Busy September

Today's the last day of August, and September is knocking on the door. The first month of fall is here, although I will admit that I've brought out candles and a blanket some time ago (mixing in the fact that I've struggled with a cold and the evenings have gotten both darker and cooler, lighting candles in the evening makes the whole world a little more snuggly).

It'll be a busy September, at least for me, starting on Wednesday. Two days workshop at work with one of the projects I'm working on means that I won't be able to attend the first guild meeting after the summer.. A little sad, yes, but seeing as I haven't finished anything yet, perhaps it gives me a second chance to get something finished.

Let's see, what's the next activity.. well, next week I have both a whole day workshop for another project, and I will travel to Trondheim (and back again) in one day for a meeting. I will be making a presentation for the bosses at my job (not something I'm looking forward to, but it needs to be done). And the week after that there's a two-day gathering in Lillestrøm (a city about 12 minutes away from Oslo, by train) where my colleagues and I will gather from all over the country to try to learn better ways to do our jobs. In between all that, there's my swimming class on Mondays, Peder's dance class on Thursdays, Martin's climbing at least once a week. *phew*

An old picture from the archives.

So, what else is up..? Well, I've been looking forward to a few events coming up later this year (and next year) but it seems that a few of those will have to go by unattended by me. 

In a couple of weeks there's a quilt festival outside Oslo (more closely, at a hotel in Gardermoen, the airport). I've decided not to attend - first of all, it would've become ridiculously expensive to spend the weekend there and  attend courses. So I've decided to skip it, and miss out on meeting some of the many great designers in the quilting world. Oh well, there will be other chances. 

The next event is a crafts and Christmas expo in Lillestrøm (12 minutes by train from Oslo, as previously mentioned). I'm planning to attend with my mom, at least for one day. There will be shops from all over the country and with relation to many, many different crafts there. We attended this one two years ago, and it was great fun! Last year I missed it, though, because the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who was in London that same weekend, and we had to make a choice (we'll probably not be around for the 100th anniversary, so the choice was basically quite simple). I'm really looking forward to the expo, both seeing new shops, getting new inspiration - and maybe even crossing off a few points on my Christmas present list. (Memo to self : get that list started, apparently it's only about 179 days left 'til Christmas!)

Earlier this year I missed the huge Norwegian Quilt Guild meeting in March, which was a little sad - but to be honest, I thought it was too far away. Every couple of years they've arranged the weekend in or close to Oslo, which has been great. Close to major airports, easy to travel to, and - for those of us living in Oslo or the area around - easy to take a day trip to visit. However, it seems that next year it might not be so close to Oslo as they first announced. I've heard something about it being moved to a new area - and when the announcement reads Oslo, I'd be quite disappointed if it turns out to be true (and the event is moved to some far-off location). False advertisement? Oh well, we'll see how it turns out. I think that the sign-up's will be included in the next magazine. But I have a feeling that there will be much thinking and planning involved, should I think about attending next year (and not just for me, there'll be other things and others to consider too - I might just forget about going in the first place). 

Oh shoot, now I'm feeling a bit sad.. Guess I'll try to find something a bit more cheerful to think about - like planning the welcome to this world gifts I need to make to three new babies coming early next year. January/February babies need a bit of wool, right? I'll have a look at the patterns I have, perhaps small vests or hats will be suitable.

Not a very productive summer..

I blame the heat.. it's been record warm in Norway this summer, with a steady 28-29++ degrees celsius all through June and July, and over into August. Which means that the mood for knitting is in the mind only.

And as goes for sewing? Well, my sewing machine got packed away in June due to our planned redecoration of the living room and hallway. We ended up giving away my sewing table (need the space for something else soon enough) and after the rooms were finished, my sewing machine is one of the last things not moved down from the attic yet.

I've gotten a little bit of hand sewing done, a few stitcheries and playing around with english paper piecing (EPP) but no finished there either.

Guess I've been a lousy crafter this summer..

