Worth waiting for

I went to the library after work.
And they finally had four books I've been waiting for for ever.
Or at least since April in the case of Victorian Lace Today.
The others have been a mere few months to arrive from other libraries.
And once again I had to explain that no, it is no mistake, yes, it is possible for one person to have a keen interest in both cognitive neuroscience AND lace knitting.
The new young man at the library is terribly adorable, though.
I'm deeply grateful to whomever chose to give him the job.
He's sweet.
And I had to go back to him no less than three times to have the books checked as the alarm kept going off when I tried to leave.

I have to get Victorian Lace Today for myself to keep. I don't think I've ever seen knitting book photography that gorgeous. Nor a layout so beautiful and "functional".
The layout of A Gathering of Lace annoys me.
It's too scattered and ... just annoying.
And I have Trimble's The Soul in the Brain. Oh, have I been waiting to get my hands on that one!
Opening line of the Introduction: "If you fear that opening your mind will cause your brain to fall out, then this book is not for you."
Big day!
And I have the monster book of monsters.... or just a bloody big book: The Cognitive Neurosciences (III). There was much happy giggling at the sight of it!
"Uh, this is better than Christmas"
It's one of the biggest books I've ever brought home from the library, and the weight of it made me skip the thought of buying milk and cat litter.
That will have to wait until the weekend.
Oh, what a wonderful weekend it will be.
Cats, books, and no work at the Crappy Call Center! Well, some cleaning is absolutely needed around here, and hopefully laundry can be done, but still.... Cats and books. And knitting.
And right now I have lovely fresh spinach and ricotta tortellini waiting to be tossed into boiling water.
And water on the verge of boiling.
And of course happy cats keeping their bellies warm on top of the radiator.
Life is good.

Trying to read slowly

I stood in line for what felt like ages but was in reality less than half an hour.
And I managed to catch one of the earlier (k)night buses home and read a few chapters before deciding to go to sleep.
And now I'm halfway through and I really, really want to make the book last. At least until evening.
It had me cry on page 175. For no apparent, explicable reason.
And that's really all I have to say on the subject.
I'm not the spoiling kind.
To keep myself from racing through the book, as part of me does want to, I take a break every chapter, or even mid-chapter, to knit a row or two on the Mystery Stole.
(Much needed after the tedious boredom of knitting the Textured Tunic. I did finish it on time, but I also frogged it this morning while rereading the first chapters. The lovely green silk can easily find better purpose in life.)
I am using sock yarn for my stole, though.
The lace weight I tried with at first drove me mad and had me start over three times a day for a week before giving up.
But sock yarn is my friend.
And so I really don't care if that's not kosher.
I can just exactly manage to concentrate on a row or two at a time before turning my full attention back to the book.
And much to my own surprise I have not even had so much as a glance at the final chapter!

Getting ready

The reading spot is all set up and ready.
I have fruit, sun dried apricots, and home baked oat & coconut biscuits and spicy crackers.
I have much green tea. And orange juice.
I also have a sofa with stuffing poking out.
And theres a good blob of cat vomit on the floor.
Naked feet are brilliant cat vomit detectors.
We really need some of these brilliant cat vomit warning signs! And for the cats to learn to use them.
But otherwise our little home is tidy, dishes and laundry all done, and I'm waiting.
In twelve hours I will stand in line waiting for the book.
Until then Vincent will keep the sofa ready and in working order.
When not playing pillow cave.
And if Laurenz is willing I may be wearing my new green silk textured tunic from Lapel's fitted knits.
If I had not put myself on a slightly insane deadline to finish it for the book release it would have been put in the pile of Very Boring Knitting to be Done at Work.
But for some odd reason I really, really want to finish it. And have it finished by tonight.
And I do have twelve hours.

Today I worship at the feet of Teva Durham

While the postman brought neither yarn nor books yesterday, the library had good things waiting for me.
And one of these good things was the incredible Loop-d-Loop.
It is beautiful. Very, very beautiful.
And the patterns and the reasoning for and the thought put into them ... all awe-inspiring.
I wonder how it took me so long to discover it.
And now I have two knitting-heroines.
Stafford and Durham.
And so, to add to the unfinished need-only-four-pattern-repeats Monkey socks, the unfinished, not-even-halfway-there Elfin Bride, the unfinished but-getting-closer Elizabeth I, oh, yes, ... and the just cast-on Spiral boot socks, and the unfinished oh-my-where-am-I City Coat, .... I decided to cast on for this.
The Lace Cashmere Blouse.
My not-so-little play-swatch in Regia Silk loves it and clearly wants to become like it when it grows up and into shape.
(Yes, I do have that much Regia silk, in a lovely cream even. It was on sale, and I went greedy.)
At first I was stupid enough to think it could become Elizabeth I ... making the second attempt Elizabeth I II, or something, but gauge went off once I moved from swatching to actual knitting.
But now the poor little yarn finally has a direction in life!
And a beautiful one it is!
But I really, really should finish something. Just something.
For crying out loud.

