and on my needles

 

at the end of march last year i got my first real knitting lesson from my friend emily. i didn't finish that sweater (the novice sweater by petite knit) until late in 2024, but since then, i've been rather actively knitting and getting a bit more adventurous. 

i've finished four sophie scarves by petite knit - two long and two of the shorter version. they're a nice project to have on the needles for taking on the go. i've got a couple more queued up and i just have to cast one on again. i'm thinking the next one will be brown. 

back in november, i bought all this luscious yarn to make the holly sweater by knitting for olive. my friend emily, who taught me to knit, is making it too. we both wanted to finish by christmas, but that didn't happen. for me, it's because i encountered the berries, which seemed a little advanced for my level of knitting. i think for emily, she just ran into a knitting dry spell and hasn't felt like working on it. 

but thanks to the wonderful, experienced knitting ladies at my tuesday evening knitting group at our local museum, i have now learned how to make both german short rows and the berries (turns out it wasn't really that difficult) and am well on my way again. it will for sure be done in time for next christmas. 

and then last friday, i decided on the spur of the moment that i had to make a sweater that i saw in the window of a knitting store in a nearby town. it's icelandic wool and an icelandic pattern called the kastali sweater. it's supposed to be a cropped sweater, but i bought extra wool to knit it a bit longer. i'm already well on my way - this one is knitting from the bottom up, which is my first time trying that.

i'm even further than in this picture - it's quite easy to just knit in one color while watching t.v. in the evening. and much nicer than doom scrolling on my phone. i would actually never have imagined that i would be good enough at knitting to be able to knit and watch t.v. at the same time. i'm still a timid knitter, but my skills are coming along and i am getting braver. 

and lastly, the end is in sight on my sophie hood, also by petite knit. i'm so glad i went back for the last ball of yarn, because i definitely wouldn't have had enough. it's kamelia by permin and it was in a sale basket at my local yarn store. when i first started, it nagged at me that i might not have enough yarn and so i went back and got one more. good thing i did! it's so soft and i can't wait to wear it. i hope to finish it and block it this weekend. 

i'm currently trying to leave all meta platforms because i finally realized how evil those running them are and i don't want to give them any more of my attention, but you can find me and my knitting projects on good old ravelry. and i hope to be back here a bit more regularly now too. plus, i might actually start posting in earnest on substack. 

on the loom right now

i'm making another set of tea towels at the moment - these were colors chosen by husband's eldest for her kitchen in her new apartment. 

she wanted blue, green and brown and we also spiced things up with some accents in orange and tomato red, as well as a neutral, undyed thread. 

 i've finished 7 of 10 so far. i like the ones best that are ending up plaid. 

of course, i get quite a lot of "help" from mazikeen.  

 oh, and on the little loom, i've just prepared all the fabric to get started on that new rug for the kitchen.

draw together 2025

i'm doing wendy mac's draw together on substack. i started it last year as well, but didn't get very far. i'm already a little bit behind (i've been sick this week), but here's how it's going so far...

day 1 - thinking about what i want more and less of in 2025.

it's a great opportunity to use my new japanese watercolors. they're more opaque than normal ones, which is fun to play with.

i'm using this year's munken agenda as the notebook - it's part calendar and part notebook and this year's seems especially suited to art journaling.

i liked this swirl exercise - the idea was to start on the outside and go in and on the inside and go out. my inside out, i continued and did a second outside in. it was unexpectedly soothing and relaxing.

day 3, the assignment was making lots of little connected circles. that was also soothing. i liked that it was the assignment on this page of the calendar, which had a colorful background already.

i think this grid exercise shows my growing interest in weaving.

this one, we had to make a doodle and then color in some of it, using only two colors. every exercise is only 10 minutes and then you have to stop. you should be left wanting more. and that's been the case on every exercise so far.

this one, we had to tape off a grid and make some backgrounds. it's here i got to use my new japanese watercolors. and it took more than 10 minutes because i had to wait for it to dry.

then we had to paint some of the shapes from the previous day's exercise in the squares. can you see the ones i tried to copy? alas, the tape ripped off some of the paper when i took it off. that made me a little sad. i wouldn't have thought washi tape would do that.

as i said, i'm a little behind, so more soon, it's the 10th, so i get to do four exercises today!

