Schildkröten am Abend

Bald reise ich in die Schweiz zu meinen Niblingen (die Kinder meines Bruders und meiner Schwägerin), für die ich wie im letzten Post erwähnt, Pullunder gestrickt habe. Auf dem Weg dorthin mache ich aber in Vorarlberg halt und besuche eine Twitterfreundin.

Diese Freundin hat sich eine Schildkröte gewünscht, also habe ich mich umgesehen. Die gestrickten Schildkröten, die ich so unauffällig in meinen Favorites auf Ravelry habe, waren alle ein wenig zu aufwändig, mit viel Nähen usw. Dann fand ich das ideale Häkelmuster: Tiny Two-Tone Turtle - die kleine Zweifarbenschildkröte von Lucy Collin. 

In diesem Häkelmuster wird nämlich nichts angenäht, sondern die Beinchen, der Schwanz und der Kopf entstehen aus Popcornstichen. Ich habe das Muster ein wenig verändert, da ich sonst die Übergänge bei den Mustern nicht so schön fand. Ich häkle also in der 3. Runde zuerst den spike stitch, dann die 2 sc in den nächsten st. In Runde 4 häkle ich zurest 2 sc, dann 2 sc in next st, dann sc in next 5 st, usw., bis am Ende dann noch 3 st zu häkeln übrig sind.

Die Popcornstich-Beinchen haben mich ein wenig verzweifeln lassen. Zuerst habe ich die Kommentare gelesen, dann auf Ravelry geschaut, ob irgendeine andere Person damit Schwierigkeiten hatte. Aber gefunden habe ich nichts. Dann studierte ich die Bilder von anderen Projekten und probierte ein bisschen herum, bis mir klar war: Wenn die Häkelnadel aus der Masche gezogen wird, muss ich von vorne in die 1. dc (also den oberen Teil der Masche, als würde ich dort gleich eine sc machen), dann ziehe ich die Masche durch, gehe dann mit der Häkelnadel nach hinten und mache eine sc in die nächste Masche. Wahrscheinlich hätte ich das fotografieren sollen. Hm. Nächstes Mal.

Nach der ersten Testschildkröte holte ich meine Lace-Reste und meine ganz dünnen Häkelnadeln und schwitzte Bäche, aber die kleinste Zweifarbenschildkröte ist ungeheuer niedlich geworden. Bei ihr habe ich schon etwas ausprobiert, es dann aber wieder rückgängig gemacht: Mir gefällt nicht, dass der Schildkrötenpanzer so wenig Rand hat. Da die Beinchen etc. alle an das hintere Beinchen der Häkelmaschen (BLO = back loop only) gehäkelt werden, habe ich das vordere Beinchen dazu benutzt um einen Rand aus slip stitches zu machen.

Aber das ist bei dünner Wolle eine ziemliche Quälerei und sah bei der kleinsten Schildkröte nicht so gut aus. Also habe ich es bei der mittleren Schildkröte probiert und da sieht es gut aus, finde ich. Ich habe ihren Panzer um zwei Reihen höher gemacht - wahrscheinlich würde ich für eine weitere Schildkröte an die 5. Reihe eine 6. mit sc in all stitches machen und dann meinen Rand aus slip stitches machen.

Den Mund habe ich mir bei der großen Schildkröte gespart und bei den kleinen gleich Augen und Mund, ich finde die auch nicht unbedingt nötig. Die Tierchen sind schnell fertig und wenn sie nicht zum Spielen gedacht sind, müssen die Fäden auch nicht sehr sorgfältig vernäht werden, verknoten reicht völlig. *pfeift unauffällig*

Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass sie als Broschen, Ohrclips oder Magnete sehr hübsch aussehen. Ich jedenfalls darf mir jetzt den Kopf über das beste Reisestrickprojekt zerbrechen. Also außer den Pulswärmern für meine Patentante.

too quiet here

Yes. Suspiciously quiet. That's because work on the thesis has ground to a halt. All my anxieties have not been miraculously healed, after all. I shouldn't have expected them to be gone just like that. The idea of finishing my degree after about 10 years of studying has created all kinds of sad and anxious feelings. Going out into the world! Finding a job and a place where they'll pay me to write a dissertation! No more classes! No more student jobs! Something to look forward to - scary as hell at the same time.

I'm still scared, but I decided to accept it. It's okay to be scared, that feeling won't go away for a while, so I might as well finish writing. I finally went outside again today after staying in my cave for the last three days and it's been ok. Maybe I was just waiting for the rain - strangely, right now I prefer going outside in the rain.

I also had a dream, haven't been dreaming in a while what with my screwed-up sleep schedule and it told me that things will be ok. I dreamt that we were still clearing out the old flat (my father's flat where I lived for +20 years) and we got in a whole lot of furniture, beautiful furniture. I was going through my two rooms, thinking about where I would put it all, rearranging everything in my mind. Then the dream changed, I was walking with my mother, crossing a street in Vienna with cars and streetcars (weird, because I avoid jaywalking whenever I can) and there were people singing a stupid song on the streetcar. The streetcar had a handwritten label "EMO" - apparently, people got on the streetcar to sing emo songs? The dream changed again and my mother and I were in Edinburgh and people on the street were singing a sea shanty and we discussed how different those two cultures were and how much better it was to sing a sea shanty than some stupid song. That's when I woke up, remembered that I didn't have to clear out the flat anymore, that I had no space for furniture (no matter how beautiful it is), that I want to go to Scotland and I felt a lot better about everything. (To be fair, I also talked with one of my best friends about my anxiety and had a little "say goodbye to uni" ceremony.)

