R E D E K O

Cleaning out my pantry

2011-11-24T20:48:00.003Z

When I moved into the house I am in now, I was worried about the size of the kitchen, or the lack of storage space to be precise. At least I thought this was going to be a challenge, but it turns out one 200x40x60 cabinet is all I need to store my dry goods (except for spices which are kept in a box on top of the cabinet). This is a brilliantly designed pull-out cabinet, where access is as easy to the items in the back as the ones in the front of the shelves. Positive news for the future: I can make do and be completely happy with a tiny kitchen!

As for the contents of the cabinet, that's an interesting story. I love cooking, especially experimental cooking and trying out foreign recipes and new dishes. In order to do this I have occasionally purchased unusal ingredients, and when it has turned out that I don't like the recipe tried, or that it was too complicated to make on a regular basis, I am stuck with ingredients that I have no other use for. Several of these are creeping towards their expiry dates and some have already passed it. I mentioned that I really dislike throwing things away, well this is especially true for food. Food should be eaten not discarded. Time to use up some of the ones that have been bothering me the most!

Picky eater as I am, I can't just boil my brown basmati rice from the Himalayas and gobble it up, or spread my white almond paste on crisp bread and take a bite. No, I need to find something interesting to make from these ingredients, so that eating my way through them will be at least somewhat pleasant, even though I'm pretty sure that no matter how delicious these findings may be, I will stick to white basmati rice and avoid chickpea flour in my future grocery shopping.

So the coming weeks I will be cooking with

The already mentioned organic brown basmati rice from the Himalayas (Expiry date 19.05.2011)
Sushi rice (Expiry date 30.01.2012)
Organic white almond paste (Expiry date 22.11.2012)
Organic chickpea flour (Expiry date 06.11.2009 - ouch! Still smells fine though)
"Naturally tasty" tahini without salt (Expiry date 28.10.2011)
Agar flakes (Expiry date 01.01.2009)

I also have half a bottle of agave syrup, from a cake frosting experiment for my brother's wedding. The syrup turned out to be too sweet, and didn't really add anything else, except an beige color that wasn't very suitable for wedding cake, so I used white cane syrup instead. This bottle doesn't expire anytime soon, but its presence annoys me, I bought three bottles of imported Mexican sweetener that I didn't use, when I could've just chosen locally produced cane syrup in the first place. It won't be very difficult to use up, though. I just drizzle it over my breakfast yoghurt instead of honey.

Thoughts on stuff

2011-11-23T20:48:00.000Z

Recently I've been trying to cut out several things from my day-to-day life. I've always hated to throw functional things away - and useless things as well, for that matter - which has lead to the accumulation of loads of junk; that is how I've begun to view many of my possessions.

Over the past year I have sold, donated and tossed much of this junk, but I still have a long way to go until I'll be satisfied. I would like to have only things that are useful (and used of course) or truly loved for other reasons. The rest is just fluff occupying my space and thoughts. For anyone who has read blogs or books on minimalism, which is what I've been doing this last year, this will sound familiar.

Even though I'm not striving for absolute minimalism (I don't like labelling things), I'm still drawn to the general idea. And to obtain that state I'm looking for, clearing out is not enough. I also need to be weary of what I bring into my life. This suits me for two reasons; number one: I've felt guilty about my consumption ever since I was old enough to become aware of it (11-ish if anyone might wonder), and number two: I love the rebellious feeling of consumer disobedience when I turn down "special offers", ignore advertisements and avoid buying stuff because it is trendy.

This may be a recurring theme in my posts or it may be a once-only post. In a way, I think I'm too introverted to keep a public log of my thoughts at all, but then I also love to write and would like to use English more, and what better way is there to do so? We'll see what happens.

2011-08-18T21:43:00.003+01:00

View from my favorite breakfast spot. A good morning starts with Cocijo climbing up on my stomach after the alarm goes off. He lies there staring at me until I get up to make breakfast. We have our breakfast on the verandah steps on warm days, where we watch the sun glittering in the dew drops.

So I was quite upset when we got back from a friend's wedding last weekend and there was no Cocijo there to greet us. He never strays far from home, and he's always the first to come and greet us when we come home. Like any cat he hates rain, and on this Sunday it was pouring. We asked the nearest neighbours (they're 500 m away, and he never walks that far) but no one had seen him. After a few days we decided we'd better get used to being without him. It was not pleasant thinking of him as fox food or injured/sick in the bushes somewhere. So when one of our "far away neighbours" from out by the road pulled up in front of our house Chris sat down and I held my breath, both of us expecting the worst. And then we find out that Cocijo has been happily living on their porch since Sunday evening!

Speaking of weddings, three weeks ago my older brother married his wonderful girlfriend in our hometown. I'm not a religious person and not very sentimental, but I couldn't keep my tears back during the ceremony in the church, or during the speeches at the reception for that matter. Seeing the two of them, so happy and in love, and all the people who care for them so genuinely, wishing them well... I'm very glad I was there to share their day.

The week before my brother's wedding we did a house swap with Chris' parents. His father is amazing at tracking down great mushroom spots. He had barely gotten out of the car before he had picked a bucket full of mushrooms. And when he told me he found plenty of chanterelles just outside our house I had to go exploring. I didn't find any in the spot he suggested but it turns out there are a few good spots around the horse paddocks. I managed to pick a kilo. Some of them I turned into delicious chanterelle pie, the rest I stuck in the freezer. Now the only thing I want to do on my free time is scan the woods for more orange gold!