But! We've travelled around parts of Norway this summer, going to zoo's and climbing parks (outdoor, up in the trees). It's been an active and action-filled summer for Peder - one which we hope he'll be able to remember.

Petting guinea pigs.

Climbing accidents..

Skull playground!

Suddenly shy when meeting a pirate!

One of the "heroes" - the pirate Langemann.

Captain Sabeltann - a known character for all
Norwegian kids!

Orangutan baby and mom enjoying the sun.

Playful tiger - cute kitty!

Sunshine peeping through the rainy clouds.

Testing..

A new project in the making. No pattern, just testing and playing. 

Wazzup?

I've been a poor blogger this summer, but the last month has been active and busy. The three of us had three weeks vacation, and I have a ton of pictures to show and stories to tell - which I will share soon. With tropical temperatures here in Norway this summer, temperatures about 5-10 degrees higher than usual - there's been little crafty going on. Too hot! 

I'll leave you with a picture for now, and get back to blogging about this summer a little later. 

Almost back to "normal"

The carpenters came Saturday morning (8AM). They had some corrections and finishes to do, and worked through the day. I think they finished around 5:30 PM, atleast that's when they called Hubby to say that they were finished.

Perhaps not that much difference from the last round of pictures, but the floor's done, the walls and roof painted - and the dust removed from the doors, walls and floor.

Livingroom, light and bright!

We've slowly started to move things back now - starting with emptying Peder's room so that he could go back to sleeping there. Couch, table and TV are back in the living room. 

There are spots on my lense..

Funny enough, there seems to be some spots on the lense of my Iphone camera. These spots are not on our walls, they just appear now and then. (I've tried cleaning the lense, but hasn't worked much so far..)

Hallway, with the door to the bathroom

It's nice to be done with the dusty part of redecorating. The reason why we haven't moved everything back the way it was, is that we're thinking of exchanging some of the furniture we had (shelves, etc) for new ones, lighter ones, but that's going to have to wait until all the bills are paid. (So far we're enjoying the space-y-ness of not having an overfilled livingroom - and Peder's really enjoying the ecco.)

Progress..

I took some new pictures of the redecoration process on Friday. (The carpenters were back yesterday, but - except from the hallway floor - there's not that bog a change.)

I think I have some smudges on my lense, those round spots are not on the walls.. The base layer has been painted, and the ceiling. 

Was a bit surpriced to find a pair of shorts left behind, and the new doors are still waiting in their packages. 

The hallway is almost ready for painting, and the door will be exchanged for a new one. 

But the corners still needed some more plaster (sparkel, as we say in norwegian). 

Today's Sunday. According to schedule, the electrician will come by on Wednesday, and the carpenters will be done by Saturday. I sure hope they manage to stick by their schedule - it'll be nice to move everything out of their boxes and down from the attic again. 

***

Happy Sunday!

Dusty..

Our entire apartment is covered in a thin, fine layer of dust.. I'm already daydreaming (nightmares?) about scrubbing down every room and rearranging them back to normal. Shit happens when carpenters are working in both the hallway and the livingroom. Peder's room is now being used as a livingroom (barely had space for the tv and the couch) and he's sleeping in our room while the work gets done. The plan is for the carpenters to finish by June 28th, but we'll see if they manage. 

While removing the wallpaper in the hallway, we discovered some funky colour combinations. How about three different (hopefully not all at once..) colours on the walls? Part red, part sea green and part yellow? 

The livingroom is a mess. I've got nothing else to say about that. The door's missing - we're changing new doorsnin the livingroom and the bathroom. I wonder how many days we'll be without a proper bathroom door.. Hmmm.. We went by the carpenter store today and selected new doors (and handles). I like the planning of fixing up our home - and the end results, but the middle part? 

I'm feeling very tired lately (have been up to around 1AM tearing down wallpaper for a couple of nights) and my sewing is just not happening. No sewing machine, etc.. I have a baby quilt (crib quilt) I want to start, but with all this damned dust? I think I'll stick to knitting for a couple of more days. 

Spam...

