What happened to the last four weeks?

It's strange, how time flies. Tempus fugit. It seems like a dream, that weekend in the beginning of October, and yet I know it was real!

My mom and I flew to London on Friday October 7th, and our main goal was this : 

The Knitting and Stitching Show! 

And boy, did we have a wonderful time! Two whole days (Saturday and Sunday) spent in the glorious Alexandra Palace (it truly is a wonder, the design, the statues, the history..) with thousands of other visitors, over 400 shops, a wonderful exhibition, and so much inspiration I think we both went completely into a mental emptiness after that first day..

I remember thinking that first day that all i could see were knitting and yarn shops.. but on Sunday, all I could see were fabric and sewing shops. Strange.. 

After these few weeks, everything seems like a dream. And it was not until I sat down and really looked at all the things I managed to bring home with me that I really felt like it was not a dream - but a trip of dreams!

Just look at all these pieces of fabric! Some are fat quarters, some are strips of panels, and some came from show books. All of them were just right for me - for us, as we did share most of the fabric, one way or another.

And I just had to nerd out a little bit - stumbling over several shops carrying Doctor Who-fabric. *yay!*

Some strips of Liberty-fabric - I actually have a plan for these, believe it or not! It includes some half linen in grey tones..

Of course, I had to bring some yarn home. These skeins will become something just for me (and for the price I paid, there's no chance in the universe I'll let anyone else get their hands on these babies...). I've started knitting of the skein to the far right, enjoying the colours and the glitter, and looking forward to being able to wear the finished project.

Notions.. I'm very weak when it comes to notions.. Understandably from looking at the picture above. Thread, needles, new blades for my rotary cutter, hand coloured felted wool, knitting needles (some new ones to me, and some old favourites), a pair of scissors from Liberty - and in the back, a pack of about 100 squares of fabric from The Victoria and Albert Museum (I'd love to spend a few days there...). I have a plan for those squares - I'm thinking of following my mom's idea and make my own.. well, you'll just have to wait and see.. :-)

***

While we were in London, The Great Elf-Mother notified us about getting the partner information sent out some time that weekend. Well, we begged and pleaded to get the info early, as we wanted to find something just perfect while we were at the the show - and I think we did! I can't wait to see if my recipient will like the project I'm sending him/her, but you'll all have to wait until Christmas... Only a few weeks left until THE GREAT WEEK OF SHIPPING.

Are you ready? 

Strawberries?

Strawberries in October? Yup.. 

Very strange..

Oh dear..

Time sure is flying!

I'm sewing up a storm of secrets - and I need to blog about London. It seems like a dream - until I check my bank account.. 

Almost everything falls in the category of secrets - but some things do not. 

I'll be back when the storm of secrets settles to a breeze (shouldn't be long now..). 

Some more finishes

This summer, during our stay in Trysil, my mom and I worked on a kit from Anni Downs called Village Sewing Trio, consisting of a scissor keep, needle book and pincusion. When we went home, I only had a little work left on the pincushion (filling it, and sewing the decorative stitches around the edges). The set came together swift and easily - what took the longest time, I think, was to cut and prepare all the little bits and pieces.

My apologies for the dark picture..

After seeing the tutorial for the Simple Zipper Pouch at the Fat Quarter Shop's blog, I got hooked on making them. I've now completed four of them - two I've shown earlier, and here are the final two. 

Yellow and gray is a nice combination of colours.

The same goes for aqua and lime.

The pattern is so very easy, and it's easy to make little changes to make your own variations. (In these two, I've skipped the top edge above the zipper - I didn't like how it turned out on my first two, all bulky and weird..) I've used mini-charm packs for the front, and a plain or contrasting colour on the back. Lucky for me (? haha) I have about a hundred of these mini-charm packs.. Lots and lots of colours to play with!

The yellow-gray one is currently in my bag, containing my hand sewing project for a trip that's happening this very weekend. (I'm very excited!)

Getting ready for Fall

It's October! It's Fall! And our tiny garden (and patches) are slowly getting ready for fall.

Our sunflowers have bloomed and died, so on Saturday we went to Plantasjen and bought a couple of lyng (ericaceae) and planted those. 

A fell asleep during a short walk, so I ended up sitting outside in the shade (until it got too chilly..) while she napped. We're very pleased with getting all the house painting done - and not having to think about painting anymore this year. (Some of our neighbours are not completely done yet..)

