Pause

"So sudden loss causes us to look backward - but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others."
- Barack Obama, Tucson Memorial Speech, 2011.

Sorting the Stash, pt. 2

So. So I am standing there with two giant balls of acrylic bouclé yarn (very similar to this yarn). They were a gift and I'm surprised you even had to ask.

Anyway.

I am standing there holding two balls, each bigger than my head, and I am about to put them into the discard/trade/wtf pile when my darling D. comes into the room, takes a look at the two balls and says: "Oh, I love those. They'd make a really nice throw, don't you think?"

And so I put the two balls of yarny doom back into my yarn closet.

Help.

Fail!

We're having ongoing plumbing problems. When we returned from Christmas holiday, we found a note in our mailbox. The top flat's toilet outflow had frozen and broken over the holiday period. An emergency plumber was called out and he ripped out part of the outdoors outflow pipe. A few days later another plumber came out and fixed the broken pipe.

Except..

.. can you see our problem?

It's almost worthy of FailBlog.

All I'm saying is that I'm deeply appreciative of our nearby 24-hour supermarket. I used to have huge issues about a 24-hour supermarket - who really needs to shop for carrots at 3am? - but I have made a huge U-turn in recent days.

Right now I'm trying to get hold of a plumber who is a) registered with our rental agency and b) willing to pick up his phone. Wish me luck.

Third

I have not mentioned my red Kim Hargreaves cardigan recently, have I? It has turned out to be one of those curious projects where I work obsessively on it for three days and then it lingers for about a month before I return to it. I have no idea why I do not just keep working on it. Once the pattern has been 'spread-sheeted', it is actually a really relaxing knit and the yarn is beautiful. Yesterday I cast off the first sleeve and I cast on for the second sleeve. Things are zipping along really well - except once I cast off the second sleeve, I need to unzip the provisional cast-on on both sleeves and start the k2p2 ribbing. Still, the end is in sight and I cannot wait to sew up(!) this beauty. I'm really looking forward to wearing it. Let's hope it fits as well as I think it will..

As the light at the end of the tunnel becomes increasingly brighter, my thoughts have obviously begun to turn to the next big project. I have another big project on the needles which I need to finish quite soon, but as it's not a jumper or cardigan I have been roaming the Ravelry database in search of patterns.

• I'm totally in love with Balance from the forthcoming Rowan Studio 22. It looks like a combo of Kidsilk Haze and Kid Classic. I'm thinking Jelly (KSH) and Spruce (KC) although wilder colour combinations also appeal (orange, anyone?)
• Recently I've begun looking closely at Bliss, an old Sarah Hatton pattern. I bought some Rowan Calmer last year in order to make a Kim Hargreaves jumper, but I'm beginning to wonder if I wouldn't get more wear out of a short-sleeved cardigan?
• Speaking of cute cardigans, Miette recently jumped into my (carefully curated) queue. No, I'm not going to knit another red cardigan. Probably not.

Another thing I'll be knitting is an inside layer of my Twee Winter hat. I finished it well in advance of Christmas but it has turned out very big (when rav comments all say 'this hat is huge', believe the comments). Paula came up with quite a few solutions and we decided that knitting an extra inside layer would a) make the hat smaller and b) make the hat winter-proof (felting was not an option, incidentally). I still need photos taken of the matching mitts - they are goddamn adorable and I've been wearing them constantly.

A few links, finally:

• Pete Postlethwaite has passed away. He was easily the best actor in most of his films and it was a joy to see him in even small parts.
• And the Danish contestant in Eurovision 1980 has passed away too (skip the 1st minute). His was the very first concert I ever saw.
• I really, really want a puppy and I think Maddie is just about the most adorable thing in the world.
• I've bought fabric with this quilt in mind. I'm crazy.
• Best line ever line from a trashy book? Don't know, but "Yum. Johnny Hulk tasted like fresh gorilla" is up there. Or down there depending upon your perspective.

Last Thing

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..

And Then We Come To This Part

And away we went, up north.

The last few days prior to leaving for our mini-holiday were so busy that I did not get a chance to arrange for blog posts to appear whilst we were away. Judging by my own blog reader with its 100+ posts, I do not think any of you missed me much. Good.

During the journey north I revised my opinion of The Smiths' There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - particularly the lyrics going "And if a double-decker bus / Crashes into us / To die by your side / Is such a heavenly way to die" as the road was slippery and the bus was swerving dangerously back and forth. I clutched my beloved's hand and told him that I did not want to die by his side right there and then. He understood.

Time spent with family. Time spent laughing. Time spent looking at things in the grand scheme of things. Time being quiet and time being busy combined in a strange way

And then time to go back home. I have a cough and a sore throat throat to remind me of the perils involved in spending time with little germ-carrying nephews. And an aching heart too because I miss those little tykes already.

Presents, I had were given a lot and too many to mention. Tiny gifts from friends with big hearts. Big gifts from people far away. Liberty fabric and a cape from my partner (a cape! a cape!). I turned my book voucher into three books, one of which I have already finished and will be writing about shortly.

2011 is almost upon us. I never make new year's resolutions. I do, however, make promises to myself. One year I finally learned to swim. Another year I travelled to New Zealand. And then there was the year I left a rather poisonous job situation and made good on a tough promise to myself. I tend to make positive, affirming promises to myself instead of going "I'll give up chocolate!" or "I'll read Ian McEwan's entire back catalogue!".

In 2011 I would like to make things, specifically:

• Eleven hats. I did the 10 shawls in 2010 challenge which was hugely enjoyable. I need more hats and I'd like to knit some of the current chic hat designs such as Rose Red, the Grand Cloche, Fern Glade and Quincy among others.
• I'd like to sew myself something wearable. Something which makes me happy every time I wear it.
• I'd like to try a new craft - thankfully The Life Craft is just around the corner! - such as quilting, sashiko embroidery or paper-making.

Small, attainable goals.

First, though, I need to sleep and through some rest hopefully put the last few weeks into perspective.