What just happened?

Holy Cow! I sure wasn't expecting this. Instead of working on my many knitting wip's, or even doing my schoolwork, for that matter, I somehow managed to crochet a huge, fringed monstrosity of a shawl (by the way, did anyone know how much yarn a fringe uses up? It's crazy). This was not on my to-do list and I feel kind of guilty about it, both on behalf of my wip's and my neglegted thesis, but I really like the shawl. I just had some black yarn left over from other projects (so it's all black worsted weight wool, but different dye lots, and even different brands. Yikes!), and I all of a sudden had this 'I sooo need a huge black shawl with a fringe right now' moment. It's the Sweet-Pea shawl from the Stitch n' Bitch crochet book. I haven't blocked it yet, so it's going to become even huger, but here you have a photo, taken with my trusty photobooth, of a detail of the shawl and me trying to convey by my expression how perplexing I find this development:



I'm still having camera problems, as you can perhaps infer from my continued use of photobooth, but Bonnie left me a helpful comment suggesting that I download the softwear for my camera. Thank you Bonnie! I´m such a technodolt that options such as downloading a program I need have to be pointed out to me. And I call myself a student of the media. Sheesh.
Anyways, when I go home on March 19, I have every intention of getting some of my more techno-savvy Icelandic friends to give me tutorials on how to make my blog look a bit cooler, add links inside the posts instead of just in the sidebar and, you know, generally cool stuff like that. I swear on a bunch of Icelandic sheep that one day I shall have a cool blog that includes more than just photobooth pictures!
Until I go home I have kind of a full plate, however. Tomorrow my lovely boyfriend is coming for a four-day visit. He currently lives in Cambridge (England), and I'm here in Copenhagen, and I gotta tell you, I cannot reccommend this long-distance thing. We'd lived together for four years prior to this winter of long-distance love, so just seeing each other for a few days every couple of months is definately a change of pace for us. Still, it could totally be alot worse. The flight between London and Copenhagen is only an hour and a half, and if we book in advance we can get tickets pretty cheap. I miss him sooo much, and am positively giddy about his visit. We both have tons of work to do, but we'll have fun just hanging out, cooking good food and walking around beautiful Copenhagen (not snowy anymore!). Then a couple of days after the departure of boyfriend the arrival of mom will take place. Yep, my mom is coming to visit me for 12 action-packed days, and will then accompany me back to Iceland. I'm also ridiculously exited about this visit, mom is such fun to hang out with. We'll go to museums, go shopping, go to the movies, drink beer. And because, like me and boyfriend, mom is also a graduate student, I don't even have to worry about her disturbing my work too much, because she´s bringing a ton of her own work with her. So both of these visits will be well-balanced work/play equations. Hooray for family!
I will try to blog some, but probably won't much. But will try.

I spoke too soon

Yeah, I spoke too soon on spring being just around the corner. Copenhagen enjoyed a snowstorm last night, and we now have snow and ice everywhere. I went for a walk this morning, went to school and did some errands, and everywhere I went people were wearing knitwear to fight of the unseasonable cold. I even got a little bummed out at school because I saw this girl wearing a beautiful fair isle hat, and I was just wearing a plain, solid-colored hat. Knitter's envy. I swore that I would make myself a hat that beautiful as soon as I'm done with all the other projects I'm working on. So hopefully sometime next year, then.
I took some pictures of what my street looked like this morning, just to document the snowy loveliness (I really like it!), but I'm still having camera problems. Or rather just one very specific problem. My camera and computer don't seem to be able to talk to each other. The camera is, at this moment, clearly hooked up to the computer, yet the computer clearly states, at this same moment, that, and I quote, 'No Image Capture device connected'. What's going on? Is my camera broken? Is my computer broken? Am I perhaps just monumentally stupid? Man, the simplest things can be so perplexing at times!
Fortunately, I still have my trusty photobooth, and courtesy of that I now offer some knitted photocontent:



That's a nice armwarmer, eh? I made it using Cassie's pattern, Icelandic Loðband and 2.5 mm needles. Made them, I should say, I have a pair, but the other one's not in the photo because I didn't think of it at the time. Anyway, you're not missing much, the other one's basically identical. I love these mitts and haven't taken them off since they finished blocking. They're also a nice easygoing project, good for watching TV and such, so I'll probably make them again. Next time, though, I'll probably make them stripy to show off the waviness of the pattern. I miss the waves on this solid-colored version.

