Colour & Creation on Pinterest

My most recent pins were so pretty together I just had to save and share:

Feel free to follow me on Pinterest.
The first photo is pinned to my Knitting board, the second to my Colour board, and the third to my Sewing board.

Da Wanda inspiration

Halfway into January. A lot of work, a lot of snow, some skiing, some knitting. Trying to finish ufos and starting new projects at the same time has not resulted in any FOs yet. So to show you I'm still here, I'll just share some Da Wanda favourites from Zador. If you like sewing, you can really be inspired from this shop. And if not, it's all for sale...

Discovered on DaWanda

By: ZadOR

New Winter~Turtleneck sweater ML fantasy

Discovered on DaWanda

By: ZadOR

New 2011 ~ Tunic / Dress in embroidered burgundy

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.

"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.

Pot holder week - evaluation

So, did I find a pattern I want to make five pot holders from?
- No

Did I find patterns I want to try?
- Yes, many

Solution?
- Norwegian Pot Holder Swap!

To join, there are two requirements:
One: - you have to be a Ravelry member (which is free, fun, but addictive)
Two: - you need to understand Norwegian (which is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway and not learnt in a fortnight).
And of course you need to be able to crochet a pot holder in two weeks.

I suppose the language is the hardest part. But the idea is free, and you can start your own swap if you like, in English, Spanish or any language you like. (I might even join you..)

We've organized the swap in a Ravelry group.



The participants can ask for specific colours or style in the pot holders they are to receive. (So far bright and colourful is a popular choice, some want red or blue, some want warm earth tones - it will be fun to se what people come up with.)

We have a list of participant, and you shall then make one pot holder for each of the four participants under you on the list. The first within a certain date, the next two weeks later and so on.

That way, you'll get four pot holders in the colours you want. So far we're nine, and there's room for more - you have till September 1st if you want to join! Click here to find us on Ravelry.

And here's some inspirational crochet blogs:

In Norwegian: Olava and Sols(tr)ikke


In English: EmmaLamb, Dottie Angel, Crochet with Raymond and Attic24


You can find more links in the swap's dicussion thread.

"Un cadeau de Paris"

- a gift from Paris!

One om my French readers, a lady from Paris, and test knitter of my Ginger Bread Mittens, Marguerite, has sent me a gift. It's a lovely recycled silk yarn from Nepal, that a friend of hers is selling, Namaste Sathi.

It's such a lovely yarn, beautiful colours. I have to think very carefully to decide what to make. Some kind of scarflette? Or a contrasting colour on a summer tee? Ideas, anyone?

"Gammelfjøset" - The old cowshed

My favourite cafe in the woods of Lillehammer.

Today we had "Fastelavensboller" (Carnival buns, buns with whipped cream). On Wikipedia, you can read that Carnival in Denmark is called Fastelavn. In Norway too.

There's a very cosy and relaxed atmosphere.



To the left in this photo, there's an old tool on the wall.

I believe this one was used for treating flax, to make yarn.

(A "hekle" in Norwegian, heckling comb in English.)

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

And isn't this a beautiful wall hanging.

As far as I could see, it is woven, and then embroidered.

Inspiration

When I saw Kristin Nicholas ' new book on Twist collective 's blog, I decided I had to get that book. I ordered it straight away from the author's side. But then got an e-mail about additional payment for postage, which turned out to be 22 $, almost as much as the book itself. I thought that was a bit too much, and Kristin Nicholas was kind to refund what I had already payed.


But I still wanted the book, of course, so I looked for it in Norwegian online stores. It took a while before I found it, because they showed a different front page (I notice it's been updated now). I finally ordered it from Tanum. And the book is lovely! I really like her bold use of colour. The projects are worked at a gauge of 20 per 10 cm, which is an unusual gauge for me. When working stranded colourwork, I normally knit at a gauge of around 25-27. But the book is full of inspiration! And I might make the mittens - or something else.

If you need more inspiration, check out this dress from Kenzo!

Or what about a new tie for Christmas? These ties are fantastic, have a look!