I think I have a secret crush on my spam filter.. After removing the word identificator, aka the I'm not a robot-function on the comments, I've had five spam comments in the last week alone! 

Luckily they've not been published, but recognised right away and ended up in a special little place - ready to be deleted. 

Now, five's not that much - but they're more than I've gotten in the last few years all together. I don't like spam - I prefer it when real people read and leave comments on my blog. (No, I'm not putting the safety function back on - not yet. If I get 50 spam a week, I might consider it.)

The picture is of my work pc last week. There's no fun trying to get maps when this is the results you're given after waiting for the program to finish thinking and processing your input. 

Daydreaming..

I'm spending the next couple of day tidying up, packing down and clearing our living room and hallway. The electrician's coming by on Friday, and next Monday the carpenters will start fixing the ceilings and walls (and floor). So, before that both rooms/areas need to be emptied and the wallpaper torn down. 

Martin and Peder are on a little trip. They left this morning and will be back some time early tomorrow afternoon. Until they return, I'm trying to get most of the small stuff taken care of, so that Martin can help me move the heavier stuff and furniture out of the way. 

Having a break now, and I can't help but daydream about traveling. I've been to London three times, but still I'd like to go back. 

View from the London Eye.

 I really like London - so big, but still so easy to go from A to B.

They've even got a Tardis!

I hope that I will be able to go back to London again, in a not so distant future. There's still so much of this city that I've yet to explore, and so many parts that I've visited - but I'd like to see them again. 

***

Oh, well.. 

Back to tidying and packing.. I wish I was done already.. :-/

Bird Cherry (Hegg)

I finished the cloth I was knitting during Chooky's Chookshed celebrations last weekend! It's really pretty, and I think I'm going to put it in the gift basket to give away later. I'm feeling the urge to cast on another one, but I think there's a new pattern being released in a KAL (knit along) some time tomorrow, so I might just wait and see if the new pattern is to my liking.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures taken of the cloth, freshly cast off.

Purple is one of my favorite colors.

The pattern is by the norwegian knitting designer Bittami - who's quite popular on Ravelry, and on FaceBook.

Bird Cherry (Hegg in Norwegian).

I also took some amazing sunset pictures the other evening. It was just before the rain started, and at some point it looked like the building next door was on fire. Pretty cool!

I love sunsets (and sunrises, although I do prefer to be in bed, sleeping, at that time of the morning..).

All the colors seem more vibrant and clear against the burning fires of the sky.

And then the glowing golden turns into soft pink and purple.. 

I also finished the little stitchery I started just before the weekend. I shared a picture of this too during the weekend, and I managed to put the final stitches in this afternoon. The project itself is far from done, as I most likely need a sewing machine to complete it, and I've packed mine down (we're having carpenters redecorating our living room and hallway in about a week and a half, which means that we need to pack down and move around on quite a lot of stuff..). 

Indeed, life is sweet!

I spy..

In my office window yesterday, there were colours - in form of a green plant (loving the sun and warmth) and an apple in a cozy. (For some reason we're not supposed to personalize the offices too much - but, honestly, who cares? Anything to make you love your office - you spend 1/3 of your day there, if not more.) 

Solo Sunday

Strapped on my running shoes and headed out in the park this morning. Very calming for the mind. Not that I run that much, but I walk, climb the hills, jog every time I hit a certain part of my round (and try to push myself a little further each round). With music, the nature around me or a podcast on my ear time seems to fly - and when I think I've been gone for 20 minutes, in reality I've been gone for over 1 1/2 hours. 

With this view, who wouldn't want to take a trip outside?

***

Happy (sunny) Sunday to all of you!

I'll be back with some more crafty posts later, in honour of the Chookshed's celebrations. 

Knitted cloth - progress

This pattern wasn't as difficult as I first though (Bird Cherry/Hegg, by Bita Mikkelborg). Managed to memorize the pattern after a couple of repetitions. Only thing is, I'm thinking about testing the yarn+pattern with a pair of smaller needles next time.. The result is a bit more "airy" than I'd like it to be. But, I might change my mind later - will see how it acts when it grows a bit more. :)

In honor of the Chookshed part 2

Walked downtown and enjoyed a frappe with strawberry and white chocolate. 

