Working On: The Vicar's Fields Mitts

I'm currently working on some seriously awesome colourwork mitts. I would have said "fair-isle mitts" but I recently got told off by someone who said that "fair-isle" was reserved for patterns stemming from Fair Isle, so "colourwork" it is. However, the mitts are quite North Atlantic in their conception, design and composition. I'm using Shetland 4ply wool, the geometric pattern is inspired by Faroese pullovers, and the colours are lifted directly from a fair-isle colourwork pullover my gran knitted me when I was about eleven years old. I wanted a pair of mitts that reminded me of my cultural heritage and I think they'll fit the bill. I'm calling them "The Vicar's Fields mitts" in honour of some childhood memories.

When I put the first few details up on Ravelry, some of you contacted me to hear if I would make the pattern available. I have thought about it and have come to this decision: I will not be writing up a full pattern for these mitts. I will, however, put all my notes and charts up here on this blog, so if you want to knit these mitts, you can. I make fairly extensive notes whenever I knit, so there will plenty of information for anyone fancying their own Vicar's Fields.

Meanwhile I have had time to think about the last few days' events. The one thing about Knit Camp which really struck me was the emphasis upon British wool, British yarn, and sustainability. Everywhere I went I heard people saying they chose to spend their money on local vendors, local dyers, and local sheep breeds. Blacker Designs was one of the busiest stalls with their yarns from British flocks (and they had some wonderfully obscure breeds too). Toft Alpaca and Artisan Threads also benefited from the attention, but Shetland Handspun (no website) and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust really saw people talking. Later this year I'm part of an event about British wool and British yarns, so I was really excited to see the buzz surrounding local, organic yarn. Good thing Garthenor wasn't at Knit Camp or I would have walked away with their fabulous undyed organic laceweight which I have been coveting for ages.

Speaking of laceweight, someone has talked me into knitting her a Laminaria. I took a lot of persuading ..

Turning Pages

James Robertson is a writer whose books I enjoy very much, but I do not see him mentioned much. I was surprised and delighted to see a two-page feature on Robertson in The Guardian this past Saturday; the feature coincides with a new novel, And the Land Lay Still. I could have done without the Guardian proclaiming that Robertson was aiming to write the Great Scottish Novel that this country 'so desperately needs', though, partly because I think the Great Scottish Novel has already been written and partly because I think Robertson is aiming for something else. I picked up Robertson's The Fanatic on a whim some years ago and thought it a great, complex read about Scottish identity, the Scottish psyche and Scottish history. A very clever and entertaining book. I was less enamoured by Joseph Knight which read more .. postcolonial, if you like, and I am mildly allergic to postcolonial novels after certain university courses (long, sad story). The Testament of Gideon Mack was Robertson's big breakthrough novel and I really enjoyed its sinister humour and subversive take on a psychological thriller. It felt more mainstream/accessible than The Fanatic and also reminded me a bit of Mikhail Bulgakov's marvellous The Master & Margarita.  I'm yet to read And the Land Lay Still (I'm still reading Ulysses and then David Mitchell's latest will be next) but, yes, I'm really looking forward to a new James Robertson book.

If you are in the UK, I warmly recommend watching Women's Institute: Girl Talk. A simple premise: visiting the educational HQ of Women's Institute and talking to some of the ladies participating in the courses. And then as you learn a bit about some of the nice ladies, your eyes might just get a bit misty. One of the best hours of television I have watched for quite some time. Yes, I feel profoundly middle class now, thank you.

(I have also just checked out some of the available WI courses and am drawn towards Victorian Corset Making and Copperplate Calligraphy which should surprise absolutely no one)

Finally, my parents recently went to the Czech Republic on holiday and as a souvenir they bought me a book on Czech cooking. I was very amused to find a recipe for "Home Pig Feast" which starts: 'put the pig's head, knee and tongue in a pan..' The entire thing is served with a sauerkraut salad which is basically some sauerkraut mixed with horseradish. I think I'll politely give that one a pass.

Ravelry Picnic

Ah yes, the Ravelry picnic. I was too exhausted to properly enjoy myself, but it was nice to see familiar faces (and famous faces). I'll play catch-up with the world once I've had some sleep.

Knit Camp

I am just home from spending the day at Knit Camp. I did not do any classes as I was unable to go throughout the week and the only class I really wanted to do was a lace class scheduled for Thursday (I think it was Thursday), but I still wanted to experience a proper knitting event. You know what? It was pretty good. The event itself has been riddled with mishaps, confusion and general chaos, but as a Saturday visitor to the marketplace I had nothing to complain about. The choice of vendors was outstanding, the venue was well-chosen and even the weather was on its best behaviour. We had a lovely time. One of my favourite moments occurred when a friend's mum showed off her mum's fair-isle work to the Jamieson & Smith people from Shetland. My friend's grandmother used to knit up swatches whenever a new Jamieson & Smith fair-isle pattern was released and as a result she now has a long sampler of pattern design spanning decades. The Jamieson & Smith people were absolutely intrigued by the sampler and many photos were snapped (as you may be able to tell from the photo). My friend's mum even had to pose holding the sampler which made us all beam.

