My hardcore weekend
Oh yeah! This weekend I managed to grate my fingertip while making dinner for a couple of friends on Friday night. Then I woke up on Saturday morning with a mysterious burst blister on my finger. I stuck a plaster (as in a band-aid) on it and forgot about it while I cleaned up and did some pattern writing (yes really there are patterns coming). It wasn’t until today that I was sitting knitting my stockings that I realised how I got the blister:
Clearly cooking and knitting are too dangerous for me, but that probably doesn’t leave me many safer hobbies.
At least while taking the glass out of all of these picture frames so I could paint them I was being careful.
Hope you had a good weekend too, even if it wasn’t as hardcore as mine!
p.s. See what I wrote about pattern writing above? Well that was Snow White, and I need to check the row counts against a measurement chart (because I am short and short waisted so probably not average) but it’s basically done. It was months and months ago that I asked for test knitters and anyone looking for the pattern was probably under the impression that it was busily being knitted up. Unfortunately no. But tomorrow I’m going to send out an email with all of the details to everyone who volunteered. If you’re actually really eager you might want to keep an eye out, because whoever replies first and can meet my requirements will get to do it.
p.s. 2 (this is how not to write a blog post isn’t it?):
Seeing as I got an email from Dee while typing this and she is the gazillionth person to tag me with one of the x random / weird things meme I thought I may as well try and come up with something:
1. Well my name is pretty weird, and the spelling is even weirder. It’s a variation of the name of a character from the Arthurian legends, from the Tristan and Isolde / Iseult story. It’s pronounced is-all-da, but people only very rarely get it right. Mostly I’m known as Iz.
2. I’ve been living on my own for the last six months or so, and it’s honestly the least lonely I’ve ever felt.
3. I have a pretty random diet. I’ve never, ever eaten meat, except for fish. For the last year or so, on the advice of my naturopath Jan DeVries I haven’t been eating dairy either.
4. I’ve spoken at conferences to hundreds of people and that’s easier as far as I’m concerned than talking with a small group. I wonder if there’s a connection between this and blogging?
5. A few years ago I was chairman (chairman just because I was good at yelling at people at meetings so that we could get stuff done) of a group of young people who organised anti-war demonstrations among other things. The group didn’t last very long for a variety of reasons, but I am so, so proud of what we did. The day before Iraq was invaded we had about 5000 high school students from all over the city converge on the city centre.
6. That summer I was involved in making a film about our experiences, it’s won multiple awards and toured festivals all over the world. It was shown at a film festival for young people in Greece that I was able to attend, and spent a week watching several films a day that I would never have had a chance to see normally. I couldn’t find the whole film online, but a ten minute edit can be downloaded from this site. It’s called Old Enough To Know Better and the link is about halfway down. If you watch it I guess you’ll get to find out what I sound like, and how I looked when I was seventeen. Incidentally my accent is often considered to be a random thing. A couple of years later, when the G8 circus descended we made a second film, although I wasn’t quite so involved in the making of that one.
7. I find small things (in any medium) much easier to make, even something tiny and detailed is much easier for me than something larger and much simpler.
8. I started off studying English Literature and Film Studies at the University of Aberdeen, because they let me skip first year and I wanted to write and make films. I transferred to Edinburgh after deciding I couldn’t spend more time in that place and re-did second year, dropping the film because they didn’t do it. It’s been a long time since I did any real writing or film making though. In some ways my life is both exactly like and a million miles away from how I pictured it a few years ago. I suppose that this is a kind of writing.
Ok well apparently I had more to write for that than I was expecting too. Way too lazy to tag anyone, but feel free to write your own list.
Posted: May 20th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 13
Comments
Comment from anushka
Time: May 20, 2007, 10:24 pm
I love the colours of those frames.
I’ve never had a knitting blister but my fingers are probably so toughened and calloused from years of playing the cello that they form a protective skin against it. I’m feeling my leathery vibrato-ing forefinger at this instant.
I watched your video which was very empowering. Unfortunately the youth around here that I’m in contact with are frighteningly apathetic to most current affairs. They can barely be bothered to lift a finger to sign a petition.