Saw a funny sign in a shop window..

Met a friend at the Opera and enjoyed an icecold glass of Prosecco before watching a dance show. 

Martin's fired up the grill (barbeque) so dinner will be done in a minute. 

In the meantime, I'm starting another knitted cloth. 

Chookshed-iversary!

Chooky is celebrating the chookshed's second birthday, and she's invited all of her stitching friends all over the world to join her in celebrating this by making it a day of stitching. 

I'm joining in by putting a couple of stitches in this little project : 

And I will post more pictures through the day. :) 

***

It's a nice, warm and sunny day here in Oslo. Almost no clouds in sight. 

Easy peasy

How much easier can it be done?

I made this one quite some years ago, mostly japanese fabric, and I absolutely love it!

17th of May - a summary

Last weekend was the 17th of May - the Constitution Day here in Norway. Every year we celebrate by dressing up in our national costumes, suits or summer dresses (according to the wether, really). Last year was the perfect national costumes wether (wool, it was quite chilly at times) but this year the sun shone and it was nice and warm. We also participate in - or watch - parades, eat ice cream (no matter how cold it gets) and usually a hotdog or five. This is the children's day, thus hotdogs and ice cream are mandatory. (The general ¨rule¨ is that you, as a child, gets to eat as much ice cream and hotdogs as you can.) This year, 2014, there were special celebrations as it was 200 years since our constitution was created (and signed), freeing us as our own nation. (We'd been in union with Sweden and/or Denmark for quite some time before that.) So, all over the country special celebrations were happening, and even the Stortinget was decorated beautifully with flowers hanging down the sides of the building.

Flowers decorating the facade of Stortinget.

We spent the day at my sister, with her, Emma and our mom. I baked cupcakes (vanilla, with white chocolate frosting and strawberries) to bring as dessert.

Yummy cupcakes..

 It being a nice and sunny day, we ventured out to one of the local schools to check out the activities and people, and to let the kids play a bit. We didn't have to go much further than outside the house before there was a tree which required some attention.

If there's a tree, one must climb it.

A light breeze in our flags.

Mr. Handsome with his "gold medal". 

Up at the school there were games for the children, lotteries, places to buy cakes, hotdogs, ice cream and other yummy things (and coffee) - everything sold to support the school (I guess they were saving for a school trip or something like that).

Ice cream is mandatory!

 The school had a pretty big playground, with swings, slides and two areas where the kids could climb around. (Which suits Peder pretty well, as he loves to climb.)

Climbing around.

 Some parts required some assistance from dad or mom, but mostly he managed by himself.

Climbing the monkey bars were a new experience
for Peder.

Very focused.. 

The climbing photos were taken by my mom. Trying to get him to look into the camera is almost impossible. Too many other things to focus on. 

Dusty, the balloon.

 Peder finally got his wish granted - a huge balloon! He's been wanting one of these for at least a year, but they've been ridiculously expensive on all the occasions we've seen them. But this time the price was quite reasonable, and so we came home with Dusty.

Relaxing..

When we came back to my sister's house, Peder stripped off his pants and spent the rest of the day in a white shirt and pantyhose. We decided to ¨bbq¨ inside (the frying pan on the stove kind of bbq), as there were some dark skies threatening - but they disappeared after a while. And as the evening grew closer to bedtime, we drove home - boy in pantyhose, Dusty the ballon, and the rest of us.

***
For those who haven't seen the way we Norwegians celebrate our Constitution day, I looked on YouTube and found a video which show parts of the children's parade from this years celebration :

And, in honor of the 200 year anniversary of the signing of our Constitution, the children's channel (NRKSuper) created a music video (a hip hop/rap song) telling the story of how our Constitution was created (with some creative solutions, I've heard that it's missing some details - but it's still pretty cool). The song is quite catchy, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to find an english translation of it yet (but the kids are really good). I hope you enjoy it  :