tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76391040399672532802024-03-14T05:30:35.551+11:00Shades of GreyI'm at a stage of my life when shades of grey are welcomeLynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.comBlogger492125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-34401377115792393452017-11-21T12:44:00.000+11:002017-11-21T12:44:24.492+11:00Memories; travelI rarely post to Facebook except for when I'm travelling, when it's a easy way of sending groups of photos with brief comments to let friends and family know what I've been doing and thinking. Recently, I've been quietly delighted by Facebook's 'memories' function that reminds me of posts from the same day and month in previous years. Today, for example, there was <a href="http://lyns-shadesofgrey.blogspot.mx/2013/11/mexico-city-and-kids.html">a post about a visit</a> I made with my grand-daughter to the Papalote children's museum in Mexico City in 2013. It's not a particularly well-written or insightful post - a very 'common or garden' post - but it did prompt memories that might otherwise slip away. <br />
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Another delight has been a recent discovery that the 'memories' function within the photos app of my i-phone creates little slide shows (which they call 'movies' of photos they (who? presumably a knowing algorithm) choose and group in particular ways - by place, date, or related images. These can occasionally be wonderful, using images I'd not have chosen but that work well with others in the series. Again, these little slide shows remind me, delightfully, of my trips and travel.<br />
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Among other things, such as the importance of family, these technologically enhanced 'memories' reveal how central the act of travelling has become to my life. Unlike my own children, or, even more, unlike my very well-travelled grand-daughter, the desire to travel came relatively late in my life. I had no desire to make the pilgrimage to the UK that was a rite of passage for so many of my generation and I was already twenty-five when I made my first international trip to visit friends then living in Hong Kong. I don't remember any revelatory moment when I consciously decided that I had a need to travel, but when I reflect on my behaviour I can see that I grasped every opportunity to visit somewhere else that presented itself. Much later in my work life I had what was for me an ideal job that required me to travel to many countries to supervise a university's student exchange programs. Wonderful! I've counted up and have found I've so far visited forty-three UN recognised countries. I'm sure many other people have visited far more. I don't really have a bucket list, or a desire to tick off more countries. I'll just go anywhere, anytime.<br />
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Now I've retired I'm still travelling. I visit the Philippines quite frequently to catch up with my son and grandchildren who live there. But, in addition, I'm always planning the next trip to somewhere else. Much of life seems to me to be a trade off of time and money. Now I have time to travel but relatively less money to do so. As I increasingly privilege travel over other ways in which I can spend my limited money I realise that I'm addicted! <br />
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So, I'm off at the end of December. This time I'm house-exchanging again as an economic way to finance my travel needs. I'll be in London for January, escaping Sydney's summer and indulging my desire to wear knitted garments. And already I find myself thinking...'France is so close to London' or, 'I've never visited Ireland - that would be interesting'. And who knows? I might even take up blogging again to have a greater store of memories on Facebook and my phone.<br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-78967137758782625662015-08-10T22:51:00.001+10:002015-08-11T14:38:55.128+10:00One, two, three, four, five, one, one, two...I'm not sure just where it was that I first saw a reference to <a href="http://www.sequenceknitting.com/">Cecelia Campochiaro</a>'s recently published book, 'Sequence Knitting'. I think it was somewhere in an Instagram post - maybe by <a href="http://tomofholland.com/">tom of holland</a>? Anyway, I liked what I thought sequence knitting might be - repetitions of simple sequences of plain and knit stitches to achieve a textured fabric. A kind of stitch dictionary organised around repetition. I wanted to know more, but 'Sequence Knitting' is a large, expensive book that's not (yet) available in Australia, and postage from the USA adds significantly to the cost.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19741975118/in/dateposted-public/" title="'Sequence Knitting'"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/289/19741975118_7487eaabbe_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="'Sequence Knitting'"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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Fortunately, Cecelia had a pattern available through Ravelry - a scarf or cowl she's named <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/abelan">'Abelan'</a>, so I was set to try this new (or as Cecelia, after Elizabeth Zimmermann, says, 'unvented') concept for knitting. It was fun. You simply knit 9 stitches, then purl 3 stitches across a number of stitches that's a multiple of 12 stiches, plus or minus three stitches. (Cecelia's instructions are much clearer than mine!) This particular pattern is an example of what Cecelia has classified as 'serpentine' knitting where you carry the stitch repetitions from one row to the next over four rows to create the textured pattern.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/20268198448/in/dateposted-public/" title="Abelan close-up"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/481/20268198448_0201bcfcbe_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="Abelan close-up"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <br />
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I used two different but similar colours of Noro Silk Garden yarn for this scarf. The long, graded, sometimes unexpected colour sequences in this yarn are ideally suited to the textures produced by sequence knitting. I am very happy with the outcome, which I gave to my ex-husband when he visited Sydney during a particularly cold winter spell: <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19429930848/in/dateposted-public/" title="Abelan scarf"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/400/19429930848_251a8ec64b_z.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="Abelan scarf"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19429933618/in/dateposted-public/" title="Abelan scarf 2"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/285/19429933618_3be430741c_z.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="Abelan scarf 2"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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Indeed, I was so happy with the scarf that I did order a copy of 'Sequence Knitting' from the USA - despite its cost once I'd added in the postage. I haven't regretted my purchase for an instant. It's a beautifully produced book. Lovely paper, elegant lay-out, just enough colour, clear, helpful photographic illustrations of the stitch patterns described. And the content is just as wonderful as the book's physical form. You could say that Cecelia Campochiaro has produced a stitch dictionary. She has, but she's done so much more. She has looked behind the repetitions and sequences that produce the patterns and calculated the stitch formulas to produce a variety of textures. It's a combination of the binary of knit and purl with simple mathematics to calculate a dizzying range of possibilities. It's such a neat book - ordering, classifying, enumerating - lovely!<br />
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Once I received the book I hunted through for a formula for another scarf and chose a very simple repetition of 5 plain stitches then one purl. This in not a serpentine pattern across rows as in 'Abelan', but just a one-row pattern which really shines when knitted with two-row stripes of two different yarns. Inadvertently I've also discovered that sequence knitting is sometimes a great opportunity for using up single skeins of yarn I have in my yarn collection. This scarf, for example, uses a skein of Zauberball sock yarn in long colour changes of black and white that I've had for years together with a ball of Patonyl (an enduring Australian favourite) I purchased for $5 at a recent Inner-City Knitters' Guild yarn destash. <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19308390793/in/dateposted-public/" title="black and white"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/315/19308390793_027e45261d_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="black and white"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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I hope I haven't made sequence knitting sound too complicated. It isn't. It's the absolute opposite of complicated as it simply takes combinations of purl and plain stitches - the very basic building blocks of knitting - and demonstrates the wonderful diversity of textures and patterns they can produce.<br />
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I'm already off on another project!LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-66296755432602469692015-07-22T22:52:00.001+10:002015-07-22T22:53:21.028+10:00Go EastSometimes an ordinary day becomes more than you expect. Yesterday I went with a friend to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. We had no particular purpose; no particular expectations; no particular exhibition that motivated our visit. We were simply filling up a day with an everyday pleasure.<br />
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In the entrance foyer to the Gallery was a forest of embroidery and quilting hoops of various sizes encasing embroideries of Chinese characters - with their threads still hanging from the subtly coloured characters. <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19908031881/in/dateposted-public/" title="AGNSW Badges"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/328/19908031881_03cc39c185_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="AGNSW Badges"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19902972655/in/dateposted-public/" title="AGNSW Badges 2"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/286/19902972655_bb9cc20a51_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="AGNSW Badges 2"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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The work is by contemporary Chinese artist Lin Tianmiao and we discovered, by reading the accompanying explanatory description, that the characters were new words that describe women and their roles, made common by social media . Though many of the terms are somewhat derogatory, eg 'husband hunter','gap-toothed beauty', the overall emphasis is on women's agency in modern Chinese life. I liked the use of a traditional women's craft, embroidery, to portray women's roles as depicted through modern technology. Neat. And, as always, I was attracted by the tactile element that comes with the use of textiles. Despite signs warning the work was not to be touched, I noticed many people absently trailing their hands through the hanging threads as they passed by the work. We discovered this work was part of a larger exhibition called <a href="http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/go-east/">'Go East'</a> and so decided to see the other works in this exhibition. <br />
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In Australia we often bemoan the lack of patrons of the arts, so it was a pleasure to discover that this group of modern Asian works was drawn from the private collection of Gene and Brian Sherman. Our galleries don't have the treasures of Western art that one sees in Europe and the USA, but I think as a compensation we in Australia have frequent access to modern Asian art that is well-informed and well-curated. <br />
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I thought one of the most moving works in the 'Go East' exhibition was 'Zen Meditation' by Tibetan artist Nortse - a collection of six charred monks' robes arranged in frames.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19876748976/in/dateposted-public/" title="AGNSW Nepal"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/511/19876748976_bd82d4c5c9_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="AGNSW Nepal"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19902981685/in/dateposted-public/" title="AGNSW Nepal 2"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/302/19902981685_eabde2bd96_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="AGNSW Nepal 2"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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My immediate response was to the deep, rich colours and tactile quality of the roughly woven robes, but it takes only a few moments to be reminded of the many Tibetan monks who have self-immolated in their resistance to the domination of Tibet by China. The Chinese currency in the frames is another reference to the economic intrusion and consumerism with which modern Tibet is confronted. The characteristic I find very interesting about modern Asian art is its engagement with the politics and culture of the day. Sometimes, as with the Tibetan robes, the political message is obvious. At other times, such as with the work below, 'There is no voice...', it is more subtle. <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19714961488/in/dateposted-public/" title="AGNSW There is no voice"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/380/19714961488_e37a272d78_z.jpg" width="500" height="350" alt="AGNSW There is no voice"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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In a collaboration with the older people of the Chiang Mai community, Thai artist Navin Rawanchaikul has constructed an artwork that's a collection of various sized old medicine bottles that have photographs inserted within them. The bottles are crowded into shelves in a simply crafted display case. The older people in the photos are dressed in everyday traditional work clothes and some of the bottles are crazed and clouded. A way of life is fading and disappearing.<br />
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'Habitation' is a group of shanty structures built from Ikea packaging and precariously balanced above and below shelves. So many ideas... the need to scavenge to survive; the precariousness, both literal and metaphorical, of a way of life; the creativity of recycling: <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19876763816/in/dateposted-public/" title="AGNSW Habitation"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/468/19876763816_8058307da4_z.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="AGNSW Habitation"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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The creators of these delightful structures are Filipino artists Alfredo Juan Aquilizan and Maria Isabel Guardinez Aquilizan. Their names tugged at my memory - I was sure I'd encountered them before and so I trawled through my blog to discover that I'd written about them five and a half years ago when my grand-daughter and I had participated in one of <a href="http://lyns-shadesofgrey.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/our-part-of-world.html">their interactive works</a> at the Queensland Art Gallery. Sometimes blogging has its uses!<br />
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There were, of course, lots of other wonderful works. Lots to be delighted by and confronted by (eg some very lifelike furless silicon rats that seemed to breathe!) I always forget that viewing artworks makes me perceive and interpret the world using quite different processes from those I use in everyday life, or even when I'm reading or viewing films. It's always good to be jolted into a realisation that there are other ways of seeing.LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-3030883844616871972015-06-28T11:12:00.000+10:002015-07-22T22:53:54.037+10:00IndigoI bought two skeins of indigo-dyed yarn when I was at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival earlier this year. It's fingering weight blue faced leicester yarn that's been dyed by <a href="http://www.tartsart.co.uk/">Border Tart</a>. One of the skeins I purchased was a deep navy blue with white flecks that reminded me of old Japanese warp-dyed textiles where some of the undyed sections of warp threads show though the textiles. The second skein was a clear mid-blue. <br />
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I decided to knit the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/hitchhiker-a-trilogy-of-four-patterns/patterns">Magrathea scarf/shawl</a> designed by Martina Behm - a slightly asymmetrical shape that's a lacy variation of her very popular 'Hitchhiker' design. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/18823839179" title="Indigo scarf 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/506/18823839179_82a2e75248_z.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="Indigo scarf 3"></a><br />
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I began with the deep navy but didn't have quite enough yarn for the length and scarf shape I wanted, so I decided to add the final lacy edge in the mid-blue. One of the lovely things about using indigo-dyed yarns or fabrics is that you can be sure that all the variations of hue will match perfectly with each other. I'm very happy with the outcome:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/18983806706" title="Indigo scarf 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/511/18983806706_bd6a5d9e8f_z.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="Indigo scarf 2"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/18983818036" title="Indigo scarf by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/292/18983818036_ce41fd82c5_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="Indigo scarf"></a><br />
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This project has set me wondering about what I find so satisfying about working with indigo dyed yarn. Of course it's beautiful with the subtle variations of blue that merge into one another. And in our modern world where we have instituted so many controls to standardise products there's something satisfying about the random and organic nature of indigo dying. You can never be quite sure what the outcome will be. I also find pleasure in knowing that indigo dying is a process with a long history spread across textile traditions in many countries. Among my rather random memory associations for indigo is a visit in the 1970s to Vigan, an old Spanish city in the northern Philippines, where I was shown huge chest-high pottery vats (bangay) that had been used for dying indigo fabrics that were exported to China in the eighteenth century as part of the Spanish galleon trade. Years later, maybe around 2000, I visited Sapa in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam. Here I saw women of the <a href="http://livinginballan.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/indigo-dyeing-by-hmong-people.html">Black Hmong</a> group using similar pottery jars, but also plastic garbage bins, to dye indigo fabrics from locally grown plants. Some of the fabrics were used to produce the fine indigo background of the women's traditional embroidered dress, <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/19220637795" title="Black Hmong fabric by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/306/19220637795_e4934eda30_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="Black Hmong fabric"></a><br />
