My all-time favourite Christmas song. Yes, December madness has officially begun.
But let's not forget that December 1st is also World AIDS Day. Stay safe and play safe, my friends.
Those Who Cannot Remember the Past..
.. are condemned to repeat it. Or, in other words, try reading this news article about Switzerland banning minarets, replace the words "minaret" with "synagogue" and "Muslim" with "Jewish" and then ask yourself what it reminds you of? A simple semantic trick, but a very useful one.
Meanwhile, I have become slightly addicted to Galaxy Zoo. When Earth becomes a bit too much, it's nice to disappear into space. Literally.
Sunday Round-Up
Borders has gone into administration here in the UK. Its Glasgow flagship store is covered in huge EVERYTHING MUST GO!!! STOCK LIQUIDATION!!! posters. It makes me very sad. I am an independent retailer sort of consumer, but Borders holds a special place in my heart. For years it was the only place I could find in Glasgow and I bought most of my Christmas presents there back when I lived in Stirling. In later years I have come to appreciate its friendly and knowledgeable staff, the excellent craft books section and the well laid-out fiction section. I hope the asset stripped and the liquidation means that select stores will survive - and by that I hope that the Glasgow store will keep going. It is difficult for me to imagine Buchanan Street - Glasgow's main shopping street - without it. Kirsten S. mailed me the other day to let me know that she has listed my Laminaria shawl as one of her ten favourite shawl projects on Ravelry. Thank you so much, Kirsten! The timing was great as I have been glum these past few days for various personal reasons and it is always lovely to connect with similarly minded people (and I really enjoyed reading why she had selected particular shawls). I'd be interested in reading more posts on people's favourites if anybody has links?
Finally, congratulations to long-time blog friend, Emme, who has just had a baby boy. I love how she tweeted the news before anything else. That's how a social network expert handles big news.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/26/borders-goes-into-administration
What A Difference A Dyejob Does
Meet Percy post-dyejob. That safety vest orange shawl turned into deep, vibrant Wollmeise-esque red shawl. I am very, very, very happy with it.
Some of you have asked how I dyed the shawl. I had a big ovenproof dish into which I poured half my dye solution. I put my shawl (which had been soaking in lukewarm water for 30 minutes) into the dish and poured the rest of the dye solution over it. I squished the shawl gently to ensure that the dye was seeping into all parts of it, and then I put the whole thing into the oven at Gas Mark 1/140C for 45 minutes. Then I took it out and let it all cool before rinsing the shawl thoroughly. It was very easy. I think that I'll use a similar method on all those overtly variegated lace yarns I have lying about.
Speaking of ovens, I baked David's birthday cake last night so we could have some just post-midnight (we are both children at heart). The cake is one of my all-time favourites and it's so easy to make.
Meringue Cake (serves four or five)
Sponge: 2/3 cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 egg yolks 1 egg ½ tsp vanilla essence 1½ cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder
Meringue: 2 egg whites 2/3 cups sugar
Filling: Raspberry jam.
Mix butter, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and egg for about 4 minutes. Add flour and baking powder and fold in gently. Pour the batter into a small, greased oven-proof dish. Put the filling on top (if using jam, try heating it a bit before as to making it more runny/easier to spread - see notes). Whip the egg whites until stiff, then folding in half the sugar. Whip the egg whites again and gently fold in the rest of the sugar. Pour on top of the cake and bake for 1 hour at 150C/Gas Mark 2/300F.
Notes on filling: you can basically use whichever filling you want. I'd recommend using something sharp or tart as the rest of the cake is very sweet. Instead of raspberry jam, you could use tart apples (peel and slice them before adding them) or maybe even gooseberries? One of my friends tried adding banana and loved it, but I found it way too sweet.
(I would have shared a picture of the cake but funnily enough it has all disappeared. So, instead, you get a photo of me freezing.)
A Few New Projects
As I'm typing this, my Percy shawl is in the oven covered in four satchels worth of Kool Aid Black Cherry and added food colouring from the local supermarket. Wish Percy good luck. You may also be amused to know that I'm typing this with very pink hands. Clearly my latex gloves are not dye-proof.
