Cookie magazine and a little blanket...

I don't do a lot of decorating during summertime, got so many other things to do. With fall comes the urge to fix things and clean everything. And then Joanna Goddard writes me an email asking if she could do a house tour and interview on Cookie magazine . What a great way to start redecorating by seeing all the pictures of the appartment. See it all here, and when you are there take a look at some of the other house tours, there are some great ones.

I decided I was gonna make a little project for the bathroom floor. We needed something for our feet when stepping out of the shower. It had to be small enough to dry quickly and not take a lot of space in the washing machine.



It turned out I had some fabric in my stash that was not all natural fibers. Since I only use natural fibers in my clothing I really had no use for it, Except "not all natural fibers" is actually a good thing for a project like this. So this is what happened: a big granny square made with a gigantic crochet needle. It works perfect...

Oh ... The floor in the picture above is from the restroom at the studio. I really like it, and would wish we had the same floor and light in our bathroom here in the appartment.

Sock knitting and a dear friend...

The fall is here... it's raining and I like it... maybe I like it because I know I don't have to leave the house today. Having a city apartment with trees right outside the windows is really a thing. Right now colours of the leaves are changing every day, then in the start of december the branches will be decorated with christmas lights. Not bad at all.

I have been knitting a lot lately, but sometimes I just need something not complicated I can work with while taking care of Seth or cooking dinner.

Just a quick question here: Do you knit in the kitchen in between cutting potatoes and waiting for the egg plants to toast in the oven ? and Do you knit in bed...? I do both. Is that bad...?

Okay, so what I do is having a lot of parallel projects, one of them will eventually be at a stage of some simple knitting. Then I can take care of the complicated parts when there is peace and quiet over the field and simple knitting creates peace and quiet... Once in a while I knit socks. Nothing fancy, just grey socks, I keep my sock knitting stuff in a cake can with everything I need, there is always enough yarn to start a new pair for whoever needs. No thinking of colours, patterns or is there eneough yarn, nope, just make those socks as you have done it so many times. And this time it was for me and Seth




Knitting in bed made me think of a friend of mine; whenever she got a new boyfriend, she started eagerly to knit something for him but then they allways broke up before the knitting was finished. She herself says she knitted them away. Does that sound familiar to anyone ? She is, by the way, now very happily expecting kiddo # 2 with a great guy. I once started a very complicated sweater for a new boyfriend and actually even tried ( with no succes ) to finish it for the next boyfrind in line. And NO, I did not have a lot of guys comming around, as I said it was a VERY COMPLICATED sweater. I actually finished the sweater and gave it to brother in law even if it was a bit too big for him...




A couple of years ago I made a holder for my knitting needles and different other accessories. It is made of an old embroided tablecloth and has a very sturdy lining. It has a double compartment for both longer and shorter needles, and a couple of earrings I use as markers. I still haven't figuered out a good way to store my circular needles.




Even if it is raining, this is not a grey day and I might do a lot of writing about grey stuff since I like grey and I just have to show you these very nice traditional mittens a friend ( who lives way to far away from us ) gave to me. I cherish them a lot and I am allways afraid of loosing them. They are very skillfully made by a lady she knows. Luckily for the mittens I dont bike a lot so they are not worn out, I hope they will last for many more years.

This Friend has finally started blogging and you just have to check it out. She writes in sweedish but there is so many wonderfull pictures to see... This person never does anything half. She is a perfectionist and it shows. Go check it out...
At ullis blog I also found the link to a great vintageblog about clothes and just like Ullis blog this one is very honest and you get a great feeling of the person behind it.

Shop update

After quite a bit of cleaning yesterday at the shop I have listed the new pants.
I hope, in the future there will be a listing of new things every two weeks or so, so if you havent already put Flødehesten on your blogroll, now would be a good time. If you are not in to all this blogroll thing send me your email and I will let you know when there are news.

I will be making clothes in the size range from 0 to 6 years, but will be making the individually pieces in sizes, I find suits the actual design. There will be no sold pieces in the shop, but if you want to see them it will be possible at here

The pants below are in sizes 68 cl. (6-12 months) and 74 cl. (1-1½ year). all vintage cotton, machine washed and line dry, each piece unique.

Have a nice day... I will have now a latte and donut to celebrate !

Once upon a time...