Chanterelle pie

Pie crust of your choice
(I'm not good at pie crusts, recipe suggestions are more than welcome)

1,5 tbsp butter
300 g chanterelles
2,5 dl /1 cup mature cheese, grated
(I used the Swedish cheese Västerbotten, but I think parmesan or a mature gruyère would also be nice)
0,5 dl cream
2 eggs
1 tsp salt

Set the oven to 225 C (approximately 400 F). Brush off any dirt from the chanterelles and cut them into manageable pieces. Sauté them in the butter. Lightly beat the eggs and mix with the cream, cheese, salt and chanterelles. Pour into the pie crust and bake for 45 minutes. Top off with fresh herbs for instance thyme or parsley.

I also made o-nigiri a while ago, inspired by my japanese food adventures. I used a recipe from Just Hungry. In japan I had them filled with barbequed or warm smoked salmon. I only found cold smoked salmon at my grocery store, so I decided to steam it. The o-nigiri turned out pretty well but I need to tweak the cooking time for the rice, it was slightly too hard. It takes some planning to cook the rice, but it wasn't as much of a hassle as I thought it would be. And the o-nigiri are perfect for lunches and snacks to bring with you. Two of them fills me up perfectly, three of them leaves me stuffed.

Japan

2011-07-04T19:04:00.026+01:00

One of my dearest friends has been living in Japan for a while, and I recently spent some time with her there. I wish I could've seen more of the country-side, but with my very limited japanese ("hai", "arrigato", "sushi" = yes, thanks and - well - sushi, all you need to know) and my japanese-speaking friend's busy schedule, I spent most of my time in cities. Still I enjoyed it very much and found Kyoto, where I stayed most of the time, a very relaxed and interesting city to wander around and get lost in.

Kamo-gawa, southern Higashiyama, Kyoto. My first impression of Kyoto.

Tokyo was different. I'm glad I went there, but I've never ever felt so alone, small and "gaijin" (=foreign) before as I did during those three days in Tokyo. I'm very glad I don't live there. Everything seemed to circle around consuming. What does one do in Tokyo without spending money? I could only find two things that didn't cost anything: Yoyogi park and walking along the concrete/neon lined streets. A few things that did cost money, but didn't involve any shopping that I enjoyed were riding the subway and the rest of the excellent public transit system, visiting various parks and gardens, watching the view from the top of tall buildings, and a boat-ride in the harbour.

One of my best memories is from Tokyo and Koishikawa Korakuen gardens, where I spent 3 hours on a rainy wednesday morning. A well needed break from the people, concrete and city noise.

Koishikawa Korakuen Garden. Water lily pond.

Koishikawa Korakuen Koi.

Another oasis in Tokyo, Meiji Jingu, a shrine in the Yoyogi park. Here, a camphor tree with hundreds of votive boards circling the trunk.

Tokyo. The city that never ends. Taken from Roppongi Hills, a supermodern shopping/culture/business complex. Not my typical place to hang out in, but I quite enjoyed the hours I spent on the 52nd floor, waiting for sunset. And they had really good gelato.

Kurama-dera on Kuramayama (Kurama mountain), north of Kyoto. A little stone shrine. I love the mix of Shinto and Buddhism at Japanese temples and shrines, different religions don't necessarily have to clash, they can actually carry on side by side, and maybe even merge on some parts as they seem to have done in Japan.

Kiyomizu-dera temple, Kyoto. Beautiful ornamental paintings on the insides of the pavillion roofs. Orange is typically Shinto, the ancient Japanese religion.

Buddha statue at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto.

Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto. Lanterns.

Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto. Prayers, fortunes or wishes, tied to strings. Which, I'm not sure, my japanese wasn't good enough. But they make pretty motifs.

Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto. A three-storey pavillion, where 2 storeys are covered in gold, impressive, and interestingly, buddhist.

Kennin-ji, Gion, Kyoto. I spent three hours searching for the temple that houses these twin dragons, until I realised I was in the wrong part of town. At least it was 3 fun hours of discovery.

Maruyama park, Kyoto.

Japanese rebellion at it's best. The green and white sign says that bike parking is prohibited (it is in most of downtown Kyoto except for bike parking garages where you have to pay for a space. Ridiculous in a city where everyone bikes everywhere.

Fushimi-Inari, One of my favorite places in Kyoto. The hills in this area are lined with orange "torii", shrine gates. I would have loved to come back here at dusk and wander around with a torch. Both my friend and I enjoy art, so we brought materials and got some sketching done.

Another favorite memory. Yakiniku, japanese barbeque on the shore of Lake Biwa. Great company, good food and a stunning view. A few people even brought their own smoke-box, made of a grill and a cardboard box lined with aluminium foil. This was the first and last time i tried smoked eggs. My friend and I brought sake-cured salmon and new potato salad to add a Swedish touch to the buffet.

Arashiyama, Kyoto. Bamboo, a lovely piece of nature in an otherwise over-exploited and quite drab area. A bit of a tourist trap, except that it didn't cost anything to watch, and hey, I've never seen a bamboo grove before.

Kyoto. Moss gardens, a concept I think more Swedish people should adapt, instead of the constant struggle most people put up with against moss, to grow the perfect lawn.

Food is one of my favorite parts of travelling. The japanese food was no exception. I made my friend take me to a new place each evening, this particular evening japanese smörgåsbord was on the menu: cold soba, tempura, sashimi, sushi, smoked fish, egg dishes, pickles and rice of course. She also introduced me to food from Korea, Laos and Nepal. In Tokyo the best eats I found were ridiculously expensive and equally fresh sashimi at Tsukiji (the fish market), and ridiculously cheap o-nigiri at the convenience stores. Why can't we have fast food like that here. Out with the hot dogs and in with seaweed-wrapped rice pouches filled with grilled salmon. Yum!

Further, Kyoto is known for it's tofu. Walking around downtown I didn't see many signs of that. But then, surprisingly, on an aimless walk in the neighbourhood where my friend lives I found a tofu café by the great Fujino - apparently a very famous Kyoto tofu-maker. In retrospect, although the tofu sampler platter I had was interesting, I wish I had gone there for dessert rather than lunch.