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but much of it was quite roughly dyed for the tourist trade. On the overnight train returning from Sapa we shared our sleeping compartment with a young French couple. In the morning, the young man, who was wearing an indigo shirt he'd purchased in Sapa, was dyed blue from neck to hip! <br />
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To get back to my knitting... when I'd finished my Magrathea scarf I still had most of my skein of mid-indigo yarn left, so I decided to make some fingerless mitts for a neighbour who'd been complaining of her cold hands. I chose a pattern I'd long admired, <a href="http://janesprobablyknitting.blogspot.com.au/">probably jane</a>'s Glasgow School Mitts - so named because of its echoes of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's lovely early 20th century designs. This yarn has quite a tight twist and is ideal for displaying the small but intricate cables of this pattern.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/18981525061" title="Glasgow School Mitts 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/472/18981525061_1246d2fddb_z.jpg" width="420" height="420" alt="Glasgow School Mitts 3"></a><br />
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I still have 49 grams of the mid-indigo yarn left. I'd love to use it all up, so I'm interested in ideas for another small indigo project.<br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-40486191672010697532015-06-12T09:44:00.001+10:002015-07-22T22:54:37.600+10:00Posting again...on socksIt's almost three months since I last posted on my blog. I'm not sure why I stopped writing posts. It wasn't really intentional. Over time, one of the things I have most valued about blogging is the record I have of my trips and travels, so it's quite odd that I stopped writing just as I began my recent trip to the UK. Now I really regret that I didn't keep a record of what I saw and what I thought at the time of seeing. Somewhere I read recently a comment of novelist Zadie Smith that 'The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life'. Writing is not such a central part of my identity as it is for a talented novelist like Zadie Smith, but even writing my blog certainly moves me to observations, comparisons and reflections that fix experiences in my memory.<br />
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I've recently been reading Wallace Stegner's 'Crossing to Safety' (which, by the way, is one of the best novels I've read in a long time) where one of his characters observes 'Henry James says somewhere that if you have to make notes on how a thing has struck you, it probably hasn't struck you'. Much as I admire Henry James, I'm not sure I agree with him - or maybe he just had a much better memory than I have. As I get older I panic that if I don't make a note on how a thing has struck me it will simply drop off the edge of my mind.<br />
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So to get back into the swing of blogging I'm going to write a simple post about socks. I seem to have spent a lot of time knitting lately, but have very little to show for my activity. This is partly because I've been trying to master new knitting techniques and I've spent just as much time unravelling as I have knitting; I think it will take me the rest of my life to master brioche stitch! But I have been doing some sock knitting. Socks are great to knit when you don't really want to commit to a major project and you want something small enough to carry with you when travelling. <br />
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I've knitted two pairs of socks over the last few months - both of them patterns from Nancy Bush's 'Knitting Vintage Socks', my favourite knitting book ever. First there was Nancy's 'Yarrow Ribbed Sock', made from ever-reliable Regia sock yarn in shades of blue and grey :<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/17829360713" title="blue striped socks 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/394/17829360713_dc50643b0e_z.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="blue striped socks 3"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/18423460966" title="blue striped socks 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/403/18423460966_6f6a2f6f10_z.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="blue striped socks 2"></a><br />
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These became a gift for my friend and ex-colleague Maja who generously hosted me for a couple of days during my trip to the UK. By the way, Maja took me on a visit to the intimate <a href="http://www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk/">Framework Knitting Museum</a> in Nottingham, but maybe that's the subject for another post. <br />
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While in the UK I bought some very British sock yarn - West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply purchased at <a href="http://baaramewe.co.uk/?variant=1151608948">baa ram ewe</a> in Leeds (that's another story) - and embarked on what must be one of the plainest sock patterns ever, Nancy Bush's 'Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock'. I was still finishing off my first sock when I arrived back in Sydney and was so bored by my knitting (yes, even Nancy can occasionally be boring) I knitted a red toe with some very Australian Patonyl sock yarn donated by my friend Margarita. It then seemed inevitable to add some red stripes to the second sock to speed my knitting to completion. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/18532513520" title="Anzac socks by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8839/18532513520_4d5a0f2814_z.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="Anzac socks"></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/18532533820" title="Anzac socks 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/558/18532533820_9be3fb81f8_z.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="Anzac socks 2"></a><br />
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In my head I now ironically label these my Anzac socks. I was happily beginning to knit with what I thought was chartreuse yarn when someone casually asked if I was knitting khaki socks in honour of the centenary of Anzac Day. It hadn't occurred to me that the colour was actually khaki! And then knitting with contrasting poppy red only seems to have heightened the Anzac connection. Hmmm... Not really what I had intended.<br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-34242193689530733802015-03-12T21:25:00.001+11:002015-07-22T22:55:29.421+10:00Things, stuff, collectionsI'm travelling again. At present I'm in London where a house swap has provided me with a month's stay in a very swish apartment in Royal Docks. I like to travel because I like the glimpses it gives of other ways of living; other ways of constructing the everyday. Things, stuff, collections, what is more formally defined as material culture, are wonderful illustrations of ways of living. There are certain museums I like because they provide these kinds of insights into people's lives. I've been lucky enough to find some of them on this visit.<br />
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The Geffrye Museum in London's rapidly gentrifying east end, is one such treasure.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16586748240/" title="Geffrye Museum exterior by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7587/16586748240_fb930273a7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Geffrye Museum exterior"></a><br />
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It's a simple, but very lovely 18th century building that was built as an almshouse. It's quite narrow as it originally was a series of independent dwellings - like a long terrace. But now all the interiors have been joined together so there's an enfilade through the building with a series of rooms opening off the hall. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16154212933/" title="Geffrye Museum interior by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8666/16154212933_ce7493ab08.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Geffrye Museum interior"></a><br />
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And the 'rooms' are just that - reconstructed living rooms that provide glimpses of how the 'middling sort' (the middle classes) lived from Tudor times to the late twentieth century:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16151835934/" title="Geffrye Museum 1790s by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8569/16151835934_84b8bf3411.jpg" width="250" height="333" alt="Geffrye Museum 1790s"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16773063662/" title="Geffrye 1930s by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8648/16773063662_055389b35f.jpg" width="250" height="333" alt="Geffrye 1930s"></a><br />
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The rooms above are representative of the late eighteenth century and the 1930s. As I child, I grew up with a living room in the style of the 1930s room above, even though it was the 1950s. Perhaps that says something about 'style' in Australia? I still use my parents' living room chairs from that period, though they've been reupholstered several times. Unlike many of the better-known museums the Geffrye had relatively few visitors other than a couple of school groups, so I could linger and wonder over the exhibits.<br />
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I also visited the museum exhibition that must thrill the heart of every collector or hoarder: <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16566867557/" title="Magnificent Obsessions by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8719/16566867557_a1c6c3cecf.jpg" width="500" height="263" alt="Magnificent Obsessions"></a><br />
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This exhibition, of artists' collections of objects, was fascinating. The great temptation is to believe that the objects give you insights to the artists' work. I can't help but wonder just how these collections are stored and displayed in people's houses. Who dusts them? Are they regularly rearranged? Are they cataloged? Are they loved, or is the thrill in their acquisition? The exhibition raises lots of interesting questions - most centrally, when does 'stuff' become 'art'? Some of the collections, like that of Hanne Darboven, are wonderfully random, with objects of different kinds and different sizes crammed together. Others, like Sol Le Witt's collection of photographs are precisely ordered and displayed. Still others have a double level of obsession where one artist, Danh Vo, has curated, ordered and displayed the collection of another artist, Martin Wong:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16586568278/" title="Mag Obs Wong by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8724/16586568278_1fcd6aa4d9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Mag Obs Wong"></a><br />
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Possibly my favourite of the many wonderful collections was Pae White's collection of scarves by prolific mid-twentieth century fabric designer Vera Neumann.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16586743300/" title="Mag Obs scarves by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7630/16586743300_3c247cb059.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Mag Obs scarves"></a><br />
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I'm not sure what engaged me most - the extraordinary range of Neumann's scarf designs or Pae White's persistence in finding and gathering the scarves. Either way, I can't help being fascinated by such obsessiveness. <br />
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It's not a museum in the usual sense, but I imagine <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kew_Gardens">Kew Gardens</a> must be one of the world's best collections of plants. Wikipedia tells me it is the world's largest collection of living plants. There are thousands upon thousands of species of trees and plants which (at least to me) reflect Britain's history of travel, exploration and colonisation. The beautiful Palm House with its specimens from many more tropical countries is a particular example of collecting and curating:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16154225103/" title="Kew Gardens palm house by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/16154225103_419e44abd8.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Kew Gardens palm house"></a><br />
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The gardens also reflect the British obsession with gardening and landscaping. We were a month too early for the renowned display of bluebells, and just a couple of weeks too early for the grand display of daffodils, though some early bloomings were a sign of the splendour to come:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16588011429/" title="Kew Gardens folly and daffodils by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7596/16588011429_d222561c1c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Kew Gardens folly and daffodils"></a><br />
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However, we were just in time for the display of crocuses and the occasional quiet snowdrops:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16586768340/" title="Kew Gardens crocuses by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7629/16586768340_9422f33b12.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="Kew Gardens crocuses"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16773018371/" title="Kew Gardens snowdrops by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7613/16773018371_8a905ee317.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="Kew Gardens snowdrops"></a><br />
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Now I think about it, being a tourist is just another form of collecting, and museums are convenient ways of curating experiences for tourists - though of course they have other functions. I'll continue to blog about the experiences I collect - though I'm only too aware that I have been a much less dutiful travel blogger on this trip than I have been previously.<br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-46772301052309329952015-01-24T08:05:00.000+11:002015-07-22T22:56:04.120+10:00DocumentationI often wonder about the need so many of us have to document our lives in some way. On the top shelf of a cupboard I have a box of unsorted photos that I kept when my mother's house was packed away after her death. Many of the people in the photos are no longer identifiable, but I am reluctant to throw them away. Next to the photos is a smaller <a href="http://lyns-shadesofgrey.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/life.html">box of diaries</a> that were kept (in a most minimal way) by my grandfather between the nineteen thirties and fifties. Then there are fragments of family history compiled by cousins and more distant relatives over many years. I think my own persistence in blogging, in the face of waning enthusiasm for blogging as a medium of social communication, is just another variation on this need to record; to document. <br />
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Sometime last year I began using instagram. I'm not really an early adopter of new forms of social media. I usually join in rather reluctantly because increasingly they are the best way of keeping up with friends and family. But I've taken to instagram with some pleasure. I like taking photographs, though I hate lugging around a heavy and conspicuous camera. As instagram relies on smart phone photos I can be forgiven the not-so-great quality of my images. At the beginning of the year I had the idea of posting an instagram image each day across the year. I think I had an idea that this might capture the nature of my daily life; that over the year it would become an aide memoire to reflecting on my experiences and concerns.<br />
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By January 23 and I'd posted 22 images. Early in the month, before I'd really established the picture-taking habit, I seem to have missed a day. Never mind. Already, I can't help classifying the posts to see what they say about my life. There are posts about Sydney (top left is the Queen Victoria Building). I first came to Sydney in the early 1960s, before the advent of shopping malls in the suburbs. The city centre was where I shopped for everything except food, and this is a habit I've never broken. I shop in the city for clothes, for books, for gifts. I often go to the movies and concerts in the city and I meet people there to catch up. Of course, all this is possible because I'm only a 5 minute train ride from the city centre. I love Sydney and I love keeping a photographic record of the bits of it that I frequent. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15723312344/" title="Sydney QVB by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7573/15723312344_7a9e3ecdcd.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Sydney QVB"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16159899807/" title="Eveleigh window by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/16159899807_3df7b95dc9.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Eveleigh window"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15730037423/" title="Watertower garden by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7555/15730037423_c5dde10855.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Watertower garden"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16344860282/" title="Knitting - grey jumper by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7499/16344860282_40f5d35b43.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Knitting - grey jumper"></a><br />
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Then there are images of my neighbourhood - of Redfern, and other surrounding areas (top right is a window in the old locomotive workshop at Eveleigh that's next door to where I live). Redfern's an old suburb and is now a mixture of old industrial sites that have been 'repurposed', public housing, new apartment buildings and old terrace houses. There's lots of visual interest. This is where I live my daily life, buying milk and bread, going to the doctor, having cups of coffee, taking daily walks and visiting some of the lovely old parks in the area.<br />
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Some days I spend at home. I enjoy my small apartment and the furniture and objects that I've accumulated over time. I've now lived in the same apartment block for nearly thirty years and am part of the small community of my neighbours with our shared concerns. (The flowers bottom left are from our communal garden which kind neighbours tend). <br />
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And, of course, there's my knitting. <br />
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I imagine that my city, my neighbourhood, my home and my knitting will be the subjects of my instagram record of the year. So far I'm enjoying the small project of visually documenting my days...and I think I'll enjoy looking back on a year of images when the year ends.<br />
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If you wish, you can follow me on instagram where I'm smark31.<br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-88792933967625134122015-01-14T22:57:00.000+11:002015-01-15T10:07:54.702+11:00Knitting 2014I'm running rather late with my knitting round-up for 2015. I finished fourteen projects in 2015 - perhaps fifteen if you count the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/honey-cowl">Honey Cowl</a> that I've not yet figured out how to block. This is an increase over 2013 when I only managed to complete eleven projects, though I think there were more large pieces of knitting in 2013 than in 2014. I've decided to continue my tradition of awarding my projects prizes in various categories as it's a fun way of reviewing just what I've achieved.<br />
