A storm was coming..

Well, if you asked someone from the west coast of Norway, they'd probably say that it was just a little rain coming, but for someone grown up on the east side of Norway, yesterday really was a storm.

We were out walking - hubby, Mini and I - going downtown to check for a few items in some shops (edited to change "storms" to "shops", who goes downtown to check out items in a storm anyway..), and we'd been waiting for the morning's thunder and rain to pass before going outside. Well, lets just sat that as we went further on our way, the clouds came rolling in and the light (more or less, I know, sounding dramatically, but that's the way it was.. really..) disappeared into a dusky darkness, making all the traffic lights and lit up signs to glow (it was as if it was early afternoon in November, not late morning August).

We stopped just before the fairytale bridge (Eventyrbrua) so that I could take some pictures.

The Crack in the Sky? (Doctor Who?)

Loopy picture, but same "crack".

Fascinating layers of clouds.

More layers. See the tiny traces of blue sky?

Rolling in.. 

Continuing to roll in..

Absolutely fascinating.. 

I think we spent about 15mins watching the clouds roll in..

Light fading.. 

Darkness coming.. 

Aaaand then came the rain. 

I do mean RAIN!

Jeeze.. 

We spent about 15-20 minutes on the steps/stairs of a pub in Markveien (who'd put too much light and crap up under their screen to wheel it in). You can see the people on the other side of the street, huddling together in a drive-in. At least we kept ourselves reasonably dry - umbrellas have no function in this kind of rain - and after about 15-20 minutes the rain was down to a drizzle, and we could continue our walk.

***
Mother Nature.. gotta love her. :)

Enjoying the sun.

Last weekend came and went with more of the glorious heat and sunshine so far dominating the Norwegian summer. (Although, there were some rain on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, but I shouldn't complain about that, not with all the sun we've had lately.)

Saturday evening - after Mini'd gone to bed and fallen asleep, mind you - I spent on our balcony with a funny podcast on my ear, a glass of chilled white wine and a crochet project made of leftover cotton yarn. I think I sat there for about two hours, just enjoying some time for myself. (The podcast I was listening to, was Stickpodden, by the way, a swedish podcast about knitting (very funny, and quite interesting). 

Wine, podcasts and sunshine.

 
You can see my reflection in the screen of the laptop (my wonderful, little Mac..). I actually managed to run out of leftover cotton yarn after those two hours, so now I'll have to make something using cotton yarn, so that I'll create some more leftovers (there's a rule, you see, I'm only allowed to use leftover yarn, so starting on a new skein isn't allowed).

Yarn for autuum.

I went to one of the local yarn shops on Saturday (Pickles)and bought some yarn which will be used for new autuum/winter clothes for Mini. I'm thinking a new hat, cowl/neck warmer and mittens, in lovely shades of lime green and turqouise blue. They'll brighten up and stand out a bit, but that's just fine. (Easier to find his things in kindergarden.)

In work..

This is how far along I managed to come on his hat as per last night. I've started the decrease, and hope to have enough of the lime green from that first skein to finish it (so that the cowl/neck warmer can have the turqouise blue as the main color) but we'll see.. I bought more than one skein of each color, so there shouldn't be any problem.

Banana?

One of Mini's favorite movies these days is Despicable Me (we've seen the sequel in the movies) and the little minions that work with Gru (the main character). Well, look who I found stuck to my banana the other day. Quite adorable, don't you think?

***
It's finally (?) raining properly here now. A little bit sad and grey, but after all this sunshine and heat, it'll do good for the plants and grass. They're quite yellow and dry at the moment (there's even been a forest fire warning going around lately).

Oops..?!?

I was working on a new post, but for some reason, Blogger decided that looking was allowed - but not editing.. Might just be the office computer - will try again later (or from home).. 

Any one else experiencing problems with Blogger these days?

***

Hoot-hoot! From Sir Hoots-A-Lot. 

Tasted something new today..

When I went to the store yesterday, I stumbled across something (for me, anyway) new on the shelf for tea/coffee. Lipton Ice Tea, small tubes of powdered tastiness. 

