Cardigan pour moi...

Yes It is done... The design is my own and I spend lots of time on the details. Pockets, The decreases at the shoulders, and I tried different types of cast on and of and instead of picking up the stitches at the neck I crocheted in a way so the edge got enclosed in the ribbon. I like that the back of the knitting is attractive too.



The yarn is: Marianne Isager Twinni Alpaca in cream and Marianne Isager Højlandsgarn in the color maize. The combination is very soft but keeps the shape very well. I am becoming more and more aware of how important it is how the knitting fells is it heavy, loose, cold, warm ? How does it move and does it get out of shape ? It is knitted on needles size 2½ and 3½.




I like the combination of a body with pattern and the sleeves with plain stocking stitches. It reminds me of a jacket I used to have with a body in very rough knitted fabric and sleeves in suede. I loved that jacket so much.

Last picture taken on our trip to Copenhagen.

Retrospect...

Looking through the blog I realized that the pictures of our apartment have been posted a lot of places on other blogs but not here...so here comes !

There has been some changes that I am planning on telling you all about at the end of the summer, when I have been finishing it all.

White shirt for Seth

White shirts are just great, but for little boys I like them to be casual in the style of 'successfull business man spending time at his summerresidens, reading the big philosophers and eating locally produced berries'.

I have been working on a great slope for shirts and this one really fits very well at the shoulders. After having it tested at Seth for a couple of days I cut up fabrics for two more in size 98 cl... You just cant have to many of these. The fabric is seersucker with the lining at the neck being in plain cotton



The fabric is light and is perfect on a hot day with the sleeves rolled up, and when the weather gets cold he will be wearing it with a long sleeve t shirt under and maybe with a vest.

I like the little cream cloured button and loop against the bright white shirt.

New baskets - new projects

New projects... Well that is not quite true... I started these projects about a year ago, and somehow things didn't really turn out the way I wanted them to.




I saw Brooklyn tweeds version of Saddle shoulder Aran cardigan by Meg Swansen ( EZ's daughter ) and thought maybe it was time to knit something for John ( He had been begging me to make something with cables ). It was all started before I knew anything about Elisabeth Zimmerman's percentage system so it was really a project that exceeded my knowledge and capabilities at that time. At the same time it can be real difficult to calculate how many stitches you need when you are using a lot of different cables on one sweater or cardigan, so I started over and over again. Then I was given EZ books for my birthday and did a lot of reading and things started to come together.




At the same time I started another project. I wanted a thin cream coloured cardigan in all alpaca, but no It just was too floppy, so that was stashed. Finally I paired the thin alpaca with some Shetland wool in the colour Maize, and that turned out very well.

These two projects was actually the ones that made me realize that I needed to plan and organize my knitting more. Both cardigans are close to be finished and I am quite content that I didn't give up cause I just had to learn so much.

And still I really like these baskets...


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Copenhagen trip... for parents

We told our son we were going on a trip to a big city and would be home on film day ( That is Friday in our house ). He looked at us and understood... amazing how much he has grown, every day something new happens and his personality just grows and grows. We called him every day ( we were gone 3 days) but he didn't have the time to chat, he was busy. Through the phone he winked, and then he was of to play with grandma or grandpa.

We stayed at Hotel phoenix right in the centre of Copenhagen. It is a kind of hotel that brings out the little princess in me, getting all excited about the little bottles in the bathroom ( yes... off course I brought them home !! ) and the swirling stairs where it is absolutely plausible to loose a shoe and then wait... Luckily John was with me so I didn't have to risk my health in a maneuver that would look credible waiting for the prince to save me.

Wednesday we went to the theatre and watched a revue. We wanted to see a ballet but I guess the little ballerinas have stopped dancing for this season, so we went to see a revue. That was a gamble since we are not particular fond of the genre, but after all, since it was the Royal Theatre, we decided to give it a try. Yes they were very professional and the theatre was beautifull and impressive but lets just say we looked at each other afterwards and said "been there done that".

