Knitting up a storm

Winter is coming, no doubt about that. Yesterday I woke up to a thin white blanket covering the streets infront of my house. Not long until I will be shoveling snow again.

In preparation for winter, the girls need a layer of warm clothes to wear with their overalls. I concluded I would use the Drops “Starshine” pattern and make my own pattern on the yolk. For the pants I started with the pattern for “Power leggings” but didn’t like the shape of the finished pants. So after recommendations from a good colleague, I ended up using “Winter wolf” for all three sets .  I bought Drops Karisma yarn when they had a sale earlier this year. I even made a set for my niece, hope she likes it.

For the waist I followed a youtube video on how to knit an icord.

For my niece I used the colors “dark purple” (uni color 76) for the pattern and “rose” (uni color 80) for the rest. She got two pair of pants as I made that one first with elastics in the waistline. I used 5 skeins of the main color for the sweater and 5 skeins for the pants. for the accents I used 2 skeins.

for my niece….

For SweetieL I used the colors “light denim blue” (uni color 30) for the pattern and “navy blue” (uni color 17) for the rest. When I was almost done , SweetieL requested the waist cord to be in a different color. So she got to choose from some yarns I had in my stash. She was still not happy with the end result until we added the pom poms. On this set I also used 5 skeins of the main color and 1 skein for the accents for a total of 12 skeins of Karisma.

for SweetieL….

And the last set, for SweetieS, I used the colors  “light grey green” (uni color 69) for the pattern and “sea green” (mix 50) for the rest. SweetieS got her set in a bigger size. So for her set I used 6 skeins for the sweater and 5 on the pants in addition to the 2 skeins for the accents.

the picture doesn’t do the color justice…

These would make great Christmas gifts, but the girls need these garments now. Not in a few weeks….so will just have to go shopping for other gifts for Christmas.

Before I forget., Drops is having a sale on all alpaca yarn. 14 different alpaca yarns to choose from and beautiful colors. With 30% discount you can save some $$$. The sale lasts thruout the year, so stock up while you can.

- what are you knitting these days?

- any knitted Christmas presents?

It’s that time of the year again

May is a hectic month for CasaR. There is alot to do at work and on the home front.

May is the birth month of both SweetieS and SweetieL. So hectic planning and organizing to get ready for celebrating the girls.

This year we opted to celebrate with all their kindergarten friends. This will problably be the first and last time they have their birthday party together. It’s the last year of kindergarten for SweetieS and the first year for SweetieL with the “big kids”. And since their two kindegarten groups play so well together, I thought we would give it a go. I did however restrict to only invite the girls. We ended up inviting 22 girls (versus 36 boys and girls). Where am I gonna fit 24 girls if they all come???

The theme is PJ masks and pictures from the day will come. Hopefully I will have time to snap some pictures. Invites have been sent out, now to get all the little things in order. I haven’t involved the girls in the preparations for the party because I want it to be a surprise for them and their guests. Hopefully I haven’t bitten of more than I can chew.

The family asked for their wishlist, so here it is…based on their recurring “can-I-have-that?-requests” while watching TV. Yes, they still watch TV in these tablet/streaming days.

Practical wishes from us, the parents;

Both girls love wearing dresses, so casual Summer dresses for everyday use would be nice.

SweetieS needs some thights to go with those dresses (so she doesn’t flash her undies to everyone)

As for wishes from the girls;

SweetieS:

Hatchimals (is that how it is spelled?)

Drawing and writing supplies

“sydvest” (after loosing her purple one in kindergarten, she’s been longing for a new one)

Lego classics

Jumping rope

SweetieL:(wants everything her big sister has..):

Hatchimals

Drawing and writing supplies

DVD: Trolls

Activity books, preferably with lots of stickers

Lego classics, like this (these storage boxes are great!)

Here’s hoping we get thru the party weekend in a few weeks.

Just a month until Christmas

This is gonna be a short post from me…have too much going on these days to sit down and be creative.

But as I got a reminder yesterday to post the families Christmas wishes..here they are (in Norwegian this time). There are of the top of my head….If I remember more, I’ll update this list….

