"Pu-ha"

...as my Danish friend frequently says. I take it to mean "phew." Looks like I made it through the first week of the term. I was unusually stressed out, but the decision to withdraw from a seminar I had been slated to speak at in March really helped. I also took care of a bunch of little tasks, which also always helps. I attended two NOR1300 lectures on Henrik Wergeland. It was certainly fun to be in the position of being a student again, and I do think it has helped me prepare for my first group class meeting on Monday. But I have a ton of work ahead of me to make that group class work.

I have spent a lot of time on the ferry studying my calendar, actually, trying to see how I'm going to get everything done, and with the removal of that March seminar everything suddenly seems sane and do-able again. I'm sure my fellow commuters think I'm incredibly anal as I write and erase and highlight manically in my calendar.

Last night I tried on the Miss Honeychurch raglan pullover, since I made it down to past the underarms. It looks like it's going to be a good fit. I started knitting one of the arms too, just to see how it looks. I love that the pattern has you pick up stitches from the underarm rather than leaving a seam to sew. In fact, I am starting to really, really love this pattern. It is so logical, and all the elements fit together so nicely. It's incredibly addictive to knit, especially now that I have the cables to work on the side seams. It's so tempting to knit "just one more" cable repeat. Miss Honeychurch is, in other words, the knitter's version of crack. I'm trying to force myself not to knit this evening, just to give my wrists a rest (they're aching a bit).

I forgot to mention that E has been accepted into the first grade at the Waldorf school starting in August! That was a really fast turn around. The great thing is that he'll technically be in first grade, but their first grade is held in the preschool rather than the grade school, so it's a smoother transition. I think that's ideal for a December kid like E. The Waldorf school has 3 "feeder" preschools to choose from, and E has a friend in two of them, so we're obviously hoping he'll get into one of those two classes (we were asked to list our preferences on the acceptance form). It will be really exciting to see which one he gets. I hope this decision to go the Waldorf route turns out to be a good one for E. I feel such a crushing responsibility not to screw him up for life in choosing what grade school to send him to. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when he hits college age!

One more thing that's a relief: I have finally made a dentist appointment for myself. I was utterly shocked when I realized that I haven't been to the dentist since before I met KE!! That's coming up on seven years. How can it have been seven whole years since I had a check up?!

Bærestykker

Look! Here it is on the blocking mat, and here it is below, on me:

There's lots of fiddly things I'm not totally happy with, but over all it is a pretty nice pullover, and I really enjoyed knitting the yoke. I could barely put it down. Kaos was right about the stranding not looking good with the alpaca yarn, but at this point I don't care--it's just a kick around sweater any way.

Here's another yoke:
This is the first shot of Miss Honeychurch in progress, starting from the neckline of course. So far I really like it, but as I mentioned in the last post I have no idea whether I'll end up having enough yarn.

Today at work I banged out a really rough draft of the intro to the cabin book. It felt great to get some thing concrete done on it. I also spent a bit of time fantasizing about whether this might be a good thing for me to do when my fellowship runs out.

Nytt håp

I finished the fair isle yoke pullover after a marathon knitting session on Sunday. It's still on the mat undergoing a vigorous blocking, and I won't be at home during daylight to photograph anything for the rest of the week (pesky job), so pictures will have to wait. I'm dying to see if the blocking will change the negative ease to positive. Otherwise I'm going to be very self conscious about my bosom every time I wear the pullover. There's tons of yarn left from the yoke pattern. That will be more than enough for a baby blanket for KE's cousin's baby if I can work out the crochet pattern I've been looking at. I'm a bit rusty!

The plan was to deconstruct the black thrift store sweater after work, but it isn't dry yet so I was forced (forced, I tell you) to start knitting Miss Honeychurch with the thrifted green cotton yarn. I had planned on knitting a large, but then I discovered that the neck opening would be way too big, so I ripped out the two inches I had and cast on for a medium instead. I figure I can just increase up to the number of stitches needed for the large at the bust. I feel like I have so much more control over the shaping when doing a top down raglan. I may add some waist shaping, though I'll have to look more closely at the way the increases are written in the pattern, since it's designed to be a kind of a-line shape. I think I got about 4 inches of the yoke done with the first skein of yarn. I really have no idea whether I'll have enough to complete it, but that's apparently part of the challenge of upcycling. It is possible to calculate the yardage, of course, but we don't have a scale that will work for that. Since the color and yarn are so evocative of spring (and since I'm taking a big risk on the yardage) I've called it "hope springs eternal" on my Ravelry project page. Can't help dreaming about spring and summer here in the ice and snow of a Norwegian January.

As for the black thrift sweater, I'm pretty sure I'm going to make a Norah Gaughan oversized guernsey pullover (Ravelry link) out of the yarn I harvest from it. It will be something like the sixth or seventh time I've knitted the pattern over the past 20 years. It's the only sweater I've ever worn out, and I have three times had it virtually ripped off my body by someone close to me who coveted it (hence the multiple versions)!