Thursday it was time for a stroll in the city checking out all the little specie shops we just don't have in our town, but I have to admit that we mostly sat on cafés. The best café was The royal cafe in the backyard of the royal Copenhagen porcelain shop. Very special atmosphere

And the best strawberry tart ever...

In the evening we had a late dinner at MASH.... Great place.

Friday We had breakfast with an old friend of John at cafe Granola. She is a writer and has written quite a few very humoristic things about being a mum and other things. Both the cafe and Maren Uthaug turned out to be really nice.





Then we were of to see the outdoor exhibition 'My home is my castle'. It was in Frederiksberg Have in the part where the garden of The Danish Royal Horticultural Society garden is located. It was Okay but a little too twee for my taste. we still had a nice time and had some buns before we took a cab to the central train station. Unfortunately there had been some trouble on the rails so instead of the trip beeing with no stops, we ended up changing trains and buses 5 times. We arrived 3 hours later than calculated. Not really a problem when grandma is waiting at home with dinner and dessert...




All in all it is was a nice trip... but next time we will see a ballet.

Knitting Lady Mabbott part 1

I started a new knitting project. Lady Mabbott is an orange cardigan with offwhite ribbing's. So far she has been a nice project... I will tell a bit about how I organize my knitting.




First I set up my knitting bag: The bag is a basic drawstring cotton bag. I find it very easy to find things in the white bag since the light shines a bit through the cotton. I have one bag for each project making it easy for me to quickly bring the chosen project to where ever I am going.

So whats in the bag... ?

one pair of Scissors.
Notebook.
Calculator.
Crochet needle in the same size as my knitting needles.
All the knitting needles to be used, circular and straight.
Measuring tape.
Special sewing needles for knitting.
Little Zip lock bags with little loops that I use for row and stitch markers.
Pencil ( forgot that on the picture... )




For every project I start a little notebook. One part of the book is general info. In this project it is:

Yarn bought: 300 g of Duo in color 550. Price kr. 130 ( $ 24 )/ 100 gram
Besides, I use a bit off white Duo from the stash.

Little knitting test:
Cast on 35 stitches on needles 2,5 mm ( long tail cast on ), 4 rows garter stitch, 44 rows of stocking stitches with 2 garter stitches on each side, then 4 rows of garter stitch where the last is also the cast of row. Wash the swap, let i dry, then count the gauge: I ended up with 15 stitches to 5 cm. , and 22 rows to 5 cm.

In this part of the notebook I also wrote down my reflection on what should be in my knitting bag.

I also keep the diagram of the cardigan folded up inside the notebook. It is drawn on millimeter charted paper where every square on the paper equals one stitch and one row.

Another part of the notebook is the actual log of the project. What I did and sometimes I even write down the date for whenever a sleeve or something else was started, mostly because it is quite fun to see how fast the knitting is moving.

To be continued...




Today I did a little ( late ) spring cleaning here in my blog. I found out that the labelling was in quite a bit of a mess, I cleared out all the labels and in the near future I will try to get it sorted out starting today with the knitting related stuff. Now it is possible to look at all the posting of a specific knitting project since in the future they will all be given a name. It is still possible to see all the knitting under the label "knitting" - what else.

Studiogarden...



4 years ago here used to be a large building. It was in a bad shape and had to be torn down. Here was no garden, just grass and black soil. A friend of my parents drew a plan for the area. There has been made a lot of changes in it but it still remains mainly as originally planned.

Normally when I think about garden design I think in terms of making outdor rooms with hedges or trees as walls. One room joining the next, creating corners and spaces for different purposes.
But there is another way of doing it... The idea is to let the living area extend to the closest part of the garden and let the rest of the garden mix with the nature ( which in Denmark is farmland ).

It can get very warm along the southern wall so the idea came to imitate the cozy life lived outside houses in Southern Europe under shades and pergolas with lots of climbing plants, seating areas and pots filled with flowers. And since this after all is not Greece, here will be a 35 squaremeter big wood framed greenhouse...

