A Year in Books

2009's tally: 38 books. Not a patch on previous years (in particular the year of university degree and thus long-term unemployment) but a respectable amount nonetheless. However, sixteen of those books were fluffy Regency novels by one Ms Georgette Heyer, so I am slightly ashamed of myself. On the plus side, I managed to read some books I had been meaning to read for a long time..

Good reads: I discovered Andrew Crumey and I look forward to more books by him. Moebius Dick was my favourite out of the three Crumey novels I read in 2009. AS Byatt's The Children's Book was incredibly satisfying and I re-read the last twenty-five pages twice before finally closing the book. I finally read Donna Tartt's The Secret History and while I continue to struggle with North-American fiction (Atwood notwithstanding - long story) and I had a few quibbles with certain subplots, I enjoyed the read. The best read of the year was undoubtedly Michel Faber's Under the Skin. It was one of those "nasty little books" I love so much. An incredibly well-written, tightly plotted and genre-defying novel I know I will be revisiting in years to come. It's not often I find a new favourite read.

Uneven reads: I read Adam Roberts' Yellow Blue Tibia this holiday season and I wanted to love it. Its premise sounds like something I would like - Soviet Union, science fiction writers and the possibility of multiple realities - but I ended up being disappointed. Roberts' writing is sloppy (as is the editing), the tone is uneven and the book does not live up to its premise until fifty pages from the end when you get the feeling Roberts is finally writing the book he wants to write. I was very unimpressive with a running gag about a man with Asperger's Syndrome which was wholly unnecessary to the plot and jarred badly. Still, the last fifty pages or so redeemed the book from being merely a bad read. It was an uneven and occasionally interesting read. Flann O'Brien's minor classic The Dalkey Archive was also a comedic read but a more successful one. I was not entirely enthralled by it, though, but I am glad I finally read it. Junot Diaz' Oscar Wao was another book I thought I would love more than I did. I am still not sure why it did not work for me and it continues to nag me.

Bad reads: I really didn't like Ross Raisin's God's Own Country. It read like Raisin had read Iain Banks' vastly superior The Wasp Factory and felt the book needed sheep. Audrey Niffenegger's much-hyped The Time-Traveller's Wife was a huge disappointment to me. I thought it would be a genre-hopping, intelligent novel and instead it was chick-lit in disguise. Honestly, if I wanted romance or sheep-herding, I'd be reading Georgette Heyer. Wait a sec..

Goal for 2010: reading fewer Georgette Heyers, reading more from the unread pile(s), get hold of the latest books by Margaret Atwood and Colm Toibin.

With Sleeves - FO: Coupland

And the day before we left for Denmark? I finished the last sleeve on David's pullover. Here he is, that dear man, posing in a snow-clad Danish forest. Coupland Factoids: just a smidgen over 5 balls of New Lanark Aran in the "Bramble" colour way (I joined the sixth ball to do the ribbing on the second sleeve) and maybe 15-20 g of some Noro Kureyon leftovers (col. 124). Needles: 3.5mm for the ribbing, 5mm for the body and 4.5mm for the yoke/sleeves. And own design, of course. I continue to be head over heels with the slip stitch pattern I used.

So, in 2009 I knitted the following: 10 tops, 3 baby garments, 6 hats (my project page doesn't have the red beanie, for some reason), 8 shawls, 2 scarves, 2 pair of mitts and 1 "other" project. 32 projects?! Bloody hell.. I feel faint just looking at those numbers. I'll have less knitting time in 2010, though, so I don't expect I'll be able to match my 2009 output.

I do know one thing (okay, two things) about my knitting in 2010. One is that I will not be buying yarn for myself because The Christmas Elves (and myself) gave me a lot of new yarn. Two is that I will be getting more yarn because I am getting more professionally involved with knitting than I have been before (I cannot and will not say more on this, though), so the deal is to knit down my personal stash and keep the professional stash balanced. Exciting times ahead, it is fair to say.

What yarn did I get when I was in Denmark? Ahhh, this is the fun/scary bit. My gran gave me a sweater's worth of Hjertegarn Lima (rav link - this goes for all yarns mentioned) in a pretty grey-green colour, a sweater's worth of Løve Garn Iceland in a heathered grey (I'm thinking Manu, because the drape is really nice), 2 balls of Navia Uno in a gorgeous dark grey and a ball of Kauni in a purple/fuchsia concoction certain to make certain mortals swoon. David and I made our merry way to Copenhagen and things got a bit out of hand. 2 balls of Drops Delight, a ball of Fame Trend because I had been coveting socherry's haul earlier this year, some grey Drops Alpaca, and I found two hanks of the discontinued yarn I used for my Laminaria at a ridiculously low price. And then things got really bad/good when I unpacked my present from Bestest Friend: enough angora yarn to make a fluffy shawl, enough yak(!) yarn to make a gorgeous shawl (Bitterroot?) and, get this, 700 yards of laceweight cashmere yarn. My friend had raided this Swedish webshop for me and, gosh, I'm bowled over.

I meant to write about books because I have been reading a bit too and wanted to make an End of Year post about my year in books, but that shall have to wait.

Happy New Year, or as we say in Scotland, Happy Hogmanay everyone!

