Third time lucky

I assume you remember this sweater.

The notorious birthday sweater for Christian. and maybe you wonder why you haven't seen it done, here on my blog (or maybe not because you are used to me being a slow knitter!)

But here is the reason why I haven't felt the need to flash it. 3 sleeves. 3!

Almost done with the 2nd one, I discovered that my incresing had gone terribly wrong. And after a despressing fit on Christian, I sadly realised that a 3rd one was a necessity.

Now I'm nearly done with that one too - finally! Sleeves are boring, and definitely even more tedious when it's sleeves x 3.

However I have to say that I did find some icing on the cake. Christian is absolutly thrilled about his forthcoming sweater, and that is all worth it to me.

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Jeg går ud fra at du kan huske denne sweater. Den famøse fødselsdags sweater til Christian, og måske undrer du dig over, at du ikke har set den gjort færdig her på min blog (eller måske undrer du dig ikke, fordi du er vant til at jeg strikker langsomt!)

Men her er grunden til, at jeg ikke har haft lyst til at flashe den. 3 ærmer. 3!

Næsten færdig med det 2. ærme, opdagede jeg at mine udtagninger var gået helt galt. Og efter en nedslående prøvepasning på Christian, indså jeg desværre at et 3. ærme var en nødvendighed.

Nu er jeg næsten færdig med det også - endelig! Ærmer er kedelige, og helt bestemt endnu mere kedsommelige når det hedder ærmer x 3.

Jeg må dog sige, at pynten på kransekagen var der trods alt. Christian er utrolig begejstret over sin fremtidige sweater og det gør virkelig, at det er alt besværet værd.

MY DAILY JUNK is a lovely shop!

If you feel the need for lovely stuff, then you just have to follow the way to Wenche's new beautiful shop. It's called My Daily Junk and is owned by Wenche whom you might know from the blog Tusindfryd. She's also the talented dollmaker behind the book Tusindfryd dukker.

She is amazing at finding cool items, which can make your day even more colourful and happy. and there is even a gorgeous DIY kit for making a little Waldorf doll.

Be prepared to get tempted when you enter the shop. I have already bought stickers and other lovely things which I can't live without...

Photo from My Daily Junk's website

Hvis du føler trang til skønne ting, så skal du bare følge vejen til Wenches nye fine butik. Den hedder My Daily Junk og er ejet af Wenche, som du måske allerede kender fra bloggen Tusindfryd. Hun er også den talentfuld dukkemager bag bogen Tusindfryds dukker.

Hun er utrolig god til at finde seje ting som kan gøre din dag endnu mere farverig og glad. Og der er endda et superfint gør det selv kit, så man kan lave en lille Waldorf dukke.

Vær forberedt på at blive fristet når du "træder ind" i butikken. Jeg har allerede købt stickers og andre skønne ting som jeg ikke kan være foruden...

En - l i l l e b i t t e - smule om...

...j u l.

Se lige hvad der venter alle os strikkeglade i slutningen af september!!

En bog af Pernille Fisker og Helene Jensen. Der er bare noget over layoutet der siger mig, at det er en rigtig god og anderledes bog. Og smuk.

Det er spændende med nye tanker omkring julepynt, og hvilke materialer det fremstilles i. Jeg er i hvert tilfælde allerede meget begejstret. Og der skulle ligeledes være idéer til årets julegaver.

Faktisk kan du komme til strikkebogens release. Se nærmere her på Helene og Pernilles blog og på Charlotte Tønderings site.

Nu glæder jeg mig frygteligt til d. 28. september hvor bogen udgives . . .

Billede fra Strikkede Stribers blog

. . . . . . 

A - tiny - bit about...

...Christmas.

LOOK what all of us who love to knit, can expect at the end of September!!

A book written by Pernille Fisker and Helene Jensen. There is something about the layout which tells me, that it's a really good and different kind of book. And beautiful too.

It's exiting with new ideas about the making of Christmas ornaments, and which materials to use. I'm definitely already very keen on it. And it should contain ideas for this year's Christmas presents as well.

Actually you can go to the book's release (if you live in Denmark). Have a closer look here at Helene and pernille's blog and on Charlotte Tøndering's site.

Now I can hardly wait for it to be September the 28th . . .

Hold da op!

Jamen dog, hvor er det længe siden at jeg sidst har befundet mig her på bloggen. Men jeg trængte til en dejlig sommer med min familie uden for mange elektronisk forstyrrende elementer, og hvor har det været skønt. 

Vi har nydt sommeren og allermest at kunne være sammen. Dejlige dage i Sverige gav anledning til hygge i stor stil - og et par svenske Loppis ikke at forglemme.

Men jeg har også set frem til at skrive lidt igen, og nu er det vist ved at være tid. 

Ja, faktisk har jeg oven i købet fået afsluttet et par projekter siden sidst. Tingene til vores to små niecer er strikket færdig og afleveret. Og hvor var det en fornøjelse at se begge dele på lille Agnes og Sarah.

Jeg er meget begejstret for Karen Borrel's mønster. Hun giver sine børne designs lige den kant som jeg kan lide. Og hun har endda designet et mønster ud fra sin datters ideér - det synes jeg er sådan en fin tanke.

