Purple Walkers

My second pair of "Jaywalkers" are done. Purple Walkers. They were for Ola who has size 46 (european) feet, that is a lot of sock to knit. He cant get to tall socks, because then there wont be enough yarn, this is very nearly 50 grams per sock.  I used Frost yarn from Gjestal, not the softest but even and nice with stunning colours. This pattern really turns out nice, but I think I am done fore a while now, after doing four socks in a row. Well, I'm doing anklets as we speak, but in a totally different pattern! :)

Spring pictures

I cant resist posting some spring pictures. The winter is so long, when spring finally comes, it should be treated like a miracle. The long dark cold winter is almost worth it. Almost.

Anklets to be

I'm making a pair of ankle socks from the yarn I have left from the Scrappy Swap. I divided each of the five yarns into four balls, and after deciding the order, I joined them with a Russian join, to make a coherent yarn. This join was new to me, but turned out to be a fantastic way to piece to ends of yarn together, and I cant believe I haven't found out about this method until now! Have a look at it here. 

Knitted commercial

Apparently it was filmed "backwards", instead of knitting each stich, the unraveled it, and then played it as "forwards".

Snowdrops!

More plant pictures, but this one is actually sticking up in my garden! A snowdrop, my absolute favourite of the earliest flowers. That was the first thing I thought of planting, but we moved a bit to late in the autumn, and with all the moving hassle I never got to it. The former owners said that there was a lot of bulbs in the soil, and that we would get a surprise when spring came. What a lovely surprise!
Somehow, for me, it really says "home" to have snowdrops in the garden. There are lots of other stuff poking up as well, but I don't know what they are yet, something els than snowdrops is all I can decipher from the leaves. I'll get back to you on that one.
Now I'm going to go out  and shovel away all the snow in front of the snowdrop so it can be properly admired.

Fuzzy tomatoes

My tomatoes have shown themselves! They are growing nicely, they are small still but tall, soon I have to take the lid of the mini greenhouse. Beautifully green, tall and fuzzy.

"Tuppkammarna" is growing nicely too, they have their second leaf pare coming in. And just look at the hot pink stems, hopefully it is telling of what there are to become. 

Wrong! Turned into right!

Ok, something is wrong with the background, I'm working on it, but my web consult master is not answering his phone!

Now it should work again and hopefully a more robust solution that will not magically disappear. (Web master)

Teal vest

This is the little vest I knitted for my nephew Conrad's birthday, which is today so I can show it now without spoiling the surprise (Grattis på födelsedagen!). It was knitted in blind with only a few measurements and a very bad pattern. I had to do the size for a 10 year old to get the measurements for a 6 year old, something was very wrong with that pattern.

My sister informed me that it fit, and that I was requested to attend the party, sadly I am 500 kilometres away so that was a bit hard. 

I loved the yarn, it is Rowan Felted Tweed Aran, which was very nice to knit with, comes in wonderful colours and is machine washable, almost a requirement for kids clothes. It is lovely knitting things this small, there is so much achievement in so little time. 

Girly gardening garb

Look at what I found, women friendly gardening pants! Women friendly in both the pattern (though a bit girly) and the shape, with room for hips and chest. I am so tired of working clothes that are too small in some places and way too big in others. The brand is called Garden Girl, and they make lots of products for gardening that are a bit more fun and untraditional (and again, a bit too girly). I wish they made overalls as well, that I could wear while painting the walls. I found them at Grönland Trädgårdsprodukter, who incidentally has even more fun gardening stuff, everything from garden furniture to rubber boots and cast iron frogs.
I cant decide between the blue and the beige though.

More bread

More bread. You always have to make more bread, and new kinds. Today I had filmjölk, for non Swedes that is sour milk, like sour cream but less fatty, we eat it with cereal, so I made bread with filmjölk. I never seem to have the right flours at home though, but I have learnt that if you make it as close to the recipe as you can and carefully watch the consistency of the dough, you will have bread at the end. It is probably very hard to fail at making bread. This was the kind were you flatten it all out in a big pan and when it is done break it into individual pieces. Wheat-, rye-, graham flour bread.

The bread is modelling on the lovely black granite countertops we have in our new kitchen.

New backgrounds

I redid the blog today, making my own personalised background. This is my desk, with its spills and marks from different projects, with some things that are usually lying around. Some care "may" have been given to the colours and the composition, but still, just my stuff that I work with everyday. I am very proud of myself for the accomplishment of making my own background, do I get some "blogger badge of honour" now, though Ola had a big part in making it work. Thanks Ola.
I was thinking of buying a new desk, now that we have moved and I have my own studio, a nice clean white one, but I don't think I can part with this one, it is such a storyteller. I think I'll have to by an additional desk instead, so I'll have twice the area to make a mess on.

Two-legged creatures

We are lonely two-legged creatures.
People, listen to the lyrics.

Jaywalkers finished

The Jaywalkers are done! I must say that this pattern is very enjoyable. It is free so I recommend everyone to try it. This is actually my first pair of matching socks, I usually never have the patience to make them match, and I love to see how different the two socks become, but this yarn had so wide lines, I thought it would look best and not be to difficult. It worked out well they are very similar in size. Beautiful yarn, Gepard Garn, Strong Art, definitely recommended, soft and easy to work with.

