Literally Touring Countries and Continents

Writing a blog and visiting the blogs of readers can hold many unexpected surprises. It literally leads to new literary ventures and adventures. I would compare it to opening doors to unknown worlds, holding secrets yet unknown. It is a bit like working freeform - patterns and yarns fall into place in structures one would consciously never have planned before the yarn went into this or that direction.

Maybe I was always aware of the popular saying that there are 'so many books and so little time' because I cannot think of a day I did not read at all.  When I was much younger, in a pre-blog and pre-Internet time, my reading mainstay were books written in English by English, Australian and American authors, as well as books in German, this being followed by a distant second from ROW - the rest of the world.

Sometimes authors from other continents and countries caught my attention in the bookstores I frequented or in magazines I read regularly. And it was always a very enriching first experience of 'discovering' authors for myself, old and new, until finally the map of my reads showed a bit more of a global balance.

In January 2013 I chanced upon the lovely blog of Vibeke from Norway "A Butterfly in my Hair". This sparked my interest in more contemporary Norwegian literature, quasi on top of those famous Norwegian authors of old we had read in school and the inevitable all-Scandinavian specialty of crime stories.

 
Novelist Per Petterson was the first author I chose, reading his book "Out Stealing Horses" - a novel having won an incredible array of awards. I was sad to put the book down after I had read it - as if it held a golden bowl of beautiful phrases and story lines that had suddenly come to an end - but they will linger on in my memory for quite a while.

Per Petterson is a famous writer, his books are translated into 60 languages and his work has won many distinguished awards and prices. As I said: so many books, and such little time... But please feel free to add your favorite book in the comments box at the end of this post!

This post is for Vibeke and her beautiful blog, generously introducing so many artists from countries around the world.

Speaking of Norway - don't we associate cold and long winters with Scandinavian countries? And long summers with short nights, and the further North we travel the longer the days until the sun never sets...

The above shown muffs in my No Chill series are useful against winter chills. Two square modules are crocheted together - you might recognize the POP blanket pattern?

A warm fleece-type fabric is cut to size and sewn together, forming a tube and sewn invisibly into the muff as a liner, making it reversable. Just before closing the last corner, I stuffed Scottish sheep fleece into the space between liner and knitted sleeve. Finally I added the the ribbed ends on either side (k2, p2) as cuffs, finishing the edge with a crocheted picot stitch. [Some muffs are for sale - please contact me via e-mail].

No Chill Three - A Muff Bag for the Little Baroness

A double-purpose bag for The Little Baroness:
Closing one end with a doubled button and
inserting the Lucet-woven cord at the other
end into the gaps of the knitted fabric - a
perfect little bag for essentials (second picture)
Open the button and run the cord through gaps at
both ends - and you can hang the muff around
your neck, keeping your hands snug and warm
inside (first picture).
This is the third muff in the No Chill Series.


 

No Chill Two

Cold temperatures and whistling winds
call for warm accessories.
Muffs are my personal favorite! The word comes from muffula (fur mitten). This muff is made in brioche stitch with three different handspun yarns, knit in the round. I handstitched some tulle into the muff for an additional accent of fluffiness. The separate neckband cord is luceted, run through the muff as needed and tied behind the neck. I did not attach it so the muff can be used without it as well.

These little muffs are lovingly called "Staucherle" (meaning to push up without rolling in the material first, a wave-like effect) or Vorderärmel (front sleeves) in the German Swabian dialect. Pulswärmer (pulse warmer) was another word for a short wristlet. My great-grandmother also used to cut off the top part of worn-out woolen stockings (at the end of the 18th century), which usually was in much better condition as the rest of the handknit woolen stocking. She then crocheted or embroidered a nice edge around at both ends, completing the rounds with a yarn-over knit-together pattern and a kitchner-type bind-off, wove an

I-cord or even a ribbon through the holes and wore these instant Staucherle as elongated muffs or wrist-to-elbow warmers. They were worn either over the sleeves of a dress or under them, often also under a socalled "Kittelschürze", an apron-type cotton dress worn for work. Today's versions have almost always short sleeves or are sleeveless. In French, a muff is called un manchon.
No Chill Series:
One, Two, Three

No Chill One

A new project: I finally found the very yarn I had envisioned: Sari Silk Ribbon. Justification is the word - I can buy this skein of the most colorful Indian Sari Ribbon because I did not buy... whatever - yarn addicts will understand!
I started last night trying out the basic shape of the No Chill One project. The ribbon is so beautiful, I could not bear having it tied down and knotted up by using anything but the largest needle size I possess: 25mm! Unwieldy, to be sure, but the result is beautiful and achieved quickly as an extra bonus. Oh, do I wish I had bought more skeins - I could not only make this project but a colorful vest in just one sitting...