Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Sheep in clothing


Each one has a sweater... Isn't that cute?
It's from a book called A Tower of Giraffes.
Each page has a different animal group and they are clad in prints of fabric or wall paper.  The sheep are appropriately clad in knitted patterns.  ❤️  A nice surprise for a knitter/grandma.

A Tower of Giraffes: Animals in GroupsHardcover – September 8, 2015

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Pants Saga

Chilly, damp weather is on the way... in Bergen.  A little girl needs WOOL!
This will be the fourth (or fifth) pair of warm pants.  But it turned into a saga of yarn!  (If I was clever, I would compose a rhyme...)
It started with... "I need wool, superwash wool, in girly colors, of a certain weight..."  Normally, a knitter would have a look around the LYS, however, there exists none within 50 miles.  (sigh)  That just makes me dumpster dive into my stash, and there, sitting in my living room is a big BIG BIG bowl of yarn. (You know what I mean, Denise/Kay/Jennifer/Jenny. It's been there for years.) Fingering weight (used double), various colors, and I decide to use it up. (This yarn was purchased for a sweater, but I lost the pattern and didn't find it until 3 years later. In the meantime, the size became obsolete, and I got fed up with trying to locate it and used some of it for other projects: Here, here and here.  (Seven projects in all; see below for Ravelry link.)

But without knowing how much I needed (exactly), I started out using two colors at a time. 

And then another color combination, and...
Another combination.  Now I knew how much, but not really crazy about mirroring my original, so...
I ripped it back and ... made a new combination!
This one I like! It's a keeper.

 Patterned pullover 4.6 skeins = 979.8 yards, 230 grams
 Turkish Socks 0.25 skeins = 53.3 yards, 12 grams
 Child's Redbird Pullover 5 skeins = 1065 yards, 250 grams
 Bonnet for Fiona 0.92 skeins = 196 yards, 46 grams
 Little cow mittens 0.12 skeins = 25.6 yards, 6 grams
 ELF cap 1.3 skeins = 276.9 yards, 65 grams
 Removeable sole socks 0.7 skeins = 149.1 yards, 35 grams

Friday, September 18, 2015

Peach jam

Found I had a surplus of peaches, so I (surprisingly) wisely cooked up peach jam with cinnamon... yum...

Taking over the kitchen! Only made six small jelly jars. Any visitors? I'll give out samples!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Sock drawer

A little (very little) housecleaning... my sock drawer (after only, no before photo...)
I counted 18 pairs. I chucked one pair beyond repair.
Not included are the many that are in a sock drawer in Norway, plus:
How can I resist? So many patterns, so many yarns...

Monday, September 14, 2015

First Day of School- Kind of...

School in Norway starts with first grade for six year olds...and last week was the beginning, kind of...
First graders go to school for half days, and the transition from 9 hour day care to a school program of 3 hours just doesn't work with most families.  Therefore, the school system has a nine hour program to supplement the school day, including school free days.  This is the program that started at the beginning of August.  It was like going to school for the first time. Only it was two weeks before the first classroom day. Our daughter tries to make transitions seamless, so they moved to this neighborhood two years ago, and immediately showed interest in the school by using the playground weekly for its equipment and biking area.  City living doesn't always have wide expanses of bike training areas, besides city streets in Bergen are predictably uphill or down.  We were all used to the walk to the school and the playground area (which was at least half of the time spent those first weeks) so it was really an introduction to the inside of the school.
New lunch box-- check!

Mama and papa bravely faced the impending first day...
The short walk up the hill (5 minutes)... Mama carried extra clothing meant to be used on the playground in every sort of weather, but mostly rain.


Grandma gets to go, too!
Inside and...

Outside... with first day treat!
The only drama was lunch time when "fishcakes" were served as the hot meal of the day.  "Fishcakes" is exactly what it sounds like.  I can imagine that served as a hamburger with condiments would be ok, but meat/fish among many other things have never made it to this little girl's lips.  The first of many dramas, I suspect.


Saturday, September 12, 2015

Concert in the country

I heard about some concerts at Fana Church.  All during July, and it wasn't until the very last one that I planned my transportation out there.  It involved a ride on the light-rail and a bus, and it didn't disappoint!

Inside was spectacular! I was expecting a choral concert, but it was a tenor soloist and organist/pianist.  If I could locate the program, I'd publish it here, but, alas, I put it "away" somewhere, only to be found again when I die and my daughter cleans out the house... How many things she'll dispose of. It's all good!
Memorable pieces are "Panis Angelicus" and a folk hymn from the Hebrides, which we all tried to sing from the hymnal. I emphasize "tried".  The first verse goes well for most of us, but when the text becomes separated from the notes, we all had a bit of a challenge, including the accompanist/leader.  It was fun.
And after the concert, I introduced myself and was allowed to go up to the balcony and give it a little spin.  The settings were forte and I couldn't locate a softer set, so I blared a bit, and took pics.

Fana Church is pretty famous.  The roof is partially wooden like stave churches and stone like medieval churches.  Here's the link to Wikipedia, complete with a cool "legend of the Silver Cross."

Afterwards I spent an hour fooling around in the graveyard looking for a geocache.  Never located it. Then it took an extra hour to get home because the bus route was especially confusing.  All the buses going by were out of service, and I knew they were all going to exactly where I wanted to go.  After waiting 40 minutes, I was texting my daughter, hoping she could find a way for me to get away from this place... eventually two school boys showed up and asked me when the bus was coming.  I explained that it might be another 1/2 hour, and they started holding out their hands to the passing buses and one stopped!  It was raining by then, and indeed, the bus took us to the light-rail station, as I thought.  I was grouchy, to say the least, and later found that if I had waited at the place I got off (in the opposite direction) I would have gotten there faster.  Curious.
As in many adventures, I remember the concert and church more than the long wait in the rain. Yay for selective memory!

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Nanny Sewing

Sorry... These will be late reports on activities over the summer.  I could have posted in July.

Spending the summer in Norway, not a warm summer, but averaging 15ºC as the high temperature, I willingly put a quilt on my lap.  This is the quilt that my daughter pieced more than 10 years ago, and I have been quilting it periodically.  I pointed out (a year ago) that it wouldn't get finished if it was tucked away on a spare bedroom bed that was 100 miles away. It traveled back to Bergen with us a year ago, and this summer I managed to complete 3/4 of the inner border.  It had lots of competition!
Trips to the museums, the aquarium, playgrounds, daycare and school...and
In the first week I was there, I sewed this pretty dress.  She's a perfect size for a six-year-old. And lucky me...she likes to smile. (This is before losing her front teeth!)  Well, the tights aren't exactly a match, but I've learned to make decisions on things that matter.  The smile and photo are well worth it.

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