Saturday 31 December 2011

Happy New Colorful Year

With some of my polymer clay beads, with my heart and with a hope that you´ll find your true colors in 2012, I wish you a very happy new year.

May all the birds of hope and happiness land on your roof in the new year.

Wednesday 28 December 2011

A Warm Hug For A Friend

A warm, soft and everlasting hug - what could be a better gift? So I knitted this scarf from the finest alpaca wool for a very dear friend for christmas. It was a lovely and easy knit and I really enjoyed knitting it. I added tassels with beads to it.

It is 2 meters long and about 20 cm wide. It is knitted from the yarn Faerytale from Du Store Alpakka on 5mm needles.

I like the outcome so much that I see a new scarf like this for my own neck. Some times it´s nice to give yourself a good warm hug.

My friend love this scarf and the fact that it´s just her colors. I hope it will keep her warm on every cold day she will meet on her way.

Saturday 24 December 2011

Best Wishes To You

I wish you all a merry christmas and a peaceful new year. Thank you so much for brighten up my days with your comments and just for being out there.

I´ll share a whole new christmas song by Kjerstin Aune, Juleønske (Christmas wish). It is in norwegian, but enjoy and know that the text is about wanting to share christmas with someone special. She has also made the video. I salute you Kjerstin.



Take care of your self and your family. If you don´t have family I really hope there are someone else in your life that gives you a hug and some love wrapped in care.

Friday 23 December 2011

Welcome To The World

A friend just gave birth to a beautiful little boy. I knew it would be a boy so I started knitting this sweater and hat a while ago. It is knitted for the age of six months - you never know the size of a newborn.

It was such a joy to knit this.
So tiny and it turned out fine. I had problems with a very vague pattern so I got a lot of help in the yarn shop. Gosh, I´m so happy about that.

The set is knitted from Sandnes yarn Lanett, a very soft and superwash merino yarn.

I found a little suitcase to use as gift box and some ribbons with the word baby on.

It is so giving to make something handmade for a very special friend who are an angel in my life.

I hope my friend will like it - I´ve knitted prayers and good wishes into the stitches. Welcome to the world little guy.

You´re lucky to be born into such a loving home.

This is the suitcase with the set gift wrapped and with the ribbons on. 

Sunday 18 December 2011

Knit Your Own Seahorse

Photo from Tori Seierstads blog.

In about 2 weeks there is a Knit Along (KAL) on Ravelry for these mittens designed by the norwegian knit designer Tori Seierstad. The pattern is free and a lot of knitters has tried it out, and are very pleased with both the result and the pattern. 

The KAL will start Desember 26th and there are no deadline. Just take your time. 


The pattern is in english, portuguese and french. To see more mittens click your way into Toris site on Ravelry. You can download the pattern from Toris blog or from Ravelry even if you´re not a member. 

I´m actually planing on joining my first KAL. I´m curious of how it will work knitting along with so many knitters all over the world. I find it really amazing - maybe I will see you there?

I´ve already knitted the seahorse into a sweater and a scarf and I get a lot of comments on them. It´s time for some mittens with the seahorse on. I already have the yarn in my stash: Kauni rainbow (what else...)

What could me more wonderful than to give christmas a rest with these mittens and swim along in the big pool of knitters online?


My sweater with the seahorse from the mitten pattern.

Thursday 15 December 2011

Knitting Gone Nuts

So it is official: My knitting has gone nuts. I mean, it could not be me going nuts. Oh no, I´m perfectly fine. In spite of knitting red and turquoise acorns. Perfectly fine - hm.

Ok, I found this wonderful pattern for knitted acorns on Carmens blog and it takes only half an hour to knit one.

It is totally addictive, that must be the nut part. Or maybe the fact that I was going to use from my stash and ended up buying more yarn. And knitted more nuts. Nuts!!

These will end up on my christmas tree - and they works perfect as gift tags as well. Really decorative and cute - and nuts...

You can also check out my project on Ravelry and find links to other knitters acorn projects. You will go nuts about this.

These are knitted with the aran yarn Rauma Vamsegarn.

I knitted them with needles 4mm to get a good tight knit. When casting on and binding off I used extra long yarn tails.

I weaved the tails a little inside the nut, and the rest of the tail served as filling.

In that case there are not polyester filling showing through. And no yarn waste. It works perfect. I used mattress stitches to sew the pieces together.

Since I was little I have loved acorns. I think it is the shape of them. Or the fact that they wear crazy hats. They are just cute and a wonderful fruit of the oak.

So I´m so happy that I got a chance to knit them in whatever color I will. Still nuts after all these yarns. I think a little nuttiness is important so we can have some fun. And never loose the playing child inside. That´s what makes our soul sing.

