FO :: Minions

Finally the Minions are done!
They have been fun and easy to crochet up, but it's taking me forever to put the parts together...

But I'm glad I managed to have them done before the kids came home from school today :)
The things one make to make the kids happy!
Have agreat weekend everyone - I'm going to knit socks and hopefully the
weather will be good so we can go look for "tyttebær" (lingonberries).

Ravelry project page Minion #1 and Minion #2
Pattern: Despicable Me Minion (free pattern)
Yarn: Blue and yellow Mor Aase bomull and grey and black Bjørk from Viking garn
Hook: 3 mm
Started: July 2 2013
Completed: August 30 2013

WIP :: Basket weave rib socks and a minion

Keep Calm Craft On :: WIP Wednesday :: Yarn Along

Reading: I needed some light summer reading, so I picked up The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble. I've just read a few pages, but I hope it's a good book.

Knitting & Crocheting: We've been working a lot in the garden the last week, so there haven't been much time for knitting. But I have knitted a little on hubby's socks and I've started to make a minion for the kids :)
The kids love the film and we're heading out to see Despicable Me 2 on Sunday :)
The Love pillow is also off the needles. I just have to sew in some buttons - so there will be a FO post soon.

And I just have to share what my mom has knitted for the kids.
Marius jackets. SO happy she made them. If I should have knitted one for each of them it would have taken me ages...

FO :: Red Angry Bird

Finally, after almost two months on the needles this bird is finished! The body has been finished for a month if not more. It's been all those little things that has taken time. Two hours yesterday to be exactly ;) 
The pattern is from knitterbees and she have just released a pattern of a zoombie bear - zOombear the zombie bear, which is SO cute. 

Pattern: Red Bird Plush Toy by knitterbees

Yarn: Sisu, Mor Aase baby and Silja
Needles: 2,5 mm

The only thing is that I need to knit more of these to avoid bickering over just one... So I guess I'll have to look through my stash and grab those needles and make the yellow bird and some pigs too ;)

Yarn Along :: WIP Wednesday

Yarn Along :: WIP Wednesday

Reading: I'm swithcing between two books this week. This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress #5)
by Jeaniene Frost and One Wicked Sin (The Scandalous Women of the Ton #2)
by Nicola Cornick. 

Knitting: I've finally knitted a bit on the socks for Hubby. Just the foot and toe left on both. And I have casted on a red angry bird :) It looks pinkish in the photo due to bad light...

Meet Wilma & Wilbur Whale :)

I started these back in May and promised Eirin & Endre that I would finish them while they was on summervacation with my Mom. So I did :) They wanted them to have some little friends, so I added some starfish and fish ;)
Pattern: Wilbur Whale from Crochet designs for kids.
Yarn: Mor Aase bomull.
Hook: 3 mm.

Yarn Along :: WIP Wednesday

Another Wednesday and I'm ready to show you what I'm reading and knitting/crocheting :) If you'd like to see what others are reading/knitting you can check out Yarn Along or WIP's Wednesday.
The kids are still with my mom, so I have had time to finish Ishbel. She's blocking at the moment, but I hope I can take some pictures of her tomorrow. Today I plan to exploit the fact that the kids are not home to pick up (throw something) and clean their rooms.

Reading: I finished Før de ni verdener styrter some days ago, and I really liked it. Hoping the third book will come soon. Now I'm reading The Rosetta Key and City of Thieves.
I started reading The Rosetta Key without very high expectations since the first book in the series was not very good. But this one is a real page-turner, full of adventure and action.
Ethan Gage finds himself hurled into the Holy Land in dogged pursuit of an ancient Egyptian scroll imbued with magic, even as Bonaparte launches his 1799 invasion of Israel, which will climax at the epic siege of Acre. Pursuing Napoleon to France, where the general hopes ancient secrets will catapult him to power, the wily and inventive Gage faces old enemies with unlikely new friends, and must use wit, humor, derring-do, and an archaeological key to prevent dark powers from seizing control of the world. 

City of Thieves is well written and almost like reading a movie. I also like that the author was able to incorporate humor in such a gloomy setting.
During the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.  

