A warmhearted hat

Today our niece Johanne got her hat. You know the one with hearts which I mentioned the other day.

I like how it turned out to be girlish and oh so soft - thanks to the yarn. Stash yarn to top it all off.

I'm not quite sure of what Johanne thought about it, though, because she was definitely in a bad mood when we visted her and her family today. Maybe she will have a look at the hat tomorrow.

However, I liked knitting the little Hjertelig hilsen hat designed by Anna & Heidi Pickles, and wouldn't mind making it in their original choice of colors. Maybe even for myself. I'm not a hat person what so ever, but viewpoints are meant to be shaped over the years, aren't they?

A little extra gift

Enkelt Luemønster hat, a photo by lille-ursus on Flickr.

I made this little hat with Pacman pattern for our nephew Thorbjørn, who's 6 years old.
It's knitted in Navia Duo in black and white, and the green bit is Cascade. The pattern is from here, and it didn't take long to make something which can warm our nephew's ears. 

The fact that I started 2 days before Christmas Eve mattered on the (for me) fast tempo as well. Something which I tend to do far too often...the starting late bit, I mean.

As far as we have heard, the hat has been approved by it's new owner. That is the most tricky part by knitting for children (do they love or hate it?) - and the most rewarding part if it turns out to be a success.

Now I'm knitting this for Thorbjørn's bigsister Johanne. I haven't told her that I'm making it, so I hope that all the purple hearts will please her.

I never thought . . .

. . . that I would be in a spin over tea towels! But I am.

The other day I bought these 2 beauties from HAY. 

Of course I were beckoned by the combination of the colours when I saw them, but when I got to touch the fabric they were made from, it got even better. And the graphic designs in the fabric!

A little box with 2 different towels cost 129 Danish kroner - about 22 $. Not bad for tea towels in that fine quality.

I'm not sure that I will ever get to dry any dishes in the lovely towels. I wouldn't have the heart. But what I do know is, that I want to buy the orange and paleblue set as well.

Or maybe I get lucky and get them for Christmas . . .

For our hands - and eyes

Anne-Sophie has been busy with her studies for a long time, but she has spent some of her precious sparetime on making the most beautiful Christmas ornaments I know.

A whole bunch of Froebel Stars were among the things she showed me, when she was home this weekend. She's going to use the lot for a mobile. And the ones you see here are not all of them - many more were folded in her hands while she was here. 

It didn't take her many minutes to finish a star. My skills, on the other hand, are a different story. I'm not good at making the stars - they always tend to look inaccurate and somehow I manage to get the paper shreds wrinkled. As a side befinefit my temper usually gets the better of me.

Today we had a wonderful afternoon, playing with self-hardening clay and listening to so far unheard Christmas music from the radio. Both of us enjoyed it (apart from the music).

It's a magical feeling to mould the clay in your hands and get things to come out of it.We mostly made ornaments for Christmas, but also a bit of jewlry and some signs to put on jars containing flour, sugar and the likes of it.

Anne-Sophie didn't get to bring home her things made from clay this time. They hadn't dried up yet, and I think that the items need the night to set completely hard.

Maybe we are going to paint some of the letters which we put into the clay...and of course add some string in different colours to the ones which need that.

It's was almost too late to begin with the Christmas stuff, but we are absolutely not done playing with self-hardening clay.

For marks and x x x x

Once more Maileg has come up with new and wonderful things for those of us, who like the whimsy stuff.

I might have to get myself one of their new calenders. It seems as if each month and day have plenty of room in which we can write down the plans and appointments of our family. That is indeed a necessity, because I have become so forgetful over the recent years. 

I haven't seen the whole calender yet, but from the photos I'm pleased with the fact that Dorthe Mailil's  characteristic figurines have made their entry in there as well.

So now we wait for 2012 . . .

Klip-selv-ark

I tell myself that I haven't bought new Christmas ornaments for several years - no new Maileg nisser or any Noilly Noël figurines like I used to. And it's actually true.

So with that in mind - and forgetting all about the beautiful angles from Karina Bækkelund (which arrived yesterday and they are SO lovely!) - I bought the most wonderful knitted and felted Christmas DIY set from Sort Lakrids.