Spring is on its way

One of my favorite things about winter is the chance us knitters get to check out all kinds of knitwear all the time. Literally everywhere you go people are wearing shawls and scarves, mittens, hats, chunky sweaters and wooly socks, sometimes all at the same time. Just going grocery shopping is fun when you're a knitter in the wintertime because you never know when the coolest earflap hat you've ever seen will be waiting for you in the dairy section. I so enjoy winter because it really is high season for us knitters to show off our work and admire that of others.
Yesterday I went to a cafe downtown, and I couldn't help but notice that spring is on its way. It's not that it's suddenly gotten warmer or anything like that, but it's more of a gradual thing. The coats people were wearing weren't as heavy as those I saw a month ago, and while everyone was wearing scarves, not that many people wore hats. I also noticed yesterday that it's still light out at 5 pm. Spring is definately just around the corner.
I have mixed feelings about this. I would hardly be human if I didn't enjoy spring; the daylight, nature coming back to life, ducklings (sadly, still a couple of months away). But the warmer weather kind of makes my inner knitter sad, if you know what I mean. Away go the beautiful mittens and shawls and in come the ratty t-shirts and shorts. The view definately changes, and grocery shopping no longer provides an opportunity for admiring good craftsmanship. So really, this time of year, when us in the northern hemisphere are saying goodbye to winter and welcoming spring is really a time of mixed emotions for me.
However, this fear of spring really only takes its hold when I'm here in Denmark. Denmark is one of those countries where it actually gets warm, no, hot even, in the summertime, and I'm really not a warm weather person, so I think that my dislike of temperatures over 20 °c has alot to do with how I feel. But I'm fortunate enough to be spending my summer in Iceland, a wonderful country where it never really gets warm, and so I guess don't have that much to complain about. Beautiful sweaters are on display year-round in Iceland, even if we do put our mittens away for the three brief summer months. I'll even get to ride out a good portion of spring in Iceland, as I´ll be going home for some massive research from mid-March to mid-April. I can't wait. Lopi is sooooo cheap in Iceland, as it should be since is simply necessary for our survival in that climate.
Last year I stayed in Denmark throughout the spring, and then went home to Reykjavík to work in early June. By May it had gotten really warm here in Copenhagen and I'd taken to wearing light summer dresses all the time, and foolishly, those were the only kinds of clothes I packed to take with me to Iceland in June. When I got home the temperature in Reykjavík was around 8°c, and it was raining, and that's how it stayed the whole summer. I was literally forced to knit two lopi sweaters in a hurry to wear over my summer dresses, just so I wouldn't freeze to death walking to and from work every day. I'll probably be faced with a similar scenario this summer, so I would do well to remember to pack warm clothes for my summer in Iceland. But maybe I should forget all about the Icelandic summer weather again, so I'll have an excuse to knit up some more Lopi sweaters.

A History of Hand Knitting

Wow! Is this the coolest book ever or what? (Please just ignore the fact that I´m way to lazy to get my camera problems fixed and am still relying on the photobooth.) I got the book at the library yesterday and have become a little obsessed with it over the last 24 hours.
I mean, look at this guy. He is the Bishop of Leicester, which sounds like a big deal to me, and he is also a prolific knitter. I will bet you anything that he knit that beautiful flowery cardigan he's wearing himself. And he just looks so happy and content in this picture, a knitter completely at ease with himself. I just love this cover.
And then, of course, there is the content of the book which is just great as well. A thorough history of the art of knitting, with lots of pictures and entertaining morsels of information. I give this book an unequivocal thumbs up.
I've found it for sale (because now that I know of it's existence I must own it. I'm just a very possessive person) on a few sites, but the only copies I've seen photos of have a different cover from this one. Now, that simply won't do! I have to have the version where the Bishop of Leicester is on the cover. Just looking at him makes me smile. This problem could be solved, of course, if only I had easy access to a scanner. I could just scan the Bishop cover and then buy me a version of the book that has a different cover, and then print the bishop cover and glue it the **** on there! (I know I shouldn't think swear words in the same sentence as the Bishop of Leicester. I'm just so excited about this). Some of my friends and acquaintances have scanners, I'm just a little worried that they'll find my enthusiasm for this cover odd. But that's their problem, right?
Now, I really should get some studying done.