On the left you see my step-dad's Christmas present in the making (hi Step-dad, I hope you are not a keen follower of my blog). Yesterday the sun was out and I decided to go to Hamilton, just east of Glasgow, on a whim. Hamilton is home to Stitching Time, one of my favourite local yarn shops. Initially I only went in to buy some 4ply cotton for these hilarious Christmas potholders, but I came out with .. er .. a bit more than just 4ply cotton.
I'm knitting the Multidirectional Scarf by Karen Baumer (nice picture here) out of King Cole Mirage, a surprisingly lovely woolblend. Usually I would have done the scarf in some Noro Kureyon, but I have no illusions about which of the two yarns feels softer against the skin and is easier to care for. I'm actually so pleased by Mirage that my brain has quietly been plotting what else I could make from it. It knits up very well and its colour transitions are beautiful. It's like a budget-friendly Rowan Tapestry, of sorts.
Due to Christmas knitting, I have decided to just focus on finishing David's sweater (half a sleeve done! just need 1½ sleeves!) and my step-dad's scarf. This means that my shiny new shawl project has been hidden away.
I'm knitting the Echo Flowers shawl (rav link) out of some handdyed Fyberspates merino cobweb which I picked up at a trunk show last year. The shawl pattern is fairly straightforward, particularly if you have knitted Laminaria as its blossom section is identical to that of Echo Flowers' main chart, and I do love me some Estonian lace stitches. The edge charts have nupps! The yarn is a disappointment, though. As I'm knitting with it, it is pilling noticeably which I think unacceptable for a fairly pricey lace yarn. I'm also not that keen on how much the colours are pooling and generating stripes. I have been spoiled by knitting with Old Maiden Aunt yarns, I guess.
And tomorrow's young David's birthday. I hope for more sun.
Work As If You Live in the Early Days of a Better Nation
I do not know how many of you have read Alasdair Gray's excellent dystopian novel, Lanark: a Life in Four Books? It takes place partly in Glasgow and partly in an imaginary Glasgow, known as Unthank. In Unthank the characters are forever chasing sunlight whilst seemingly dying of a symbolic disease known as 'dragonhide' (Yes, well, Lanark isn't your average book). Right now I am feeling like I'm living in Unthank-Glasgow and not Glasgow-Glasgow because sunlight seems just out of reach and like something I vaguely remember from a dream.
I have a lot of time for Alasdair Gray. He is one of those novelists I am never sure whether people will like or not. I tend to recommend Poor Things as the gateway to Gray's oeuvre: it reads like a postmodern feminist Frankenstein; it is exuberant and giddy; and it is wildly entertaining. Unlikely Stories, Mostly is a rare beast: a short story collection which feels like a cohesive book and which is also a compulsive read. The stories ranges from short childhood snippets to the fantastic typographic fantasy of "Sir Thomas' Logopandocy" about Sir Thomas Urquhart (it remains my favourite piece by Gray). Lanark tends to divide people - my boyfriend still cannot believe that I like a book that nasty and unpleasant, but then again he has not read Gray's 1982, Janine which is Gray's tour-de-force in sheer unpleasantness and utter despair (and I really like that one too).
I once spent a lot of time looking at how Alasdair Gray imagines the Book as an object. 1982, Janine is not only a typographical wonder (at one point the protagonist attempts suicide which is portrayed in visual poetry) but its hardcover is beautifully decorated by Gray himself. I always try to get hold of Gray's books in hardcover whenever I can because underneath the dust jackets, you get elaborate beautiful books. Gray also writes his own blurbs, controls the typesetting and draws his own illustrations. The Book of Prefaces is as close as Gray has come to a postmodern Gesamtkunstwerk. The book is beautiful, of course, but Gray adds an extra layer by writing prefaces to the selected prefaces and writing prefaces to those prefaces. It is all rather dazzling.
And as fate would have it, I have ended up in Glasgow. Alasdair Gray lives just a few streets down from me (I may have said "Good afternoon, sir" once or twice), my local pub features his artwork and my boyfriend has drawn him at art class. Strange how these things work out.
Read more about dear Ally Gray and his artwork or his writing and remember that Poor Things is the best place to start. Meanwhile I shall continue to chase sunlight.