And finally, Downtown Kyoto. Citylife has its perks too.

Enjoying life

2011-05-09T11:02:00.011+01:00

Herbs and lots of pots of tomatoes. This year we have Currant tomatoes (they grow like the berries and are the same size), Green Zebra tomatoes, Tigerella tomatoes and Black Russian tomatoes. Looking forward to july/august when they start to ripen...

Rhubarb ginger ice cream, nom nom nom....

Watching the cats watch nature...

Our four-legged, furry icelandic neighbours, out for the season again. I still haven't learnt the name of this lady.

The cats (here Cocijo) socializing with the horses. Last year when we had just moved here the cats were terrified of the horses, they would stay at a very safe distance and when they got too near the horses (we tried to introduce them) they would hiss and puff up to twice their normal size. Now you would almost think they've missed each other...

First day of spring?

2011-03-18T20:03:00.000Z

Prey and Hunter. Winter is still clinging on to the shadow side of the house.

Watching spring in action. Not many snow flecks left on the fields now.

My own lookout spot. Complete with fika, knitting and t-shirt temperatures.

Cocijo helping out with the yarn.

Ear grooming or secretly planning how to break into the yarn stash? We'll never know...

Now what is this tangly mess?

It's braided, it's coiled and it's not finished yet!

More red craftiness...

Red Dahlia (Thanks!)

Milk cartons. To be continued...

Aspects of Autumn

2010-11-28T00:08:00.011Z

2010-05-10T20:42:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was spent wandering in a fairy tale landscape among wood anemones and budding birches. On the top of a hill there were fallen branches all covered in lichen. I couldn't resist harvesting some. Looking forward to some plant dyeing experiments, hoping that the lichen will result in brilliant purple yarn.

2009-05-20T18:11:00.004+01:00

Attempting to start this project:

I now have motivation: a wedding invitation combined with hopelessly uninspiring collections in the shops and a narrow budget.

Progressing Slowly

2009-01-24T21:40:00.001Z

Dear Brother,
Remember these? Maybe I'll have them ready in time for your 26th birthday, next year.

Friday Night

2009-01-23T18:20:00.005Z

Fresh Ginger and Carrot Muffins
Hawaii Dröm Tea
Two realiable sources of heat: Wheat Sack and colorful candles
Some reading
Radio to keep me company (I'm thinking of switching to Ipod after having heard Poker Face the 3rd time in less than 1 hour)
And a bright little gift from dad

Not a lot of crafting going on. Mostly doing nothing or studying. Playing with C's new toy, planning to record Closer later on. Planning to watch Syriana even later. Waiting for sunlight to return.

Ideas

2008-08-10T18:42:00.006+01:00

A couple of things I would like to knit, that are not in my Ravelry queue:

Pie Knits Jae Buckle Tank, modified quite a bit. I imagine it hip(tunic) length in loosely knit dark purple linen with matching purple tweedy wool for the straps (or perhaps black leather?) and wooden buttons instead of buckles. Looking forward to seeing the pattern!

Anna Bell's Tiggy, I'm hoping for a pattern some time in the future.

Meanwhile I seem to be preparing for autumn. I find myself knitting hats and mittens, sewing scarves, making soups and baking bread.

2008-08-08T19:30:00.004+01:00

Tonight I'm cuddling up in the sofa with our house guests Disco and Tango to watch Tristan & Isolde, my tv-movie choice of the evening. The pizza(tortilla base, spread with hummus, topped with grilled artichoke, sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, rucola, herbs - all the good stuff) is already in the oven, and i've brought out my latest knitting project, Knitty's Broad Street Mittens. Now I just need to turn the computer off and settle down!

Introducing...

Disco! Adorable name, but as you can see there really isn't that much disco in him, he's a very calm fellow.

Play buddy Tango is much more suited for her flamboyant name. She is oh so playful, and what a temperament she has!

Spring, finally!

2008-04-22T11:35:00.015+01:00

Sunday was spent on a wood anemone outing with C and Charlotte.

Spring = Time for flowered clothes!

Made from a Gucci pattern from Spanish(?) sewing pattern magazine Patrones.

The skirt is my own construction, made from second hand materials.

How you know you're a nerd

2008-04-10T22:10:00.009+01:00

I found it! After searching high and low I finally found my beloved amino acid card deck!

M and I spent a long evening making these for our first university biochemistry class 2½ years ago. The structures of the amino acids are on one side, and on the other side are their properties. Oh, they were so much fun to make! Thinking of it makes my little craft-nerd heart beat faster and my science geek brain almost melts(well technically the brain, at body temperature, is already a kind of fatty thick liquid, but, eh, never mind)... ;)

For those of you who don't share our interest for amino acids, look at all the colors, the glitter, the neat little box...Ah.

And for those of you who actually visit this blog to see some "real crafting" (said with macho voice and while in bodybuilder pose) here's a little sneak preview of what I'll try to photograph and post this weekend.

Last but not least, big congrats to my darling C who got a work promotion meaning more responsibilty, more pay and best of all: new work hours, which will give us more awake time together! (:

Now I'm going to sort my amino acid cards alphabetically (when I found them they were color coordinated. Very pretty, but not so practical).

Budding

2008-03-28T22:42:00.008Z

Look the cherry trees at Järntorget are budding! In another 3 or 4 weeks they could be in full bloom. I think I'll start walking that part of the way to University as soon as the snow has melted away.

My lace skirt is almost done, I just have to finish the picot edgings and the waistband now. I found the perfect yarn to do them with, Garnstudio's Cotton Viscose in a blood orange color. Nice and shiny! It's the same that I used for my Circular Shrug. The only problem is that it splits really easy.

March was month of the books for me. I bought a bunch of new ones, for crafting mostly.