weaving lately

 

the first set of rainbow tea towels were so much fun, i made a second batch of them! they make me so happy. i might even have to have a third round! though i want to make some bath towels and two scarves first. here's the colors i bought for the bath towels. they'll be in a waffle weave, so they should be good for toweling off after the shower. 

and a few more shades for the weft.

and this is the wool i got for the scarves i want to make.

and when we went to latvia in october, i bought some green wool for a rug for the bedroom at the market.

on the little loom, i've set up a warp for making rag rugs. then i came into some wool leftovers from a carpet factory and i'm now experimenting with those. weaving with wool is new to me. i'm making a small rug for the guest bedroom.

i got almost halfway on the weekend. keeping it simple. i have four shades of blue and i got some neon yellow for the stripes. i'm doing the walls in that room in light blue and i'll have some neon yellow accents - like an old wardrobe that i intend to paint neon yellow. light blue and neon yellow look surprisingly good together. 

before this, i did a small colorful rag rug using two duvet covers that i found. i made it as long as it could be with the fabric i had. it's about 180cm and will be perfect for the entryway by the back door.

i think i'll clip these both off the loom when i'm done with the wool one. i've got 16 meters of warp, so i can continue once these are clipped.  i also have fabric to make a new runner for the kitchen to replace the one i dropped a new bottle of olive oil on right after i made it. but i have plenty of warp for that. and maybe a couple more. i've been gathering old duvet covers in nice colors in the secondhand stores. it's so nice to give old textiles a new life.

oh, and it's not weaving, but i also finished my very first knitted sweater! it's the novice sweater in chunky by petite knit, using yarn that i had. it's not perfect, but i'm very happy that i knitted a sweater! i've already started another. 

definitely not proud to be an american

what a week! i'm feeling the same way i did when my dad died. i felt so angry when people tried to offer their condolences. i hated all the shallow explanations and justifications and reassurances that it was for the best. it was a dismissal of the significance of the event. explaining it away is a way of minimizing and negating the grief and the loss and the gravity of the situation. i remember feeling so angry that my fists balled up and i was shaking and it was all i could do not to punch people. i just wanted to scream that everyone needed to shut the fuck up and leave me alone. it is my grief and i don't want to share it. 

this grief started 8 years ago when the first intelligent, qualified woman didn't become president and now it's happened again. and this time, i have to face that a majority of my fellow countrymen really would rather have a spray-tanned, 80-year-old, lying convicted felon than an intelligent, funny, joyful woman who has prepared her whole life for the role. that's a sobering fucking realization. it's like someone who goes back to their abusive ex and thinks it will turn out differently. 

i'm more fortunate than most. i used the feelings i was feeling on wednesday to finally file my application for danish citizenship, 4000kr. and all. i have options. it will likely take a couple of years, but i will gladly go through it. and in the meantime, the country of my birth will further divide and become a shell of itself, as that craven, orange, diaper-clad man hands the treasury to his little cadre of billionaires. you all fucked around and soon you will find out. he wasn't on your side. he was on his own side all along. and then i hope someone comes along and pats you on the shoulder and tells you it was for the best. 

serenity now

i've made it as hyggeligt as possible. i'm listening to a cozy mystery set in the 1920s, drinking a glass of wine and trying not to think about the election. maybe i should be weaving, but i wanted to sit here in this peaceful space i've created. keeping the chaos at bay as long as i can. just trying to keep kamala and carry onala. 

one day more

tomorrow is the election. i don't imagine that i will sleep so well the rest of this week. my nerves are frayed and i don't know what to think. i decided to open this space and at least try to figure that out, like the good old days, where i came to write and figure out what i thought about things. it's surreal that the spray-tanned convicted felon even has a chance. i personally think he has a less of a chance that the polls make it appear. it's in the media's interest to make it seem close to keep people interested and glued to their screens. i don't think it's as close as all that. because record numbers of young people seem to have decided to vote early. and because women aren't going to surrender control of what happens to their bodies. so i think that harris will win and win decisively. but it's probably still going to be ugly - remember what we saw on that fateful january 6? that was no doubt just a warm-up. and that has my stomach in knots. i want my child in arizona to be safe. i want her to be able to make her own reproductive decisions. and i sincerely hope that my closest family members will not vote against her ability to do that.