Reading

Small warning, this is long post, but hopefully a good one for literature geeks out there. No knitting I'm afraid!

I've been in such a mood for reading lately. Much more than knitting or even watching TV. It all started when I began reading Nation by Terry Pratchett. I bought it last year and finished it the other day. I suddenly remembered how good it feels just to sit somewhere with a book, and sink into another world for a while.

Nation was great. Entertaining, thought-provoking and well written as I've come to expect from Sir Pratchett. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was looking forward to reading some of the other books that have been waiting for me but not yet been read because of my lack of time. I was a bit disappointed, therefore, when I discovered that for the first time ever I will need to do homework during my summer break. The homework is not too bad, just read six designated Icelandic novels for the next Icelandic course, which will be my last one. I immediately made it my goal to read these novels as fast as I could, so I would have plenty of leisure time to read the other books I have on my list.

So today I went to the library and got the first designated novel. It is called Barn Náttúrunnar, literally "Nature's Child", and it is by the only Icelander ever to receive a Nobel prize, Halldór Kiljan Laxness. This book was his first novel, written when he was only sixteen. And let me tell you, if Christopher Paolini is a teenage prodigy, Halldór Laxness should have been revered as a literary genius. This first novel of his was published in 1918, and I'm around a third of the way through it already. It's not very long, anyway, just under 200 pages. What I want to do though, it translate a short piece of one chapter which I found quite exciting. It's very interesting to see the almost Shakespearian vibe in the writing, compared to another novel I read by him in January and February, Independent People.

Randver is an Icelandic man who has just returned home from America, where he has worked as a real estate agent for years. He wants to find happiness in the Icelandic country side, and live the simple life there. He meets a young girl, a real "nature's child" around seventeen, called Hulda, who is the daughter of a farmer letting Randver stay at his farm. Randver has mixed feelings for this girl, a situation he thoroughly dislikes after having bad experiences with women before. This is a scene where, after Randver runs into Hulda crying, she runs away and starts climbing a steep cliff nearby. This is my less-than-perfect translation.


He was scared to death for her life and at the same time furious for her daring carelessness.
'Hulda! Get down now!' he screamed. 'Get down, I say!'
His voice echoed off the cliffs.
But she didn't heed him at all. She reached with one hand for a small shrub growing from a crack in the rock. In all likelihood she would pull it up by its roots trying to heave herself up, and he would immediately see her fall down to the rocks below, hear the thump of all her bones breaking at once and a weak suffering sigh. Then she would be laying there by his feet, broken and disfigured, - dead.
While she was reaching for the shrub, he yelled:
'Hulda! No, no, no! Not that! Stay where you are, try to take your boots off! Try to get down, the worst is yet to come!'
But she ignored his orders.
She had her hand around the plant, he imagined the tearing of roots and her falling backwards, his vision turned black from desperation but he managed to shake it off to shout to her:
'Oh lord god almighty! Help her, support her, protect her! Hulda! My love, my heart! Stop, stop! Pity my sick heart! Don't tear me to pieces!'
He forgot everything except the danger she was in.
But with all the luck in the world, the shrub held fast. She resumed pulling herself up, but he kept shouting, every stupidly desperate call of love after another, in between his prayers.
'Hulda! Stay put where you are, rest while I go home and get a rope.'
It was actually impossible for a rope to be useful in the situation. But she kept going, and never faltered. At the very top, there was a crevice in the rock, and if she could get up to it she was safe. Soon it was only a short climb away. She was almost there, but as she was reaching it, it was as if she had been hit on the head. She pulled back a little and ran her hand over her hair. She shivered, as if from disgust, and then looked up.
Had she been hurt?
'Hulda! My darling Hulda! Get up there in god's name, get up!' he begged.
But she looked a bit uneasy. She suspended herself at the same spot near the crevice, and she looked down, the way she had climbed.
Goodness gracious! She's not going to turn back? he wondered and a horrible dread filled him at the thought.
And that was exactly what she was pondering.
She was going down again!
He realized that the way down was even more dreadfully dangerous than the way up.
'She will die trying it', he said to himself.
He knew that all his begging and ordering was useless.
She started to move one foot downwards.
That's when he got seriously desperate.
He pulled a deadly sharp, silvery knife from his belt, tore the clothes from his chest, grabbed the knife with both hands and pointed the tip to his heart.
'Hulda!' he called with the high-pitched voice of a man at the end of his wits. 'If you move one inch lower, I'll drive this knife through my own heart.'
She looked at him, where he stood with his bare chest and the knife's tip nearly piercing the skin just above his heart. She looked terrified for a moment. She pulled her foot back sharply, reached her hands up to the edge of the cliff and heaved herself up at once. She was standing on the top, safe.
Randver still stood with the knife at his heart.
'Randver! She shouted to him excitedly. 'Let go of the knife.'
The dagger gave a clang as it hit the rocky ground.
There they stood, both a bit flustered, for a while and looked at each other. He down on the ground, she up on the cliff.
'Why were you trying to get back down?'
'There was a spiderweb in the highest crevice. I've destroyed it now.'

