Squee

Knitting. I may be grumpy about it at times, but there is no denying that I love it. This year I have been participating in the 10 Shawls in 2010 group on Ravelry (though I have not been social at all) and I'm currently knitting my tenth shawl. It has been a blast and also incredibly self-indulgent: I love knitting lace, I love knitting shawls and nowadays I really have very little knitting time left for personal projects so these shawls have all felt very special. I was pondering what I could do in 2011? I want to do something which feels just as good as these shawls and which can be spaced out throughout 2011. I hit upon my idea when I read Ms Mooncalf's post about hats. For a knitter, I have very few hats. This is strange because I love wearing hats. I love matching them with my outfits, love having warm ears and love using up random odd balls of wool.

2011 will be my Year of The Hat.

It's official. I'll knit eleven hats and my head will never be cold ever again.

Now to a bit about Recent Stash Enhancement of the Scandinavian kind. My purchases run completely counter to my Year of the Hat because, well, I am helpless in the face of North-Atlantic laceweight. Quite apart from the sweater's worth of bulky pure wool which I found in my gran's supermarket, I succumbed to a slew of gorgeous laceweights from an assortment of places: the Faroe Islands, Iceland and, well, Sweden. I also found some cheap preyarn/unspun yarn which I'm looking forward to trying as well as some double-knitting yarn in a very pretty green/teal combo.

Two other delightful things happened whilst I was in Copenhagen:

Firstly, my Bestest Friend Ever decided to give crocheting a go. Now she is on Ravelry and is talking about needing more yarn. I cannot be held responsible for this (cough) but it makes me very happy to see her employ all her cunning and skill in a crafty manner. She could rule the world if she put her mind to it. Next we'll be exchanging placemat sets and toilet roll covers. Just wait and see.

Secondly, I was taught how to use a lucet as previously mentioned. A friend sent me a peculiarly looking instrument this spring and I had no idea what it was, what it did or why she had sent it to me. I had some inkling it might have to do with textile history as I'm a big geek and, well, she is into historical re-enactment (and thus costume history). She brought a friend along for afternoon tea and this person taught me how to use my strange little gadget. It makes me very happy to know people who just happen to know what a lucet is and how to use one. It is so freaking cool.

So, anyway, yes: tell me about the hats you like, the hats you have queued, and the hats of your dreams. I need to plan my hat extravaganza a bit but going through 81 pages of hat patterns on Rav is a bit daunting.

Wordy

A linguist friend once told me about a second language acquisition theory: different people store languages in different ways. Some brains work like a giant filing cabinet: words, phrases, idioms and syntax are all neatly filed away so the brain goes to the cabinet, looks in the Spanish drawer, cross-references this with the English drawer and consults the syntax section before proceeding. Other brains have languages stacked on top of each other and perform advanced archaeological excavations every time they need to switch from one language to another. Guess which type of brain I have.

Ten days in Denmark. The longest I have been back since my big move some four years ago. Today I was standing in my local supermarket wondering why an elderly couple was speaking Danish. As it turned out, they were not - but right now my brain automatically assumes background noise must be in Danish and I have to makes a conscious decision in order to recognise the language as Scots English. Likewise, I'm searching for words: what's English for parabolantenner or 'Bare på beløbet, tak'? I know these words, of course, but I have to dig deep before they pop into my head.

Interestingly enough, I only have these problems with spoken language, not written. I'm sure there is a perfectly good (neurological) reason for this.

However, I refuse to believe there is a valid neurological explanation for the way the Danish language is being mangled by people who really ought to know better. Danish is being invaded by English - and it is not even correct English in many instances. I have never been a militant language purist (the way I acquire and use language prevents me from being too holier-than-thou) but I think I am becoming an old grumpy lady. WHY write "den perfect carwash du altid har drømt om" when the correct phrasing would be "den perfekte bilvask du altid har drømt om". WHY WHY did my gran's woman's weekly write about "en crunchy banankage" when Danish already has several words meaning "crunchy" AND most of the magazine's readers do not understand English in the first place? WHY WHY WHY would a major national newspaper gleefully write "livet er one long bundy jump" in the middle of an interview with a Danish designer thus mangling BOTH Danish and English? I nearly cracked when I was sitting next to a bunch of Swedish golf-buddies on the plane back to Scotland who kept shouting "EXACT!" but I'm told that is a valid Swedish expression which admittedly feels a bit deflating after I've been foaming at the mouth since Monday night.

Last day of my holiday today. I shall celebrate with some knitting and some tidying. I finished reading David Mitchell's latest novel last night but I need to mull over it before writing anything about it.