I know that I will love to look at it all for many years ahead, without getting bored of it. And most importanly it will make me smile.

Photo from Sort Lakrids

The Christmas set is made by Theresa Jessing and Line Dyrholm. Both artists whom I love for their unique way of expressing themselves.

Hopefully I will be cutting and sewing in a matter of days...

Photo from Sort Lakrids

Laz(c)y day

It's definitely a lazy day today - in more than one way.

Emil and I slept through the morning and I barely heard Christian go off to work. Now we are having a cosy time doing absolutly what we want to, and maybe I can find a little moment in a while, to do some more knitting on the Lacy Baktus I'm knitting. And some flicking through the magasin RUM.

I have a thing for mustard colored scarfs at the moment. And ever since I saw the Lacy Baktus made by Terhi on flickr, I have wanted to have one of my own. With holes and everything...

Later on we are going to spend time with some of the people we love the most - my sister and her family. Not a bad day in the middle of December.

The little red pig is Christian's from his childhood and the angel is my childhood favourite at Christmas.

She's back!!

It was with much joy that I read this post on Ida's blog Midtimellem . ( An inspirering and wonderful blog by the way).

Because Ida had fabulous news to tell about the illustrator Karina Bækkelund, whom I admire tremendously for her brilliant work.
A while ago Karina closed her Amio shop and I thought that it was a huge shame, but I'm sure that she had a good reason to do so.

Photo from Karina Bækkenlund's Amioshop

BUT now she has reopened her shop! I'm really delighted that Ida told about it on her blog, because I have been keeping an eye on Karina's shop for months, but at a point I stopped checking it out.

Today it was time to act immediately before all of the beautiful things were sold out. So hopefully these 2 fine angles will hang in my home in a little while.

Photo from Karina Bækkenlund's Amioshop

If you like Karina's gentle angles and gorgeous squirrels, you have the exclusive opportunity to win some of her work in the giveaway, which Ida is having at her blog at the moment. You can enter the competition right here...

Brave new (sewing) world

Have you ever seen anything like this pair of scissors??? With a laser light to show you how to cut straight!

It's absolutely a first time for me...and I think that it will stay that way.

If this technological marvel all of a sudden has become your most wanted Christmas wish, you can find it right here. ;)

Little pink cardigan...off you go!

By now it has been wrapped and ready for several days, the little pink Christmas presnt cardigan. And I had completely forgotten about the photo of it. Until tonight.

Not that it's a very good photo at all.

The neckline didn't turn out the way it was supposed to, so I had to come up with an idea to make it look better. It was far to wide for a baby neck.
So I decided to knit a long row of holes, and then crochet a white string to pull through them.
And because of that, I left out buttons.

Now I just hope that Agnes only wears the cardigan when supervised, due to the string...

A wonderful day is almost over

After a wonderful day spent in Århus with Anne-Sophie, I'm full of happiness, love and loads of new impressions.

We talked and talked, and laughed and laughed...Anne-Sophie took me to the architecture school, where she spends a huge amount of her time now. We had food - which undoubtedly was a not so delicious experience - and we did some Christmas shopping.

Photos from COS

Anne-Sophie has a few favourite shops, which she likes to visit and wanted to show me. I were particular thrilled about COS.

It has been ages since I have seen a selection of so much beautiful clothes. The colours were stylish, the details were elegant, and it all resulted in simple and gorgeous looks. All clothes which were able to be used for several years, due to style and quality, if you ask me. And for many occassions, too.

There were things for women, men and children. Anne-Sophie and I both loved the little A-line dress with all  the colours - it made us think of Marimekko. And the Gingham shirt was (of course) just the kind I think little boys should wear.

Photos from COS 

I also got the chance to visit Ingers lovely yarn shop. Oh, what a place. I could have looked at the beautiful yarn and other goodies for ages. But I ended up buying 100 grams more of the soft Duo silke/merino. I chose the pale pink - it's going to be used for a stripe on a hat for Anne-Sophie, and for a third scarf made from Theresa's pattern. 