Yumyumyum!

It's really easy to mix. Just take a bottle with 500ml (cold) water (5dl or half a liter), open the pack and empty it's contents into the bottle. Put the cork back on (firmly.. unless you'd want to clean up the mess..) and shake the bottle until the powder is dissolved in the water. Keep the bottle in the fridge (or do as I did, drink the whole bottle as soon as possible, due to yummy tastiness and thirst). 

I've tried both flavors - the pack in the picture contains the lemon flavored one, and the other one is with peach and apricot. 

***

Do you have to try new products when they come in store?

Summer's coming to an end..

Well, the summer vacation, anyway. This week saw me back in the office, while hubby and Mini had the week off. Considering the heated temperatures outside, being in the air conditioned office wasn't too bad - just a bit boring (with all the engineers and people off on vacation, the amount of tasks and work to be done is slightly less normal, and with three of us trying to share the workload - or lack of such - the days ended up being slow and long). 

But! Today's Friday! :D

On Wednesday, hubby and Mini came and picked me up from work, and we drove out to Bygdøy and one of the beaches there, called Huk. It's not a very big beach, but it's got sand and areas where it's nice to sit and bbq, enjoy the sun and the view, and both big and small can enjoy the sea. There were quite a few people there, many with children - and many went for a dip in the water. I don't swim, but waded a bit with Mini, while we were looking for shells.

One of the beach areas on Bygdøy, called Huk.

 I had to laugh a few times while we were there.. a young couple were there as well, and had brought along their tiny dog (about the size of a ball of yarn or something) and this dog was very protective of the beach and the surrounding area. So, every time another dog came walking by with it's owners, this little half-pint of a dog jumps up and starts barking and looking very "this is my beach, you better go now - I'm very dangerous". Or, at least I think that might've been what it thought. Anyway, the funny thing was that suddenly, the other dog wasn't another bag-dog (suitable size to be carried around in a bag.. or pocket..) but a rather big dog (one of them was a half-old retriever puppy) and these larger dogs just stared at the noisy little ball of fur, wondering "what the..?". The look on the big dog's face was just priceless.

Mini loooooves (cold..) hotdogs, and
enjoyed himself on the beach.

 Hubby brought along a small bbq (just a disposable one) and we ate hotdogs and pieces of melon and soaked up some sun and vitamins for a few hours - until we were all tired and warm, and sticky.. Mini didn't want to go home, but fell asleep in the car almost before we could get out of the parking lot, so we took a little tour of the area and stopped by a small shop selling flowers and fruit. They had good prices on strawberries (these are just so ridiculously expensive in Norway (at least the norwegian ones) and I think these were the best, yummiest and mouthwateringly good strawberries I've had in years!

These were perhaps the tastiest strawberries I've had in..
I don't even know how long..

 It's not that often you find good strawberries, deep red in the color, firm and not squishy in the meat, and with a sweetness that lingers on your tongue for (seemingly) hours after you finished eating them.. Strawberries like that don't need anything on them - we ate them bare, no cream or sugar or milk.

Yesterday morning (and afternoon) the heat was disrupted slightly by a shower of rain. I didn't see the rain in the afternoon, I was in the gym and only noticed coming out of the gym that everything was wet - but yesterday morning a rainbow appeared over some buildings on my way to the office.

Can you see the rainbow?

I like rainbows. Not because I believe in the old tale of the pot of gold being hidden where the rainbow ends, but more because rainbows somehow gives a feeling of hope. Sunrises too.. Strange, isn't it, how some things can mean something like that without really having a meaning?

Craftwise, things are going slow.. it's just too hot to do anything. So my knitting's resting, my stitching's resting, and my sewing machine is still not unpacked. I've heard that it might be rainy all next week, so perhaps that'll help?

***
Enjoy the day, wherever you may be. :)

Vacation days.

Mini and I took the bus to Trysil a few days ago, and hubby, sister and niece followed a couple of days later. We've had some busy days (painting windowsills and the playhouse) but today's been more of a lazy morning (although Mini woke up bright and early, as usual).

