Pink

- Have you seen the sky? 

- What?

- Have you seen the beautiful sky?

- You know I hate pink, Mum!

- But what if someone gave you a chocolate wrapped in pink paper?

- I'd throw away the paper and eat the chocolate. 

- What about a pink lolipop?

- I'd eat it. Quickly!

 So, obviously, these mittens are not for him. 

They're a second version of these mittens.

And the winner is...

From my Ravelry page: 

"Mittens for my sister or her friend, 

depending on who beats who in this year's Birkebeinerrenn."

As you probably can guess, this is not my sister.

The mitten winner crossed the mountain 

in 4 hours and 28 minutes, 

beating my sister with 17 minutes. 

Details on the mitten motifs: The lady figure is Inga of Varteig, (ca 1185-1234), the mistress of king Haakon III of Norway and the mother of king Haakon IV of Norway (Haakon Haakonsson). The man figure is a Birkebeiner. "In 1206, the Birkebeiners set off on a dangerous voyage through treacherous mountains and forests, taking the now two-year-old Haakon Haakonsson to safety". The Birkebeiner ski race commemorates this. There is also a ski race named after Inga, "Ingalåmi".The Birkebeiner is also the motif of Lillehammer's coat of arms.

The advantage of sewing & redesign

Instant gratification!

In a couple of hours I had a new dress.

It started with a stripey pair of tights I never used. I liked the fabric, though, and thought, hmm... sleeves maybe. Then I found a t-shirt with a cute little snail at a 2nd hand shop. The rest is from my stash:

- green fabric, left over from a friend who turned a dress into a tunic


- red flowery fabric, brought to me from Tanzania a few years ago

I cut off the sleeves and the lower part of the t-shirt.

The legs of the tights became sleeves, the rest became a flower and edging.

And voilá! Ready for spring!

Winter holiday photo album

Winter holiday for me is 

mountain cottage, skiing, knitting, reading, 

playing cards and other games.

Warm and cosy in front of the oven







Most of the days were sunny and beautiful but one day was colder and windy, and my lined Lillehammer mittens warmed my hands. (Translation of the pattern to English is on my to do-list).

Remember these woolly longies? You might notice they are longere here - the pattern is wide, so they still fit the 6-years old, but he needed some more length. 
I'm working on a fun, colourful and secret project at the moment, so here's my mother's knitting. She has borrowed my book, Colorwork creations, and is making mittens. They are top-down mittens. My mother taught me to knit when I was five, now I could teach her magic cast on for top-down mittens. She's using a thicker yarn (sport weight) and has omitted one pattern repeat. 

She's also made a hat for my father. 

I love those little birds, don't you?

DSC00271.jpg, a photo by Torirot on Flickr.