A true palm-to-forhead moment!

So there I was, on my porch knitting and enjoying myself. The sun was shining, I was in my bikini and the kid was playing peacefully at the other end of the garden.

Maybe it's because my mind was especially clear today because I got to sleep until 11, I have been getting a lot of fresh air and I have been inhaling a lot of steam from the bath I gave the fleece I bought of my moms cousin a few weeks ago.

After knitting 110 rows of the chart for one stocking and 98 rows for the other one, counless hours spent with this pattern, I suddenly noticed what was written in the legend for the chart. The x box: purl. The blank box: knit through the back loop! Through the back loop, people...

Crap! I'm getting the cherry liqueur and some chocolate right now! I think I need ice-cream too!

I'm not the only one in my family who is good with sticks

My brother is good with sticks too! In fact he is probably better with his sticks than I am with mine. He also manages to make a living with his, while I can only dream of doing so with mine.



I took this picture on Wednesday when one of the bands my brother is in had a consert in Oslo. Great fun, and I can't wait for them to do another gig here in August.

If you're wondering what is going on around my sticks these days you can have a look here. I'll try to post there more from now on (my goal is every friday). Next time I blog I hope to post something finished. Though I'm not sure at all if I'll manage that. I feel a huge burst of startitis coming on soon too. And there is only one cure for that,as far as I know; cast on, cast on, cast on.

Why the blogging is sparse these days

The world is turning green again, after a long winter.
There are better things to do than sit inside in front of the computer.



Also, I am busy enjoying this. Both the sun and the gardening.



I do find a bit of time to knit. In fact I wish there was more time to knit. After all, there is a pair of knee stockings that need to be done by May 31st. It's very slow going, lots of patterning and in black. I do feel like I'm gathering speed on this project now. One stocking is over half done and I finished the ribbing on the second last night. Wich means only about 40 cm of charted knitting left on that one. I'll allow myself a *sigh*.

I'll be back after the weekend, with pictures of national costumes most likely.

Lambs

I made a few new friends this weekend. The cutest one was this little girl!



I also got to take home a nice big bag, 1300 grams, of wool from one of her barn mates. Wool from the farm my grandmoter grew up on. Special wool for me to practice wool prep on.

Also, my aunt loved the shawl I gave her. I got the colour just right.

A birthday present

We're driving up to the west coast for the upcoming week end. Home. To celebrate my aunts 50th birthday. It's going to be a huge family celebration, just how we like them.

I've made my aunt a Flower Basket Shawl. I'm pretty sure she'll love it. I sure like it a lot!





If I'm going to worry about something, it's the size of it. My aunt is a bit more broad shouldered than I am. I usually worry about things like this for no reason. I suppose most knitters do. Also, if it's on the small side she can keep it together with the pretty shawl pin she is getting along with the shawl.

I don't get to do proper omg-this-is-a-miracle blocking often. I don't knit enough lace for that. I have however come up with my own tecnique where other (lucky bastards) would use blocking wires;
KITCHEN STRING and the rigt kind of bed...

Tuscany

Finally. Done. Happy!

The dollar is very favourable these days

Greetings from Amazon.com.

We thought you'd like to know that we shipped your items, and that this
completes your order.


The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Qty Item Price Shipped Subtotal
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC):
1 The Knitter's Book of Yarn... $19.80 1 $19.80
1 The Whole Craft of Spinnin... $6.95 1 $6.95
1 Vintage Knits: Thirty Knit... $16.50 1 $16.50
1 Lace Style: Traditional to... $16.47 1 $16.47
1 Things I Learned From Knit... $8.58 1 $8.58
1 Victorian Lace Today $19.77 1 $19.77

Shipped via Standard Int'l Shipping (estimated arrival date:
20-May-2008).

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Item Subtotal: $88.07
Shipping & Handling: $27.93

Total: $116.00

I know someone who's going to think this might fall into the category of "going a bit over board". I don't think so at all ;)

I'm a bit baffled by the long delivery time though. May 20th. Really? I seem to remember previous orders having a lot shorter shipping time. Maybe steam boats are back in business?
Maybe it's good, the deliverytime being so long. Gives me a chance to finish my aunts birthday shawl by May 3rd, the black knee stockings that need to be done by May 30th, and dads Koolhaas for his birthday in mid May.

Shitty spring

I was fooled yesterday by this little beauty.



For a few hours I thought that spring was finally here. Until I woke up this morning



On the bright side, crappy weather days are good for a few things





I also finished a hat for M.; Gooseberry hat (ravelry link), a really cute pattern. And a new to me yarn, Lerke by Dale. Marie has been wanting a blue hat with a pompom for months. (For my Norwegian readers; One just like Lillebror has in the books by about Lillebror and Knerten.)



I especially love the hat for the yarn, it was a pleasure to knit with. Cotton, but without the pain! I'm curious to see how it wears and washes. If after a few weeks it's still good, I might want a cardi for me out of this. It could compare it to unstretchy Calmer.

Such a nice and sunny day

The sun was shining and I had that lovely spring feeling today. So what better to do than spend the day inside, in wellies.



At least I was not alone





So, are you pulling your weight to stop the climate changes? How far above sea level do you live?

Twins...

All dressed up and ready for... Something...



Theresa and I, in our Cloud Boleros. At Oslo S'n'B today. We were told spesifically to wear nice handknits since a journalist and photographer were going to be there to make an article about our group.

A fun evening, even tough I came home to find out I'm 3 grams short of yarn for a pair of baby socks, after I finished the first one while bitching.

I also learned how to set the white balance on my camera, so hopefully there will be truer colours in my pictures in the future.