Other great moments: helping out at the Old Maiden Aunt stall and hearing all the amazing buzz surrounding Lilith's yarns, meeting Norah Gaughan and getting terribly star-struck, catching up with a truly enormous amount of people (Roobeedoo! Dodiegirl! Janicebee! Knitsomniack! LisaFalcon! Teagenie! Celtic Stitcher! Chatiry! So Cherry! Judith! Angela! Peerimoot! Anna! And a gazillion more - sorry if I haven't linked you, but my head's swimming with names!), having a knitterly lunch on the lawn outside the Pathfoot building with a beautiful view across the Stirling valley, getting so so so inspired by Artisan Threads' stall with their genuinely breathtaking sense of colour and visual flair, and seeing some very awe-inspiring knitting projects displayed at Artisan Yarns and the aforementioned Jamieson & Smith stall.

I actually did not buy much as my knitting budget is ear-marked for other things this season (and I have too much yarn, anyway), but I did pick up some shawl pins and buttons from Textile Garden. I do love buttons and I knew from their website that Textile Garden would have a good selection (the photo shows a tiny slice of their stock). I particularly like my new shawl pin/kilt pin which calls to mind koru, but I'm very happy with my new buttons too. I did pick up a skein of un-dyed merino/silk laceweight from Artisan Yarns, but the majority of my meagre budget went towards Knitting Shetland Lace, a CD-ROM by Liz Lovick. I am getting increasingly interested in 'heritage knitting' (for want of a better word) and Lovick's CD-ROM is just perfect for me: it compares the knitted lace traditions of Shetland, Iceland, the Faroes, Estonia, Ukraine and Orenburg, has many shawl patterns and guides you all the way towards designing your own shawls.

It has been a very lovely day and yet again a big thank you to everyone who said hello. I am utterly exhausted now, but someone's almost done preparing my dinner .. then it is time to snuggle up with some fair-isle knitting before bedtime. Tomorrow we have a Ravelry knitting picnic in the Botanics with Ravelry's Jess & Casey plus Miss Ysolda. See you there around 2pm-ish?

Green

Aberdeen is known as "the Flower of Scotland", I'm told. I know it better as "Granite City" because such a huge part of Aberdeen is built from granite. Whilst Aberdeen's Duthie Park is understandably a turist attraction, most visitors will just know the grey granite city centre with its very few pockets of greenery/fresh air. You walk and walk and suddenly all you know of the world is grey granite. And then you make it to the Union Terrace Gardens and you sigh a very big sigh of relief. Except The Aberdeen City Council has decided the Union Terrace Gardens need to be developed (or should that be re-developed).

You see, planning permission was already in place for a new visual arts centre - an expansion of Peacock Visual Arts which would have provided North East Scotland with a proper arts centre next to its Art Gallery and the library - as was funding, but these £13.5m plans have now been scraped in favour of a £140m plan suggested by local oil tycoon, Ian Wood. Wood's plan involves raising the Gardens to street level (using a concrete base), a car park and new shopping facilities.

Cue massive public outcry, a public consultation which found overwhelmingly against Ian Wood's plan, and a City Council which decided to side with the money man.

As you can tell, I'm on the side that think a concreted Union Terrace Garden will just make Aberdeen look even more grey. It is a shame.

On an entirely different note, if you read nothing else today, do go read Bells' blog entry about reading her grandmother's letters. It tugged damn hard at my expat heartstrings and it also made me miss my grandmother even more. I'm a professional cynic, but, really, my heart's not in it (especially after reading Bells' words).

FO: Haematite Shawl

Quickest shawl ever? Kim Hargreaves' Opal ("Haemitite") was done in little over 24 hours and it was not as though I sat about knitting constantly. I can see this shawl becoming a stash-buster (and I say this thinking of some mystery red mohair in my stash) as it was so quick and fun to knit. It was also the perfect knitting group project: garterstitch with one tiny detail to remember on each row. Verdict: a winner. I sat knitting the majority of it during The Life Craft's inaugural knit night which was really fun and relaxing.  Congratulation to Von and the rest of the Life Craft staffers for being officially anointed with an unannounced visit the very next day by Ravelry founders, Jess and Casey, and Scotland's knitting designer star, Ysolda Teague. The Life Craft is a great new addition (I nearly wrote addiction) to Glasgow's West End craft scene and I'm so so pleased by all the positive buzz the place is generating.

I may also have bought some yarn whilst there, but since I have just finished some things, I'm okay with that. I'm trying to operate a "yarn out means yarn in" policy at the moment. I picked up some beautiful Shetland 4ply by Colorimetry which is destined to become part of my fair-isle winter mitts which I am (gasp) currently drafting.