I'm happy to report that work was fun today, even the onerous parts. So I think I must be over last week's pity party and back on track.

Uten tittel, tom for ideer

Yesterday I had my first meeting with my mentor. It was great, and it seems like he didn't feel it was a waste of his time. I asked him about his own experience and it was interesting to hear how much emphasis he placed on the importance of understanding Norwegian culture. I think he'll be a great sounding board for understanding the cultural differences behind the conflicts and frustrations that arise. He's also really funny and super competent in his field. Definitely someone to emulate!

Having said that, I think I'm at a low point in terms of my job. It had to come some time. I've been really put out about the huge amount of work teaching the NOR1300 break out group is going to entail. I don't see how I'm going to get anything done on the book. I was feeling sort of pouty, thinking that I'm being overworked. I finally got the template for calculating my 25% of non-research work hours. I was shocked and dismayed to find how much of what I have done (and been asked to do) does not even count! According to the template I'm actually under the number of hours for teaching and administration. I'm going to be asking a bunch of people about this over the next few weeks--presumably there are ways of reporting these things (like writing grade justifications, giving a lecture at the Faglig-pedagogisk day, etc.).

My break from knitting is helping my hands. Anxious to start up on the fair isle yoke pullover, though. Only a little more to go before I can put it together and start on the fun part, i.e. the yoke itself.

I finished unraveling the green cotton sweater yesterday morning and knitted a little swatch for Miss Honeychurch yesterday afternoon. I'm pretty sure it's going to work. I've changed my mind and am going to do the body first after the yoke. I didn't unravel the yarn from the part where the sleeve openings were cut. It looks like there's approximately 1 meter of yarn for each row there. I'll save it for a worst case scenario if I run out of yarn on the sleeves.

I popped into the Majorstuen Fretex store yesterday when I had 10 minutes to kill before my mentoring meeting, and lo and behold I found what is practically the holy grail: a black, 100% shetland wool, DK weight, men's XL cabled sweater with turtleneck! It was an acceptable (for Norway) price: 169 NOK (29.50 USD!). The seams are all great and I saw no damage. I have it stashed in the freezer for the next 3 days on the off chance it contains moth eggs, since it is wool after all, and I'll wash it before I start unraveling. I don't have a particular project in mind, and it's so handsome that KE might just claim it as is, once he sees it.

Today I'm taking some time off from work to go with KE to choose tiles for our kitchen. I'm so excited! Once those are up then he'll be able to install the upper cabinets. Can't wait!!! We've been "in progress" for so long that I can't remember what it's like to have a normal kitchen.

Oh, one other thing: last night I composed a draft of the letter we have to write in support of our application to the Waldorf preschool. KE looked it over, liked it a lot and found no mistakes! I think that's the first time I've ever written an entirely mistake-free and totally idiomatic document in Norwegian. I've never had to write so much in Norwegian as in this past year, and I think it has really helped.

Bekymringer

I overdid it. Over the course of three days I knit a cute little pair of ribbed DK-weight long johns for E, and now my hands are really aching. I didn't knit at all yesterday, though I did spend a little time working on frogging the thrifted cotton sweater. Add to that the fact that I think I'm coming down with a cold, and the fact that I'm in freak-out mode about the fact that teaching starts next week, and the fact that I have my period. Needless to say, I'm fretting.

On the teaching thing: I agreed right before Christmas to lead a breakout group for our big introductory course, NOR1300, which is a survey of Norwegian literature from 1800-2000. Since then I have received no information whatsoever. I don't even know where the class will meet or how often! I contacted the main instructor for the course and she never responded to my email, despite the fact that her office is right across the hall from mine. At our winter party last week I talked to another instructor for the course about it and we corralled her. She agreed to call a meeting, which will be taking place today. It turns out there isn't even agreement among the people who have taught this before over what the purpose of the breakout group actually is. D'oh. I'll be very curious the see what comes out of this meeting.

On contemporary literature: Last night we watched an interview with Karl Ove Knausgård, who has written a multivolume work of fiction about the intimate details of his life, entitled Min kamp. I wish I hadn't been in such bad shape (I could barely stay awake), as we had the beginnings of a really interesting discussion going. KE responded really positively to Knausgård's project, and felt that it touched on a lot of what he is interested in doing in his art. I on the other hand was very put off. I'm so sick of the narrowly focused narcissism of Norwegian literature of the past 20 years. Not having read the books yet, I can't help but think that Min kamp (volumes 1-6) is just taking the trend to its utmost extreme. I'm thinking I want to start (re)reading authors like Karen Blixen, Italo Calvino, and Jorge Luis Borges. If I were to start writing fiction, I think I would like to work in response to them, rather than to what's going on right now. I like their firm grasp on the artificiality of both fiction and reality, their use of the fantastical, and the parable-like qualities of some of their work. They are on the one hand technical masters of narrative, but on the other hand supremely clear and even simple in their story telling.