Papper is a paper craft book filled with lots of uninteresting projects and few interesting ones. It's very basic, which is probably why I find most of it kind of boring. I really appreciate the 3 featured bookbinding techniques though, they are the reason I bought the book. I'm using one of them for the Scrapbook Cookbook Swap at Craftster.

Here's a little glimpse of what I'm planning for the swap by the way:

New Knits by Erika Knight has an awesome pattern for a club chair cover, and I happen to have a green kinda boring club chair that's just waiting to be made over. It's a monstrous project requiring massive amounts of yarn, time and arm/wrist/hand muscle strength. ;)

In Simple Crochet my favourites are a floor cushion made with leather string, the round cushion and most of all the net grocery bag in plastic string.

The quilt book was a chance buy, I saw a scarf from it on a couple of blogs and ordered the book on impulse. Which I'm glad I did. As I've mentioned my mother in law is really in to patchwork and quilting. She has made some really awesome projects, including a "Millennium Quilt" that contains 2000 tiny fabric squares, donated from different people and all from differently patterned fabrics. Anyway I know she's been wanting to make a quilt for us. The problem is we don't have a quilt kind of home. But in this book I found a really cool quilt that would look great on our bed. Just switch the pink and red in the picture to turquoise and dark blue. A possible future Christmas gift perhaps? (:

Oh and I'm happy, happy, happy today, because of a bunch of study related stuff. I got a summer job at the local pharmacy (finally something related to my studies!), I did really well on my organic chemistry exam, now have 5 days off before my next course begins, and I am typing away on an application letter for an exchange semester at University of Brighton next year.

Winter

2008-03-27T12:38:00.006Z

This was not what I had in mind after the long mild winter we've had. Spring was officially declared in mid-february. Charming though that nature doesn't always agree with us people.

I haven't posted a lot lately for several reasons, One of them being that my camera is really messed up. Well actually the batteries are the problem. I load them properly, but they're stone dead after I 've taken one or two pictures. And posts without pictures just aren't as fun.

I tried to get some pictures of some winter accessories now that there's actually winter weather, and I did get this before the camera died:
It's Urchin by Ysolda, knit in Garnstudio's Eskimo that Charlotte gave me for my Birthday. Warm, green and a little too large, just so it won't mess up my hair too badly ;). It's a really easy pattern to follow and becuase of the bulkyness of the yarn it's finished in no time.

Long time no post

2008-03-07T20:56:00.007Z

All I have today are some photos. The knitted piece is the Circular Lace Cardigan I finished in October(?). It's from the book Feminin Strik by Lene Holme Samsoe and is made with 2nd hand wool. The fit isn't perfect, but in my opinion it's a really innovative and beautiful piece and it deserves nice pictures. Maybe I'll see if C can get some posing pictures of it on me, so I can show the fit. But that will probably take another 6 months.

Flicca Yarn - finally arrived!

2008-01-14T18:24:00.001Z

They called from Strikk, the 10 balls of Greenland I need to finish Flicca have arrived!
However I'm having a knit-free week. I need to study for an exam I'm taking this Friday. So actually it's more of an anything-other-than-biomedicine-free week (and still I find time for blogging a few lines ;) .

We've generously been given three days off after the exam(which by the way is on Friday evening)! I bet they'll be very three very intensive days knit-wise...

Flicca Frustration & Retro Fabrics

2007-12-18T16:49:00.004Z

I've been waiting for the yarn I need to finish Flicca for more than 6 weeks now. The staff at Strikk have no idea why it's taking so long. I don't feel like scanning the city for other retailers(who are likely to have the same problem anyway). My frustration is growing every day. I would like to be able to wear the sweater while it's still winter!

Nothing bad comes without something good, or what is it the optimistic say? While waiting for my Flicca yarn I've worked on several small ideas I've had for a while.

This sweater was boring and never worn. the orange shade is wrong for me. Too much pink? I'm not sure why, but I don't like it. I didn't dare to attempt dyeing it, instead I tried to cheer it up with some appliqué, et voilà:

I'm not sure I'll wear it more often, but it certainly looks more interesting this way.

I recently recieved some very cool retro materials. A distant realtive to C, who has worked a lifetime as a seamstress, was moving and needed to lose some stash. Of course my patchworking, quilting mother in law was called in to salvage whatever she could use. She rescued some awesome fabrics for me. Lovely, boldly printed textiles from the 60's and 70's! Most of them were already cut into pattern pieces for large blouses or dresses. But that's something that certainly doesn't discourage me!

1. Blue printed cotton

2. Silky blue floral

3. Crazy 60's floral print

4. More flowers, semi-transparent

5. Wild flowers and bees. Cute!

I have projects planned for all of the fabrics above. 1,2 & 5 will be used for dresses, 3 is for a blouse and 4 will hopefully be enough for a skirt. Finally I'll get to use some of the dress patterns I mentioned about 6 months ago!

Dad's Socks

2007-12-01T16:25:00.000Z

Finally, I present to you my father's socks, finished back in September and modeled by the man himself:

He reports that they are very warm and way too fancy to walk around the house with. Perfect put on before he sits back in his armchair to peel himself an orange and watch the evening news.

Yarn: Swedish wool yarn in three different natural shades of grey.
Pattern: Knitty's univeral toe-up sock formula combined with a traditional Baltic mozaic pattern that I found in the book Vantar från När och Fjärran by Eva Maria Leszner

Sketches

2007-12-01T16:09:00.000Z

Labwork and Studying have kept me busy since my last post, so there hasn't been a lot of actual sketching or drawing going on. I have spent some time at my dad's place however, and he has a shelf full of old photo albums that I've rummaged through. I made a couple of sketches to see if I still have the skills to come up with some decent drawings. Lately it seems the only thing I use pencils for are taking notes.

