Pair # 18 & 19

I guess you must be fed up with my socks now ;) But I have knitted up two more pairs - and they are x-mas gifts :)
Pattern: a simple k3, p3 socks, 66 st
Yarn: 100 g Järbo Garn Mellanraggi #28007
Needles: 2,5 mm

Pattern: Garter rib from Sensational knitted socks
Yarn: 150 g Rauma FagStrikk #36701. I had to use 3 skeins to get the stripes alike on both socks, but it should be enough with just 2 skeins for a pair ;)
Needles: 2,5 mm

I do have, let's see... four pairs of socks on my needles (I think), but I promise you that I'll post about something else next time!

And for those of you that love vampires as much as I do (I'm lost in the Sookie Stackhouse novels... as well as True Blood on tv), here is How to Attract a Sexy Vampire :D
I have the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R Ward waiting for me, and I'm thinking about getting my hands on the Anita Blake Series by Laurell K. Hamilton or the Anna Strong Vampire Series by Jeanne C. Stein. Anyone who have read this series or have another good vampire serie to recommend?

Doozer knitting song :)

It's neat and it's sweet.
It's a ding dong treat,
Knittin' socks for little feet.
Just sittin' with your knittin' all day long.

You know, knittin's friendly,
And knittin's fun.
Knittin's good for everyone,
And that is why we sing this knittin' song.

Well it's knit one pearl two.
What's a Doozer gonna do,
With a gol-darn,
Ball of yarn?
It's stitch three drop four.
Pitch that knittin' out the door right now.

There's a green, there's a red.
There's a knot in my thread.
A knitter needs his noggin read,
So don't come 'round and speak to me of yarn.

You can k-nit all day and k-nothin' fits.
'Cause only k-nitwits like to k-nit,
And k-nittin' k-needles just ain't worth a darn.

Well it's knit one pearl two.
What's a Doozer gonna do,
With a gol-darn,
Ball of yarn?
It's stitch three drop four.
Pitch that knittin' out the door right now.

Performed by: The Doozers

Pair #17 Laila's socks

I love my new socks! Ever since I bought Folk knitting in Estonia, I've been wanting a pair of these socks ;) And when my attempt to knit up a pair of Norwegian stockings from Folk socks failed (the 1st got to small and the 2nd to big), I frogged them and used the yarn for these instead.

I really wanted some more colours than just black & white so they got a splash of red :) And I think I have to make one in another colour ;)

Pattern: Laila's socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: 50 g each of red, black and white Silja
Needles: 2,5 mm
Modification: I have knitted the star toe as in the pattern, but have made a short-row heel instead of the heel flap.

Bye, bye to the sun and some socks ;)

The sun is really low on the horizon now and this is all we can see of her where we live...

But it makes the most beautiful sunsets!! These pictures are taken around 2.30 so it ges dark early here now.

We've had some great weather this week, but the last couple of days the wind has been freezing cold. And living in an old house it means it gets cold on the floors... So I've made me a pair of thick socks to wear over my other wool socks ;) And I know - they are not the prettiest socks you've seen. But they keep my feet warm :)

I've also finished these pairs that I started kniting on way back in February... There are two pairs in men size and two in women size, and they are in my x-mas gift bag :)

Pair #15 Autumn leaves

I managed to finish the October socks in the Sockamania knitalong just in time. I sew in the ends a few hours ago on ;)

I think the colours flows best on the left sock. I wasn't sure if I would have enough yarn, so I just kept on knitting where I finished the first one... I do have about 20 grams left, but I'm not going to frog the 2nd and knit it over.

The pattern continues down at the heel flap :)
Pattern: Autumn leaves by Tama
Yarn: 80 g Zauberball colorway Gebrannte Mandeln
Needles: 2,75 mm

Frost

It's getting colder here now, and the last couple of days the temperature has been down at -10 C in the mornigs. The sun is low on the horizon, and we just have about 5 hours of sunlight during the day. Even though I love black frost (- it's so beautiful when the sun shine on it,) I am looking forward to some snow. It will be so much lighter! But until then we just have to take advantage of what nature brings us :) So we went hiking to our little lean-to cabin yesterday. And had a wonderful day with a hot meal, lots of tea and cocoa and exploring :)

Editied later on Sunday ;)
I came across Birgitta's blog and she's having a give away :) Just leave her a message by the 24 th of November and you can win the beautiful yarn above.

Pair # 14 Green stripes

I have found the fun about knitting socks again :) And I've completed my 14th pair for the 52 ppiii along. These are just a simple k2, p2 socks that have been done in a couple of nights in front of the tv.
Pattern: 64 st, k2, p2 with a short row heel.
Yarn: 70 g Admiral Ombré by Schoppel-Wolle, Colorway Schachtelhalm
Needles: 2,5 mm

And I have a new pair on the needles too ;) It's a beautiful pattern made by Tama for the Sockamania sock knitting along. The yarn is Zauberball and I love how soft is it to knit with and the colors!

