This has been a summer of starting a lot of stuff, but less of finishing. I have so many projects on the needles right now, I've lost count. What kind of unites them all is that they are mostly lace projects; with lace, I like both the process and the outcome, so it's clearly my favorite kind of knitting. With cables and fair isle knitting, I like the outcome just fine, but usually I'm not so excited about the actual process of knitting using those techniques.
I just recently got back from Berlin where I had a tremendous vacation. It was in no way knitting related; I just went with my family and saw the sights. I had, however, decided before I got there that I was going to buy some german sock yarn. I ended up buying the yarn in a department store, since I didn't stumble upon any yarnshops when walking around and I certainly didn't want to drag my family on some kind of demented yarnshop search, especially since I didn't know if it would yield any worthwhile results. Anyways, I bought two huge skeins of Opal sock yarn that were quite a bit cheaper than what they go for here in Iceland. One is a cotton/wool blend and the other is just regular sock wool, but what charmed me about it is that its colors are based on a painting by Hundertwasser. Excellent cultural reference.
I expect that such nice sock yarn will help me with my ever-unsuccessful quest to stop knitting all these damn cardigans and start working on some other projects for a change. Like socks.
Showing posts with label Socks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socks. Show all posts
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, November 5, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Sweet Freedom!
Well, well, well. It's been a while.
I apologize for the monstorously long absence, but I've been writing my thesis for the past month and a half. I mailed it off yesterday and experienced a rush of freedom like you wouldn't believe. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and to celebrate the end of my toils I spent all of yesterday hanging around downtown Reykjavík, going to bookstores and cafes with my knitting, my brother and my boyfriend. All without my camera, of course (I took it to a repair shop, and it works! I can finally post decent pictures! If I can be bothered to take them, that is.)
It is amazing how time-consuming something like thesis-writing can be. For me at least. I couldn't bring myself to blog because I spent 10 hours a day at the computer working on my paper. Spending additional time writing something that isn't mandatory somehow lost its appeal. But I did manage to get some knitting done, although I mainly worked on small projects. Such as these:
These are Thuja socks, knit in Sandnesgarn Smart for my brother's birthday. He liked them alot.
Then there are these:
These are the Dashing armwarmers, knit in Trysil Garn Arctic for my boyfriend's grandfather. I haven't given them to him yet, so I can't tell you if he likes them or not. But I sure hope he does.
I did some more knitting that I haven't photographed yet, but I'll get around to it soon. As is to be expected, a lot of knitting features in my immediate future since I now have until the end of August to just hang around and relax. Two whole weeks of just knitting, reading whatever I want to, watching movies, spending time with friends and family. I think I may be in heaven! The bad news is that all the project I want to work on in the immediate future are cardigans. And I think I want to try my hand at that Clapotis that everyone was knitting back in the days. I didn't catch the fever then, but am becoming more and more interested in the pattern. And it will be really cold here in Iceland in just a month or so. So clearly I need more cardigans and shawls...
I apologize for the monstorously long absence, but I've been writing my thesis for the past month and a half. I mailed it off yesterday and experienced a rush of freedom like you wouldn't believe. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and to celebrate the end of my toils I spent all of yesterday hanging around downtown Reykjavík, going to bookstores and cafes with my knitting, my brother and my boyfriend. All without my camera, of course (I took it to a repair shop, and it works! I can finally post decent pictures! If I can be bothered to take them, that is.)
It is amazing how time-consuming something like thesis-writing can be. For me at least. I couldn't bring myself to blog because I spent 10 hours a day at the computer working on my paper. Spending additional time writing something that isn't mandatory somehow lost its appeal. But I did manage to get some knitting done, although I mainly worked on small projects. Such as these:
These are Thuja socks, knit in Sandnesgarn Smart for my brother's birthday. He liked them alot.
Then there are these:
These are the Dashing armwarmers, knit in Trysil Garn Arctic for my boyfriend's grandfather. I haven't given them to him yet, so I can't tell you if he likes them or not. But I sure hope he does.
