Back to the Grind

Somehow in the fuzzy after holiday glow (honey and I recently came back from a little trip to Morocco), I got caught up in doing all sorts of other things and neglected the blog. Mostly those things have been errands that needed doing or other little things I've been putting off but there has also been some frantic knitting. After coming back from the little holiday I realised that there were only ten days left before we leave for Germany for Christmas. So that Christmas sweater that I started for Alex a while back and then promptly neglected thinking that I had plenty of time to finish it... yeah, um, not so much.

So, last week, I returned to the sweater. Somehow, I had deluded myself into believing that I had made great progress and it would only take a day or two to finish it. I was completely wrong. I had finished the cabled band to go around the chest and part of the first sleeve. I was in trouble. There was so much to do. There still is but I think I'm out of the woods now, if I didn't just jinx the whole thing. I am very happy that I had at least had the good sense to choose a wool that was thicker than the stuff I usually work with. Cascade 220 is definitely a favourite of mine. It's a great workhorse yarn and I really like how it feel. I also had the good sense to design something that was mostly stockinette in the round. Now, I know what you are thinking, stockinette is dull and anathema to knitterly motivation but I am already motivated. I have a fire lit under my bottom - only 9 days to the 24th. So in this case stockinette in the round is great because it is so quick to work so I'm actually getting somewhere with this project.

Now I have the first sleeve done and more than half of the second as well as most of the body to the armpits. I have two more inches before I start the ribbing so I'm doing well.

I had a brief moment of panic when I thought that I wouldn't have enough yarn (see my still unresolved brown sweater dilemma). But that passed when the skein I was using to work the body just kept on trekking well past the point I needed it to for the sake of my sanity. This increased my opinion of Cascade 220 considerably. Although it does refuse to be photographed accurately. It's not really day-glo purple. It's more of a plum.

Since this is my only Christmas knitting, I have great hopes that it will be finished. I'm even enjoying the stockinette. It's very soothing.

And now, here are some gratuitous holiday pictures.

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Motherlode

I live in France but I am not french. Mostly I like it but there are certain things that I miss. One of those things is books and magazines. I do read in French and I have the option of getting books from Amazon or for my eReader so it's not like I am starved for stimulation but it's not the same as living in an English-speaking country. This weekend things are different. It's the semi-annual English Library Booksale in Geneva so Honey and I kicked off three days of book buying madness.

The spoils: 

Fiction - should keep me busy for a little while

An old Joy of Cooking! I far prefer the older versions to the newer ones.

Classic recipes for aspic salads. Frighteningly, these pages seem more worn than the sections on cakes.

I'm hoping that this cute little book will yield some potential designs.

Weldon's Encyclopedia of Needlework. Soo pretty. And some letters tucked in it seem to indicate that the previous owner was trying to arrange a marriage for a female relative. 

Grafting instructions from Weldon's. Very Clear.

Classic style, no?

Hopefully this will be helpful in doing a little sewing.

Some of the looks are a little dated but that's alright, the principles are still sound.

Other looks are cute! I want this jacket.

Photography

Starting up this blog has been an interesting experience for me. It really has only been a couple of weeks since I started but I find myself thinking more and more about what to blog and what parts of my life are the most interesting. I suppose that the pressure to just sit down and actually write something has not only caused me to spew forth words but also to examine my life and see the most beautiful and interesting parts of it. The fact that the pressure to write is purely in my own head doesn't seem to be an impediment to this self growth.

Apart from writing though I have also become quite interested in taking good photos to accompany my words. This is a strange development for me. Throughout my teen years I would not pick up a camera. Much to the consternation of my parents (particularly my mother), I would go away for months at a time and never take a single shot. Part of this was simple teenage rebellion. My mother loves to take pictures and I remember long periods of family gatherings being taken up with posing various groups in various positions and locations. Now I appreciate that there are photos of all the important family events and that I can look back and remember all those people but at the time I just wanted the pictures to stop. Let's face it, every teenager goes through an awkward phase and I wasn't too keen on having a lot of photographic evidence of mine. In addition to this mild teenage rebellion I just got it into my head that taking pictures wasn't really part of life. It was documenting life but doing it meant that there would always be a barrier between the photographer and the experience at hand. 

I think this way of thinking is still in the background when I go out with a camera. Is it just a bit of teenage behaviour hanging on? Maybe, but I think it's also a question of style. My favourite pictures of people are always ones that are spontaneous and that capture a moment in a person's life rather than a posed portrait. And if there are no people in the picture, I want to see a moment in the life of the photographer. I love to look at the little things and the ordinary things rather than the type of picture that could be a postcard. That's what I strive for when I take pictures. This ideal does intimidate me a little bit but in the past couple of weeks I have discovered the joy of having a delete button. I can take a hundred pictures and even if only two turn out to be any good, I never have to see the junk again. I'm adopting a new motto, just do it every day, even if you think you're terrible at it.