FO :: Marius Tunic

My sister has knitted a marius tunic for Eirin :)
I made her a similar one in grey and pink a few years ago.
The pattern is Marius tunika med rund sal by Unn Søiland Dale. And I'm pretty sure she used Sisu yarn for it.

This pattern called Marius is very, very popular in Norway now. It's and old pattern first designed in 1953.
On Ravelry you can find many versions of this pattern by searching the tag marius. And now in September a knitting book (in norwegian) with just marius pattern is coming out. I have of course pre-ordered it.

Eirin is tall and skinny, so I think this tunic will fit her a couple of years. And will be a vest when she gets taller.

I'm knitting too ;) I have a pair of socks for Hubby and some doll clothes on my needles. It's just the seaming left on the doll clothes so hopefully I find the urge to sew them together tomorrow...

FO :: Toe up socks

My bright and cheerful socks are off the needles
I really need to buy a pair of sock blockers...

Pattern: Toe up with Judy's magic cast-on, 64 st, short-row heel and k2, p2 rib for the leg
Yarn: 65 g Fabel # 901p
Needles: 2,5 mm

Vegetable garden update

Despite a cold and rainy summer our vegetable garden is growing :)
Today the kids just couldn't wait any longer and had to see if the carrots had grown big enough to eat. And they had -  and we are so lucky that we have yellow, orange and purple carrots :)

The purple ones are not so long, but oh the colour! Deep purple and bright orange inside!
I really hope we will have more of these when we harvest the rest later this fall.

Lots of sugar peas. Endre loves to pick a handful to eat when he is out so it's seldom enough to pick for dinner...

Lettuce and radish

I thought my strawberry rhubarb died earlier this summer, but it came back :)

The Borage has totally taken over this place... I never thought it would be so big. And as I now know that it self seed as well I'm going to move it to another part of the garden.

It has beautiful flowers that the bees loves. And it makes the salad look pretty too :)

Both my tomato and cucumber plants that I had in my window died. But one of my paprika plants have these snack paprikas we must taste soon.
I really need to get a greenhouse some day for these kind of vegetables...

Dangerously Delicious

Apple pai for dessert today.

WIP :: Bright and cheerful

I needed something mindless to knit, and to me that's a pair of socks ;) This time a pair of vanilla toe-ups.
Now I'm going to do some unravelling... Remember the two mystery shawls I've been knitting on this summer? Well, neither of them appealed to me... But I guess that's a part of these mystery knittings - you don't know if you will like the end result or not.
Anyway. The yarn I used for Portico (aka TTL mystery shawl) will I use for Candy Raglan for Eirin :) Hopefully she will like it and wear it too.

Cast On Baby!

FO :: Baby booties

Eirin's best friend got a little brother a month ago, and I have knitted two pairs of baby booties for him.

Pattern: Socks with cable pattern
Yarn: 29 g of some unlabeled from my stash
Needles: 2,5 and 3,5 mm
Size: 3-6 months

Pattern: It's a doll pattern from Babystrikk til dukken which I have added some stitches too to make it fit a baby
Yarn: 20 g Viking Baby Ull
Needles: 3 mm
Size: 0-3 months

The Dovekeepers

Some books makes your heart sing. The Dovekeepers (Duevokterne på norsk) is one of those books!
It's one of those books you both want to read in one sitting and one you want to last forever.
I read this book over several weeks so I would not miss a single beautiful poetic word. The book is devided into four parts and told my four women. And it combined my three favorite themes: Strong Women, Historical Fact, and Magic.
This is the first book I have read by Alice Hoffman, but I know I have to check out some of her other books.
Description from Goodreads:

Blends mythology, magic, archaeology and women. Traces four women, their path to the Masada massacre. In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean desert, Masada. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived.

Four bold, resourceful, and sensuous women come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her twin grandsons, rendered mute by their own witness. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman, who finds passion with another soldier. Shirah is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The four lives intersect in the desperate days of the siege, as the Romans draw near. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets — about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.

It's been a while

Since I've been writing here... It was not planned, but it felt great with a short break from blogging.
So far this Summer has been a rainy one. I'm not lying if I tell you it has been raining for almost two weeks witout a break. But today the sun is shining and it looks like she's here to stay for a couple of days :) Here's a little of what we've been up to these last weeks :)



Knitting



Demolishing, building and painting - we've knocked down the wall underneat the stairs, made a floor were the stairs down to the cellar was and now we have a much bigger hall. And I have a wall filled with book shelves which I call my library :)



Harvesting - Borage flowers, sugar peas, chives, radish and lettuce



Cloudberry picking

Watching our squirrel kids grow. We haven't seen them for days now, and I'm a bit worried that a cat that has been sneaking around here has scared them away :(

Running throug high grass chasing butterflies

Celebrated 7 :) Can you imagine he is 7 already...

Shawls update

With the rain pouring down since Friday, I've had plenty of time to knit on my shawls.




I finished the 4th clue of The Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl last night. I haven't made any extra repeats of either clue 3 or 4 as I have been afraid of running out of yarn. I think we can make the shawl longer in clue 5 so I might do that.



So hard to capture the right colour of this one... It is a bit greener in real life. I am going to knit extended version of the TTL Mystery Shawl. I was so lucky to win the 2nd prize in Candy Skeins giveaway a while ago, and the price was two skeins of yarn one being the same colourway as I am knitting this shawl in :)

Vegetable garden

We have had a few days with warmth so the vegetable garden has grown so much that you almost have seen it from day to day :)
The kids had to pull up a couple of radishes to see if they have grown big enough - they still need to grow a few days more.

Radish.

The Sugar snaps have started to bloom.

Lettuce - need to grow bigger.

Carrots and potatoes.

Potatoes.

Tomatoes, strawberries, leeks, potatoes, sugar snaps peas, hyssop, chives, borage, carrots, red currants, raspberries, rhubarb, coriander, thyme, radish, lettuce and nasturtiums  :)

We have squirrel kids :)

Wordless Wednesday  ::  Outdoor Wednesday

A brief taste of summer

Two days filled with sun and above 20 C :)
We've been out for hours soaking up the sun, getting freckles, lots of popsicles, knitting, watching the vegetables grow in the garden, feeding the ducks in the park, more popsicles, playing in the park, sun smelling laundry and cinnamon rolls.

I've finished the 3rd clue of Wendy's Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl.
Today with the sun gone and the rain back, I've picked up my TTL Mystery Shawl. I've only knitted 2 of the clues, so I have a bit left...

Did you see my couch made of pallets in the first photo?
The kids love it! There is so much cool stuff you can make out of old pallets and cable drums.
The table in the first photo with my knitting on, is an old cable drum :) It feels great to re-use things and I'd love to have a kitchen table like this one.

Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl

Anyone else knitting Wendy's Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl?
I finished clue 2 yesterday and looking forward to the next that comes soon.
I'm knitting mine in Little Traveller by The Sanguine Grypho. Love the colours! The shawl is supposed to be knit on 3,75 mm, but I don't have a circular needle in that size, so I use 3,5 mm. So hopefully it wont be too small... 
It's not the best photo as the needle is a bit too short, so I can't stretch it much. But I really like the combination of lace and nupps :)

Bogbean :: Bukkeblad

Our plank path over the bog is surrounded by Bogbeans - beautiful!
This little flower seem to multiply more and more each year. 

Firts a tiny pink/purple bud

That become tiny white flowerbuds

Before they opens up into these fluffy white flowers.