On E's school plans: We received notification that E was scheduled to start public school this coming August. We don't think he's ready, so we applied to delay a year. Intellectually and language-wise I'm sure he's ready, but not socially, and certainly not in terms of independence and the ability to do things on his own. It's really a bummer, as he's in a great preschool group of the oldest kids, and all the other kids in his group will be starting school. Unfortunately, they'll all be going to a different school than the one that E is slated to go to, because of where they live. So even though we have been planning to send him to the same preschool next year, none of his friends from this year would be there. Plus they are relocating and the group will be much bigger.

Yesterday when we had E's neighbor friend over for a visit it dawned on me that the solution really might just be to try to get him into the local Steiner school, where this boy goes. We really like his parents and spent quite a bit of time talking to them about the pros and cons. For one thing, the people we've met since moving back whom we like are all connected to the Steiner school. The school is in walking distance along a really nice, quiet (and relatively flat) road. The public school is right at the center of the most congested area on Nesodden, and there's massive construction going on. Even though the distance is about the same, it would be a much more chaotic experience. We really like the fact that the Steiner school demands more parental involvement. Since we're so anti-social, we really need that kind of structure. We also really like the focus on creativity and independent thinking. We don't like the "woo" aspect, but according to our friends it doesn't have to play a really big role in the child's experience. C went to Steiner school himself, and seems to have more or less just ignored the woo.

We've been thinking about this off and on for the past year, but yesterday I feel like we really settled on our answer. We're definitely going to apply. We realized that no matter what (A. continue at the current preschool, B. start public school, C. switch to the Steiner preschool) E is going to have to go through yet another transition in August. With the Steiner preschool, he would be with the same kids he would start grade school with, which is a definite plus. Staying where he is, but with a whole new set of kids who he ultimately wouldn't be going to grade school seems like a much worse option, and just throwing him into the chaos of the big public grade school when he's anywhere from 6 months to a year younger than all the other kids seems like a terrible choice.

gjenvinning

What is this, you ask? Some new knitting? Well, actually, no. This is a close up of the first thrift sweater I have bought for the purpose of yarn harvesting. It turns out to be a hand knit cotton sweater in a soft sage green. It's definitely 100% cotton, based on the result of my burn test.

I trekked all the way out to the Fretex on the east side of Oslo to look for sweaters I could use. There was a relatively decent selection--at least much better than any place else I've found in Oslo, but nothing compared to what's available in the U.S. I paid 149 NOK, which is about 17 dollars. Not exactly thrift store pricing! I'm definitely building in some thrift store time in April when I'm in Seattle.

I settled on this one even though it is cotton because I loved the color of the yarn and figured it would be easier to deconstruct a handknit than a machine knit. I liked the pattern so much I briefly toyed with the idea of not unraveling it--that is until I tried it on:

Lovely as the guernsey pattern is, you really can't get much dumpier than this! The sleeves add so much bulk and the waist is all wrong. What I'm hoping to turn it into is this, the Summer 2009 Knitty pattern called "Miss Honeychurch."

I had thought there would be more than enough yarn, but much to my dismay I discovered that it had been constructed the Norwegian way, which is to say the entire body is knitted as a tube and then the sleeve openings are machine sewn into each side of the tube and then cut. Big time bummer!! That means all the yarn from the armholes up to the shoulders is lost, since it's only the length of the width of the front (or back), if that makes sense. Since "Miss Honeychurch" is a top-down raglan, however, I should be able to max out the yarn. After the yoke I'll knit the sleeves and then once they're done I'll just knit the body until I run out.

I'm still more or less on track with knitting the fair isle yoke sweater. Both arms are done and I have about 15 (out of 45) cm on the body. I'm setting it aside for a while though to knit up a pair of long johns for E. It is incredibly cold here now.

Dagen derpå

We had a nice evening at our friends R & E's house last night, were home by 11 (late night for E!!), and got to watch all the neighbors' fireworks at midnight from the comfort of our living room. We were disturbed to see little kids bending over to inspect unexploded fireworks--what's up with the parents?!

Finally looked at the website with the percentage-system for knitting top down raglans, and I think I'm going to be using it a lot, so I'm putting in a link here.

Here is a picture of my mom's sweater coat:

I think it's going to fit her really well, and I love the copper color. It is incredibly warm and cozy to wear.

And here's a close up of the fair isle sweater that I started:

I'm almost done with this sleeve now--just four more repeats of the "lice" rows. I read on Kaos' Ravelry page that she had to give this one up after knitting the whole thing because she hated the way the alpaca yarn looked stranded. I can see what she's talking about, but I guess I'm just not that picky on this project. I'm just looking for a soft, comfy sweater.

Should I be concerned that my only specific goals and dreams for the new year concern my hobby?

ETA: link to a list of Norwegian online yarn stores.

EATA: link to the big Selbuvott competition hosted by Det Norske Samlaget!