Friday 9 December 2011

What A Pig

He is knitted, he is purple and he is felted. It is no fun being a pig - at least he don´t have to become bacon. Or - on the other hand what a diet that would have been. Not to mention how clean one would be on the inside.

Well, enough of all this nonsense. This little purple guy has already found a new home where he will stay and not become bacon. Oh no, I´m starting again..

I found the pattern on Ravelry and it´s a really quick knit. I felted him to make him stand better. So there you have it - no bacon just wool.

Imagine what a crossing between a pig and a sheep would be. Would that be woolly bacon or what?

Ok Ok - not again. Have a lovely weekend everyone - and enjoy a flow of crazy thoughts. It´s really fun: Bacon!!!

Wednesday 30 November 2011

A Red Statement

Sometimes it takes just a little red stripe to make a statement. If you put on some tassels it´s even more powerful. I leave up to you to decide what that statement would be.

At least, I think it´s important to make statements. We tend to go in the same direction as every one else - to be sure not to be left out. If we were suppose to be the same - we would. But we are not - so why not go out there and be who we really are.

That´s some of the thoughts behind this shawl. I wanted a turquoise one with a contrasting color to lift it all up.

What would be better than red? I love this actually. It has that little spark and some courage to it.

It´s knitted in Rauma finull and I used four skeins of turquoise and a little red.

You can find a link for the pattern on Ravelry. The special stitches appear when you knit with interchangeable cables and use a 3.5mm and a 9mm needle.

After I finished it I used Soak before leaving it to dry in shape.

I´m really happy about it and it´s nice and warm. Oh, and it goes perfect with my red boots.

Simply make your own statement, just the way you want it. I promise that you´ll hear your heart sing.

Thursday 24 November 2011

Some Wool Over The Rainbow

I love rainbows. All those colors shining in a perfect shape over the sky. They amazes me every time I see them. I can try to knit some of the magic into my stitches - but it will not work.

But again, there are some yarns that promise you a rainbow as you knit. This is one of them.

The beginning of the shawl.
This shawl is so soft and warm. The shawl is knitted from a german pattern which I manage to translate into norwegian. It´s all one knit (knitted from the back loop) and one purl. Simple as that.

It´s knitted on two sizes of needles - that´s what gives the special stitches.

I used interchangeable neddles with one 3.5mm needle on the one end, and one 9mm needle on the other end of the cable.

Sounds really strange to knit with, but after a couple of rows you won´t notice.

For this project I used the yarn Crystal palace Mini mochi. What I didn´t think about was: As the shawl got wider the rainbow became more like stripes. But that´s fine - it´s so lovely to wear. And the colors are lovely.

So here is my shawl, my cat and my own personal rainbow. And as Rachel Houston said:

When you reduce life to black and white, you never see rainbows


Sunday 20 November 2011

When It Was Summer

When I finished this Baktus scarf in august it was still summer. Oh, how I love that time of year. But again, if it haven´t been for the winter I would need to knit in cotton. So there´s an upside to anything.

I love wool and the feel of it. Soft, warm and it comes in all colors. I must be a yarn freak. My brain is about to be very woollen and I´m afraid to soon be saying baa instead of talking... LOL!

This Baktus is knitted in yarn from Mad Color Fiber and is called Deep blue sea. It´s a merino sock yarn and it´s so soft and lovely to wear.

And the colors are amazing. I knitted some large beads and they makes the scarf looking better wearing. It´s about two meters long.

I still have some yarn left from the two skeins and some of it became a seahorse.

Have a lovely sunday - and keep dreaming of summer, deep blue sea and sunshine.

Monday 14 November 2011

Scarf In Two Days

It was smoking hot needles, some yarn from the stash and a lot of fun. I made this in two days with blocking, adding tassels and all. And I´m so happy about the outcome of this.

I had this Manos del Uruguay yarn in my stash and found out that I would make a Baktus scarf with it.

I chose a double moss stitch - a way of letting the yarn speak for itself. I couldn´t understand what it said...

If you are inspired to make one too you can click your way to Ravelry. It´s very easy - and the pattern is free. What could be better?

Since the spinning and the colors are different in all the skeins (of the same batch) the scarf has two color schemes.

I used two skeins, and changed when half the Baktus was done.

I found some glass beads, made tassels and that made the scarf looks very nice. The yarn is so soft and warm. It´s satisfying to make something that is finished so fast. I don´t know why, but to knit a Baktus that looks good in such a short time is sort of amazing to me. Did I really knit this?

I´ve often thought that all that is great should take huge amount of hours. But that´s not the case. One don´t have to struggle for a very long time just to find a voice. It´s there just as it is.

Saturday 5 November 2011

Rings And Things In Wool


So, the scarf is finally finished. And it´s really nice to put this yarn behind me, and the scarf around me. I ended up with a whole skein of greens and black that I took out. 100 grams right in the bin. Zauberball is not recommended! The color shifts happens because the yarn is varigated.