The living room is full of signs that there are two kids here - lots and lots of (vintage..) LEGO and Playmobile toys and new and old cars (I think the oldest toy car I found the other day was marked 1972).

Vintage LEGO.

 It's fun to be able to take out old toys from when my sister and I were young, and let Peder and Emma play with them now.

Vintage Playmobile.

 I remember when I first got that little playhouse from Playmobile. Not quite sure how old I was, but I remember when I had the full set of a hospital wing from Playmobile - down to cups and plates and bandages for the little people.

A mix of old and new toys.

The police car was bought during a trip to Trondheim when I was young. We used to spend some time every summer in Trondheim, visiting grandma and grandpa. I still miss the summers in Trondheim.

There's been some, but only a little, crafting achieved by me these days. Mostly because painting kills my arms and back (I'm definitly not used to hanging on top of a ladder painting) - but also because when the evening comes, I've not quite felt like crafting much. But I have been crocheting a little, and made some stitchings on a stitchery. (And realized that my mom and I have very similar taste in craft books - seeing as I've just ordered - and got - two of the same books she's bought..)

Speaking of craft books.. I've got more than a shelf full of them - some I look to for inspiration, some I've used quite a bit over the years, and some I've bought, looked at, and then placed on the shelf.. So I was thinking the other day, that maybe I should look through them again, with new eyes, and see if there are projects there that I really want to make - and if I can't find any, perhaps I should take the book off the shelf and see if someone else might be interested in it.

I really need to sew more - using Aurora (my sewing machine) but seeing as she's been packed away for most of the last month (redecorating the kitchen..) I've mostly been knitting, crocheting and stitching. Perhaps I can unpack her again later this week (when we return from Trysil) and have some quality time with her again.

***
What are you up to this summer? Any big crafting plans or just playful small projects? :)

Quite handy / On the road again..

*humming*

Plutt and I are taking the bus to see my mom for a few days - and while he's taking a nap, I'm enjoying the fact that they've got wifi on the bus. Quite practical, don't you think? 

:)

Weekending

Last weekend I took a stroll downtown with Spotify  as my company (I like walking - and I like walking while listening to nice music).

It was quite grey outside, but warm, and though rain eventually started to pour down, I managed to walk for quite a while before it started.


Fountain - finally with water.

In one of the parks we usually walk through on our regular route downtown the water had finally been turned on. (It's been dry and used as a playpin for children for most of the time so far this summer.)


Candleholders - bobbins and string..

 My mom had seen these candleholders made of bobbins some time ago, and I managed to find the store which sold them. (Good for her, they were on sale!) I love this store - they mainly sell candleholders and candles (in all shapes, sizes and colours), and I'm completely unable to resist picking up just a few items there every time I drop by. (Yeayeayea, I know that candleholder isn't the correct word, but my mind just went all blank and foggy.. so.. candleholder it is.)


My Starbucks coffe!
I love it when people have a sense of humor.. ^.^

 Starbucks opened up their first shop here in Oslo about a month ago. I've been there a couple of times now - ridiculously expensive coffee, but it's quite nice. And I love their lemon cupcakes with poppy seeds..

My first Starbucks coffe (a double latte with vanilla syrup) was so hot (and I mean HOTHOTHOTouchHOT) I bought it downtown, took the subway back home, went to the store and bought supplies for dinner and walked halfway home before it was cool enough to drink (without burning my tongue off). I was luckier the other times, and could enjoy my coffee without waiting too long. (Thinking back makes me smile.. I must've looked quite strange, walking around the store with a basket for my groceries, my bag, and a cup of coffe bought three subway stops away..)

You better start early..

If you want to be creative with fabric. Just look at Mini, who discovered a pile of fabric in his grandmother's suitcase this morning.

I'm making beds for all of you. 

 The sun was shining bright, making it a little difficult to take good pictures, but I think you can see how he's arranging all the fabric into beds, with blankets on top.

This is grandma's bed. 