Last year we established the middle section between the building and the fields with a lawn and five different types of appletreees. Also the paving was made. There are still a lot of things to be finished at the building but we are slowly getting there.

This year it was finally time for planting some plants. We started with the herbaceous border outside the 3 big studio windows shown below.




The plants are all perennials and my mother is the mastermind. I basically told here about all my favorites, and she chose the ones that would fit to the conditions of the place and decided how many of each type we should plant.




Above are the main characters :

From left to right

Geranium macrorrhizum 'Ingwersen's Variety, May, june and juli, 30 cm.
Nepeta faassenii walkers low, June, Juli, august and september, 50 cm.




Above are the supporting characters:

From left to right:

Veronica gentianoides, may and june, 40 cm.
Helianthemum 'Elfenbeinglanz', May, june and july, 20 cm.
Allium schoenoprasum, June and July, 25 cm.
Ranunculus acris 'Multiplex', June and july, 60 cm.
Chelone oblique, August and september, 80 cm.
Oreganum vulgare 'Thumble's Variety', July and august, 20 cm.
Tradescantia virginia 'Breviacaulis', June, july, august and september, 50 cm.
Echinacea purpurea 'Alba', July, august and september, 60 cm.
Phlomis russeliana, July and august, 80 cm.

Below is the overall plan of the area...





My mother helping with the planting...




1½ months later it looks like this... Still a lot of the plants need to grow bigger and completely fill out the space making it pretty and very easy to maintain.

Shoes...

All my shoes were in a bad shape and something had to be done... Then there was a burglary in my car where my best shoes got stolen. So I decided to be very strategic in my hunt for new favorite shoes. Shoes kind of sets the standard for the rest of the outfit. One pair of shoes makes me feel very girlish, another is very soft and allows me to sneak around corners smooth and flexible and some are just great because they are very practical... I wanted my little summer collection to have the variations that I needed for different outfit and different moods. Lucky me The Internet made it a lot easier to find what I was looking for:

First I fell completely in love with Ulrikas shoes So I decided to get one pair of very sweet sandal clogs. I have never had much success with wearing closed shoes with stockings and dresses but these I can imagine will be just fine that way ( Just see Ulrikas beautiful combination with blue stockings here ). I bought them at Knulp





Then I bought a very practical pair of clogs perfect for those quick runs in and out of the house. The leather is very pale now but will darken by the time to a very nice light brown...have a feeling that these will be used a lot... Also seen at Ulrikas blog and bought at Knulp.se




10 years ago I went on a holiday to Florence and bought a pair of handmade sandals like the ones at the last picture. They were on my feet the next 9 summers, I had new soles twice, but in the end they completely fell apart. I thought I had lost the business card but one month ago I found it again... And yes The shoemaker Moretti Walter has a website so I quickly ordered to pairs...one pair just like the old ones and another pair with a nice shaping at the front. These looks really nice with a pair of jeans.




I am one happy girl... Come summer...

Confession: I did something I find very extravagant. I went on a one day shopping trip to Copenhagen. Early in the morning I left the sleeping baby and boyfriend behind in the apartment. With me I had a big bag with some knitting, water and whatever I needed for the trip. I started out with a coffee at the train station and then spend some nice three hours of knitting in the train. At the main train station in Copenhagen I had just enough time for another coffee before the shops opened. It was a great feeling. It was a beautiful day and I was walking the pedestrian street and saw all the truck drivers delivering to the shops just before they opened. A hole day in Copenhagen just for myself... luxury...

Off course I was looking for shoes... I wanted a pair of high heels espadrillos in a good quality and found these at magazin. I am not a nail polish kind of girl, but when I find a pair of shoes that makes me want to put nail polish on my toes, I know it is time to get into action. I just love these shoes they make me feel so feminine and Carrie Bradshaw kind of big city cool. Can be really nise sometimes... The nail polish I bought right away... Chanel... the color is #159 Fire...