I did some more knitting that I haven't photographed yet, but I'll get around to it soon. As is to be expected, a lot of knitting features in my immediate future since I now have until the end of August to just hang around and relax. Two whole weeks of just knitting, reading whatever I want to, watching movies, spending time with friends and family. I think I may be in heaven! The bad news is that all the project I want to work on in the immediate future are cardigans. And I think I want to try my hand at that Clapotis that everyone was knitting back in the days. I didn't catch the fever then, but am becoming more and more interested in the pattern. And it will be really cold here in Iceland in just a month or so. So clearly I need more cardigans and shawls...
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
New stuff I learned
Hi!
Pardon the long absence. I´ve been travelling and working like a maniac, and when I've had free time I've simply been way too lazy to blog. I appear to consider blogging to be more akin to work than play. I need to adjust my attitude regarding this whole issue.
Anyways, I was in Cambridge a couple of weeks ago to visit the boyfriend. It rained the whole time, so I didn't really do alot of touristy stuff, but then, I really didn't need to since I used to live in Cambridge and had seen it all before. The real purpose of my trip, though, was to give him the secret socks (not so secret anymore!) for his birthday (I gave him some other stuff too, I'm not a total scrooge). To make a long story short, he liked them and that made me happy. Good.
Now I'm back in Iceland and working hard on my thesis which is due in two months. I've kindof finished the sausage arms cardigan, although blocking remains, and I've started yet another cardigan that is going along swimmingly. Photobooth will, in good time, bring pictures of all these wonders, but what I wanted to talk about today was this:
This weekend I attended the annual Viking Festival in Hafnarfjörður. I try to go every year, mostly because I think vikings are cool, and entertaining to boot. I'm also a little obsessed with my nordic heritage and want to keep it alive through educating myself about the ways of my ancestors. So, there I was enjoying the usual viking festivities (drinking mead, fighting with swords and axes, grilling whole sheep over an open fire) when I noticed that all the viking ladies were engaged in some kind of wooly craft. I asked one of them what they were doing, and it turns our they were nalbinding. I'd read about this technique before, and seen pictures of garments made with it, but never had I seen it in action. The lady viking was nice enough to show me the basics of the technique and sell me a needle to do it with. I want to try to find some more permanent instructions somewhere, though, because I'm not sure I remember correctly how she did it.
Nalbinding strikes me as more related to crochet than knitting. The only downside I can see to nalbinding is that you can only work with short lengths of yarn at a time, which means lots of ends to weave in. But I really liked the garments that I saw at the festival, they had a kind of freestyle look to them, not as structured and orderly as knitted garments.
Man, the world is just full of interesting stuff I want to learn, when will I have the time?
Pardon the long absence. I´ve been travelling and working like a maniac, and when I've had free time I've simply been way too lazy to blog. I appear to consider blogging to be more akin to work than play. I need to adjust my attitude regarding this whole issue.
Anyways, I was in Cambridge a couple of weeks ago to visit the boyfriend. It rained the whole time, so I didn't really do alot of touristy stuff, but then, I really didn't need to since I used to live in Cambridge and had seen it all before. The real purpose of my trip, though, was to give him the secret socks (not so secret anymore!) for his birthday (I gave him some other stuff too, I'm not a total scrooge). To make a long story short, he liked them and that made me happy. Good.
Now I'm back in Iceland and working hard on my thesis which is due in two months. I've kindof finished the sausage arms cardigan, although blocking remains, and I've started yet another cardigan that is going along swimmingly. Photobooth will, in good time, bring pictures of all these wonders, but what I wanted to talk about today was this:
This weekend I attended the annual Viking Festival in Hafnarfjörður. I try to go every year, mostly because I think vikings are cool, and entertaining to boot. I'm also a little obsessed with my nordic heritage and want to keep it alive through educating myself about the ways of my ancestors. So, there I was enjoying the usual viking festivities (drinking mead, fighting with swords and axes, grilling whole sheep over an open fire) when I noticed that all the viking ladies were engaged in some kind of wooly craft. I asked one of them what they were doing, and it turns our they were nalbinding. I'd read about this technique before, and seen pictures of garments made with it, but never had I seen it in action. The lady viking was nice enough to show me the basics of the technique and sell me a needle to do it with. I want to try to find some more permanent instructions somewhere, though, because I'm not sure I remember correctly how she did it.
