag and saw another moth perched on a ball of yarn. Gasp, splutter, this-only-happens-to-others, and I flung the offending bag into the freezer. I subsequently started rummaging through my other bags and only spotted one other bag with potential destruction (i.e. one very dead little beige monster). A bit of a wake-up call. This does not just happen to other knitters.

Luckily our local supermarket has a deal on plastic containers with lids. I bought three huge ones and started to re-pack all my yarn. It was time for another wake-up call. Three containers only scratched the surface of my yarn stash. I need eight more containers if I need to keep all of my yarn safe from moths (or the scourge of Glasgow tenements, carpet beetles). Eight. Eight.

I had to sit down on the (yarn-covered) floor for a moment. Deep breath.

The thing is, I have some lovely yarn in my stash that I cannot wait to knit. I have earmarked some of it for projects: Flyte, Shirley, Acer, Snapdragon, Miette, Still, Topstykke, and – oh – those thirty odd shawls I need to design. You know.

But the majority of the yarn is there because of the possible, potential projects. What to make with my three hanks of Noro Cashmere Island? Or the two hanks of Sirritogv Colour? Or the yak laceweight? The mountain of Kidsilk Haze? Often I think I want the potential knit more than I want the actual finished object.

When I moved across the North Sea, I had to get rid of most of my books. I marked them with tiny stickers. Red: We’re through. Yellow: we need to talk. Green: we’ll be together forever. Eventually I got rid of the reds and yellows (freecycle was useful). It felt like such a relief. A millstone removed. But six years later, I can still see the gaps, the ghosts. I still reach for books I no longer own.

I wonder how I will deal with my yarn stash in years to come.

This entry is filed under Literature, Personal, Purls and tagged , , , , , . | 6 Comments

The Week That Was

By on September 18, 2011

Last weekend I took part in a crochet workshop taught by designer and author Carol Meldrum. Carol was running a class called “Love Wool? Love Crochet!” to celebrate Wool Week 2011 and to promote her new book, Love Crochet. I wasn’t able to stay for the entire workshop, but I have been bitten by the crochet bug ever since.

Following Carol’s pattern (from an old Rowan magazine), I made a necklace from some mercerised cotton and a leather string. It was super-easy and very quick. I think it took me about an hour from the initial idea to the finished object. The leather string’s a bit too skinny, but I’m still quite pleased with the result.

My partner snapped a photo of me wearing the necklace that very evening. I do apologise for lack of make-up/styling and the crap indoors lightning, but you can clearly see how smug I am about my lovely new accessory.

In other crafting news, I have purchased some black corduroy and I am very excited about making another skirt. I have a very, very specific idea for this skirt. I’ll need to try my idea first, though, as it could be a complete disaster. I tried googling my idea but everything I find is twee crap. I am many things, but I am not twee.

This week I have been grabbling with Apple as someone in Canada has set up an account using my email address as her AppleID. Personally I would have thought that Apple have checked that her email was her own, but apparently not. I am currently on my fourth (rather terse) email to Customer Support. I am not impressed. Definitely not impressed.

This week Something Very Good happened. Denmark finally decided that they had had enough of xenophobic party Danish People’s Party being the kingmaker in Danish politics. Cue Denmark’s first female prime minister.  The DPP played a part in me deciding to leave Denmark and when I heard they were not longer the power behind the throne, I shed a small tear. I cannot begin to express my relief – although I think it will take a lot of time to undo their damage (Denmark has some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe and you encounter casual racism everywhere).

The Danish essayist Carsten Jensen wrote an excellent column (google translate + tweaked quickly by me). I do not agree with everything he wrote, but this passage really struck a nerve.

Something went terribly wrong in Denmark during the past decade. We did not just damage the foreigners who found themselves among us, whether they were refugees or immigrants and their descendants. We did not just damage the countries whose domestic problems became ours thanks to reckless wars.We also did moral damage to ourselves, and the marginal, ambiguous election victory of the Left shows a lack of willingness to confront ourselves – something which we must inevitably must do, if we are to forge ahead and not only think about growth, but also morality and humanity. We have toyed with callousness too long, and this has left an unhealthy cynicism within us.

