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July 11 2010
orkney redux
we went back to orkney (again) last week. this time, with j’s mother, sister, sister’s boyfriend, and three dogs. we kept our visits to the main tourist attractions (skara brae, maeshowe, broch of gurness, tomb of the eagles) down and instead spent a lot of time on the dramatic coastlines watching for puffins, and mostly spotting fulmars and razorbills!
yesnaby:
•the yesnaby coastline looking to marwick head•
•the orkney coastline is peppered with all these amazing flowers that grow out of scree•
birsay:
•a view of the tidal causeway to mainland orkney from the brough of birsay•
•jumbled-up norse & pictish settlements on the brough of birsay•
•seabird cliffs on the brough of birsay•
•the barony mills in operation•
•vintage flour sacks•
•the drying floor (there’s a beautiful old kiln directly below that smells of woodsmoke)•
•outside the barony mills•
deerness:
•the covenanter’s memorial near mull head•
•bog cotton – not as spinnable as it looks on account of the fragility of its fibres•
•the gloup, a collapsed sea-cave that looks better the rougher the sea is, but looks amazing anyway•
marwick head:
•me wearing dutch world cup orange (hey, it’s worked so far – we’re in tonight’s final) in front of the kitchener [stitch] memorial•
•abandoned boat winches by the fisherman’s huts along the west coast•
stenness:
•the bewitching ring of brodgar, one of those incredible stone circles we’re so lucky to have in abundance•
south ronaldsay:
•photo of the holiday: j’s boardshorts have “here comes the sun” printed on the waistband and he was trying to put them on in the car while the rain pelted down outside… welcome to scotland!•
bay of firth:
•this was the view east as i was eating breakfast at 5am yesterday morning before catching the 6:30 ferry back to the scottish mainland for an 8-hour drive back to edinburgh, from where i caught a train to glasgow and arrived home in time to see the first uruguayan goal of an eventful third-place play-off that germany eventually won – phew!•
i’m working on some orkney-themed socks at the moment, which i fully intend to post something more about by the end of this week. however, there is the more pressing issue of a Very Important football match tonight that i now owe my heritage to spend a significant part of the day working towards. if you have access to a screen, you may want to watch history being made tonight (no, i’m not being over-confident. even if we lose, spain will still win the world cup for the first time ever, so it’s history no matter the outcome!)… let’s hope it’s a beautiful game.
June 29 2010
FO: greentoes socks
there’s been a lot of green the past week or so: the world cup pitches (come on! if you live anywhere but china or canada, there’s no chance you’ll have escaped the frenzy – give in and become a part of it!), the courts of wimbledon and england’s finest cricket wickets.
so, a lot of television-watching, and, of course, a lot of knitting. between thursday evening and sunday afternoon, i managed to complete an entire pair of socks (rav) on 2.25mm needles!
the pattern is emma haigh‘s norfolk ramblers (rav), which i knit exactly as written with 3 repeats on the leg for a shorter sock.
now, a word about my short socks, because they’re almost always shorter than written: it’s not because i have attention-deficit disorder (although i may…) but because i wear a lot of skirts and dresses. i’m usually barefoot, but i ride my bike a lot. in a city where there are few cycle-specific lanes, i don’t feel secure cycling on the roads in bare feet, or anything less than a sturdy (cough!) pair of plimsolls.
with socks, of course. pretty ones! but not too long.
June 24 2010
FO: bonn voyage! socks
because my journey to bonn and back was overland, it took 14 hours out and 18 hours back. you can knit a fair bit of sock in that time, even if you need a lot of sleep like i do. it didn’t take much to finish this pair on my return, i’ve just not had much knitting time (rav):
the pattern is rebekkah kerner’s francie knit almost exactly according to pattern (with two leg repeats instead of two-and-a-half) and makes for a mighty fine sock that i’m just itching to climb a hill in.
May 20 2010
FO: anniversary jumper
no, not my wedding anniversary, although it’s close enough to that. no no, my knitting anniversary! i have officially been knitting for a year now – go me! so, i actually started this in february but got a bit stuck when it came to grafting the button bands and picking up stitches for the sleeves and collar. not stuck because i didn’t know what to do, more because i knew exactly what to do and didn’t want to do it!
it’s done, though, and i got this pretty cool photo of the camera to prove it. i’m liking the light and shadows!