I returned home at eleven in the evening, very tired but in a splendid mood. I had been a princess for a day... Next day I had a hangover from all the visual input I had gotten. I had a very slow day and tried to recover. When you live in a smaller town you don't have any practice in filtering all these impressions from big cities. I am pretty sure Carrie Bradshaw would be just fine after a day of shopping... It is certainly not the last time I will do it...





Through Wiksten I heard about Toast. I like their style and when I saw the golden T-strap ballerinas I knew I had to have them. It is a fine made shoe with a leather sole but I had to have a more practical sole on it since I would like to use them for more than dancing Saturday night ( Don't really do that unless at home and in my PJ... and my dancing partner is only two ears old... ) So a visit to the shoemaker and now I use them all the time. They look great with narrow jeans and big soft and baggy pants with elastic at the ankle.

Expectations...

It was so easy... Just one click, then one more... one more... and suddenly I had bought a whole bunch of seeds... I just couldn't help myself. But you also have to remember that I grew up in a nursery and I know that sowing is really the easy part of all that garden fun. So I restrained myself and only put half of the seeds in little pots saving the rest for next year. My dad has a very fine table in the greenhouse where he nurtures little baby plants, so I asked for some sowing advice and a little space next to all his seedlings hoping that his luck will rubb of to my plants too.








I found a beautifull book about flowers on sale at the supermarket, and I realized that Lathurus Odorata dont like to have their very fragile roots disturbed which gave me the perfect opportunity to buy that little tool "the potmaker". Can you believe it I am a potter and I buy a potmaker... isn't that a bit weird ? But you see you just cant rip of the buttom of a ceramic pot and then plant it in the garden... you see it was a total necessity... The funny thing is that even if we have one at the farm my dad had to make one himself when he saw the one I bought ( He is the lucky owner of a woodturner )... probably just to prove that he could, so now there is two of them lying around in the greenhouse... even more strange... They are functioning perfect and are great space saver if you don't want to save all those little plastic pots for next year. Just remember, only use newspapers that you have read or you will just end up reading the paper, drinking coffee, getting frustrated over poverty and crises, and the climate change... Of course that is also important but maybe on another day...





Here is what is in the little pots...

1 stk. Blomsterkarse, Milkmaid.
1 stk. Frøkenhat. Envy.
1 stk. Basilikum. Sweet Genovese.
1 stk. Ærteblomst. Wiltshire ripple.
1 stk. Ærteblomst. Mix.
1 stk. Ærteblomst. Grandiflora America.
1 stk. Blomsterkarse. Orange.
1 stk. Frøkenhat. Zinnia, dahlia flowered mix.
1 stk. Katost. Malva Sylvestris Zebrina.
1 stk. Levkøj, Matthiola longipetala.
1 stk. Mamelukærme, Rosa.Lavatera trimestris.
2 stk. Pragtsnerle. Caprice. Frø.
1 stk. Pragtsnerle. Crimson Rambler.
1 stk. Pragtsnerle. Milky Way.
1 stk. Opiumsvalmue. Papaver somniferum.
1 stk. Silene colorata, Pink star.
1 stk. Sløjfeblomst. Iberis candytuft red flash.
1 stk. Stedmoder. Can can mix.
1 stk. Stolt kavaler, Cosmos, Candystripe.
1 stk. Stolt kavaler. Pied piper red.
1 stk. Tobaksblomst, Tinkerbell.
1 stk. Trompetkatost. Malope trifida. Pink Queen.
1 stk. Kørvel, Dansk, Anthriscus cerefolium.
1 stk. Bladbede Rainbow chard.
1 stk. Fennikel.
1 stk. Tomat Green grape.
1 stk. Tomat Yellow brandywine.
1 stk. Valsk bønne Aguadulce.
1 stk. Pot maker.

I bought it all from Frøbutikken. The service was fine but I needed more information on the packaging and was also missing quite a few of the latin names. So next year I might try buying from Thompson and Morgan... we will see