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First, the prize for <b>the project of which I'm most proud.</b> Hmmm. This one's difficult, so I've decided to award it jointly to the four hats I knitted to experiment with fair isle colour and motif combinations.<br />
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<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15921265327/player/11f0657215" height="420" width="420" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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I've really enjoyed playing around with fair isle knitting. Thank you <a href="http://maryjanemucklestone.com/">Mary Jane Mucklestone</a> for both your personal inspiration and the book '200 Fair Isle Motifs'. I'm now a bit loaded down with hats and I'm wondering what other garments or objects I can use for playing around with fair isle - maybe wrist or arm coverings? Maybe cushion covers?<br />
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Then there's the prize for the project <b>most favourited on Ravelry</b>. There was a clear winner in this category - my Copenhagen shawl:<br />
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<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15934693901/player/33b4a9eca1" height="500" width="375" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> <br />
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The shawl was knitted to Melanie Berg's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ashburn">Ashburn</a> pattern using Geilsk Tynd Uld (thin wool) in toning grey and pink colours. Two skeins of the yarn were a generous gift from Bente Geil, the designer of the Geilsk yarn during my <a href="http://lyns-shadesofgrey.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/wonderful-wonderful-copenhagen.html">visit to Copenhagen</a> in August last year. I think the drape and texture of this shawl shows just how suitable the 'sticky' Scandinavian yarns are for shawl knitting.<br />
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The prize for the <b>most frequently worn</b> project is also easily awarded. It goes to my Saffron Hap: <br />
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<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14715713322/player/e6c3853ff2" height="373" width="500" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> <br />
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This is Kate Davies' pattern, <a href="http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/758134">A Hap for Harriet</a>. I love everything about this shawl that's really a wonderfully drapey scarf. I knitted it from Cascade laceweight Forest Hills yarn that's a mixture of merino wool and silk. It weighs almost nothing but is warm when needed. I particularly like the colour and frequently declared when wearing it that yellow is the new neutral as it seems to go with everything (well, it looks great with grey and black which is mostly what I wear in winter).<br />
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And finally there's the prize for the project that was <b>the most fun to knit</b>. This is more difficult, as I think my fair isle hats are also a contender for this category. But in the interests of being generous to my knitting I'll award it to the Unmatched Mitts:<br />
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<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14746201597/player/cfaa0d63e8" height="500" width="375" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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These were fun because they were quick and unproblematic and because knitting with Noro yarn is always fun. I have a self-imposed Noro rule which is to knit with it however the colours fall, even if I've been unlucky enough to have bought one of those problematic balls of yarn that reverse the colour sequence as you're knitting. In this case, sticking with the colour sequence resulted in a completely unmatched pair of mitts. Fun! I didn't really need a pattern for this knit but I used <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/best-friend-mitts">Best Friends Mitts</a> by Sandra Ruppert as a guide. <br />
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If I were feeling optimistic I could judge it a relatively successful year of knitting. But if I look back exactly one year to a similar blog post from January 2014 I have to admit that I've not been very diligent about achieving the goals I set then. I wrote:<br />
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<blockquote>Of course I want to be more productive - what knitter doesn't? I think the best way of achieving this is to finish some of the part-completed relatively major projects, so that's my first goal. Then, a practical goal. I want to knit another go-to cardigan for my grand-daughter. And finally, I want to face up to the unadventurousness of my knitting and learn some new techniques and challenge myself. </blockquote><br />
Completing some part-completed major projects? Fail<br />
Knitting a cardigan for my grand-daughter? Fail<br />
Learning new techniques? Probably, given my experimentation with colour-work.<br />
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Maximum achievement, one out of three. This year I'm not going to declare any goals...though my grand-daughter still needs another cardigan. <br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-11996993779896464232015-01-06T20:51:00.003+11:002015-01-06T20:52:49.364+11:00Reading cookingI read a lot. There's no particular virtue in this. I grew up in a small Australian country town before television arrived and listening to the radio and reading were my entertainment and my escape from the everyday. I read through the children's section of the local library and at around 12 was allowed to borrow from the adult library, under the censoring eye of Mrs Cooke, the librarian. Even so, my tastes were distinctly lowbrow. I'm not at all sure that the library held the great classics of literature; if it did, I never discovered them. I remember reading Frances Parkinson Keyes, Elizabeth Gouge, Georgette Heyer; writers whose books I've not seen for years. It was only in my last year of high school that an enlightened teacher introduced me to Jane Austen, Dickens and EM Forster, and then university study had me devouring the great nineteenth century novels. Even so, my main purpose in reading was enjoyment and, mostly, escape. I can remember a very distinguished professor of literature once telling me that I had excellent taste in second rate novels. Even today you can tell that I'm stressed or in need of solace when I'm rereading Anthony Trollope or Margaret Oliphant. <br />
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I still read for pleasure and escape. For some reason I've recently been rereading quite a bit. Partly this is because of a slight guilt I feel at spending so much on books (even frequently purchased Kindle books mount up over time) and partly it's because I read so much and with such distracted attention that I often forget the detail - or even the overall narrative - of what I read. When I was helping to pack my daughter's books for her house moving I came across an old copy (originally mine!) of Nora Ephron's 'Heartburn' and galloped through it. Read this book if you haven't already done so. It's a fictionalised account of Ephron's bitter marriage break up with Carl Bernstein of Bernstein and Woodward Watergate fame, and it's larded with comfort food recipes that have butter as a significant ingredient. (Ephron once said in an interview <i>'You can never have too much butter – that is my belief. If I have a religion, that's it'</i>) While there's some bitterness, it's laugh-out-loud funny and ultimately life-affirming (as we used to say in english literature tutorials in the 1960s).<br />
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For no particular reason I then reread Lisa Chaney's biography, 'Elizabeth David'. I suspect every Australian woman who moved out of home and began cooking in the 1950s or 60s has a Penguin edition of at least one of Elizabeth David's cookbooks stashed somewhere. I grew up with the then-accepted Australian diet of plainly cooked meat and veg, and a vast array of cakes, biscuits, slices, and everyday desserts. Elizabeth David's books came at just the right time for me, when hitherto unknown vegetables such as zucchini and eggplant were available in greengrocers' shops, and modest Italian restaurants were almost within reach of a student's budget. Elizabeth David was a pernickety perfectionist who became even more difficult as she aged, but her recipes, her evocative writing style, and more importantly, her insistence that good, local, fresh food was within any cook's reach, revolutionised many people's approach to food. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15975355008/" title="Cooking books by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8658/15975355008_1178771775.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Cooking books"></a><br />
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More than a decade after Elizabeth David's first books, Julia Child published her voluminous 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. Julia Child has recently had a resurgence of recognition through Julie Powell's 'Julie and Julia' and the same-named film starring the wonderful Meryl Streep. I raced through my rereading of 'Julie and Julia'. Fun, fun, fun. Julia Child, by the way, shares Nora Ephron's love affair with butter - such a guilty pleasure nowadays. It's interesting to compare Elizabeth David and Julia Child. The similarities are obvious in that they shared the desire to place fine food and good cooking within the reach of the everyday cook. But they do this in very different ways. Julia Child's recipes are painstaking - every step is outlined and every difficulty anticipated. Elizabeth David, on the other hand, is more interested in inspiring her readers by evoking the traditions and spirit of the recipe. She encourages you to improvise and above all, to sacrifice all to freshness and seasonality. <br />
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I feel much more at home with Elizabeth David than Julia Child, though there are recipes from both that are still very much part of my go-to cooking repertoire. <br />
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After all this cooking reading I was inspired to bake. This happens infrequently nowadays. I had some peaches that were nearing the end of their usefulness and I remembered a recipe for peach pie in 'Heartburn'. But my copy of 'Heartburn' has disappeared again - I expect recaptured by my daughter. I retreated to one of those recipes I've made so many times that it is foolproof. It came to me from my old friend Erika as an apple cake recipe, though I never knew her to make it with apples; I've eaten her cake with apricots, berries, plums (yum), but not apples. I've made it with apples many times and it's great, but I thought it would also be good with peaches. It was. So, in the spirit of Nora Ephron's recipe-laced prose I offer you...<br />
<b><br />
Erika's Apple (or Peach) Cake.</b><br />
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120g butter<br />
100g sugar (white or natural - whichever you prefer)<br />
3 eggs<br />
1 teasp vanilla<br />
200g self-raising flour (I've used white flour, but 50/50 wholemeal and white is also good)<br />
2 apples, quartered (or 2-3 peaches or plums, or whatever)<br />
3 tabs milk<br />
1 tablespoon extra sugar<br />
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Beat sugar and butter till well-incorporated. Add eggs one at a time, while beating. Add vanilla. Fold in sifted flour, roughly a third at a time, alternating with milk. Place mixture in greased cake tin and press in quartered or chunkily cut fruit. Sprinkle with extra sugar (and cinnamon if using apples). Bake in preheated 175 celsius oven for around 35 minutes. The cake is fine by itself, or good served with cream or sour cream.<br />
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If you are feeling energetic, you can make a crumble of roughly mixed butter, flour and brown sugar to sprinkle on top of the cake before baking.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16137004876/" title="Peach cake by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7521/16137004876_44ef1f3816.jpg" width="400" height="400" alt="Peach cake"></a><br />
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This is what my mother would have called a 'plain cake' - one to be served everyday to family or farm-workers, but not the kind of cake you make if you wish to impress someone with your baking! <br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-2377340494062290162014-12-30T22:48:00.000+11:002014-12-30T22:49:42.262+11:00Colours, and more coloursI have been knitting lately; though perhaps not as much or as productively as I would wish. One of my knitting hopes for 2014 was to do more colour-work, and classes with Mary Jane Mucklestone on my <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/sets/72157646839987744/">transatlantic knitting cruise</a> added both to my enthusiasm and my technique in approaching fair isle knitting. So, I've been knitting hats:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15921265327/" title="Four hats by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/15921265327_11f0657215.jpg" width="450" height="450" alt="Four hats"></a><br />
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Hats are a perfect project for practicing colour-work. They can be knitted in the round, which is almost compulsory for colour-work. Then, they're just the right size to see if a fair isle pattern works well, but they're not so big that it's a major disaster if the colours or the motif mix don't work too well. I'd bought some 'sticky' fingering weight yarns in a mixture of colours during my visit to the USA - some <a href="http://harrisville.com/">Harrisville Designs Shetland</a> and some <a href="http://www.elementalaffects.com/">Elemental Affects Shetland Fingering</a>, so I was able to begin by playing around with possible colour combinations. In her classes Mary Jane had given excellent advice on combining and balancing light and dark colours in fair isle knitting, but I found the advice unexpectedly difficult to implement. One of the things I've always taken for granted in my knitting is a capacity to choose and combine colours, so I was unprepared for the amount of experimentation needed to find satisfactory combinations. One thing I think I learned at this stage is that you can never have too many different coloured yarns for fair isle knitting as quite minimal variations in hue can make a significant difference.<br />
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I began with the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shwook">Shwook hat</a> - a pattern from the admired Shetland knitter, <a href="http://katedaviesdesigns.com/2011/10/18/an-afternoon-with-hazel-tindall/">Hazel Tindall</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16105119771/" title="Schwook hat on AC by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7491/16105119771_580cc58805.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Schwook hat on AC"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15484714254/" title="Schwook hat close-up by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7533/15484714254_24743c56b1.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Schwook hat close-up"></a><br />
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The colours for this hat worked well, but on reflection I thought I had played a bit too safe, and so began another hat. This time I used the basic pattern for the smallest size of the Shwook hat but decorated it with two of the motifs from Mary Jane Mucklestone's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/200-Fair-Isle-Motifs-Directory/dp/1596684372">'200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter's Directory'</a>. I used one of my favourite colour combinations - yellow and blue. My fair isle pattern designing skills are not yet sufficiently developed to invent a pattern for the crown of the hat, so I've repeated Hazel Tindall's design.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15487325733/" title="Yellow and blue hat on AM by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7499/15487325733_619afa07ff.jpg" width="260" height="345" alt="Yellow and blue hat on AM"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16107016325/" title="Yellow and blue hay top by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/16107016325_445881fc1e.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Yellow and blue hay top"></a><br />
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I tried Kyukker, another of Hazel Tindall's hat patterns because I liked its busyness, and was also attracted by the way that a deceptively floral motif had been devised from the squared-off grid that's the starting point for all fair isle. This time the colours didn't work quite so well as the yellow is too bright for the more subtle mauve and blues of most of the hat. I hope I'm learning a bit more about colour combining with each attempt. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15314428184/" title="Kyukker hat 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8565/15314428184_f5bda465aa.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Kyukker hat 3"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15749389640/" title="Kyukker hat 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8664/15749389640_745bdc068d.jpg" width="260" height="260" alt="Kyukker hat 2"></a> <br />
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By this stage I was feeling limited by the limited colour palette of my initial yarn purchases and so ordered more yarn, including the lovely rosey colour that was the basis for my next hat. This time I used the idea of Brooklyn Tweed's <a href="https://brooklyntweed.com/shop/turn-a-square/">Turn a Square</a> hat, adapted the pattern for fingering weight yarn and then combined some more of the traditional fair isle motifs from Mary Jane's wonderful book. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15921270937/" title="Rosey hat on AM by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7494/15921270937_a03a0b787b.jpg" width="260" height="345" alt="Rosey hat on AM"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16106295222/" title="Rosey hat square top by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/16106295222_27c2c9493b.jpg" width="260" height="345" alt="Rosey hat square top"></a><br />
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I think I had some vague memory of a Kaffe Fasset hat that combined stripes and florals (or maybe I've invented that recollection) and so striped the crown after completing the fair isle body of the hat. I'm not sure the combination has quite worked, but I think there is a good idea in there somewhere. <br />
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Now my problem is what to do with all these hats. My grand-daughter, whom I persuaded to model a couple of them (reluctantly) says they're 'too prickly'. Hmmm. I've offered them to my daughter as last-minute gifts, but she's said, most reasonably, that you can't give someone a warm hat in the heat of a Sydney summer. Maybe I'll just put them away till cooler weather comes and then think again.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15920943199/" title="Four hats vertical by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8570/15920943199_0ba02200af.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Four hats vertical"></a>LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-3945817514818162022014-12-19T13:02:00.003+11:002014-12-20T09:57:22.790+11:00Bye-bye Brisbane<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16008512086/" title="Brisbane view by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/16008512086_b8dca66226.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Brisbane view"></a><br />