Photo from Design-club.dk

Finally I saw a recently published book by Elisabeth Amdisen - it looked so interesting that I have to add it to my own wishlist (the one from me to me). It's an embroidery book called Tusind og én nats broderier, and in the shop's window the book was presented with little pouches made in colourful Arabian inspired x-stitches.

What a lovely day - now it's time to rest...

I still LOVE...

Photo from Kate Wilson

..the way Kate Wilson's little birds keep on exploring life - always looking so chic.

Cocoon would be perfect for me

I bet that I'm far from the only one, who wants to cuddle up in warm jumpers and blankets during winter days. To be in a kind of warming cocoon.

But now I no longer need to wrap things around me, because I have found a marvellous knitting pattern this evening - Cocoon!

Photo from Sunday Knits

For the small amount of 37 Danish kroner, the pattern Cocoon was placed in my ravelry library. It's designed by Carol Sunday and has an inviting and elegant look. And while keeping the comfy feeling, it still maintains it's elegance through the sideways garter ribs - and the bobble accents. Bobbles in the back of the neck and down the front. I love bobbles!
(And do take a look at Carol's Sunday Scarf as well - it's lovely!).

The colour shown in the photo is very pretty, I think. Charcoal will go with lots of my clothes.
So maybe I will have a look at some yarn for my Cocoon. Lately I have been very disciplined about finishing some of my ongoing knitting projects, so I will buy new yarn with a smile on my face...

Rie Elise Larsen Julekugler

I will soon have to try this little tutorial from Rie Elise Larsen.

I love the result...and since tomorrow becomes windy and rainy, I will have the perfect reason to stay indoors doing a bit of playing with paper.

                          

Fir or wood??

I just love the sight of an Advent wreath made from fir, 4 white candles and 4 red bows.

It reminds me of my childhood and the feeling of joy and excitement, when my mother lit the first candle on the first Sunday of Advent. (And along with that day came another big thing, which I liked as a child - our town put up all the outside Christmas ornaments in fake fir(!) and plenty of white light bulbs all the way through the main street).

I almost wish that I wasn't as tradition-bound as I am, about how our advent wreath looks like. Because then I would absolutely buy this gorgeous one from Ferm Living...

Photo from Ferm Living

It's so cool! The wooden balls, the colours and the leather string - and when Christmas is over you can make it into a long row of pearls, which will look like a completely different candleholder.

Photo from Ferm Living

How about you? Are you as tradition bound as me with your Advent wreath??(Well, many of you might not even have this tradition in your country).

I desperately need...

...a new pair of glasses. For far too many months have I threatened myself to buy some new ones.  But somehow one day after another goes by, and I haven't gone to the optician's yet.

Maybe it's because I don't quite know which pair glasses I'm going to look at this time. I do have an idea about shape and colour, and I'm aware that I'm not getting red ones again. That's all.

But then all of a sudden I spotted the perfect ones this evening - in fact I saw 2 spectacle frames which were right for me. (At least I think so - one never knows before trying them on).

Source: katespade.com via Ulla on Pinterest

I just adore the stripes on the inside of the side bars. Elegant and dark purple on the outside and with a little surprise on the back.

While I studied I had glasses which were a bit similar to the ones below - I loved those glasses. But our acquaintace promptly stopped the day that I dropped them on the floor, and they broke into 2 pieces.

Source: katespade.com via Ulla on Pinterest

Both pair of glasses can be bought at Kate Spade - sadly they are only reading glasses!! But now I have come a bit closer to what I want...

Tankestreg dress

Another Christmas gift is done, a photo by lille-ursus on Flickr.

Another Christmas gift is done. Now I have two...and many more to go.

I finished the Tankestreg dress for our niece Sarah. It's made in size 6 years.
It has been such a fun and fast knit to make. Knitting stripes has always been a great thing for me to do, eventhough I know that many knitters find it boring.

Originally, I had chosen two shades of pink for the stripes, but after making the order at Geilsk, I recieved a phone call from the shop. They didn't think that the two pink colours would go well with each other, and wanted to know whether I wanted to change the colour of one the skeins.