Have a great weekend everyone! It looks like the weather will be great, so I think we will be heading out in the forest this weekend :)

Mittens for the boys

Since I managed to knit up two left mittens for Erlend, I got so mad that I just hide them at the bottom in my knit basket... And picked up another project - Lizard mittens for Endre. I've been having these in my Ravelry queue for a long time, and are so pleased with how they turned out :)

Pattern: Lizard mittens by Torriot.
Yarn: White Hifa 2 Ullgarn and Blue Per Tryving pt2
Needles: 2,5 mm

But Erlend still needed a pair of mittens, so I picked up my newest knit book - Norwegian Handknits: Heirloom Designs from Vesterheim Museum and found a simple, but great pattern :)
It's knitted with the thumb in each side, so the mittens can be used on both hands. And the pattern will change depending on which hand you are using ;) As you can see on the pictures below.

Pattern: Ruth's mittens
Yarn: Mor Aase Superwash
Needles: 3,5 mm

Vinn Sensitive cream bath

Nå kan du vinne en flaske Sensitive Cream Bath fra Økobutikken. Dette krembadet er med i en serie av pleieprodukter som var først ut med å få Debio sertifisering som økologisk i Norge. Krembadet er også merket med svanemerket, noe som betyr at de er fri for parfyme og andre allergener. Dette er et multiprodukt som kan brukes av voksne så vel som barn. Bruksmuligheter er blant annet:

Barn: I badevannet, som vaskekrem når vann ikke er tilgjengelig (trenger ikke vaske kremen av), mild babyshampo.

Voksne: Renser ansiktshud for sminke og smuss (fjerner ikke vannfast sminke).

Alt du behøver å gjøre for å delta i konkurransen inne hos Hjemmemamma :)

Argh! It can't be possible...

I have done it a couple of times before, but discover it this late is SO frustrating :/

Comfort food

It's been a perfect fall day today :) The weather has been great. So Endre and I have been several hours outside raking leaves, picking up toys and feeding the birds.
And on a day like this we need some comfort food :)

This is salmon with potatoes, carrots and leek. Baked together in the oven. Mmmm, delicious!
What's your comfort food??

Frost

I'm so behind on my fall/winter knitting this year... I haven't made one pair of mittens for the kids yet, and they really need it now. We had the first frost night yesterday and this morning was it -10 C - Brrrr! There's no snow yet, but everything is covered in frost... Even the lake was covered with ice today. So I had to cast on a pair for Erlend today. Hopefully I'll get them done fast so I can cast on for a new pair ;)

Here's a picture from the weekend :)

B - Blekkhjerte

I was not sure what to do with the letter B in ABC i ord og bilder, but when I put back some books in my bookshelf - Blekkhjerte (Inkheart) by Cornelia Funke was one of the books :)

The last month I've been reading the books in this trilogy, and I've been totally lost in the Inkworld! We meet Meggie and her dad Mo who is a bookbinder, but when he reads out loud from any book, some of the characters comse alive.

"The books in Mo and Meggie's house were stacked under tables, on chairs, in the corners of the rooms. There where books in the kitchen and books in the lavatory. Books on the TV set and in the closet, small piles of books, tall piles of books, books thick and thin, books old and new. They welcomed Meggie down to breakfast with invitingly opened pages; they kept boredom at bay when the weather was bad. And sometimes you fall over them."
— Cornelia Funke (Inkheart)

"The world was a terrible place, cruel, pitiless, dark as a bad dream. Not a good place to live. Only in books could you find pity, comfort, happiness - and love. Books loved anyone who opened them, they gave you security and friendship and didn't ask anything in return; they never went away, never, not even when you treated them badly."
— Cornelia Funke (Inkheart Trilogy: Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath)

And I'm not going to see the film - I know I will be so disappointed as I often are after seeing a film after reading the book first...

Pair # 13 Socks without a name

It seems like I'll never catch up in the 52 ppiii along... But I've finished pair #13 today ;)
I'm so sorry about really bad photos, but with rain and very bad daylight this is the best I could do... The colour was hard to capture, but it's as the photo of the yarn at the bottom ;)

Pattern: Socks without a name from Sockamania knitalong
Yarn: 115 g Mayflower Hit Parade #4352
Needles: 2,5 mm

A - Arbeidskar

I've desided to join the norwegian version of ABC Wednesday. And A is for arbeidskar (working guy). Endre loves to help his dad and when we are in the forest at our lean-to, he always grab a saw and saws down a couple of underbushes ;)

Enough with the rain now, please...

Picture from the weekend :)

I'm a bad blogger these days... But real life just takes over sometimes. I've started my fight agains those extra kilos, so I try to exercise at least three times a week ;) - When I'm home alone so the kids can't laugh at me *lol* Hubby's daughter is living with us every other week now, so having a teenager in the house has it's moment too... My afternoon is filled with helping the kids do their homework, making dinner, supper and then bedtime with reading outloud. So there are not much time for knitting left. And our weekends are mostly filled with time outdoors. And there's no doubt - fall is here now. Some of the trees have no leaves left do to the wind we've had the last days. And the rain has been pouring down for weeks now. I'm just looking forward to - degrees and snow now. Everything is better than cold rain!

