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Books 2010: Tóibín - Brooklyn

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Last week I finished reading Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn, a quiet novel about a girl who moves from one country to another in order to improve her prospects. I have a lot of time for Tóibín: his novel about Henry James, The Master, was one of my favourite reads in the past decade, and I remember being shocked and moved by another deceptively quiet Tóibín novel,  The Story of the Night. With Tóibín, you wait for the story to hit you. His books are not fast-paced caper filled with unbridled emotions - you have to be a patient reader and put your trust in the story-telling. The quiet rooms, the things left unsaid and the thoughts the characters keep to themselves - Colm Tóibín knows that is where the real stories exist. That is not to say that Nothing Ever Happens in Brooklyn. Eilis Lacey, our protagonist, goes to dances, finds a job, meets people and falls in love. Brooklyn has comedic touches too - some colourful characters, a baseball game, a stomach-churning journey across the Atlantic - but admittedly even the comedic touches are low-key. Oh, and there are some very, very big decisions being made by ordinary people in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is about the the émigré experience. What does it really feel like leaving your country, your culture, your family and your friends for somewhere else? Reading Matters has an excellent take on this:

[Brooklyn] might be set in the 1950s but it touches on universal themes that resonate today, and I've yet to read anything that so perfectly captures the profound sense of dislocation you feel when you swap one country for another and then return to your homeland for the first time.

In short, Brooklyn is a superb paean to homesickness and the émigré experience. I think I identified with it so strongly because it shows, in an understated but powerful manner, how all emigrants have to make that god-awful decision about whether to stay or go (..).

I took my time reading Brooklyn, mostly because I did not want to become upset on public transport or in my workplace. I hesitate to use this word, but reading this novel was a profound reading experience - I put much of myself and my own life into it. It will stay with me for a long time.

I am now currently reading Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger. I have a little theory about Waters the novelist and so far The Little Stranger plays along with my theory. It is also very good thus far.

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Day Seven: Something About Yarn

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Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here. I often get asked which is the best yarn I have ever used. I never know how to answer because, for me, the quality of yarn is wholly dependent upon what project I am doing. When I think about yarn, which I admittedly do all the time, I just try to think about it in context. What type of project am I making and who am I making it for? How will the object be treated, how will it be used and how often will it be used? Do I need to think about maintenance? In other words, every yarn has a purpose.

Many knitters shudder at the thought of acrylic yarns, but I maintain they have their place in the knitting world. Knitting for young children? Acrylic yarns (or woolblends) will seem like a god-send because they can be thrown into the washing machine with nary a thought. Acrylic yarns also have a better range of colours, they will not pill as readily and certain brands will arguably withstand nuclear holocaust (or toddlers).

I do not tend to knit for children, though, so I mostly use natural fibres. Since I live in chilly Scotland I also tend to use mostly woolly yarns.

New Lanark Aran is one of my favourite yarns. It is locally produced, is available in some truly beautiful colours and, best of all, it knits up like a dream whilst still being affordable. Old Maiden Aunt is another guilty pleasure - she dyes beautiful sock- and lace-yarns. I adore Rowan Kidsilk Haze which has a beautiful halo and yearn for a project in Rowan Lima, a soft and complex merino/alpaca-blend.  Drops Alpaca is one of my desert island yarns. I'd happily roll around in Noro Cashmere Island.  Also, I hoard Dansk Naturfiber 1-ply kidmohair/merino because I think it may be discontinued, it is absolutely divine, and I rarely get a chance to get my clammy hands on it (I used it for my Laminaria shawl). I dream of making something out of Garthenor 1-ply. And let us not forget handspun wool - I am lucky to count some hand-spinners among friends.

Meet the glittering star in my yarn stash firmament, though.

This is Färgkraft SoftBlend, a 2-ply laceweight Gotland-wool handdyed using organic dyes by textile artist Margrét Kållberg for the Färgkraft co-op in Sweden. 765 yards of utter perfection.It ticks all my boxes: rustic, organic, laceweight, Scandinavian, and dyed in my favourite colour in the entire world.

A Swedish friend of mine gave it to me last year as a birthday present. I am still trying to decide what to make from it. I feel tempted to pair it with my favourite shawl pattern, but on the other hand I also feel tempted to pair it with a traditional Scandinavian (or Nordic) shawl pattern.

I have many, many lovely yarns in my stash thanks to friends and family, but the Färgkraft 1-ply just stands out for me. I may never actually use it, you know..

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Day Six: This Old Thing...?

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Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here. When I look back upon all the things I have knitted in the last, say, six months, there is one item I have worn more often than anything else: my Art Deco shawl.

The shawl is not knitted out of fancy, expensive yarn - just an ordinary DK woolblend which I found at a favourable price - but it has earned its keep many times over these past few months. You see, the shawl quickly turned itself into a big, cosy scarf/shawl/blanket which kept me warm during the hardest winter in Scotland for over thirty years. When it snowed, I could pull it halfway over my face; when I was cold at night I'd drape it across my legs. Now we have finally seen the arrival of spring, it still warms my shoulders and acts as a nice buffer between me and the wind.

Oh, and the colours never failed to cheer me up.

So, how does it look now?