At first I had picked colour 32

Photo from Geilsk

and 33 in Geilsk Tynd Uld,

Photo from Geilsk

but I ended up using 32 and 30 - a dark purple.

It was nice of the shop to call me, but I think that I want to try my original mix sometime. For another Tankestreg.

Hopefully Sarah will like the dress in these colours. i think that it will be so nice to wear over a longsleeved t-shirt and some tights.

I'm waiting for Tusindfryd dukker

These days I have been thinking a lot about Wenche. The sweet, sweet woman who has the much inspiring blog Tusindfryd, and whom has made a deep  impression on me with her caring and heartwarming personality.

She's a very talented dollmaker, and has just had her first book about dollmaking published. In fact it was released at Klematis the other day, and that's the reason why I have had her in the back of my mind lately.

Photo from Klematis

I'm so happy for Wenche - to see one's hard work and beautiful ideas in a book, must be such a fantastic thing. I know that she will have done her utmost to make the book, so it will present itself in the very best way - both for the eyes and the mind.

I have already ordered my copy of the book Tusindfryd dukker - I couldn't wait until Christmas!
And I'm convinced that we can learn and enjoy from the minute we turn the first page in Wenche's book. I can hardly wait...

Something old and something new...

The other day Anne-Sophie and I went to our local thrift store. We didn't find any treasures like this one, that day besides an old Christmas curtain. I only bought one of them, because I'm not going to change my curtains for Christmas (!)
I fell in love with it due to the neat and lovely x-stitch pattern on the curtain. Soon, I will write down the positions of each stitch on squared paper, so I can embroider the star (or snowflake) on to a crisp new piece of linen.

The same day my fabric order from the USA arrived. Pieces of cotton with bikes and circles printed on to them.
Somehow I must have a partiality to red-ish patterns at the monent.

Fabrics haven't been on my shoppinglist for a long time now, and that suits me just fine. I need to use some of the many metres from my stash instead.

Have you heard of Coupé Couzu?

My excitement was huge when I found a - for me so far unknown - French shop with sewing patterns.

The same love I have for delightful and elegant French patterns for children, is like the one I have for similar patterns for adults.

Clothes which will never grow too old and become out of fashion in my eyes. Well, it can get washed-out in time and be suitable for the bin, but that is a whole different matter.

I bought myself 2 new patterns. They are both for tunics which I can wear on weekdays. And that's excactly what I need these days. A lot of my tunics are with short sleeves, and even though I'm not a freezing kind of person, it's still nice to wear long sleeves when temperature is low.

One of the patterns is Blue Light Blouse. The neckline is the reason why I chose that pattern - I like how it's lines go.

The other pattern is Blouse Attache Moi. Tie-strings in front of a blouse or tunic have always been something which I'm fond of. I like that you can make it look more casual in this way. And pick cool fabric for the little bit you use to make the tie string. Making the right - and daring - choice, can make a tunic change it's expression in a second. I love that!

A few of the patterns were actually also available in children's sizes.

Finding the Pochettes patrons collection from Copué Couzu was so nice. Now I have signed up for their newsletter, and will know when they send out more gorgeous patterns in the future...

First a fine necklace...

...and then a lot of beautiful felt and some gorgeous buttons.

I can hardly believe the luck I have had lately.

It was at Jeanette's blog that I won the fine the necklace - and a lovely pair of earrings which she added in the package.
Jeanette creates jewellery and buttons herself in all kinds of shapes, patterns and colors. She uses polymer clay for her work. I have dreamt of making buttons in polymer clay, and I remember buying premade rolls, which I just had to cut into slices to make buttons. (It sounds simple but somehow my buttons turned out very poorly. I have no doubt that I was to blame and not the clay!).

So isn't it wonderful that people like Jeanette can create beauties in polymer clay for us to buy?

Photo from Katja's blog

The beautiful felt and the buttons, I won because of an idea I left in a comment at Kajsa's blog. You all know that I absolutely adore Kajsa's work - her ideas and the way she chooses colours for her amazing quilts and little Tomter.
Kajsa's sponsor Kirsty at Big Fish had generously donated the fine things for a give away, and to enter the contest one had to describe what one would make with the materials.

