Life up here

Cold, cold Saturday morning here in the Arctic. We had milder temperatures in between but are now back in the very cold digits below zero. It was -28°C early in the morning and I doubt it is any warmer now since the sun is not shining and if it chooses to shine a bit, the rays don't bring any heat yet.

As you know she is in charge of the security of the house. She dutifully fulfills her job but last night she just gave up in the end.

Couple of reindeers found out that the grass under the snow blanket in the garden right in front of the steps on the lake side of the house is very juicy and tasty and once they got the taste they really could not get that tasty table out of their minds. So the obviously well-fed pair were having a bite early in the morning yesterday and Tina just did not like it. She shot out of the door after the creatures who fled along the ice on lake. She knows she is not allowed to chase them in the woods and really never bothers them in the wild but she was not having them that close of the house. Reindeers, the survivors of the arctic, never give up, and they returned the second she retired inside the house. Her little house is in the other side of the house and from there she can see everyone who enters the yard from the road but if someone sneaks in from the lake, she has to trust her hearing. She monitored the yard from the various spots outside and at times chose to sit in front of the window inside. Several times a day she was forced to charge out and bark them out to the ice. She was very annoyed.

Evening came and then the night fell and as I was turning out the lights I looked outside and sure enough the reindeers had returned. Tina looked at me weary and sighed and I told her to go to bed and not to be bothered any more.

I have often told you how I love the sound of waves in summer and just listen to it in the quiet before going to sleep. Last night, even though it was very cold, I had the window open for a while and instead of listening to the birds and waves I was listening to reindeer digging through the snow and I actually could hear them munch. Eventually one of them came so close to the house that his antlers scratched the wall. Those sounds made me feel at peace with my world, the house was quiet, it was dark, very cold, and I was alone listening to reindeers eat outside.

And when the day broke this morning, the garden looked like this.

Wool with you,

Lene

PS. I turned off the comments last week, I was getting comments that I thought did not belong here. They belonged to different forums. I am turning the comments on again, but will read them through before posting. Sorry for the delay.

About finishing

You probably remember the moment when you grew up. That significant lesson the world taught you and after what you entered adulthood. I remember mine very well. It was painful but oh! so unavoidable and necessary.

But now I am thinking of another kind of awakening. I am referring to a moment that changed me radically as a knitter and needle worker in general. I had been knitting and sewing for years, I was well over 30 when this happened and I am sort of ashamed of me getting to know this so late in my career. It was early 1990's, I was taking courses in doll making and at that time making tiny leather shoes for the dolls, doing fine embroidery on them. I was showing the shoes to my Mom and complaining of how difficult it was to sew on the leather - and then she asked me: "What kind of a needle you are using?"

I proudly showed her the tiny quilting needles I was using, I was sure she had never seen so small needles. All the leather needles I had were clumsy and large, impossible to use on the tiny shoes. My Mom, crafter, went into her craft room and brought me back two tiny leather needles and told me to try them. Their eyes were so tiny I could hardly see them and the point was shaped the way leather needles are. She told me that she had only few and to take good care of the needles. I don't know just where Mom had bought them. After sewing with them, I never looked back. I made a pincushion that was devoted to these two beauties and never mixed them with the ordinary needles. I still have one of the two sitting on that said pin cushion. And the lesson was, no matter how good equipment you are using, it just does not do the job if it is not the right equipment for the job. (The second lesson was to listen to Mom. She was then and is always right.)

Ever since I have collected needles. Whenever I am in a shop that sells needles I will go and check their inventory and buy if I see there something interesting. Before you came across good needles very seldom and had to seize the moment but lately buying has become easier, mainly thanks to the internet. But I can't get over the old habit and that has resulted in a big selection of different types to different jobs.

