When I made my first Swallowtail, when my grandma turned 70, I loved the pattern. I loved it so much that I knew I’d make it again for myself one day, and probably in the same yarn (a natural 55/45 silk/cashmere blend). And when I was feeling blue and icky a while back (can’t remember why, but that doesn’t really matter now) I decided I’d make a luxurious, soft shawl to cuddle up in.

So I did!

(Please excuse the less-than-stellar photos; I think we took them the day before I left for Glasgow so I was quite knackered)

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark (IK Fall 2006) [rav]
Yarn: Fancy-knit cashmere/silke 200, approx. 1.75 skeins (~600 metres) and Kidsilk Haze “Pearl”, 2.25 skeins
Needles: 3.5 mm.
Mods: 19 repeats of Budding Lace chart

Comments: I really love this shawl. I really, really love it. Of my wear-daily shawls, I took this one and my Revontuli in Rowan’s Tapestry to Glasgow, but I’ve only been wearing this. (I also managed to get some chocolate on it, but never mind…)

I could easily have gone up a needles size or two. The nupps were especially tricky with the yarn and needle combination and took ages. It also didn’t help that I miscounted the Budding Lace repeats and ended up one short, and it took me a long time to figure out why the numbers weren’t adding up. Duh.

The KSH makes it soft and lovely, while the cashmere/silk adds a bit of sheen to the softness. Oh, and did I mention that it’s soft? It is. Very. I actually ran out of the KSH about 12 rows before the bind-off, and lucky for me there was a Dane on Ravelry who had about half a skein in the same colour who was willing to give it to me for free!! So thank you Purling for your generosity and kindness! :)

It also blocked out to a very generous size – I was able to pin it out quite symmetrically, which is rare for me. It was more squishy before blocking, but it drapes much nicer now.

(Dad’s living room serves as a nice back-drop for this natural-coloured shawl!)

I don’t know what else to say. Would I make it again? Probably, in a true laceweight, slightly variegated yarn it would be beautiful. And the nupps would be less annoying. But for now I’ll just enjoy this one.

(On a side-note, I’ve moved to another building and it’s perfect. Clean and moderately quiet and lovely. I plan to bake chocolate chip cookies one of these days, and try this Horlicks malt drink I’ve been seeing everywhere. I’ve already had the Cadbury Creme Eggs and plan to get more. Everything is so cheap here compared to Denmark! Love it!)

As I write this I’m sitting in my bed, typing in Word because I haven’t officially ”matriculated” yet and therefore am not officially a ”student” and therefore can’t use the Internet in my room. I have to go to the student lounge to use the guest connection, which I did today (along with dozens of other students, I assume with the same situation as myself).

The room in itself isn’t bad. The bed is alright; bit hard but nothing too bad. There’s a desk and a chair which seems appropriate for my height. There’s a closet (hardly big enough, but it’ll do), a soft chair that probably isn’t knitting-friendly, and a sink. The water tastes like chloride, but never mind. All in all, it’s alright and I’m not complaining.

We arrived yesterday afternoon in Edinburgh (which is pronounced “Edin-borough”, in case you didn’t know. I didn’t.) airport. From there we took a shuttle to Edinburgh city centre, and decided to get off a stop before the final one to look for the station and perhaps some food.

Now, I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to pack 20+ kgs of unruly luggage. And that’s not counting the 7 kg in the backpack on my back. Not to mention my suitcase with travel bag on top was almost as tall as I was. I really, really don’t know what I was thinking. (At least I only brought 3 pairs of shoes, not counting those on my feet.)

Navigating a busy Edinburgh city on a Friday afternoon with almost half your weight in luggage is, simply put, hell. People everywhere. Bumpy sidewalks. Hard plastic handles blistering my poor, delicate palms. And we had no clue where we were.

Fortunately, Michael had been there before and knew exactly where we were, until we came up to a main road crossing and he declared they’d moved the streets since his last visit. I was getting quite agitated from hunger and fatigue (stupid luggage) and demanded we find a place to eat. It turned out to be a McDonald’s (how tourist of us) and the staff there told us to move upstairs to the 2^nd floor with all our bags. Fair enough, since we were blocking the entrance, except there was no elevator. Suffice to say, lots of Danish cussing ensued.

