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Pattern: Tornved

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My heart sank when I woke up this morning. It was another classic Glasgow early-winter morning: overcast, rainy and dreich. And I meant to do a photo shoot today, rats. Yes, boys and girls, I finished designing and writing another pattern. Remember the Old Maiden Aunt knitalong? I set myself the challenge of designing a shawl pattern during the KAL (oh, and knitting the sample and writing the pattern too).

I had the idea very early on that I wanted to design a shawl with my childhood in mind. I spent my summers in Tornved, a tiny hamlet in rural Denmark, where my great-grandmother. Lily, lived in a cottage. Her cottage looked out on farmland and I thought I wanted to put that into writing knitting. So, there you have it: birds chasing seeds and flying over unworked soil. I find it oddly poetic.

And on a practical note, I love small shawls with a solid stocking stitch middle but I find them quite dull to knit, so I wanted a lace pattern that would break up the monotony of stocking stitch but remain fairly solid.

Anyway, I eventually decided to take some photos inside one of the glass house in the nearby Botanic Gardens. Some of the statues kindly volunteered to be wrapped up in wool which gave my shawl a faint Gothic feel. Maybe those are not birds, but hearts..Hmm..

I am still unsure about the amount of light, but things are not going to get any brighter for a few weeks (yay, solstice!). Also, the grand prize in the Old Maiden Aunt November knitalong is a complete Tornved kit, so I needed to wrap things up.

Tornved took me three weeks to chart (because charts kept being stupid and big and difficult to knit) and less than four days to knit (when I finally cracked the chart thing). This speed-knitting adventure can possibly be the reason why I'm struggling with a wonky wrist now. Don't try this at home, kids. And it was an oddly emotional knit (and I don't do emotions) because I sat there thinking about ways to incorporate memories into a knit without being too specific.

You can purchase Tornved on Ravelry, if you so desire. I used 390 yards of Old Maiden Aunt Merino 4ply in the colour Berry Good and knitted it on 4mm circs. I did not bead this shawl, but I have included several beading tips for all you bling-lovers.

And that is that, I guess. I have lived with this shawl design for a month and now it is leaving the nest. Aww..

It's Getting Cold Now

It is premature to write my Reading 2011 entry but I did leave a comment on a newspaper site yesterday about one of my favourite reads so far. I miss keeping a literary blog - but then again my old literary blog was never just about books. I wrote about whatever took my fancy and I like to think I still do that. November 30 2011 has been a day of strikes across the UK as a reaction to the Tory-led coalition's "austerity measures". I have been watching the news unfold from my cosy home, but part of me did wish I could have been out there. Some years ago I would have been. It has been interesting to see how most of them media have been shouting that this one day of strikes could push the UK back into recession .. I seem to remember most of the UK got an extra few days off for the sake of a certain royal wedding earlier this year but that was "a celebration", of course. Interesting, also, that this strike comes the day after the Chancellor's "Autumn statement" which I was following with incredulity yesterday. You can read an acerbic and pointed response here.

Moi? Cynical? I think I am turning into a grumpy old woman (I have the grey hairs to prove it). Maybe just realistic rather than grumpy.

And so with a boot firmly planted in the realistic camp, I was delighted to find other people utterly bemused* by the never-ending editorials about The Party Season. I think I had a party season once when I was 20 and as a skint student, I wore secondhand 1970s silver-lamé frocks accessorised with green Doc Martens. And nobody cared that I wore the same 1970s frock to every single drunken student jig. I do not think I live in the same world as the glossies - who does? And who buys** them?

Let me share something amazing and lovely with you: Someone has been leaving small, intricate paper sculptures all over Edinburgh. Who? No one seems to know. It is a woman who proclaims that she is used to "making things" and that she has left these art objects to voice her support for libraries, books, words, and ideas. I absolutely love these objects - I would call them book art rather than artists' books (there is a distinction, I feel) - and I love the quiet making and placing of them. There is something so utterly wonderful about art objects that do not scream but whisper.

Knitting posts to come soon. Tonight I just wanted to write about slightly more .. cerebral things.