Waiting

I am waiting for some books to come for me.
Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits and Alice Starmore's Celtic Collection.
And I'm waiting for some yarn as well.
I have the day off. Much, much needed, and in spite of the long to-do list, I have done nothing but read Le Carré, finish the bottom border on Elizabeth and gaze at the cats.
And a bit of wondering.
I have, of course, pre-ordered the last Potter. From my favourite book store Arnold Busck.
Mostly because of my expectation that instead of being open very, very late Friday night, they would open very, very early Saturday morning.
Just like the last time a new Potter arrived.
In my mid-thirties I feel just a tad too old to stand in line in a book store past midnight. Besides I badly need my beauty sleep, even if it may be too late for that.
And I loved the quiet early Saturday in the inner city paired with the giddy excitement of carrying the book home.
And then spending all Saturday reading it. In bed. With cats snoozing and a pile of biscuits, only taking a break to make tea and send non-reading friend an sms per chapter with a brief recap.
Not going to sleep until I was done.
But they've decided to do like the rest of them and open the store midnight to 2, and then open as usually at 10 on Saturday.
So now I'll be standing in line with all the kids at midnight.
In 2 weeks and a few hours.
There is no way I would be able to wait those extra ten hours!
Eight hours, yes - ten hours, no!
I'm stupid.
And waiting.
And wondering if it comes in a nice paper bag again.

When a knitting book makes the bookseller blush

I have been very good today and have worked very hard on my exam papers, and so I allowed myself to go to the book store to get my very own copy of Joan McGowan-Michaels Knitting Lingerie Style.

The very nice man at the book store was business as usual until he looked at the cover again:
"But it's a knitting book?!"
"Yep, it's a knitting book."
"My aunt used to knit."
"Oh, did she?"
"Yes, but mostly sweaters and they were usually itchy, and ... this is not .... sweaters ... (another glance at book cover) and not itchy .... I hope".
There is something rather endearing about a middle aged man blushing because of a knitting book.

And the fun didn't stop there, I also allowed myself to buy yarn for the Waist Cincher-top.

As I simply cannot imagine wearing an angora blend next to the skin I found a very nice cream coloured cotton/wool blend which should work. With black for the edges and stripes.
Because I'm boring.
I did fondle a lovely dusty lavender angora/wool blend, which would perhaps have been suitable for the waist-cincher top, but will instead be perfect for the bed jacket.

And there are pretty socks. Many pretty socks. But these are the laciest.

And these interesting leggings would very likely be perfect for both yoga and cold winter days.

And there's a gorgeous skirt.

Of course I think about knitting this in a cotton/linen blend, as I apparently lack respect for yarn choices - even if I should know better.
But my excuse would include that none of the yarn used in the book is available here. None.
And there are no suggested alternatives, nor a description of why the yarn is chosen or what to look for in a substitute. Or whether it is deliberately knitted loosely or tightly compared to the standard gauge for the yarn.
The brilliant Domiknitrix has spoiled me in this regard.

There are also plenty of bras and beautiful sleeveless tops.
And while I do not do sleeveless myself (thanks to being overly self conscious about my arms, having suffered from a bad eczema most of my childhood and teenage years), there may be made many fine gifts for the girlie friends.
And now I can knit and watch Judge Deed and McCallum on the Granny Channel and drink a bit of wine.
Sadly, or maybe not, that's very much my idea of the Perfect Friday.

That Chevron sweater - and the big hole

Some time ago I fell in love with a picture of the Chevron sweater in Erika Knight's Glamour Knits.
Finally getting hold of the book, thanks to the lovely library, I'm no longer quite as infatuated.
It is constructed by something as simple as rectangles with no shaping at all.
And being anything but rectangular myself that will no doubt need some shaping to work for me.
In particular as I do like a bit of shapeliness and a good fit to my clothes.
And I always get a bit distrusting of the fit of a pattern if the front and the back are shaped the same, as my front and my back definitely are not.
But I still think it is beautiful.
And I think I could make it work, with a bit of tweaking here and there.
And it may well become my simple mindless knit while writing the last two papers and waiting for the time to come for the second Elfin.