It was a nearly cloudless day, warm in the sun - but a little chilly in the shades. 

***

I'm tackling our garden project soom too. Our tomatoes need to be cut down and harvested (those that have any chance of getting ripe) and the boxes cleaned up before winter's here. It's already October - winter can come quite swiftly, if it decides to.

A trip to Gjersjøelva naturepark

A sunny and warm Sunday saw us taking the trip to the nearby Gjersjøelva naturepark, where there is a small marina and a very old water-run saw (and mill).

A needed to take a nap, so she and I took a walk down to the nearby marina and enjoyed the view (and the boats of many sizes). 

We could see Hvervenbukta, where we collected shells and pretty rocks a few weeks ago, from a different angle. 

This old house reminded me of my grandparents' cabin in the woods.

An old steam-engine saw.

The old saw was called Gurisaga.

P tried fishing for the first time - and although he didn't catch any, he thought it was fun. :-)

Trip to Sundvolden (with work)

My office took a trip to Sundvolden a couple of weeks ago, as a joint teambuilding, extensive department meeting and Christmas party. Workrelated pictures are usually quite boring, so I'm not going to post any of those. Instead, here are a few pictures taken in the area around the hotel. 

It was a lovely and sunny day when we came (and the day after it was gray and foggy..). 

I found this stack of wood kinda fascinating. The change in colours, how some had cracked.. A picture one could keep looking at and see new details everywhere.

A tunnell leading from the gas station down to the water. 

It's not easy to take pictures towards the sun, but the view was just spectacular!

Sunshine reflecting in the water near the (tiny) marina.

More wood - this time a lumber wall of a small building.

The wall of a trafo-station. The spiderweb was gleaming in the light of the sun.

Orchids growing near a small stream. I don't think I've seen this particular one anywhere before. It was small, but very beautiful.

Wonderful September

September has been a wonderful month - warm, bright - nothing like the cold/chilly, dark, wet Septembers I remember from growing up. It's like summer decided to come two months later! We've been out and about, outside in the sun, gathering from our tiny garden project (four pieces of corn and a ton of tomatoes - yellow and red). 

Last weekend Hubby suggested that we drove out to Tomter, a nearby farm which had a self-picking service of vegetables. P was grumpily stuffed into the car (anything that does not include Pokemon cards or playing with friends is torture these days, it seems...), while A came along surpricingly quiet (tired, I suppose). 

Upon arriving at the farm, we piced up some plastic bags and ventured into the fields. We picked sweet corn (and some not so sweet corn). I don't remember the names of the types of corn that we picked, but the ones we've tasted were YUMMY!

Climbing through the fields..

A decided that she wanted to walk - and so she spent some time climbing through the fields before she decided that the roads were easier to walk (run) on. 

Beautiful sky and sunshine!

Hubby and P picked sweet corn, and P ended up being quite the expert at cleaning the corn cobs.

Not quite the american height of corn, but still tall.

Afterwards we stopped by the farm shop and picked out some apples for the kids, lettuce, cucumber and pumpkins (both an orange pumpkin and a couple of butternut pumpkins). 

The casualty of eating corn cobs?

For dinner, we barbecued some hotdogs and corn cobs. Both the kids really liked it - and me too! (I haven't been very found of corn before, but this was really tasty!) And P lost another tooth! He's lost four now, and have a couple of more ones that are slightly loose.

We ended up taking a re-run of the dinner a couple of days later - and the rest of the corn was stored in the freezer. I've made pumpkin puré out of the orange pumpkin, and I'm thinking about either baking the butternut pumpkins, or making a soup of them. I've seen (somewhere - online?) that someone baked the pumpkins, with chevré or brié and drizzling honey over them, which looks very nice.

Major knitting project no. 3

I think 2016 might have been the year of the major knitting projects. Looking back, I've knitted three cardigans this year - two for me and one for a co-worker. 

Finished two weeks ago, the Nancy-cardigan looks gorgeous in the soft browns of the alpaca-yarn used.

I took some detail photos before handing it over - and am waiting for a good opertunity to take a picture (or twenty) of the cardigan with it's owner.

A classic star-pattern. Often found in norwegian knitting patterns.

She chose these simple, yet very cute, wooden buttons.

The design is pretty simple, but effective!

All in all a fun pattern to knit - and nice yarn to knit with. I'm considering knitting one for myself too, in the not so distant future (but right now, I'm feeling a little done with knitting big cardigan-projects..).

