17th of may

This year we took a little untraditional celebrating of
17th of May - our constitution day ;)
We hiked in the forest and the weather was brilliant!

It's still some spots of snow on the way up.

Our cabin becomes a meeting place for the kids when we arrives.
The youngest find his toys and starts to explore.
Today there was a lot of tiny little green butterflies which
was fun to run after ;)

Head chef ;)

And Erlend and hubby was up here yesterday
painting the cabin, so it's not purple anymore!

Mallards

This morning we had these two outside our window when we had breakfast.
A mallard couple.

See how good she blend in with the gras!

Here is the ice a couple of days ago. Now it's all gone and we're
waiting for the swans to come too.

And when one is outside one can hear it cluck and run in lots of
streams. It's a lot of grouse in the forest this year, and we can hear them coo.

Friday flickr favorites - Blankets

Since I've joined the "En bestemor om dagen" cal, I browsed through blankets, and here is some of my favorites. I LOVE the Mario blanket! You can see more of Gege's crochet here (flickr link) and here (ravelry link)

Target

Since the temperature is rising, I need some more cotton socks. So I'm knitting Target :) It's a fun knit and I'm knitting them cuff down instead of toe up.

En bestemor om dagen

Or an granny a day. Frk.Badegakk came up with a norwegian twist of this cal. We can make one a day, so there will be seven new squares each week. This is my first week and I managed to crochet six. I'm making hexagons. Hopefully there will be a blanket in the end :) I'll post the progress each Sunday. I love the colors, but I think I'll use some other colors as well.

The lean-to has become a little cabin

We've spent this Sunday up in the forest and fixed our lean-to.
We (hubby) have made walls in the front and a door. So now we
can leave things like a primus, first aid kit and other small things
in it since we can lock it.
I guess we can call our lean-to a little cabin now ;)
And I know the color is awful (we're going to paint it!),
it's become much more cosy and the snow will not blow in during winter.

Endre is waiting for fishfingers - his favorite ;)

While we had sausages for dinner.

And we've finally made a swing :)

Tings that have made me happy the past days

Spring is finally here for real!
More photos here.

I've casted on for a dragon jacket for Endre.
And I love the green and orange together!

Eirin helping me making paper pots.
Here is a how to using a bottle ;)

Waiting for the seeds to sprout.

Endre loves his Mickey Mouse, and he has been with him
outside, in the mud, so he needed a wash.
Watching him hanging there on the clothesline
made me giggle every time I went by. Endre on the
other hand was sick worrying he would fly away with the wind ;)

Making grated carrots with this old grater.
Even I think it's fun :)

Having a new pair of socks off the needles.
Pattern: k2, p1. 60 st.
Yarn: 100 g Jarbo mellanraggi & leftovers of Ida strømpegarn.
Needles: 2,75 mm.

Spring is here

There's no doubt, the spring is here for real. With sun, degrees over
+10 C and coltsfoots along the edges of the roads!

And the bird cherry is full of buds waiting for more heat.

The willows are full of pussy willows.

With the help of the sun and the wind the snow has melted fast the last days.
So Erlend and Eirin have been exploring the meadow and the bog.

A flock of birds have been on the meadow as well.
I'm not very good with birds, so I have no idea what species this is..

And in the garden did we find signs that the mouse has
had it warm and cosy under the snow this winter.

Same yarn, two different pairs of socks

Hubby and I in our new socks :) I had to balls of this color in Opal, but none of the balls had the colorway... So if anyone know, I'd be happy to know ;) This colorway is one of my favorite from Opal, and I really wish I had some more of it.

First I knitted a pair of Jaywalker and they were ment to be hubby's. But they got to narrow at the heel part, so instead I got a new pair ;) Can't complain, because I love the colors!

Pattern: Jaywalker.
Yarn: 100 g Opal, unknown colorway.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

So instead of jaywalkers, I knitted hubby a plain pairs of k2, p2 socks. That way I know they will fit him ;)

Pattern: k2, p2.
Yarn: 100 g Opal, unknown colorway.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

The people's act of love

The People's Act of Love: A Novel by James Meek

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an awesome novelset during the Russian revolution. The beginning of the book can be a bit slow with a lot of people and stories and difficult russian names. But after you have read the part where Mutz reads THE letter, this book just takes off! With a religious sects, cannibals and Czech soldier this book has a lot of surprises!


View all my reviews.

Grateful!

I'm so grateful for living with the forest, lake and mountain right outside my doorstep!

"HIKING" by Ed Matlack

The overwhelming power of Nature looses the soul from the concrete bastian

Replacing glass-perforated walls with giants of green and bark

Underfoot the cement and asphalt turns into sweet-smelling earth and leaf-rot

A racing stream instead of speeding traffic lends muffled background

Snow mantled boughs exchanged for bleak hard stone--moss for rust

Little known or appreciated solace is found in this haven a few minutes from the core

Lifes dreaded and hum-drum buzz-saw of existence is belittled by a sequence of wonders

Never repeating itself, Nature provides an unending panorama of fool-proof structures

All weather buffeted, the young and old alike bear up under seasonal changes

A quality of serenity little broken by storms - even then, only an adjustment

For the betterment of mankind, a close look at this phenomena would provide an arch of comfort

Beneath tired feet lies the soothing balm of peace...

And we had our first spring trip to our lean-to today!

Spring's first trip

Even though the rain clouds were hanging over us today, we packed our backpacks and went to our lean-to today. The snow is very rotten now, so the snowmobile made the trip for us. The days with hard snow is over now as the spring has arrived.

It's great with a known place to come to. Where everything is in place, and the kids know what to do ;) Here's cookies and tea/cocoa on the menu.

With bare spots between the snow, it's much to look for. And I found out how rotten the snow was as I suddenly tread through the snow and had snow up to the middel of my thigh...

Cowberry from last year.

And there's not a great hike without a little bit of candy ;)

And these were also with us up to the lean-to. So we're just waiting for the snow to disappear so we can place them around the fireplace.