We had fun

 ... at "Eplas Julebasar", the Christmas market. Here are Hedvig and me in front of our little shop. Photo borrowed from our good friend Elisabeth, who came to see us.

We followed our own invitation: "Christmas gifts or something nice for yourself". Yes please!

There were so many nice things to see, almos overwhelming, made by many clever crafters. Elin Isane had some wonderful redesign dresses for girls, ZN-design had cool sweater for both boys and girls, and stockings for their mums, Spesielt for deg had lovely jewellery for girls of all ages.  The cute pot holders are made by TanteM.

It was not the day for buying our redesign dresses and tunics, obviously. So we had to admit we spent more than we earned... But we had fun, and luckily, we're not trying to make a living from this, we both have jobs we love.

I did sell some of my knitting patterns. I had brought models of most of my patterns, and some were interested in those, but they were not for sale. I was surprised that many asked where the patterns came from, assuming I had just found them somewhere, copied them and tried to make money selling them.

It was nice to meet the people from Epla. Our neighbouring sellers were good company, and the day passed really quickly. One of them even lives in my town, Janne, on Ravelry and on Epla. Cathrine Happy Monster made silver jewellery, and chocolate cookies, mmm... And it was really nice to meet a fellow raveler, blogger and pot holder swappee: Knitnetty came by, and was inspired.

Preparing for Christmas market

Eplas Julebasar is only a few days away. Not quite ready yet, but we'll get there. Hope to see some of you!

Ginger Bread Couple and hat competition

Mauds garn (a Norwegian yarn store) is having a hat competion on Facebook. Which inspired me to make this hat. If you like the hat, you can vote for me here, just click like.

The hardest part of the pattern writing was to get the ginger bread couple right - I think Babben, my test knitter, will agree on that. But we worked it out in the end.

I made two couples, used one for the hat, and another for a scarf, which will be sold at Epla's Christmas Market. If you want to make your own, I give you the pattern here.

They are worked from the head and downwards in garter stitch.

BO      bind off

CO      cast on

k          knit

k2tog   knit two stiches together 

m1       make one stitch
ssk       slip two stitches as if to knit, then return to left needle and knit together through back loops
st(s)     stitch(es)

Ginger bread lady

CO 5 sts.

Row 1: k
Row 2: k1, m1, k3, m1, k1 = 7 sts
Rows 3 – 10: k
Row 11: ssk, k3, k2tog = 5 sts
Row 12: ssk, k1, k2tog = 3 sts
Row 13: k 3, CO 6 sts = 9 sts
Row 14: k9, CO 6 sts = 15 sts
Rows 15 – 19: k
Row 20: BO 4 sts, k10 = 11 sts
Row 21: BO 4 sts, k6 = 7 sts
Rows 22- 27: k
Row 28: k3, m1, k4 = 8 sts
Row 29: k3, m1, k5 = 9 sts
Row 30: k4, m1, k5 = 10 sts
Row 31: k4, m1, k6 = 11 sts
Rows 32 – 34: k
Row 35: BO 2 sts, k2 (= 3 sts for first leg), BO 1 st, k4. Put the 3 sts for first leg on a piece of scrap yarn.
Row 36: BO 2 sts, k2 (= 3 sts for second leg).

Leg:
Rows 37 – 39: k
BO and cut yarn.

Put the 3 sts on scrap yarn back onto the needle to make another leg. K 3 rows. BO. Cut yarn and weave in ends.

Ginger bread man

Work as for ginger bread lady till row 21.

Rows 22 – 30: k

Row 31: k4, m1, k3 = 8 sts

Row 32: k4, m1, k4 = 9 sts

Row 33: k4, BO 1 st, k till end. Put the first 4 sts on scrap yarn. Continue working on the last 4 sts (leg). (= 4 + 4 sts)

Leg:

Rows 34-37p: k

Row 38: k1, k2tog, k1 = 3 sts

Row 39: k

BO and cut yarn.

Put the 4 sts from scrap yarn back onto the needle. Repeat from row 34 for another leg.

Weave in ends.

The ginger bread couple is felted in your washing machine. They felt better with other items, like towels. They might need a couple of rounds.

Embroider face and buttons. If they’re well felted, the white yarn ends is easily hidden inside.

