The Innocent Abroad

Last weekend Sweden celebrated Midsummer. They've moved the festivities to the closest weekend of 24th June. I'm more used to the Estonian way of celebrating on the 24th — the Midsummer Eve, but I'm glad that Swedes actually celebrate midsummer, the Irish generally don't.

My employer is very generous with days off so last weekend was a long one. I took the chance and visited my friends up in Sundsvall again. It was lovely, peaceful and fun. We ate, cooked, had picnic, did handwork, played games and had a good time in general. I suspect the weather was actually better up there than it was here in Stockholm.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for the summer vacation. I'll visit London, Edinburgh and Glasgow for two SCA events and some ordinary touristy stuff. I still need to pack and remember to take my camera with me. And then I need to remember to take pictures of the places I visit.

I'll be back in three weeks.

There haven't been any Project of the Month posts since January simply because I haven't had time, money or energy to do anything. I've been wanting to do something about the windows for a while, but hadn't come up with anything I liked enough.

Until we went shopping with the girls couple weeks ago. I spotted really nice striped white linen-cotton curtains then, but didn't buy them immediately. Partly because I wasn't sure I really, really liked them and partly because I wanted to take a look at my finances.

A week later I was sure I really, really liked them and the finances looked good, so I decided that I'll buy them. Which meant that I've postponed buying a new bed yet again. The thing is that I have a bed, it's small and ugly, but it's not broken. The old curtains were getting ratty and needed to be replaced. Two cats trying to climb the curtains and chewing on cords will do that.

I could put up only one set because I don't have a drill and there were no holes I could reuse at the third window. I'll ask my friends if they could help me out when the vacations are over. Of course I'd like to have the last set up right now because the first ones made such a great difference, but there's no-one else I know who could help and my friends are away.

Enough talk, here are some pics instead. They are darker than it really was in the flat that day. Dunno why.

Here's full view of just the curtains.

Here's the view with the chair blocking the window. I don't like this setup and I've been trying to come up with a better one. The trouble is that the window in the corner is the only window I can open* to let in fresh air and the chair setup blocks it completely.

I'm not sure if I want to change the position of the bookshelves. Maybe I should? Do I want to have a sofa? I don't use it at all, I spend most of my time in front of the computer surfing, playing or watching DVDs. Should I get some cozy chairs instead? What do I do with the computer table? And so on. The only thing I know is that the current layout isn't working with the way I live and I want to change it.

* The other two should open in principle. I have to apply lots of force to close the one behind the bed. I discovered that it was sort of open the whole winter because I hadn't shoved hard enough to close it. That's why it was so drafty, it had the tightening strips, but wasn't really closed. I had to put my whole body weight behind it and shove very hard to get it fully closed, I'm not going to open it again any time soon. It's closed now and will stay closed until I have to wash the windows. The middle window does not open because the window frame is so swollen it gets stuck. Charming, isn't it?

Yay! I managed to finish something! The Monochrome Ribbed Shrug, to be precise. After talking about all the things I want to make and never following up or ditching the projects, I've actually completed something.

The pattern is awsome — even though I substituted both the yarn and the needles, it still fits perfectly. I didn't even get the reccomended gauge, not exactly anyway. It was close enough. I also lengthened the sleeves because I wanted the shrug to complement short-sleeved tops.

I may have made the forearms a bit too tight and the cuffs too short, or maybe not. I sort of improvised on the numbers there. Stylistically, the cuffs should be longer to match the body ribbing. It fits like a dream, though, so I'm not too keen on modifying anything. If the cuffs start to bug me too much I can reknit them.

I added the ribbing increase bits to the sleeve ribbing so that it will form a slightly flared cuff. I can turn them up at work and turn down when I go out. When I turn the cuffs down they just about cover the knuckles. Perfect.

Another bit of perfection is the way the body ribbing forms a collar around the neck. I think that is pure design genius from Stephanie Japel there. Putting the increases where they are is a very clever way of providing flare where it's needed. Not to mention the increases add a visual element.

No photos this time because I was too tired last night to take any. Besides, the light conditions at 2AM are not optimal to take good shots of black clothing. I'll see if I can manage the pics on my own or do I need to ask for help.

All-in-all, I recommend this patten if you need a shrug and would like to knit one. Easy to knit, clear instructions and an awsome result.

Next up: some overdue baby knitting.

The last week has been more and less productive than other weeks lately. More productive because I actually knit and less productive because I ignored the housework.

I got my tax returns and spent some of it on things I didn't plan to buy with it. Like two new bras and three t-shirts. These I actually needed, unlike two seasons of CSI Vegas, one season each of House and Criminal Minds. Yes, I like puzzles and forensics is fascinating. Since I don't have a TV I buy these shows on DVD. The problem is that it's very hard to stop watching. Hence the ignore housework bit.

We had a long weekend here in Sweden. 6^th of June is the national holiday and we got a day off. My employer gives half a day off on the day preceding a "red day"*. This is especially nice when the red day is Friday — extra long weekend.

I met with friends on Thurdsay in Kungsträdgården. We sampled some of the foods that were available and went shopping afterwards. It was really nice to have a girls day out, I've missed that. They helped me find the t-shirts I mentioned above. We also saw a couple of dresses that would have been perfect, but they had too small sizes left and were not black.

I had a shock trying on one of the tees, it was size 38. 38! I haven't worn size 38 since 2003. I think their sizing must be off because the new bras that I bought are still the exact same size as a year ago and fit perfectly. According to Burda charts I'm size 44 in tops, except that that's off too. The circumference might be right, but the back is too wide. My body has changed so much in the last year I don't really know what size it is. Thank God for stretchy tops.

After we'd split up with the girls, I popped by the DVD section of a department store that was on my way home. I went in thinking I'd buy one season of CSI, but came out with four seasons of various shows. That pretty much defined my weekend — watching my favourite TV shows non-stop and knitting.

I wanted to have a shrug for the chilly summer nights, the tees I bought are all short-sleeved and I thought that a wool sweater would be a bit too much. Besides, I had some black worsted weight wool in my stash (no black cotton/linen/hemp), too little for a sweater, enough for a shrug.

I cast on the Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug (link to Ravelry) from Fitted Knits on Thursday and finished the second sleeve yesterday. I call it Monochrome Ribbed Shrug because it's just black. I thought about making it two-tone, but I didn't have any contrasting colours in my stash. The plan is to finish the ribbing on Tuesday so I can wear the shrug to a company outing on Wednesday.

* Red day is a weekday marked red in calendar because it is a holiday, not a workday.

One thing I really, really liked about Ireland was the weather. It never got too hot, the sun was never blinding me, nor was it intolerably warm at 8 o'clock in the morning.

Like now in Stockholm. It's the end of May and the heat is already more than I can take without wilting. I dread what it will be like in July/August. Maybe I should move north. Somewhere with real winters (Snow... Sigh.) and summers that don't get so much sun. Like beyond the polar line, or something. I don't want to move, but I may have to because I can't take the sun anymore.

When I moved to Ireland I expected it to be sunnier and warmer there. It is, after all, south of Sweden. Not so. Ireland has much more humidity in the air than Stockholm. Even with the lake and the sea in Stockholm, it is still much drier here than Dublin was.

All that humidity means that the sunlight is much milder there. It does not burn, does not blind, the temperature does not go beyond 25 C or so. Perfect.