---------
Nice thick socks loosely inspired by these 25% complete ---------
Regia jacquard #5178 ural socks of generic design. 50% complete --------- Shawl in Lamb's Pride Worsted ("White frost", I think). --------- Cardigan
for Dad from Maske for maske - ungdom og voksne by Mette Handberg.
1st arm almost completed -----------
P.I.P.S.s ::
(projects in planning stages) Finish writing
up the pattern for the Cotton Sport cabled sweater and post
it.
---------------
Hva er dette for noe?
This is a weblog. It's mine. It tends to be about knitting
with occasional ramblings about my experience living in Norway.
(Sometimes it's the other way 'round.) Want to know more? Read the
faq's! :O)
You
may be familiar with Elsebeth Lavold from her amazing book Viking Patterns for Knitting.
If not, or.. if so... you'll want to check out the textile side of Ingen Konst :: The Viking Knits Project, which includes
the aforementioned book, an exhibition and knit kits for
additional designs. There are several available in English, including Nanna.
They say to contact them if you're interested in more translated designs... no, Kate, I don't do Swedish. ;o)
One you might want to nag them about is Liv. I will not start another project, I will not start another project...
There's also a very useful section on yarns, some free stuff,
some fascinating things to do with I-cords, and, on a side note, a link
to a picture of some tvåändsstickade vante. That would be
"two-end knitted mittens" to you and me.
If you can tell the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have
not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk.--The Power of Lutefisk
Liisa sent
me a Swedish exhibition
of a book by Celia B Dackenberg, in which the poet's pullovers provide an angle of inquiry and an interpretative
tool for the work of various authors.
You can view the exhibits
by clicking on one of the three links for each picture Webbild (small file), Magasinbild (bigger) or Dagspressbild (gigantic).
(By the way, Ylle och Bläck translates to Wool and Ink, rather than Wood and Ink).
I may have gone on before about this, but there's some
amusement coming up soon, and you need a bit of background...
From about the middle of the 1500's
Danish was the only written language in use in Norway. After 1814, in order to gain linguistic autonomy,
two modern versions of written Norwegian, Bokmål and Nynorsk, were developed.
Bokmål, by far the most commonly used today, used Danish as a basis, with
urban Norwegian pronunciations. Nynorsk is the product of a linguistical study of the dialects of mainly
southern Norway and is used by less than 15% of the population. source
Now. The people of Olso often claim to be speaking Bokmål, but in reality, Bokmål is not a spoken language.
And no one natively speaks Nynorsk either, though it is closer to the dialects of the Southern and Western regions
of Norway. My husband, from the North of Norway, speaks the dialect of his hometown of 23,000. My step-kids speak
the dialect of the community about a 10 minute drive from our front door. It boggles my mind. My spoken Norwegian
is a mixture of Bokmål and their dialects. I also understand their dialects the best, and usually mistake
people from the Kristainsand and Kristiansund for Swedes.
So, the funny part :: I came across virtual Sortland a few days ago...
in case you're wondering, here is a map of the area.
This is the general area where S. grew up, so the Learn to Speak Like a Native section
naturally interested me. I really wish I could have picked up his dialect, but since he speaks English to me almost exclusively,
this might be the solution:
I am intensely flattered to be Gwen's current Aortal link! Tusen takk!
The family and I watched Charlie and The Chocolate Factory a
couple of nights ago. Did you know Roald Dahl's parents were
Norwegian? The book was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, and, naturally, I was giving little side notes to the movie like
Charlie nibbling his birthday chocolate bar for months (which triggered Sigurd's memory of having read it himself) and that the Oompah-Loompah's
were neither scary nor orange and only came up to Mr. Wonka's knees. Oh, yes, the point: Knitting sighting! Grandma
Josephine was knitting in most of her scenes
and when Charlie gets his red and white scarf, his Mom says: We each knitted a bit.. Grandma Georgina, Grandma
Josephine, and me and Grandma Josephine chimes in with I did the end pieces with the little tassels.
And one more thing: I need to decide (and quick) on a color of Mission Falls 1824 Wool.