I even started a second pair, for Ola, Purple walkers. 

We need some art today

It is fantastic how easily something can come to life, how little we need to give an object a personality, motives and feelings. Though they have a lot in common with spiders, visually, and I don't like spiders, I perceive them as friendly, curious and vulnerable.
"Theo Jansen is a Dutch artist who builds walking kinetic sculptures that he calls a new form of life. His "Strandbeests" walk the coastline of Holland, feeding on wind and fleeing from water."
Long version:

Short version:

Audrey Hepburn

In my search for old movies worth seeing, and that you can actually get your hands on, I bought an Audrey Hepburn Box. How could I ever go wrong with Audrey? Never! In the box came the obvious "Breakfast at Tiffany's", the black and white "Sabrina", and the very strange "Funny Face". To the revue part, I am going to act like you have seen them all, so if you haven't, do.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a totally different movie than I thought. The first thing that hit me is that the lead character, Holly, is trying to make a living of rich men, and the male lead is doing the same thing, but with rich women, they both have a sugar daddy/mama. Interesting equality. The movie is surprisingly humouristic, there is for instance a japanese character,  Holly's neighbour, who is NOT played by a japanese man, very strange and funny. And I feel for the cat more than any other in this movie, I cried for the cat at the end!

Sabrina, I had seen this before, is also surprisingly humoristic, especially the french chef who pops up from under the furniture in his first scene, and the "no bananas" song in the boat. I wish I could see the colour of the flowers on her dress which is way off the shoulders and yards and yards of fabric. I always wonder what will happen after the movie is over, how will he cope with not working for the first time in his life, and, seriously, what will she do when he is old and wrinkly (wrinklier)?

Funny Face is one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. Not that it is not worth seeing, it is, but they make such a fuss in the beginning about how she is intellectual and the magazine people are so shallow. Then it takes her about five minutes in the business and she gives up all her ideals, now she just want to get married and be pretty. Then it is full of crazy unmotivated dancing scenes, with singing involved. I still don't know what to think. Maybe I am chocked into interest with a bit of anger blended in, I do like it.

One more to go

I am really liking this jaywalker pattern, it works very well with this yarn and its broad colour fields. The sock fits my foot very comfortably too, the pattern does not have a lot of stretch in it, so the fit is crucial. A well written pattern, it is interesting enough to always want to keep going but simple enough to never get lost in and tired of.  Now, one more sock to go, but I definitely think I'll make more of these, I'm already planning a purple pair. 

And also, I planted the tomato seeds today, soon the tomatoes will take over the laundry room, or maybe these are the slow growing type. 

More squares

A few more squares for my sock scrap barn-raising quilt. The stripy one is the same yarn as my gloves, the turquoise and the purple is from a yarn swap I participated in, very much fun, and the orange is from Hannas socks. I just love that orange, the yarn was called "yaffa", the perfect shade of orange.

Let your computer speak

Found a great way to test texts today, both for spelling mistakes and for hearing the text, feeling if it is right. Let the computer read it for you! If you have a mac, which you should, just mark the text and right click,  then press "speech" and "start speaking". I am not sure how it is made on a pc. Very effective and effect full (and addictive). It is also great for us non native english speakers, because sometimes you have spelled a word correctly, it is just the wrong word, spell check does not pick up on that.  New feature perhaps, apple?

Oh, and an update on the cleared deck: there were, in the sun, a few square centimetres of dry wood to walk on today.

Deck-igloo

We are tired of waiting for the snow to melt so we can use our deck! We decided to make a hole in the snow so what we, hopefully with the suns help, can have some dry wood to walk on soon. 

It is a deck igloo! 

For hot chocolate and cheese sandwiches. 

It is only reachable from the house and not from the garden. As you can see, we would have had to wait a considerable amount of time for all that to melt. 

Rainy yarn

I was a ball of yarn short for an important project, but I found this as well in the store, and treated my self. It is a very unusual colour combination, I really like it, it is a bit subdued for me but somehow it works very well, wound in to this unusual skein. It reminds me of warm rain. It is surprisingly soft too. I thought I might do a pair of "Jaywalkers", a pattern that makes zig-zags of a stripy yarn.

Sneak peak

Just a little sneak peak of what I am working on, I haven't knitted at all today! I am actually working towards a deadline. It feels good to be heading somewhere specific and I am working with joy, frustration and joy, but still. At the same time it is so stressful I am constantly fighting off a headache with shoulder exercises, the "bed of nails" (spikmattan) and a scarf. Why do I always end up with so much hand sewing? I am going about this very methodically though, I wont be devastated if I don't finish in time or if it turns out looking all wrong, it might not amount to anything anyway, always these repetitive "no's" you have to get used to in the business of being an artist. I am sure the "yes's" are out there, I have experienced them, I know they exist! 

 

Spring gloves

I found this german sock yarn last fall on a big sewing and knitting fair, and I just loved the colour. Yes, I am childishly interested in colour, it might have something to do whit they years I only wore black. Colour is life, positivity, wear more colour people!

