Happy Birthday Erlend!

Nature Connections is a collaborative link collection posted at the end of each month on Living and Learning.
Its purpose is to showcase photos of children enjoying nature to inspire all of us to get outdoors more.

We've been out enjoying the snow in February. Feeding the birds and sledding :) Follow the links to read more!

Here is Erlend on our last hike to our lean-to. It's his 11th birthday today :) We celebrated his birthday on Saturday, but the sledding trip we had planned on Sunday had to be called off because we're all down with a cold :( Hopefully we will be done coughing and have no more runny noses until next weekend so we can head out in the forest for some more winter fun!

The Outlander

The Outlander by Gil Adamson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow—and her husband's killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother's death. Responding to little more than the primitive fight for life, the widow retreats ever deeper into the wilderness—and into the wilds of her own mind—encountering an unforgettable cast of eccentrics along the way. "

Oh, I really liked this book. It's a real page turner and I love the end. Great with a book that can avoid cliché's :)
I think I'll have to check out her book Ashland too. Anyone read it??

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

I casted on for a new project today - a new jacket for Eirin. The pattern is from Kæk og klassisk børnestrik
by Lene Holme Samsøe. She have choosen the colours herself ;) Those of you who wonder about the cardigan I had on my needles. Well, it turned out too big for me, so I have froged it... And I don't have the motivation to start over.
I'm reading several books at the moment (check me out on Goodreads and friend me if you want), but the one I just can't put down right now is The Outlander by Gil Adamson. (Enken in norwegian)

I have finished a pair of socks - perfect tv kitting ;)
Pattern: 64 st. k2, p2 with a short row heel.
Yarn: 62g Opal Brasil #5006.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

You Capture :: Things that start with the letter L

This week the challenge was to take picture of a thing that start with the letter L. Head over to I should be folding laundry for more pictures.

I took a picture of these three Letters that went overseas today. Twig and Toadstool is arranging a kiddie pen pal club. All three kids have gotten a pen pal each and they have already written their first letter :) I hope this can motivate them to learn English faster and that they will make great friends with their pen pals. If you want your kids to get a pen pal, it's still a change, they will have it open till Friday.

Sledding

We have had some great weather this weekend. Sun and  temperatures around -6C. Which are mild compared to the -32C we had at the start of the week. Hopefully all this cold weather is over for now.
Since we started to get a bit of cabin fever, we headed out in the forest today for some sledding :)

A fox had been out walking during the night.

The kids made lots of trips up and down the hill. And got some snowbaths too ;)

Endre, Eirin & me by the fire.

We had fried toast with cheese and hot tea for lunch.

The sunset was beautiful.

Cthulhu Mittens

I had no idea what a Cthulhu was, so I had to google it ;) Found this on Wikipedia and this on Uncyclopedia.

Pattern: Cthulu Mittens.
Yarn: Mor Aase superwash.
Needles: 2,5 mm.
Size: Woman small/medium.

You Capture :: Cold

I've been lurking over at I should be folding lundry's and her weekly You Capture photo challenge. But haven't grabed my camera and taken a picture before now ;) The theme for You Capture this week is "Cold".

This winter have been really cold I think. We've had not just days, but weeks with temperatures down to -20 C and lower. But you learn to live with it, put on lots of layers with clothes (wool) and heads out. On Thursday the sun finally peeked up over the mountain, for a few minutes. But those few minutes felt like heaven, brought out a smile and the winter didn't felt so long, cold and dark anymore. There's no warmth from her yet... But she makes promesis of spring soon :) With the sun and a clear sky comes the cold too. It was -17C the day I took the picture.

Snow day

We had hoped to see the sun today... She's there behind those snow filled clouds.

But the clouds out numbered her... And a few minutes after I took the first picture, it started to snow again...
It's starting to clear up and the forcast looks good, so we're hoping to see her during the weekend :)

Endre has fed the birds.

And played in the snow

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

I'm not done with my cardi yet, but I won't bore you with another picture of it ;) I have one sleeve and the button and neck bands left to knit, but I had to take a break from all that black and make something with a bit more colours. So I've pulled out from a basket a long neglected project - my leftover blanket. I've almost used up all my little leftovers, so I'm hoping to start crocheting the squares together soon. Just have to figure out how first...
When it comes to reading.. Well, I haven't read much in "The leaving of Liverpool" this week. Instead I've been reading books in a norwegian series called "Polarnetter" (polarnights). The series is set in the beginning of the 1900s. We meet Thora from Tromsø and how fate and love leads her to Svalbard, a male-dominated society. No warm welcome awaits her ... life in the icy wilderness is not just the midnight sun and full moon nights. It's about strong women's destinies, dreams crushed - and dreams come true.
I'm almost done with book #17. Thora is in her 40s now and the war have made her and her family to Scotland. They had to evacuate from Svalbard and on the long boat journey her husband fell over board... Hoping for a happy ending as the book #18 is the last one.

The Time Traveler's wife - a disappointment

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger


My rating: 1 of 5 stars


"The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing." (From the back cover)

Please tell me I'm not the only one that didn't like this book...!
I'm usually a bit sceptically to very popular books, so I've had this in my shelf for over a year, waiting for me. And I really thought it should be a wonderful read, and I was so excited to read this book. I mean, there is a movie made from it - it has to be good, right??

But I just made it to about 160 pages before I had to give up.
I love the idea of time travellig, but please. Why does Henry have to be naked and hungry? So many pages about clothes and food within the 160 pages I managed to read! And I don't think a 6 year old would stay and help a naked man to find clothes. Most likely she would have run away screaming.

And another thing that irritates me is how Henry could tell Clare, when she was little, when he would show up next time..? I might have missed a point here, but I thought he didn't kow where he would end up...