And fortune smiled upon me.

It almost feels a bit like Christmas...

Dotty tree

I couldn't help showing this fine little tree from Pinterest...I know that we haven't entered December yet, but I promise that this will be the absolute one and only Christmas thing for now!

Putting on the many tiny dots of felt doesn't demand much, and I could easily see this as a project for tiny hands...

Source: giverslog.com via Malena on Pinterest

Update on the poncho pattern

Do you remember this??

Yesterday I got the English version of the lovely red, white and blue knitted poncho from Dutch Recht & Averecht.

The designer of it, Marijke Lennards, was so kind that she suggested to translate the pattern into English, if I wanted to buy it. I happily accepted and now I have it here in my briefcase full of future projects.

I could have bought a whole kit including the needed yarn, but I want to use some from my own stash.

In my 1st post about the poncho some of you were interested in the English version as well. Good news for you too - if you follow this link, you will get to the shop and the pattern.

For only 25 Danish kroner

...you can buy the new 2012 calender from Skals - Højskolen for design og håndarbejde.

Photo from Skals - Skolen for design og håndarbejde

It's always a highlight to me, when their calender gets revealed. And I truely enjoy having the calender, and it's numerous beautiful photos and recipes, hanging on my kitchen wall throughtout the year.

The calender can be bought directly at the school for 25 Danish kroners, which is about 4-5$. To that you must add shipping costs as well.

I'm recycling a layer cake

For quite a long time I have been making a jacket for Agnes.

It's the kind which has a thin layer of warming cotton batting in between the 2 layers of fabric. A quilted jacket - something which is used by both children and grownups here in Denmark at the moment. And years back too. I have always loved the look of these particular jackets.

I got my pattern from the book Børnetøj du selv kan sy, and when Anne-Sophie was little I made her a jacket from the same pattern.

The fabric for the outside is two shades of grey and with tiny flowers. The linning is striped and in two shades of rose. To keep it simple I chose some fabrics which were not that busy, but still I don't want the jacket to be too boring. So that's where my recycled layer cake comes in.

For at least 5 years ago I embroidered the little cake, and put it on a bag I knitted for myself. But since we are having a major clean-up and move around due to Emil's new room, I threw out the bag, which had become tired and strange. 

However, I didn't have the heart to throw the layer cake embroidery in the bin - it has taken far too many hours to make - so I removed it and saved it in my sewing desk.

Today I found a new way of using it and soon it will be placed on the back of Agnes' jacket. 

And now it's red!

- Do you know what I saw when I walked through town the other day, mom?? Our pocket dress in red! That's what Anne-Sophie said to me the other day.

And by saying our pocket dress, she means the classic Marimekko Ilonen Takki dress designed in 1960. Happy coat is what the name of the dress translates to in Danish, and what an appropriate name. It does makes me happy when I wear it. (I have worn it so much, that I have thought about buying myself a new one in black again). Children always love to look in my many pockets, and they think it's so funny that the dress has small pockets and big pockets.

Photo from Marimekko

If I got it in the new red design - Kurkistus tunic - it would certainly make me even more happy. So it's actually not an if I get the dress - it's when I get the dress. And with Christmas ahead a red dress is practically an essential part of a woman's wardrobe. At least that's what my husband must know when I show him the dress. ;)

I know beforehand that I will wear it over and over...even after Christmas!

By the way - I need to tell you that the classic dress also comes as a spencer now. It looks like this...can you see that it doesn't have any sleeves?

Photo from Marimekko

It has been far too long ago

...since I made a flickr favourite mosaic. So here you go - a little view of the things I love at the moment.

