Charity

Even in Norway we do some charity every now and then :)

On most thursdays after work we get together some girls, go to a local pub and sit there knitting the rest of the evening. We have become something of a spectical in this pub, but we love the attention :)

A thursday, not to long ago, we came to talking about leftover yarn and what to do with it... One of the girls had come across a lady that loved making blankets from leftovers, and this lady would take everybodys leftovers as long as they were atleast 2 m long. So this became after awhile an idea to do as so many knitters before us, knitting caps for permature babies. The lady could get all that wasn't suitable for this purpuse.

That evening I came home, got my leftovers out and went to work on Ravelry. So last saturday I made 3 of 5 caps I've made so fare. I'm very proud of myself. There will be many more, and hopfully they will save lives some day soon :)

Knitting Weekend...

This weekend I visited one of my best friends and her boyfriend. They live on the outskirts of Oslo. It's quite some time since I visited them last, so after being i Oslo on friday on business from
work I just had to see them.

My oh so good friend Camillas boyfriend Elling picked me up on friday in a BMW Z3, so I arrived at their home in style :) The weekend just flew by...

Lots of knitting, finished the scarf in the picture over (ghost knitting), one sock done and the other a little over half done, I did some crocheting :) Great food, great company, shopping in Oslo (trying, all I got was some yarn and boardgames.) On sunday we also made room for a visit at the new operahouse in Oslo, Operane. It was the perfect building to bring a camera to. On the left is me and myself at the opera.

As you might see from the picture below, the weather was wonderful. Autum is her, and it is beautiful. Atleast till I got back to Bergen where it was raining cats, dogs and ponies...

Christmas - right around the corner

If you want it or not, Christmas is right around the corner. I have started making things to give away for christmas, but feel like I should be making more. But this again will make the blog contain less knitting, but a solution to having nothing here I thought I might put Norwegian christmas tradition here. Just to show what we do for christmas :) Everything from christmas dinner to cookies :) And sometime between christmas and New Years Eve I will put my production in my blog for all to see :)

Flowering autum shawl

Not to long ago I put this pattern from Garnstudio in my queue on Ravelry. Here the other day 2 coworkes had made it and it was super cool. So after seeing it I got fuel for my fire :)

On thursday I bought the yarn and startet as soon as I could thursday evening :) And today, just before lunch I finished. Just in time for this years first autum storm.

Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to autum, espesially now that I have one more warm shawl in my collection. And when I'm not outside in the autum rain, I'll be inside knitting, drinking tea and generaly just enjoying myself... :)

A gift on the run

A good friend and co-worker was on his holliday during his birthday. The idea for a gift for him was ready a long time before, but since he wasn't here to get it I waited. But suddenly he was back home, like lightning from a clear sky (NOT!)....

2 intense days of knitting made 2 kitchentowels and a pair of potholders, the pattern I found at Garnstudio. I gave them to my friend on thursday (almost 1.5 months to late). It seemed he liked the gift, he was just worried about using them. They might get dirty and ruined, but then that is the whole point of kitchentowels and potholders in my book :)

Plumcake

So many things to make and to little room in my tummy... And the fact that all I want to make isn't always good for me :(

I love to make things in the kitchen, I also, ufortunatly, love to eat. But I have found it smart to make thing I'm wondering about when I'm having friends over, visiting friends, going on lang walks in the mountain... All in the name of not having to many treats in the house, and to hear others like what I make.

I've always wanted to make something with plums, but whenever I have plums in the house I eat them as they are. *puff* - gone...

So yesterday I went shopping. Bought everything I needed to make a Plumcake I had found and made it, before eating all the plums :) This was rather late, so I tasted the result this morning. I've been tasteing all day, so this cake gets the thumbs up from me :)

Everyone who like or love Applecake will like or love this one too, I'm sure of it. :)

Fridtjof the Bold

This big fellow is a local viking hero. He wanted to marry Ingebjørg, the daughter of King Bele from the other side of the fjord where Fridtjof lived (Vangsnes).

Fridtjof and Ingebjørg grew up together on the farm Hilding (one of the largest farms in Sogn at the time, situated further in the fjord). But when Fridtjof wantet to marry Ingebjørn her brothers tried to put a stop to it, because they wanted her to marry the powerful King Ring of Ringerike (eastnorway), to avoid a big war with him. To make this happen the brothers sent Fridtjof on a trip to the Orkneyislands telling him to collect taxes and hoping to be wrid of him for good. Then they made Ingebjørg marry King Ring and robbed and burned Fridtjofs home farm on Vangsnes.

When Fridjof came back and saw what had happened to his home farm and Ingebjørg he burned the Grand farm that Ingebjørgs brothers lived on in Balestrand, and stole back the ring he had given to Ingebjørg before he left on the mission her brothers cooked up. Now he was lawless and left to raid foreign countries for treasures. After 3 years on the run he returned to Ringerike making himself out to be an old man that wanted to see his old girlfriend Ingebjørg. The old King liked Fridtjof and promised that he could have Ingebjørg as his own wife when the old king passed away to stop him going on another raid. Soon after the old King died.

Fridtjof took Ingebjørg as his wife and controlled the kingdom untill the old kings sons where of age. They didn't like Fridtjof so they went to war against him. In one battle Fridtjof killed one of the sons while the other begged for his life and Fridtjof let him live. After this Fridtjof became King of all of Sogn and made Hordaland part of his kingdom too.

The statue on the picture was given to the county of Vik in 1913 by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. The statue of Fridtjof the Bold stands 22.5 m tall on Vangsnes.

Cloud Bolero

I've been a member on Ravelry since march this year, one of the first things I did was look at all the free patterns there were to choose from. I soon found the pattern for the Cloud Bolerao and just as fast I added it to my favorittes. But since then I have tried to find the perfect yarn. Seeing that the pattern calls for fairly thick knitting needles so..

But here the other night, after going to bed, I came to thinking of a project I had given up on. The yarn was perfect and the color I already liked...

The day after, after work and all that, I got the old project forth and unraveled it. I cast on the first 50 st and there was no way back. It took me just 4 evenings to finish the bolero. If yarn had permitted it I would have made one or two rows of pattern more, but it's fine the way it is and I love it. What yarn did I end up using you ask, well I ended up with Eskimo from Garnstudio. Dark brown and made for needles size 8-9 mm. Perfect... The pattern was easy, quick and fun. And the fact that the pattern covers so many sizes is very nice. Thumbs up!

My new blog - this time more international

Hello...
Here is my first english blog and I'm crossing fingers and toes that someone will find it and maybe also find it entertaining. I'm thinking I'm going to use this space to promote Norway, how selfish is that, but I have to face the fact that Norway is a beautiful country with lots to offer. You tend to forget what you homecountry has to offer when living there all the time, atleast I did for a while.

I will problably also show stuff that I've made with my own two hands, I've fallen victim to knitting the last 2 years so... I'm also starting to have a go at crocheting, you never know where that might take me :)

I promise to release a new spot atleast once a week, maybe more :)

The picture in this segment is of one of the many beautiful parts of the second largest fjord in the world: The Sognefjord. And it's almost just outside my bedroom window in my hometown of Vik in Sogn :)