So while I'm baking bread and doing some laundry today, I have time to enjoy a latte and knit a few rounds on a wool pants for Endre. It might be a new pair of monster pants, but it also just be a stripy one ;) We'll see.

And when the sun abandon us, I'll have to make some sunshine in another way. So I finished up some dishcloths :)

And finding a package in the mailbox is always great when the weather is bad :) This is a red swap package all the way from Eleanor in Australia :)

Somewhere over the rainbow...

We've had a rain storm during the night and the wind didn't stop until late today. It's been raining non stop, but the sun came out for about ten minutes and made these two beautiful rainbows. You can see by the big streams of water coming down from the mountain that it's been raining a lot. They use to be almost dry during summer.

I'm still waiting for the rest of the books in the Into the Wilderness serie by Sara Donati... So instead I've started reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - a really great book! I'm nearly done with it and I hope Inkspell is just as good. I think I'll have to by the film. Even though I know the film never becomes like the book... Eirin was very fasinated by the cover of the book which has the same cover as the film ;) So I might buy it just for her. She likes fantasy stories just like me - and I'm reading the Spiderwick chronicles for her for the second time now. She have seen the film several times and each time she gets thrilled and howls of joy and fear. But I really think the books are far better than the film! I could not get over that the river troll wasn't in it... One of Eirins favorite in the book :)

My knitting mojo is coming back slowly - and I have finished up a pair of socks for Eirin.
Pattern: k2, p2 with a short row heel.
Yarn: Ida Strømpegarn
Needles: 2,5 mm

And with the left overs fom I maaged to knit two calorimetry's. One for Eirin (she tells me it itches, but the one I made her a couple of years ago has been used a lot..) and one goes in the Christmas gift box ;)
Pattern: Calorimetry
Yarn: Ida Strømpegarn
Needles: 2,5mm

These water bottle bags/slings have been done over a month ago - and used a couple of times too. It's just me that have forgotten to take pictures...
Pattern: My own
Yarn: Various cotton
Hook: 4mm/G

Into the Wilderness

My knitting mojo has been lost this week... I've hardly touched the needles, because I've been totally lost in the book Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati. It's the first book in a serie of six. And I can't wait for my order from amazon for the rest ;)

It is December of 1792. Elizabeth Middleton leaves her comfortable English estate to join her family in a remote New York mountain village. It is a place unlike any she has ever experienced. And she meets a man unlike any she has ever encountered--a white man dressed like a Native American, Nathaniel Bonner, known to the Mohawk people as Between-Two-Lives. Determined to provide schooling for all the children of the village, she soon finds herself locked in conflict with the local slave owners as well as her own family. Interweaving the fate of the Mohawk Nation with the destiny of two lovers, Sara Donati's compelling novel creates a complex, profound, passionate portrait of an emerging America.

And I've received some great packages in the mail this week :) First my 3rd package in a little envelope swap from Rowlesgirl. And a book swap from kyrasmom. Beautiful yarn from Knit Picks and a Terry Pratchett book ;) Can't wait to read it.

Have a great weekend everyone! There might be som knitting during the weekend and maybe some finsihed projects to show off next week ;)

What do you do??

It's September already and I've been going through the kids knitted stuff today. I've pulled out all socks, hats, scarfs, mittens and gloves. And have sorted out the ones that have been outgrown or outworn. Then I've ironed on name tags on the one that missed one. And as you can see there's quite a large pile on the floor, but not all has been knitted my be. They have a grandmother, a great grandmother and some of hubby's aunts always give them knitted mittens or socks for Christmas ;)

But for my question - What do you do with all of you knitted stuff that gets outgrown?? Usually things get handed down to the next kid in line here, but with a girl in the middel there is a lot of pink going on... And Endre is not always happy to wear pink ;) So I've sent some away to fleamarkets or secondhand stores - if it's little used.

This is what got sorted out of the pile above. Not much, but most of it are mittens that have been felted by the snow to some hard, not good to wear mittens. And the one that likes knitted mittens most are Erlend. I'm planning on knitting him a pair of these ;)
I'm not sure if I'll throw any of them in the bin yet. Maybe the mittens, but the hats and scarfs can be ripped and used agian. I guess it will be put in a bag with the ones I sorted out last year...

Pair # 10 and 11 - Stripes for Endre

Endre needed new socks, and since he also has started kindergarden I have to knit several pairs.
So # 10 and 11 in the 52ppiii was a rather fast knit ;) Eirin also need a new pair, so I might be able to catch up by the end of September - I hope...

Pattern: simple k2, p2 - 52 st.
Yarn: Pair #10 is knitted with leftovers from Kieler Sprotte and #11 with leftovers from Erlend's k2, p1 socks.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

We have a saying here in north of Norway which goes like this.
Lots of rowanberries = little snow.
Little rowanberries = lots of snow.
Because the rowan should not carry a heavy load twice in a row.

Last year we had lots and lots of rowan berries, and we got little snow. Well little can be questionable, but a lot is when we can't see the cars driving past the house due to the hugh snowedge... And as you can see from the tree - not a single berry this year. I wonder how much snow we'll get...

And our outdoor blog got featured at Imagine childhood the other day :)