Here is to better times.

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

Balance

By on September 5, 2011

Many of my regular blog reads are participating in Self-Stitched September. I  did think about it, honestly. I love how people show off their handmade goods looking incredibly stylish and proud in the process. Maybe I will do it next year when I have more self-sewn items in my wardrobe and a few more essential knits under my belt.

I really need a black cardigan in my wardrobe, for instance. Every winter I wear a £10 cardigan from H&M I bought eleven(!) years ago. It is black with a high ribbed neck, trinity-stitch fronts and big buttons. It should have been retired several years ago, but I’m still holding on to it because I have been unable to find a suitable replacement in the shops. I should just buckle down and knit its replacement.

Right now I am putting the final touches to my green corduroy skirt. I just need to insert the zip, put in the lining and hem it. A couple hours, max? I do not know why I am dragging my feet so. Maybe it is because my next project will be a pair of utilitarian grey trousers for work. Do you sense a recurrent theme?

I think my state of mind is all about trying to delay the inevitable and trying to dodge doing the sensible thing. I’d much rather do the fun, creative, colourful projects than the things that’ll see me through another chilly autumn day. I’m sure I am not the only one.

A few links:
+ Modern personal styles – more thoughts on building a wardrobe and defining what works for you.
+ A short’n'sweet tutorial for 15th century braiding
+ Bowie’s Space Oddity is turned into a children’s book.
+ Goodreads is really having an impact on my reading habits.

This entry is filed under Craft, Personal and tagged , , , , , . | 3 Comments

Monday Making

By on August 15, 2011

As a freelancer, I occasionally have to take time to assess where I am and where I am going. I think of these assessments as incredibly fruitful and certainly a lot more thought-provoking than when I used to get assessments in my pre-freelance working days! As a result of this past week’s re-assessment, Fourth Edition is now part of my on-going thought process, so you will begin to see new content creeping into the corners over the next few weeks. Don’t worry – I will still be waffling on about knitting, sewing, making, and books on my blog. The new content will be straightforward things such as a list of the craft classes and courses I’m teaching etc. I might even add a diary of said courses some time this decade! Steady on!

Mondays tend to be my weekly day of relaxation – funnily enough I am often at my most productive on Mondays too. It is almost like I relax by making things!

I just cut out the pieces for my Crepe dress. I’m using Nigerian wax-print cotton. It is going to be quite .. loud, I think, but also rather funky. There are some very cool Crepe dresses in the Flickr photo pool. I hope to make a second, dressier version of this dress for a summer wedding next year, so I am essentially treating this version as a fancy toile/muslin version.

Note to self: next time make sure the fabric is wide enough for the skirt pieces. The cotton is relatively narrow and I had to be rather clever about how to cut out the pieces along the grain line.

My autumn knitting project, Norn, is knitting up quite quickly. I have been taking a couple of days off from knitting due to my on-going wrist problems, but up until Friday I had managed to get a couple of rows done here and there.

I am absolutely loving this: the yarn is soft and fascinatingly heathered; the pattern is easy and intuitive; the result is just beautiful. All projects should be like this. I’ve used 3 balls of the main colour so far and I’m halfway up the body. I should be fine with the amount of yarn I have, then. Phew. Incidentally, I’m knitting this using my usual two-hand colour knitting method. I get stared at a lot (yes, I’m back knitting in public).

Finally, I cannot show you pictures of a design-in-progress but here is a photo which may (or may not) provide you with a clue.

I am in two minds about using myself as a model in my patterns. At my last knitting group session I was sitting next to my friend KOS who is currently working on Karise. It was rather unnerving to have my own face stare back at me throughout the knitting group.

So, if you are an aspiring model/actor/musician living in Glasgow and you need something to pad out the old portfolio or CV, I’m your lady. No money involved, just the chance to impress the knitting community. Or maybe I’ll just need to come to terms with the entire staring-at-myself deal.

This entry is filed under Personal, Purls, Sewing and tagged , , , , , . | 4 Comments

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