I want to make myself a plain pullover in a neutral color, either Charcoal, Oatmeal or Oyster, or maybe Stone. Vote quick! ;o)
Cap sans øreklaffer, which I suppose would mean ear flaps and one leg. I love the way there's a
belegg at the bottom of the leg to turn under and sew down, so little toes don't get caught in the stranding on the
inside! But I haven't the foggiest how to sew this so it's not obvious from the right side. Any suggestions?
Snapped a picture of the finished Silketweed shell this morning, before S. took off
with the camera to the Open Day at the model airplane club.
I finished one leg for the baby pants (bukser) and will start on the other leg this afternoon, so if you see someone
there knitting, it's likely me.
I've been thinking since around my birthday that I might want to do something different with my hair. We went out to
a stand up comedy show (S. told this guy it
was my birthday (he claimed he was talking about Keiko) resulting in the audience saying "Gratulerer!" to me which
I really enjoyed)... where was I? Oh, and this lady
was one of the performers. Point is, I really liked her hair.
Let me give a bit of background to help you make an informed opinion:
When I was a child, I had really long hair. Thick, too, which gave
me headaches from the weight when it was in a pony-tail. So, at age 12 or so, I had it cut short and
have had it relatively short since, except for a brief period of
length in college. Then, during chemotherapy, no hair. Coooold. And when it grew back, it was
curly. Really quite curly and much finer. The curls have gone now, but the texture of my hair is considerably different and I
have the possibility to do different up-do's with my hair, but of course, I can't do them to myself, so they
never get done.
I like having long hair. Sigurd likes me having long hair. Long hair is very fine to keep one's
neck warm in the winter. But still, I'm thinking of a change. What do you think?
I decided last night that a November baby comes before Christmas gifts, so I started this adorable
(suitable for a boy or a girl, don't you think?) baby set. It's a Rauma pattern, model 3087. The progress
on the little folded edge cap seems promising!
First, go to a large, expensive grocery store and get in line at the meat counter. When it is finally your turn, ask the
17 year old behind the counter for a leg of lamb to feed 8 or 10 people. When she hands it to you, ask her
"Now what do I do with this?" making her look at you as though you were mad, then laugh. Take home and marvel over the
sheer size of the thing, wondering what in the world you're going to serve it in.
Make a glaze: mix soy sauce and orange juice in
about equal proportions and brush on. Mix salt, pepper, rosemary (lots) and thyme and rub into meat. Cut garlic cloves into
thin slices and, using a sharp pointed knife to make slits in meat, insert garlic here and there. Put into a large roasting pan
with some onion slices and add a couple of cups of water to the pan. Roast in a 125C/250 F/gas mark 1/2 (I've always wanted to say that)
oven for 2 to 3 hours until temperature (measured with a meat thermometer pushed into the thickest part of the meat) measures 72C/162F, making sure the
thermometer isn't touching bone. Reserve the juice from the bottom of the roasting pan. Let cool, then remove garlic slices. Talk your husband's very kind friend into cutting
the meat off the bone.
Wild rice salad to go with:
Prepare some regular and wild rice, about twice as much wild as regular.
To cook the wild rice, place it into briskly boiling water (like you would pasta) and boil for 20-30 minutes or until the
ends of the grains split open. Let both types of rice cool. Chop some almonds, celery, red and yellow peppers, whatever suits your
fancy and add to rice. Chop some dried apricots and soak in a mixture of soy sauce and OJ to plump them back up. Add these and the
soaking liquid as well as some curry powder. Take the drippings from the lamb and strain, bring to a boil, then add that to the rice mixture.
Enjoy!
The party on Saturday night was lovely! I'll share some of what was on the menu with you guys over the next few days.
First, one of the desserts, an almond meringue base with a custard topping that I absolutely love:
To prepare form:
melted margarin
fine bread crumbs
Grease 1 approx 24 cm spring-form with melted margarin. Sprinkle with finely ground bread crumbs.
Blanch and grind 100g almonds. Whisk eggwhites until very stiff and blend with the ground almonds and
sugar. Put into prepared round form and bake on the lowest rack for approx 40 minutes on 175C (350F) until browned and loosened
around edges. Let cool upside down.
Blend the egg yokes, sugar and light cream in a thick bottomed saucepan. Whisk the mixture over low heat until thickened.
Place the gelatin plate in cold water for several minutes, then squeeze the water out and stir into the thickened mixture.
