Ravings from a Danish City at Night

I got it!

Been a bit quiet again lately, this time for a reason.

I'm trained as an engineer, so under Danish law I'm allowed to teach at technical high schools. However, within two years of employment I have to start the so-called PG, Pædagogiske Grunduddannelse, a basic teacher's license.

This is a "Get it or get out" exam. If you fail, you cannot continue to teach anywhere within the Danish school system. In other words I'd have to go looking for a new job. Not an easy proposition at my age and the current economic situation. I do have a "plan B", but I'm not quite physically ready for that one. More about that at some later time

My first year at it was a very bad experience for me, mostly because the supervisor appointed to me by the ministry for education and I absolutely didn't get along. I felt like I could do nothing right, no feed-back from her but criticism, just pressure...

Result: I crashed with stress and crashed badly!

It took me half a year to get over that (and over her).

So this spring I was appointed two new supervisors and work with them has been great. They still demanded a lot from me, but they did so in a way that made me feel good, appreciated, and so on.

This friday last I then had the final supervisory visit from them. They came to watch me teach two classes, applied technology and chemistry. We had a short discussion afterwards and then I was given a quite satisfactory statement that I had passed the practical part of my teacher's license.

So now I can add 'Licensed Teacher (High School, Technology & Chemistry)' to my business cards soon (if I had any of those).

Just need to pass a written test where I write an essay on a didactic problem, but that I think I'm good at.

Been celebrating a bit, but one of the most rewarding things for me was to be able to sit at my miniSpinner yesterday for an hour or two and just relax as I spun some fine singles.

 

Nothing much happening...

... really nothing at all.

January, and now february too, have turned out to be exceptionally boring this year.

Time to make some noise...

Stress...

I'm finally learning to recognize some of all those small signs my subconscious leaves when I'm getting stressed. Several of them right now, as there's a lot on my plate.

So I'll still be posting, but with a bit more time between posts than lately.

One sign: I tend to accumulate returnable bottles. Got a stack of them already...

Dentist...

Got a dentist appointment today, the usual half-year check-up they do here...

I bl**dy hate dentist visits!

Wish me luck!

New toy

I got myself a new toy.

A HansenCrafts MiniSpinner in maple.

I still got my Schacht Matchless and my handspindles, but when I really just want to make some standard yarn and a lot of it, this is where I go.  Currently I'm spinning some blue-green-grey Merino for a friend in my weaving group.

I'll write more about it once I get myself sat down to really think and write a long blog post instead of the small updates you get at the moment.

The white fibre is the last of a white Shetland batch I got from World of Wool.

Who ever knew...

... that it could be so tiring to swing a stick around.

I've been watching my diet quite a lot better since oktober 2009. And to get some more exercise I decided to take up aikido last august.

I've done some martial arts earlier in my life, judo and karate at university, but that was 15 years ago.

In aikido you train with short staff and sword, both of which you can see above. And you wouldn't believe how satisfyingly tiring it is to swing them about for 90 minutes training various strikes, attacks and blocks.

Dietwise, well it helps too. I've gone from 141.6 kg to 118.1 kg, from a waist 48 to a waist 42 sofar. I plan on loding another 30 kg or so. 90 kg is still way above "normal" weight for 173 cm, but it is a far more realistic weight for me and one I know I can hold.

 

From my stash, three projects

I have a lot of single skeins or small skeins of fine lacewight yarns and single-ply sock yarns. Just like these here:

At the top, two balls of Schoppenwolle Zauberball single ply sock yarn in Himbeere (raspberry) and Gebrannte Mandeln (karamelized almonds). The ywo blue and grey skeins below are a singleply Italian cashmere-silk laceweight single, another yarn exchange gift.

The laminated sheet on the right below them is by Malvern Fibre Studio, New Zealand and has three very straightforward patterns for lace scarves. Also an exchange gift. Perfect for this yarn and the amount.

Three beauties...

... from my small handspindle collection.

Bird's Eye Maple whorls on Bocote shafts, a set of two matching minis for spinning and a midi for plying from Journey Wheel, better known as Bosworth spindles..

The yarn on them is a 70/30 brown alpaca-tussah silk mix from World of Wool.

I'll be plying it as soon as the second spindle is filled up too. I'll wing the singles off together onto a tennis ball, then ply them from there.

From my 'WIP' pile...

There's more than just sweaters in my 'wip' pile. Another item is this one here:

A large, about 1.2 m square, lace shawl. A so-called 'all over pattern', the 'Bird's Eye'. The pattern is free for download from Sharon Miller's website. 

The yarn is a bamboo lace-weight single by Habu I got from Jill in a yarn swap ages ago.

I know who will get this one: my sister-in-law to celebrate my first niece.

My favorite winter drink

Mulled Cider, or as my best friend calls it, Molten Core Cider

Fairly easy recipe

• 2 liters of good apple cider
• 100 g dark sugar, Muscovado or Demerara
• 1 orange, spiked with 16 cloves
• 4 strips of orange peel, taken from above orange
• 4 cinnamon sticks, about 10 cm each
• 15 all spice berries
• 7 cardamon pods
• ½ tea spoon megnut nutmeg, freshly grated

Just mix in a good pot and heat to a simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve hot with a cinnamon stick and maybe an orange slice in each glass/mug. For a more adult version add a generous amount of rum.