Nu strikker jeg videre på Gathering Stripes, og mon ikke den kan blive færdig i løbet af alle disse OL dage...

C e n t i L o n g

E n g l i s h - b e l o w 

Jeg har klippet og klisteret på det seneste. De smukke mønstre fra CentiLongs nye e-bog skulle samles, så jeg endelig kan komme i gang med de fine modeller.

CentiLong består af Christina fra Rappedikke og Lis fra Karlsons Kludeskab. Begge vanvittigt talentfulde og dygtige kvinder udi håndarbejdets verden. Jeg ynder også at følge deres ord og billeder om livet i det hele taget og føler mig stort set altid inspireret og ikke mindst menneskeligt beriget.

Jeg ved jeg har nævnt det før, men jeg holder ufatteligt meget af mønstre som er enkle og elegante, og som alligevel har helt deres eget cool udtryk. Det formår CentiLongs modeller. Med skønne flæser og små detaljer.
Mønstrene kan laves i str. 1, 2 og 3 år og hvor er jeg - endnu en gang - glad for at vores lille niece Agnes kan agere aftager til tøj i mini størrelse...

E n g l i s h

Lately I have been cutting and pasting. The beautiful patterns from CentiLong's new e-book had to be put together, so I finally can start sewing the lovely designs.

CentiLong is Christina from Rappedikke and Lis from Karlsons Kludeskab. Both extremely talented and skilled women in the world of crafting. I also like keeping up on life in general through their words and pictures, and I almost always feel inspired and not least humanly enriched. 

I know that I have said it before, but I'm incredibly fond of patterns which are simple and elegant, and which have their own cool expressions anyway. CentiLong's designs succeed in that. By gorgeous frills and little details. 

The designs can be made in the sizes 1, 2 and 3 years, and oh how I'm thrilled once more by the fact that our little niece Agnes can act as user of clothes in mini sizes...

Vendestrik bukser

Til alle os der holder af bøgerne "Vendestrik" og "Vendestrik #2" er der godt nyt i vente. Forlaget Vingefang udgiver nu bogen "Vendestrik bukser" af Hanne Meedom.

Tænk engang at man også kan strikke bukser i vendestrik - den tanke har aldrig strejfet mig. Men nu skal det undersøges hvordan det gøres. 

Jeg håber sådan i mit stille sind, at der også snart kommer flere sybøger fra Hanne og Sofie Meedom. Deres sybøger er intet mindre end vidunderlige, og fulde af en masse gode basismønstre på børnetøj. Og har man ikke den store erfaring med at sy, kan man sagtens kaste sig over bøgerne alligevel. Der er grundige forklaringer af forskellige syteknikker.

* * * * * * * * * * *

For those of us who likes the books Vendestrik and Vendestrik #2 there is a good piece of news. The publishing company Vingefang sends the book Vendestrik bukser on the market.

Just imagine that one can knit trousers in short row knitting - that thought has never crossed my mind. But now I want to check out how it's done.

I really hope that more sewingbooks will be coming from Hanne and Sofie Meedom. Their sewingbooks are nothing less than wonderful, and filled with a lot of good basis sewing patterns for children's clothes. And if you haven't got that much experience with sewing, you can easily use the books anyway. There are thorough explanations of various sewing techniques.

I told you so . . .

There would be more Djævlehuer/Devil-hats...epidemic. With little yellow x x x'es.

Joys of a Thursday

On Thursday afternoon I got this beautiful, beautiful lot of yarn. To open the cardboard box was a burst of colour and life. I have so high hopes for this quality. The mix of cotton and wool will be perfect for me. 

Once more I gladly bought yarn from Garnudsalg.dk.

I'm so amazed and satisfied with the colours and the vivid glow, which has been captured in the threads. Skovbær (forest berry) and Appelsinskræl (orange peel). Even the names are cool and kind of marvellous.

He must be a clever and talented man, that Kenneth, who owns Garnudsalg. A man who very clearly knows his way around fibres, and it shows so much that he puts a lot of carefulness, knowledge and passion into the yarns.

My plan is to make a cardigan for myself - I really, really hope that I get to carry out that wish, before I turn the yarn into something for children. That happens far too often for me!

Another lovely moment was this evening.
I heard a knock on our frontdoor, but when I opened the door, there was no one to be seen. But something was - these 2 fine and transparant ice lanterns. Shaped like stars - with a light so soft and welcoming.

I can't tell you how happy they made me and Christian - whom I yelled at right away so he could see them (at first he thought that something had happened to me!!).

Where on earth did they come from, you might ask yourself? Well, right away I knew who would do such a
heartwarming and brilliant act. This sweet woman.

I hope that I can make Dorte and her family just as surprised and happy some day soon...

Crocheted garland for Ida

Crocheted garland, a photo by lille-ursus on Flickr.

I can hardly believe it - I made my first crocheted garland.

A while ago Anne-Sophie asked me whether I would do her a big favour. She wanted to give her dearest friend Ida (whom you might remember is our niece and cousin) a crocheted garland as a part of her birthday present.

Of course I wanted to help, so Anne-Sophie bought the materials and I did the work.