Well-loved, it is certainly not as crisp as it used to be. Actually, just looking at that photo I feel like giving the shawl a good soak and setting up a date with some blocking pins. However, the wool is wearing very well (yes, that would be the acrylic content, I bet) and it is as warm and cosy as ever.

In fact, I think I'll just keep it wrapped around my neck.

Mmmm.

Toasty.

(I apologise for the haggard look. I'm just home from work)

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Day Five: Location, Location

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Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here. One of my favourite places to sit and knit (or read or think) is the Kelvin Walkway which runs along Glasgow's River Kelvin. I live quite close to it and on warm, dry Sundays, I spend a lot of time sitting here. Occasionally my knitting gets stolen by a playful dog, but it is all part of the charm.

I adore this particular spot because you have your back to the world and just for a short while, you can pretend you are sitting in the middle of wilderness rather than in the middle of a large city. I have seen kingfishers, peregrine falcons, foxes, and deer here. All a five minute walk away from Byres Road, a busy shopping area.

However, this is not where I tend to spend most of my knitting time. Glasgow gets a lot of rain and blustery winds. And so I grab a takeaway coffee and head to my favourite bench in the Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens.

I like spending my afternoons off in here. I am sheltered from cold winds and sudden rain. The view from the bench is spectacular and the scenery changes from visit to visit. It is a wonderfully calm place to sit and knit (as long as you can mentally block out screaming children as you get many yummy mummies parading their trophies playing with their toddlers in the front part of the Palace) and nobody minds if you sit there all afternoon.

And I cannot resist showing you a close-up of "my" bench. Yes, it is wrought iron and, yes, that would be a squirrel. All the benches have the same squirrel-pattern and I think it wonderfully whimsical .. although you do get an awful lot of real squirrels hanging about the Botanics and the Kelvin Walkway (sadly not the indigenous sort but the grey squirrel).

Although I knit a lot in public (including public transport), I do most of my knitting at home. I have a sofa to myself and curl up every night with my latest project.  Blankets nearby, coffee cup full and light a-plenty. No photos, though, and while I wish I could blame poor light conditions, the living room is just that tiny bit too untidy to show anyone right now. I also quite like leaving some things a mystery ..

For your listening pleasure, I have compiled a short Spotify playlist of Glaswegian/Glasgow-based bands. Enjoy - if you live in a Spotify-enabled country, of course - these tracks are really the sound of Glasgow.

Day Four: A New Skill

Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here. I knit a lot of lace. One of my favourite projects ever was my Ceramium shawl (or "Glaminaria" has it was dubbed by friends), my version of the Laminaria shawl. The pattern was always interesting, just on the right side of challenging and extremely fun to knit.

I so wish I knew how to design intricate lace shawls because, my word, I enjoy knitting them. I do not aspire to Laminaria-esque heights (i.e. intricate Estonian stitches, modular stitch count, jaw-dropping beauty), but I have these ideas in my head about angular shapes growing into elaborate edgings. You see, I like my early 20th Century art and architecture (Cubism, Bauhaus, Art Deco) and would love to approach lace knitting using that sort of formalised, geometric "language".

Alas, I have no idea how to go about all this.

I have knitted a triangular shawl of my own design, Bruges, but mine was a very simple idea: I wanted to use a chunky wool and combine it with a fine edging. The yarn did most of the hard work for me as the chunky wool was self-striping (and I opened it up with a few k2tog, YO rows) and the fine wool, my beloved Kidsilk Haze, gave the edging a gorgeous halo.

I am sure there is a simple mathematical logic to lace shawl designs. I can knit a stocking stitch triangular shawl, but I am yet to suss out how to plug in those seductive lace patterns. Oh, how I wish I could just sit down and design one..

.. instead here are some of my favourite shawl patterns which I am yet to knit or which I simply just admire:

PS. I'd also really, really like to learn how to read a book and knit at the same time. I'm reading much less than pre-knitting-rediscovery and this bugs me.

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Day Three: One Great Knitter?

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Fourth Edition is taking part in the Knitting & Crocheting Blog Week, and you can read more about that blog project here. When I first started attending knitting groups, I had no idea what to expect. I still remember my very first meet-up: I was knitting a pair of Fetching hand-warmers whilst sitting across from SoCherry and I was petrified. I worried she was judging the way I knit, that I might drop a stitch or make a mess of cabling. Looking back, this seems pretty funny - especially if you know SoCherry who is as sweet, kind and non-intimidating a person as you can hope to meet. I continued attending knitting groups despite my initial bout of knitterly panic and I was soon to realise that each and every person I met was A Great Knitter.

Usually I'm a very pragmatic person and I seldom get emotional, but I do get all gooey when I see what ordinary people like you and me can create out of a ball of string and two sticks. I see grannies knitting fabulous jumpers for their newborn grandchild; I see teenagers knitting socks in cheerful colours; I see adventurous knitters going for broke with lace or cables; I see casual knitters plugging away at a simple scarf - and I love it all. I really do. Knitters (and crocheters!), I salute you all.

Ravellers, here is a list of projects I love. I have seen so many beautiful things, so it was difficult to choose. I did settle on a theme - let me know if you guess what the theme may be..

Too easy? Here are five more favourites and another theme..

I could go on all day, but suffice to say that each knitter/crocheter I meet inspires me and makes me a better knitter too. See? I do go icky-gooey occasionally.

Don't tell anyone.