May 09 2010
hang the parliament and eat cake
we’ve managed to get a hung parliament. for those of us who object to our political system (FPTP), this is great news. it thoroughly demonstrates how inadequate the system is for a modern democracy with more than two parties competing for seats and power. however, the current state of affairs sees our bid for PR on a knife-edge as the reformist liberal democrats are in negotiation with the vocally anti-reformist conservatives. my fridge has made its views very clear:
yesterday, in response to all this, j and i went on a demo to campaign for a fairer electoral system. since purple is the colour of the suffrage movement from, oh, so long ago, we were requested to wear it. i don’t actually own a single item of purple clothing(!), but i managed to find this quite lovely vintage number for a couple of quid at a local charity shop (excuse the shocking photo – i’m not very good taking photos in a mirror):
its vice-like grip on my ample endowments made me feel like a suffragette in a corset (note the fugly back-fat coming into view)! so, i wore it with green for effect. the glasgow showing was poor, but thousands turned out in london and succeeded in gaining counsel with nick clegg himself.
i drowned my political fears in domestic goddessness today with scones:
and chocolate cupcakes from vegan cupcakes take over the world:
we bought some hemp milk yesterday and, although pricey and a little hemp-y in flavour, it imparts a delicious texture to baked goods.
i still haven’t finished my orange election jumper. i think that says something, but i’m not sure what. still, at least i won’t have to think too hard about whether to use blue or red buttons… not that it looks like i’ll get much of a say in that, anyway!
April 09 2010
check this, yo
i am knitting, i’m just not getting much done at the moment so have nothing of note to report. soon, my pretties, soon…
in other news, i got the most awesome package this morning:
in february, i took part in the vegan sock KAL on ravelry, hosted by kala at vegancraftastic – and i won! the prize was a kitchener stitch reminder tag and stitch marker from karatstix’s etsy shop and something of my choice from kala’s etsy shop. i chose her robot button badges, which are just the cutest things in the whole world. i love droids… and they arrived today! and they’re still ridiculously cute!
and she also sent me some chocolate (cherry & almond – yum! oh, and coins, too!), a project bag from her etsy shop, and two late to the revolution cards. not only that, but one of them is a john muir quote, and john muir is one of my current heroes since reviewing his journeys in the wilderness reader for my work magazine:
i’m seriously stoked. thanks, kala!
- reading: on chesil beach by ian mcewan
- listening: lime & violet 103
February 25 2010
time for a change?
the main reason for this is that i've spent the past month working on a project that, although i benefited from financially, i reaped no physical reward from. in other words, apart from a slightly healthier bank balance, i've got nothing to show for it. so, i started thinking about the things i knit and how i enjoy them.
i like socks because i can take them places and they knit into something quite quickly, but what about other things? well, in fact, i only really know anything about socks because i've not really knitted anything else. i mean, there are a couple of washcloths kicking about, and other people are wearing mitts i've made, but they were all practical projects. carrot rather than stick, if you like.i remembered the rosalind scarf (rav) i started ages ago, and thought about how much i enjoyed seeing the illusion pattern appear, and the morgan hat (rav) that i'm knitting for j with its exciting shaping. about how i really want to knit fair isle and how i've been coveting a lot of sweaters recently... so i'm doing it. putting the sock yarn away, i swatched for 4 sweaters, cast on one, and i'm working on my scarf again.
listening: be true to your school on fortuna pop!
reading: i've just finished the road by cormac mccarthy
time for a change?
so, since i started knitting in april 2009, i’ve made 8 pairs of socks. that’s not an epic turnover, but i’ve also been learning hundreds of new skills in that time, so i’m pretty pleased overall. however, i’ve recently been re-evaluating my priorities and started to think that there are other things i should make before my year is out.
the main reason for this is that i’ve spent the past month working on a project that, although i benefited from financially, i reaped no physical reward from. in other words, apart from a slightly healthier bank balance, i’ve got nothing to show for it. so, i started thinking about the things i knit and how i enjoy them.
i like socks because i can take them places and they knit into something quite quickly, but what about other things? well, in fact, i only really know anything about socks because i’ve not really knitted anything else. i mean, there are a couple of washcloths kicking about, and other people are wearing mitts i’ve made, but they were all practical projects. carrot rather than stick, if you like.
i remembered the rosalind scarf (rav) i started ages ago, and thought about how much i enjoyed seeing the illusion pattern appear, and the morgan hat (rav) that i’m knitting for j with its exciting shaping. about how i really want to knit fair isle and how i’ve been coveting a lot of sweaters recently… so i’m doing it. putting the sock yarn away, i swatched for 4 sweaters, cast on one, and i’m working on my scarf again.
listening: be true to your school on fortuna pop!
reading: i’ve just finished the road by cormac mccarthy
January 31 2010
half a pair is one
the kitchener's a bit wonky on this one, but i'm sure it will even out with wear... shame the same thing can't be said of murray's grand slam hopes this time around. i don't think he's going to be setting any records at the french, but given the time he has to work on his shortcomings between now and the summer, maybe he's in with a shout at wimbledon or flushing meadows.listening: glasvegas
reading: mobius cast-on. looks daunting. i may attempt it later today...
