Masser af sildeben

                                                                                                                        ENGLISH below 

Den anden dag blev jeg færdig med Stella - den anden. En beret designet af Hanne Falkenberg.
I december 2010 strikkede jeg den første af slagsen til Anne-Sophie - se den færdig her hvis du vil - og da hun blev særdeles begejstret for den, spurgte hun forleden, om ikke jeg ville lave endnu en.

Og selvfølgelig ville jeg det.

Allerførst startede jagten på opskriften, som jeg havde haft i hænderne ganske få uger forinden, da jeg sorterede alle mine opskrifter. At den så var væk da jeg skulle bruge den, er typisk. Derfor måtte jeg investere 187 kroner i et nyt kit. Desværre var der ikke en farvekombination som passede helt perfekt, men det betød ikke det store, da vi allerede havde aftalt, at Anne-Sophies hat skulle strikkes i sart lyserød og neon pink.

Det er et skønt stykke strikketøj sådan en hat. Jeg holder meget af at se mønster udvikle sig, og ikke mindst fornemmelsen af når alt går op i en højere enhed (læs: når jeg undgår at strikke fejl og tælle forkert).

I går aftes fik hun så den færdige hat, og heldigvis bragte den stor glæde. Jeg syntes ikke at den pink fremstod helt så neon agtig som jeg ville ønske mig, men Anne-Sophie var helt igennem tilfreds med farverne,  og det var jo nu engang det mest væsentlige.

Jeg har stadig garn tilbage fra denne hat, og overvejer nu om jeg skulle strikke et par sildebens vanter der kan passe til.

Og i min strikkekurv ligger der et garn kit til endnu en hat, blot i smukke petrol lå nuancer. Tiden vil vise om jeg kan lokke Anne-Sophie til at bruge en hat i de farver...og gæt engang hvad jeg fandt i går, pænt sorteret i en skuffe med mønstre, som jeg havde glemt i min jagt??

. . . . . . 

                   Lots of herringbones

Stella - the second one. A beret designed by Hanne Falkenberg. In December 2010 I knit the first one for Anne-Sophie - have a look at it being done here if you like - and since she was very keen on it, she recently asked me whether I wanted to knit another one for her.

And of course I would love to do that.

At first I started hunting down the pattern, which I had had in my hands a few weeks earlier when I sorted all my patterns. That it was gone when I needed it, is typical. Thus I had to invest 187 Danish kroner in a new knitting kit, as the pattern isn't sold without yarn. Unfortunally there wasn't a colour kombination which was suitaible, but it didn't matter that much as we had agreed that Anne-Sophie's hat was to be knit in a pale pink and a neon pink.

The hat is a wonderful piece of knit. I love to see a pattern grow, and not least the felling of everything coming together (read: when I avoid knitting any mistakes or counting the pattern wrong).

Last night she had her hat, and luckily she liked it. I didn't think that the pink colour was as neon pink as I had hoped for, but Anne-Sophie was completely satisfied with the colours, and that is by far the most important thing.

I still have some yarn left from this hat, and now I'm thinking whether I should knit a set of herringbone mittens to go with the hat.

And in my knitting basket I have a kit for one more hat in lovely teal blue colours. Only time will tell if I can persuade Anne-Sophie to use a hat in that colour scheme...and guess what I found yesterday, in a drawer with nicely organised patterns, which I had forgotten in my search??

A - F r i d a y - e v e n i n g

Liselotte will soon be done. The cardigan. I have truely enjoyed knitting it. Because of the amazing yarn and because of the size 5 knitting needles. What a difference that is instead of size 2½-3 which I have been using a lot for recent projects. And the pattern has been so easy and wellwritten. No procrastinations, only kind and necessary knitting information to make the work go as smooth as possible.

1 button at the top of the front pieces when the cardigan is done. Perhaps 3, but time will tell. If I go for a single button, it will be this one. Or perhaps some dots. 

The other day the prints from Jennifer Davis arrived, and they completely fulfilled my expectations. For now they are standing on my grandmother's old chest of drawers, until we decide which frames they are to be put in. (The hen bowls keep them from sliding down on the floor - in case you wondered why they were standing in front of the prints).

Now I will go talk to my husband - he has just come home from work. And give him a big hug. He has been working hard lately, which means away from home for far too many hours. 

