Happy Birthday Mamma

These are the flowers I got my mum for her birthday. It might look a bit cheap just getting her 3 carnations, but there is a rather soppy story behind it. When I was about 7 or 8 I used to love the flower shop just up the road from my house. Every time I had some spare cash I'd go in there to get something for my mum. I loved all the flowers, but I could never afford much. And I was never a big fan of a single flower, so I always ended up with 3 carnations, as they were the cheapest flowers in the shop. So I thought since it's been a few years it was about time I got her some again. She giggled and said "Here's Meg and her carnations again"... she remembered. :)

I need to get moving on my sock today, wondering if I ever manage to make the second one. I hope so, they would be lovely, and oddly enough they would match my new favourite top. I am also developing a slight crush on the yarn I am knitting it from. I might have to get some more of it, and knit tons and tons of socks. Or maybe just hug it...

Sock!

This is all I've had time for this weekend. Sadly it's almost Monday.

55!

This arrived at my post office today. Now I have to turn them all into skeins. This will take forever.
But it's probably a good thing, I can't start dyeing until the weather gets better and I can do it outside.

I'm just so glad this day is over. I went to see my grandfather at the hospital, and it reminded me of the last time we were there visiting him about 14 years ago. He was so ill then we thought we were going to loose him, and the hospital just brought that feeling back. I can't imagine working in a place like that. The walls just ooze illness, it's horrible. Couldn't wait to get out of there. My grandmother was really worried too, it was hard to be there. But I got to see the sweetest thing I have in a very long time, and that cheered me up a bit. When we were leaving my grandfather and grandmother hugged eachother in a way that just showed how much they still love and need eachother after all these years, and it really got to me. It's good to know that some people can stay together for their entire lives, and love eachother every second. That gives me real hope. Just a hug and a gentle kiss on the cheek.

I can't wait for the weekend, really need a break, it's been a hard week. And I have lots more knitting to do. Only one morning left.

Almost half way.

Almost half way to the weekend. Tomorrow is the worst day of the week, but then Thursday and Friday fly past and it's the weekend.

Been shopping today, felt it was so empty here after I kicked the Christmas tree out. Met my dad in town, and we went for dinner, Swedish Plank steak, very odd thing. Basically steak with mashed potatoes, a tomato, and bearnaise sauce. Oddly enough served... you guessed it.. on a plank. Very tasty though. After we went to Plantasjen, and I got lots of flowers. Really needed cheering up today, it has been a long day and I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to visit my grandfather. He is ok, nothing serious, an infection I believe, but as he has quite a few health problems so we can't be too careful.

Hopefully work will be reasonably calm, but somehow I doubt it.

Sleepy Sunday

This is what I have spent most of my Sunday doing. Been a really nice relaxing day, got a chance to watch some dvd's I borrowed ages ago from some girls at work, and also managed to watch most of my River Cottage dvd's. Makes me think about food constantly, but it's worth it. I really wish I had a nice cottage with a big kitchen garden. Maybe when I win the lottery. ;)

I never used to like Sundays, with Monday so close, but maybe I'm getting old. Will actually be nice to get back to work on Monday, I do genuinely enjoy my job most of the time. I really should do some baking soon, my boss carefully suggested the other week that it was time to bring cake into work again. He even asked me for my brownies recipe.

Going to start taking walks with my Mum again. We had a plan last summer to go for a walk every Monday and Thursday, but it ended up as just a good idea. Hopefully we will actually do it this time. We've moved it to Tuesdays though, Mondays are for sleeping and dreaming about the weekend that's so far away.

Speaking of which, better go to sleep so I manage to get up at 6 tomorrow morning.

I am weak.

Not buying more yarn failed.. again! I had to get 2 skeins of this lovely yarn, and 2 more balls of green/purple sock yarn. I'm planning to use 2 of them in my blanket, so needed 2 more for actual socks.



I also had to get a basket for my yarn, the old one was just too small so it now serves as a project basket for my shawl. And I got a really pretty jug to keep my knitting needles in. Bjørn might be able to help me make a shelf like one I saw today, so pretty. It will be the main storage for all my yarn, and I'm going to grade the colours so it flows from light on the top to dark on the left. I'll have a lot more yarn in a few days, ordered a lot of cheap wool so I can practise the dyeing, they will hopefully look stunning on the shelf thing.