half a pair is one
i finished my first brady sock while watching murray battle through his three-set defeat to federer in the final of the aussie open:
the kitchener’s a bit wonky on this one, but i’m sure it will even out with wear… shame the same thing can’t be said of murray’s grand slam hopes this time around. i don’t think he’s going to be setting any records at the french, but given the time he has to work on his shortcomings between now and the summer, maybe he’s in with a shout at wimbledon or flushing meadows.
listening: glasvegas
reading: mobius cast-on. looks daunting. i may attempt it later today…
January 29 2010
honest scrap awards
it would seem that they're rolling peer-to-peer blog awards, and they have rules. now, i'm not really a stickler for rules - i'm not very good at sticking to them, anyway - but i'll try to do what i can with this...the rules
1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to that blog post.
2. Tell ten honest things about yourself and make them interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
3. Pass the award on to ten bloggers you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap, and whose blog you find brilliant in design and/or concept.
the scrap
1. my dad's dutch and my mum's malaysian-chinese, but i was born in england and have lived in australia and scotland. i have dutch and british nationality, but only use my dutch passport to travel.
2. new acquaintances frequently check me when i say i'm married. they usually think i'm some exploited child bride, and i have to insist my culpability.
3. i've eaten a vegan diet since mid-2008, mostly due to the devastation wreaked by meat and dairy industries. i don't know many other socio-environmental vegans, so fellow herbivores are usually surprised when i say i stopped eating dairy before fish.
4. i've been knitting for almost a year and my friends still hope i'm pregnant when they see me knitting a pair of socks from the toe up for the first time. strangers on the train ask if they're baby socks.
5. i haven't had a 'proper' job since i left a major NGO 4 years ago. it's getting increasingly hard to explain to my mother-in-law what i do: "activist" and "artist" are not occupations in her book.
6. i love rain. people like to express concern that it rains a lot in glasgow. water off a duck's back, i tell you.
7. my husband and i live in a victorian flat in govan, glasgow. it's the kind of neighbourhood that makes our families concerned, but there's a lot to love here. we have big sash windows and high ceilings, a real wooden floor, open fireplaces and a coal bunker. we can see the river and the old town square from our windows. we can also see the alcoholics and the homeless people who ask for 10p as you're running to catch a bus.
8. my manager was caught off-guard last week when he discovered how much i love sport. i've taken monday off to watch the australian open final. i also devote my life to cricket, cycling, surfing, motor-racing (even though i don't like cars), athletics/olympics, rugby and darts, but my real love is football: scottish league, premier league, spanish league, lower league, champions league, non-league. i even know the offside rule, as much as anyone does these days.
9. i yearn for a garden with a compost heap. every time i throw away a banana peel, i feel bad for it. it will likely never have the opportunity to return to the food chain.
10. my all-time top-five favourite foods are peanut butter, bananas, broccoli, tomatoes, chickpeas and cardamom. oh wait, that's six.
the blogs
• vegancraftastic
• herbivore knits
• sticks and string
• affectioknit
• a girls' cycling compendium
• that crafty fish
• the adventures of captain teabot and me
• slippedstitch
• urban vegan
• herbivore dinosaur
hey, i made it! thanks again, vegan fox. this wasn't as tortuous as i thought it would be!
listening: the smittens
reading: blogs, it would seem!
January 23 2010
FO: a.m. socks
i finished them this morning after days of procrastination. well, it wasn't really procrastination, because i was actually itching to get knitting, but stuff just kept coming up. all in all, they took 4 days to knit on train journeys and evenings, but a week in real time!
i really liked the pattern and enjoyed knitting them but, as usual, will probably appreciate them more when i've worn them a bit. for now, i'm just impatient to start the next pair...listening: pow to the people
reading: nah, i've been watching instead. i saw little miss sunshine for the first time last night - it was fucking funny.
January 17 2010
CO: a little slice of summer
the yarn is tencel laceweight 2-ply from yarntopia treasures (etsy), held double with the colour repeats matched up. and what amazing colours they are. it's the tequila sunrise colourway, and consists of bright yellow, orange and coral. it didn't pool at all, instead just forming really delicate single stripes of colour. and it's only $9 per skein, so super-value.knitting from the toe up is just genius! as i was knitting the foot, it became clear that these were going to be short summer socks, rather than longer ones. i'd planned for them to have a ribbed cuff, but it just didn't work with the yarn and pattern, so i followed the picot bind-off instructions from aleta fera's 'vog on! socks (rav) off knitty.com and i'm really happy with the results.
wouldn't have happened with cuff downs...
listening: spotify... oh.my.god!
reading: love to knit socks by bronwyn lowenthal. got it out of the library for the sake of a couple of designs. it's ok, but the internet is better!
