If It's Saturday, It Must Be Random

You take approximately 750g of ripe elderberries (rinsed and de-stalked, natch), 200g of granulated sugar, two table spoons of lemon juice, two diced cooking apples and about 2 pints of water. Stick 'em in a pan and boil until you've squeezed every last drop of goodness from the elderberries. This should take about ten minutes. (Remember to remove the pink foam that will form on top of the boiling goodness.)

Then strain your elderberry juice through a clean tea towel (it will stain your tea towel!), dice another three cooking apples and put them into the elderberry juice, boil until apples are cooked (and add sugar and lemon juice to taste - usually I don't see the need, though).

Serve hot in a mug with a spoon to fish out those delicious apple bits. It's toe-curlingly wonderful stuff.

Meanwhile, on the knitting front, I have been working on a pair of fair-isle fingerless gloves to match my autumnal hat. I'm two rows away from finishing one glove and I think I will leave it at that.

It is not that it is not pretty. It is not that it is not a quick knit (each glove takes less than two evenings worth of knitting time). It is not that I do not have enough yarn. I am just not feeling it, baby.

Granted, the fit is awkward (slouchy where I'd prefer snug) and I have issues with the pattern (such as increases not fitting with the colourwork). But I could deal with that - ripping out the excess fabric and adjusting the increases - if I knew I'd wear the finished gloves. But I'm pretty sure I won't. The hunt is still on for autumnal gloves, then.

Finally, a few links:

• I want this bathroom.
• I want one of these hats (and generally want more people to wear hats!)
• Scientists draw squid using its fossilised ink. Amazingly cool.
• Scotland's oldest robbers are, of course, local boys.
• While the UK condemns ring-wing groups, something is still rotten in the state of Denmark.
• Finally, if you are able to use BBC's iPlayer, I recommend Peter Capaldi on Scottish portrait painting and the first episode of Tweed, a docu-soap about Harris Tweed. For someone who claims not to watch much TV, I have been watching quite a bit lately..

FO: Snorri

This is Snorri, my new favourite sweater. It is named for an Icelandic scholar who wrote down Norse mythology and skaldic verse in the 11th century I used the Spring Morning (Vormorgun) top by Védís Jónsdóttir as a starting point but added a fair share of modifications in order to get exactly what I wanted: a warm winter sweater. Having just done a photo shoot outside in September in Scotland, I can honestly say that this is the warmest sweater I have ever worn. Phew.

Modifications, then. You can get the full low-down at its Ravelry project page, but here are some things I did differently. The largest size rings in at a whopping 36 inches, so I decided to add an extra pattern repeat and go up a needle size to accommodate my bust. The result is admittedly snug - but in a way which suits my taste and body shape (I hope). I did a lot of shaping through using various needle sizes in an ingenious fashion.

The biggest change is that Snorri has sleeves whereas Védís' pattern does not. I added sleeves in a slightly unorthodox manner: I used a provisional crochet cast-on for the sleeve caps/yoke, unzipped the cast-on after finishing the yoke, picked up stitches from under the arms and knitted the sleeves top-down. It was easier than my explanation makes it sound. My modus operandi was completely improvised, featured some sharp decreases but it looks nice and, hey, Snorri has functional sleeves!

After the sweater was done, I decided that the bottom rib was too loose for my liking, so I put a pair of scissors to my sweater, picked up stitches and re-knit the bottom rib on smaller needles. Ms Yarn Harlot has written an easy explanation as how to do this in case you don’t know how. It’s easy, trust me, and it is one of the most useful knitting tricks I know.

I love this sweater and I loved making it. Lett Lopi is fabulous to work with and I'd knit another Lopi sweater in a heartbeat if I had to. The wool is itchy but it is not meant to be worn right next to the skin, so I've stocked up on long-sleeved tees. Seriously,  I love every little aspect of this knit - including the heritage aspect of it which is becoming increasingly important to me as a knitter.

My Army of Birds & Gulls

Tomorrow is a Finished Object day, but today you are getting a New Object! It is the February Beret knitted up in New Lanark Donegal Tweed DK in the russet colourway. It is an easy pattern - particularly if you have made the February baby sweater or the February lady sweater as you will already be familiar with gull lace stitch. (Incidentally, the gull lace stitch inspired me to call my hat "My Army of Birds & Gulls" which is the name of a very, very good song by a now defunct NZ band, Betchadupa.)