This evening it's just him and I - Emil is visiting his sweet girlfriend Ronja.

Have a lovely weekend...

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.

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...

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

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...

New inspiration for x-stitches

I'm over the moon about the 2 new books about x-stitches, which I recived today. Well, I actually got 4 books, but the other ones are fiction and not about stitches (it's Berlinerpoplerne and Eremitkrebsene by Norwegian Anne B. Ragde).

I bought the embroidery books in France, and they are both full of inspirational ideas for making logos and pictograms with needle and thread. I'm almost certain, that I will get hooked on sewing edged people and traffic signs.

France really have a whole lot of fantastic books about x-stitching in a new and different way. I would never have discovered it, if it wasn't for the wonderful people I have been so fortunate to get in touch with through flickr, blogs and etsy.

Squares and triangles

Squares and triangles, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

I adore these 2 new pieces of fabric.

A splash of colours...

They got a pocket each - Cate, Eme and Lily

After many hours of work, the little dress with Cathy's girls is finished.

I was a bit worried that I had put too many pockets on the dress, but now that it's done I feel okay about it.

The linen I used for the dress itself, is some of my favourite fabric. I love how it's a bit rough looking and how it looks as if it has been washed a million times. I used to have the fabric in dark blue as well, but what on earth happened to that? I can't remember...

If I see this particular fabric again, I will definitely buy some more of it, and make a little something for myself.

I also got to use my new pink tags for the first time. They were supposed to be without an iron on effect, but they were not. However I decided to keep them and see how they worked. I must say that they didn't stick to the fabric at all - and I did use a very hot iron.

If you want to have a closer look at the embroidered girls on the pockets, you can go to my flickr. It has been so fun to embroider another one of Cathy's lovely patterns. This one is very special though as it is her own 3 beautiful girls she has drawn.

I hope that Cathy decides to send out new patterns for us to buy and enjoy. That would make my day. But I know that she is busy working on a book about little doll quilts, so she probably has enogh to think about at the moment.

Buttons, buttons, buttons

An item which one can never ever get too many of.
A special and lovely button really makes the difference. Like these from Veronicabuttons on etsy.
Now I try to look for an excuse to buy them all...

Or another fantastic ceramic button like the big, white one you find here on Sort Lakrids.

Embroidered buttons definitely inspire me as well. I'm a huge fan of Birthine's buttons. They are little pieces of art each and everyone. You can also find them on flickr - she actually makes some from ceramic as well.

But I guess that the ones I love the most, are ordinary oldfashioned white linen buttons like the one you see below (from Stofstedet) .
Their simple look make everything look better, and I remember how I used to play with my mother's linen buttons. Maybe that's the reason why I love them so much...

Tadahh . . . there is nothing new under the sun!!

Not exactly a surprise to you, but here they are. The stripes for Agnes and the little hat for Karl.

I still need to crochet around the neckline and had a go at it late last night. It definitely didn't turn out like I wanted it to, so I unraveled and decided that maybe it would be better to go to bed.

If it doesn't work today either I don't know which excuse I will use! Lack of crocheting skill is probably the most obvious one...

Besides that little problem, I'm very pleased with both things. As you already are aware of, the sweater is a favourite pattern - and I remember the procedure so well already. Without looking at the paper it's written in - a big thing for me!

Oh, I do have one question: do the pale pink stripes look white to you? They do so to me. Hmmrf!

Ranunculus and stripes

These flowers are some of my favourites ones...and I only paid 20 Danish Kroner (3,68 $) for these!! A bargain if you ask me...

I wish that we could get Ranunculus at the end of May, when Emil is going to be confirmed and have his party for family and dear friends. But I know that it's not the time for them when we reach that date.

Hopefully we will find some other beautiful flowers. Not that it's Emil's favourite subject (that would be a bit strange anyway!).
When I ask him which colours he wants for the table at the party, he looks at me and smiles. "That's entirely up to you, mom!" is his answer - and probably just what one could expect from a boy his age. (But I thought that he should have a chance to decide...)

So, green it will be in some kind of shade - Emil loves green.

While talking about colours: the stripes for Agnes are coming along fine. This time I think that the size will be just perfect.

So soon!