Anyway, I wanted to make something for me with this yarn, maybe because I am the only one who would appreciate it, and what would suit better than gloves, were the colours can randomise themselves crazily over the fingers. 

Spring gloves! (Now if we could just have some spring too.)

Otto did the hoovering

I actually started cleaning today for absolutely no reason. I had to do a bit of cleaning yesterday because a deadline is approaching and I could not get into my studio, I picked stuff up and Otto did the hoovering. We were almost as synchronised as these guys.

In the Konstfack spring exhibition 2009, which I was in, there was a performance, I don't remember the artist name, but it was a small fenced in area, like you see on building sites, maybe 5x5 meters, covered in white plastic so you could not see inside or above it. But inside there was a man on a motorcycle, going round and round as fast as he could, in this small area, you knew it was a man on a motorcycle because a sign said so, but we could not see him. I liked it very much. Somehow the certainty of the noisy business  and the depravation of the visual part, was reassuring and exiting in the same time for me.

Much loved Grandmothers

Today, still while I am writing and definitely while I was planing what to write, is the International Women's Day! In this posting I would like to honour my grandmothers, who I have sadly lost, I still cant think about it without crying. They were fantastic strong women, and I am proud to be their granddaughter.

Inga, is in my mind in her kitchen making pancakes or some other delicious meal for all of us family, she never had the time to sit at the table her self. The round table in dark wood, green curtains and the same copper pot for the flowers, woven plastic rug on the floor. She is with me I feel her reassuring hands on my shoulders.

Gunnel, is in her country garden, green to big gumboots, a knitted sweater, the bun of her hair getting a bit frazzled, raking leafs.  It smells of the wood-burning stove, of earth and the grass and the leafs. Her I can see in the path walking in front of me.

I think about there lives and my life and how I can make choices they never could. I have to make the most of the things I have, and be grateful in the choices I make.

But still, "men in general", we are not even, I am still angry, watch out!!!

Lawrence of Arabia

I am trying to watch Lawrence of Arabia for educational purposes. Well, it is more fun than educational, but not at all what I thought and very inspiring. I am having an old movie marathon you might say, but it is a hard to find out which ones are any good, any recommendations? It is horrible how used we have gotten to animated and special effects, they had to be way more inventive in the old days, and the movies are better for it. The blood has all kinds of colours, and if you put a fake nose on an englishman and use some eyeliner, he is an arab. And also everything does NOT blow up! Very surprising. They actually had to do a lot of work to blow up those trains.

Daybreak

I got some beautiful Drops Alpaca as a christmas present, and I saw the opportunity of not just doing something luxurious for me but to try the "Daybreak".  It is a beautiful pattern, very well written, by Stephen West. The funny thing about it is that when I look the pattern up on Ravelry to see what people have made of it, they are all beautiful, all of them! Usually there are always some questionable colour choices and some bad execution, but these are all beautiful, I had to try. 

The scarf is very sculptural and tactile, it starts as light and goes towards darker but leaves the light stripes, then in the dark are the stripes are made in the pattern instead of the colours

It was quite tricky to block because it is not a triangle but a wonky semi circle. which drapes lovely over the shoulders.

Carrot-buns

I have started making all our bread, we don't eat that much and it is way tastier and more nutritious than the store bought fake bread, and I have fun making it with the KitchenAid. You really have to have a machine kneading the bread, that makes all the difference, it helps the gluten form and you don't really have the arm strength to manage that by hand, it turns crumbly. I do a few batches and fill the freezer, then we are good for a few weeks, bread wise.

This is a well used family.... Eh… an old traditional… Eh… a recipe from the cookbook I fund at the grocery store. It is very good bread all the same, orange with carrot and linseeds.

Spring in the laundry room

Look at this little miracle!
Spring is coming to my laundry room!
This is the bonus seed I got when I ordered, Im not sure what it is, an orange red flower I think. Tuppkam (that thing on a chickens head) it was called.

Noro knee-highs

I finally took all my left over noro and made stripes, that noro makes so well. Knee-high socks that even, after some modification to the pattern, reach my knees. They have a three times three repeat and even the heels and toes are stripy. Here is the pattern, by Diana Parrington. 

Im gonna wear these in my gumboots in the garden this spring.

Tired of the winter

I am SO tired of the winter, of långkalsonger (warming underwear), clothes you cant move in and not seeing the ground! But even I cannot deny that this is about as beautiful as it gets (at least in the winter). The birds were singing as well, and Dolly Parton. :)

Flowers

As I said yesterday, I did order some seeds over the internet in January from Impecta. I don't know much about gardening yet so I thought I would just buy the ones I thought was prettiest, and if they live they live, and if they don't Ill buy already grown ones form the plant-school.

How could I resist this one, it looks like a "that pink sock was not supposed to be in the washing machine" kind of accident. And it is called Sophistica, it is a hanging kind and Im going to have it outside my front door hanging from the porch. It will match my pink house numbers. :)

Red Flash, reminds me of a fifties dress, swirling, dancing. 

And then the Merry-Go-Round, fantastic little ting. I cant imagine that these little miracles will pop up from the seeds and live in my garden.