*) Sorry about using italics so much **) Actually I use italics way too often.

Listed

I have been having the kind of month when I am constantly running behind myself. I think this is called Modern Life, but hopefully I can retire to my Absolutely Old-Fashioned Life once Christmas preparation is well under way.

  • I have been running a lot of Christmas crafts demonstrations and workshops lately. One of the least expected (and totally new favourite) outcome is my Christmas Pudding pin cushion. I shall need to show you.
  • I have been busy designing a new shawl pattern. The charts kept mocking me, but I am back on track. I ran a small Twitter giveaway in which people could win my new pattern which proved to be a lot of fun.
  • Meanwhile the Old Maiden Aunt knit-along is nearing the final stage and people have been posting heaps of finished Karise shawls. I get this really funny feeling in my stomach every time I see another one. I'll need to show you a selection of my favourites too.
  • I have managed to injure my wrist by knitting too much, but once I recover and also find time for some personal knitting, I'm pondering knitting another Kim Hargreaves cardigan in some more Baby Alpaca DK. Because I actually love wearing my Red Cardigan of Doom. It is the warmest, cosiest thing I own. Am I totally insane?
  • We have been watching plenty of films in Casa Bookish lately. They have no been particularly highbrow films, but I really enjoyed watching X-men: First Class and Centurion. On a slightly more high-brow note, I am still enthralled by Mark Cousin's The Story of Film and have just begun watching the second season of The Killing (the Danish version, natch).
  • No books since my double whammy of Jane Eyre and Virginia Woolf's Flush. I have a mind to read some Djuna Barnesnext, but we shall see.
  • I have been doing a lot of Christmas shopping online and hardly anything has shown up despite me ordering things ages ago. I know it is only end of November, but I am usually done with my Christmas shopping by September, so I am antsy.
  • I have been listening to a lot of Nick Drake lately (because I'm that kind of aging hipster). Saturday Sun may well be my new favourite song.

I am well aware that I have not been blogging as much as I would like. Partly it is because I have been rather stressed and partly because I am hoping to unveil a new look Fourth Edition in the new year. Being a one-woman show is not all that it is cracked up to be sometimes!

Charting & Swatching

Designing is a laborious process. First there is the idea, then there is sketching, followed by charting, swatching and finally writing before any proper knitting can occur. It is laborious, frustrating and fun to pursue an idea and see it become an actual piece of knitting. This past week I have spent countless hours stuck in the charting and swatching part of the process. I have a tonne of ideas and a thick sketchbook, but while I can chart a thousand things, you never know how things really look until you swatch: One beautiful chart turned out to look male genitalia once knitted up; Another chart turned out to be awfully, awfully challenging to knit; Yet another chart turned out beautifully but once knitted it was clearly destined for a cardigan I'm yet to design and knit.

And do not get me started on charts that do not easily slot into triangular shawl construction: I have one gorgeous chart that turned out to have an 82 row repeat once I applied it to a typical shawl construction. I had several tense moments when promising charts collapsed under the strain of even increases.

Happily all of this is behind me now and I am now in the writing and knitting phase. That means that, yes, a new shawl pattern will be available come December. I hope you will like it.

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Kaffeslabbaras

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Ah, everything Danish is super-hip in Britain right now thanks to The Killing/Forbrydelsen and mid-century modern design yadda yadda yadda. Did you know that I am Danish? I don't consider myself super-hip, though, and I had my reasons for leaving Denmark. But it is lovely to see Denmark + fashion + knitting. It makes me feel proud (and very homesick) to see this video:

KAFFESLABBERAS // MADS AND ERNA (SUBTITLED) from Kaffeslabberas on Vimeo.

'Kaffeslabberas' is a knitting club in the Copenhagen neighbourhood of Amager. Its members are female pensioners, whose rich history and zest for life overshadows their advanced age. This project partners up these ladies with Danish artists and designers, with the intent of creating a connection across generations, through the strengths of craftmanship, diversity and experience.

I wish the subtitles were grammatically correct and the spelling was better, but we can't have everything.

Thank you to Angela for pointing out the article and video.