There was a girl who made kids clothes... well she actually made things people really liked, but she knew that if she wanted to grow up and become a real DESIGNER she had to study, and so she did... she constructed patterns over and over again, tested them on crying babies and she did a lot of thinking... life is no fairytale (well, sometimes it is... but that's another story) just a lot of measuring, drawing, cutting, calculating... and still no actual clothes to tell about... But then one day she was done with all the preparations... she could actually sit down by the sewingmachine, switch on the radio and enjoy being productive again. One happy girl who just cant wait to show you the 18 pair of new flødeheste pants !










Oh... by the way a little bird had found its way down the chimney, and insisted on being invited into the studio. It was a sweetie to have around for a couple of hours, before it found its way out to the place where only the sky is the limit... good for birdie...

Let me introduce "THE OFFICE" ...

This week I finished the office area in my studio. This is where I hang out with all the other secretarys giggling and drinking latte and discussing the last night downtown... well its not quite like that... You see, John just bought all the episodes of sex and the city, and I think we have just watched a few too many. In real life this place is mostly used for reflecting and once in a while a little book keeping ( yak... ). Normally I need a little time to consider how my work is progessing. Should the colour be different, maybe the shape or...
Or maybe my head just gets blank. Then I look in old folders filled with ideas. Some are good but has that "something" missing, some I thought was bad, but then something happened and it evolved into something else and certainly to a lot better and then there are some, that just doesn´t make any sense, but that I still keep because maybe in the future they will make sense. Am I making any sense...




The different cabinets are all thrifted except the one on the right side of the table. That one is from Ikea and holds my printer and other technical stuff. On the left side of the table I have all the transformators for Ipods, PC, kamera etc (very practical). I also collect information I need for some project and leave them hanging on little hooks.




I like my desktop to be rather empty... At least before I start new project. I have a few things to make the place a little cosy. The plant because it is just nice not to be the only thing alive around the place, and a little sign to remind me of how dark and unpractical my old studio was... And how much I just love this place, my new studio, just perfect.




Oh yes, the last picture... dinner : Tabbouleh with melon and tomatoes... Served on one of my favorit plates. Have a nice weekend

Flea market...

This weekend I went to the flea market. Sometimes I get lucky. I found a lot of things I was looking for and a little ekstra, I didn´t know, I needed...

The chairs are electroplated and have wooden strips. They are gonna be used in front of the shop. It is really practical; they can be left out year around. All I have to do is to replace the wooden strips when they get in bad shape... Nice with things, you feel are going to stay with you for the rest of your life...




Here are a couple of the things, I didnt know, I was missing. The sewing mashine and the tin box were just too cute to be left behind. I wish I had a sewing mashine such as that when I was a kid... Instead I had a full funktioning "grown up version" which was probably also a lot better ( but didn´t look that cute... ). I didn´t play with dolls. Nope, I made clothes and furniture for them. I guess the only things changed since are the sizes of the things being made.

The bamboo table is for the sitting area in the back of the studio and shop. I need to replace the glass part; it is cracked. And off course, I had to have those zink buckets when the price was just $ 2 for each. It can be hard to find good quality zink. Usually the new ones contain iron, meaning they will not work with plants because of the rust. It feels a bit wrong to make holes in the bottom of them, but it is nesessary. One of them I will give to Seth to play with in the sandpit, since I find it hard to see the beaty in cheap and faded bright colored plastic toys...





These electroplated trash cans are old municipal ones from the city of Århus. Not yet yet sure what I will use them for, but since they can hang on the wall, I migth use them in the hallway for storing gloves, scarves and the like.




All in all it was a nice trip except the fact that I went there with Seth; he´s bit too young to find the charm of flea market. At once he was trying to crawl out of the pram, I had an angry wasp after me, I was trying to haggle a good deal with the vendor selling the buckets and my mother called ( she was taking care of the shop... nice mom... ). She had a customer there having some questions for me... It was pretty stressy all this happening at once, but it made a couple of spectaors to laugh... and that is not a bad thing at all... I think, next time I will close my cell phone and leave Seth at home. At least until he´s starting to find things for himself.





By the way... Yesterday I was wearing a pedometer. At the end of the day it told me I had done 22000 steps, estimated to the distance of 14 km. Pheeeewwww...! Once in a while I´m thinking how my life would have been if a had a job wearing high heels and a business suit. But can you imagine 22000 a day steps in stilettos...