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I've just returned from what will probably be my last visit to Brisbane for some time. My daughter and grand-daughter, who have been in Brisbane for nearly seven years, are returning to Sydney, so I'll have no reason for visiting as regularly as I have over those seven years. There are things I've grown to like about Brisbane. Particularly when I've visited in winter, the old tourism slogan of 'beautiful one day, perfect the next' has seemed to describe the bright blue skies, the pollution-free air, the meandering river and the almost tropical landscape with its profusion of flowering trees and bushes. Summer, of course, is a different matter with its heat and humidity. Urgh!<br />
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There are two things I'll particularly miss about Brisbane. One is the <a href="http://www.tangledyarns.com.au/catalog/">Tangled Yarns</a> store with its interesting range of yarns, its bright, welcoming space, and its colourful displays. I <a href="http://lyns-shadesofgrey.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/im-in-brisbane-and-yesterday-i-visited.html">wrote about my admiration</a> for this store earlier this year. But even if I were continuing to visit Brisbane, this pleasure would no longer be available because the store is, sadly, closing. It will be greatly missed.<br />
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I'm also an avid fan of the gallery complex at Brisbane's South Bank so I took a break from helping with house packing up to visit the latest exhibition at the wonderful Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) - <a href="http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/current/futurebeauty">'Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion'</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15414644333/" title="QAG entrance by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7578/15414644333_948b527cb4.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="QAG entrance"></a><br />
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Visitors are not permitted to photograph the items in this exhibition, but the advertisement on the Gallery site gives an impression of the more outrageous designs. What it doesn't really show, however, are the items I found most inspirational; the folded, sculptural, deceptively simple shapes that so revolutionised fashion in the 70s and 80s. There has been <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandartsdaily/does-fashion-belong-in-art-galleries/5908890">some rather critical discussion</a> recently of the phenomenon of displaying 'fashion' in art galleries. But it's a move that has been undeniably popular and has opened galleries to a wider range of people. In the case of this particular exhibition I think it's also not just about what is 'fashionable' but about notions of the body and how it is presented and perceived. It explores how two-dimensional designs can be translated to the unpredictably three dimensional and mobile human form.<br />
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I found this special exhibition both thought-provoking and beautiful, but I was equally engaged by a number of the Gallery's own exhibits as I meandered through the lovely (cool) spaces of the Queensland Art Gallery on my way back to the bus stop. There is a shimmering colonnade that on closer inspection is composed of VHS tape. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15412026684/" title="QAG Kempinas columns by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8598/15412026684_dfb212cd5e.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="QAG Kempinas columns"></a><br />
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The information on the work noted that the Lithuanian artist, Zilvinas Kempinas 'is interested in the way that magnetic videotape holds images of the past, but these will soon no longer be viewable. Rather than its promise of progress, technology often reveals instead dead-ends and monumental failures'. As someone who constantly worries about what will happen in the future to the images and other documentation I now have stored on today's technology, this was a poignant reminder of the probably inevitable transience of the records of our lives. <br />
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The walls of the main entrance space of the Gallery are currently elegantly hung with dance masks and zugub (dance machines) from the Torres Strait Islands:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15414646583/" title="QAG George Nona by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7510/15414646583_3e2f941564.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="QAG George Nona"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15848262099/" title="QAG Patrick Thaiday Zugub by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7522/15848262099_3e0850f4cb.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="QAG Patrick Thaiday Zugub"></a><br />
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One of the things I've admired across my many visits to the GOMA and QAG is their commitment to exhibiting art from the Torres Strait Islands, and the Pacific more generally. Sydney is a very multicultural city and when here I'm conscious, in many different ways, of our location in Asia. But Brisbane reminds me much more immediately of our Pacific connection. Maybe it's the climate, and the visibility of Pacific Islanders within the community, but for me these relationships have been reinforced by the galleries and their collections. <br />
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And finally, just before I exited the Gallery, I was distracted by the ceramic collection and its current display of works by Australian potter <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jul/11/gwyn-hanssen-pigott">Gwyn Hanssen Pigott.</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16008517236/" title="QAG pots by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7567/16008517236_7148ac9e0c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="QAG pots"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/16027776816/" title="Gwyn Hanssen Pigott by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8650/16027776816_db9bf49fc1.jpg" width="500" height="370" alt="Gwyn Hanssen Pigott"></a><br />
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I just stand in front of these works and sigh with pleasure. They are perfection. Each of the pots is perfect in itself, but placed together each of the shapes increases the perfection of the others. They remind me of Alberto Morandi's paintings, which also make me sigh with pleasure.<br />
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It's not often that you have the opportunity to get to know another city reasonably well through informal visits over some years, when there's no pressure to see as much as possible in limited time, but I've had this opportunity with Brisbane. But for now, bye-bye Brisbane.LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-8976592483927994992014-12-04T11:01:00.003+11:002014-12-04T12:07:45.604+11:00Summer knitting?Oooof! Yesterday we had 33 degree heat (94 fahrenheit) and 93% humidity - and in the afternoon a thunder storm and downpour of rain where flooded streets were unable to cope with the sudden deluge. Today's predicted to be more of the same. February weather in December. And this comes after the hottest Sydney November on record. Climate change, anybody? So it seems a bit perverse to be blogging about a winter shawl that I've finally managed to block. But knitters will not be surprised by this unseasonable behavior; we know knitting's not a seasonal activity.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15934693901/" title="Copenhagen scarf by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7517/15934693901_33b4a9eca1.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen scarf"></a><br />
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This is such a great pattern. It's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ashburn">Ashburn</a> by designer Melanie Berg and combines some of my habitually loved elements - garter stitch and stripes - with blocks of colour, some unexpected textured stitching, and a single picot edge. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15750910727/" title="Copenhagen scarf picot edge by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7528/15750910727_b9e6b8977d.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen scarf picot edge"></a><br />
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I notice from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">Ravelry</a> that many of the knitters who've completed Ashburn have chosen to do so in bright colours, and it looks wonderful done this way. But I had yarn where the colours melded into one another, and I think it also looks good in this more tonal variation. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15750616059/" title="Copenhagen scarf 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/15750616059_0aca9438c5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen scarf 2"></a><br />
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I wanted continue my fascination with 'sticky' yarns that are so much a part of knitting in Scandinavia and so I used the Geilsk Yarn that I'd acquired in Copenhagen. Two of the skeins were a generous gift from designer <a href="http://www.geilsk.com/">Bente Geil</a> who uses New Zealand wool processed in Denmark for her own range of yarns. The shawl has softened with soaking and blocked beautifully.<br />
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At the moment I can imagine few things worse than wearing a woolly shawl. It will need to be carefully stored away for quite a few months. But I know I'll enjoy it next winter....or maybe I could plan some northern hemisphere travel to escape this weather?<br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-47090076483869297472014-11-03T12:19:00.002+11:002014-11-03T13:22:45.969+11:00To the new worldThis has been a long-delayed post. It's now more than a month - indeed, nearer two months - since I returned from my transatlantic knitting cruise, but I feel I need to finish the account of the places I visited. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14910714583/" title="Canada St Anthony's harbour by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3951/14910714583_9e311213be.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Canada St Anthony's harbour"></a><br />
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I now have quite a different mental image of the north Atlantic after my cruise from Copenhagen to New York. Before this trip I think I imagined this area as a vast space of nothingness, but I now see it as a series of stepping stones that link Europe and North America. There was no more than a day at sea between any of our destinations, so that when we finally reached St Anthony in Newfoundland it seemed just another of the icy northern lands where stoic people had made accommodations to live in challenging environments. I hope the locals aren't insulted by my saying that the town itself is rather charmless, though from my brief visit it's clear that the hills and forests that surround the town offer wonderful opportunities for walking.<br />
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This is what really struck me about St Anthony -<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14910142184/" title="Canada St Anthony's Grenfell Centre by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5607/14910142184_29ff0b5c64.jpg" width="500" height="198" alt="Canada St Anthony's Grenfell Centre"></a><br />
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I grew up in a small town in rural Australia called Grenfell, which coincidentally has almost the same small population, around 2500, as St Anthony Newfoundland and Labrador. However, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Grenfell">Dr Wilfrid Grenfell</a>, who features so largely in the history and current well-being of Newfoundland, is an altogether more admirable figure than the nineteenth century Gold Commissioner after whom my home town is named. Located in the Grenfell Centre in St Anthony is a small but very well-curated museum that focuses upon Wilfrid Grenfell who brought medical services to much of poverty-stricken Newfoundland and Labrador in the early twentieth century. As well as recounting Grenfell's achievements, the museum graphically depicts the deprivation and hardship undergone by the residents of the maritime provinces at that time. The Centre also has an excellent tourist shop that includes a range of handcrafted items, including examples of <a href="http://www.grenfellhookedmats.com/">hooked rugs</a> for which the area is well-known. I don't need another hobby, but if I did I think rug-hooking might be near the top of my list.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15554749696/" title="Canada St Anthony's hooked rug by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/15554749696_f4989336d6.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="Canada St Anthony's hooked rug"></a><br />
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I fell in love with St John's, which was the second of our stops in Canada. St John's, the capital of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, climbs the hill behind its harbour so that you have a wonderful panoramic view of the city as you arrive by sea:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14910146354/" title="Canada St John's view from Harbour by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/14910146354_dbef1a8698.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Canada St John's view from Harbour"></a><br />
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Even from a distance you can see the colourful houses that line the streets. This is yet another town - like Reykjavik, like Thorshavn, like the tiny towns of Greenland, where people seem to compensate for the drabness of their long winter landscapes by the riotous colours of their houses. I spent ages wandering up and down the steep streets, marveling at the ways people had individualised their houses with colour:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15344749348/" title="Canada St John's coloured houses by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/15344749348_6228093e70.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Canada St John's coloured houses"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15392973110/" title="Canada terraces St John's by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5612/15392973110_c7e24a6f2b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Canada terraces St John's"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15578574405/" title="Canada St John's coloured terraces by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/15578574405_dc86a6c6b4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Canada St John's coloured terraces"></a><br />
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St John's had a number of shops selling locally made handcrafts of wonderful quality. There were more examples of the hooked rugs that combine fine craft with charmingly naive designs, and lots and lots of handknitting - jumpers, hats, scarves, mittens in a riot of cables and colourwork designs. Despite all the temptations I bought only some patchworked coasters. I think I was spoilt for choice and too distracted by the architecture of the hilly streets. I even happened upon a film crew packing up for lunch after filming an episode of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Doyle">Republic of Doyle</a>, a Canadian tv series set in St John's that I'd enjoyed watching half a world away. <br />
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Our visit to Halifax in Nova Scotia was much more focused upon yarn and knitting. Much to my surprise, I found I have no photographs of the city itself, though I have many of our yarny activities. We had the great privilege of visiting <a href="http://www.lucyneatby.com/">Lucy Neatby</a> of Tradewind Knitwear Designs in her home, which also serves as her studio. With her brightly multi-coloured hair and clothes, Lucy is all-of-a-piece with the riotously coloured knitting she designs. She's a designer who follows her passions, and at present her passion is for double knitting. She's exploring the possibilities of this technique in all kinds of ways, but the most interesting (for me) are the floral mandala-like pieces that can serve as pot-holders, table mats, even blankets if the knitter is sufficiently enthusiastic and skilled. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15317791359/" title="Canada Lucy Neatby double knitting hands by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2948/15317791359_f1260de7b7.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Canada Lucy Neatby double knitting hands"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15481546446/" title="Canada Lucy Neatby double knitting 1 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2946/15481546446_c749c4ed8e.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Canada Lucy Neatby double knitting 1"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15504707965/" title="Canada Lucy Neatby double knitting 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5608/15504707965_1fcb7c365b.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Canada Lucy Neatby double knitting 2"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15481550196/" title="Canada Lucy Neatly double knitting 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/15481550196_803e6dcafa.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Canada Lucy Neatly double knitting 3"></a><br />
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We also visited the dyeing studios for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FleeceArtist">Fleece Artist and Handmaiden</a> yarns. Watching the dyers was mesmerising. It requires a combination of skill, experience and intuition to get the colours 'just so'. While there are colours that are repeated again and again because of their popularity, we were told that each of the dyers inevitably has favourite combinations and that this capacity to experiment brings continued freshness and innovation to the range of yarns that are produced. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15575921161/" title="Canada Halifax Fleece Artist drying yarn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3943/15575921161_fbb6518af9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Canada Halifax Fleece Artist drying yarn"></a><br />
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As with other places we visited on the cruise I was left wanting to see more of the maritime regions of Canada with their distinctive history and traditions, and their focus on crafts and fibre.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15501537221/" title="Canada Halifax lighthouse by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5608/15501537221_da781177cb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Canada Halifax lighthouse"></a><br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-25472799849369647732014-10-21T16:11:00.000+11:002014-11-08T15:07:12.625+11:00Celebrating seventyI spent considerable time and energy some months ago devising ways of running away from marking my seventieth birthday this year. It's not that I mind getting older - except for the physical aspects of aging, which I resent, I rather like the awareness of history and the diversity of life experiences that come with age. I just didn't want a big fuss about my birthday. The unexpected outcome has been a number of small fusses over some months - a very prolonged birthday celebration that's been very enjoyable. I've had my (birthday) cake, and eaten it too.<br />
