We light one candle tonight

( I know it's the same photo as last year... I'm a bit lazy today ;) but we
are using the same table runner and the same candle holders this year.)

Så tenner vi ett lys i kveld.
Vi tenner det for glede.
det står og skinner for seg selv
og oss som er til stede.
Så tenner vi ett lys i kveld.
Vi tenner det for glede.

-Inger Hagerup-

We light one candle tonight
We light it for happiness.

It's the first Sunday in the advent, and the kids are already started to count down for
Christmas :) The Christmas curtains and lihgts are up. We're almost done with the presents and I am so glad that we have all December to just be together, decorate, light candles, bake cakes and cookies, craft christmas decorations and so on. I do have some small things I need to knit, but that's just fun.
I must put together the kids advent calendar tomorrow. And we are having a "activity calendar" this year too. It's my way to make a stand aginst all the shopping now before Christmas. I really do belive that the kids thinks that it's great and more fun to do something together rather than getting a chocolate or a present each day in December!! So I've desided to blog along with Merete on her Countddown for Christmas, showing you what've done each day :)

And I'm not along to do this kind of advent calendar :) Here are some ideas.
Fancy Elastic
Monkeyin' around
Family activity advent calendar
Kiddley - fill your advent with activities
A peek inside the fishbowl



25 dys of Christmas is also a way to blog about sctivities in your dvent calendar :)

A drizzle of snow

When we woke up yesterday there had come a little drizzle of snow. And since it's been too long sinve we've been hiking, we went to pack our backpacks and went to our lean-to. There we made a fire and just had a great time. And it's a good thing we went yestersay because today there is -16 C outside...

Monster pants :)

Finally! The monster pants I've been knitting on for months are done... I started in September, so it was about time ;) Endre has been eagerly waiting and was happy now since he can have a pair of monster pants at home too. The first pair I knitted a year ago is in the kindergarden ;)

Pattern: I've just made it up as I knitted ;) But you can find some free patterns. Das Monster by Hrönn Jónsdóttir, Smilende monsterbukse (norwegain)by Tonjejenta, Monsterbukse (norwegain) by duBedåre.
Yarn: 200 g gray, 50 g blue and 50 g turquoise + leftovers of white and red Mor Aase superwash.
Needles: 3 mm

And there is so many cool monster pants at Ravelry too :)

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.

Frost

It's been a cold, but a great day.

The sun comes 11.30 here with us now, and goes down again around 4,
so we just have to head out and enjoy the few hours she's here.

It's a lot of strange things to see in the forest. It's so different now
when everything is covered with rime. And it crunches and rustles when we walk ;)

The icicle usually hang high, and it looks like there
is no exception in the forest either...

After being out and about exploring, it was good with warm dinner.
Rice porridge with sugar and cinnamon :)

And it's good to warm cold toes by the fire.

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??