I don't like to give up a book. I've read some slow starting books that gets good after some chapters, but this is not one of them.



View all my reviews

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

Well, I'm still knitting on my cardi. Have quite a bit left, but I hope to have it done in a week or so. Haven't tried it on yet, so I'm hoping it will fit...
I'm reading several books at the moment, but the one that is my "living room book" right now is "The leaving of Liverpool" ("Ingen trygg havn" på norsk). It's a great story so far, I'm about halfway through and I'm eager to find out how it's going to end. I'm also reading (or more like watching pictures since I can't read Estonian..) "Kiri Kari" - a beautiful book from Estonia. Under is a few pictures from the book. As you can see it's toy animals and hand puppets knitted in traditional Estonian/Latvian pattern.

The socks I was so fed up with last time is done.
Pattern: Cauchy by Cookie A.
Yarn: 71 g Noir #MGTBLU.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed. With a heroine full of yearning, the dangerous secrets she encounters, and the choices she finally makes, Charlotte Bronte's innovative and enduring romantic novel continues to engage and provoke readers."


I thoroughly enjoyed the story from beginning to end, and was really sad to finish it. This is such a unique romance, with well developed characters. I should have read this a long time ago!

And I'm so looking forward to the new movie :)

View all my reviews

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

Right now I'm reading Jane Eyre. I love books, films and tv series from this period! I have no good reason why I haven't read this book before... It's so good, and I'm just halfway through. Hopefully the rest of the book will live up to my expectations. After finishing Eirin's Totoro mittens, I could finally cast on The Inspired Cardigan which I'm test knitting for Maya. I'm knitting mine in black. And I'm not sure if I dare to admit this, but even though I have a pair of socks on my needles too, I'm actually starting to gt a bit fed up with sock knitting.... So it looks like this year I might be able to knit up  few other things. Like a few jackets, shawls and some toys. The kids really like to play Little big planet on their ps3, so I think I'll to make them a Sackboy each :) Just need to decide on which pattern I should choose. I think I'll go for one of the crochet one.

Totoro Mittens :)

January is coming to an end and so is the NaKniMitMo.

My third pair of mittens came off my needles this morning. Hopefully Eirin will love them as much as I do when she comes home from school. I really must make a pair for myself too :)

Pattern: Norwegian Totoro Mittens. I ended up with a thumb pattern like this, because the one in the pattern got so tight.
Yarn: Mor Aase superwash, 50 g each colour.
Needles: 3 mm.
Size: 8 years.

Astrid and Veronika

Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So beautifully written that it almost hurt a little. I had to put the book in my lap very often, just to dwell on those beautiful words.
And the end made my cry..

"With extraordinary emotional power, Linda Olsson's stunningly well-crafted debut novel recounts the unusual and unexpected friendship that develops between two women. Veronika, a young writer, rents a house in a small Swedish village as she tries to come to terms with a recent tragedy while also finishing a novel. Her arrival is silently observed by Astrid, an older, reclusive neighbor who slowly becomes a presence in Veronika's life, offering comfort in the form of companionship and lovingly prepared home-cooked meals. Set against a haunting Swedish landscape, Astrid and Veronika is a lyrical and meditative novel of love and loss, and a story that will remain with readers long after the characters' secrets are revealed."

Rainbow waffles, sort of....

Eirin needed a pair of new socks, so I dived into my stash to see if I could find some fun colours. I ended up with this ball, thinking it would make some cute rainbow looking stripes.

As you can see, that didn't happend. I really hoped the whole sock would have stripes like the heels and toes... And ofcourse one of the socks had to get a blue part of pooling too... But in the end, Eirin dosen't care and the socks will still keep her feet warm.
Pattern: Blueberry Waffle Socks.
Yarn: 45 g Sisu #4438.
Needles: 2,5 mm.

Playing in the snow

We've spent hours outdoors today - sledding, kick sledding and building snow forts and caves :)

Hubby have a rather "weird" hobby -  he collect us military stuff  o-0
But I must confess that I think the tent is quit useful ;) There's a oven in it, so we can fire with wood to make it warm and cosy. Great for warming up after playing out in the snow :)

We're hoping for great weather tomorrow too. I'd liked to go skiing ;)
I've finished a pair of socks, but more about that another day. Tonight I'm going to knit on a pair of Totoro mittens for Eirin :) Have a great Saturday night!

Mitten Month

January is NaKniMitMo (National Knitting Mitten Month). I've just managed to knit two pairs so far. Both pairs are for Erlend.

I'm definitaly making more of these mittens. So easy to knit up and they become thick and warm. I knit the first row instead of purling both rows for the slipped st rows, so I wouldn’t have those dots.
Pattern: Newfoundland Mittens - free pattern here :)
Yarn: Mor Aase superwash, 50 g each colour.
Needles: 3 mm.

Pattern: Lopi mittens.
Yarn: Mor Aase superwash, 50 g each colour.
Needles: 3,5 mm

The winner is...

... Rose Thorne :)

I'll contact you at Ravelry to get your address.

Boy, it's cold outside...

We're in a cold periode - again... It's been -30C for a couple of days now. To cold to go out to play, so the kids are climbing the walls here 'sigh' Needless to say that I think we've had our share of cold this winter!
But the sky and tree looks beautiful though..

Endre needed a new wool pants, so I casted on for a pair during christmas. The colours are a bit dull in the picture, they are much more bright in real life :)
Pattern: Monsterbukse, but without the monster ;)
Yarn: Mor Aase superwash
Needles: 2,5 , 3 and 3,5 mm
Size: 5-6 year

Don't forget my book giveaway :)