Nalbinding strikes me as more related to crochet than knitting. The only downside I can see to nalbinding is that you can only work with short lengths of yarn at a time, which means lots of ends to weave in. But I really liked the garments that I saw at the festival, they had a kind of freestyle look to them, not as structured and orderly as knitted garments.
Man, the world is just full of interesting stuff I want to learn, when will I have the time?
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Visual evidence..
that I don't suffer from second sock syndrome. Both socks are here, and I like them alot.
Hopefully their recipient will, too.
I'm feeling kind of cultural today. I want to enjoy the arts, I want to hear music, I want to look at something stimulating, I want to read something inspirational. Fortunately for me, my cultural tastes are decidedly lowbrow. Those artworks that have most touched my life, and live in my soul forever, their shaping powers working my personality like putty, they are all of the popular culture variety. I don't think I'm alone in this. Don't get me wrong, I have a definate appreciation for more highbrow forms of expression, but only popular culture really lights my fire.
I'd like to mention, though, that I don't like the distinction between high- and low culture, and I don't believe in it. But it is a customary and widely used concept that in many ways facilitates categorization and clarity when it comes to these matters, so I'll make use of it for now.
I recently wrote about how I love the album Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout. I'm listening to it right now, and am still continually amazed by what a perfect piece of music it is. All the songs are beautiful and touching, and they flow effortlessly. It is by far Prefab Sprout's finest work, even though I also really like From Langley Park to Memphis. I have a silly love for the intellectual pop of the eighties, I honestly really don't know why. Some more of my favorite bands are The Waterboys and Big Country.
I also have an irrational love for Steve Albini. Mostly for the music he has made himself with his bands, Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac. My special favorite is Rapeman (I'm not a big fan of the band's name, though). I don't know why, this music just speaks to me somehow. I remember the first time I heard their music, it felt so weird, almost like someone had taken my inner being and turned it into music. And called the band Rapeman. Ridiculous, but true.
I also love television, and have severe problems with how most people see it as a waste of time. I don't watch everything that's on TV, far from it, I am a hugely selective viewer. But I think that the medium itself is both very important and very mysterious. Why is it so enticing? Why is it such a thing of beauty? Why does it rot our brains? I could spend all of my time thinking about television (and fortunately, I practically do!). The global television industry is probably more inspirational to me than anything else in the world, in all of its manifold aspects. Go TV! One of my big dreams in life is to one day make it to the United States, just so I can familiarize myself with how it it to be a viewer of the network and affiliates system. Also, I want to experience the flow of watching TV in the U.S., with all of the commericals. I imagine it must be a very annoying, but exhilarating experience. No public service principles, just pure commercialism. It's something I really want to experience, and I think it's so funny that it's such a mundane thing for millions and millions of people. For me it's the holy grail.
I am a gigantic dork.
Hopefully their recipient will, too.
I'm feeling kind of cultural today. I want to enjoy the arts, I want to hear music, I want to look at something stimulating, I want to read something inspirational. Fortunately for me, my cultural tastes are decidedly lowbrow. Those artworks that have most touched my life, and live in my soul forever, their shaping powers working my personality like putty, they are all of the popular culture variety. I don't think I'm alone in this. Don't get me wrong, I have a definate appreciation for more highbrow forms of expression, but only popular culture really lights my fire.
I'd like to mention, though, that I don't like the distinction between high- and low culture, and I don't believe in it. But it is a customary and widely used concept that in many ways facilitates categorization and clarity when it comes to these matters, so I'll make use of it for now.
I recently wrote about how I love the album Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout. I'm listening to it right now, and am still continually amazed by what a perfect piece of music it is. All the songs are beautiful and touching, and they flow effortlessly. It is by far Prefab Sprout's finest work, even though I also really like From Langley Park to Memphis. I have a silly love for the intellectual pop of the eighties, I honestly really don't know why. Some more of my favorite bands are The Waterboys and Big Country.
I also have an irrational love for Steve Albini. Mostly for the music he has made himself with his bands, Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac. My special favorite is Rapeman (I'm not a big fan of the band's name, though). I don't know why, this music just speaks to me somehow. I remember the first time I heard their music, it felt so weird, almost like someone had taken my inner being and turned it into music. And called the band Rapeman. Ridiculous, but true.