Comment from geertje
Time: May 20, 2007, 10:28 pm
>>2. I?ve been living on my own for the last six months or so, and it?s honestly the least lonely I?ve ever felt.
Comment from geertje
Time: May 20, 2007, 10:46 pm
er….something went wrong with my comment i think….
what i wanted to say is that I so agree with you. i’m living in student accomodation again after having a flat of my own for a year, and let’s say i’m not too fond of it…
@anushka: i think that a lot of young people are interested in the world around them and are willing to make an effort, but in their own way, on their own terms. most traditional forms of protest have been more or less monopolised by the 60s generation and therefore are not appealing to young people, i think. perhaps ‘ysolda’s’ protest was such a succes because it was a protest organised by young people and therefore much more their own.
er…so much for my amateur-sociology :0)
Comment from Kate
Time: May 21, 2007, 12:40 am
I’ve been reading your blog and admiring your work for quite awhile now but I’m not usually a “commenter” (not that its a bad thing) but I just had to comment to say how happy I am you posted how to pronounce your name. I’m kind of pronunciation challenged and could never figure Ysolda out so trying to refer to you usually makes me sound like an idiot. hehe Your video is downloading now and I can’t wait to see it. It’s nice to see someone that is not only passionate about creative arts but also about the state of the world. Although I can only truly speak for myself I do think you are an inspiration to a lot of knitters and it is interesting to see other hobbies and activities of yours that you have as much passion for as knitting. Ok I’ll stop embarrassing you now but to end I’ll just say I hope you never stop being the fabulous and darling Ysolda.
Comment from mary
Time: May 21, 2007, 1:18 am
that film is amazing!
it’s too bad that most of the people my age (aka the youth) here in the US are too lazy and afraid of the government to do that kind of thing.
I’ve never gotten a knitting blister before, but it looks like it hurts. I also like the frames a lot!
Comment from Wiggley
Time: May 21, 2007, 12:56 pm
Hey Anushka, my Mum plays the cello too !
Comment from Dee
Time: May 21, 2007, 2:59 pm
How interesting! And I love your name, I think it’s really pretty.
Comment from anushka
Time: May 21, 2007, 5:54 pm
at geertje, if you’re reading this: actually I am a ‘young person’, being fifteen, and most of the other ‘young people’ I know do not concern them with world issues, major or minor. When I try to organise protests I have no support, much less enthusiasm, from most of my peers whose only hobbies appear to by MySpace and MSN.
Comment from pinsandneedles
Time: May 21, 2007, 6:51 pm
I once participated in a protest, but it wasn’t as successful as yours. I think people in the US aren’t quite as active because they’re afraid of our governement (as Mary said earlier), litigation, and a destroyed reputation.
So, I have been pronouncing your name right! Go me.
Comment from nicola
Time: May 21, 2007, 7:00 pm
Thanks for posting how to pronounce your name. I was pronouncing the ‘o’ as it is pronounced in “Nicole”, which is somewhat embarrassing as I’m forever correcting people for promouncing the ‘o’ in my name like that, when it should be an ‘uh’ sound. :P
I was impressed with your video; I’ve never seen teenagers stand up for a cause like that. I just finished my final year of the IB programme, which is supposedly filled with opinionated people, but the most I’ve seen anyone do is organise a benefit concert to rescue the local symphony from debt. Most people just debate politics without doing anything about it. I’m impressed that such a huge number of youth were involved.
Comment from charlotte taylor
Time: May 21, 2007, 7:33 pm
what didn’t you like about Aberdeen? was it the town or the university? I visited there a few times when my friend was at uni - i liked it more than Dundee where she moved to next. Anyway have a friend applying for a job there so was interested…..
Comment from Leah
Time: May 22, 2007, 6:11 pm
So sorry about your finger!! I’m sure the dinner was worth it!
Great list! I’ve often wondered how to correctly pronounce your name! ;)
Comment from Philippa
Time: May 26, 2007, 2:32 pm
Oh I’m so pleased to find out how to pronounce your name! I’ve been reading Ee-sol-da all this time!
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