Diggi Loo Diggi Ley

It is that time of year again. The daffodils are blooming, the birds are singing and Eurovision is but a month away. As per usual I have subjected my ears to all the participating songs and here is a quick First Look & Listen response. More to follow when/if my customary Eurovision mania takes hold. The Alright Ones: Albania have set themselves up as providers of decent pop and this year is no exception (even if it starts out sounding a bit Doctor Who). Denmark have pulled up their socks and have sent an epic sing-along schlager. Estonia proves yet again their knack for sending excellent oddball songs (it's like they don't know Eurovision is about cheese). Germany is surprisingly emerging as the pre-show bookie favourite although it is a bit too Gabrielle Cimli/Duffy/Paloma Faith for my taste. I have a weak spot for big Balkan rock ballads and Macedonia brings it this year.

The Disappointing One: Turkey is usually one of the countries to watch and have in recent years provided some real highlights (Mor ve Ötesi's Deli is still totally awesome). This year they are significantly less than awesome, even if Turkish Emo is .. an interesting concept.

The "What Were You Thinking" Ones: Finland is notoriously hit-and-miss. This year .. well, you be the judge of Kuunkuiskaajat's Työlki Ellää. In Moldova the local youth club is stuck in 1997, while the Dutch send Sarah Palin singing a local radio hit circa 1977 and the United Kingdom yearns for a pre-drugs Jason Donovan in 1990. Meanwhile Serbia sends something I don't even know what is (and this is the same country which gave us Molitva!).

Last year Alexander Rybak was a runaway favourite early on. This year nobody really stands out and even the usual heavy-hitters like Russia, Ukraine and Greece are failing to bring a big song/performer (even if Ukraine is trying to court Twi-Hards by sending a blond Kristen Stewart). Prediction? Your guess is as good as mine.

FO: Serenity

O hai. Official Photographer has suddenly decided that knitters worldwide would rather look at my face than at my FINISHED OBJECT. I do not know if this is because Official Photographer dislikes my new summer cardigan or if he just finds me more interesting than the cardigan. Regardless, this is probably the best shoot from our foray into the Botanics glasshouses. In the photo I'm trying to look fascinated by cacti, in case you are wondering.

The cardigan, then.

Pattern: Serenity from Rowan Studio 15 by Sarah Hatton. Yarn: Rowan Summer Tweed, sh. 537 (Summerberry). Needles: Clover Bamboo Circs, 4mm & 5mm. They're actually my favourite circs for knitting garments. Sturdy, flexible and not too pointy.

I opted for size L, but the cardigan feels very roomy on me, so I should probably have gone a size down (not often I get to say that!). I made a few mods (adding an inch of length to both body & sleeves) and picked up fewer stitches for the neckband. My main modification was probably pinning the frill to the body and picking up stitches for the neckband through both frill and body, rather than sew the frill in place and then pick up stitches. My method reduces the amount of bulk you get.

My favourite parts of this project? Probably being able to finish a sleeve in an evening (because I loathe knitting sleeves) and I also really enjoyed how the frill was constructed. Knitting this rekindled my knitting mojo and I liked the slightly fiddly construction (I mean, this could totally be a top-down cardigan, but the designer had other ideas and I learned a lot about garment construction from knitting this).

Currently I'm eight rows away from finishing a shawl I began back in November, so I foresee plenty, PLENTY, of new projects in the forthcoming weeks. The new Kim Hargreaves book is published tomorrow (and I seriously hope the postie has a delivery for me) and I have my beady eye on Peace which is a shaped cardigan with moss stitch details knitted in Handknit Cotton. Which shade, which shade? I'm thinking a neutral colour might be an interesting challenge.. However, before I begin plotting Kim Hargreaves designs, I have a long list of things I want to knit. Small, fun things. Maybe even a shawl or two..

Happy Easter

This is what happens when you go for a walk on a sunny Easter Sunday.

You come across a giant horse in a parking lot..

.. wildlife (not pictured: curious fox darting about on the opposite river bank) ..

.. and little surprises lurking in the woods.

Excitement

Pardon my knitterly excitement, but I am a few hours away from my first finished garment of the year. I cannot believe it has taken me this long, but I am now a frill and a neckband away from a Summer Tweed cardigan. This is exciting because a) I get to wear a new cardigan verrry soon and b) I get to cast on a new project. This reminds me.