I also love television, and have severe problems with how most people see it as a waste of time. I don't watch everything that's on TV, far from it, I am a hugely selective viewer. But I think that the medium itself is both very important and very mysterious. Why is it so enticing? Why is it such a thing of beauty? Why does it rot our brains? I could spend all of my time thinking about television (and fortunately, I practically do!). The global television industry is probably more inspirational to me than anything else in the world, in all of its manifold aspects. Go TV! One of my big dreams in life is to one day make it to the United States, just so I can familiarize myself with how it it to be a viewer of the network and affiliates system. Also, I want to experience the flow of watching TV in the U.S., with all of the commericals. I imagine it must be a very annoying, but exhilarating experience. No public service principles, just pure commercialism. It's something I really want to experience, and I think it's so funny that it's such a mundane thing for millions and millions of people. For me it's the holy grail.
I am a gigantic dork.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Shhh, it's a secret!
A blog is maybe not the best entity to confide a secret in, but look at these:
This is the first cuff of the first of a pair of socks. I'm afraid that's all I can divulge at the moment, cause, you know, they're a secret special occasion present. I'm pretty sure the intended recipient doesn't read the blog, but just in case, let's all just keep them on the hush-hush, okay? I can probably also tell you, without spoiling the surprise, that the pattern is superfun to knit and the yarn, which is called strømpe- og jumpergarn (that's all the information the ball band provides, no manufacturer or anything), is unbelievably soft. It's just normal sockyarn made from wool and nylon, but it's nicer and softer than what I've worked with up til now. Hopefully I'll have these knitted up soon, so I can continue working on a certain lovely cardigan. Yes, a cardigan, big surprise. I tried taking pictures of the cardigan in progress with the photobooth, but they all turned out to be too crappy for public consumption. I will try to find a way to bring you visual proof of the cardigan, but you'll have to bear with me.
In other news, things may just be looking up on the camera vs. computer front. These pieces of equipment still resolutely refuse to have any kind of dialogue, and I've tried everything I could think of. I was practically on the verge of just buying a new camera (desperate measures on a student's budget). Well, I finally went to see this professional computer guy, and at first he was stumped, just like everyone else I've brought this problem up with. But then he helpfully suggested that I may simply need to reformat my camera's memory stick, since I used to work on a PC but now have a Mac. I really hope that this will solve the problem for me and that I will be able to offer a properly illustrated blog in the future, with pictures of my FO's draped artistically over tree branches, on location at the lake behind my house. And I could show you the lake! And my house! Wooo, just the thought gets me all excited. Wish me luck.
This is the first cuff of the first of a pair of socks. I'm afraid that's all I can divulge at the moment, cause, you know, they're a secret special occasion present. I'm pretty sure the intended recipient doesn't read the blog, but just in case, let's all just keep them on the hush-hush, okay? I can probably also tell you, without spoiling the surprise, that the pattern is superfun to knit and the yarn, which is called strømpe- og jumpergarn (that's all the information the ball band provides, no manufacturer or anything), is unbelievably soft. It's just normal sockyarn made from wool and nylon, but it's nicer and softer than what I've worked with up til now. Hopefully I'll have these knitted up soon, so I can continue working on a certain lovely cardigan. Yes, a cardigan, big surprise. I tried taking pictures of the cardigan in progress with the photobooth, but they all turned out to be too crappy for public consumption. I will try to find a way to bring you visual proof of the cardigan, but you'll have to bear with me.
In other news, things may just be looking up on the camera vs. computer front. These pieces of equipment still resolutely refuse to have any kind of dialogue, and I've tried everything I could think of. I was practically on the verge of just buying a new camera (desperate measures on a student's budget). Well, I finally went to see this professional computer guy, and at first he was stumped, just like everyone else I've brought this problem up with. But then he helpfully suggested that I may simply need to reformat my camera's memory stick, since I used to work on a PC but now have a Mac. I really hope that this will solve the problem for me and that I will be able to offer a properly illustrated blog in the future, with pictures of my FO's draped artistically over tree branches, on location at the lake behind my house. And I could show you the lake! And my house! Wooo, just the thought gets me all excited. Wish me luck.
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