Excitement and joy

My joy knows no end, and I keep trotting through life with a bounce in my step these days. It has been decided that me and my dear honey are moving into our very own apartment, probably in June if everything goes well. We are immensely in love and very excited about the future. Miss White cat is going with us, since I'm the only one who gives her any love and attention in this house(people are a bit put off by her shedding problem). She is right here, smelling my glass of white wine and trying to find a comfortable spot to cuddle up and be showered with attention. I hope she will do well in a small apartment with us.

It is very windy outside and I am currently relaxing with a book and the aforementioned glass of wine. The book is Nation by Terry Pratchett, if you're interested. I'm also regularly checking Twitter, my new online obsession. I never thought I'd be able to get regular updates from Stephen Fry himself, talking about his trip to the gym, of all things! I love it! I am also now following Eddie Izzard(the man just says the most wonderful things) and Neil Gaiman. I'm just thrilled to read about their daily ventures, although the boyfriend thinks it's a bit pathetic. Hey, at least I'm being social, in a way.

In other news, my knee is still healing and it's still a bit uncomfortable. The tendon is sloppy and loose and it will take some training to bring it back to normal. Going to take care of that after exams which finish on Wednesday. I am knitting and reading a lot between exam revisions, and thankfully I'm not too swamped since the last two exams are promising to be a walk in the woods.

Well. One stubborn kitty has firmly planted herself on my lap, and I'm finding it uncomfortable to type while she gentle prods my knee with her claws. Here is an amusing picture of the other one, I took it today while she was relaxing between adventures. We think she does this to accommodate her big belly.

I'm lazy and happy

I should be studying. Mildly important test tomorrow, y'know. But I'm just in such a good mood and somehow my subconscious mind is keeping me from ruining it.

What causes this heightened level of giddiness and joy, you might ask? Well, many things, with one central source of the kind of happiness that is often characterized by colours and rainbows and puppies and flowers. It's the kind of happiness you get when you forget most of your troubles by focusing on one huge thing in your life that is changing for the better, and making everything more interesting.

Me and Marinó are placing an offer on a beautifully cozy and pretty apartment tomorrow, something we weren't going to think about until next year. But I stumbled upon this apartment by chance one evening, and we both immediately fell in love. The bathroom and kitchen are both recently renovated, and the living room and bedroom are very spacious with south facing windows.

These days I am extremely excited, but mostly very happy and very much in love. Instead of pulling out my math books, I pulled out my Sennheisers and am now listening to uplifting and joyous music to feed this feeling and keep it there as long as possible. Sure, it's irresponsible, but some things are just more important sometimes.

Some other news, my knee is a lot better these days and I am practically without a limp now. I'm still not able to comfortable extend my knee fully, since the tendon is still pretty soft and loose. I'm going to start biking a lot over the summer to strengthen the quadriceps and tendon in the process. Another concern for me is that little benign tumour I mentioned in the last post. It has grown over the past weeks, although not much, but it is starting to interfere with the muscles in the area when I move in a certain way. I'm going to see a doctor about it and hopefully it's not a big deal.

Until next time, happy!

Cast on! Hah.

I guess it had to happen someday! I had only fractured my pinkie toe before and I was almost waiting for a major accident to happen. So, alas, my right kneecap dislocated during Friday's kung fu class, more specifically when we were practicing the 42 movements. I moved my knee in exactly the wrong way at the wrong time, and it shifted far off to the right. Basically there was a lot of screaming and panic, but it all calmed down within a few minutes with some deep breathing and jokes on my behalf(I tend to get all comedic when the first rush of pain and shock goes away with an injury). The paramedics came and gave me some saline, and I thought I was going to get morphine(hoped so, actually), but they were able to pop the kneecap back in its place right there and I didn't need anything after that. Those paramedics and my kung fu buddies handled it all so well, they were awesome.