Once we were fed and I was back to normal, we looked at our city maps and found the train station. Fortunately, it was only a block or two away and it wouldn’t take long to find. Unfortunately, the fastest way for us to get there was down three flights of stairs. Poor luggage – just couldn’t be bothered to carry it. (If I’d started, I probably would’ve thrown it down those damn stairs anyway.) We only just caught the 5 p.m. train to Glasgow and almost an hour later we were there.

And wouldn’t you know, the way to the university is uphill.

All the way.

(I’ll pause here and give my travel companions a lot of credit. They’re hilarious and sweet and understanding, and they have a spectacular sense of humour. I don’t think I’ve laughed this hard or much in months. We’ll have a great time together.)

Once we reached the university/campus, we located the security office. It took us a few tries before we understood the man behind the counter; I thought the Danish Southern Jutland accent was interesting, but Glaswegian takes the cake. Hardly understood a word he said. He ticked us off lists and had fun trying to pronounce our names (I was “Terrine” for a few moments) and when he handed me my card and key he said “You’re in Kelso – God be with ye.” I thought he was joking, until we met others that said the same thing. “Good luck with Kelso!”

As it turned out, I was on the 2^nd floor of the Kelso building (all buildings are named after scientists and/or islands) – where I’m the eldest. It would appear that the kids living here have only just moved away from home and have no concept of kitchen hygiene. They even advised me to keep food that I really want to keep for myself (unless it’s perishable) in my own room so others wouldn’t eat it. Don’t get me wrong, they were quite nice people, but… I don’t want to live here.

And it’s not just the hygiene. Everything’s broken. The door handle to the kitchen has been almost torn off, screws lying everywhere (which I discovered this morning as I walked in barefoot). The refrigerators are missing shelves in the door – they just came off, they told me. (There are also several questionable things in there.) When I arrived last night, ALL the dishes, cups and cutlery had been used, and this morning it was still there. There’s bottles and wrappers and gunk spread all over the tables and floor. The walls have multi-coloured (from age, I’m guessing) stains splattered up and down. As do the cabinets and fridges, of which there are two small fridges and one medium-sized (5 drawer) freezer for eight people. There’s a HUGE television standing on the end table, which is on 24/7. (Someone said they’d gotten it a few weeks ago, and hadn’t done anything but watch it since.) The toilet and shower looks decent, but that’s about the only thing.

If this was the case in all the buildings, I’d be alright. I’d think “Oh well, it’s only four months, it’ll be okay. This is what we get as international, single-semester students.” But I’ve visited my classmates, and they all have 1) bigger rooms, 2) cleaner kitchens, 3) only 6 people per floor, 4) much larger fridges and freezer, 5) flatmates that are drug-free. (I was told an “ice cream truck” comes around every Thursday evening with supplies for, particularly, the first floor of my building. Nice.)

I’m going to give it a go, but if the dishes are still piled up in the sink and I have to wash something every time I want to make myself a sandwich (don’t even get me started on proper cooking or baking), and the kids are running around all night, I’m going to ask if I can be transferred to another room. It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand how there can be such a big difference in the buildings! We’ve also been told to keep whatever we have of cereals, snacks, etc. in our rooms in plastic containers, because otherwise the rats will get to it.

The rest of the university looks nice, though. The student lounge we went to was top-notch – very modern, lots of facilities, very comfortable and bright. I liked it a lot. It looks like all the facilities are very up-to-date and user-friendly (apart from campus), much nicer than our university at home. Ours ain’t bad, but this is cool. What I’ve seen of Glasgow so far is also very nice – food isn’t quite as expensive as it is in Denmark, and neither are clothes and shoes and such. And books! I’ll definitely be needing some books soon.

I’m really looking forward to starting classes – there are rumours that we might only have 9 hours of school every week, which is making me think about what I’ll do with my time. Get a job? Take up another hobby? Travel? Lots of possibilities, but unfortunately many of them are costly. But we’ll see on Monday what it looks like – we might be able to take one more class if we want, just to fill out the week. I think it’s going to be a good four months, I really do.