As I see the scarf finished I think it looks ok. But, a bit too dark. But the tassels makes it a little more colorful - so I´m wearing it with great pleasure.

After all it took a lot of hours and patience. And now I´m happy I didn´t frogged it.

That beeing said, it actually looks good and it has a nice warm feeling.

And a little halo makes it rather soft.

And a halo is alway a nice thing to wear - LOL!! Oh, and it´s visible...

I blocked it quite hard and that made the pattern look better.

I knitted my name on it as well as the year 2011. It is not that visible, but that´s just fine.

The scarf is 2.5 meter long and 12 cm wide. If you want to know more about this project you can read the story on Ravelry.

Let your halo glow - and have a light and lovely weekend!

Thursday 27 October 2011

Stitch By Stitch


1. JustPomPon, 2. FeltBracelet, 3. ColorWrapping, 4. BraidedBracelet, 5. FeltNorwegian, 6. WoollyStrawberries, 7. AThousandHearts, 8. ICanFly, 9. MyFishySweater, 10. HappyInAScarf, 11. MeadowInColor, 12. FeltBracelet, 13. HappyDots, 14. MyKnittedCat, 15. SeahorseForTheWinter, 16. ScrapYarn


Oh, sometimes it´s a good idea to look back - if it´s all about knitting. I feel so blessed to be able to create in color. This is a mosaic from some of my latest creations. What a joy it has been to knit all this. The last photo of the scrap yarn show that there can be beauty in even the small threads. 

I wish you a wonderful day - and hope that you´ll find your true colors.

Tuesday 25 October 2011

I Will Not Give Up Now

I´ve actually thought about throwing this project in the bin many times, and never ever think of it again. But I constantly find myself knitting on this scarf. I´ve finally made peace with the thing and have decided to finish it. 

No matter how much more I´m going to hate this awful, terrible, horrible yarn called Zauberball. Gosh, it is the worst yarn ever.

The spinning of it must have been done while someone was aslepp: It goes from super thin as in sewing thread to chunky. Some places the yarn just brakes while knitting. And the length of the various colors are very different in all the skeins. This means that black and green always collide - I´ve taken out huge amount of these colors.

Not to mention the prize. It´s like believing that you´ve bought a steak only to find out you came home with dogfood (if you´re not a dog that is).

Anyway, if there´s not larger problems to take care of I shouldn´t complain. Or what did I just do... Off to finish this. Have a lovely day everybody.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Winter In Progress

Or was it Work In Progress? Well, they fit well both of them. And so does my very first stranded mitten. This is only the left one and I still have to knit the thumb. But with a very well written pattern from Wenche Roald I think I´ll manage. The right one has another scene on it.

In fact I´ve got the taste for mitten knitting. Her pattern is so understandable and I don´t have to find things out on my own. Norwegian patterns tend to be vague if you´re not very experienced in the thing you´re knitting.

Anyway, these are knitted in Rauma PT2 and on 2mm needles. The only problems are the long floats on the back. Weaving them in as I knit makes them visible, so I´m planing to sew them a little after I´ve finished my knitting. Hopefully before the first snow comes....

The pattern is called Winterland and you´ll find the english version as well on the link above. Sometimes winter just looks wonderful - at least on this pair of mittens.

Friday 7 October 2011

A Perfect Reflection

My cat has this wonderful ability to stay in the minute. To enjoy his life without worries other than to get in fast when it´s raining.

One morning he was standing in a puddle where he found a tiny stone to stand on with two of his paws. I loved to watch him and to see his reflection in the water and the sunlight coming from behind him.

I wish we could see our own reflection and see the beauty of it. Without dreaming of stuffing our body with silicone and botox.

Think about it: If we use the energy we usually use to think bad about ourselves to do something good - the world would be a much better place to be.

We were all meant to shine.
Give your self a hug, and say the you are the best. Be yourself - everyone else is taken.

And find a puddle to see your true reflection: You are beautiful - no matter what.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy life.

Thursday 29 September 2011

Joyful Heart Of Yarn

How about that. I got more and more happy as the pom pons were sewn on to this rather strange scarf. It´s knitted in Malabrigo Rasta and has pom pons from Rauma Finull in eight different colors. It´s sort of clownish and I love it.

It really made me smile - and it made me excited about what I can do with some yarn and needles.

The pattern is from the norwegian book "Strikk i en fei" - or "knit in a hurry". I knitted the scarf in two days total.

It´s about 2.20 meter long and has 16 tips wich are about 18 cm long. Read more and see progress photos in my corner of Ravelry.

This is going to cheer me up as the winter is on it´s way soon. I´ve never figured out why we are supposed to dress in black, brown and grey during winter.

Those are great colors - but not all of us are created to fit them. Just as all people don´t like dressing in colors.

