I haven't been knitting much lately, because I admit I've been distracted by my recent discovery of the Danish church-books to be found online at Statens Arkiver. Even if you are not much interested genealogy, you can probably understand the fascination of something like the page above -- which is a beautiful thing in itself, and all the more when it is one's own ancestors (even if only by marriage). The Danes, bless their record-keeping hearts, required local ministers to keep track of births, marriages, and deaths from quite early on, the late 1600s in some parishes, and later they also recorded movements to and from the parish and of smallpox vaccinations (which were in fact not only sensible, but a requirement for getting married). This is of course a genealogical treasure-trove. A birth record such as the one above gives not only the date and name, but the parents' names and residence, the age of the mother, and the names and residence of the baptismal sponsors, who were often relatives as well -- so that it is often only a matter of following the trail back to the previous generation, and on. Quite satisfying.
Of course, it isn't always as simple as that. After 1814, they had printed books to fill out, so that things are arranged quite tidily, but before that it was up to the individual priest, and instead of something as clear as the above record, readable even if you know little Danish, you get ones like this, from the early 1800s --
-- which takes a little more work. It's funny, though, that since starting this post a week or so ago and thinking of how much time it took me to decipher the above page, it looks a walk in the park to me now, compared to this one from 1777 --
So, well, no, I haven't been knitting much. But I did manage to finish these socks, plain ones with a Dutch heel and round toe, in the Deborah Norville Serenity Sock yarn in the Violas color. I won't say how long ago I started them, but it's been a while. This yarn feels a little different from the Acquamarine pair from a year or so ago, a bit sturdier, soft but less squishy. I do like this color, too.
And here is something I found in a church-book that amused me, one of those little non-genealogical gems that you get every so often --
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