I got some more work done on the Dr. Who scarf today, almost half way now. Can't wait to get it done, will be so cool when I've finished it. And then of course, I can start my socks. I need to stop buying yarn, and start using it instead, I think, or I will run out of space. I also got a huge handbag today, with plenty of room for a knitting project. My old one is bright red, and as I have so much purple yarn I want to knit stuff for myself with, I needed a black one to use every day. Very handy really, how the yarn lets me buy new fun stuff. Thankfully I get paid on Tuesday, my bank account is rather depressed at the moment.

My sister is going to France tomorrow morning, her boyfriend got her 4 days in Paris as a Christmas present. He is a lovely guy, I hope she enjoys it, she really deserves some time away atm, as she is having a hard time. Hopefully it will really cheer her up and she'll come home all ready to tackle all her problems. Might have to knit her something fun to cheer her up too. She's the only blonde in the family, and she has green eyes, so I get to use different colours than when I knit for my mother, my other sister or myself. We're all dark with blue eyes, which explains why most of my yarn stash is blue/purple.

I miss my Christmas tree. It got kicked out yesterday, and is now standing outside looking sad, abandoned and unloved. But I guess it was about time, needles everywhere.

Oh yeah I was watching "It's not easy being green" on BBC Lifestyle, and they were talking about this menstrual cup.. and the woman actually says "and it goes in the top part of the dishwasher". Can you imagine anything more disgusting than putting something in the dishwasher that has been up there? Clearly it's rather disturbing to be green too. I think I'll stick to being mainly purple.

Grey and knit

Finally weekend. Time to knit and watch Grey's Anatomy! Been working on the Dr. Who scarf again, trying to get it done by the end of January. I have so many projects I want to start, I don't know which one to start first when I finish this project. So many things I want to do, only 2 arms, I wish I had more.

Going shopping again tomorrow, will try to stay away from the yarn, but not making any promises.

Spring tries to get a foot in the door

This is the view out of the window in my proper office, lovely sun light today, spent all of my 20 min lunch break with my face in the sun. Can't wait for the weather to get better so I can start dyeing yarn outside. Have to worry less about the mess then, I'm very clumsy, so at some point I'll turn the floor purple if I continue dyeing inside.

Got another knitting magazine today, and there are several things in there I might actually make. So happy I went to Narvesen when I missed my bus. I also ordered a moleskine diary, one of the Yarn Harlot books, and the knit a day desk calendar thing from Amazon. Figured I should have something knitting themed in my office. I need to get something for the walls too, people keep poking their head in the door and complaining about the completely white walls.

Getting paid next Tuesday, hoping to be able to get a digital camera, a big old yarn winder thing, and lots of cheap yarn to dye. Wonder if this obsession with getting yarn related things will ever pass. Probably not. I also want to make my own shelves for my yarn, have the perfect shelf in mind but I know I can't buy it anywhere. Maybe I should just build it myself. I also some sort of towel holding, toilet roll keeping, clothes holding thingy in my bathroom. I even have an idea about how I want that to look, but I don't think I'm good enough to make that on my own. A very simple shelf type thing... yes.. complicated multi-use bathroom thingy.. no.

If anyone is really good with a saw, a hammer, and a paint brush, please give me a word.

It's snowing... again...

This was the view from my office this morning. Will be nice and slippery tomorrow morning. Ice skating to work again.. Yay! Managed to sneak out early too, just couldn't face 8 hours at a desk that's not mine, doing things I really don't have time for that requires no brain power what so ever. "The printer is broken".. a right, no paper again?

Been working on my shawl today, can't wait to get it finished. It's lovely purple alpaca, and I can't wait to hide in it next winter, knowing me it won't be finished before then. I have way too many projects going on, and I have so many other projects I want to start. Which brings me to this small list of stuff I want to try:

• Proper Lace

• Entrelac

• Socks.. lots of socks

• A big project I could actually wear

Now I just have to finish the Dr. Who Scarf. Not allowed to start any new projects until it's finished. It's just not challenging enough at times, there is no pattern to think about, only counting rows. It's very good for a tv project, but nothing I keep thinking about all day at work, looking forward to picking up the second I get home.

Have been discussing sock patterns with my mum today, for her weirdest socks competition. I might join in just for fun, she wanted to take my shawl in to work too, to show them a proper knitting project apparently. Not so sure about that though, there are some mistakes in the beginning I noticed about 20 rows later.