Instead of writing I have been knitting. Finally. It felt really good to get back to something that I'm actually good at, something tangible, something beautiful, a kind of work that lets me see its quality right from the start. Writing into the void with a bare minimum of feedback is hard for approval-seeking me, although writing a blog isn't all that different, except nobody grades it and you don't get a degree for bloggery.

Where is the evidence that I've been knitting, you ask? Oh well, on Ravelry. I have taken no pictures yet, because that would mean having to figure out how to get the card into the new laptop and I don't quite know how to do that. I *could* possibly get the camera usb cable from the box that is over at my mother's. But I don't feel like taking pictures right now. So you'll have to keep looking at my other pictures. It's all part of an evil plan. Now it's back to work on that thesis of mine.

uphill slog

Since the last post, my thesis has grown to a grand total of 20 pages. 20% or 1/5th done, not bad! I'm counting and celebrating every new page as a victory, keeps me from despairing. It isn't easy being completely insecure *and* a perfectionist. Right now, the weather is back to what it was a month ago, no light, no pictures possible, so in lieu of showing you pictures of my Herzblut shawl, which is on its second chart and growing slowly, I thought I'd show you some pictures of past shawls.

I actually love shawls, but don't get to wear them often. It's because in continental Europe you can't buy shawl pins for love or money and I'm not good enough at working with metal to make my own. I'm going to skip the shawls that I made for other people and just show you my personal favorites here. The one that I use most often - as the more fashionable substitute for my Lifesaver, which should have been a genius invention, but the execution was too flawed and I haven't wanted it since - is my Winged Black Sheep, which I can wrap around my hips, or around my back and front or around anything I want, really. Since it's dark grey, it hides dirt well (not that I get dirty a lot, I'm a nerd after all) and is most important for keeping my kidneys warm.

Right now it's waiting to be washed, reblocked and put away for the summer. The yarn for it is a handspun  then dyed black yarn that I got on a trip to Hamburg ... in 2008! Time is starting to pass too quickly for my peace of mind.

As I said, the Black Winged Sheep is the shawl that probably gets the most use. Another shawl that sometimes gets taken out of its little plastic bag is my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Anna's Scarf (officially Ene's Scarf). Knit with vintage Swiss yarn that my father gave me, it's the perfect accessory for a visit to the Vienna Film Museum and the walk back home when it's a coolish night. Also perfect for over a nice coat or a nice dress.

Anna's Scarf is knit from the bottom up, so you start with those pointy bits. And what an endless slog it was until I finally reached the top. Maybe a better pattern for my thesis shawl, but I suspect Herzblut will be something of a slog as well.

Next up is my first foray into entrelac. I had had this yarn in my stash for the longest time, it's Lana Grossa Dasolo Stripes, and I just didn't know what to do with it. Then at some point the idea presented itself - entrelac! It's extremely easy and just a teeny bit tedious as well (is there any shawl that doesn't get tedious at some point?) and is actually a very good technique for striped yarn, whether the color changes are long or short. I think I might have worn this one ... twice? so far. I really need a shawl pin.

In my stash there is some beautiful, beautiful Lana Grossa Qui just waiting to be made into a similar shawl. It's been waiting there since 2008 as well.

Back to lace. One beautiful triangle scarflet - completely in fashion in 2009 - is the following Orkney Triangle. The pattern is called Shetland Triangle, but since I bought the yarn on Orkney in 2007 and it is exactly the color of the sea around Orkney, I think that name is more appropriate. I haven't worn it at all. It is a little scratchy, but the main thing is that I just haven't had the peace of mind to pick the outfit to go with it.

So ethereal. Just like the Ethereal Lace Lattice Wrap, which hasn't even been blocked yet. Blocking takes a lot of space! And you need lots of pins and sometimes even blocking wires or if you don't have such things (and I don't), constructions with pins and bits of string and all that. Tsk. The yarn is a mohair mix, fluffy and delicate and really hard to unravel if you have to. But soooo pretty!

I'll close here. There are plenty of other shawls that I made and haven't worn or blocked yet, some are in construction right now and some are sitting in the stash waiting patiently for me to finish the thesis and get on with life and knitting. I shall now print out over a hundred pages of citations that need to be sorted into my big binder of citations so that I can write five more pages tomorrow to make it 25.

To brighten your day, here's a video I found on Jezebel today:

it's not like I stopped knitting

Only stopped taking pictures and blogging about it. Also had some troubles with motivation, for a while there I went back to socks, which is usually a sign that I've kind of run out of ideas and all projects in progress need involved work to be finished. Eh. At least I have managed to cross two sock patterns off my queue that were on there for a long time and one birthday present for a friend is also already done (keeping just one pair of those socks).

But then, all of a sudden, my mojo came back. As usual, it was because I had promised to make something for somebody - a pair of fingerless gloves. Also as usual, the inspiration came in the yarn shop and also as usual, the gloves I created turned out so prettily that I didn't want to give them away. So on Tuesday it's back to the yarn store to pick up more yarn so I can make some for myself (which will happen in ... 2 or 3 years I'm sure).

Very medievally inspired. They're called Heathered Brocade, yarn is as usual for gloves, Lana Grossa Cool Wool 2000, 100% superwash merino. It's slightly heathered and looks even more gorgeous in person.

Sadly here my camera decided to suck and I think I forgot to turn on the macro function. I really need a new one. Patterns are from the Scottish pattern book I studied in Edinburgh. I copied those I liked by hand ...

Amazingly detailed for gloves that are not for me!

On their intended wearer. And on it goes. I wonder what kind of project I should start to see me through my thesis. In the meanwhile, I'll leave you with a dreamy picture of the Alpenglühen in the South of Switzerland.