With my hands full

The past weekend has been a hectic weekend @casaR. With DaddyO on a weekend trip with a few KGB members, I had my hands full with BabyL and SweetieS. Luckily my mother had time, so she came over and lent me a couple of hands. Mums are the greatest! Thank you!
With the girls gone to bed and DaddyO back home. I can put my feet up and enjoy the rest of the evening. This will be a quick post just jotting down a few thoughts… I want to relax the rest of the evening before it’s gone….so if you have any questions about any of my projects, feel free to leave comment and I'll try my best to answer.
My latest knitting projects have been finished (I’ve been literally knitting up a storm) and I can now post pictures…
A Skappelgenser for myself. So wonderfully soft and light. It’s knitted with Drops Alpaca and Drops Vivaldi.

ignore the loose threads, I took the picture before I had cut them…

I googled around to find the pattern, and made some adjustments. So my finished sweater is much more fitted than the original. Wasn’t my intention, so I plan on making another one in the future.
With yarn I had laying around (Drops Eskimo and Lang yarns Andina) I finally finished a pair of cozy socks, mittens for myself  and a head band for SweetieS. The head band went off with SweetieS before a managed to snap a picture..

Now off to start my next project, a Skappelgenser for SweetieS.
- what have you done this weekend?

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,-

Stacked

Winter is coming and the temperature is slowly dropping on the thermometer. A few weeks ago I mentioned to my Facebook friends how I had cleaned our fire place, getting it ready for another season in service. Well this past weekend I organized our log storage better.

The before and after pictures speaks for themselves…looks way more organized. Going from a on-the-fly solution (made of what we had available, a pallet and some planks) to metal racks. After BabyL started pulling out logs from the sides, I realized we had to find a more childproof solution.

before	after

The ones we used here are available from Jula, called “Anslut vedoppbevaring”. We bought two so that we could store logs between the racks too.

picture borrowed from the Jula site – side view of one rack

- how do you store your logs?

I’m not loving it

I finished the cardigan I mentioned in my previous post (here). And after mulling it over I’m not loving it, I’ve made the yoke too big for my figure so it feels too big around the shoulders. Hopefully it will fit my mum better than me.

here is the finished cardigan…

As I had “predicted” I didn’t have enough of the mauve Sandnes Alpakka Kashmir yarn..so I had to be creative with what I had…and added a pale pink (color code 4622) to the mix. As I didn’t want the jacket to have a dark top and a light bottom I gave it a striped look (the inspiration I used is here, a jacket by Malene Birger)
I used a Drops pattern (the Elinor Dashwood Cardigan – Drops 157-4) for sizing and the pattern is “created” by G-Anette. The pattern is as simple as 1, 2, 3, 4. Well row 1: knit, row 2: 1 knit, 1 purl, row 3: knit and row 4: 1 purl, 1 knit. With this pattern I got a shifted moss stitch.

some lovely shifted moss

In total I used about 14 skeins of the Alpakka Kashmir yarn. It's knitted on 5,5mm needles. The buttons I ordered of Ebay a while back.
As I won’t be keeping this cardigan I guess I will have to plan another one with this pattern. Love the pattern, just not the shape of the finished cardigan. The other day I bought yarn for my next project, a Skappelgenser.
FYI, Garnstudio is running their Alpaca party the rest of 2015. Which means 25% discount of their alpaca yarns. More info on the yarns and pricing can be found on Garnstudios webpage here

- what do you have on your knitting needles these days?

My latest project

I’m still alive. Autumn has come and with the falling leaves, my energy levels have also dropped. So these days my evenings are spent slouching on the couch. I’ve started knitting on another cardigan with yarn I had laying around. It’s nice to do some ego-knitting too.

Inspired by G-anette and the jacket she posted here. I’ve started on one for myself. I have used a Drops pattern (same as I used for this cardigan, the Elinor Dashwood Cardigan – Drops 157-4) as a base pattern and adapted it to the look I’m aiming for. Hopefully I have enough yarn for this project…
This is a cardigan knitted top-down, so if I run out of yarn I will just have to finish off with a shorter cardigan than the pattern intended. These days I’m finishing of the second sleeve and getting ready to start the body…
I’m knitting it in a softest Alpakka Kashmir yarn by Sandnes Garn in a mauve (?) color (color code 4855). A yarn made of 84% alpaca and 16% cashmere blend. With 5,5mm knitting needles the yarn is flying of the skeins. I realize now that I have had the yarn laying around so long, it has been discontinued. Oh well, use what you have…
- what are you doing these Autumn days?