Borrowed the Grey's Anatomy dvds from a friend at work, they will be great for this weekend, can have a Dr. Who scarf marathon. Grapes, the dvds, and an endless amount of yarn.

I think I might be addicted...

Finally finished my cowl after lots of fighting. I just knitted a modified version of the pattern for a shawl I'm making in purple alpaca. I just love how it turned out, it's so lovely and soft, can't wait for it to snow again now, but knowing my luck that will be around next November.

I've been shopping again, my mother is a very bad influence. I got some more clothes at 50% off, lots of yarn, a new pillow, and 2 lovely baskets, one for the paper recycling and one for my special knitting project that I can't wait to get started on. I just have to finish the massive Dr. Who scarf that I have promised to knit for a friend.

The white alpaca is for my dye project, I just have to practise a bit more on the cheap wool from Spar Kjøp first, which I have to order. It's a lot cheaper on their website, so that's good, can't beat a ball of yarn for NOK 7,50. Hopefully I'll be able to control the colours more, last time they were really intense.

Hopefully my purchases from England will arrive soon, can't wait to get my hands on some of that yarn, I already know what I'm using it for. I also got some Noro for my mum, they are having a sock knitting competition where she works, who can knit the craziest socks. She has lots of time though, she is apparently the only one who has knitted socks before. She probably won't win, but she'll have a lovely useable pair of socks, which is a lot better than making something that wins but noone would ever wear. I might have to start knitting socks again too, been years since I actually finished a pair.

Was so hard going back to work this week, got used to sitting up late and sleeping until noon. Only 6 months to go until my summer holiday. Hopefully I'll go somewhere this year, been ages since I had a proper summer holiday. But knowing me I'll just end up at the summer house, spending all my holiday money in the little yarn shop up the road or online.

A bad week

I was supposed to have a nice cowl to show you today, made from yarn I got from WildFireFibres, but no such luck. It has been half made about 3 times, finished once, and now it's a ball of yarn again. Really sums up my week. Hopefully I'll finish it this weekend.

Going back to work after almost 2 weeks off is much harder than I thought, been shattered and grumpy as hell most of the week. Being surrounded by just men at work really didn't help either. But nevermind, friday tomorrow, and then weekend, and I can sleep until noon and spend all day knitting.

I went into town today to buy my mum a birthday present and to get lots more yarn for a big project I'm planning. Was walking down the street towards my favourite yarn shop, getting a bit excited about the prospect of spending rather a lot of money on alpaca when I noticed the shop was rather dark.. It was *completely* empty! My favourite yarn and fabric shop has gone out of business! Where will I get my yarn now? There is only one other yarn shop in the town centre, but it hardly have any nice stuff. And absolutely no Du store Alpakka yarn. Guess it's back to online shopping for me. Nevermind, I always love a full mail box.

Happy half birthday to me, 27,5 today. No cake though, sadly.

Disco, Disco Yarn!

Here is the finished product from my monster dye session yesterday. I'm very happy with some of them, and not quite so much with some of the others. At least now I know how strong the colours come out.. *very* strong.

I've been looking at some stuff for inspiration, not sure what to do with these crazy colours. A friend suggested making hats, but they might be too loud for that. I really like this, might try to do something similar in purple/blue, or maybe a nice small blanket for my very boring sofa.

Trying new stuff

So, for the first time ever, I have dyed my own yarn. I have 7 skeins hanging in my shower currently. I tried 4 different types of yarn, just to see what I liked more, and some of it came out pretty well I think. I also know how strong the colours are, next time I can add a lot more water I think. I also need to invest in some gloves, my fingers are now a really disturbing shade of blue.

Been really restless all day, really wanted to start this with the yarn I got from WildFireFibres, but I'm a bit worried it's a bit advanced for my first ever lace project. Hopefully tomorrow I can just make some fun hats with the yarn I have dyed.

I also tried to set the twist on my home spun yarn today, might try to make some fingerless mitts with them, but they are very uneven. I still have to practise my spinning a lot. I'd love to get a spinning wheel, but they are so expensive I can't justify the cost, as I have so many other things I love to do too.

Tomorrow is the last proper day off before I have to go back to work after almost 2 weeks off, can't wait to get back to the emails, invoices and countless other things that have piled up over Christmas. Hopefully I will be having a week off in February, to do some knitting, spend some time with a very good friend, and hopefully learn a few things about taking pictures. As you can see, I have already mastered the "taking pics in the shower" technique, but there is still lots to learn.