Knittin/Crocheting: I promised Eirin & Endre that I should finish their whales while they were on vacation. I have only left to sew them together and stuff them. So hopefully I'll manage to keep my promise! I'm also working on a green bib for my Epla shop and I have pulled out the Summer Mystery Shawlette again. After seeing how beautiful it turned out - I have to finish mine!

Yarn Along :: WIP Wednesday

The days just seem to fly by me this month... It's Wednesday again and time for joining a lot of other knitters who also loves to read for  Yarn Along and WIP Wednesday. I am using the picture I took for last Wednesday, but which I totally missed to blog about. Sometimes real life takes over. But I'm still reading the same books and knitting/crocheting on the same things ;)

Reading: I seem not to manage to focus on just one book at the moment... So I read a bit here and a bit there ;)  I have however finished Dead reckoning. Not as good as the previous Sookie books, but it had some great moments. I've also read about a third of The Land of Painted Caves. It's ok, but it's been a bit much caves and not so much about Ayla and Jondalar and their love story so far...
I haven't had time to practise on my spinning, but I'm really enjoying Spinning in the Old Way. The book makes it looks so easy ;) In one of the Ravelry Book Group we are reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I'm not sure if I like the book or not - I haven't read so much yet, so I might make up my mind after a few chapters more. And then there is Napoleon's pyramids - a book I started in March. I had high hopes for this book as it sounded like a version of Indiana Jones ;) It started ok, but then it was on and on about Napoleon and his marching into Egypt. The book didn't get exciting before halfway through. I have a few chapters left and I hope the end will be good.

I'm reading a few more books, some are on hold and some am I reading out loud for the kids. You can check them out here on my Goodreads page.

Knitting: My sweater is still on the needles. I have divided for sleeves now and hope I'll manage to knit it up before May is over. I have also casted on for the Summer Mystery Shawlette by Wendy D. Johnson. And I have crocheted two whales that are waiting to be seamed.

Weekending

Weekending, my favorite part of the week. A time to relax, live, love, just to be. If you'd like to share your weekend either with words, photographs, or both, leave a link to a weekend post in the comments.
This weekend was...

sunny with a bit of rain
homemade lasagna, recipe here
teaching Eirin to purl
sleeping a few hours longer in the morning - thank you Hubby ♥
crocheting
icecream
a bottle of my favourite white wine
reading
soaking up sun while knitting
laundry
chocolate mousse with vanilla sauce
finally seeing some buds
getting a sunburn

how was your weekend?
I found this at the habit of being

Totoro and some socks ;)

We've been without intetnet connection for over a week and it's still a bit unsteady... And we're still without water :( After 5 months we're sort of starting to get used to it though, but now when it's summer the kids clothes get's so much dirtier than during winter. So I'm so looking forward to be able to do my own laundry. Hubby is going to dig the water pipe deeper, so hopefully we'll have the water back soon!
We've celebrated Eirin's 8 birthday and it really warms a mother's heart when the homemade present is the most cherished :)

Pattern: Blue Totoro
Yarn: Blue Toppull and some white leftover of Mor Aase.
Hook: 3,5 mm

I've also knitted up four pairs of socks.
Pattern: 48 st, k1,p1 and k2,p2 ribbing with short row heel.
Size: About 5-6 years.
Yarn: Pink and blue Labbetuss raggegarn, red and brown Jarbo mellanraggi. About 65 g each.
Needles: 3 mm.

Vanilla socks & some fuzzy monsters

I had not heard of the term "vanilla socks" until I saw it on the 52 ppiii forum a while ago. And the word “vanilla” is used to mean anything plain,ordinary,simple. I've just knitted 3 pairs of vanilla socks :) They are all knitted on 2,5 mm needles, with 64 st, but they have different ribs. They are all knitted in yarn from Tama's etsy store.

Neopolitian socks
k2, p2 rib.

Strawberry & Cream socks
k1 through the back loop, p1 rib.

Blue & green socks
k1, p1 rib.

