breispace

Heard in passing: “…as I have a big honker at home…” According to my Collins dictionary (aka “Bigass Diccy”) honker is slang for big nose. Why would you want to keep one of those at home? Visuals, anyone?

The last fine days of summer have provided a second flush of yellow raspberries, and the red ones are also planning a few handfuls. I can’t help thinking of Nigella’s “slut-red raspberries in Chardonnay jelly” recipe when I see them, although these look more like pink grapefruit.

I finished my new sock project bag; it’s thick, dark grey cotton with really bright sashiko stitching in two tortoiseshell patterns. I spent way too much time on it on the weekend before last, at the expense of my studies. It’s become quite cheerful with all the orange stitching, in spite of the austere background colour. Far from perfect, but nice. Speaking of perfection in connection with textile crafts: it always makes me think of the Amish practice of putting a deliberate “mistake” in their quilts, because God alone can create perfection. Now does that sound like pride (arrogance), or is it just me?

Off the needles:
• Tabi socks made after these (yes! Snug warm feet just in time! excellent colour!)
On the needles:
• Ella shawl (new wool has arrived and decreasing started, yay!)
• Hallowe’en accessory (coming along slowly)
• Coral snake scarf (should frog it and start over, or dump the whole thing. Sock wool around my neck, who am I kidding?)
• Simple blue Trekking sox (Widdershins pattern) for train rides
In the UFO spaceport:
• pirate’s pull (need to finish the design, arrr!)
• Union Jack sweater from Stitch ‘n Bitch
Planned:
• Rogue Hoody
• more socks (sock yarn stash = about 10 skeins, mainly Opal rainforest)
• one of Nancy’s patterns: the Nieuwmarkt pullover or the orange brioche pullover from Interweave knits
Soon this kind of listing will be a thing of the past, as I’ve just received my Ravelry invite, huzzah! Now all I have to do is find the time to fill my pages, put pics on Flickr, etc. etc. Fun-filled weekends ahead!

Speaking of fun-filled weekends: am just back from the Oerlinghausen Wikingertage, the final Viking event of the season. This time Snorri wasn’t incapacitated, and him, M and me had an excellent time. I forgot my basket-o’-yarns and other authentic textile stuff, but with a ball of yellow (onion skin dyed) wool and a borrowed wooden needle I still managed to get a good start on a new pair of nålbinded socks, and our Viking chapter of SnB was rather popular with photographers. No less than two litres of decent whiskey found their way to various Viking stomachs on Friday & Saturday nite. Bro got a local dry sausage for the (yet again, thank you!) lending of his car. Next Saturday it’s the handwerkbeurs in Den Bosch; another fun day for craft addicts.

School’s started this week, and I’ve hit the ground running. Lessons start tomorrow, and today (Tuesday) I had to hand out timetables, school guides etc. to my mentor class. Most of them are still really pre-teen and childlike now, but they’ll be full-blown adolescents by Easter, Gods help me. I still got home fairly early, after loads of pre-lesson chores. If there’s one thing you need in this job, it’s organising skills and a degree in juggling. Okay, two things.
Anyway, in order to take my mind off school and put a fitting end to the summer hols I participated in the Viking week at Archeon (here are some pics, courtesy of Hans S) last weekend. Alas, Snorri cancelled because a bug had made him develop an intimate relationship with his bathroom and she (the bathroom) had abandonment issues. M and me had a very pleasant time nevertheless, with only a bit of rain, mostly at night. We shopped lots and made our first joint purchase: an iron cooking pot. We want to finish our tent by next Whitsun so we won’t have to sleep at the dorm anymore. Plus we’ll be able to use it as a booth for our pottery and embroidery.
Saturday evening saw the traditional party with free beer, wine and soft drinks for all. We enjoyed a fine meal, some good conversation, and the last of the bottle of Talisker I’d brought from home. We were just complaining about how all male Vikings over 30 seem to be spoken for, when I got propositioned by a very nice, slightly older and rather attractive specimen. It was quite pleasant (and a bit of an ego boost, I must admit), but unfortunately he, too, turned out to be married. Which is probably why he needed quite a bit of Dutch courage before professing his affection and attraction. I think I would’ve enjoyed whisking him off to a dark spot to see if we could get at each other’s tonsils without using our hands… but alas. So (quoting M) I told him to go back to his tent and that he’d love me for it in the morning. I watched him slouch off reluctantly, and had a restless night that became morning just after the last party animals had turned in. Sigh…