(Especially if I can move flats, but if not, I’ll find a way around it. Buy my own plate and cutlery, cook in my friends’ kitchens. As long as they get cake, they won’t complain!)

It’s now Tuesday, and I leave on Friday. 2:30 p.m. is when my plane leaves. And then I’m off.

I haven’t started packing yet. I just don’t know where to start. And I have to confess, I loathe packing, so I drag it out even longer. I guess it’s because we’ve moved so much that I can’t stand the sight of those horrible fold-out moving boxes anymore. My room is a mess; it’s dusty and the floor is dirty from wading into the apartment with snow-dirty boots on. I have to clean the entire place before I leave, too. I just don’t know if I can bear it.

It’s not so much the going away thing. I can handle that; I’ve done it many times before and it’s not a big deal. I won’t be away for long and my family and Martin will come and visit. In the mean time there’s Skype, so it’s not like I won’t see them for a long time, either. It’s the whole process of packing down your life, again, and this time choosing which few objects to bring with you. How much yarn? How many pairs of shoes? Should I bring my rain coat? (Yes.) Can I bring my vitamins in my suitcase or will I have to buy new ones when I get there? (Not that I take vitamins on a daily basis, but I might get into the habit of it, what with living in a new place and all.) I can only bring so much luggage, and it has to fit in my tiny room there, too. What of all my baking supplies? Shall I leave them for the new tenant (…) or leave them with Martin? And can you bring Dutch processed cocoa powder with you, if you keep it in a tightly sealed plastic bag in your suitcase?

I do appreciate the many opportunities I’ll have. I hope to get up earlier in the mornings, and perhaps make a big deal of eating breakfast. Currently it’s just rolled oats with milk and a bit of sugar (do other people eat that aside from Danes?) but wouldn’t it be lovely to start out your day, at least one of them, with pancakes or eggs or some nice, homemade toast with jam? I also hope to get into the habit of walking more. I’m not a big fan of exercise; I don’t like running, gyms are boring, I have zero hand-eye coordination (no sports that include balls) and I can’t seem to find a sport that interests me long enough for me to keep it up. But I do like walking, especially during the three seasons that aren’t winter. I know the uni has a hiking club, so perhaps I’ll join that.

Also, it has added benefits for Martin. I saw a to-do list he’d made the other day, and after “Buy new cell phone – research thoroughly” was “Figure out how dinner and shopping will work without Trine”. (I love his lists.) He’s planning on getting into food, to figure out which foods are rich on fiber, protein, etc. and how to make easy, simple and tasty meals. I’ve been hoping he would get into food some day; perhaps not as enthusiastic as me, but at least enough that he can plan meals for us if I’m sick or whatever. I’m very happy and proud that he’s going to do something about his single eating habits (used to be pasta, ketchup and egg rolls…) and learn his way around a kitchen. I think he was also inspired by two guys from his uni running team – they had a late Christmas party and apparently those two guys knew a LOT about food. And wine. He was quite impressed when he came home and told me about it.

Anyway. I’ve mostly made up my mind about what I’m bringing. Now I just have to pack it all and hope that it weighs under 15 kgs per bag. I’ll do it later…

(Oh. And I bought a new camera. Canon SD1200/Ixus 95 is depending on your country. It’s a nice point-and-shoot camera. And it’s pink. More later…)

I had the second of my project exams today. We have 15 minutes to cover two subjects (Corporate Comm./Culture – Marketing/Media Production) and today was Marketing/Media. I did alright on the first one – 7/7, which is a slightly-above-average grade. We treated the project this year wrong (as a school assignment instead of a customer report) and I’d hardly been working as hard as the last semesters, so I’m satisfied with that grade. However, I was extremely nervous about the one today – Marketing, as some may remember, isn’t my strongest subject. In fact, I rarely understand it and find it difficult to apply the theory in practice.

Before I left to go to my exam (at 12:30) I’d gotten a parcel from garnbudin.is. In it was some yummy Lopi yarn:

(the little purple thing in the right grey skein is a free darning needle!)

