Happy New Year. New Year celebrations have always seemed the ultimate in damp squib festivities - I guess I grew up in a family that doesn't do that sort of thing terribly well, and I am always slightly at a loss as to what you are meant to do to appear jolly and festive when really you have a pile of new books wanting read or else there is some yarn calling you, my mother always sits up waiting for the chimes on the radio and reading obituaries, when the bells ring she will get up with a sigh, open the back door momentarily to let the New Year in. Job done, she heads for bed. Now-days living in a small scottish village, if I am up knitting contentedly in my own happy little head space, I am a target for all sorts of boggle-eyed and slightly spaced drunks that want to come and "cheer me up" at 2.00am - dammit, I was knitting and happy. The reason I am looking so pissed at these people is that they knock and knock and then hammer at the front door until they get let in, then they stand on my knitting yarn and I can't get them to go away as they insist on telling me how I could ditch gravel-guy and they could hitch me up with a guy-friend of theirs that mends fences for a living (when he can be arsed) and if you ignore the small issue of him having no teeth is quite good looking....
So this year, we went away.
As I had a great time earlier in 2007 in Barcelona, I saved up and decided to take gravel-guy and little chicks for New Year, Barcelona is even more gorgeous than I remembered (must have been too stunned to take it all in first time around) and this time I also went armed with the address/blog of a yarn shop near Jaume 1 Metro Station. I must admit I was in two minds about a whole week of gravel-guy and three chicks - the three offspring I can cope with - Nr.1 never says much anyway, Nr.2 you poke food at to keep his mouth busy, and Nr.3 you mention her hair and that brings on a flurried frenzy of hair brushing and and she gets so engrossed that all you have to do is steer her in any direction as at 12 years old she is quite sure she would never live down a bad hair moment even if all her friends are back in Scotland.... Am I a bad motherto think like this instead of being engrossed in the different Pepsi flavours/Music by Attreyu or Iron Maiden etc etc/what Caitlin said when Shanna told Jade that Keira...? yes, I think so.
Now the good thing about little chick (a snatched photo as she never stands still and is hard to photograph, and yes she always looks at least that naughty - even when she is being good) is that while she is admittedly quite stroppy at times, she can also be wonderful at distracting her father - therefore when I happened to "chance" upon the yarn shop Persones Llanes near Jaume 1, not only did she kindly distract him while I could sneak in and admire, but she had pulled such a wobbly that I was able to buy yarn quite unharrassed. BTW it is a gorgeous yarn-shop, (Lornas Laces / Helen's Lace in Devon colourway which is just so reminscient of Barcelonas lovely skies), now I just need a simple pattern (all suggestions welcome) to show off how gorgeous it is. The other skein I bought is pay-back for Madam - some simple fingerless mitts from a grateful/admiring mother, as she also put on a major strop for the very same reason when I bought this little bag in a small shop behind the cathedral - oh it is so cute and gravel-guy never even noticed the extra purchase, I think I have reason to be grateful as otherwise I would never have got into any shop (gravel guy doesn't like money spent - which is why I was slightly miffed but not suprised to find after spending my wages on a trip for five to Barcelona he only gave me soap for Christmas). I can thoroughly recommend the little yarn shop - a tiny space but great selection and they are super-nice people - I am still slightly fascinated by the sight of a normal well-adjusted male knitting in public. If you are in Barcelona, go visit - they are that welcoming and generally gorgeous (and they have a super-exquisite not-for-sale baby), they don't know how lucky they are that I live in Scotland otherwise I could be a slightly crazed knitting stalker fan person perpetually hanging about outside their shop.
Have a gratuitous picture of the yarn and the bag...
So after a week trotting about in tee-shirts or light sweaters and enjoying the sights and warmth of Barcelona such as....
From the Chocolate Museum (yes edible).....
we get back to snow warnings and this. Sigh. Still maybe time to start saving for another trip to Barcelona. In the mean time some more fingerless mittens - these from a big ball of 4ply yarn I dyed using food colourings and are in blueish sage and rosemary-greens with the odd shot of purple and almost khaki, I wish I could remember what exactly I did as I like the colours in the ball (will wait and see what happens as it knits up), it has been lying around long enough for even me to feel a little guilty about the time taken to not knit it into anything.
So what have all these photos got to do with a knitting blog? Well I
think Barcelona is one of the best cities for ideas - those wonderful
tiled columns on the Palau de la Musica Catalana - any
of them would be the most amazing basis for some colourwork / fair isle
worked around fingerless mittens or small bag, failing that the
patterns carved in the stonework could be the most amazing aran-work,
and some of the colour combinations in that bright sunshine are just
fantastic - how could any knitter not be inspired and want to squirrel
ideas away? It amazes me how even the smallest building is potentially
as gorgeous as some grand Gaudi / Domenech i Montaner /Cadafalch
mansion - particularly when I think of where we live and the grotty
grey-ness of people that have no desire to offer some sort of visual
lift to passers-by. I just love this colour combination of a small
house near Parc Guell - simple and just perfect. If I am going to have
any New Years's resolutions this year, then this will be the year I try
to live a little more dangerously - I am essentially the laziest person
I know and if a knitting route-map is well worn and travelled by the
countless multitudes then the chances are I have been lulled by bigger
name yarn suppliers into following along without a great deal of
thought. Now some patterns are worthy of cult status - but maybe I
should take a little more time to be an individual and think through if
something I love is really appropriate for me of the recipient, and if
not - why not? One of the big attractions of Barcelona is the quirky
nature of some of its design, and yet I spend a lot of time playing
safe - so maybe I'll take that as a lesson for now, the fabulous Sandi Wiseheart has a call to knit fearlessly in 2008, I think I am relatively fearless but just a bit unthinking.
Finally, I finish this post with the fabulous poster for the Barcelonas' parks and gardens - how gorgeous is this?!
