Safely Back

Knitting
The stripy cowl came whizzing home much faster than it went, in six days as opposed to over three weeks. Very mysterious. It has been impeccably joined. Thank you a million times, Jocelyn.

I'm not entirely happy about how I put the colours together. An artist friend told me that this is part of the creative process and that there's always a stage at which you think it's all wrong, wrong, wrong, but I think she's being kind and I could have done a better job of it. Ho hum.

I was going to wash it and dry it flat to get out the crease at the join, but the cotton makes it quite heavy and I thought it would take ages to dry, so I didn't.

You can see the jogless join here or, I hope, not see it. Actually you can here, but it's not so obvious in real life and a little more steaming and finagling would have concealed it.

I was also thinking of knitting a matching hat but I realized that with the cotton (it's Rowan Wool Cotton) it might not be as warm as is needed at this time of year, so I didn't do that either. I will knit a warm hat for her, but it needn't delay this.

I've also had a very generous offer from someone closer to home, should any further grafting be required in the future. Aren't knitters nice?

I'm about two-thirds of the way through the second Doctor Who Scarf, although if there's enough time I hope to make both of them a bit longer.

I have also sneaked in a Marsan cap in scarlet Sublime Chunky Tweed, the yarn I'm using for the scarves, which is for someone who works outdoors. It's a perfect red, not a blue-red and not an orange-red, just red.   It looks a bit orange in this photograph but that's the flash.

Kaffe Fassett
Our appointment with Kaffe is this week. I found myself wondering about what I'm going to wear. I expect there will be a lot of fabulous intarsia pieces casually showing up and seating themselves in the audience (like a David Bowie concert where the fans show up in lots of gold eyeshadow). I don't think I've ever made any of his patterns, although I would probably list them as an influence. I did make a beanie hat from one of his sock yarns, but I don't wear hats indoors, or in daylight for that matter. I could break my neck knitting something out of that ball of Kidsilk Stripe that I have, but I will probably stick to the second Doctor Who scarf, the end of which is in sight.

Movies
I watched a wonderful Swedish film recently, Everlasting Moments. I bought it off eBay ages ago and hadn't got around to watching it. Based on a true story, it's about a poor young woman called Maria Larsson who wins a camera as a lottery prize.

The film covers most of her life, from before World War I, and her marriage to an intermittently drunk and intermittently violent husband, with the camera and her photographs cropping up when her situation permits. It's shot in a subdued but not dingy light, and the actors look like real people, not actors. If I knew more about Swedish cinema I would have recognized some of them but I'm glad I didn't as it made it more realistic.

It also has some very good knitting. I think my friend got rather tired of my shouting Shawl! or Child's cardigan! at intervals, but it was hard not to.

This long, waisted jacket appears frequently.

One of the things I liked about the film was that when it portrayed something shocking, it didn't then proceed to point out to you that you should be shocked: too many films do that nowadays. There's a lot of information available about it online, much of it better expressed than I can here, and I would strongly recommend it if you're interested in photography, the unrecorded lives of women or good films.

It made me think of Mette's recent blog post, with the photograph of Mette Sofie Larsdatter. Do have a look.