Proudly presenting....

...the finished Secret Kitchen Project, now to be known as the Toscana Dreamscape :)
I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at this, being mesmerised by all those gorgeous colours. This is so much better than I had imagined it would be - grazie grazie mille, Chiara!

Ssssh.....

Secret Kitchen Project is underway, now that Chiara has arrived......

Knitting In 2011.....

I've been gathering some stats from Ravelry on the year that was 2011, because I wanted to see how productive I had actually been during my time of unemployment, so I counted up how many projects were begun and completed in 2011, and the total comes in at 43. 

27 were shawls, where 19 went to someone else (whether intended for that person from the beginning or not). Most of those were small shawlette-type thingies, because they make such fantastic gifts: they're easy to wear and don't take forever to knit.

So that leaves 8 for me - clockwise from top right (pattern + designer): Buttonwillow by Rosemary (Romi) Hill, Polaris by Susanna IC, In Dreams by Susan Pandorf, Little Leaves by Susanna IC, Ishbel by Ysolda Teague, Hawthorne by Susanna IC, Galadriel's Mirror by Susan Pandorf, and finally Barad Dûr by Susan Pandorf. 

Other than that there were 15 projects which were not shawls. Can you tell I've become enamored of making shawls? And I'm really happy to say that I've worn all 8 at least once! Next year I'm only knitting from stash (unless it's for presents). So there - yarn diet is back on! (Hahaaahaahaaa. Right).
                              

This Is My December

Long time, no blog, but what else is new? Anyway, work has been eating up a lot of time and most of my energy lately - I've actually spent whole evenings just vegging and not knitting a single stitch! *Gasp* And I'm soooo behind on Christmas knitting, even though I'm only making stuff for one person. My Dad would like a knitted vest, but he's getting a 'voucher' for one with a scrap of the yarn in it, I'm not even contemplating casting on this side of New Year's. He won't mind, I know :)

Hmmm.. I wanted to say something else here, but I've forgotten what it was...oh well....

So, the original plan today was to go Christmas shopping, but I think that instead I will put on a movie (I'm thinking The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, latest version, seeing as it was on telly last night and I missed it), and then I will knit! Shops will be open tomorrow as well anyway...

Concert Report: Rasmus Seebach, Koncerthuset, 13 Nov 2011

I thought this was going to be a fairly mellow gig. I thought he'd be playing with a big orchestra. But not really. So for the first set, he did have a string quartet on stage, and a piano, and the songs were slow and gentle and beautiful. He has a great voice, a lot of energy on stage (running laps around both stage and audience, but not during this first set), and great humility as well - he reminded me very much of a certain Irishman when he was a bit younger.... That whole wanting to connect and singing-your-heart-out thing.... Extremely captivating.

To be fair, at first I thought he seemed a bit uncomfortable on stage (we were 4 rows from the top, behind the main stage area), but I was quickly proven wrong, and most thoroughly in the second set, when the strings were gone, the piano was gone, and the party got started for real. Oh-My-God. He had every single person in the place eating out of his hand - it was amazing. He's got it all - the power, the energy, the heart, the soul - and the willingness to reveal rather than conceal.

The venue itself was pretty awesome too - and sound was fantastic (as you'd expect), I'll definitely go see a concert here again. And I am now very happy that I got a ticket to see yer man once more in February.....

Set list:
Mer’ end kærlighed (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
En skygge af dig selv (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Gi’ slip (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Glad igen (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Den jeg er (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Igen i dag (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Nangijala (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Engel (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Intermission
Lidt i fem (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Vover på at gå (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Lys i din lejlighed (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Natten falder på (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Falder (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Den anden side (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Millionær (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Natteravn (Rasmus Seebach, 2009)
Sirenerne (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Encores:
I mine øjne (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)
Under stjernerne på himlen (Mer' End Kærlighed, 2011)