The beautiful garland which I had seen on Karen Klarbæks blog, also came with a free pattern. Perfect for me. Thanks a million to Karen for her generosity.

And to my pleasent surprise I picked up the crocheting very fast. A new kind of crochet stitch has been added to my mind - and hands! As the very last thing I added fine little bells in pastel colours, which made me think of spring.

Luckily Ida liked the garland...and I need to make more for my own house and garden.

I'm still here. . .

Hopefully I will get more posts written in the time ahead of us, than I have lately. January has been a very hard and busy month, and I simply haven't had the surplus energy and power to keep my blog rolling.

BUT lets see if February will turn out to be better for me. I'm still here. . .

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...

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...

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...

A mail with proof

Yesterday I got the sweetest mail from Anne-Sophie and it also contained this photo.

Have a look at the attached photo, mom. I'm using it...

She's busy at architecture school with a project she and her group is making in between lectures.

They were told to make a piece of furniture for storing from two items, which were not optinal. Anne-Sophie's group had to make it from an armchair and a hoover!

It's so interesting to see the different stages they are told to go through, in order to create their new piece of furniture. Anne-Sophie has made so many drawings, and in order to make a new item they had to completely take apart the hoover and the chair.

By now it's looking really good, and in the photo Anne-Sophie is at the school sewing a piece, which is supposed to be used on the project.

I'm so glad that she feels the need to use my old machine.

Yeah!!

Lovely, lovely!! I won the book above in this competition - such a fine thing to discover on a late Friday night....

Do you love baby blankets as much as I??

I definitely have a soft spot for lovely knitted blankets for babies.


Far too many times have I clicked on the favourite button on ravelry, when I saw a tempting pattern. And that without having a baby to warm with stitches in wool.


Now it's time to fall in love with another fabulous pattern. And so I did - right away - when I read the blog post Rosanna wrote yesterday.  


She has knitted the most beautiful blanket for her little niece. It looks extremely fine and delicate with the neatly knitted lace pattern. Perfect for a soft baby to be swaddled in, and a luxurious gift for baby and parents to enjoy for many years.


The pattern is designed by Rosanna herself, and I love the idea she had about making something auntie-made for her sister's daughter.


And take a look at what Rosanna generously offers to us  - the Savannah baby blanket pattern - for free!!

Photo from Rosanna's blog Eaviola

Just 3 more books. . .

I know that it hasn't been that long ago since I mentioned some new books. But now I have to show some more wonderful  reading matter.

And this time they are even in Danish.

When Lene Holme Samsøe has made a new book full of her spectacular ideas, I simply need to have it. The title is Vild med Garn and this is how tempting the cover is.

Photo from Politikkens Forlag

Those kind of crocheted  hangers have been haunting me for a while - but in the good way! I wish that my wardrobe would burst with hangers as lovely as these, when I opened it to pick out some clothes! Maybe I get to make them by myself after reading the book.

Photo from Gads Forlag

The idea behind the book Til kaffeslabberas is a mix of photos, conversations and knitting. 7 wellknown Danish artists and designers meet with 7 experienced women, and together they collaborate on creating different knitted items.

Finally I need to show Homemade. A book made by Rachel Søgaard, Stine Hoelgaard and Karen Marie Dehn.  All interesting and talented women.

I especially love Stine's blog...

Photo from Politikkens Forlag

So there you are! And no more books for a while on my blog...

Book-elicious

I don't think that I have ever looked more forward to this autumn's and winter's new books, than I do in 2011/2012. So many talented people have been busy making books for the rest of us to enjoy - and of course to learn and get inspired from.

Many of you probably already know this fantastic woman from her blog Tusindfryd.
Wenche Steensen is going to release her new book about making dolls. She makes the most wonderful custom made Waldorf dolls for children, and following her blog is a magical thing.
 As far as I can tell from the online bookshops, it will be here some time in the beginning of 2012.
I can't wait to see her work and all the many ideas on making dolls.

Another woman whom I admire so deeply - both as an artist and as a person - is my blog friend Cathy Gaubert. Maybe her name rings a bell since I have written about her several times before. Her embroidery patterns are some of my all time favourites.

Cathy is making a book too. A book about patchwork doll quilts - a thing she does so brilliantly herself. Oh, how I love the work from her hands and head!
The book is called Pretty in patchwork - doll quilts and contains different doll quilts from several talented women.

My sweet American blogger friend Amy is actually going to be in 2 books this autumn. She has quilting blocks in the book Modern Blocks and you can definitely look forward to seing her work. She's really talented and makes all her things with such dedication.
The book will be in the stores by October 2011.

And she has things in the book Zakka Style, which has contributions from different crafters. This one will be available in December, so there's a clear cut idea for a Christmas present.

Finally, I know that I will love the first book from brilliant Fiona Dalton. Her patterns - which I have bought and sewn this bunny from - are simply genius and the expression on each animal she makes is so good.

Her book is called Hop, skip, jump - the same as her blog. The book will be in stores about the end of October 2011.

So with all these fabulous books coming, there's one good reason for summer to end a bit faster - eventhough I don't really want it to end at all!

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.