As I said in another post, I knew that I would make the Latte Baby Sweater again sometime. But I didn't expect it to be so soon!

Now two new colours are ready for the stripes - a contrast for the edges is yet to be found. This time I will add a few stitches to the body and maybe a row of stripes or two.

And all this because of Agnes' sweet little face, who popped up in our mailbox yesterday. How can I not make her a striped sweater?

Latte Baby Sweater - part 2

The knitting of the baby sweater is done, and I'm left with the not so funny part of knitting. The ends must be weaved in!

I'm also going to crochet along the neckline, while including some buttonhole loops.

The buttons have not yet gotten their shape or colour, but at least I know that it's not going to be any of the colours I used for the yarn.

Sadly I think that Agnes is a bit too big for the sweater, but luckily we know several women who are expecting little baby girls. So I'm not worried about finding a recipient.

I know for sure that I will knit from this pattern again...in fact I know a little newborn Karl who could use a little sweater with stripes.

Latte Baby Sweater

Baby Latte Sweater, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

Ever since I saw that little baby sweater on Liselotte's blog Slagt en hellig ko, I knew that I simply had to make it some day.

I love stripes, I love baby sizes, I love raglan and I love cotton yarn so this pattern was simply perfect. It had all of those things.

A while ago I bought some ecological cotton yarn in green and pink pastels. My intention was to use the 2 skeins on the Latte Baby Sweater. The colours would be great for a spring sweater.

It's a fine pattern, easy to understand and I like the fact that the sleeves are a bit wider than in other baby sweaters. The buttons in front are great as well, and sure makes it a lot easier to dress a little baby.

It will not take that long for me to finish this - I hope - because I always feel the need to knit one more stripe...and yet another. But that is only good if our little niece Agnes is supposed to fit into the sweater. She grows with such speed!

If you feel like making the sweet sweater you can find it here on Liselotte's blog and here on ravelry. I hope that you will enjoy making it as much as I do....

F a v o u r i t e s

F a v o u r i t e s, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

What more can I say, than I feel so privileged to be able to enjoy the work of so many talented people.

Hm...hm...

Done... #2, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

I know I promised not to write any more about the baby blanket! But since Marie-Louise kindly asked wheter she could see the whole quilt, then I couldn't turn her down.

So here you are, Marie-Louise... :)

 My first and very bumpy quilt (which probably ends up with a bunch of untied quilting threads!) But I sure loved making it - well, most of the time.

The binding...

The binding, originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

...is now being finished. FINALLY!!

And then I promise not to write about this particular quilt anymore.
Hopefully new and funny projects will take it's place in the future - I already have some waiting for me:

The little baby girl niece - who has no name yet - has a bigsister too. And of course she needs to get something as well. Becoming a bigsister is a great thing, but I guess that it can be a bit tricky at times with all that fuss a new baby brings. So I want to make her something she can play with - or should I say in.

She loves dresses and princess stuff, so I have planned to make her a princess dress from this wonderful book. It's written by Lenée Grue and Line Watt, and the dresses are made from vintage fabrics. A fabulous idea.

If I have the time, I have thought of making a pillow for her new room. With this embroidery on it:

From Nicole's shop

 

It's a pattern made by Nicole from Follow the white bunny. Just perfect for little Sara, I think.

Little Redcap is getting her hair...

Little Redcap is getting her hair..., originally uploaded by lille-ursus.

...and I tell you - it's not easy to let her go.

I'm enjoying this pattern so much. All those marvellous tiny details make my imagination happy.

The embroidery is actually a bit more done, than you can see in the picture. I have stitched her dress and at the moment I'm making the lace trimming on it.

It's strange how a piece of needlework can make me so happy and engaged...

Where patterns are concerned, I have no backbone - at all!

Okay then - I give in to the pressure!!!

After seing so many fabulous versions of the Ice Cream Dress, I finally caved in and bought the pattern.

I'm glad that you don't know how many times I put that particular pattern in the shop's shopping bag - and then pulled it out again, because I convinced myself that it was stupid. My children are far too old!

But now it's too late, and I'm sure that I (hopefully) find a little girl to make this dress for.

The lovely pattern which has just the exact amount of details, and still looks so elegant and simple when it's done.

If you want to have a look at more Ice Cream Dresses, then go to this group - but be aware....