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Last week I had lunch with some knitting friends after our knitting guild meeting and they absolutely surprised me with the gift of a blanket to which twelve friends had each contributed a knitted strip. Knowing from past experience their need for communication on such projects I can't believe I didn't have an inkling that this project was under way. It was a wonderful surprise. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15575788951/" title="Chevron blanket by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5602/15575788951_74e5331aec.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chevron blanket"></a><br />
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It's made up of chevron stripes in shades of grey with mustard accents. It's a perfect match for my sofa and cushions:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15392438007/" title="Chevron Blanket with cushions by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5603/15392438007_64439efcfa.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Chevron Blanket with cushions"></a><br />
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Grey! stripes! garter stitch! Loft yarn! These are a few of my favourite things...<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15578440545/" title="Chevron blanket folded by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/15578440545_0cd39f6f9d.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chevron blanket folded"></a><br />
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My knitting friends clearly know my tastes.<br />
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Thanks Ailsa, Alison, Donna, Fee, Jane, Jody, Kris, Kylie, Margaret, Margarita, Sue and Zena. The gift, and the thoughts and work that created it, are greatly appreciated. <br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-27064363365248023892014-10-11T22:55:00.001+11:002014-10-11T22:55:12.974+11:00Days of miracles and wonders (to quote Paul Simon)I hadn’t expected Greenland to be so wonderful. I think I had very few expectations of Greenland; it’s a part of the world I’d rarely thought about. We spent a day cruising through Prince Christian Sound and some of its tributaries. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15490642441/" title="Greenland Prince Christian Sound by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3951/15490642441_d893550565.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Prince Christian Sound"></a><br />
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The miracle was the weather – clear, cold, and even some sun. We were told this happens rarely, even during the few summer months in which the Sound is navigable. The wonders just kept coming, as the large ship maneuvered through the Sound with cliffs rising steeply on either side. There were waterfalls around every corner,<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15307218027/" title="Greenland Prince Christian Sound waterfall by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2947/15307218027_6c6c9c22df.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Greenland Prince Christian Sound waterfall"></a> <br />
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several glaciers that tumbled down to the water’s edge<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15307216857/" title="Greenland Prince Christian Sound glacier by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3929/15307216857_f98ef8b5ec.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Prince Christian Sound glacier"></a><br />
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and glimmering, bright icebergs.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15307147318/" title="Greenland Prince Christian Sound iceberg by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3946/15307147318_f2801d01ec.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Prince Christian Sound iceberg"></a><br />
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Greenland has a small population, Fewer than 60,000 live in small towns and villages around the coastline and on islands as the interior isn't habitable. While cruising through the Sound our enormous cruise ship anchored off the tiny settlement of Aappilattoq (population around 130) so that the ship's tender could deliver some supplies of fresh food and pizza to its residents. For much of the year the town is reachable only by helicopter. You can just see the colourful houses of Aappilattoq at the bottom of the picture below:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15493521842/" title="Greenland Prince Christian Sound Aappilattoq by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/15493521842_9994255548.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Greenland Prince Christian Sound Aappilattoq"></a><br />
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On each of the two days following our voyage through the Sound we anchored at towns on the southern tip of Greenland. In Nanortalik our cruise passengers more than doubled the local population of around 1500. There was time to stroll and linger on the seats scattered along the local streets and admire the landscape dotted with colourful small houses, and to wonder about people's lives in such a small and isolated community.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15335670036/" title="Greenland - Nanortallik by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3856/15335670036_00b5859542.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland - Nanortallik"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15312597229/" title="Greenland Nanortalik blue house by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3947/15312597229_7900d1f563.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Nanortalik blue house"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15358688185/" title="Greenland - Nanortallik houses by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2945/15358688185_e13ba9d13b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland - Nanortallik houses"></a><br />
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For a small fee (we scrambled to find our leftover Danish kroner) we were admitted to the community hall where the Nanortalik locals had organised coffee and cake as well as a performance by the local choir. The small choir ranged in age from members in their thirties to those in their eighties and the songs and their harmonies were disconcertingly like those of the Tongan church near me in Sydney. I suspect this similarity has more to do with the Nanortalik choir being from the local church than it does with any traditional relationship between Greenland and Tongan music! I particularly liked the two organising women in the choir who had gone to the effort of dressing in local costumes:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15172161097/" title="Greenland - Nanortallik choir by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3892/15172161097_83d8174ed5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Greenland - Nanortallik choir"></a><br />
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I imagine someone, somewhere, must have written a thesis, or at least an essay, on the very eclectic elements of this national costume. Some bits seem modern; others quite traditional. Maybe these combinations are just what the Greenlanders like to wear. I didn't notice what the turtleneck collars were made from (I was too overwhelmed by all the other components) but they sit above an elaborate beadwork yoke-like cape that's worn on top of a brightly coloured satin shirt with beadwork cuffs. Below the top is a patterned fabric cummerbund and then seal fur shorts with contrasting leather, fur and leather applique stripes at the front. The shorts are worn over trousers that seem to have several components including bright floral inserts and crocheted panels. The trousers are tucked into sealskin boots that also have intricate leather applique patterns. I found these costumes of many elements fascinating. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15478968206/" title="Greenland Nanortalik beaded yoke by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3936/15478968206_d867849b1b.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Greenland Nanortalik beaded yoke"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15498957921/" title="Greenland Nanortalik boots by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5608/15498957921_96dc3f7a3a.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Greenland Nanortalik boots"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15315530067/" title="Greenland Nanortalik leather shorts by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5610/15315530067_7625475837.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Greenland Nanortalik leather shorts"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15315456138/" title="Greenland Nanortalik leather applique by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3935/15315456138_371d743d31.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Greenland Nanortalik leather applique"></a><br />
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In comparison with Nanortalik, Qaqortoq, which was our final stop in Greenland, seemed bustling. Its population is around 3,000 and there's a harbour with fishing boats and a fish processing plant (and an iceberg)<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15502186952/" title="Greenland Qaqortoq Harbour by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/15502186952_655c1e7132.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Qaqortoq Harbour"></a><br />
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and a supermarket and a modern high school. There are even blocks of apartments where the distinctive compact architectural style and colourful siding of small houses has been carried over to the larger buildings:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15315646859/" title="Greenland Qaqortoq apartments by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3927/15315646859_4f8824eedb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Qaqortoq apartments"></a><br />
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Qaqortoq was still charming: it's small enough to walk from place to place and admire some of the older buildings, such as the early twentieth century church, that have been preserved:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15315894128/" title="Greenland Qaqortoq church by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5609/15315894128_c801718e34.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Qaqortoq church"></a><br />
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But the greatest pleasure in our visit to Qaqortoq was to see the icebergs that lingered so close to the town: <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15358692825/" title="Greenland - Qaqortoq iceberg by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3915/15358692825_595e0cb6ac.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland - Qaqortoq iceberg"></a><br />
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There were no yarn stores in the towns we visited in Greenland, so one would imagine there were no yarn temptations. However, there was a large tourist store at the harbour that was selling moskus garn - otherwise known as quiviut or yarn from musk oxen. This was another of those yarn transactions where if you think too much about the yarn air miles you hesitate to buy; the yarn was harvested from musk oxen in Greenland, processed in Denmark, then flown back to Greenland for the tourists to purchase. I did hesitate, but I did buy a skein.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15317022247/" title="Greenland quiviut by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/15317022247_6eb81d3583.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland quiviut"></a><br />
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I was particularly grateful for this glimpse of a country I imagine I will never have the opportunity to visit again. Days of miracles and wonders, indeed.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15312594719/" title="Greenland Nanortalik children by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5613/15312594719_b7510b347c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Greenland Nanortalik children"></a><br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-33416433096794511682014-10-10T00:16:00.001+11:002014-10-11T15:43:55.267+11:00IcelandI'm not being very efficient at blogging retrospectively about my North Atlantic trip, but I'll plod on. As I get older I'm becoming more and more aware of how fragile memories are, and of how valuable the act of recording is in anchoring my recollections. So, Iceland. <br />
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I want to go back to Iceland. We had three days in there and it wasn't nearly enough for a slow tourist such as I am. What was so interesting?<br />
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1 The landscape. When we anchored in Reykjavik, this was the view from our cabin verandah. Over our three day stay there were varying degrees of mist and clarity, but it was always lovely.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15289400049/" title="Iceland Rejkjavik Harbour by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/15289400049_6cfccd6e5f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland Rejkjavik Harbour"></a><br />
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On one of the days in Iceland we made the well-known Golden Circle tour outside Reykjavik that takes in some of the accessible natural wonders of Iceland. Everything we saw was wonderful (we did have fine and sometimes sunny weather) but it left me longing to see even more, and to see the variations that must occur with the seasons. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15271184877/" title="Iceland landscape by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3929/15271184877_a704b95c7a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland landscape"></a><br />
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Even in the brief time we had we glimpsed Iceland's spectacular natural environment. We saw the Gullfoss waterfall where the river plunges into a crevice and seems to disappear in a cloud of mist (this was one of the many occasions on this trip when I realised that my smartphone was an inadequate camera. My prior satisfaction with photos taken with my smart phone was very delusional when it came to photographing something as wonderful as these falls):<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15476302115/" title="Gullfoss 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/15476302115_92d42ef0f7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Gullfoss 3"></a><br />
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We walked through the Hankadalur geothermally active area and laughed with delight at the sudden explosions of the Strokkur geyser that spurts 15 to 20 metres into the air:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15289644578/" title="Iceland - Geysir by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3951/15289644578_9c8e12851c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Iceland - Geysir"></a><br />
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Then there was the breathtaking Thingvellir National Park where the Althingi, Iceland's ancient parliament, met from around 930 to 1798, and where the major tectonic plates of the northern hemisphere meet and are gradually separating:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15271140988/" title="Iceland Thingvellir National Park by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/15271140988_3b42967e62.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland Thingvellir National Park"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15270991149/" title="Iceland - Thingvallavatn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3930/15270991149_5c25b7cdfc.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland - Thingvallavatn"></a><br />
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We saw all this wonder in a day's short trip. I'm so grateful to have seen this stunning land, but I've been left with a great desire to travel further and see more.<br />
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2 Secondly, Reykjavik is charming. It's a small enough city to walk around the centre and admire its modern structures such as the Harpa Concert Hall <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15458895616/" title="Iceland Harpa Concert Hall by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3945/15458895616_b9626ba13d.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Iceland Harpa Concert Hall"></a><br />
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and the mid-twentieth century Halgrimmur Lutheran church that dominates the city's skyline (and serves as a useful orientation point for the wandering tourist).<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15478912041/" title="Iceland Hallsgrimur Cathedral by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/15478912041_2b9003c536.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Iceland Hallsgrimur Cathedral"></a><br />
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There's great charm in the Tjornin Pond that's a feature of central Reykjavik, <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15296225880/" title="Iceland Reykjavik Tjornin Pond 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/15296225880_6fd248a857.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Iceland Reykjavik Tjornin Pond 2"></a><br />
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and in the colourful residential areas that surround it. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15482945235/" title="Iceland Reyjavik colourful houses by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2948/15482945235_22a490fd02.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Iceland Reyjavik colourful houses"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15479710791/" title="Iceland Reykjavik window by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5600/15479710791_a0db3e8e17.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland Reykjavik window"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15459750486/" title="Iceland Reykjavik blue house by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5615/15459750486_4b8e36c4fd.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland Reykjavik blue house"></a><br />
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3 Third, Iceland's history is intriguing - especially for an Australian. Very superficially, there are a number of things that Iceland and Australia have in common. We're both island nations, quite isolated geographically. We're both countries of magnificently fierce and mainly uninhabitable landscapes where small populations cling to the coastal edges. In both Iceland and Australia you have the sense that people inhabit the land uneasily - aware that extremes of climate and the vagaries of the natural world will make human habitation challenging. But there are ways in which we're very different. Iceland has had European settlement, initially from Norway, since at least the ninth century. There were no indigenous settlers in Iceland so that consequently there's an unquestioned sense of ownership of Iceland's history and traditions. Until very recently Iceland's history of settlement and immigration has been almost entirely Northern European and even today it seems to the casual visitor to be culturally homogeneous. <br />