Let the mixture cool, preferably by putting the saucepan into cold water. It should be thick but still pourable.
Whip the heavy cream and blend into the cooled mixture. Add some vanilla sugar to taste. Pour the topping over the
cake in the spring-form pan and refrigerate for several hours.
For decoration on top, toast the slivered almonds in a dry frying pan until golden brown. Scatter them over the top of the cake.
I am this close to (finally) finishing the shell I
started in the spring. It's a make-it-up-as-you-knit kind of thing and I'm not entirely sure the neck opening will fit over my head, but
I'm hoping to finish it today to wear it tomorrow, when we're having a post-wedding get together for friends. So it's
hard to say how much knitting will be done today whilst preparing food for 12, 13 people. (ohherregud) We have enough chairs
and table space, but only 9 plates and 9 forks/knives. (I'm not sure what the solution for this is. I don't want to have to go with
plastic utensils.) The house is semi-clean, the sewing stuff has been stored away in my closet (well,
most of it) and the dishwasher is empty.
Today I'm going to make either a mandelkake (almond cake) or a karamell pudding or both. And anything else that can be made ahead and
a place in the refrigerator found for it. I will not wait til the last minute (like last fall when I insisted
on having Thanksgiving for skeptical of sweet potatoes in-laws) to get everything ready.
I am ... the proud owner... of my very own... sewing machine! It's a Janome but I can't
find it on their site. Perhaps it's laboring under a different name here ... there's a (bad quality) picture here
where it's called Easy Jeans 22 ...
...so powerful that she'll sew 12 layer denim with no problem, and Janome's unbelievable
7 part transporter helps you over the thickest seams. Flat spool acessory, and magnetic tangle-proof griper system makes this an
unbelievably quiet machine.
I've been poring over Sew Wrong,
Sewing with Tom and Sew Geeky this morning so
that almost makes sense, but I think I need to confess that I know next-to-nothing about sewing.
So any and all advice is unbelievably welcome.
We actually managed to get out of the house on Sunday! I found that there was a marked at
Blå which featured ullvarer (wool items for sale) so off we went. Turned out to be a flea/craft market with lots of
knitted and crocheted hats and mittens and shawls and bags and handmade jewelry. Lots of wonderful inspiration. I'll take my camera
next time. I bought a fabulous party dress ... (Picture to be inserted here as soon as camera battery charged.)
Then we went towards Akershus Festning to another flea market type thing and I found one of these
for 50 kr. which is about $6. Can't wait to try it out!
Yesterday I got 6 skeins of Angora-Tweed from my step-kids
as an early birthday present. Tusen takk, jenter!
I was thinking I'd make mittens and a hat if I ever acquired some of this yarn, but I'm thinking if I sneak off and get 2 more skeins...cream colored perhaps? ... I'll have enough
for a striped sweater. It's so soft and fuzzy... makes me want some rabbits.
And speaking of handspinning... Sunday is sheep-shearing day at the Norsk Folkemuseum!
It says "children can help with the carding and spinning." Think they'd let me have a go?
First: The weather pixie is lying her little rear end off. She's smiling under a sunny sky
and it's raining cats and dogs out my window. Great sitting quietly, knitting and listening to
relaxing music weather, but I think we're going to have to find something to do
to keep two 8 year old's and one teenager occupied today or all go mad.
Second: I recommend you go visit Robin, whose weather pixie seems
to be telling the truth (she lives just about a half hour from me). She immediately understood my
domain name. :O)
Third: (required since I started a list) Here
is what I did last night and the reason I'm having trouble using the muscles in my legs today.
Three hour workshop with this amazing lady, who has been involved with Irish dance (the Riverdance kind) and
was ... well, amazing. I love to dance.
Oh, (this would be fourth, if I was certain how to spell fourth) and I added a bunch of links while
cleaning out my "Favorites" list. And came across these pictures from
a book called Norsk Strikkedesign... more info about that book ... soon!
The 8 year old Norwegian child I live with asked me a couple of days ago what "Tommy cake" meant. I told
her I didn't think it meant anything. So she explained that my mother had asked her if she had a "Tommy cake" while
we were visiting and patted her stomach. I said "Oh! chuckling She probably
said 'tummy ache' which means vondt i magen" and she said "No, I'm pretty sure she said Tommy cake."