I bought this last week – I was originally thinking about cancelling my order because there so incredibly many problems with the payment system. I couldn’t get the cart to check out properly, and there was a LOT of e-mailing back and forth since I also didn’t understand the shipping methods. My original order also had 6 skeins of Alafoss Lopi (the above is Lett-Lopi) for a Vogue design, but in my annoyance when I checked my cart out again, I just skipped them. This caused more confusion since my first order apparently went into their system and it appeared they tried to convince me to take my first order with the extra yarn insteaad of just the Lett-Lopi. That was a bit annoying, but since there were a lot of communication glitches I’m just going to let it go. It didn’t seem like English was their best language to communicate in, and I can understand that.

So why order Icelandic, you ask? I’ve been wanting to buy some Lopi for a looong time, but found it slightly expensive at home. (It’s not, really, but I’m a cheapskate when I buy yarn.) But the Danish krone is really great to the Icelandic krone right now, and the yarn costs a fraction there compared to what it costs in Denmark. The shipping was a bit steep, but the more you buy the cheaper it gets. It’s fixed, as far as I can see, so even if you buy 2 kg of yarn, it won’t cost more in shipping. Great for big orders, a little annoying when only purchasing 6 skeins.

Anyway, it’s for the Lett-Lopi Vest here. I decided to go for a lighter shade as the MC (Ash Heather):

with a Black Heather and Lapis Blue for the CC:

I think it’s going to be pretty. I decided not to open my parcel until I got home from my exam - and if I did well, I could start on the vest this weekend when I’m going to a knit day with some friends from the area. And I did well! :) I got a 7 in Media which is fair, since our design lacked consistency. And for Marketing… a 10!! I was psyched when I came out, totally high. I had not imagined that the subject I feared the most would be the one that I got the highest grade in! Unfortunately, one of my group mates failed Marketing because she couldn’t answer any of the questions. I feel really bad for her – she’s very bright and a good student, but she gets really nervous for the oral exams and she didn’t understand our teacher’s way of asking questions. I had the same problem with the same teacher last semester. She was really upset, since she’d planned to go home to Lithuania for a couple of weeks before the next semester starts to be with her family. Now she has to stay to take the re-exam. It sucks. :(

I’ve still got a million things to do, and I don’t really want to do any of it. I still have some Santa pictures that I have to send out, I have to mail the contract and stuff to my housing company except I don’t have the room number for my apartment in Scotland and since I don’t know when I’ll get that I don’t know when I can mail the papers, I have to start looking at what I’m bringing with me to Scotland and pack it down, I have to order flight tickets, I have to look at my economy and make monthly budgets for my stay over there, I have to mail out some yarn I traded, and I really need to clean my apartment. Wow, that list makes me tired just looking at it.. I’ve been sleeping 8 or 9+ hours per night the past couple of days, and still needed an hour-long nap in the afternoon. I’ve just been so tired. Glad the exam stuff is almost over (final one on Wednesday, but that one just needs to be passed – don’t care about the grade) and I can start focusing on the Glasgow stuff.

In the mean time, I have plenty of treats…

I’ve figured out what 2010 is going to be all about. It looks like I will be able to visit two countries I’ve been dying to see for a long time – Scotland and the US!

The 5th semester at my uni always go on a study trip during the fall. Our class originally talked about a (cheaper) trip to South Korea, since the international students don’t really have the money to go some place more expensive like the US or China. However, since our class is rotten at ever really getting anything done (save from one or two individuals, such as myself) it seems that not many people are actually into going at all. We had a meeting today with school representatives and since only 3 people from our class actually showed up, we decided to scrap the South Korea idea and make room for a trip to China that another class was planning, and which showed much more promise than our trip ever did.

This means that the people who want to go have to distribute themselves on the 3 trips – India, California or China. I’m so for the California trip – there’s only 10 people going from the E-engineer class (all male, all geeks, all looking incredibly sweet), they’re renting cars so we’ll be going to San Fransisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Tonopah, and… it’s the US! When else am I going to get to go? To be honest, I don’t hope a lot of my classmates want to go to the US. It’s very selfish of me, but I hope it’s just me, the two girls that were there today, and maybe one more. The guys look like so much fun, and I’m afraid that if we’re 10 people from my class who want to go, the “cozy” and “close” feelings won’t be there in the same way. You know? And I’m afraid I’ll ditch my classmates because those other guys remind me of the guys I used to hang out with (best friends!) in elementary/high school, and whom I had so much fun with.
But no one will want to go to India because it’s the BDE’s (who have made it very clear they don’t want others on their trip) and the China trip isn’t really planned yet, but I hope more people choose China. I want California for myself with a couple of others from my class and the cool guys from EDE.