Catching Up With Myself

Sitting comfortably? Good.

Just before Christmas our computer finally died on us. This was not totally unexpected after some emergency surgery earlier this year, but still came as a surprise as the computer had been really fine and well until we left it for a few days in order to travel to Aberdeenshire (a journey which was traumatic enough sans computer death - we were stuck on snowy roads for nearly three hours as traffic stopped moving following a black ice accident). On our return there was no response. I went out into the heavy snow to get spare parts, but spare parts did not work. We had to leave the UK knowing that our little home was without a working PC. It was not a happy thought. As you might have twigged by this very update, we have managed to bring a swanky new PC into our life and I'll end this extended metaphor before it gets out of hand.

So. Holidays, then. Aberdeenshire was snowy and cold. Denmark was surprisingly less snowy and not as cold. I had fun introducing David to Danish Christmas traditions and we all enjoyed ourselves eating far too many home-made chocolate nibbles, reading books and watching TV. On the picture on the left you can spot a bit of my parents' garden (we loved watching the variety of wildlife eating treats left for them) and also a bit of the beautifully trimmed Yule tree (spot my mum's folded stars? She's thinking of doing craft fairs next year).

We also made it to Copenhagen where the lovely Kirsten Marie graciously let us borrow her flat. This was a real treat as I usually see an insane amount of people whenever I'm in Copenhagen and do not really get to spend time in a city I called home for twelve years. Last time I saw 19 people in three days. This time we saw three people in 1-and-a half days. The rest of the time we just walked around the city, shot a few photos, walked some more, defrosted our cold bodies with super-expensive coffee (I had forgotten how expensive Denmark is!) and walked even more. Yarn shops may also have been involved, but more on that in a later post. Finally we made it out to regular blog commentator Darth Ken's flat for yummy food and great conversation. I continue to be ambivalent about my erstwhile home, but I cannot deny it was great just letting myself relax into a familiar space.

Scotland is still snowy, dammit. It is also really, really cold in our flat and I may have given in to this "heating the flat" thing because I'm almost wearing as much indoors as I am when I go outside. And we have a swanky new computer! Tomorrow's New Year's Eve (Hogmanay) and we are determined to have a very quiet night after the rather leisuredly busy Christmas.

So, tomorrow: an FO, some new yarn and a tiny bit about something else.

Flying Visit

We are currently in Copenhagen for a truly "flying visit" before we head back to our normal life in Scotland. We spent our time here just walking around and I realised just how much I love Copenhagen (which is just as much as I abhor most Copenhageners). It is a beautiful, almost serene, city which maintains a "small town" feel whilst having a good selection of delis, yarn shops (cough, cough), interior design and coffee shops. As I told David today: if I could keep BBC and British culture and remove a lot of Copenhageners, I'd be happy to move back to Copenhagen. I think that means I'll be staying put in Glasgow.. .. and can I just say that I'm really missing my own bed? A flying visit is terribly nice, but it'll be even nicer to get back home (even if that includes Glasgow weather, Glasgow food and Glasgow transport).

This Just In/Happy Holidays

Our home computer has broken down, so I'll be a bit quiet until we get it sorted (in the new year presumably). It could not have happened at a more stressful time - I am currently in an internet cafe trying to get our plane tickets printed and snow has come crashing down over Northern Europe so we might not even be able to fly out. But, I'm an incurable optimist, me. Also, as I'm Away From Keyboard now, if you need to reach me, you will have my mobile number..

So happy holidays everybody and thank you for keeping me company in 2009. 2010 looks to be a really exciting year already and I hope you'll join me!

Lines

Like so many Danes I like straight lines, orderly things and being in control. I incorporate this slightly manic trait in my crafting in a myriad of ways. Occasionally a project flies under the radar and I only mention it when it becomes a Finished Object on Ravelry. This little project was in danger of becoming one of those stealthy projects, but I could not resist shooting a photo this morning.

David likes his crocheted hats and I'm making him his third. The first was a bit too small (and the peak of the cap very wonky) but he wears the second version quite frequently. The third incarnation is made from a woolblend yarn (machine-washable!) and I'm playing quite a bit with the structural elements. Using UK crochet terminology, I have turned the half-treble crochets at the edge of the hat into single crochets crocheting into the back loop only. The firm fabric is a very pleasing result, but I really, really like how the resulting horizontal lines break up the vertical lines of the half-treble rows making up the hat itself.  I won't have a chance to crochet the peak this weekend, but I'm pondering how to make it as pleasing to the eye as the rest of the hat.

And now for yet another instalment in my songs-of-the-decade rundown. Madrugada and their haunting song, "Majesty" . The Kids Are On the High Street is equally good.

More songs: Kylie Minogue: Can't Get You Out Of My Head. I suspect we'll still be singing along to this one in 2030. Lady Gaga: Bad Romance. Yes, it has just been released, but I cannot stop listening to it. Brilliant pure pop. Les Fatals Picards: L'Amour a la Francaise. France's 2007 Eurovision entry. Costumes by Jean-Paul Gautier. Song in the grand Plastic Bertrand tradition. It is a beautiful thing. And to round off this rather poppy segment, who better than Madonna and her fabulous Hung Up?