Apparently this happens a lot to women, and I have very flexible knees(I'm told), so it was pretty easy to do. That knee had been a little funny for weeks and I regret that I didn't have it checked out before all this happened. I was at the emergency room for about three hours, mostly waiting, but also having x-rays taken and a cast put on my entire leg from my ankle up to my hip. The x-rays showed that the kneecap was fine and I had no fractures, all tendons and muscles are apparently in their rightful places. They also found a small benign tumor in my leg bone from the x-rays, which is nice to know. I'll keep the cast for two weeks, so I'm shuffling around on crutches in a house with three floors(me being in the basement most of the time). I'm in a little pain but I'm actually pretty glad that this happened on the first day of my Easter break so I'm not missing any schoolwork.

While my knee heals, I guess I'll be doing a lot of knitting, reading and watching British comedy shows. :)

Just some things

Trying to write an Icelandic essay.

So these days I have a lot to think about, first of all my Icelandic essay(more information about it if you click the picture), and I am having a very hard time in my physics course. Basically, no matter how well I pay attention and take notes, I don't understand a word the teacher says. It's really horrible and I will fail the course unless I take the time to go over my notes all over again and study the stuff on my own terms. I just don't see it happening! I have lots to do and this physics course is not mandatory. Right now, I don't see the point. It's making me miserable. I might just quit.

So yesterday, Marinó tried on the Big Thaw pullover after I tried shrinking it a little bit. It looks good! He said he likes it, and then he remarked that "it's so warm"! He wore it on his way to work last night and I think I can call it a big success. :) Sweater curse has been lifted! I will probably have modeled shots next week, when we get a chance to go outside for a walk with the camera.

And so, after finishing the Big Thaw, I was finally able to cast on the fabled Owls on Sunday! I'm using Álafoss Lopi wool yarn in a beautiful rusty brown. It's going to be awesome! I have finished the body and cast on the first sleeve last night. So excited about this thing!

Oh, and the 365 days project is going well by the way! :)

Me be lazy

I really should be working on a pretty important assignment for school, but I just can't seem to get into it.
And so I present to you my first photo of my incredibly ambitious 365-photo project. At least one photo a day, for a whole year! Whoo-ee! We'll see how it goes! :)
This photo to mark the beginning of my journey is pretty appropriate, my breakfast this morning. This is the way I start my day most of the time, with oatmeal. In the corner there you can see my maths books... yeah, integration problems at six thirty in the morning. Fun.

Sunny

Knitting and tea drinking on a Sunday afternoon... aaahh.

So things have been busy, yes, and I think there are around three different weekends I've been wanting to blog about. I don't have time for it now, but I had to write something! As you can see I have changed the layout of this thing, probably temporarily until I have time to make a header and adjust the widths and such.

I took a trip to a small town just outside the capital area the other day, to get Létt-Lopi and Álafoss Lopi for two pullovers. One for me, one for my sweetie! Of course I cast on the one for my sweetie first, no selfishness here(but I am working on it furiously so I can cast on my precious Owls!). I decided it was finally time to make a sweater for the man in my life, and I chose a simple pullover from Knitscene Fall 2008 called Big Thaw. The construction is seamless and completely brilliant! I have started the second sleeve(and I am knitting them before the body), and it's going great. But before you get to see pictures, here is colourful laceweight deliciousness from the yarn store!

Oooohhh... yuuuuuuuum!

So I'm using Létt-lopi for the men's pullover, in a dark chocolaty brown colour with just the slightest hints of variegation in it. I have fallen head-over-heels in love with lopi, it is just perfect!

The only problem I have with the sweater is that the armholes are huge, which makes the sleeve really baggy in that area. I'm hoping it will look better after I knit the body.

Now, my pullover on the other hand will be knit with Álafoss lopi in a goooooorgeous warm rusty brownish colour with a hint of orange. Absolutely beautiful! It will be the first pullover I knit for myself, and I'm sure it will be absolutely adorable. I love the pattern and I love owls!