These are not quite what I have in mind for my little project, they are just for practice. The bottom one is the only one that could be useful for what I have in mind. I just wanted to make the top one as a tribute to my Grandpa, who I got to see way too little of. A man of few words, but great kindness. Hm, I suppose anyone would be considered to be of few words in comparison with Grandma...

I will get back with updates when more progress is made.

Sewing, Thrifting and Mangoes

2007-11-07T16:26:00.000Z

I'm in a good mood today. I wrote an exam in Biomedicine yesterday that I most likely passed. And when I came home today this was waiting for me inside the door:

It's a brown silk dress from Iro. A late little birthday present from myself.

I've been looking through my sewing basket to see what half finished forgotten challenges I may find there. This is one of the things I dug up, a green jacket that I started sewing more than a year ago.

(It's in desperate need of some good ironing, I know)

I never finished it because I didn't have any lining. I still don't, but I mean to get some so I can finish it before spring, I could use a new spring jacket. I know, I'm planning way ahead here! I'm probably going to change the buttons as well, I don't like how it turned out with these wooden ones. What I like most about this jacket, except for the lovely green color, is that it's made from an old curtain panel from several decades ago. Yay for recycling! I don't think I've ever attempted sewing something this advanced before...

I've also done some thrift store shopping. This blouse is one of the things I found. I love the floral pattern! I'm just going to make some shaping darts on it and probably switch buttons, and then it'll be ready wear!

I've made massive progress on flicca, Finished pieces are the back, left front and 1½ sleeves. But now I've run out of yarn, and so has Strikk where I got the yarn. So now I have to wait.

They were selling mangoes cheap at the supermarket last week. I like mangoes so I bought a bunch. Then I got home and realised I had 7 mangoes that I had to eat before they went bad. So I had a look around my recipes and decided to turn the majority of the fruits into Mango Coconut Vice Cream.

Mangoes, Datepuré and Coconut Milk

In the Blender - Looking Good!

The finished vice cream didn't look very appetizing, it reminded me of peasoup, which is something I've dreaded since I was a child. I think some fresh fruit for garnish would help a lot. The flavour was just fine, although it probably would have been wonderful if my mangoes had been a bit more ripe. Still it was good, and healthy too I'd like to think. At least it's an excellent way to consume 5 mangoes in one evening!

And before I end, I ate the strawberry and it was delicious!

November Strawberries

2007-11-04T11:31:00.000Z

Not having a garden is probably what I miss most while living in the city. I don't even have a balcony to place large plant-filled pots on. What I do have are 3 windows facing east and west which have turned out to be ideal for growing herbs and other small plants that don't require lots of soil or constant sunlight. When I went to water the greens this morning I found this:

A Strawberry in November!

When I planted the seeds in April I honestly didn't expect any berries, it was just an attempt to make my window resemble my childhood garden a little more. The fact that I read on the seed envelope that the plants won't give any fruit the first summer didn't exactly increase my expectations. Now it isn't really summer anymore so I suppose technically speaking the seed company are right.
I'll let my precious little berry hang for another day or two before I harvest it. It smells delicious so my expectations are quite high.

The best part is that there's more where that one came from!

I hope they will make it, soon the daylight will be reduced to merely 6-7 hours in this corner of the world. I have three more plants, but they're not as lively as this one. Only one of them has buds, and they are two rather sad-looking buds to be honest.

Flicca, Birthday and A Little Red One

2007-11-02T00:49:00.000Z

I finally bought yarn for Flicca: Greenland from Coats HP, a mix of wool(50%), acrylic(35%) and some alpaca (15%). It's very soft and dark brown with discrete white strands here and there(the alpaca I assume) .I've even managed to knit up the back piece in between cramming for an upcoming exam. Flicca is a lovely project that knits up in no time. I'm really looking forward to wear it. It's getting cold here, the temperature is creeping down towards 0 celsius.

I celebrated my birthday, the 16th, in a calm manner, attending classes and reading up on steroid hormones. No cake. I got some really nice presents:

Christian's sisters spoiled me rotten and literally gave me all the things I really wanted, it was almost like being a 6 year old again... The beautiful gold &wood leaf earrings are from them. So is the Fitted Knits book, The moss green yarn(Garnstudio's Eskimo) and the giant tub of herbed salt(yum!). I used the yarn for an Urchin, but made it full of mistakes and one size too small(apparently I have a large head...), so I'm going re-knit it.
The necklace is from my wonderful childhood friends, who spotted the earrings I was wearing and thought I could use a matching necklace.

I recieved some financial support from dad and the in-laws, very much appreciated as well. Dad's gift has turned in to 28 Balls of Greenland for Flicca, A Laptop Lunches Bento Box, and Some Expensive Food. The rest I'm saving for a reading lamp and a pair of brown wool slacks.

Thanks everyone!

I started making this little red thing mainly to cut into my yarn and bead stashes. I was aiming for a nice camisole, but something went wrong with the gauge. The bust measurements in the pattern book are 88cm, this piece is going to be at most 66cm which perhaps would have fitted me at age 12! I won't be able to use it as anything but a very fancy facecloth. My plan is to unravel, add two pattern repeats on each side (~18cm) and also knit it in the round instead. I was hoping I could finish it before Christmas, which would be very suitable, don't you think? But I suppose I can forget that now.

Goodnight All!

Wristwarmers & Magic Yarn Ball

2007-10-15T17:00:00.000+01:00

The lacy circular cardigan is finished and totally wearable! (I was a bit worried for a while there). Pictures will be posted as soon as I can get some decent photos of it.

I made a bunch of wristwarmers this summer:

I'm thinking of making the yellow/grey one in a red version as Christmas gift for my mother in law. She gave me an inspirational book with tons of different patterns for wristwarmers last Christmas, and has been hinting that she would like a pair for herself. The pattern on these specific wristwarmer's are a sunwheel from Gotland, where some of her ancestors are from.

