Seed Stitch and Scandi Noir
I've decided to re-read Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series. And I'm deep into knitting dishcloths.
I first got into the Wallander books in 2011 or 2012. I had seen a little bit of an episode of Wallander on PBS one night. Nothing was really happening in the scenes I saw, but I was interested. I eventually checked out one of the books from the library and began reading them in whatever order I could get them. I hadn't had the time or focus to read for pleasure since getting pregnant in 2010, and something about these books would stay in my brain. I stopped reading books that I felt I should read--books on important topics that topped bestseller lists, books I hadn't read in high school or college, books about child-rearing--and fell back in love with mysteries.
I have loved reading mysteries ever since I learned to read and started reading Nate the Great books and Encyclopedia Brown books and graduated up to Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes. I like to enjoy a story while trying to figure out what's going to happen next. I love the world that Mankell creates of Wallander's friends and family and interests.
Starting the series over in chronological order is not just comforting right now--it's exciting. I was able to place a hold on Faceless Killers and pick it up at the library last week. An employee placed it on a table and I picked it up and skipped back to the car. I haven't felt this worked up about a book in a while.
The dishcloths aren't quite as thrilling, but I do love them. And I have to admit that I chose this project to go with this book because of the blue yarn. But I do love to knit dishcloths. In what feels like another lifetime--back when I first started reading the Wallander books and had a small baby--I was also a craft blogger. During that time, I made a bunch of dishcloths. I started making one a week because it was a quick and easy way to come up with something to post about. It was also a great way to work on a new technique in a small project. My friends and family have kitchens full of dishcloths from this time in my life. Crocheted dishcloths in wild colors. Knitted dishcloths with holiday messages printed out. Stripes, weird shapes, impractical end results that my mom displays at Christmas because she likes how they look--I really ran the gamut.
Now I just knit dishcloths when I want a small project, or a mindless one. They're great for watching television with subtitles, and I still love to give them as gifts. I feel an intense sense of satisfaction (okay, maybe smugness) whenever I buy a few skeins of cotton yarn in solid colors and build up a gift stash of seed stitch dishcloths. I've been working my way through this Sugar n' Cream teal yarn, and I get tickled because the needs match the yarn. I cast on 39 stitches and then I knit and purl until I'm done.
Knit and purl, Wallander wonders what is happening with the world. Knit and purl, he wonders if he should trade in his car for a newer model. Knit and purl, a stranger shares intimate secrets in an interview. Knit and purl, place a hold on another mystery, and lose myself in that world for a little while. I make the same gifts that I have for years, and people still like to receive them, even though everything is different now.
I first got into the Wallander books in 2011 or 2012. I had seen a little bit of an episode of Wallander on PBS one night. Nothing was really happening in the scenes I saw, but I was interested. I eventually checked out one of the books from the library and began reading them in whatever order I could get them. I hadn't had the time or focus to read for pleasure since getting pregnant in 2010, and something about these books would stay in my brain. I stopped reading books that I felt I should read--books on important topics that topped bestseller lists, books I hadn't read in high school or college, books about child-rearing--and fell back in love with mysteries.
I have loved reading mysteries ever since I learned to read and started reading Nate the Great books and Encyclopedia Brown books and graduated up to Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes. I like to enjoy a story while trying to figure out what's going to happen next. I love the world that Mankell creates of Wallander's friends and family and interests.
Starting the series over in chronological order is not just comforting right now--it's exciting. I was able to place a hold on Faceless Killers and pick it up at the library last week. An employee placed it on a table and I picked it up and skipped back to the car. I haven't felt this worked up about a book in a while.
Now I just knit dishcloths when I want a small project, or a mindless one. They're great for watching television with subtitles, and I still love to give them as gifts. I feel an intense sense of satisfaction (okay, maybe smugness) whenever I buy a few skeins of cotton yarn in solid colors and build up a gift stash of seed stitch dishcloths. I've been working my way through this Sugar n' Cream teal yarn, and I get tickled because the needs match the yarn. I cast on 39 stitches and then I knit and purl until I'm done.
 |
| And I have to confess: I bought this vintage side table, in part, because it reminded me of the decor in the Ystad Police Office set in the Masterpiece Mystery series version of Wallander. |
Knit and purl, Wallander wonders what is happening with the world. Knit and purl, he wonders if he should trade in his car for a newer model. Knit and purl, a stranger shares intimate secrets in an interview. Knit and purl, place a hold on another mystery, and lose myself in that world for a little while. I make the same gifts that I have for years, and people still like to receive them, even though everything is different now.
I love this as a first book in a series. It's like picking up the fifth book in a series--not in the sense that you struggle to keep up with the characters and their backstories, but with the feeling that this fictional world is extremely lived-in. If you don't know the characters yet, you feel like you soon will.
I'd forgotten how brutal the crimes in Faceless Killers are, and how meaningless some of the violence is. I know bleak and brutal is how noir works, but I was surprised at little it had stuck in my mind. What I had remembered was the simple and stark sentences, and how much I like to read them.
Comments
Post a Comment