The kind of knitter I am.

I just wanted to use this opportunity to try to explain the kind of knitter I am. When I read other knittingblogs, and I do that alot, I am constantly amazed at both how much and how little I can have in common with my fellow stick-wielding wool lovers. What follows is a short list of some of the things that I notice most as points of convergence or difference between me and the rest of you:

1. Socks. I do not love to knit them. They are definately not my favorite kind of project (the subject of favorite kinds of projects will be returned to shortly). In yesterday's post I mentioned that I have two pairs of socks in progress, and this is true, but it's only because I'm in the midst of a concerted sock-knitting effort. I'm consciously trying to make myself like knitting them. I mean, I like wearing them, so how hard can it be?
Anyway, the reason I´m trying so hard to fall in love with the sock-knitting process is because I´ve noticed a definate sock-bias on the blogs I´ve been reading. Apparently, alot of people out there prefer to knit socks more than any other kind of project. Not being part of this group makes me feel a bit of a freak, truth be told, hence the sock-knitting effort. Kind of pathetic, really.

2. I´m a product knitter. For me it´s a little bit about the process, but very, very, very much about the finished product. I have to end up with something that looks good, something that I or someone else would wear with pride. However, I should probably mention at this point that I´m also an exceedingly selfish knitter; I only like to make things for myself. I´ve made stuff for other people, sure, and I´m not saying that there isn't some satisfaction gained from the gratitude I get, but I guess the bottom line is that if I've worked on something, I want to reap the benefits myself. Totally selfish.

3. Now, just in case I'm giving off a bad image of myself as this selfish, awful person, I will say this in my defense: I am not a yarn snob. I'm very open-minded when it comes to yarn, and while I prefer to work with wool, I'll give just about anything a chance. Part of this attitude may derive from the fact that I'm a student and therefore never have any money. I kind of have to go for the cheap yarn, I guess. But there is alot of cheap yarn out there that's really good, and I've also worked with expensive yarn (Rowan, no less) that I was disappointed with, especially considering how much it cost me. I guess what I'm saying is that I'll give anything a try once, you never know when you might discover a treasure.

4. Has anyone heard of Cardiganitis? I have it in a bad way. Practically all my projects last year were cardigans. For me. I have about 25 cardigans in my closet. I made 4 cardigans from the same pattern between the months of july and november, only alternating the colors I worked with. See what I mean about being a product knitter.? I just happen to think this pattern turns out a really cool cardigan, and so I feel a pressing need to have one in every color. I've moved on from that particular pattern now, on to others, but I'm almost as bad with those. In december I knit two cardigans from another pattern, and am currently working on the second of two cardigans from a third pattern. A little crazy? Methinks so.
Again, in my defense, I wear a cardigan practically every day. They are so much better at showing off cool t-shirts than sweaters are.

5. My criteria for a successful cardigan pattern that I'll fall in love with and knit a billion times over is that it must be knit in one piece and must feature entertaining details such as fair isle colorwork, cables or lace. Or all of those elements. Or any combination of those elements. However, any steeking is a total no-no.
The knitting in one piece thing is important to me because I hate to sew up my work. I've sucessfully sewn up a few cardigans, mind you, but when I discovered the joys of seamless construction I simply saw no reason to turn back. Why sew when you can skip it? I've yet to find a good answer to this question.

6. I made one new years resolution concerning my knitting: 2007 shall be the year of knitted accessories! I shall teach myself to love the mitten, the sock the shawl, the hat, the scarf, and so on and so forth. No more damned cardigans until 2008! Exept of course for that cardigan that I'm currently working on, but I cast on for that in 2006, so it technically belongs to that year.
It's just ridiculous that I, prolific knitter that I am, have only one scarf. And a store-bought scarf at that. Hopefully the year 2007 will remedy this situation.