Also, I’ve been thinking about going to Ireland after my term ends in Glasgow. I’ll be done the 28th of May already, and I’ve sublet my apartment until the end of June. And I might as well take advantage of being in the UK, right? Beautiful country, so I might take a month out of my schedule to travel around. Martin probably won’t be able to come since he has exams, but maybe we can meet up during the last week. I wouldn’t mind travelling around by my own, but maybe one of the others going to Glasgow will want to go..

So it looks like I’ll be spending a lot of money on travel this year. I don’t mind, though, since I’ve got a large savings account and I have to spend the money eventually. I’m one of those people who hoards money and then is very stingy about spending them. Even if it’s necessary; like when I got my new computer, it made me flinch to see the money coming out of my account. I almost considered not buying a new one, just to save the money. Pssh.

I’m really excited – it looks like this year is going to be really interesting. :) I’m also a bit happy that there’s lots of stuff for me, and not necessarily for me and … my family, my friends, Martin. Just me. It’s going to be great.

I ate’nt dead.

I’ve been sick since before Christmas and I’m still not quite up-to-speed yet. It’s sucked donkey balls, but there hasn’t been a lot to do about it, you know? It meant that my project group had to finish the last report without me, that I stayed at dad’s place until two days ago (nice being pampered, dull watching the same TV shows every day because my yarn was at home), that I didn’t get a whole lot out of New Year’s Eve (though I suspect that particular night was the cause of my bad case of the flu), that I’ve used more tissue paper than most people go through in a year, that I’m behind on a whole lot of stuff… but I’m trying not to take it too seriously; people can hardly demand I do anything when I’m running a fever so hot I’m steaming my pj’s!

I had originally written up another post explaining my absence, but after a read-through I realised it was so incredibly bitter and whiney that there was no way I was making that public. I barely wanted to read it myself! I had hoped I’d have pictures of something before I sat down to update the blog, but I’ve been awful at taking pictures this season. Of course, some of that has to do with being really sick, but some of it has just been pure laziness.

I haven’t gotten to show you the snow in Denmark! Usually we only get an inch or two, but this year… man. FEET of it! It’s been wonderful (at least while I’m inside). Of course, Denmark being what it is, the first four inches caught us completely off-guard and most transportation stopped. Just stopped. For a couple of days while people figured out how to navigate this great white mass of ice, most public transportation ran with many delays (if it ran at all) and it took ages to drive on the highways. It would be amusing if you weren’t in it a lot of the time, driving around to the next family member on the list.

I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions; I always forget them a couple of days later and they never amount to anything. I have, however, been reflecting on the past year:

I started therapy. It was scary and I considered quitting a couple of times until I got my goals straight. It was an interesting experience, but I can’t say I’m in a hurry to get back to it. I have to go back for another kind of therapy, which I may or may not share on the blog. It’s quite a lot more intimate and personal than the anxiety, though it’s interlinked and the first therapy sessions sparked the drive to finally contact someone about the Other Thing. I don’t often use the exercises that I got in group therapy, though it might be a good idea to pull them out soon and take a look at them. I got them for a reason, and I’m not magically “cured” just because the sessions are over. That’s definitely something I need to work on in the new year.

My brother turned 18. This was monumentous for me.

Though we don’t talk often, we’re incredibly close. I miss him when I’m at home and I wish we got to see each other more often. He’s getting older now, grown-up-like, and I’m not really sure what to do about it. I can see that he’s become a very confident, clever, resourceful young man and it freaks me out. I do sometimes wish he would find someone who loves him (I could imagine he was very popular with the ladies – totally unbiased of course) and when that day comes I hope I won’t threaten the poor girl to treat him right or I’ll bury her in my back yard. I’ve re-written this paragraph a couple of times, and I guess I can only say he’s my most favourite person and I hope he’s happy forever.

