Inspirasjon

Well I made it through the hard theory reading, or rather I read carefully and selectively enough to be able to figure out how to use the theory and still have a relaxing weekend. Today at work I tackled the part of the article dealing with the parergon first, and it was relatively fast and painless. I'm closing in on finishing the revisions, and should be ready to send them off by the end of the day on Wednesday, which was what I had scheduled for myself.

Over the weekend Aftenposten did a piece on a house here on Nesodden. I've never seen it, but it's quite close to where we live. I was so flipping impressed and inspired that I have to link to the article. A) the house was built with all recycled material, B) it is simple and classic in both exterior and interior design, C), the owners did nearly all the work themselves, and D) one of the owners is the author of a Norwegian cookbook on legumes--a book that I simply must acquire. Basically, a part of me wants to be Lena Camilla Jensen. I'm green (well, a subtle celadon) with envy.

On Sunday we took E to the movies for the first time ever! It was such a fun day. We went in to Oslo to watch Knerten at the Colosseum theater. It's a spectacular building, and the movie was very fun and retro. It's an adaptation of beloved children's author Anne-Cath Vestly's books about Lillebror and his fantasy friend, Knerten (a stick). The premise is that his parents go a little crazy and give up their life in town for a ramshackle farm house in the middle of no where (my most favorite fantasy). The film also has an exceptionally high quotient of fantastic knitwear. Checkout Lillebror's sweater here:

So darned cute. I think it's inspired by Krokbragd weaving patterns (I just googled "krogbragd" and found this blog describing the technique, for those who don't didn't grow up with a tapestry weaver for a mother like me).

Oh. And on a less inspiring note, I guess I should mention that I knit two right mittens. Moreover, I felted them before I discovered the mistake. The felting turned out fabulous (I can highly recommend Vamsegarn and grønnsåpe--much better than the result from this spring using Fritidsgarn and regular laundry detergent), but I need to knit two left mittens now. Erk.

Opplysning

I finally picked up a book that I had bought back in January. It's called The Cultural Construction of Norden, and after having read just the introductory chapter I feel like I have reached a whole new understanding of how and why the Scandinavian countries are different from the rest of the world. The authors of the book base the difference in the pragmatic way that Enlightenment thought was received. I'm so glad I've been reading my Holberg this past year, since the Enlightenment is such a key period in the development of Nordic cultural identity.

The question of cultural constructs (of identity, of nation, etc.) has really been on my mind this past week. I was grappling with it one insomniac early morning when I banged out four pages of the introduction to my book (the first real start on the project), and it was at the center of the inspiring lecture by Julia Kristeva (yes, really!) that I attended on Friday. Kristeva was trying to argue for an effective response to fundamentalism (of all kinds) based on particularly European traditions of multi-lingualism, which creates an inherent self-questioning. Somehow this tradition needs to be harnessed, according to Kristeva, in order to counteract the totalitarian discourses of fundamentalism.

So it's a good thing that I'm working on an incredibly mindless knitting project:

Acres of plain stockinette and garter stitch in unbleached linen. If I have learned anything in this year of knitting sweaters, it's that I really enjoy the plainest possible knitting. It's not that I can't do the fancy stuff. I know that I can. I just don't find it very enjoyable, and get much more satisfaction out of knitting things that are quick and easy. I do included stranded knitting in the "easy" category, despite the fact that I've only done one stranded sweater and 1 1/2 stranded stockings this year:
Hmm. I think I'd better get that second sock finished before ski season starts!

I think the reason I like easy knitting is that it allows me to think about other things (like identity construction) in a meditative way.

Random Roundup: three things I found on the blogs I frequent that really appeal to me:

1. I found this really subtle and elegant home tour on Apartment Therapy. This is just the kind of subdued, eclectic, and quirky interior that I wish I could pull together. I love that the person who lives there suggesting making a list of the words that describe your design style/aspirations, then trying to pare that list down to just two words, and using those as a guiding principle.
   
2. I also found lots to like in Soule Mama's home tour on Indie Fixx for almost opposite reasons. It's much funkier and more colorful, but still edited and carefully thought out. It's more stuff than I want in my life, but I really like the functionality of each little corner.
3. Med pinner reminded me of a Norwegian artist whose work I had first seen in a lecture last fall, Kari, Steilhaug. She works a lot with knitting in her art, sometimes using and unraveling bales of used handknit sweaters, sometimes knitting covers for boulders, and sometimes, as in her recent piece, "De ufullendte," in this year's Statens Høstutstilling, compiling other people's unfinished objects and the stories behind them.

Unfortunately, all this aesthetic and intellectual input has quite literally made my brain hurt. I've had a headache since Friday morning. Three days (I'm writing this on Sunday morning, even though Blogger thinks it's still only Saturday) is a bit much. It sucks.

Interiør

One of the odd twists in our plan to move to Norway is that we know exactly where we will be moving. When he crazily upped stakes and move to the US to be with me, KE wisely kept the duplex that he designed on a beautiful wooded lot on the Oslofjord. So, nearly all my fantasies and planning have been directed toward what that place is going to look like as not only "his house" but also "our home."

The unit we will live in will be tight for three people. The two bedrooms are miniscule. The open kitchen and living room are spacious, with cathedral ceilings and tons of natural light, but a little awkward (there's a chunk of a corner taken out where a dining area should be...). It is exceptionally hard not to get grand ideas for remodeling.

I wanted to be an architect as a teenager. I have dreamed my whole life of designing my own home (or even more of renovating a ramshackle old house with "great bones"), so it is hard to process the idea of moving into someone else's space (we only lived together there for 6 months before coming here, so it has yet to feel like "my" house too). Back then KE freaked out when I alphabetized his books, so I sometimes dread what will happen when I want to paint the walls. Yet at the same time he says he realizes it is important for me to make my mark and feel that it is my home too. Sometimes I feel oddly un-emancipated, like a mail order bride or something. And why I should become so obsessed with decorating when I'm all about saving money is a little troubling. I've wanted an aesthetically pleasing home for years, but have always been too transitional and too cheap to commit to really decorating, buying quality furniture, or even just nesting like normal people do. I guess I have been perching rather than nesting for my entire adult life.

So now I really am gearing up to nest. I want a home that is aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and inviting, super space-efficient, and ecologically responsible. Since I have decided to sell nearly everything here in the US, that means starting over with the basics. I've been combing the resale sites and researching products in Norway and have found a few things:

• I've just discovered Jensen mattresses while reading the raging debates over Hästens mattresses from Sweden on apartmenttherapy.com. Norwegian produced Jensen mattresses are apparently equally comfortable and chemical free, but for a more reasonable price than their Swedish counterparts.

• We've both decided that we really like the lovely natural sheepskins that are so common in Norway (often for babies to sleep on). The ancient breeds have amazingly colorful wool, and would be perfect on the backs of the leather chairs that my sister-in-law is keeping for us (I know that's a lot of dead animal, and probably gruesome for some, but I kind of dig the whole barbarian thing).

• And then, since the floors are tiled, we'll need rugs. I sort of thought I'd want "real" oriental carpets of some kind, but then I found Ledaal, a Norwegian company that makes beautifully simple rugs that are much more minimalist (and thus much more soothing to my addled brain), and now I'm thinking that's the way to go.
  

Oh, and did I mention that I want to paint the exterior of the house black?