Playing with stripes

A quick trip to Trondheim

I had to take a short trip to Trondheim last Tuesday, workrelated - to make a quick summary. In order to get to the airport in time for my 7AM flight, I had to get up insanely early - 4AM the alarm rang and by 04:35 I was out the door, heading for the bus stop. The airport express bus will seize it's route through Oppegård, where I live, by October 1st, so what I'll do the next time, I don't know.. 

Anyway.. It was dark, quiet and almost noone else out walking at 4:30 in the morning.. 

Dark and quiet..

The bus finally came, and about 50 minutes later it arrived at the airport. The sun had begun to rise, and at the airport there was a mix of earlybirds - awake and ready for a day of travel - and sleeping people (I past quite a few of them on my way to my gate, sleeping and resting in chairs close to the gates, perhaps waiting for delayed or early flights). The security checks went swift, and I had some time left until my flight was due to leave. Not a lot, but enough to pick up a soda and a chocolate bar at the kiosk on my way to the gate.

Sunrise!

I think I fell asleep shortly after the safety procedures onboard, and can't really say that I remember the plane taking off.. I woke up a few minutes before the captain informed about reaching our destination - which is quite a nice way of travelling in the morning.

Trondheim is in sight!

I met three of my colleagues on the airport in Værnes, and we took a taxi to the local office. Finally getting a cup of coffee when we arrived at our destination, and the workday could begin.

After a whole day of discussion, planning, status and information, a couple of us went back in to town, while others went back to the airport to catch earlier flights home. I'd decided to catch a flight a little later, and so I got to spend a couple of hours walking around in this great city where I've spent so many summers. 

Observing old commercials painted on walls.

I took a walk up to Nidarosdomen and walked around outside there for a little while, remembering when my grandfather took me there once when I was little. 

A statue outside Det Norske Oljeselskapet. 

I bought a couple of presents for the kids at Trondheim Torg (a shopping mall). I'm not away that often, or for very long, but it's always nice to get presents.

Loving the details everywhere!

My flight back to Oslo was around 7:30PM, so I had a couple of hours until I had to get back to the airport. I had a quick bite to eat at Værnes before I found my gate, and lounged in a very comfy chair until it was time to board the plane.

Lounging at the gate.

I found the perfect spot. Right outside the window was the gate my flight would leave from, so I sat there watching the flight before mine get ready and leave - and I watched when my plane came in, "unloaded" it's passengers and got ready to leave. 

Sunset after a long day..

On the flight back I managed not to fall asleep, but got a little bit of knitting done, finished my audiobook and started listening to an episode of a podcast.

17 hours after leaving home I was back, and - after a quick meal - ready for bed. I don't really mind travelling, but I'm glad I don't have 17 hour-days that very often..

Last week

Last week Aurora had her 18 month check-up at the health clinic. After I dropped her off at the kindergarden, I decided to go home and have a sewing day. (I can't remember the last time I did that, and I had so many plans!)

Well, I started around 9:30-10 and didn't take a break until 12:30 (which was when I started to make some serious mistakes.. a break was long overdue!) and had lunch. 

After lunch, I ripped out the stitches I had made wrong, made some corrections and continued to sew until it was time to pick up the kids.

I had a blast! I don't think I've had the opertunity to spend so many hours by my sewing machine since.. I don't know when. And I am very pleased with the results!

Not bad for a day's work?

I finished a table runner I'd started almost exactly one year ago, quilted it and got the binding on. Now to wait for Christmas.. 

I made two Simple Zipper Bags, as shown in the tutorial from Fat Quarter Shop. Finally finding a good (and fun!) use for some of my (maaaaaany..........) mini charm packs. 

And I finished my secret test sewing project from my last post. It was really fun and easy to make - and I can see about a dozen or more ways to modify this bag. I am definetly making more! Adding pockets in the lining, maybe a cute button for closing/securing the contet, a matching zipper pouch or accessories... hmmm... The fabric for the bag is a piece of microfiber that I found during a visit to Stoff og Stil in their (fairly) new shop in downtown Oslo. It was a leftover and priced down, but I really liked the colours and the print, and had just this pattern in mind when I bought it. 

***

I actually finished a couple of more things the day after, but I need to take some pictures first... Not bad, for a sudden dewing frenzy! (My inner crafter is impatiently awaiting the next opertunity to sew..)