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Icelanders document their history with pride. I found the <a href="http://www.thjodminjasafn.is/english">National Museum of Iceland</a>, which recounts Iceland's history since the ninth century through the display of iconic objects and artifacts so engaging that I visited twice. The displays were all interesting, but of course I lingered longest with those that documented Iceland's rich textile history, such as this embroidered altar-frontal whose design could have been made yesterday, but in fact dated from 1694,<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15481699702/" title="Iceland altar frontal 1694 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/15481699702_039a44e651.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland altar frontal 1694"></a><br />
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and these nineteenth century sealskin shoes with their knitted inner-soles.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15295493397/" title="Iceland sealskin shoes knitted insoles by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/15295493397_1fc8823f1a.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="Iceland sealskin shoes knitted insoles"></a><br />
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I also managed to visit the Arbaerjarsafn open-air museum, after much grappling with rain squalls, the inscrutable route of the number 12 Reykjavik bus and an opening schedule that had moved to its winter hours on the very day of my visit. Arbaerjarsafn is located in a field on the outskirts of Reykjavik and combines an original farm with 'typical' buildings from past times that have been relocated to this site. As readers of my blog know, this is my favourite kind of museum - one where a combination of architecture, furniture, decor and everyday objects gives you an insight into the lives of people in the past.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15077493907/" title="Iceland, farmhouse 2, Arbaerjarsafn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3873/15077493907_967aa13b1f.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Iceland, farmhouse 2, Arbaerjarsafn"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15077497207/" title="Iceland, Arbaerjarsafn open-air museum by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3853/15077497207_0d2064af0c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland, Arbaerjarsafn open-air museum"></a><br />
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4 Finally, Iceland is a splendid destination for anybody interested in textiles; particularly yarn and knitting. We visited the <a href="http://www.istex.is/english/">Istex</a> yarn factory, which is another inspirational business model that supports local wool growers and processors. Istex buys wool directly from farmers across Iceland and then scours, spins and processes the wool locally. Among other woollen products, Istex makes the Lopi yarns in various weights that are knitted into the famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lopapeysa">Lopapeysa</a> yoked sweaters.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15264142935/" title="Iceland, dyed fleece, Istex, Mosfellsbaer by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3880/15264142935_1681c48d1b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland, dyed fleece, Istex, Mosfellsbaer"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15263752162/" title="Iceland, Istex factory, Mosfellsbaer by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3914/15263752162_d28d7acb89.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland, Istex factory, Mosfellsbaer"></a><br />
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Almost everywhere we turned there was yarn and knitted woollen garments and blankets. At the <a href="http://www.alafoss.is/">Alafoss</a> outlet in in an old factory by the Alafoss waterfall in Mosfellsbaer there was a huge range of the Lopi yarns for sale in all weights and colours, as well as handknitted jumpers, cardigans, jackets, hats - everything you can imagine, including the most exquisite small dolls decked out in handknitted traditional Icelandic dress:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15077577167/" title="Iceland, Lopi sweaters, Alafoss factory shop by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5569/15077577167_8ece1605d8.jpg" width="250" height="333" alt="Iceland, Lopi sweaters, Alafoss factory shop"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15295498747/" title="Icelandic doll by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/15295498747_f3a990f5d5.jpg" width="250" height="333" alt="Icelandic doll"></a><br />
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The <a href="http://www.handknit.is/en/user/home">Handknitting Association of Iceland</a> store in central Reykjavik, that enables customers to buy directly from the knitters, was literally stacked from floor to ceiling with handknitted goods, as well as the Lopi yarns. Lots of lopapeysas:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15458974726/" title="Iceland, lots of Lopapeysas, Reykjavik by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/15458974726_242c701bd4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland, lots of Lopapeysas, Reykjavik"></a><br />
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And finally, there was the beautiful Storkurinn yarn store where the owner Gudrun Hannele Henttineu, who is currently writing a book on the tradition and practice of mitten knitting in Iceland, gave us a talk and showed us a dazzling variety of old and new mittens illustrating the patterns and their development. Such a treat.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15473164441/" title="Iceland - Storkurinn mittens by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3950/15473164441_3f3df015ba.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Iceland - Storkurinn mittens"></a><br />
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So what did I buy? Remarkably little considering how much was on offer. I was overwhelmed. I bought only one skein of Lettlopi, the yarn from which the lopapeysa sweaters are usually knitted. I decided I wanted to see how it knitted up and used it in my Lopi class where we knitted a miniature lopapeysa. I also bought four skeins of bright red Lopi Einband (a sturdy laceweight yarn) at Alafoss, and at Storkurinn I bought some Gryla yarn that's a recent project from French-Icelandic knitter Helene Magnusson. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15483607901/" title="Iceland lopi yarns by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3931/15483607901_a3dc102488.jpg" width="250" height="187" alt="Iceland lopi yarns"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15483610491/" title="Iceland gryla yarns by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/15483610491_7a843ca93d.jpg" width="250" height="187" alt="Iceland gryla yarns"></a> <br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-16183866390074072592014-10-04T16:40:00.000+10:002014-10-04T16:48:23.372+10:00The Faroe IslandsAs our cruise ship left the Norwegian coast, the captain announced that a severe hurricane was moving towards our route and that we needed to scurry at speed to keep ahead of it. This meant altogether missing our scheduled stop in the Shetland Islands, shortening our stay in the Faroes, and spending extra time sheltering in Rejkjavik, Iceland. You can imagine how disappointed our knitting group was, as our time in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands was to be a highlight of our trip, with visits scheduled to Jamieson and Smith and to museums with special interest for knitters. Of course I shared in everybody's disappointment, but I was secretly relieved that it was the Shetlands, and not the Faroe Islands that had been deleted from our trip. When I'd decided to go on this cruise I think it was the prospect of visiting the Faroe Islands, more than anywhere else, that enticed me. There's no significant reason this should be so, though some time ago I'd read 'Far Afield', a novel by Susanna Kaysen about a young anthropologist who spends a year in the Faroes undertaking his fieldwork. Apart from the fact that this subject matter had particular resonance in my family of anthropologists, I was fascinated by what seemed to be such an anachronistic society. The Faroes are a self-governing country, but they're part of the Danish realm; they're halfway between Iceland and Norway and closer to Scotland than to Denmark; they speak Faroese, a language with some relation to Icelandic, but otherwise quite distinct; until recently when there's been an expansion of infrastructure, communication between the islands that make up the Faroe archipelago was limited and the Faroes functioned as a loose confederation of settlements, rather than a country.<br />
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How can one not wonder about such a place?<br />
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Inevitably, my experience of the Faroes was brief and limited to Thorshavn, capital of the Faroes and, with a population of around 12,000, the largest town in the archipelago. However, Thorshavn was rewardingly charming and made for some delightful wandering in the limited time available. There's a small harbour that for centuries has been the main point of access to the town:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15250248211/" title="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn Harbour by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3879/15250248211_06f7a6c419.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn Harbour"></a><br />
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and next to the harbour there's the old settlement of Tinganes, where some of the still-inhabited turf-roofed houses are reputed to be up to 500 years old:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15252957862/" title="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn old town 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3869/15252957862_d851364952.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn old town 3"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15247439478/" title="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn house number by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5598/15247439478_cd6859fece.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn house number"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15252956322/" title="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn old town 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3849/15252956322_cfc2259842.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn old town 2"></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15230333276/" title="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn old town by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3878/15230333276_14664179ef.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Faroe Islands - Thorshavn old town"></a><br />
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I was delighted to see that even some of the more modern houses on blocks of land rather than in the rambling old town had continued with the tradition of turf-roofed houses which must be efficient both for insulation and for protecting the roofs against the high winds that buffet the Islands for most of the year: <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15066574279/" title="Faroe Islands - houses with turf roofs by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5592/15066574279_591e8c5c8d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Faroe Islands - houses with turf roofs"></a><br />
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I'd become aware of the <a href="Island Wool Company">Island Wool Company</a>, an on-line business that promotes and sells Faroese yarns, before I began my cruise and was hoping to be able to see some of the yarns in situ. We were fortunate to be able to visit the <a href="http://www.navia.fo/default.asp">Navia shop</a> where the Navia yarns that are one of the Faroese products are sold. (We were fortunate because we visited the Faroes on a Saturday afternoon, and almost all the Faroese shops close early on Saturdays. Navia's owner had kept the shop open for us - probably a wise move considering the amount of yarn purchased by our knitting group.) Navia is another inspiring story about keeping alive the wool and knitting traditions of a society. It began only in 1994 but has expanded to have distributors in many countries around the world. I bought some Navia Uno, a thickish laceweight yarn that's a combination of Faroese and Shetland wool and Australian lambswool:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15434058232/" title="Navia yarns by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3928/15434058232_281b4c6364.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Navia yarns"></a><br />
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I used some of this yarn for my class projects and loved knitting with it.<br />
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And at a different shop, in the moments before it closed for the day, I purchased two skeins of <a href="http://www.islandwool.co.uk/about/about-sirri-yarn/#.VC-Yo-vebw4">Sirri</a> yarn - another of the yarns promoted by the Island Wool Company. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15066772197/" title="Faroe Islands - Navia yarn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3892/15066772197_9cac1acfce.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Faroe Islands - Navia yarn"></a><br />
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Sirri is 100% organic yarn from Faroese sheep that has not been chemically treated. Its producers describe it as having a 'rich' texture, which you can translate as hairy and sticky, with a high lanolin content. Yet again I bought laceweight (500 metres in a 100gr skein), imagining it knitted up loosely on large needles. We'll see. <br />
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It was only after our visit to cosy Thorshavn, when the ship was sailing away from the Faroes, that I had a glimpse of the rugged grandeur for which they are renowned. I need another visit to see more of the Faroe Islands.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15252962742/" title="Faroe Islands by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3844/15252962742_8f1124a532.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Faroe Islands"></a>LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-37125501705153000122014-10-02T08:25:00.003+10:002014-10-03T07:29:43.823+10:00Bergen, NorwayThere's great pleasure to be gained from entering a city or town by sea.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15057643970/" title="Norway - approaching Bergen by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5565/15057643970_0925a3c112.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="Norway - approaching Bergen"></a><br />
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This was a particular pleasure in Bergen, and very appropriate. Bergen seems very isolated - located in the south-east corner of Norway and separated from other towns and cities both by distance and difficult terrain. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15241257621/" title="Norway - Bergen by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5583/15241257621_33795865b0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Norway - Bergen"></a><br />
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But for the many centuries when sea-going was the major means of travel, Bergen was in constant contact with other maritime cities in Northern Europe. The old port of Bergen, Bryggen, is a reminder of these centuries of trade and international commerce.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15057573559/" title="Norway - Bergen Bryggen waterfront by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5569/15057573559_2c90fce685.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Norway - Bergen Bryggen waterfront"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15057575749/" title="Norway - Bergen 18thC wooden houses Bryggen by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3876/15057575749_6280a83e5d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Norway - Bergen 18thC wooden houses Bryggen"></a><br />
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The old Harbour-front and the area behind are a UNESCO World Heritage site, and even though the densely built area now house cafes, craft shops and restaurants, you can still imagine a time when it was filled with the bustle of a busy trading port. The Hanseatic Museum is also situated in one of the old trade houses in the Bryggen area. The museum recreates interiors from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Hanseatic League, which promoted and safeguarded trade in Northern Europe had one of their foreign Offices at Bryggen in Bergen from the mid fourteenth to the mid eighteenth century. The Hanseatic merchants traded mainly with stockfish from Northern Norway and grain from the Baltic countries. Only German merchants were allowed to live at Bryggen during the period of the Hanseatic Office. These Hanseatic merchants were unmarried and had to live in celibacy as long as they lived in the area. The Hanseatic Museum shows what one of these trade houses might have been like in the last years of the German Office at Bryggen.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15243953562/" title="Norway - Bergen Hanseatic Museum 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3868/15243953562_70d724260b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Norway - Bergen Hanseatic Museum 2"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15057653940/" title="Norway - Bergen Hanseatic Museum 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/15057653940_1791b56d24.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Norway - Bergen Hanseatic Museum 3"></a><br />
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I'm always interested in this kind of small museum where you can glimpse the everyday lives of people who helped shape the way of life of those who now live in this community. <br />
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The cruise knitting group of which I was part visited the <a href="http://www.oleana.no/News.aspx?cc=11&lang=2">Oleana</a> knitwear factory which is most attractively situated on a fjord just outside of Bergen. I was unaware of this knitwear brand before this visit, but subsequently on my travels I noticed people wearing the distinctive jumpers and cardigans in different cities around the world. Oleana was founded in 1992 with the aim of preserving Norway's proud textile tradition and employing people who work with textiles. I think it's as interesting for its business model as it is for products. Oleana has had only one designer, Solveig Hisdal, since its inception and her aesthetic has clearly been a central part of the company's success. But probably even more important has been the company's insistence on creating quality products. They invest in the most modern and most efficient machinery and in the best quality yarns that are sourced from many countries and spun to Oleana's specifications in Italy. All the manufacture of the fabrics and garments is then undertaken in Oleana's factory. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15057804337/" title="Norway - Oleana knitting machine by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3912/15057804337_147cecdafd.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Norway - Oleana knitting machine"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15244357225/" title="Norway - Oleana yarns and fabrics by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3907/15244357225_1b160646da.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Norway - Oleana yarns and fabrics"></a><br />