I recieved two lovely Magic Yarn Balls from Greenapples. Instead of just unravelling it all at once I really wanted to knit them both out and gradually discover all the little surprises hidden within, it's so much more fun that way! My knitting time however is very limited at the moment so I made a little compromise with myself. I decided to knit the green scarf yarn ball out and then unravel the purple one before knitting the hat. I even started on the scarf. And then I brought the MYBs with me to class and showed them to a friend who was very excited and convinced me to unwind both of them there, immediately. (It didn't take a lot of convincing ;)) Here they are, unraveled and glorious:

The purple one is for the Shedir cap from Knitty and the green one is for another Knitty pattern, Branching Out, which is by now finished and very much loved!

Still knitting...

2007-09-15T20:32:00.002+01:00

I'm back at Uni, which means less time for everything other than either studying too much or being anxious that you're studying way too little.

So my father's birthday is coming up. I've been working on a pair of socks for him since August. I'm using knitty's Universal toe-up formula combined with an old Baltic pattern I found in a mitten knitting book.

The socks are taking forever and are not half as fun to knit as I hoped they'd be. But I have learned several things about knitting intricate mosaics with several colors along the road:
They are probably something I should stay away from in the future.
They are bad to use on garments that are supposed to be elastic (I knew that already, but didn't expect it to be this bad!)
Don't knit a tight fitting gift and expect to keep it a secret all the way until you give it. I tried the socks on myselt and found them a bit tight. Now I have big feet for being a lady, but not as big feet as my dad, so of course that worried me. I had C (who can basically wear canoes for shoes) try them on. His said they cut off the blood-flow to his feet. Not a good quality for a piece of clothing that is supposed to prevent gangrene rather than iniate it. So I had to let dad try them. And indeed they were too small. But only over the ankles, which made them totally rescueable. I just made a ribbed leg instead of a patterned one. Not as pretty, but it's not like he'll be wearing them with shorts anyway. I've finished one sock so far and knit the toe on the other one. Now I have about a week to finish the other one too.

Dad's Socks

Flicca was supposed to be my next big knitting project, but I keep putting it off. Earlier I didn't have yarn money, and now when I have I it I can't choose color. I bought a light grey wool/acrylic mix yarn and was meaning to make a swatch of it, but on my way home from the yarn store I changed my mind and decided I wanted to use brown instead. This happened despite the 30 minutes I spent staring at different colors in the store. But now I think I'll settle for a nice chocolate brown, it probably looks better on me than gray.

The scanner-squished skein of yarn that won't be used for my flicca. Now the question is, should I take it back or use it for something else

Meanwhile I've been working on a lacy cardigan from the book Feminin Strikk. It's a really entertaining and different piece, knit in the round with an interesting lace pattern.

(Book picture from Feminin Strikk by Lene Holme Samsoe)

It's written for a kidmohair yarn(eg kidsilk, but I'm using a thin moss green vintage wool. It's a one size piece that is said to be "extremely elastic". I just hope it doesn't end up too big.

What will become my lovely lacy cardigan

I found a new project I really want to make, the Geneva Camisole from Rowan Magazine #42, a beautful lace camisole made with merino wool. Once again the color is an issue. I want to use the recommended yarn Rowan's 4 ply soft. But there are several pretty colors that I can'ät choose from: Sooty, Dove, Folly, Clover, Daydream or Leafy. See my problem? I can't even determine if I want to go with a more red or green shade. :/

I was looking through my stash of old knitting mags the other day. In a 1969 issue of Woman's Day Knitting Book I found this mini dress.

I love it! Wouldn't it look great with a ribbed turtle neck? I'm going to put it in line with the rest of my future projects right away!

I figured out how to solve the shoulder problems I had with the green cardigan in my last post. I didn't even require any thinking from my side. Ever since I wrote that post I've been stumbling over yoke sweaters everywhere (Knitty , Interweave Knits - Eunny Jang's Tangled yoke cardigan). A yoke! That is clearly just what my cardigan needs! But don't expect any FO in the near future, this is a long term project. Lots of thinking to do before I get started. Well at least I don't have to worry about colors this time, I've already established that I want my cardigan to look as much as the original as possible!

Some inspiration

2007-08-27T18:23:00.000+01:00

I'm back from a nice week in Greece (despite the heat). I'm house sitting for the in-laws, and what I have to occupy myself with, apart from household chores(there are massive amounts of flowers and plants to water!) are sockknitting, which is ruled out due to a case of wry neck, and the computer. Long live the internet, if you can't craft, then craft-surf!

I came across an amazing wedding dress while looking for some sweater yarn. Too bad there's no upcoming occasion to justify me knitting and wearing it. I'm not hinting that I wan't to get married, I don't, although it might be worth it just to get to wear that dress... If I made it in a dark deep purple (which would be very suitable by the way) I could wear it to all the fancy outdoor, baroque coctail parties I won't be attending this winter. For anyone interested in the dress a free pattern will be available at Järbo Garn in October according to their announcement. However it will probably only be in swedish. To accompany the dress pattern there will also be one for the bridal crown. Somehow I don't feel the same urge to make the crown...

The reason I found the dress was because I was searching for yarn to make a sweater similar to the one on this book cover:

I love the color combination used, the location of the patterned panel, and the overall style of the cardigan. In fact I would like an exact copy of it. I've already begun to draw a chart for it. However I'm not quite sure how it's made, the image shows no trace of raglan or sleeve attachment seams. Are the seams concealed in some clever way I don't know of, or is it simply knit in one, maybe two pieces? I think I've seen something with similar shoulders and neck in one of my craft mags. As soon as I get back to the flat I'll go through my enourmous pile of magazines and see if I can find it. I need this cardigan!

Swaps Galore

2007-08-08T15:27:00.001+01:00

(For my Matrioshka Doll Swap partner koi, if you by any chance read this and haven't recieved your package yet, it will spoil the surprise!)

