Travels in Tintinland

I was reading Asterix and Tintin before I could read. In fact, I probably learned to read in large part thanks to Asterix. Tintin was a little more complicated, with the result that my appreciation for Hergé's oeuvre has grown with time, whereas I now find Asterix a bit childish (though still perfectly enjoyable).

The upshot of which was, when I found out they had opened a new Hergé museum just outside Brussels, I had to go. To be honest, it was my last choice in the list of progressively closer holiday destinations to celebrate my 40th (which had to be delayed until I got a job). Top of the list was Japan, then Bucharest, then Budapest, then Munich, and only then Brussels. Now that we've managed to finally fit in Brussels, maybe we can continue the list in reverse.

Brussels turned to be grottier than expected (we've been spending too much time in France, raising expectations). It was vaguely post-Sovietique. Lots of 90s architecture seemingly built by engineers without any aesthetic sense whatsoever. Particularly the European parliament. Whereas the European commission tries to be a bristling contemporary architectural statement (saying exactly what, I'm not sure). Add to that the medieval Grande Place for the tourists, a smattering of hulking 1930s national socialist monsters, and a few Art Nouveau gems (Brussels was arguably the home of Art Nouveau architecture, a fact they don't seem to celebrate as much as one would expect, probably because they are embarassed about pulling down some of the best examples in the 1960s), topped off by the atomium, and you end up with a surreal mixture of styles. Which is only fitting for the home of the surrealist master Margritte.

Atomium, viewed from mini Europe

The BD trail adds to the surreal atmosphere - every corner you turn, it seems, you come upon murals of famous comic characters. We didn't manage to seem them all, but we did check out the Tintin mural at the Stockel metro station.

The Hergé museum was in one of the most surreal places of all - one of those awful planned cement new towns, completely without trees or any other greenery. However, the museum was brilliant, and also we managed to pick up some Belgian beer at a shop near the train station at vastly cheaper prices than in the tourist trap across from the Mannekin Pis.

Before you think I am complaining too much, I should say that we had a wonderful time in Brussels, where we scored the most fabulous hotel room/apartment ever (in a REALLY grotty part of town, but who cares, it was cheap, convenient, and enormous), enjoyed fabulous Belgian beer (including a beer I last had at the Brickskeller in DC in the early 2000s, and have been searching for ever since), and got a lot of use out of the metro and train system (which although relatively grotty, was significantly cheaper and more punctual than the London underground). I'm quite tempted to go back, because although we did manage to see most of what the town has to offer, we missed the Victor Horta museum and a number of his still surviving art nouveau buildings (which are apparently in an even more grotty neighborhood that the ones we visited). Also, I didn't have a single piece of Belgian chocolate!

Knitting skirts

It seemed like a big step, to start knitting skirts. Not really sure why, because if you think about it, a knee length skirt doesn't involve that much more knitting mileage than a sweater. In fact, the techniques are often easier because there is less shaping involved and no fiddly sleeves, necklines, buttonholes, etc. In fact, knitting skirts turned out to be a cinch, which is why I've already made two, and plan to make more.

My first was a lace-edged hemp skirt. I noticed someone on Ravelry decided to do the pattern in cotton, to avoid "hippie confusion". I have to take issue with that statement. Hemp has nothing to do with hippies anymore. If it ever did. Besides which, when was the last time you saw a hippie? When I was in college the term was "granolas", which pretty much applied to anyone who wore patchouli, birkenstocks and thriftstore clothing and shopped in the local co-op or farmers market. Nowadays those people are running coffee shops, kitchen stores and organic farms, and we call them foodies. They buy hemp because it is a sustainable natural fibre, not because they smoke it.

Hemp has a greater tensile strength than cotton, which is why it is a better fibre for a knitted skirt - less sagging in the butt. On the spectrum between cotton and linen I would place it slightly closer to linen - not quite as crisp, but that means it wrinkles less. Unfortunately, it is even tougher to knit than cotton (whereas linen is usually pretty smooth and slippery). I was advised to soak my hemp skeins in advance in a little hair conditioner, but I'm too impatient for that. Instead I whined and moaned about the yarn and developed calluses on my fingers. But it was all worth it in the end, because my Lovely Leaf Lace Hemp Skirt turned out great.

Hemp skirt - not hippie at all

So I looked around for another pattern, and alighted on Lanesplitter, from Knitty, the free online knitting magazine. This pattern uses self-striping Noro Kureyon. Noro is a Japanese company that makes fantastic yarn, but the colours can be a bit extreme (or extravagent, as described by the company) and you can all too easily end up wearing clown barf (as described by others on Ravelry). It helps to tone it down with stripes, either with black or the same yarn started at a different section of the colour spectrum. It was a bit tricky to control the striping, and I had to cut out some of the black to avoid it predominating, but I really love the way it turned out.

Bright Lights skirt - named after the
beautiful swiss chard in our garden



I haven't decided on my next skirt pattern yet. Perhaps I should move onwards and upwards - to dresses!

The pumpkin patch

I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion - Henry David Thoreau

I adore pumpkins and Halloween. In fact, pumpkins are probably the main reason I love Halloween. Dressing up in costumes is kind of fun, but I lack imagination, and to date I've never managed to convince my husband to attend a Halloween party with me. My Halloween rituals consist of carving a pumpkin or two, cooking a pumpkin pie, and settling down to watch The Nightmare before Christmas. I used to roast pumpkin seeds as well, but I don't like how they get stuck in the teeth.

decidedly un-scary pumpkins of previous years

I was only able to carve one pumpkin this year because I left it too late, and all the stores ran out of pumpkins. I didn't use any of my home grown pumpkins because they are too small, and more importantly, too tasty to waste. I'm not the greatest pumpkin designer (that lack of imagination again), and I debated using one of those pumpkin templates, but it turned out my pumpkin was too squat. Anyway, even though my pumpkins never turn out that scary, it is still fun to see what you can do with a few simple shapes. I think this year's effort actually turned out quite well, with a wide leering toothy grin. A classic jack-o'-lantern.

This year's pumpkin

Halloween is becoming more common in the UK – not so much the trick-or-treating, but there is certainly lots of dressing up and parties and pumpkin carving. All the more so in Oxford, which is overrun with Americans. I always had such a hard time finding pumpkins - canned or fresh - in Glasgow, but here they are all over the place – until they all sell out just before Halloween. British people are not big pumpkin eaters, so they miss out on all those lovely pumpkin delicacies such as pumpkin pie, bread, muffins, pancakes, beer, etc. I can make the baked products at home, but I do miss my pumpkin beer. Hmm, perhaps we need to get brewing?

I did manage to grow quite a few pumpkins at the allotment, but only the boring kind. I'm going to have to try to grow more unusal pumpkins next year, like Delicata, Musque de Provence, Long Island Cheese and Acorn squash. Pumpkins are the perfect crop - beautiful, storeable, and delicious. Yet everyone at the allotment grows potatoes instead. Potatoes? Boring!!