That we are different and like different colors makes our world even more colorful.

But why do we have to put away all our colors and wait for them to come out when spring arrives in about eight months (sigh)?

So lets go for it and get outside the narrow box: Colors in loads to hold on to the summer and the joyful feeling of running along a beach without shoes. I feel like that wearing my new scarf.

Saturday 24 September 2011

The Sweetest Face

It was almost like a dream. In the center of Mandal, the town where I live, there were alpacas with their cute faces and the wonderful wool on their backs.

They were just standing there in a small alley by the pedestrian zone of the town. They are absolutely adorable and you just want to bring them home. Or not...

They were invited by a local yarn shop for people to see them.
They live on a local farm in Øyslebø where they provide their precious alpaca wool, and where they are sheared once a year. These three is a family with mother, father and a baby alpaca.

They are not happy about beeing touched, but I got a chance to feel the thickness and softnes of the wool. Oh, this visit made my day. And the thought of alpaca yarn is even more wonderful now. Like wearing my meadow scarf on a cold day.

In fact it´s always the little things that make us the most happy - isn´t that great??

Thursday 15 September 2011

Giving My Heart Wings

The first rounds of a big shawl with birds.
For a very long time I´ve wanted to knit one of Christel Seyfarth wonderful shawls. When I saw the one with the birds, I was in love.

I bought the kit in Oslo here in Norway - and I´ve finally knitted the first rounds. It´s a huge work - and need a lot of preparation.

Some day it´ll look like this - photo from Christel Seyfarths homepage.
I had to make a chart and copied the pattern and glued it into a new large paper. It was about 80 small pieces I think.

I got six colors for the pattern and seven colors for the background in the kit.

I´m randomly changing colors while knitting. In that way there are no order in color changes and that makes the shawl fun to knit and to look at.

Starting at the bottom with only three stitches there should be nearly 600 stitches when i reach the top of the shawl. You get the picture? I´m knitting in the round all the way up, and then sewing with machine and cutting up the shawl. Easy that way.

This is a huge challenge for me. And if I hadn´t been on Ravelry to see, learn and to ask experienced knitters it would have been so much more challenging. But here I am - with my knitting needles and a lot of patience, yarn and love for this wonderful shawl.

There are no such joy than to create something from the heart  - the one of yarn:
Yarn from the kit. The red ones are for the pattern, the rest for the background.

Wednesday 7 September 2011

A Seahorse Stitch By Stitch

Knitted seahorse in Sereknity merino yarn.
I actually knitted this. I found it extraordinary to see it shaped stitch by stitch on my needles. Kahra Grae has designed a lot of great patterns and you can find the seahorse on Ravelry here. This pattern is very well written and easy to follow.

It was so much fun knitting this one. I used some of my yarn from a previous scarf, a merino yarn from Sereknity.

I was actually planing to use it as a pendant but it got too big. Or maybe not - I´m not quite sure yet. It would be a great statement to wear.

I used 2.5 mm needles and will find some lace yarn and a lot smaller neddles for the next one.

Before joining Ravelry I would never have dreamed about knitting something like this.
But seeing all the projects there on this seahorse, I found out that anything is possible if you try it out.

Why do women tend to think that they can´t do a certain thing? Gosh, it´s really a waste of time and energy. I think I´ll rather use that energy in trying things out. This time it was a seahorse. Kahra has pattern for some turtles too - I may have a go. NOTHING is impossible!

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Ready For Blue Days

Just started on the pattern with 480 stitches on small needles. I love it!!
At least in my knitting. I´m actually quite excited about finding a pattern for a dress in the right shape to knit. And a one in norwegian is great.

Photo of the pamphlet.
Small neddles and a lot of knitting will keep me warm in addition to making a nice garment for my self.

Right now it´s hard to see what it will look like - but click on the photo from the pamphlet to see the garment on a model. It´s not me - no doubt about it....

Anyway, it´s going to be dark blue with turquoise pattern. Those colors goes with everything other color.

I hope it´ll fit - it´s always hard to find the right size. If it get´s too big, I can always eat more chocolate (YES) and if it get´s too small... Well, then I knit a new one.
Dark blue for the background and turquoise.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Kind Of Black

My little black seahorse on a long leather cord.
I rarely make anything in black. If I use black it´s with other colors. So I´m quite surprised about my recent seahorse. Oh, I had to add a little white to the clay - after all it couldn´t be all black.

I added texture and my letters - I love letters. They can underline things, build countries, give hope and best of all add love to the world we live in.

Oh, I forgot. This was about that seahorse. Well, after curing it was antiqued with white paint, then I heat set the paint and after cooling it needed to be handsanded and hand buffed.

So, there you have it: My black seahorse with disks. I think it looks kind of a black stone that has been used over the years. Or what do you think??