Purchases for spring...and Christmas

I know...we are sort of done with Christmas, and all anxiously waiting for spring and tiny flowers to burst through the soil.

But at this time of year I always buy new stuff for Christmas, and this January was not an exception.

At Nostalgi I found one more of the pixies with magnets in their hands and feet. So now we have a row of 4 pixies and a cat to hang in our double door with little glass panes.

Another pixie caught my eye in the shop...well, I have actually been looking at him for a while, but I think that there are so many other things, which need to be bought in December. But December is over and now he came in my shopping basket and ended right here with me.

Everything wasn't about buying Christmas things at Nostalgi - spring had to be there too.

I absolutely love this particular garland of flags. The fabrics, the colors, the patterns, the ribbons and the tiny green bells! And it was on sale to top it all off. How could I not buy it?
I have to hang the garland somewhere in our kitchen right away.

The pixies? They are headed into our big wooden Christmas box, and will have to wait for a whole year before they can come out.....

Spiky clothes pegs

Spiky clothes pegs, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

I just had to take this picture.....everything was absolutely beautiful outside today.

In the mail today...

Pattern + yarn, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

......was this lovely kit.

It's for a scarf, which is designed by Theresa Jessing at Sort Lakrids. The yarn is Duo Silk/Merino from Designclub.dk. I love the fact that the scarf is going to be soft and warm at the same time.

I haven't started it yet, because I want to finish Anne-Sophie's dotty scarf first (I only have about 10 or 15 centimetres left on that), and because I have a high fever today....hence the short post.

But soon....

I adore Ursula!

I adore Ursula!, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

She is a very fine and elegant young lady, whom this fantastic woman - Cathy Gaubert - designed.

You probably already know how much I love Cathy's work, if you have been reading my blog for a while. She's the one who made the Lilybird Chandelier if you remember that one.

Cathy has something very special in her work. It's hard for me to explain just excactly what it is. But it's there, no matter which materials she works with.

Ursula is being embroidered on a purple tunic I'm making for myself. It's flax and the color is actually a bit paler, than on the picture. But it was hard to find enough light.

I'm looking forward to wearing Ursula....

Frk. Solhat

Well,I simply have to mention that this lovely blogger - who happens to be my sweet neighbour - is back!! I have really missed her here in blogworld.

So if you love gardening, beautiful photos + words and life in general, you couldn't go to a better place than to Frk. Solhat's blog.

Go check out for yourself - right here....

I don't think that I'm the only one......

...who is dreaming of putting my feet into something else than big winterboots!

I wouldn't mind if it was in one of these pair of shoes from Angulus...well, being able to use both pairs would be even greater.

How about you - do you still love wearing "warm and heavy" footwear?

Great news...

...for those of us who love this book, but thought that it was a shame that the patterns didn't fit bigger children.

BUT tadaaaah now you can buy this addition to the book:

It's patterns which fit children from 8 to 11 years. Isn't it wonderful?

I got my copy the other day and if you like, you can order your's right here.

Another dotty shawl

Another dotty shawl, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

This dotty shawl was one of the birthday gifts we gave Anne-Sophie when she turned 18. She already has a similar shawl in brown and that is her favourite.

Anne-Sophie had written on her wish list, that she wanted another dotty shawl knitted by me. The only problem - for me - was that she added the wish only 3 days before her birthday!!

I knitted and knitted as much as I was able to, and put away the knitting a numerous amount of times, in order for her not to see it.

I managed to keep it a surprise, but didn't get it done for her special day.( I had predicted that...) But I folded the knitting as neat as possible, and wrapped it.

Luckily she got very surprised and happy, eventhough it was only ½ a shawl....

Beautiful stitches

Quite a few years ago I bought this wonderful embroidery book right here. It's made by a Japanese girl who attended Skals Håndarbejdsskole (I know - once more I had to bring up that place!).
I love that little, pretty book - it's so simple and elegantly made...and the photos are taken in such a lovely way.

The fact that she has embroidered at this particular school shows in the book. Not only by the Danish words, but also by the way the embroideries look like. If you have ever seen the summer exhibition at Skals Håndarbejdsskole, you will know what I mean...

By accident I found out that another book was made. I can't tell whether it's the same girl who made the last book, but I'm almost 95% percent sure.

The same lovely style and the same procedure with the Danish words...

Oh, how wonderful it looks. I definitely need to have that book.

It would be so cool with a havskildpadde on a bag or a pocket....

Eskild's cake - now in blue

Eskilds' cake, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

That's what we call this layer cake, which we always have for birthdays in my house. And of course we had it yesterday for Anne-Sophie's birthday.

This time with (chocking) blue icing. It was only supposed to have been pale blue, but...
However, this made all the guests get blue teeth for a while!!

As you might have guessed , my brother-in-law Eskild is the one who came up with the idea for this particular cake.
It's such a fresh kind of cake eventhough it might look sweet. The raspberries, which are put into the whipped cream, do it all - for the taste as well as the color.

Happy 18th birthday...

 

...my dear Anne-Sophie <3 <3 <3

Under the sea

I haven't written about fabrics for a while now, so perhaps it's about time.

Andover Fabrics have recently launched this funny and very colorful seaworld fabric. I think this particular one would be great for a little boy's tunic or a summerdress for a girl.

Of course the tunic would need a pair of pants, and what would be more perfect that an uncountable number of lifebuoys? And such a pair of pants would look lovely under a dress too.

I think it's so refreshing with new colors and motifs....

Divine Twine

Divine Twine, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

Divine indeed...I picked the aqua colored one, but you can get it in orange, apple green, lemon and licorice as well.

And it's right here.

So many books to wait for

I hardly know where to start my list of new books which I would love to buy this year! There are extremely many fabulous books to be released in 2010.

But I might as well have a go at it and give you my long book wishlist:

I'm so keen on whimsycal creatures, so this one I must have.

"Make your own misfits" by Rosie Short and Fumie Kamijo (11.2. 2010).

And another one with great creatures:

"More softies only a mother would love" by Jess Redman and Meg Leder (1.2. 2010). Well, this one I actually already pre-ordered. (And the first one is on it's way).

I still love Lucinda Guy and of course this book has to become a part of my collection of her brilliant books. "Knitting motifs for babies and kids" (august 2010).

"Made in France. Knitting"  by Hikaru Noguchi looks promising too (5th of April 2010).

And eventhough I'm not going to have any more babies, I still adore making baby stuff (and I'm sure that a new baby to sew and knit for, might turn up one day in the future among friends or family). And that is why "Sew magical for baby" looks fantastic (March 2010).

Debbie Bliss is always a pleasure to read and knit, so her new book "Design it, knit it: babies" will probably contain many more beautiful and stylish projects (June 2010).

That was all for now, but I'm sure that there will be many, many more books for me - and maybe you? - to love.....

Playing around with stripes and photos

Just before New Year's Eve I bought 2 skeins of Kauni effect yarn. I wanted to make a striped scarf for myself - the kind of scarf which has been knitted by a zillion people in Noro Yarn.

Now I have started it and I kind of like how it's coming along, and I simply can't wait for the orange, lime green and purple colors to appear from the skein!

The weather today is so right for wrapping oneself into a looooong scarf, but this one will not be done right away. Hopefully a tiny bit of snow will be left when it is.

The photos of the scarf gave me the chance to play with them, in a program recommended by Karen.

I usually edit my photos in picnik - a tip Anne gave a long time ago - but I love to try out new things, and I definitely didn't get disappointed. It was lots of fun - well, if you like that kind of stuff!!

Higher armrests than usual...

Higher armrests than usual..., originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

...and I absolutly LOVE it!!