And the great big hole:
My gorgeous landlord is converting the old laundry room into a beautiful bathroom. While the space under the stairs will become the new and improved laundry room.
But now, after five weeks, this is the state of the new laundry room: big hole.
(bad lightning + bad camera + less than talented photographer = bad photo of hole in ground)
I may very soon need to find a laundromat.
But it seems that this neighbourhood, while being lovely, is too bloody affluent to support one.
And as I have not yet felt the urge to take my laundry for a bus ride, I've been keeping myself with clean clothes with the help of a bucket in the shower. For quite a few weeks now.
And I probably will until I run out of clean towels and bed linen.
In a few weeks.
Not sooner.
I hope.

Dusting the old books

I have inherited a couple of dress-making books from my grandmother.
One, my favourite, from 1949. Klip og Sy Selv (Cut and Sew) - New Method by Mme Lyse de Landroy.

In addition to the strict yet clever advice on fit and style, such as"Being well dressed is a duty", it has beautiful patterns. All patterns are drawn in grid, so that even if the original gridded sheets, one for each size, have vanished, they should be possible to recreate.
One chapter is devoted to recycling clothes, which is natural given the year of publication.
And these are the words:
From a men's coat: a women's coat, other kind of coat, a women's jacket, a loose coat, a boy's coat, a girl's coat - and then the remnants can be used for various purposes.
From a men's suit: a women's suit, a dress, a child's coat
From a pair of men's trousers: a skirt, trousers for boys up to 10 yrs old.
From a skirt: a child's dress, a sports jacket for girls or boys, a skirt for a girl, trousers for boys up to 6 yrs old.
From a blouse or a skirt: a child's dress up to 10 yrs old.
From a summer dress: a summer blouse for a suit.
From two women's pullovers: one new pullover.
From two men's shirts: one men's shirt.
From one women's pullover: a child's pullover, two pairs of socks.
From two old sheets from grandmother's days: a splendid summer coat.
From an old piqué bedspread: an adorable home dress.
From a duvet cover: an adorable summer dress So, if I lacked inspiration to go forth with living up to the pledge, I've found it.

A very good day and more Big Plans

Oh, this has been a wonderful day so far.
The cats have been cuddly and somewhat well-behaved.
I have actually done a very thorough synopsis for my exam-paper, so now all I have to do is fill out the blanks.
Which is still a lot of work ahead, but the framework is in place and that's important.
I have been to two yarnstores fondling mohair-blends with the Knitted Robe of Insanity in mind. Yet went home empty-handed. The abundance of available colours and variations on the theme of softness always overwhelms me beyond purchasing-ability.
And now:
I have a bread in the oven, already filling the house with lovely fragrant bread-ness.
And somewhat more importantly:
Earlier today I picked up my very own copy of Jennifer Stafford's Domiknitrix.

My very first, very own knitting book. The other's have to return to the library, but this will stay with me.
It is brilliant.
I think her articles on techniques and how-to are among the best and most clear I've seen.
Her writing style is precise and very pleasant to read - charming, and a bit tongue-in-cheek, which is rather refreshing.
The layout is beautiful.
Even if the title may turn some off, it reflects her attitude and personality (I think), while the book itself reflects her creativity and skills.
And the patterns are wonderful, and surprisingly classic yet original.
Which has added more Big Plans for 2007.
I do not think I can live much longer without the L'il Red Riding Hoodie or the City Coat.
And I dream of having the skills to knit the Elphin Goth.
Maybe next year.
Then:
I remembered, that some time in December I cast on for the Child's French Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. And while pondering the exam paper I managed a few more repeats.

And now it's dark outside and raining, making it just the perfect thing to sit here, with a paper to write and very nice cheese to go with fresh bread.
With the cats all soft and snuggly.

Oooh, it's a kitty wrap

No, It's just my Simple knitted Bodice before frogging.
Now I've learned to swatch before knitting, and to do it properly - both stitch- and row-wise.
I need to add a few more rows than the pattern calls for. But that's ok.
At least now I've learned my lesson. I hope.
And the library had lovely books for me today!
I have brought home Sensational Knitted Socks, Vogue Knitting American Collection and Bags & Backpacks.
All lovely.
I also got some long awaited books on intertextuality and remediation.... but I'm still a bit more excited about the knitting books.