7. I have practically no stash. Back home in Iceland I have one cardigan's (!) worth of green and purple wool that I found on sale and couldn't pass up, but that's about it. I knit all the time, I have several projects on the go at any one time, and yet the wool I have is only the wool required for those projects. When other bloggers show pictures of their expansive stash I'm filled with awe. How can they own all this wool and not use it? I don't get it. But I guess they wouldn't get me, either.

On the technical side, I still haven't figured out how to get my camera to work. I'm beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that it may be broken. God, I wish I had in my real-world life who was good at this kind of stuff. Alas, my life is pitifully tech-nerd free. But I'm working on the problem. Until then, I'll just have to dangle finished objects in front of the computer and use the photo booth function.
But, now, I really should go study. Really.

Blogpost the first

Contrary to what this blog's title would indicate, I am not knitting a hamburger. No sir. No culinary knitting going on here. Although I did once see a pattern for a knitted hamburger pillow that I may consider if I ever completely lose my mind. I am, however, a big fan of booth wollen and beef goodies, and so I figured it would be a smart move to include both of these good things in the title of my blog. That, or I was decidedly uninspired when I created the title of this blog.
Blogging is not a totally new thing to me, not at all. This is, in fact, my second attempt at a blog. The first one was the kind that I maintained for my friends and family and it didn't work out for a number of reasons. For one thing, it was in Icelandic, creating a language barrier which meant that my audience was necessarily limited. Second, it was also a knitting blog. In Icelandic. That only my friends and family knew about. This was not a good combination. Only a couple of my friends knit, and so the feedback I got on my posts was decidedly underwhelming. Needless to say, I lost interest pretty quickly.
This time I hope it will be different. By posting in English, I really hope that the people who will read my blog will be knitters, rather than just people somehow personally linked to me. I hope that through this blog I can take part in some kind of community of like-minded people, that is to say, knitting obsessives with whom I can share my craziness.
To give a little background on myself, just because it's always nice to know who you're dealing with, I'm a 27 year old Icelandic graduate student, currently living in Copenhagen, Denmark. I began knitting, seriously that is, in 2004 when I was living in Cambridge, England, and was in desperate need of a hobby. I stumbled across Debbie Stollers Stitch'n'Bitch in a bookstore and from then on, I was lost to the world. I had been taught how to knit when I was a child and had experimented with designing my own projects when I was a teenager, but that always ended in tears. But when I found Stitch'n'Bitch my life changed for the better because, lo! That book taught me how to follow a pattern, and what's more, it included patterns that I actually wanted to make. To this day I am a devout follower of patterns; I hardly ever make any alterations to them and wouldn't dream of designing anything on my own. In a way, this is good. When my projects are complete, they look like the picture that came with the pattern, and there's a kind of satisfaction that goes along with that. However, I can totally imagine that completing a sucessful project of your own design is endlessly more satisfying, so that's something I aspire to do in the future. I just don't feel ready yet, I guess.
I´m currently working on a whole bunch of wip's which include a couple of cardigans, a couple of pairs of socks, a cowl, a shawl and (gasp! shock! horror!) a little crochet bag. I really have no idea which of these projects is the most likely to cross the finish line first, but when one does, I'll try to post pictures. I really think that pictures are soooo important to knitting blogs, having that visual confirmation really packs a punch that words just can't muster. I do have some technological issues though. I just bought a new laptop, and I can't figure out how to get my camera to do the tango with it. Also, I lost the software that came with the camera, and blablabla. Anyway, when I figure out how to establish a dialog between my computer and camera, I will post pictures. Until then, I'll have to make do with this nifty photobooth feature on my laptop. Pictured somewhere in this post (I also need to figure out how to put the pictures where I want them to go in my posts, not just all at the top all the time) is a snapshot of a yoke I recently knit and am currently wearing. Yokes are one of my favorite things in life; there is so little sewing involved.