1. What is your biggest pet peeve? Why? Being made to wait. (See next question.) Snooty people. Wet towels being put in the clothes hamper.
2. What irritating habits do you have? When I say "just a second", it'll be a few minutes. When I say "just a minute", it could be up to an hour. Oh, and I don't consistently use my turn signals.
3. Have you tried to change the irritating habits or just let them be? Well, I don't mean to do that. And I'm working on it.
4. What grosses you out more than anything else? Why? The first thing that came to my mind is a nursing thing: Suction. And sputum. Bleh. Why seems like a given, but it's also the sound.
5. What one thing can you never see yourself doing that other people do? Base jumping, rock-climbing, working with adolescents, I'm sure there's more things but strangely I can't think of any.
Post script: I saw this page about twined knitting
which (whew) confirms most of what I wrote in that how-to. It refers to a book I saw at that
Swedish page called Twined Knitting (translation by Robin Hansen. How I wish I had one of her books!)
which is a translation of Tvåändsstickat by Birgitta Dandanell and Ulla Danielsson. Amazon shows it as out of print. Used from $100. Whoa. But also that it
was put out by Interweave. Doesn't Stacey work for them? Shall we pester
her to get it reissued? :O) posted at 8:23 pm
A few weeks ago we had a little discussion around here about tvåändsstickning.
Homespun, Handknit
has quite a bit of information on this technique as well as the pattern for these mittens.
I also found this bit from woolworks.org and a
Swedish page with some pictures.
I have an idea in my head that it's a bit nutty to require special yarn to do this... tho
I found this site advertising a special yarn for
two-end knitting (which is what tvåändsstickning translates to) "with the single threads spun 'S' and the ply spun 'Z'". Hm.
Maybe some of our spinners out there can help us out here: Why is this important? (This may be easier to
answer when I get the next installment ready: "Ok. Now I'm intriqued... how do I do it?"
It is not an option and has never been an option. We are in a dialogue with
the Americans that are following the whale, and support the idea to return it to its own species. This is a media created subject and I
certainly understand that it's good material.
I admit I was a bit hasty in saying that I was headed off to Svålvikfjorden. It seems obvious to me that
there are two options here:
The people who captured him in the first place take care of him. If he fails to find some orca pals and seeks only the company of people,
if he's going to starve to death, then yeah, okay, maybe he ought to be returned to an aquarium? Or something, anyway... before somebody (him or the idiots who
are treating him like he is a big 'ol toy) gets hurt.
Stop letting children swim and play and kiss a <ahem>KILLER whale. (The Swedes could also
leave off with trying to give him pickled herring.) Was not
the point of spending those millions that he live free and
independently? You can't treat an animal as if it's tame and
expect it to be wild at the same time. Think, people. Think.
I don't, in any case, think Nils Øien should be getting death threats.
Velkommen to a couple new additions to the knitbloggers ring:
Sheri ...she sews, knits and spins
happy good luck ...check out that first FO!
and Rambling warps ...whoa, them are some baby socks.
And I've foolishly optimistically begun two new projects: a shawl for my MIL for Christmas and a ribbed sweater for shhhh... my step-kid.
I've come across yet another thing that's meant to get your weblog out there. (Out where, you ask? Out there.) Here are the faq's about it.
If you sign up, they will come.
...And rate your 'blog on a scale of 1 to 10. You might want to rate me to
get some practice. (Right now I'm at 1.5 because I haven't had any votes yet and I find it appalling. Of course, it could get
worse, but ... I choose not to think about that.)
After this month, I won't be able to fool myself that I'm not really in my thirties.
I can't believe that's true.
My high school botany teacher gave me a paper towel with tomato seeds dried onto it, intending me to plant a few. Later I had about 150 good sized plants to find a home for.
I make a mean rum-soaked pound cake.
I wore contacts for a while but hate the way they feel.
My cat, Spud (because she looked like a baked potato when she was lying on her back) had 7 kittens in my closet once. I kept 2.
I drink coffee with sugar and milk.
I have a BSN.
Wine makes me very sleepy.
I once was out of work for a month with pneumonia. The doctor said it might have been because of psittacosis, a bird disease.