1. Owl Family, 2. free-motioning, 3. Tjulahopsasa..., 4. Little Snowy, 5. Untitled, 6. Periwinkle Monster and other monsters4, 7. love... !, 8. chicken brooch, 9. Usynlig eller..., 10. Thanksgiving, 11. Les filles onomatopéiques, 12. tweedy stripes..., 13. ., 14. Lovely Design's Lovely Little Forest Quilt, 15. pop bottle curtain, 16. dress shirt, 17. patchwork pincushions in progress, 18. HIMYM top, 19. Abby Jacket, 20. Tula Pink tunic 2, 21. dots 002, 22. Stella's summer outfit2, 23. Stella's top1_1, 24. Wearing a Scarf II, 25. <3

Cool cowls

I don't think that one can have too many cowls - and scarfs for that matter. Especially when the weather gets cold and the wind seems to crawl in through every layer of clothes.

Cowls are a brilliant idea, if you ask me. It is not a new and ground-breaking invention. When I was young we had similar ones - only they were called skorstensrør (chimney stacks(!!) - if it's directly translated!)

Photo from Phildar

At that time only girls and women wore them, but nowadays men use them as well. And it suits them.
I wouldn't mind if my husband asked me to make him a cowl like the one above. It's from Phildar - and so are the rest of the ones you see in this post.

Photo from Phildar

Boys can wear them and still look cool. Sadly I will never get Emil to warm his neck with a lovely cowl like the greyish one above. Maybe I would get more luckily if I asked Anne-Sophie whether she would like to have a cowl with the most gorgeous patterns.

I really like the pink and the blue together - eventhough I think that the wristwarmers in the same pattern are a tad too much.

Photo from Phildar

At least I know that I would adore wearing cowls myself. I have faved an unknown number of patterns for cowls on ravelry, but they have mostly been in one colour only. Using several colours of yarn is tempting indeed - and just using two also make a whole lot of a difference.

Photo from Phildar

All the recipes can be bought individually as kits on Phildar's website. And if you want to see more winter accessories you might like this.

A gorgeous American guardian angle

The day after Anne-Sophie left for her holiday in L.A., there was a flickr mail waiting for me, when I popped by flickr to have a look.

It was written by this sweet and talented woman. (She's amazing at sewing and makes the most beautiful clothes for her lovely daughter).
In the mail Sarvi told me that she would be more than happy to help Anne-Sophie, if she had any questions or problems at all, when she arrived in L.A.

I can't tell you how happy and very touched that mail made me. It really moved me to tears - and my husband too. (And that's not an easy thing to do).
At the same time it gave me a feeling of peace at mind. The kind of peace of mind a mom likes to have when her children take off to new adventures in foreign countries. (Even if they are grown up too!) ;)

It's so fantastic that a woman who practically lives on the other side of the earth, and whom I know from flickr, sends a couple of flickr mails full of warm and caring words, her phone number and her email adress. So many of us could learn from her way of embracing and acting, and how she meets new people with an open mind and heart.

Anne-Sophie was happily surprised and very grateful to hear about Sarvi's mails. - How absolutely sweet of her, she said to me when we spoke on the phone.

I have written it to you already Sarvi, but it can't be said enough - thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful way of being, and for caring. That, I will keep in mind for a long, long time.

Lots of love to you too...

Stripes for Kalle

Washed, blogged and dried. The scarf I have been making for my dear friend Kalle is now done. I have wrapped it as fine as possible along with the book I bought for him, and now it's all tucked away in a big brown envelope. With Kalle's name and adress written on the thick brown paper.

I have put the envelope on top of our old chest of drawers in our livingroom, so I don't forget to bring it with me to the post office tomorrow. So it can begin the long journey to England where Kalle lives.

And then I will go back to my pale pink yarn...

Lili Points

Through a French blog  I became aware of some funny x-stitch patterns. I don't like them all, but a lot of them were nice, and made in a way I haven't seen before. More modern if you like.

Lili Points is the name, and at their website you can see loads of patterns for all kinds of occasions. I think this one is funny

Photo from Lili Points

Mère poule means mother hen - the kind of mother who takes too good care of her childen and wrap them in cotton! But all beacause of amour as the embroidery says...

I bought the pattern below. I can easily see it on a kitchen towel or perhaps a cool table runner.

Photo from Lili Points

I wouldn't mind making this one sometime. 

Photo from Lili Points

But so far I will keep my hands on the cow and the milk bottles...