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The company and its directors (who include the founders of the company and now a second generation from the families) choose staff carefully - we were told that one of the most important qualities they recruit for is a sense of humour - and then provide good pay, training and conditions. The production is meticulous with all garments being individually finished with great care and attention. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15221364906/" title="Norway - Oleana linking machine by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5591/15221364906_00f2ac0d64.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="Norway - Oleana linking machine"></a><br />
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As an inevitable outcome of all this care for quality, the beautiful jumpers and cardigans are very expensive, but apparently last forever. <br />
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And what did I buy? Even though there were shops where yarns were easily available, and rack upon rack of jumpers and cardigans in recognisably Nordic designs, I bought very little. Clearly I hadn't yet assimilated the idea that yarn purchasing was a necessary part of travel! I bought only two skeins of local Peer Gynt worsted weight yarn which I needed for my class on 'Mittens of the North Atlantic'.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15227558178/" title="Peer Gynt yarn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3928/15227558178_da79cf5471.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Peer Gynt yarn"></a>LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-68245301838400132372014-09-29T22:36:00.001+10:002014-09-30T08:43:03.126+10:00Wonderful, wonderful, CopenhagenIt's more than a month since my last post - the longest gap in posting since I began my blog more than six years ago. For some of that time I didn't have access to the internet, and so I had some excuse for not writing. And then, after such a gap, I began to question the need to maintain the blog. But I've been travelling, and regardless of whether others read the blog, I know how much I've valued past records of my travels - and my responses to my travels - that the blog records. So here I am again, belatedly, trying to capture some of the experiences of the last few weeks. <br />
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I've decided to try for a post a day over the next week or so. I've abandoned any attempt to write thematically or to be particularly reflective. Such organisation would inevitably delay writing even more. So, however randomly, these are some thoughts on my travels. I'll begin at the beginning, Copenhagen, and try for five things about Copenhagen.<br />
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1 Copenhagen is a very livable city. I like it for the reasons I also like Amsterdam. Though it has a population of almost two million, it seems smaller. The centre of the city is flat and so is ideal for walking or cycling, and it has efficient, easily negotiable, public transport to reach more distant suburbs. Copenhagen also has a livable scale, with few buildings more than six storeys high, and lots of pedestrian plazas and spaces for lingering and observing the world.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15384979072/" title="Denmark Copenhagen Stroget by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2944/15384979072_c6bd466065.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Denmark Copenhagen Stroget"></a><br />
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As with other old cities, some of the more intimate loveliness of the city is revealed in the courtyards tucked away behind the grand facades that line the street:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15046465775/" title="Copenhagen - Kunsthal Charlottenborg by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3878/15046465775_e10626c403.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen - Kunsthal Charlottenborg"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14859818800/" title="Courtyard, Nyhavn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5552/14859818800_5582b40e0b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Courtyard, Nyhavn"></a><br />
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2 Copenhagen values its history, but somehow wears it lightly. Grand monuments are scattered through the city, which has grown around them in such a way that they're integrated within daily life. King Christian IV, whose reign over Denmark and Norway began in the late sixteenth century and lasted till the mid seventeenth century, was responsible for several grand constructions, including the Rundetarn, an observatory you happen upon in one of the main shopping streets of Copenhagen, <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15033074581/" title="Copenhagen, Rundetarn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3918/15033074581_3ff47563e5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen, Rundetarn"></a><br />
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and the Rosenborg Castle, whose surrounding gardens are now a place for public enjoyment:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15023471876/" title="Copenhagen, Rosenborg Castle by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5570/15023471876_ffc3533650.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen, Rosenborg Castle"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15046118592/" title="Herbaceous border, King's Garden, Copenhagen by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5588/15046118592_800c7cc0c6.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Herbaceous border, King's Garden, Copenhagen"></a><br />
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Then there's the Amalienborg Palace, a complex of four beautiful classicist buildings from the 1700s that surround a hexagonal central space that's open to pedestrians and cyclists, but also occasional cars that meander bemusedly through the unmarked cobbled area: <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15012766256/" title="Copenhagen, Amalienborg Slot by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3907/15012766256_d50fdea706.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Copenhagen, Amalienborg Slot"></a><br />
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The palace was originally the winter palace for the royal family and still serves as such for the reigning monarch, Margrethe II. But it's also the home of Crown Prince Frederick and 'our Mary' and their children. Their front door literally opens into the public space and locals tell of seeing Mary escorting the children to school and the family cycling in the city.<br />
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3 Denmark's sea-going history is reflected in the geography and architecture of Copenhagen. Denmark's Viking history from about 800 to 1000AD is acknowledged in popular history and culture, and its sovereignty over Greenland and the Faroe Islands are modern remnants of its marine adventures. There are expansive old canals that reach into the city and surround grand buildings<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15362281416/" title="Denmark Copenhagen canal by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3896/15362281416_2cbf8a168f.jpg" width="500" height="380" alt="Denmark Copenhagen canal"></a><br />
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and the Harbour is being rejuvenated with walkways along the docks, restaurants, theatres, and gardens on the western side:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15032704791/" title="Copenhagen, Larsens Plads by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3888/15032704791_bf99c68424.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen, Larsens Plads"></a><br />
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and the elegant Henning Larsen designed Opera House on the east:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15198696468/" title="Denmark Copenhagen opera by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3874/15198696468_1830b6336e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Denmark Copenhagen opera"></a><br />
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4 Copenhagen has some great museums. There's a limit to what I can see and remember from my jet-lagged state, but I loved the rather chaotic collection of the Design Museum where I was lucky enough to catch a special exhibition of Hans Wegner's iconic mid twentieth century furniture, including many of his oh-so-beautiful chairs:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15015298175/" title="Hans Wegner chairs by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5595/15015298175_87c4598a46.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Hans Wegner chairs"></a><br />
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I made a special effort to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art which is located about 35km north of Copenhagen on the shores of the Oresund Sound. It's one of those museums whose wonder is the combination of a beautiful setting with a building that's absolutely suited to its site and purpose. The country house that was the original museum has expanded over time with additions that integrate the gardens and external sculptures with the expansive view of the sea and the exhibitions.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14849393160/" title="Louisiana Museum of Modern Art by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3890/14849393160_3267a8f159.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Louisiana Museum of Modern Art"></a><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15013057476/" title="Louisiana Museum of Modern Art - view from the Calder Terrace by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3904/15013057476_0d58e3dd22.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Louisiana Museum of Modern Art - view from the Calder Terrace"></a><br />
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Then there's the National Gallery of Denmark which has many wonderful artworks, but which I particularly wanted to visit because of its works by Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoj, who painted at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14859935307/" title="Vilhelm Hammershoi 'Interior in Strandgade, sunlight on the floor' 1901 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3866/14859935307_3ddd38cf22.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Vilhelm Hammershoi 'Interior in Strandgade, sunlight on the floor' 1901"></a><br />
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There's a whole room of these luminous paintings, sometime inhabited by quiet figures, but often simply the play of light in deserted domestic interiors. I love these paintings.<br />
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5 Copenhagen is a knitter's delight. I visited two yarn stores, both of which could supply any discerning knitter for years of knitting. I braved the metro to go to Sanne Bjerregaard's store, Rasmilla's Strik & Design. I'd been aware of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/stores/rasmilla">Rasmilla patterns</a>, and have even knitted one of her children's designs, Fiona's Top, and admire her style. The store was no disappointment. It was charming - stuffed with artfully arranged yarn, sample knitted garments and blankets, books and all kinds of knitting accessories. There was even chandelier!<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14849032029/" title="Copenhagen, Rasmilla's Garn and Strik by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3886/14849032029_780bf4bc58.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Copenhagen, Rasmilla's Garn and Strik"></a><br />
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Rasmilla's was my introduction to what was to become the recurring theme of my yarn shop visits - 'sticky' yarns. This is yarn from Hjelholt's Uldspinderi in wonderful muted colours:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15012782196/" title="Copenhagen, Rasmilla's Hjelholt's Uldspinderi by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3902/15012782196_21d7b753d2.jpg" width="500" height="371" alt="Copenhagen, Rasmilla's Hjelholt's Uldspinderi"></a><br />
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I also visited <a href="http://www.sommerfuglen.dk/shop/Eng/frontpage.html">Sommerflugen</a> in the centre of Copenhagen's shopping area. This store has an unbelievable stock of both local and imported yarns, and supplies embroiderers and tapestry workers as well as knitters. I visited this store with other knitters from my cruise group. We were like a swarm of grasshoppers making our way through the store (though I was super restrained). We were very fortunate that designer <a href="http://www.geilsk.com/">Bente Geil</a> had organised a trunk show of garments she'd designed and knitted from her own range of yarn - Geilsk, and that she was there to discuss designing and knitting. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14859922408/" title="Geilsk Designs at Sommerfuglen - red by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5584/14859922408_1ae195acdc.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Geilsk Designs at Sommerfuglen - red"></a><br />
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Bente most generously gave each member of the group two 50g skeins of her Geilsk Tynd uld (ironically, wool from New Zealand, though processed to Danish yarn preferences) and I bought a third skein to have enough yarn for a shawl from coordinating colours.<br />
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So, my yarn acquiaitions after my first stop:<br />
4 x 100g (400m) skeins Hjellholt's 1 Tradet<br />
3 x 50g (288m) balls Geilsk Tynd uld<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15203632709/" title="Copenhagen yarn purchases by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2943/15203632709_9c859bbef0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Copenhagen yarn purchases"></a><br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-54314610831225513012014-08-24T14:24:00.001+10:002014-08-24T16:28:29.283+10:00Travel and cruising and knittingI'm off travelling again. After years of being condescendingly dismissive of cruises as a travel experience, I've now given in and have signed up for a cruise. I only have knitting to blame for the situation I find myself in. My desire to improve my colourwork knitting led me to browse websites of classes by modern colourwork guru Mary Jane Mucklestone. I discovered she was giving classes on a ship travelling across the north Atlantic. Then I discovered the destinations - from Copenhagen to Bergen in Norway, the Shetland Isles, the Faroe Islands (the Faroes! - my current fantasy travel destination), Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in Canada, and finally, New York. Lots of my travel and knitting obsessions in one trip. <br />
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So, after the usual nightmare of flying from Sydney to anywhere in Europe I'm now in Copenhagen for a couple of days before my cruise. 'My cruise'. I never thought I'd need to write that. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/15012214071/" title="Denmark Copenhagen Nyhavn by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5596/15012214071_277b64be51.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Denmark Copenhagen Nyhavn"></a><br />
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Despite the fact that it's late summer in Copenhagen the weather is uncannily similar to what I left in Sydney's winter - squalls of rain, wind, sunny patches and a maximum temperature of around 17 celsius. Nevertheless, Copenhagen is wonderful. Very civilised. <br />
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A trip is also an excuse for knitting. Again, despite the fact that it's summer, it will be cold in most of the places I'm visiting and I persuded myself I really needed some fingerless mitts. I used some Noro Silk Garden from my yarn collection and after a couple of day's very simple knitting I had my mitts:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14746201597/" title="unmatched mitts 4 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3876/14746201597_cfaa0d63e8.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="unmatched mitts 4"></a><br />
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I think one of the joys of knitting with Noro is the unexpectedness of the colour combinations and sequences. I have a kind of informal personal knitting rule for Noro which is to simply accept whatever colour comes my way as I'm knitting with it. In this case I not only have a pair of nicely slouchy mitts, but they're totally unmatched. They have the added benefit of matching - to the extent that this is ever possible with Noro - <a href="http://lyns-shadesofgrey.blogspot.dk/2012/10/familiar-stuff.html">a Zumthor hat</a> I knitted a couple of winters ago.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14909765306/" title="Unmatched mitts and tree by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3861/14909765306_a766b9f310.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Unmatched mitts and tree"></a><br />
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[Thanks to Margarita for the fun photos].<br />
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I also decided I needed a kind of between seasons scarf for the wide range of temperatures and climates I'll have on this trip. (You can never have too many scarves). Again, this was a very simple knit with bands of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch alternating diagonally across the scarf. Most appropriately, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/groovy-dk-and-aran-weight">the pattern is 'Groovy'</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14746146048/" title="groovy scarf 4 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3901/14746146048_4b25b31821.jpg" width="372" height="500" alt="groovy scarf 4"></a><br />
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I've knitted the scarf from 100% linen. After finishing it I washed the scarf quite vigorously to make the linen softer. I decided not to block the scarf but rather to dry it in a way that preserved its grooves. I'm very happy with the outcome. I'll report back on its usefulness.<br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-88904635383178307262014-08-11T11:25:00.001+10:002014-08-11T15:59:40.912+10:00BesottedVery occasionally, you love absolutely everything about a knitting project. I was besotted while I was knitting this scarf - or shawl - and I now wear it everywhere. I don't want to be separated from it. It's one of those knitting projects that gives great results from a relatively simple and easily memorised pattern. The lace edging makes everybody think it's much more challenging to knit than it really is.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14715713322/" title="Saffron shawl 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3882/14715713322_e6c3853ff2.jpg" width="500" height="373" alt="Saffron shawl 2"></a><br />