Sophie
	Klokke 249,- (link Juvelen) Sylvanian families dyr Heldress pysjer str 110 Enhjørningbamse My Little Pony prinsesse, Twilight sparkle eller Candance, 429,- (link Toys'r'us) Ulltøy, str 110
Lily
	Lego classics boks, art.nr 10696 Dukkeklær til en 30cm dukke (Lily er blitt veldig bevist på hva Sophie får, så alt Sophie ønsker seg vil “Lily også ha”
Sheila	Polaroid Zink fotopapir (fotopapir til Zip fotoskriver link Elkjøp 349,-) Bunadtilbehør -Sunnmøre: Sølje (art,nr 198 5 41 Husfliden Strømmen 2250,-) Bunadtilbehør -Sunnmøre: Hårbøyle (Husfliden 1450,-) Bunadskjorte Sunnmørsbunad Dis, clean linen Kremmerhuset 149,-
Ole
	Olabukser str w:34 L:32 Deostick (type Hugo boss…) Gavekort: Dressmann Militærstøvler M77 str.42

For now…Have a wonderful weekend!

Feeding my OCD

Most of you who know me in person, know I have my OCD moments. This Christmas I got to experience SweetieS love for beading with Hama beads. Remember those small yet colorful little plastic beads? Put the beads on pegboards to create a “pattern” and iron to “fuse” them together for a long-lasting keepsake.
With Mother Nature finally bringing some more snow to this Winter, in-door games/hobbies are welcome @CasaR. We played outside in the snow yesterday, but with the howling winds and freezing temperatures, it didn’t take long before we were cold and headed indoors.
SweetieS has beaded a few times in kindergarten, but this Christmas I got to see first-hand how SweetieS sat deeply concentrated for a period that seemed like an eternity and just beaded. So bringing along experience from my wonderful sister-in-law for organizing the beads I went shopping when stores opened today.
My sister-in-law has this case, but I wouldn’t find it in a store here in Oslo.What I really liked with this solution was that the individual boxes can be taken out of the case and has hinged lids. Luckily my trusty Biltema had an option for me here. The case can be opened and lay flat on any surface. A case has 18 individual boxes with hinged lids. The boxes are “locked” in the case for easy transportation. Just remember to lock the lids too…
Some pictures after I had filled them…

“closed”	“open”

Here is a close-up of the individual boxes…

hinged lid	clip lock	it even has a belt clip

The boxes are a handy size, measuring in at 90 x 63 x 68 mm.
Just as I had filled the boxes with the beads I had at hand, my OCD kicked in…I needed a way to label the boxes. So that when the content was gone, I knew what to color to refill. Pintrest to the rescue! I came over a few interesting pins, here is one I found particularly interesting... As the case is black I didn’t want the color swatch to be too girly, so I formed the swatches as flowers instead of hearts. They as stuck to the lids using gluedots.

The flowers are very simple to make..all you need are 7 beads. Instructions can be found here I you need it explained in details.
As we were out of wax paper I dug out my trusty craft sheet I got @Clas Ohlson (I think it’s called a silicon baking sheet) to d my ironing, and it worked just fine. You will however get a fine mesh-kinda pattern on the melted side, but I don’t mind….
Just a note, two of these cases fit perfectly into a cube in IKEAs Expedit (is no longer available, but Kallax is practically the same product) shelving unit. So I have enough boxes to cover all my coloring needs.
I had planned this to be a birthday gift for SweetieS..but that’s in May. I couldn’t wait that long to present SweetieS with her newest “toy”. So when SweetieS came home from kindergarten today she got to play with the beads while I made dinner…Even BabyL joined in on the fun. Though with the larger version, Hama Maxi. While SweetieS has been playing with the Midi size, these are 5mm in diameter. You can read more about the different sizes available here.

the girls beading…

Now off to find some more pegboards….three is not enough…

- have you tried beading?
- how do you store your Hama beads?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Today the first snowflakes of Winter came falling down….late for a typical Winter in Norway. While most Norwegians start singing “det snør, det snør tiddeli bom” in my head I start playing “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” by Johnny Mathis.