I also got to travel a bit in the past year – first to London with my dad, which I think was a great trip for just the two of us.

Me in Loop. I loved that shop, and I hope I can go back if we ever go to London while in Glasgow. I also hope I can go back with dad some day; we didn’t get to see all the things we wanted (Madame Tussaud’s, the Tower, the inside of the Chelsea mega-shop at Stamford Bridge…) and the weather wasn’t awesome. The food, however, was amazing! I’ll definitely be swinging by a few cupcake places again if I go back…

I also got to go to Sardinia with dad and little bro. It would have been an amazing trip if my anxiety hadn’t blown up on me.

Regardless, it was a nice trip and I’d go back there too. There’s lots more to see on the little island. I’ve heard there are some nature parks that are gorgeous, and I’d love to see those. There’s also lots of outdoorsy things to do, which makes me think that it would also be a place Martin would love to go. I read somewhere that biking and trekking is pretty popular there.

I’ve been looking through some of my Flickr pictures for this post, and it struck me that my hair colour hasn’t changed that much. I got it dyed dark brown at the beginning of the year, and then only the style varied. I’m usually one for playing with my hair colour as much as colour and budget allows, but for 2010 I’m going to try something brand-new: my own, natural hair colour. I’ve been thinking about the best ways to go about it, and ultimately I’d like it best if I could just chop off my hair where the horrible border is right now – except that would leave me with a couple of inches of hair, and that would be my shortest ever. I wouldn’t mind going back to short hair, and I’ve toyed with the idea of a really short haircut before, but I’m still worried I don’t have the face to pull it off - that I’ll look too much like a boy. But I guess I won’t really know anything until I visit my hair dresser – I’m thinking I’ll go in a week or two, just before I leave, in case it’s awful and creeps Martin out. ;)

I’ve also realised that I’ve been lazy this past year. Well; I don’t know if I’d call it lazy, but the steam had definitely gone out of me in 2009. I’ve barely taken any pictures, barely knit anything, barely read any books. I haven’t finished most of the things I’ve started. I haven’t really gone anywhere of my own idea. It’s been a tough year, I think.

Anyway. I hope 2010 brings more steam and more funk; more reading, more knitting, more adventures outside of my apartment. I want to be better at actually doing the stuff I think about, instead of just going “yeah, one day”. On that note, I should probably get started on studying for my exam – it’s Monday, and while I’m really not bothered either way, it would probably do me well to touch up on some of the theory. Wish me luck! And I hope 2010 is great for you, too.

As a knit-blogger (or any kind of blogger that prefers well-lit environments) winter is a difficult time to show off your knitting. Even today, a somewhat clear day with a bit of sun, photos turn out murky and with a yellow tinge from the overhead lamp. Even by the window! Hopefully, once the project is over and done with, there will be some clear days to show off (and model) the finished objects.

Here’s where I am with Audrey. See how the yarn fuzzes? I don’t know if I’d call it pilling; it comes off easily in small tufts of black fuzz. My only concern is that the whole cardigan might look worn before I even get to wear it! My swatch cleared up a bit after I’d washed it (all the loose fibers come off in the water) but… hmm. I don’t know. I’ll keep knitting, it’ll be a really cute cardigan when it’s done, and I’ll just be happy that the yarn is black – that fuzziness would show up a whole lot better had it been a cream or pastel yarn!

My mind feels totally blank today – I have to redo most of my media production material (a poster and two flyers) and I don’t want to. Not as in “I don’t feel up for it, I’d rather knit” – it’s “I. don’t. want. to”. It’s not a secret that marketing and media production are my least favourite subjects at school, but marketing is under control now and media… making posters and flyers doesn’t appeal to me at all. Websites are fun, photo manipulation/retouching is interesting and useful, but this…? Doesn’t interest me at all. That makes it really hard to motivate myself – my only motivation is that I’ll be letting my group down if I don’t work on it soon. I know it can’t all be fun and games all the time, but I am so not motivated for this that just thinking about it is making me angry. The thing is… I can write, no problem. But this media thing… I don’t feel inspired for it. I don’t know how to sell this product. I don’t really care that we do sell this product. I have group members that are a lot more talented than me, and why spend hours making something when they’re going to pick it apart anyway? And it’s not in a bad way, they just “see” these things better than I do. It’s just not my thing.