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It's another of <a href="http://katedaviesdesigns.com/">Kate Davies</a>' designs, a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-hap-for-harriet">Hap for Harriet</a>, and I've knitted it in Cascade Yarns' laceweight silk/wool blend that's rather oddly called Forest Hills. Because it's knitted from a single 100gram skein of laceweight yarn it's wonderfully light and soft and ideal for mild Sydney winters. Along the way I've had to develop a theory that yellow is the new neutral so that I can wear the scarf with just about anything. Of course, when most of your clothes are grey or black this theory can hold up rather well.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14693015156/" title="Saffron shawl 4 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5551/14693015156_1f52f3536e.jpg" width="500" height="367" alt="Saffron shawl 4"></a><br />
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I've enjoyed making this scarf so much that I'm tempted to cast on for another, even though I have no need whatsoever for yet another scarf. Still, that's never stopped me in the past.<br />
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I've had a small hiccup with yet another of Kate Davies' wonderful patterns - a hat she's named <a href="http://katedaviesdesigns.com/designs/fugue/">Fugue</a>. The yarn for this was acquired from the ever-enabling <a href="http://www.missfee.com/blog/">MissFee</a> a couple of (several?) years ago. I finally decided to knit this up as part of my goal of becoming more proficient at colourwork.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14715710782/" title="Grey tam close-up by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2904/14715710782_b061ca8f7b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Grey tam close-up"></a> <br />
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The hat's knitted on relatively small needles from a thickish sportweight Corriedale yarn and consequently is dense enough to probably be waterproof, or at least damp and shower-proof. A very Scottish hat. But my problem is that the hat's slightly too big, and because it's relatively heavy it falls around my eyes. I just don't have enough hair to anchor hats securely.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14529563897/" title="Grey tam by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3883/14529563897_cc4245f7b5.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Grey tam"></a><br />
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I guess I have various options for my too-big hat. I could pull it out and re-knit it to an appropriate size, but I think this might take my colourwork practice just a bit too far. I could give it to someone with a bigger head or more hair, but I like it and want to keep it. So, I'm going to try sewing some grosgrain ribbon to the inside of the band - like many old-fashioned berets had - to try to make it fit me. Wish me luck!LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-46559366284514055572014-07-31T22:31:00.000+10:002014-08-01T22:22:07.749+10:00Such vibrant colourI'm visiting a friend who lives on the north coast of New South Wales. From tomorrow we'll spend three days at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, which seems to have become one of my yearly pilgrimages. But today we travelled to Murwillumbah to visit the Tweed Regional Gallery which, earlier this year, installed a replica of the studio of renowned Australian artist, <a href="http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/margaret-olley">Margaret Olley</a>. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14769175226/" title="Olley Studio by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2923/14769175226_abfb0b63cf.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Olley Studio"></a><br />
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Australian painter Margaret Olley's life has been well-documented - she and her studio home have been photographed, painted, and filmed. There are biographies and beautiful catalogues of her many exhibitions. She was a gregarious host and attended many public events and, as she became wealthy, was a generous benefactor to the NSW Art Gallery, as well as a number of regional galleries (including the Tweed Regional Gallery). It seems very appropriate that as her life was so public, so the workspaces of her home and studio are now on public display.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14812009253/" title="Olley kitchen and studio by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2908/14812009253_dd3ec18a98.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Olley kitchen and studio"></a><br />
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The recreations are lovely. There's such vibrant colour, so many wonderful shapes, and such appealing vignettes in the midst of clutter. I wonder why we find artists' studios so appealing? I imagine one reason is that it gives us an insight into the process of an artists' work: not just the end product, but the way the work grows and is constructed. Olley's studio, like that of Giorgio Morandi I saw years ago in Italy, is particularly interesting because it contains many of the objects - the jugs and bowls and fabrics and rugs - that occur and recur in her still lifes and domestic interiors. <br />
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The <a href="http://artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au/">Tweed Regional Gallery</a> goes from strength to strength. Among other works it currently has an exhibition of works on paper by prominent Australian artists that I found very engaging. And there's always the landscape, attention-arresting as you approach the Gallery and see the river and paddocks with mountains to the west, but just as wonderful when glimpsed through the narrow windows that punctuate the gallery's walls.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14769177536/" title="Tweed Gallery view by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5568/14769177536_c5222fcb70.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Tweed Gallery view"></a> <br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-82806520211710090312014-07-17T11:08:00.000+10:002014-07-17T11:09:08.173+10:00Colour-workOne of my knitting goals for 2014 was to become more proficient at colour-work. On second thoughts, 'goals' is a rather grand term for the vague hopes I had. So a few months ago I knitted the Kate Davies pattern <a href="http://katedaviesdesigns.bigcartel.com/product/peerie-flooers">Peerie Flooers</a> using seven colours of Rowan Fine Tweed yarn that I had acquired some time ago from a very <a href="http://www.missfee.com/blog/">yarn-enabling friend</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14547633336/" title="Tam 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5493/14547633336_8a6ed57dfd.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Tam 3"></a><br />
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I'm very happy with the outcome, and except for a few places, visible on the inside, where I carried the yarn a fraction too far without weaving it in, I think it is well-made. The tension is even and the pattern displays itself neatly.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14672742402/" title="Tam - inside by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5558/14672742402_846a8c95f1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Tam - inside"></a> <br />
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But knitting this hat has made me doubt that I will ever become a really proficient colour-work knitter. It's another version of the well-worn discussion of knitting styles. Traditional colour-work is usually done two-handed - using one colour in each hand. I'm not only very right-handed, but I also have a rather clumsy and inefficient knitting style that involves completely relinquishing my hold on the right-hand needle while I throw the stitch I'm working on. With colour-work the inefficiency of this process is emphasised because I also need to put down and take up a different colour. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14590803793/" title="Tam 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3899/14590803793_1294c90723.jpg" width="375" height="375" alt="Tam 2"></a><br />
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So, what should I do... try with greater determination to master two-handed knitting? I'm very aware of the advice about the desirability of learning new skills as one ages - both intellectually and physically. But I've tried (OK, maybe not hard enough) and the frustration of not being able to knit well with both hands takes away the pleasure of knitting, which is the main reason for doing it. Another option would be simply to avoid colour-work and declare it not for me, but I love the finished projects and I love the association of colour-work with long-established knitting traditions. Alternatively, I could continue to potter along as I have been. After all, the outcome is fine, and if it takes me longer to finish a project than it takes other people, does it matter? I'm not knitting for my living and I don't have queues of people anxiously waiting on finished projects. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14384037880/" title="Tam 1 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2921/14384037880_2866731269.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Tam 1"></a><br />
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Knowing my laziness, I suspect I'll fall back on my tried and true, though inefficient, pottering along. In fact, I've almost finished another Kate Davies hat design, <a href="http://katedaviesdesigns.com/designs/fugue/">Fugue</a>, in two shades of greyish-blue using my clumsy technique. So far, I'm very happy with this outcome, too. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14486398779/" title="Hat - two greys by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3909/14486398779_41c5bb0a92.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Hat - two greys"></a><br />
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However, there's possibly a problem with this pottering along solution. It's fine for small projects such as hats, but it may not work so well with larger projects that would end up taking so much time. Later this year I'll be taking some classes with a very well-known exponent of colour-work so I'll see what happens then. Maybe my embarrassment at knitting so clumsily in the presence of other knitters will be sufficient to push me to become more proficient with my left hand... but maybe not. <br />
LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-32947417771638974822014-06-19T16:20:00.003+10:002014-06-19T16:20:56.962+10:00Sticking to my knittingFor a blog that began its existence as a knitting blog, there's lately been a marked absence of knitting. I have been knitting, quite steadily, but not very productively. And even when I've finished a piece of knitting, I've been very tardy about blocking or recording it. I've not been inspired by any particular project, and as a result much of my knitting has been 'filling-in-time' knitting, using yarns I already own and making something that can easily be picked up and put down. Perhaps predictably, this has resulted in stripes and scarves.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14269464430/" title="Stripes x 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2932/14269464430_6813d9b0ca.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Stripes x 2"></a><br />
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Inspired by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/people/fahrer">knitting friend Linda</a>, I knitted a one-row stripe scarf. This is about as simple as knitting can be as it is simply a rectangle of stocking stitch. But it does have a couple of tweaks that make it that little bit different. The one-row stripes are achieved by knitting backwards and forwards on circular needles and sliding the knitting along the needles when needed to achieve the one-row stripes. Effectively, you knit two plain rows, then two purl rows and it results in stocking stitch.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14454709102/" title="One-row stripes by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5558/14454709102_b13e5a413a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="One-row stripes"></a><br />
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The fingering weight yarn is knitted quite loosely on 4mm needles so that the scarf drapes well. I already had the yarns; the brown is Wollmeise 100% wool in Feldmaus colour, and the pink Swans Island fingering weight yarn that is 100% merino. Fortuitously, both yarns had a about the same degree of colour variegation which resulted in a nice tweedy outcome. Initially, I experimented with the brown Wollmeise and a toning self-striping yarn but the resulting fabric lost the effect of the stripes and looked rather messy. Because the scarf is stocking stitch all the edges roll - a finish that I really like.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14452704971/" title="One row stripes 4 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2927/14452704971_370cea4c69.jpg" width="374" height="500" alt="One row stripes 4"></a><br />
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I'm very happy with the outcome.<br />
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My second stripey project is actually something I really wanted to wear. I've had some grey and black Lush Yarns (now discontinued) for several years. It's an unusual fibre combination - 90% cotton and 10% cashmere - that results in a soft rather than crisp cotton fabric that's ideal for Sydney's climate. I've knitted <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baktus-scarf">a Baktus scarf</a>; a tried and true pattern that's garter stitch (my favourite), ideal for stripes, and very easy to wear. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14269585987/" title="Baktus 4 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5589/14269585987_a424bdfa96.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Baktus 4"></a><br />
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I simply knitted, increasing every sixth and then every fourth row till I'd used half the yarn, and then knitted on, decreasing to mirror the shape already completed. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14456029335/" title="Baktus 2 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3884/14456029335_a761d4d6e5.jpg" width="480" height="480" alt="Baktus 2"></a><br />
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Again, I'm really happy with my rather spiffy new black and grey scarf. I even like the way the stripes are fractured on the reverse side so that I don't have to worry about using it right side out.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14432926156/" title="Baktus 3 by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5037/14432926156_e562723062.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Baktus 3"></a><br />
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So what am I knitting now? Yet another scarf and yet more garter stitch, though no stripes this time. But more of that once I've finished. LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7639104039967253280.post-70867370200688657602014-06-17T17:13:00.001+10:002014-06-17T17:13:44.576+10:00My final four films<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21741248@N05/14462032743/" title="SFF last film by smark31, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2932/14462032743_aef90df37c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="SFF last film"></a><br />
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I had a fun finale to this year's Sydney Film Festival with 'Snowpiercer'. Sci-fi is so far from being one of my preferred film genres that I probably found this film more novel than sci-fi aficionados would. I loved the central conceit. In the aftermath of a disastrous intervention to avoid global warming the world has frozen. The only living creatures are those enclosed in a lengthy train propelled by perpetual motion and continually circumnavigating the world. The train is organised into sections - ranging from those in first class whose every whim is indulged to those in the rear of the train where survival is marginal, life degraded, and the periodic desire for revolution inevitable (and encouraged to control population growth). The allegorical possibilities of this arrangement are almost endless. The film is violent, but in the rather abstract way of graphic novels. I was intrigued by the tone of the film - veering from the almost-serious exploration of such themes as the exercise of power and its betrayals to the black humour of the wonderful Tilda Swinton's portrayal of a didactic petty official. It's a mainly English language film featuring a well-known international cast from the UK, USA and Korea and directed by successful Korean director Boon Joon-Ho. Four out of five.<br />
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One of the reasons I found 'Snowpiercer' intriguing is its combination of cultural sensibilities. I guess the sci-fi genre is now so internationalised that it enables input from a range of cultural traditions. This blending of cultures was evident in another film I saw - the Chinese film 'Black Coal, Thin Ice' that this year won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. It's set in the present day, in an industrial town in the north of China. It's winter and there are many grimy, icy streets. Again, this is a genre film. Its director, Diao Yinan has clearly been influenced by the conventions of the urban crime thriller - there's a disillusioned detective who drinks too much, corrupt cops, crime gangs, a mysterious, vulnerable woman who cannot be trusted, and a long-unsolved crime that haunts the disillusioned detective. Despite (or because of) these well-worn devices, setting them in a Chinese context gives new interest to this genre. Again, a four out of five.<br />
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I had high hopes for the Australian documentary, 'Black Panther Woman' that features Marlene Cummins who, as a vivacious teenaged Indigenous woman, was associated with the short-lived Australian version of the Black Panther movement in Brisbane (of all places) in the early 1970s. Forty years on, Cummins reflects on this moment in the movement for racial equality in Australia and of the frequent failure to extend the objectives of equality to Indigenous women. It's a delicate balancing act to support and engage with the fight for Aboriginal rights and yet provide a critique of the misogyny within that struggle. The film doesn't quite succeed. It feels a bit too careful; a bit too restrained. Even so, initiating a discussion of these issues is a very brave move for Cummins and the film's director, Rachel Perkins. Three and a half out of four - mainly for its courage. <br />
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And then there was 'The Two Faces of January'. Total pleasure. This is a most professional film. Beautiful Greek locations; Viggo Mortensen (sigh); based on a novel of the same name by exquisite crime writer Patricia Highsmith; screenplay and direction by Hossein Amini who waited many years to film a story he loved. What's not to like? The blurb for this film in the Festival program says 'This is a gripping thriller set in stunning locations with beautiful people doing dangerous things'. An apt description. It isn't innovative, but it is a perfectly-made conventional film. I imagine it will have wide commercial release and I would unhesitatingly recommend it to anyone wanting to see a sophisticated, masterly, beautiful, thoroughly engaging film. Four and a half out of five. <br />
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Another year of intensive film-going done. As I'm sure I've written before, I really value the opportunity to 'get my eye in'; to see a number of films in a short period of time and appreciate relationships and trends, as well as being able to contrast different traditions and approaches to film-making.<br />
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LynShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13724603965512647078noreply@blogger.com2