I frequently think things are purple when other's say they are blue.
I love thunderstorms.
I stopped watching Chicago Hope when Mandy Patikin left.
I love the word "hominid".
And I'm fascinated by wooly mammoths.
I had breast cancer when I was 25 and lost all my hair except the hair on my legs during chemotherapy.
Without hair my head looks like a big egg.
I want to own sheep and a Border Collie named Fly.
I own a spinning wheel, but have no idea how to use it.
I can type fast. I don't know how fast, but fairly fast.
I was a very shy child. I still am in certain circumstances.
I want to travel to Ireland and Tibet.
I lovelovelove to see my husband laugh.
Music profoundly affects my moods.
I injured my right, middle finger by sticking it into a vaccum cleaner motor Dad was working on when I was young (3 or 4?). I don't remember doing it but I have a very clear memory of the moment just before.
I'm beginning to think snow may not be as fun as I used to believe.
I love Skittles. All kinds.
I hate licorice.
I have lots of gray hair.
I saw a movie on television when I was a kid about a man that got trapped on the side of a cliff and died. I was too young and it freaked me out.
I don't like brocolli but I eat it.
I would love to have an African gray parrot that could talk and do math.
I can never remember if it's "grey" or "gray".
I also have trouble with the word "chocolate". (I want to replace an o with an a.)
I don't like heights.
I own too many coats.
I think Chanel No.5 smells like baby powder. (A good thing.)
I think Meg Ryan is adorable.
I have 30 first cousins.
I'm incredibly proud that the youngest of them is in nursing school.
I was a cheerleader in high school. (It was a very small high school.)
I wanted to be a professional dancer. Like in A Chorus Line.
I also wanted to be a jockey.
I know almost all the words to the songs in The Sound of Music.
I dislike the sound of my voice. I had to get used to it when working in a hospital where we taped reports to the next shift.
My favorite movie as a kid was "The Parent Trap."
I changed colleges once mostly because I would have had to take Public Speaking to graduate.
I very clearly remember the first time in nursing school that I had to tell someone I was there to help them take a bath.
That really help me get over being painfully shy.
I played the flute in high school.
I don't have my gallbladder, my tonsils or adenoids.
I can't say I miss any of them.
I don't like the taste of beer.
I love the feeling of being underwater.
I can make myself sneeze by looking toward the sky on a sunny day.
I've never had a broken bone.
I'm lazy and I'm not.
I took piano lessons from my 3rd grade teacher who had a basset hound named Rocky.
I'm interested in genealogy.
I can't eat really spicy food.
I like milk when I drink it out of a metal cup.
I had wonderful grandparents and I miss them.
I prefer Pepsi to Coke.
I figured out what comes after O T T F F S S E without any clues. It took me 2 weeks.
I really like Jarlsberg now.
But not Brunost, a brown goat's cheese. I think you have to have grown up with this one to like it.
I have a good sense of direction.
I don't like driving at night.
I have a good relationship with my parents.
If I sleep on my back, I have nightmares.
Amusement park rides make me nauseous.
I tasted some Samuel Adam's Crisp Hard Cider at Dulles Airport last October and LOVED it.
I think Christmas is magical.
I wish I owned more dangly earrings.
I hardly ever wear makeup.
I have green eyes with yellow flecks in them.
I hate conflict.
I'm a "winter."
My Dad says he's seen a UFO.
I love libraries. I thank my Aunt Lou-Lou for this.
I believe in God.
I prefer my water to be room-temperature.
The Simpson's cracks me up.
My favorite book as a kid was Harriet the Spy.
The movie was horrible.
I miss being in school.
I also miss the sweet iced tea at the snack shop at St. Joseph's Hospital, Asheville, N.C.
I love living in Norway. It feels exotic.
I feel very American when cross-country skiing here.
I know what "paucity" means.
I was 13 years old the first time I was kissed.
I love to sing, but I don't think I sound very good doing it.
I don't hate my feet.
I am physically incapable of doing a sit up.
I want to have a baby someday.
I'm proud of being able to knit.
I never wear red when I'm feeling sad.
I hate snooty people.
I love being married.
I want every woman in the world to
do breast self exams every month.
Yesterday I got 6 skeins of 
Aortal link ::