On Friday I had the urge to finish something that's in my pile of "construction work". (Maybe it was the fact that the whole apartment's looked like a construction site for most of these past two weeks.. but I really had to finish something.) In the pile I found this jacket I'd knitted for Mini a couple of years ago. A thread break had caused a hole, and it had spent most of the last 18 months just waiting to be repaired. Looking at it, I thought it was quite roomy for being a jacket knitted in size 12-18 months, so on Saturday I asked Mini if he wanted to try it on. 

Roomy - and short-sleeved.

Well, there's nothing to say about the width of the jacket. Could've used another inch on the length, maybe, but it's not that bad either. The sleeves? Oh, another two or three inches, and he could still use this today. I think it's funny.. I thought it was a little big when I knitted it - but seeing this, I must've been waaaaaay off when it comes to tension. Though, I do love the colour - gorgeous gray - and the buttons are so cheery and bright. :) I'd knit it again, that's for sure! (The pattern is called "Little Ivanhoe", designed by a norwegian lady, and is available through Ravelry.

So, with hubby in Boston (on some kind of design conference) and the kitchen /apartment a mess, what have I been doing in the evenings after Mini's off to bed?

Candles, white wine and Criminal Minds..

Well.. knitting - a little - stitching, some appliqué, finishing some projects, planning new ones, dreaming, watching season 1 and 2 of Criminal Minds, and enjoying a glass of ice cold white wine. The bottle in the picture came home with me after a 23 hour cruise to Denmark with some colleagues a couple of weeks ago. Just the right size for me - I think it's about 2 glasses - and the flavor was nice and mild.

***
Right now I'm listening to two carpenters working on our kitchen. They come in every now and then to ask about something (and I'm hoping that the long list hubby left me with is covered during today's session..). I don't like to "play boss" when it comes to these things.. I like to have a plan at the start, and see that it's all done when it's finished. They know (or should know..) what they're supposed to do, so I shouldn't have to babysit their every move, should I?

Outside the sky is nearly cloudless.. it's almost 22 degrees celsius in the shade - and I'm stuck inside.. At least it seems like they're working fast. They've been at it for about an hour now, and the cupboards are more or less up on the wall. (No, I'm not checking up on them, I'm trying to stay out of the way as much as possible - but when they ask me to check things, I come.)

Just a little bit more patience.. (I hope..)

MIA - or, How to Test Ones Patience



Image from the internet.

 I've been a bit MIA (missing in action) lately, mainly because of our apartment looking like a construction site (well, perhaps not that bad, but..). The old kitchen's been torn out and we've had carpenters, plumbers (and next week an electrician's coming) and stuff going all over the place (the fridge is in our bedroom, stove in the living room, and the freezer box is currently in Mini's room).

Yesterday the last missing pieces were supposed to be delivered (the remainig cupboards and stuff) - yes, you read correct, supposed to.. but, when hubby phoned IKEA, wondering why they hadn't called to set a time for the delivery truck to come, they suddenly informed him that the delivery had been moved three days - so they weren't coming yesterday, but rather on Monday! (Apparently, there's alot of deliveries to be made these days.. well, that sucks, because we'd made our order almost a month ago, and had carpenters that were to come in today (Friday) to get everything done..)

I find it very strange that they didn't even bother to call or email to inform about the change in schedule.. I mean, we'd made plans with everybody (carpenters, electricians, etc) and there was quite a fuzz to have to reschedule those guys too. (Not to mentioned the fact that we've now been without a proper kitchen for more than two weeks.. and I'm getting pretty sick of it all..)

So, should I dare to hope that things will (..finally..) be finished and back in order Tuesday night? Or is that keeping my hopes waaaaay to high?

Blooming.

Due to the late spring in Norway this year, it's taken some time for the grass to turn green and the flowers to bloom. 

I thought I should show you some pictures taken these past few weeks, showing some of the blooming going on.

First off is a bouquet of flowers which arrived on our door a few days ago. Long story short, but I've decided to change jobs, and my new employers sent me this bouquet of bright yellow, happy flowers, welcoming me onboard.  