I do not consider myself a Hardcore Knitter but when an incredulous Other Half asked me why the beep not, I could not really say why. The evidence is stacked against me:

• When I want a little treat, I buy yarn.
• I have a .. sizeable yarn stash.
• My social circle consists of almost all knitters.
• I attend two knitting groups.
• Yarn fondling forms part of my my working life.
• On-line social networking revolves around knitting activities.
• I knit lace, socks, fair-isle, cables and do this using both Continental and English knitting techniques.
• I can recognise a knitting pattern or yarn from a distance.
• I can talk about rare sheep breeds.

But I still maintain I'm not Hardcore. How would you describe a Hardcore Knitter? Are you one?

But back to the new project I get to start so very soon. I am torn between knitting a hat for myself and casting on for a birthday present. A friend of mine turns forty this summer and has dropped hints about wanting a lace shawl. I have two balls of Kidsilk Haze in Ice Cream and I'm currently trying to find the right pattern. My friend is petite and very feminine, so I want something to match her personality and style. Ishbel is really the perfect pattern, but I have already made three (the same goes for the Swallowtail Shawl) so I'm looking for something .. else. Mooncalf suggested Citron but it is not as girly as I'd like.

Ideas, please.

However, most of all I am excited by the return of Doctor Who, the delirious, mad-cap, fantastic British sci-fi show. The first episode of the Eleventh Doctor's reign aired tonight and it was even better than I had hoped. You can read a quick spoilerish review here, or just trust me when I say it was a very good Steven Moffat episode. Moffat penned some of the best Doctor Who episodes in the recent past and I'm so pleased he is now on board as the show runner. I hope my non-UK Whovian friends get to sample the new Doctor soon. You'll like him.

The Glasgow Boys

Before I moved here, I had never heard of The Glasgow Boys, a late 19th century art movement in, yes, Glasgow. I suppose you might call them late Impressionists or even Post-Impressionists. They were inspired by the then Glasgow-based James McNeil Whistler (he of "Whistler's Mother"-fame) but also by French realist art. My favourite Glasgow Boy is undoubtedly E.A. Hornel whose collaboration with G. Henry, "The Druids Bringing In the Mistletoe", you can see on the left (or at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum). It is such an strange, unsettling painting filled with arcane symbolism,  and up close you can see the layers of paint smeared upon the canvas. It is not a beautiful painting nor is it particular skilled in a strictly technical sense - but it stays with you. I actually prefer Hornel's Japanese paintings where he becomes almost abstract when depicting kimonos and Japanese gardens, but "Druids" is arguably when he first sets off on his own path.

Later this year Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery will be showing a major exhibition on The Glasgow Boys (which will travel to London, I believe), but if you are interested in learning more about the Glasgow Boys, the late 19th century arts scene in Scotland, or simply want to know more about Scottish culture, I can recommend A.L. Kennedy's radio programme (which also features Alasdair Gray). I am not sure if it will be available outside the UK although I remember listening to Radio 4 whilst in Denmark..

Yesterday I received a lovely email from a long-lost, but dearly-remembered Danish friend. Coupled with the sunshine and the promise of spring, I am almost cheerful today.

Reading, Watching, Knitting, Thinking.

I'm currently reading Colm Toíbín's Brooklyn. I am reading it slowly, taking it in line by line. I always do this with Toíbín's books; they deserve attention and care. Also, Brooklyn cuts very close to the bone with its story about a woman leaving one country to seek a better life in another country. Sometimes a bit too close. Some decisions are not made easily and the outcome is messier that anyone might expect. I'm thinking about what we as readers bring to books and what books bring out in us. Mainly, though, I have been trying to finish my little red cardigan. I have had a couple of DVD marathons (verdict: Oh, I love Gregory Peck, the smallest gestures can be completely devastating, and Neil Finn should ditch the falsetto & Johnny Marr) and I'm now one tiny frill and a buttonband away from completion. I am thinking Synecdoche, New York might work for that. Then, it's upwards and onwards. New things to knit, new projects to fret about.

Oh, because I have certain weaknesses, these blog posts were really amusing: Create Your Own Regency Romance and Call In The Angry Villagers: 10 Clichés We Can Live Without. I swear I haven't touched any such reads in months.

And finally, I just loved this little throwaway line by John Cameron Mitchell: "There's no question (..) that Lady Gaga and Hedwig are from the same clan." So true and now I don't know why I didn't twig this earlier.