Finishing is the part of the project that can really make a difference in the result. One has to use judgment and be willing to try several approaches before really making the final decisions. I still don't like doing seams in knits, I mean sewing the seams when grafting is not possible and will try my best to avoid seams but I don't detest all finishing. Quite the opposite, I don't mind picking up stitches and grafting and blocking and crocheting some. (I know how to seam, I just don't appreciate the bulk and I feel very strongly about this. Just personal opinion!)
Part of the finishing is gathering the right tools.

Needles are important: sharps and blunts in various sizes. I keep them in separate places to locate the right ones at once. I usually try to pick the smallest needle that can handle the job, because the smaller the needle the smaller the outcome. Sharp scissors of course, it is easier to thread a needle if the yarn/thread 's cut is clean.

Tweezers because very seldom it works out the first time, most likely third time is a charm and when picking up tiny bits of yarn/thread with tweezers it makes the whole procedure sophisticated - almost makes you want to pick up some more.

Tiny knitting needles are necessary when picking up stitches from waste yarn or when extra accuracy is needed. Locking stitch markers for marking special places or catching running stitches. I usually have note pad and pencil nearby to write down if I need to remember something in the future or if I should be aware of something later on. My memory can carry just so far. Tape measure and a crochet hook are almost always needed, crochet hooks preferably in different sizes.

When I knitted lots of socks and used to graft the toes, I made myself a note that I kept with the finishing tools that just told the order of the stitches. I keep also Montse Stanley's Knitter's Handbook close but I really like a lot of the other book called Simply Fabulous Knitting.

Those above are almost always used in all the projects. Anyway I will not set myself to work without collecting the tools first. It makes the finishing so much more enjoyable.

I had all these spread on the table because I just finished this. I know it is just a peek and I will tell you all about it later.

All the best wool for you for the next week!

Lene

Jan 3rd, 2010 - Page 3

I hope you all are nicely settled into the New Decade! For a while it will be difficult to write the new year 2010 when filling in the dates but it will become easier. January here has started with new snow and freezing temperatures. It was almost -20 this morning and that is what it is supposed to be now in the middle of the winter. It was even colder yesterday. New snow keeps piling up, little bit almost every day and the world is pure and white. When looking from the inside of the house the snow blanket looks very comfortable, if only I had a fur coat warm enough, I would snuggle into winter hibernating. I would not get up before Mothers' Day in May. In May the birds chirping all around would wake me up well-rested and ready to enjoy warm spring and summer.

I have only just turned the third page on this new 365-book and this book has to be read as it unfolds, one cannot go and take apeek at the last page to see how the book ends. And the whole of last year and all the decades before were only a prologue for this book. Then maybe not, maybe this is just another chapter in the book "Lene's life and knitting". Let's hope this is not just another printing, let's hope it is at least a revised edition.

The rusty sock is still at the same stage it was the last time I looked at it: one quarter of the second sock done. I am not sure but maybe it is the gauge issue. I so love small gauge. But then I have some skeins of heavier yarn in my stash and I really need to work through them at some point. There is plenty of inspiration for heavy yarn lace and maybe that would be the way to go with that stash. I think I will try to make a swatch today. Also i know for sure that I would need to shop a bit for dk and worsted weight yarns too to really see what is out there today and how they feel. I should shop some new yarn ---- how wonderful that sounds? With new yarn would comd new inspiration and new possibilities.

When decorating the house for Christmas I came upon the bear that I made quite long ago. I have been turning it over and over and looking at it from all possible angles and wondering if i should plan to knit "somebody" instead of something. A short visit to a fairly tale could be a nice change. This thought is taking up a lot of space in my mind, I just don't know whether the idea is finished or if I should let it simmer a bit.

And I have been drawing little bunnies and transferring them onto charted paper to see if that would be a way to go. Lots of unfinished ideas floating around, none of them really sparking off into serious flames of knitting. Not yet, anyway.

But there is another new year to see if any of them work out. And as I said, this book doesn't allow peeking.

Okay, time to go, get some wood and build a real fire.

Wool with You,

Lene