I have pictures of the swap items I've been making that I promised to post.

First some wallets for the Sweat Shop Swap:

I made a bunch to try some different ideas. I'm going to make more of the orange one, the one with green chairs and the retro flower print one and put up for sale on my etsy.

I chose five of them to use for the swap:

And now over to the Matrioshka Doll Swap! I decided to make a stenciled t-shirt, which was on my partners wishlist, and some other useful trinkets.

T-shirt sizes are always a p i t a, you really have to be there to get the right size. I had a mens size small, but still baggy, white t-shirt to start with and needed to transform it to a size small womens t-shirt... I looked up clothing patterns for measurements, and did my best, hopefully it fits. At least I'm certain it won't be to small! Then I got to the fun part stenciling! I made the stencils from adhesive plastic. The black lines are done with a fabric marker.

I loved the result and I'll have to make one of these for myself. It was really sad to part with it! Hopefully koi will like it as much as I do!

I made notecards with magazines that I surprisingly, but also very conveniently, found in one of C's stock magazines a week after starting the swap.

I also wanted to use one of the cross-stitch diagrams I designed, so I made a cross stitch keyring to go with the rest.

The grass is greener on the other side

2007-08-04T22:55:00.000+01:00

I am blogging from Adam's student's room in the Stockholm Suburbs. It's my last night here and I thought I'd give a brief account of my visit. I've done the necessary walk in the city, but this time. I had Adam as a guide, which was far more enjoyable than getting lost on my own. He took us from his University in the northern parts, Southwards through the city to his favorite restaurant Same Same But Different, a thai place that felt more like koh pan ngang than Södermalm. Getting used to the dim rooms lit only by fluorescent UV-lights and a candle or two took some time. The food was allright, very spicy indeed. Definitely a fun place to have lunch, and probably an awesome bar in the evenings, but be careful with the toilets, People washing their hands only need to turn their heads slightly to get a view into one of the booths. I learned the hard way. Enough talk about eating.

Day two we spent in the archipelago on the pictueresque island Grinda. It takes a good two hours by boat to get out there, but it's a nice boat trip. Out there I saw this:

Clearly in Stockholm, like everywhere else, the grass is greener on the other side...

Today, our third day, Dad and I went to Sigtuna, a small town with a LARGE amount of church ruins and rune stones. Interesting indeed.

I need to end this soon, bedtime is nearing. But first some crafting content. I've been working on the theme Matrioshka Dolls, because of a swap I am organizing on craftster. I've been trying different techniques on the theme, and here is one of my favourites, cross stitch on a thrifted remodelled giant tee:

I'm very proud of the fact that I designed the cross stitch diagram myself!

I will be back soon with more Matrioshka Doll stuff, and also some pictures of the wallets I made for the Sweat Shop Swap.

Cheers!

Seaside Knitting + Finished Shrug

2007-07-06T23:03:00.001+01:00

I finished my circular shrug and decided to get some action shots. It's made from a pattern I found on a craftster knit-a-long. I wanted a shiny fancy yarn as I intended to wear the shrug to a wedding, so I used Garnstudio's Cotton Viscose in dark grey. The wedding was in April and I finished the shrug yesterday, so that didn't work out. But I'm still very happy with it and find it very wearable.

Grey, Grey, Grey, What A Rainy Day!

And The Back...

At the beginning of this week I went on a mini vacation with friends Jess and Jo. We drove southwards along the coast to Varberg where we rented a cabin for 2 nights.

Ice Cream Man Welcoming Us

It rained continuously with one exception for tuesday afternoon, so we spent a lot of time indoors chatting and watching American talk shows. Obviously there was quite a lot of knitting time for me.

Knitting On The Rocks

I worked half way through my cabled vest, just to realise I'm probably never going to wear it. I'll put it away for now. Maybe I'll finish it some other time, maybe I'll frog and use the yarn for something else. I also finished a rather short version of the Falling Water Lace Scarf(PDF-link) in some kind of blue mohair blend that I bought at the Red Cross. Not sure if I'll ever wear it. I'm starting all kinds of small projects, but I'm not really inspired for any of them. I just want to get started on my Flicca. I purchased the pattern today. But I won't be able to afford any yarn until I'm off my cheapo summer budget. I'm trying to decide whether I should go with Garnstudio's Eskimo or Lovikka Yarn. It's going to be one warm coat, both yarns are 100% wool.

Good Night All!

Circular Shrug, Progress

2007-06-27T17:20:00.000+01:00

[Joyous Expression!] I only have 7cm to go on my circular shrug! I got started on it in February with the intention to wear it to a wedding in April. Lofty Ambitions indeed. No need to say I was doomed to fail even before I started...

It is 45cm wide(ribbing=double width) and at the moment 53cm long and has been one tedious ride. I'm knitting on 3mm needles, the ribbing has almost 400 stitches each and every row, the middle has only 200. It's knit in rib sticth and mock rib. No variation here. But now I can see the end of it, that's what keeps me going.

Just for fun I compared it to one of my other projects, a cabled vest of which I've knit 1/3 in 3 days...

I'm not a big fan of chunky knits, I think they usually turn out to bulgy for my taste. But I might be on the verge of expanding my horizons, after all I'm knitting a vest on 6mm needles. And the othe day I had a look around and found a project that really fell into my liking: http://soknitpickygallery.blogspot.com/2007/05/shopping-tunic.html
Doesn't it look wonderfully warm and cosy? Makes me think of windy autumn days... (:

And just because I've been going on and on about it in previous posts, my duct tape dress form is finished and I have pictures!

We chose the worst day possible to make this. The hottest day of the year with 32 dgrs and gazing sun. Our apartment has no balcony and is vary easily heated to a nice sauna temperature. To that add having duct tape firmly wrapped around your chest! It's a miracle we didn't pass out!
The dress forms however turned out great and are extremely useful.