Oh well. I’m planning dinner for this week, that always cheers me up a bit. Nothing like good food to put a smile on your face! :) So far I have spicy chicken pitas, salmon lasagna, salmon with potatoes and a parsley sauce, home-made burgers, and… I thought there was something more. Hmm. I need another dish to complete this week; the school’s Christmas party is on Friday so we’ll be eating there. Free dinner, at least for me!

All this talk of food has made me hungry.. Must go raid fridge.

I think the word “Ugh.” correctly describes how I’m feeling at the moment. I went to a Christmas party last night with work, drank too much soda (barely touched the alcohol) and I think the ribs we got were … off. I don’t know how to burp (seriously) unless I throw up, which means I can’t get the fizz out of my system like regular people. Drinking too much soda therefore makes me feel ill (like there’s a bubble of fizz inside my chest waiting to burst), it hurts and I get the hiccups (which make me feel worse). It was a nice evening but I got home way too late to get up early and continue on the stupid, soul-sucking, asshat project.

My boss got really drunk and really weird (we have him on video tucking some of the workers into bed at a co-worker’s apartment, for some odd reason, and then waving a sword around) though he told me he thought I was a good worker, he was sad I was leaving and he hoped I would come back to work once I return from Scotland, even if there wasn’t a position for me. The guy I usually work with on Friday’s called me an anorexia victim, which hurt me a lot more than I thought it would. I wound up trying not to sob in the bathroom and avoided him all night. I think it was just as much feeling hurt as it was the shock that it hurt me so much. He knows I’ve been teased, accused and glared at, especially when I was younger, and I can’t believe he said that to me. He generally has a hard language, makes a lot of fun of people and thinks the world of himself, but I didn’t know he felt that bad about himself to call other people names for no reason. He also called our second-in-command “four eyes” because she wears glasses.

I did end up having a good time with a girl who switched to another store closer to her home, and I hope I can go out with her again. She’s really, really nice; a bit of an airhead, but so incredibly sweet and caring and fun. She came to find me in the bathroom and squeezed into the cubicle with me. We’re about the same body size and weight, so she could sympathise.

Since I finished my one and only piece of Christmas knitting, and since I’ve run out of KSH for my most luxurious Swallowtail (I swear it exists), I cast on for something else - Audrey in Unst from Twist Collective. I’m using a merino-silk-bamboo blend I got a while ago. I got it really cheap, about a third of the original price, because it was being discontinued. Turns out it’s the perfect gauge for this cute cardigan. I’m almost done with the twisted ribbing, but my. gods. does that take a long time.

The yarn is really nice and soft, but it sheds like mad. My palms look like Chewbacca after working only a couple of rows, and I can’t imagine this yarn would be good for any textured pieces. The surface becomes quite blurry after a while.

I’ll be interested to see how the upper part of this cardigan works out; it’s my first cardigan using this method of construction, and I’m looking forward to doing the top-down set-in sleeves. I also look forward to doing a real button band. I think I’ll be making mine longer; the Danish climate rarely offers weather appropriate for short cardigans with 3/4 sleeves. I have enough yarn for it.

I have a partial skein of KSH in the mail; a really lovely Danish Raveler had half a skein of that particular colour in her stash and is sending it to me for free! She didn’t want anything in return, she was just glad to help. I think I’ll be sending her a Christmas card. :) I can’t wait to finish the Swallowtail; hopefully we’ll be getting some decent, frosty weather soon (what is up with the mildness and the rain?) so I can wrap myself up in it. Mmmm.

Oh, and the watch for Martin was a huge hit. A couple of days after his birthday he went around singing “Oh I’m so cool, look at my new watch, it’s super cool, it’s the most awesome watch in the world..” and so on. One night he came up, switched all the lights off before I could react, and stuck his wrist in my face. The sudden darkness made it hard for my eyes to focus, and he impatiently insisted that I look. at. the. watch.