I am actually not a huge fan of this particular yarn. I adore the pure wool New Lanark yarns, but the silk/wool yarns seem like they have randomly added cheap silk nupps to the base yarn. The russet colourway falls particularly victim to this as the lilac silk nupps clash horribly with the orange-red wool.  It has a strange feel to it too.

Future Projects, then. Knitting friends believe that I will go mad if I attempt NaKnitSweMoDo (National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon) and since they know my knitting ways better than most people, I trust their judgement. But I have imagined projects in my head that I want desperately to make into solid knitted objects:

• I have one particular pullover in mind that I want to knit. It will be black but with interesting, colourful and sparse detailing. It's one of those from the top of my head, so I cannot link you to any pattern.
• As you will see tomorrow, I have finished my first colourwork-yoked project and I want to make another - but make it an entirely different experience in another yarn. I'll need to think hard about this one.
• A sign of impending madness perhaps, but I want to knit an ultra-feminine pullover in something akin to KidSilk Haze. Ultra-feminine and possibly vintage pattern?
• Rosamund's Cardigan is my obsession du jour. I have many modifications in mind - including the ever-present "long sleeves!" modification which goes without saying if you live in Scotland. Another one to ponder.
• And now something which may shock some, but I'm going to rip out my first-ever pullover (Rav link) and reknit the yarn into something that I will actually like wearing. Seeing as we're talking Noro Kureyon yarn here, the shape will need to be super-simple to make the colours really pop.

And those are just the first five things...

Why Neil Gaiman is Like a Toffee-Coated Banana

Want to feel jealous in a bookish manner? Go look at Neil Gaiman's library. The colours, the layout, the view from the windows and the mind-boggling amount of books.. I hardly ever covet anybody else's possessions but I do covet that room. On the topic of Neil Gaiman, people tend to assume that he is one of my favourite authors and I am at loss to explain why this is so. I have received emails from dear friends with subject lines like "Neil in Edinburgh!!!" (at which point I flailed happily around the house until Other Half pointed out that the email referred to Neil Gaiman and not Neil (yes, in Casa Bookish there is only one Neil and he needs no surname)). Other friends have assured me that if I run out of reading material, they have plenty of Gaiman books  they'll put at my disposal. And yet other friends approach me asking if I've read the latest Gaiman novel?

I've read two and three-quarters Gaiman books: American Gods, Neverwhere, Good Omens (co-written with Terry Prachett) and Odd and Frost Giants. None of these clicked with me - Neverwhere came closest, I think. American Gods is said to be Gaiman's finest and most complex work so far and it left me completely cold. I did like the film adaptation of Stardust.

I understand that people are passionate about their favourite author and I get that  people want to share their passion, but once I have read a couple of books by an author I am able to make my mind up about an author and decide that, nah, that guy isn't really for me. In that respect, Neil Gaiman is a bit like Ian McEwan. I read Amsterdam (still the worst Booker prize winner, in my opinion) and Atonement (horrid), listened to people going into raptures over McEwan, read a chapter of Black Dogs, and decided to choose Life over reading another page.

I suspect the "you must love Neil Gaiman' thing has to do with demography: I am in my early thirties, like geekery, am a Firefly and Doctor Who affectionado - and Gaiman just sort of goes with that territory. I still consider Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials one of my favourite reads this past decade, so sometimes I do find books within that niche that I really like. Gaiman just doesn't do it, though.

Have you ever experienced something similar? Have you read, listened to or watched something you knew you were meant to be Just Your Thing, but you just couldn't get into it? Other examples of mine include Bjørk, Tori Amos, Jonathan Safran Foer, and, well .. banoffee pie.