I bet a lot of you have some (ugly) fun fur yarns laying around..? I do - in different colours and brands. I'm not sure why I have bought some of it, but I have gotten some in swaps and gifts, so it's not all bought in some crazy, brain dead moment *lol*
Anyway, I didn't know how to use it up so I found out the kids could make pompom monsters of it ;) So I cut out the paper rings, dugged out the yarn and we got to work. Endre got bored after a few minutes... So I had to finish it.

They turned out quite cute after they got eyes on, but and it's a big but. They shed alot of fur. I guess fun fur is not the right type of yarn to make pompoms with... So the fuzzy monsters have to live outside in the playhouse ;)

Some small knits :)

Our plans about going to our lean-to on Sunday got called off because Erlend got the stomach flu :( It's the worst thing I know! Yuck! Fortunally he was the only one, and we haven't catched it yet, so hopefully we won't get it either. And it's been snowing - alot! I think we've gotten about 50 cm of snow this week. The roads are terrible to drive on, and I'm so glad I don't have to be out driving each day! Due to Erlend being sick, I haven't knit so much. But I have made up a few outfits for Barbie ;) The patterns are from Sticka till Barbie, a site filled with over 900 free patterns - me like :)

First a gold top.
Patern: #529 from Sticka till Barbie.
Yarn: Some gold yarn I've had in my stash for years.
Needles: 2 mm.

I like this, but if I'll knit it again, I'll make some decreasing on the sleeves.
Pattern: #320 from Sticka till Barbie.
Yarn: Online, leftovers from my yellow lace socks.
Needles: 2 mm.

Pattern: #5 from Sticka till Barbie.
Yarn: Online, leftovers from my yellow lace socks.
Needles: 2 mm.

I've been frogging a bit too ;) I started this scarf back in October... It's been alomost done, don't know why I haven't finished it. But when I digged it out of my knit basket and casted off (yes, it was the only thing left to do...), I saw that it turned out to short to become a good scarf :( So I frogged it. I really like the spider, so I'm going to knit it on another project. A hat perhaps. Or a pair of socks, like these.

And I'm almost done with my Heart yoke cardigan!!! I have just one front band left :)

A new outfit for the doll

March and April is green in this years Project Spectrum. Green is not one of my favorite colors, so I don't have much yarn in shades of green. However, I once bought a kilo (!) of some green acrylic yarn at a flea market many years ago... And now I have used up the last balls of it - yeah!

Pattern: Kjørepose til baby from a norwegian book - Babystrikk til dukken. (Rav link)
Yarn: 200 g of Sally ( a yarn no longer in sale)
Needles: 3 mm

It fits the doll perfect! But I'm so glad I'm done with it. The yarn was a pain in the ass to knit with :/ But the kids are happy, and as long as Eirin are at school, Endre can have the doll and the new outfit for himself. I know they will quarrel about it when she gets home... *sigh*

Super Santa

I got Simply Knitting # 47 in the mail today and I just had to cast on for the Super Santa by Alan Dart. It's such a charming santa!

And I haven't just been knitting socks this month ;) I have several pairs of mittens that are waiting to be felted.

Have you seen that the Knitty surprises are up? I think the Frankensocks are cool!

Little Blossom

I started knitting on her in April and she has just missed her eyes, ears and trunk. So today I finally got myself together and finished her. I'm not that pleased with her, I do think she remind me more of a mole (whitout the ears...) But beauty comes from the inside and Eirin loves her, so I'm not going to change her in any way. I did knit the trunk a couple of times though.

I droped the flowerchain around her head, the bow on the back of her skirt and the flower she should hold in her trunk. Eirin didn't want the flowers and I'm just happy to have less small thing to knit and assemble ;) The eyes are two buttons. I tried to sew the eyes with chain stitch.... But that's not something I'm good at.

Pattern: Little Blossom by Alan Dart from Iresistible Gifts to Knit (Ravel it)
Yarn: Sara pelsgarn for the body, Karisma for the skirt and Mor Aase for the knickers.
Needles: 3 mm

She really is loved and got in the play with the others after the photos where taken ;)