Getting in a Christmas mood…

Growing up watching Macaulay Culkins movie “Home Alone” EVERY Christmas has left its marks. Hearing this song got me into the Christmas groove and had me thinking of this years Christmas wishlist for the girls…so here goes! This year the list is in Norwegian, as it was put together by DaddyO (and I’m too lazy preoccupied to translate). I’ll try to add more as I think/come over more stuff we “need”…

Dec 3^rd – added more to the list
SweetieS

• Bukkene Bruse på Badeland, klaffebok 239,- (link Ark bokhandel)
• Bukkene bruse på Badeland, DVD 199,- (link Ark bokhandel)
• Bukkene bruse vender tilbake, innbundet 189,- (link Ark bokhandel)
• Fargeleggingsbøker (fargeblyanter?)
• 2-delt pysjer (str. 98-104)
• Fleecesett (str.98-104)
• Smykkeskrin, svart med to "lag" (link Zendi) 460.-
• Klokke 249,- (link Juvelen)
• Barnekniv/knivsett, 349 (link Brødrene Øyo)

BabyL 

• Jellycat Bashful Kanin, beige 219,- (link: kortogkos)
• Ullsett (str. 86/92)
• Fleecesett (str. 86-92)
• Smykkeskrin, svart med to "lag" (link Zendi) 460.-
• Gyngesau, 699,- Coop obs
• Chicco Animal cottage, 279,- (link Kozmos)
• Dyne, Junior str.
• IKEA gavekort
• Trunki koffert (link cdon) 359,-

DaddyO

• Dressokker (str 43)
• T-skjorter (str L) ensfarget
• Boksere (str L)
• Deo, type Hugo
• Bildekkoppheng, til fastmontering på vegg (link Biltema) x2 sett

MommyS

• Wink of Stella shimmer pen, clear (link: Bikuben) 69,-
• Smykkeskrin, svart med to "lag" (link Zendi) 460.-
• Twilight forever DVD set (link Amazon)
• Sjerf/sjal i ull, str 60x200 i nøytral farge (f.eks: Spennerigården)
• Johaug Åslia votter (link: Gmax) 399,-

Another wishlist

We are in May and both SweetieS and BabyL is turning another year older. Time sure flies, SweetieS is turning 3 and BabyL turns 1. Feels like yesterday we were rushing to the hospital….

True to form it has to be celebrated…and here are some wishes “from” my birthday girls. Will update as I remember more things.

SweetieS

Lego basic sets
Lego base plates
Kids scooter with storage compartment – Micro Mini2go(“Sparkesykkel med oppbevaring” )
Cool bicycle bell some cool ones available here
Toilet trainer (“dotrapp”)
Badevader (sz 26-27)
Outdoors toys - soap bubles - stree chalks

BabyL

Rocking sheep available @CoopObs
Jellycat Bachful Bunny, beige, 31 cm
Rain suit with fleece lining (sz. 80-86)
IKEA gift certificates (Lily needs cabinet doors for her Expedit shelf unit)
Toothbrushes for toddlers

Wishlist Christmas 2014

Done some thinking…here are some of the things we need/want for CasaR this Christmas

Thank you family and friends for fulfilling our wants and needs  

Update September 22nd: Added a few things I want for the girls
Update October 28th: A few more things for the girls
Update November 19th: More stuff for the girls
Update November 30^th: Gifts all around

For us all

	Rosendahl Grand Cru pasta plates Note: not the Grand Cru Soft series – that’s another Rosendahl serie
	External portable hard drive – size 3TB Like this one by Seagate
	Christmas curtains, going for simple and elegant. Like these from Hansen & Dysvik 3 of these “Perla Gardin Rød – size 140x160cm”

DaddyO
Hair cutter, wireless
Jeans, size: length-32”, width-34”
Cotton T-shirts, size L
Deo sticks – Hugo
Boxers, size L
Socks, plain black (“dressokker”), size 42-45

MommyS
Twilight Forever DVD boxset
Pierre Robert Wool Collection Wool Top and Wool Long Sleeve, size S/M
IKEA Senior cast iron casserole, 5l size
Kari Traa Rose Wool set: Long Sleeve and  Pant, size S/M (colors Rose, Wildberry or Cinder)
Sharpie Ultra Fine Permanent markers, the 24-color pack.

SweetieS

	Chicco Animal cottage
	Lego basic deluxe set
	Two piece pajamas
	CD with Norwegian children songs
	Karsten & Petra DVD - TV-series: Season 1 & 2 and the movies: “Karsten og Petra blir bestevenner” ”Karsten og Petra på vinterferie”
	Pierre Robert Young Collection Wool size: 98-104 - wool long sleeve - wool longs

BabyL

	Bath towels with hood
	Toddler size backpack
	Toddlerfriendly drinking bottles, like these @iherb
	“Rocking sheep” this cutie is available @CoopObs Note: please no longhaired sheep
	Jellycat, Bashful Bunny in grey Size 31cm