January 14 2010
halfway house
they took a week of sporadic knitting, so i may try to focus my efforts for the next one. i'm hoping to get a few pairs finished by the end of january: a.m. (rav), dead simple (rav) and trilobite (rav) - ambitious, much? and don't forget another pair of herbivore knits ones by the end of february so i can contribute two pairs to the KAL (rav)... looks like i may have to take a break from real life for a while!listening: belle and sebastian - the life pursuit
reading: the intentional spinner, a beautiful book on fibre and doing stuff with it.
January 10 2010
CO: vegan sock KAL
so, you have until the end of february to knit a pair of socks by christabel (rav) and get them onto either the vegan sock KAL blog or the vegan socks ravelry group. at the end of february, kala will choose one pair of socks at random and their knitter will win a cute kitchener tag from karatstix and an item of his/her choice from vegancraftastic.
here's where i am three days in (rav):
i'm using crystal palace's maizy yarn in birch bark. i'll need to pick up the pace a bit if i want to get those two pairs finished, won't i?listening: the best sixties album in the world... ever!
reading: no time to read - the sock kit swap is almost ready to go, and i have to pair everyone up!
January 05 2010
hogmanay, FOs and festive absence
the parties continued for years after i left home but my parents have both been really busy the past few years, so the house has been quiet on new year's eves of late. however, they're thinking of moving next year so wanted one last hurrah. the usual crowd had dwindled to a few old faithfuls and the years showed as they reminisced about the time i was yea-high, but it was nice.so i've been entirely absent from the blogosphere for the duration of xmas and hogmanay because the past couple of weeks haven't really belonged to us. from december 24-28 we were at j's family gathering and then from december 31-january 4 we've been at my family gathering. in between, we did what we could to catch up on bit and pieces - and last-minute gift-knitting!
my cousins both got a pair of modified garter stitch mitts by ysolda teague (rav) that i embroidered with various types of plant life. i made four different ones and left them to do the pairing and choosing themselves:
i've been online a little bit, enough to check the group i moderate on ravelry: the sock kit swap - knit a pair of socks for your partner and send them the kit to knit another pair of socks for themselves (shameless plug here - sign-ups end on sunday 10 january) - and welcome new members, but never had enough time to finish the posts i started in edinburgh, so i'm going to try to get those up tonight. post-dated, of course.listening: TMS (south africa are hosting england, don't you know?)
reading: incidentally, while researching links for the food , i found a dutch website about veganism, which appears to be pretty rare in the netherlands.
FO: the other presents
a pair of monogrammed golf club covers for j's bro (rav) and a short version of amy singer's abby cowl for my sister-in-law to wear on chilly office days (rav), which was actually really hard to photograph, so i'll satisfy you with a photo of my wrapping. i used scarves from second-hand shops to wrap all gifts. some were kept by recipients and others returned to me:
December 23 2009
FO: dogwalkers - and winter sunrise
it lasted just long enough for me to snap happy and has already faded into a thin stripe of sunlight, barely visible over the tops of the more distant buildings. nevermind, the snow remained. at this rate, we're on course for a white xmas.i finished another xmas gift yesterday - yep, i know i'm cutting it fine... dogwalkers (rav) for my dog-walking, mitt-wearing sister-in-law:
they're based on a jaywalker-esque chevron stitch pattern and started from the fingers down (thought process: i do socks from the toe so why not mitts from the fingers?) using some unwanted rowan tapestry (rav) that my mother-in-law passed on to me. i get quite a lot of woolly leftovers from her direction, so thought i'd send some back that way...listening: indietracks 2008
reading: there's a hippo in my cistern: one man's misadventures on the eco-frontline
November 18 2009
FO: new socks!
and, because autumn has become distinctly winter-y here in glasgow (spot the grey hue to all the photos!), i got some winter mixture sweets yesterday. so i took some fun photos of sock candy... get it?
i just CO a toe and then started knitting. everything was easy until after the heel, when i worked out my interval spacing was going to be a lot harder to maintain. so, i just stuck in random purl stitches and ran with it. the variation on the leg is a bit less noticeable because of that.listening: radiohead - in rainbows (listen - legal and gratis, get in!)
reading: cycle magazine
November 16 2009
a swift turnaround
however, i get tangled and twisted far more frequently than i'd like on account of being the world's most incorrigible fidget... so a swift is called for to prevent More yarn from falling off my knees! enter crafty diversion's handy tute - and here you go:
my very own swift! it's actually been finished for three weeks but i never got around to blogging about it.
of course, i have to say that i didn't really make it myself. i started it, with salvaged wood from a table that was falling apart, but my lovely husband finished the job for me. as much as we don't have typical male-female domestic roles, he loves his powertools and i don't care enough to stand in his way.listening: camera obscura - biggest bluest hi-fi
reading: emily's vegan knitting article on crazysexylife
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