Christmas market at Heggedal

My redesigning friend Hedvig suggested earlier this autumn to try and get a place at "Eplas julebasar", Christmas market at Heggedal Hovedgård , Saturday November 26th. And we did get a place, and are getting a little nervous about going there, together with all those super clever people from Epla.

We'll be selling redesign dresses and tunics, small accessories, like scarfs, and my knitting patterns. I'm sure it will be fun, and I hope to see some of my readers, that would be nice.

Two flowers for the Christmas gift along

Another pair of mittens is finished. This time a Christmas gift, not saying for whom...

Pattern is my own Blomst.

The left thumb crisis is overcome, and the (literally) afterthought thumb worked just fine! 

The yarn is a new aquaintance for me, Sterk, from Du Store Alpakka, a delicious sock yarn, a blend of 40% alpaca, 40% merino, 20% nylon. Super soft, and probably strong, too. (The name Sterk meaning strong in Norwegian.) I used just under 20 g of each og the CC, just under 30 g of MC.

Modifications: I omitted one pair of leaves, to make the mittens a bit shorter.

Want a pair of your own?

Get the pattern here:

If you buy the hat pattern to, you get 1$ off each pattern

(you see the discount when you come to your cart)

Mitten finishing project

Annepålandet is working on her unfinished mittens. And so am I. One down now, for Annepålandet and me. My Kanagawa Mittens, as shown earlier.

I am close to finishing are a pair of my Blomst mittens.

But alas, I forgot about the left thumb!

I remember seeing a pattern once, where you left out the thumb opening, and made that later, for a prefect fit. So I decided to try that.

The yarn ends are a bit shorter than I would normally like, but with this yarn I think it'll be ok. Finished mittens soon.

Colourful and bright, with red

I forgot to blog the last potholder I made in the swap.

Duvi wanted her potholders to be colourful and bright, with red. I think I fulfilled that wish, at least.

Pattern: African Flower Hexagon

I made eight hexagons.

Added one round of double crochet with red

and then sewed them  together through the back loop.

 

The African Flower Hexagon has become one of my favourites now,

it't easy, and fun, with endless colour poossibilities.

And you can make all sorts of things from them, blankets, bags, balls.

Have a colourfull November thursday!

Btw, thanks for nice comments on my kithcen curtains.

It was originally meant to become a bedspread,

but I soon realised that would happen

in such a distant future that I chose to use it diffently

A grey November Saturday

...needs some colour....

... some buns

 .. and some more colour!

The pot holder swap is over, and I have four new pot holdes! So far unused...

The two last pot holders I recieved are the bottom left,

 from Linda, and the top right, from Anne,

both versions of Annepålandets potholder.

Test knitting

I was lucky to test knit this wonderful mitten pattern this spring.

The first mitten came off the needles in no time,

but then spring came along,

 and the second has been wating.

But now mitten season is here again,

and I finally finished the pair.

Pattern: Kanagawa, by Kirsten Kapur / Through The Loops

I'm planning to use the leftovers

and make a matching hat -

maybe this pattern, by the same designer.

I have translated the pattern into English,

and am in need of test knitters.

Babben has tested the Norwegian pattern.

Send me an e-mail if you're interested.

If you want to purchase the Norwegian pattern,

use this button (4.50 $):

This hat pattern, Stella polaris,

blogged here earlier,

has been translated too, and test knitted,

by Rodrigo and Saundra.

Thanks, both of you. 

Pattern is available ($3) in both Norwegian and English,

 just choose which file you want to download.

"Eplas Jul" - book in hand!

I have received my copies of Eplas Jul!

And of course I had to look at my own pattern first!

Looks nice, doesn't it?

The book has a lot of ideas and tutorials for Christmas decoration of all sorts. There are also some recipes for Christmas cookies and other goodies. And  some knit and crochet patterns - check out this amazing crocheted ginger bread house by Hege.

 Huvanlua by Kristin is cute, looks like a quick and easy knit.

 I must admit, I don't put a lot of energy into home decoration (too busy knitting...)

But I fell in love with these Christmas balls. Made by Kari Anne.

And here is a link to some other Christmas balls in the book.

ETA: The mitten pattern is available both in English and Norwegian in my Ravelry store if you're not interested in the rest of the book, or if you don't read Norwegian.