Selected Highlights

• Learning how to use a lucet. I love the Danish word for it: "at nulre".
• Biking around Copenhagen. Easily the best way to navigate Cph City.
• Being told I'll get a sewing machine for my birthday in February.
• Walking around the new prehistory section of The National Museum. It's really good.
• Having way too much good food - and bringing back various specialities.
• Finding a beautiful hand-embroidered table cloth for just 50p.
• Spending time with people who really really matter.

I have a few rants to share - the state of the Danish language, how embarrassing people can be in an airport, biased TV-journalism - but I'll save them for a rainy day. Likewise, I have a few knitting-related things to discuss but I'll get back to them after I've done the laundry (it is so good not living out of a suitcase) and unpacked my things.

It's good to be home. I just miss people already.

Wonderful, Wonderful..

The train journey from my childhood landscape to Copenhagen takes about 90 minutes. The distance from Glasgow to Edinburgh, more or less. I often think about the cultural divide between Glasgow (young, vibrant, edgy) and Edinburgh (heritage, self-aware, conservative) - but this divide pales when compared to the cultural divide between my childhood landscape and Copenhagen. Today the train took me from rural Denmark to urban Denmark; from the way things have always been to the way things are; from my childhood to my adulthood. Every time I step aboard that train, I grow up. This is a roundabout way of saying that I am in Copenhagen once again.

During the 90 minute train journey I was working on a shawl. A girl came up to me asking if I knitted the jumper I was wearing. Seeing I was wearing my Snorri jumper, the one with the Icelandic yoke, I was happy to confirm her suspicions. This led to a long discussion about how she did not knit, how she admired people who could and where she could learn to knit .. and how I found the time to knit. I maintain that most people should be able to find pockets of knitting time: I knit on public transport, I knit during my commute to and fro work, I knit during lunch, and I knit whilst watching TV or listening to the radio. Knitting is an addition to my daily routine, not something which stops me doing things (Except reading. I still haven't cracked how to knit and read at the same time. No, audiobooks do not count).  I do not think I convinced the girl to give knitting a try, but I demystified a few things. I'll continue to preach the gospel anyhow.

A crafts happening was taking place in the Central Station when I arrived. It was a good omen.

Copenhagen has been lovely. I picked up some Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish yarns (mostly laceweight and "sheepy"; definitely things I could not find in the UK) as well as some .. fabric. I learned that I'm getting a sewing machine early next year, so I thought I'd get a few interesting fabrics whilst in Denmark. Do not give me that look..  Anyway, I've also been biking around the city and seeing some very lovely people. It's almost like I never left .. except a few things have changed such as my leg muscles (tomorrow my muscles will ache in interesting places) and my ability to deal with impolite customer service (eyerolling may have been involved).

I'll be in Copenhagen for a few more days. More people to see. More muscles to re-discover. I am breathing again.

PS. Actually, right now I could be anywhere. I'm listening to BBC Radio 4, the rain is pouring down, and I'm typing away..

Family

The Danish landscape is more subtle than Scotland's but no less beautiful. My parents live on the outskirts of a large bog area famous for its archaeological finds (link in Danish) and today we went for a long drive through the area: small lakes, rolling hills, undisturbed bogs, Viking settlements and numerous megalithic tombs. I always wonder why Denmark does not market its history as a major tourist attraction (Scotland has already twigged that tourists love history). My childhood landscape is steeped in impressive history and I think tourists would love to visit these places.

I spent the afternoon having a mutual brainstorming crochet workshop with my mum. We were armed with crochet hooks and various balls of wool. It was a lot of fun and super-inspirational. We were both tossing out ideas, workshopping to find solutions to conundrums, and trying out techniques. Crochet has always felt more intuitive than knitting and I really enjoyed what we ended up working on .. I'm the latest one in a long line of crafters and doing a workshop with my mum felt fabulous. If we lived closer, I could definitely see us collaborating on a few projects.

Incidentally, iSketch is way too much fun.

Packing

When did I lose my sanity? I have no idea but I clearly lost it some time ago because I'm looking at my luggage thinking: "Denmark. Ten days. Three knitting projects. Should I bring a fourth?!?" I have had a truly delightful day in Edinburgh with work today. I do not get to see many of my colleagues all that often as we are spread out across the British Isles. While some of us keep in touch on-line, it is always good to sit down and compare notes face-to-face. I'm bringing a hefty dose of inspiration with me on holiday.. so maybe a sketchpad and some pencils will be in order.

And not a fourth project.