Seth´s nanny is sweet... and I´m finally WORKING...

After a short visit at the day care we knew inmediately, the place would be really good for Seth... 3 kids and lots of noisy and ugly plastic toys to play with... So the plan went out like: He could start allready this week, but only until noon in the beginning, so he gets used.

A lot of organizing & stuff like raincoats, boots, thermo clothes, diapers and so on ( they give you a list...which is quite practical ), but we are all settled by now. The first two days were great, but today I had to pick him up early. He got homesick and sad so we went home, read a couple of books, had some raisins and everything was fine again... Tomorrow we try again...




AND me...? It´s raining every day here, so I have left the outdoor activities and have spend hours cleaning up the studio. It feels really good, like conquering the space back from to be a playground to working purposes.

Before leaving you I would like to ask you something: For a while I thought nobody was posting because of the summer, or maybe everybody were just busy, like me... BUT, it turned out my RSS feed reader was malfunktioning... It bothers me a lot, because I´m really enjoying to follow what everybody is up to... So any ideas how to fix this little problem are very welcome.

when things are slow...

It has been a while ago... but sitting again here and writing a blog feels really good. It has always been some kind of reward for me to sit down with these pictures and write about one more finished project... John uses once in a while the phrase: "Now the world is a bit more complete". It can be after any small thing, like vacuuming the floor... But it is not quite that easy when the project is a real big one; like totally completing my shop and studio with every single little thing that's missing... but I am slowly getting there.
The picture below shows the area in front of my shop. You park your car on the other side of the building and walk around the corner following the path with the big windows of the studio on your right hand. The shops´ entrance is covered with tiles. This winter a 30 square meter greenhouse will be built there. It is going to be a part of the shop; I am dreaming of a little area for selling things for garden, and a little place to sit down with a cup of coffee and a muffin... we will see...




But as it is, here is a lot to be done. Trying to finish most of it myself with a little kid around, takes time. Against my own rules I am publishing plans of an unfinished project. I want you to be part of it and share it with me, wondering how it is going to be... ?




Maybe the most important part of the project takes place tomorrow. We are going to visit a day care nanny, hopeful sweet, suitable and willing for taking care of Seth who´s longing to play with other kids and giving me the time to be more productive in my shop and with my shop...

The mocca cup candleholder... or something about doing things with an ease

This is by so far my favorite candleholder, and yes, I made it. Not in the studio, but at home at the kitchentable, using bits and pieces from the kitchen cabinet. It is assembled with a very strong clear two component glue. Using an element for something else than it was originally intended to, makes it all fun and easy.

There is just something about candleholders... they are complicated. Stubborn little snobbish creatures, not really wanting to have anything to do with others, except that identical one standing next to them. Hmmm... they nag me... But I love candles and I NEED candleholders and this one says: I come in peace...
So, wellcome.





It is the time of the year, where the studio's filled with pots... I throw pots in big patches to fill an order. Something happends after I have thrown the first 20. The repetition, the rhytm , the flow, those tiny variations. At the same time it is 120 small stories and one long one. All I want to do is doing things with an ease because it makes it easier for others to approach it.

Simple living...

Whenever I see these books about simple living with a cover showing a woman (apparently not wearing any makeup...) sitting in her white clothes on a lawn, looking over the green green hils, it always makes me laugh. That is not simple living. Simple living is wearing dark pants if you´re planning a picnic in the park, without spending the next day trying to wash the stains of, eventually give up and spend a day shopping (which I hate), trying to find another pair, you like as much. Simple living is practical, but maybe not so pretty waterproof plastic containers, you use to transport your food when you´re going to park... Do I have to continue... ?

Simple living is also trying to use whatever you have by hand, may it be yarn, food or cooking books. In this world many things circulate too quickly... Even information... Sometimes you just have to stay put, get the job done and think...




The vests are for Seth and I used yarn left from other projects and some old buttons from my grandmothers stash ( She took all the buttons of clothes before throwing them out... no she did not give them to charity, because what was left, would not be usable for anyone ). The pattern is a traditional vest, used for decades...

Now I will go and scramble a meal together of left over vedgies and what I may find from the fridge. Simply.