I'm a Crazed Knittah

I think knitters bring their own special brand of craziness to the craft. There is the compulsive stashing of yarns, of course, and the obsessing over hard-to-get yarns (Wollmeise and Sundara, anyone?). Add to that Opinions on the best knitting needles, the right techniques and the right way to knit wool from a ball. Knitters with a capital K could be called outspoken obsessive-compulsive perfectionists, but I'm sure most of us consider ourselves to be little fluffy balls of zen (Knitters with a capital K can be a tad self-delusional sometimes: "I need that ball of yarn, yes I do"). I'm mentioning this because I am beginning to worry about myself. Whilst I have been knitting my Lopi sweater (pictured left), I have been thinking about where to take my knitting. I'm not talking about taking my knitting to the park or on public transport - I'm referring to what I want to DO with my knitting. I rediscovered knitting a few years back and at first I had modest goals: make a sweater, learn Magic Loop and do a lace shawl. This year has been about knitting at least twelve items in twelve months (and I've knocked that one out of the ballpark), learning intarsia and how  to spin. Where to go, I wondered?

Firstly, one of my next projects will be to knit an entire sweater in a KidSilk Haze-type yarn. For those uninihiated, KSH is thin, slippery and maddingly tough to work with. Secondly, I'm considering doing NaKniSweMoDo next year.

NaKniSweMoDo equals knitting twelve adult-sized sweaters in twelve months. It's slightly mad, but I've done the math and I think it is entirely doable. An adult-size sweater for me equals 1000yrds of worsted weight yarn and so far this year I have knitted around 13,000yrds already with three months left to go. I have concerns though: I do not know whether I will have as much knitting time next year (or whether I'd have even more!), I might grow mad and sad only knitting sweaters all the time and while my stash is .. er .. substantial .. I would need to buy quite a bit of wool in order to make twelve sweaters (and surely I should work on a stashdown?).

Am I nuts?

Anyway. My lovely Lopi sweater is nearing completion. I have eight rows of the yoke's colourwork to do and then just the sleeves. It looks really nice on me and I'm very pleased. I have named it Snorri after an 11th Icelandic scholar who wrote down skaldic poetry and Norse mythology. It seemed apt.

Autumnal Knitting

I think autumn is upon us. One tree in the Arboretum is already turning red and orange and today we went bramble-picking. We're a few weeks ahead of schedule on this and I'm now eagerly looking out for ripe elderberries (nothing says autumn like elderberry soup served hot with crushed tvebakker, dried white buns). It should only be another week or so. Can you tell autumn is my favourite season? My knitting projects are also reflecting the changing season. I work on Pine now and then but I've turned my attention to warmer things.

I have begun an Icelandic top in Lett Lópi which is working up wonderfully cosy. I started out thinking the wool was awfully scratchy but unlike other wools, New Lanark and Kauni spring to mind, Lett Lopi has not ripped up the skin on my lefthand fingers* and the fabric is squishy if in a very hairy way. Every time I put down my knitting I look as though I have been embraced by a giant English Sheepdog. There are worse looks to be had.

(* I am a Continental knitter)

The top itself is pretty straightforward. It's a bottom-up yokey thing with colourwork. Of course I had to complicate things slightly because a) I wanted a slightly different fit and b) I wanted sleeves as sleeved tops are more suited to the Scottish climate. Still, the knitting bit zips along and while the top is not very photogenic at this stage (it's a big white hairy lump), I know the finished top will be beautiful.

Future warm projects? I want a fingerless gloves and woolly hat set, and while I already know which yarns I'm likely to use (because I'm feeling unusually benevolent towards orange all of a sudden), I'm still looking at patterns. I've also managed to land myself a bag of Sirdar Peru in a rather fetching chilli red hue. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of woolblends but I have worked with the yarn before and thought it was lovely. I'm contemplating Francis Revisited (have you seen SmashingPuffin's reinterpretation? Cor!) as it'd work with the yarn, but I haven't quite settled on that. I seem to have a very specific idea of what I want so I might just sit down and work out my own thing. Wouldn't be the first time..

Finally, I can't remember if I've mentioned the latest Twist Collective? It's my favourite issue so far and I waiting for a busty gal to take on Ysolda's Vine Yoke Cardigan so I can decide whether to knit it or not. And I have stash yarn just perfect for Audrey in Unst! I'm just slightly concerned about the stash yarn being grey (and thus more Unst than Audrey).

But first I need to finish my top and I have a bramble/apple crumble just out from the oven..