The hands glow in the dark. Oh, wonder!

I love the first of December. It’s like there’s this invisible, magical … glow to everything. I love it even more now because it’s Martin’s birthday - even though it’s a Tuesday we slept in and I made scrambled eggs, sausage, toast and juice for breakfast (oh, the benefits of being students in project-mode!). It was Martin’s request, along with lots of cupcakes to bring to work.

Yesterday was a blur; I had to get Martin out of the door as fast as possible without looking myself like I was about to get up. I had to go to Århus to get his birthday present – a Seiko watch, which was from me, his mum and her boyfriend, and his grandma. We’d seen it a month or two ago when we happened to be in Århus. He got the model noted down, but then lost the card and forgot the number. I managed to track it down, but when I was in Århus to pick it up they didn’t have any left. Of course. So they had to order it for me, and in my hurry to catch the next train I forgot to ask when they’d get it in! So last week I called and e-mailed lots of different people to somehow patch me through to whoever was responsible for that department in the store. Luckily it came home in time and I think it’s gorgeous. It’s very “him”.

After I’d picked up the watch I had to grocery shop, take the train home, go for a meeting at school, back home to bake lots of cupcakes (from this recipe), make dinner, eat dinner, go bellydancing, come home and finish up some stuff for the project… So a looong day. I quite enjoyed the baking, though; while in Århus I went to a specialty shop (Vom Fass) that sells oils, vinegars and liquors. I got 100 ml of raspberry and apple vinegar, mainly for baking purposes. It’s good! It’s not as distinct and most people wouldn’t notice it, I bet, but there’s a faint taste of berry to the chocolate cakes. I wish I could go back and sample all the oils. They had some really interesting ones.

I managed to finish two things today and not photograph any of them. I finished my first and only piece of Christmas knitting for this year (it involves the yarn I bought recently, but I can’t share in case someone reads this blog…) and… I sewed the buttons on my Moch Cardigan! Yes! I feel kind of ridiculous. I didn’t sew them on until now because I was afraid it’d look weird on me when it was done. So better to just stuff it away and hope it’d fix itself, right? Well, I figured since I was already sewing in the ends of aforementioned Christmas knitting, I could sew on the buttons… And you know? It’s cute. It’s actually really cute. It’s a bit on the short side, I’d like it an ince or two longer, and I’d like the button placket to cover more of my bust, but it’s wearable. Of course, now it’s too cold to wear a cropped, open, short-sleeved cardigan. I think I might wear it tonight when we’re going out to dinner with Martin’s dad’s family.

Martin’s gone to a jeweller’s to get his watch taken in so he can wear it tonight. I’m feeling like I got my knitting mojo back, though I don’t want to knit anything of the stuff on my needles and don’t want to pay for the patterns I want to knit, and I’ve run out of KSH for my most luxurious Swallowtail (which I also haven’t shown you) and FIL is picking us up in two hours. What to do with the time? Perhaps Ravelry….

So I’m sitting here, working on the project (and spontaneously jotting down novel ideas, wouldn’t you know) when I came across Attic24. Long story short, I’ve suddenly got a desire to eat my way through Glasgow. Or Scotland, or the UK, or whichever you prefer.

I want to eat fish and chips. I want to know what bridies and pasties are (pasties brought up quite an interesting search result, and while I’m sure some of them out there are edible, they’re probably not sold in bakeries). I want to try Scottish pancakes and real scones. I’m not sure I want to try haggis but I’d like to see it, at least. I want to try meat pies and curry dishes. I also want to try those puddings you (for some odd reason) fry or boil. The square sausages look fun.

I want to try those Hershey kisses that everyone’s on about. And those cream eggs that come out around Easter? I want to try those as well. Any kind of British candy, really. And I want to see what the deal about marmite is. (Why do you eat it? What do you eat it with?) Hot toddy might be fun, too. I’m not a big fan of beer, it makes me feel weird (not the drunk kind of weird, the “uuurgh my stomach” kind of weird) but I might taste some, just because.

Did I leave anything out?

Gods, I’ll be spending all my money on food and yarn. Perhaps I’ll manage to gain some weight while I’m at it!