Finished Cardigan!

2007-06-25T21:01:00.001+01:00

Finally I'm done with my cabled cardigan!

The cables run from shoulder to bottom edge and gather in the waist both on front and back.

I chose vintage looking metal buttons to get the right look ;) . There's picot border around all the edges:

As I mentioned in a previous post I had problems with excess shoulder width, so I "cheated" a bit, there's a good 5 cm of the back piece hidden in parts of the side seams:

Looks like I'm not the only one loving my new sweater!

Burda Binge

2007-06-13T21:54:00.000+01:00

I've been buying every new Burda issue the last 3 months. Usually I just frown at them because the style of the clothing is usually way too "mature" for me. But in theese mags there are some styles I really could see myself in. I probably won't make many of them, as usual, but I keep thinking that someday when I'm looking for that cute blouse or cool dress...

Some of the things that caught my liking:

Burda 6

Blouse 1
Blouse 2 , I'll try to make a recon of a large white shirt I have.
Top with semi open back, I just need to find some nice jersey!

Burda 5 (The "dress issue", I love dresses!)

Burda 4

Waistcoat
Bag (couldn't find a link :/)
Dress

I'll go through my fabric stash some rainy day to see if there's anything useable for the patterns above...

Some updates on my ongoing projects:

Cabled Cardigan - All the pieces are knit, blocked and seamed. BUT it doesn't fit very well. It's way too wide over the shoulders and the sleeves are too big. I made the sleeves short by the way, I liked how it gave the sweater a more contemporary look. They aren't really a problem though, I'll easily fix them. The excessive shoulder width however causes me problems. I don't at all feel like unravelling the back(which is the biggest problem). I think I'll just take in a couple of cm in the seams. That will make the seams lumpy and not as pretty, but I really don't feel like reknitting anything at the moment. Maybe I'll do that at a later point.

And my favorite project at the moment, my duct tape Fitting Doll is just about finished. I only need to stabilize the stand! It turned out quite well and looks like me apart from a slightly larger waist (heat+certain time of the month =swollen). I will post pictures when I can get it to stand on its own.

I made two necklaces from all the lovely beads I've been getting from my Handmade Bead Swap partners. Here they are, green leafy and most wearable!

Dress Form Research

2007-05-31T22:39:00.000+01:00

I've been doing some further research for the Fitting Doll Project Helen & I are doing.
I found some interesting reads:
Sewing Stunt Double - How-To Guide
Craftster Discussion

Duct Tape Body Double

2007-05-30T19:13:00.000+01:00

I was at Helen's for one of our sewing nights yesterday, so I finally got started on my black 20's dress. I didn't get very far though, that piece is advanced! Advanced in this case meaning that it calls for a lot of hand seaming. The top is half finished. No pictures yet, I have to sew the shoulder seams first, at the moment it just looks like a black pile of fabric. But here's the photo from the mag:

Helen is really in to designing and constructing her own patterns, and has been looking around for a good fitting doll. While searching online forums for affordable ones she stumbled upon a DIY guide on how to make a customized fitting doll, how awesome is that?! This is to the guide(in swedish) : http://www.sysidan.se/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9327&highlight=provdocka, which in turn is based on this: http://www.leanna.com/DuctTapeDouble/
So we booked one day for supply shopping(Loads of duct tape, old t-shirt & some kind of stand) and one day for creating our Duct Body Doubles. :D There's something to look forward to!

On a more general note, I might get a job in Norway this summer! Exciting! Nothing is determined yet, and it probably isn't even very likely, but still the chance is there! It means I'll have to postpone getting my driver's license, but that I can live with if I get the job! *Crossing fingers & hoping*.

I'm stuck on the cabled sweater. I got the idea that I could make it a short-sleeved cardigan. It would definitely look good, but would it be practical? When am I likely to wear a short sleeved wool garment? Will it look good with a longsleeve t-shirt underneath, so I can wear it in winter time?

I don't know.

Onsala Weekend

2007-05-27T20:43:00.000+01:00

We spent the weekend at Christian's parent's place and I got a lot of knitting done. (:

I'm almost done with one of the sleeves for the cabled sweater, after that there'll only be one sleeve, picot edgings and seams left, and then I'm done, joy! Although I am a bit worried, the front and back look quite wide, especially around the chest. Probably I'll be able to adjust the shape when blocking, but it bothers me anyway. I'm knitting from an old pattern from 1983 and I'm not sure my choice of yarn is compatible with the pattern... I'll find out I suppose. :P
The lovely pattern:

I almost finished the wristwarmers for A-M, I just have to sew the last one together. Knowing that she won't read this I'll post pictures when I'm done. I'm going to have big problems to keep myself from giving them to her right away. But it's summer now, warm and fuzzy wool wristwarmers are not in season!

I'm thinking of making myself a pair, just to use up some acrylic yarn. I'm not a big fan of acrylic yarn, but I bought it, so I have to use it for something. I'd like to make them in a zigzag pattern but I can't decide whether I should use one, two or three colors... I made a swatch to see what white and grey looks like, but I didn't really like it. Maybe I should stick to one color? This is what I have to play with:

Even though I have a ton of projects going on I keep finding new things that I really, really want to make. I've been browsing loads of knitting blogs and the knitting forum on Craftster and now there are new things on my constantly growing to do list:

First there's Flicca, have a look at it and you'll understand why I need it!
The beautiful Nora Gaughan"Capecho" from Vogue Knitting. It's from the winter(?) issue, which I didn't buy, because that was the only piece I wanted to make, and I didn't think it would turn out well. But after having a look at a knitalong for it I changed my mind. Now I need to get my hands on that pattern!

And finally: this weekend I recieved partners for the Hand Made Bead Swap, so now I can really start working on the beads!