Flowers from my new employers.

We've been spending some extra time on our walks back from kindergarden, because Plutt wants to pick flowers. He's obsessed with picking dandelions! So when he was busy picking dandelions, I found  some rainwater trapped in these leaves.

Raintrappers?

So for the past week or so there's been a glass of water and dandelions on our living room table. So very charming, Plutt's first flowers.

Dandelions were never more beautiful.

And these guys are finally blooming too! In Norwegian we call them syrin, but I think they're called lilacs in English. On my way to the bus I pass at least two different kinds - light purple and dark purple. I like the smell of the dark purple ones, the lighter ones smell a bit stronger in a way.

Lilacs / syrin.

Plutt and I met this guy on our way back from kindergarden one afternoon. Not quite sure what kind of bird it was, but it looked like it didn't mind us passing by quite close to it.

A bird with a view.

And finally, our pink tree (don't ask me what kind it is.. I have no idea..) bloomed suddenly when the heat came - and just as sudden, it was over and all the pretty pink flowers were gone..

Backyard beauty.

***

Well, this is all for now. I've got some projects that I'm working on, but seeing as I have a couple of days planned to be packed with sewing activities - the summer meeting at the quilting guild, amongst others - I ought to have something to show in a little while. 

Until the, take care!

Sunday baking.. again.

Another Sunday - another batch of cinnamon rolls. Yum! 

Hot coffee

Taking a walk carrying hot coffee is no problem - when you've got the übercool sleeve for your cup (from http://jacobs-quilt.blogspot.com)!!

Looking for advice..

I've got a couple of projects in my mind, but I think I might need a few things before I can start to do more than just thinking about them..

Like something similar to these ones :

Or this :

I think I saw them around (quite a bit) a few years ago, but I don't know where to start searching for them at the moment.. Any ideas?

I'm also looking for tips with regards to a new quilting frame. The one that I've got, I've managed to break one of the fasteneres, so it's not that good anymore. I haven't decided if I'd like a round one or a square one, but would really appreciate your views and advice, if you have any.

Is there such a thing as thinner?

Last Friday I killed some time browsing in one of the shops downtown in Oslo (Husfliden) and came across what I think are the thinnest knitting needles I've ever seen. 1mm needles (European standard) actually reminded me of uncooked spaghetti..

Knitting needles, from size 1mm (European standard).

I didn't buy them, but I'm curious about trying a pair from the same producer. I mean, I've knitted (mainly) with wooden needles (bamboo) for a while now, and these are made of carbon fibre with nickel plated brass tips. (They come in twin tip, single tip and round., and - according to the producer, are ideal for knitting lace/with lace yarn and socks.) The feedback I've read so far gives quite a good review. (But I think the pricing is quite high, even for Norwegian standards.. though, if the quality is good then the price is often worth it.)

I'd love to get first-hand feedback, though.. Has anyone tried these?

Sunday baking.

After spending the day in Popsenteret on a rock concert for children (a band called Rockebandet Plopp) a batch of cinnamon rolls seemed like the perfect way to end the weekend.

Yummy.. cinnamon rolls..

Plutt ate three - I think that's as good as any mark of quality. 

A light in the dark..

I like candles. I like the glow of burning candles, of the spheres of light they provide in the early darkness of dusk or in the close to total black-darkness of the fall. Heck, I like the burning glow of candles in the spring, summer, fall and winter. It's close to the middle of the month of May, and I've lit my candles. 

Hubby's Grandpa Lowell's homemade candlesticks,
with a slight improvement (I've added the glass bowls for the lights).

Greenish retro glass owl.. found it in a store a few weeks ago
- it simply "spoke" to me.. 

Do you light your candles all through the year - or is there a special season which you like to light up with the playful, hopeful glow of the burning flames?

Never leave home without..

A project in your bag. 

Currently knitting in a café, enjoying a double-latte with white chocolate syrup, waiting for hubby to finish at work. Can't remember the last time I was at a café..