Snow

Nora and I have been out travelling, we visited my dad & co for a couple of days. When coming back home, winter arrived.

It'll be a bit silent here for a while as Christmas approaches and I have plenty to do, and more than that ;) , for my Swedish webshop. I'll continue to write here, but not every day :)

What a Wednesday can be like

Despite that it was white frost on the trees and grass, it's been a rather dark day, lights on inside and a lot of clothes on outside. In the morning we went to the dentist and Nora got a balloon and a toothbrush and toothpaste (but she refused to show her teeth ;) ), after that we went to buy some fabric (the store is just next door to the dentist's) and then we passed by "open kindergarten" because Nora wanted to show Maud (who works there and whom she really likes) her all the things she got at the dentist's. Busy morning! Now it's already afternoon and I have to work. Nora is watching Babar the elephant with dad and I will dive in to the felt blanket that I'm making. Dive in to, literaly, as I wet felt it.



Yarn made of banana fiber + recycled silk. I'm so looking forward to using it! And a felt flower I made.

Wig crocheting, sweets and too much chocolate

It's a busy mamma, it's a busy week. Today I have changed into winter tires on our car (well, I didn't do it myself, actually), so now winter can arrive any day (but please wait until the end of next week at least). I have worked a lot too, mostly with wet felting on the bathroom floor with Nora on my back, pretending I'm a horse and feeding me with imaginary hay (I'm very glad it's not real hay). Felting with a child on ones back, that's what I call heavy work.

No knitting today, but a little bit of crocheting:



I'm crocheting a wig for a doll. It's kind of boring so I make it more fun with a nice book. This one is full of sweets ... I bought it for my grandma and will give it to her later this week as Nora and I are going south on Thursday to visit some family members :)



Mmmm, polkagrisar, I love them. Peppermint. Mmm.

Unfortunately there's too much chocolate in this book. I don't like chocolate. I love chocolate. I might need a copy of this book for myself.



More yarn along on small things.

A few things I've made

Already Monday evening and I've just put Nora to bed. Now I'll sew a waldorf inspired doll, sitting in bed and hoping not to drop any needles ;) Yesterday I made a doll which was inspired both by waldorf and by kalikå. It's the first big doll I've ever made.



And here's a pair of earrings, the first thing I sold in my new Swedish shop.



Another wheat bag:

Craft kit on Etsy - Swedish hearts

Preparing for Christmas yet? I made this little craft kit for you :)



For 25 years of my life Christmas decorations was Christmas decorations. Then my friend Cora, from France, spent a month or two in Sweden during Christmas. She was fascinated by our decorations, saying that there were so many hearts, so much red and white, everywhere. And I thought Yes? That's what Christmas decorations are like, right?. Not until then did I realise that different kinds of decorations are popular in different countries. (Stupid of me, right? *smile*)

Anyway, some years have passed since then. And now I made this kit for you so that you can have your own Swedish hearts in your house ;) They are filled with cloves and smell wonderful. Check them out + read more on Etsy.

What shall we have for dinner today?

(The crocheted food is made by my friend Therese.)

A warm/cold cat ;-)

I made this little wheat warmer cat for a friend's child. It's the size of my palm so it's rather small, but I imagine the wheat makes it nice for a child to hold the cat, to throw it in the air and then catch it again. It can be heated in a microwave oven or chilled in the freezer.



I've been addicted to wheat warmers lately. I made this one, below, for my husband, but end up using it myself every day (he uses it too).

Yarn along in a snowy Sweden

Winter, snow, wind - it's a good company to knitting. If staying inside, that is. All Tuesday it was blowing, a lot, and snowing. Nora and Zam both love snow so poor mamma had to stay outside in that cold wind and make snow balls for both of them ;-) This is what it looked like at 3 pm. It was not as cozy as you might think.



I did cast on a new knitting, though. This one is just for me (which means I will probably finish it in 2012 or so). It's Noro, Kureyon, and it will become a leg-warmer. Two years ago I got a ball of yarn and knitted a leg-warmer. When I went to the yarn store to get more of that yarn, they were out of that color. Forever, I realised after coming back every now and then for a couple of months (and asking, of course). Spring came, and I gave up.



But having one leg-warmer is so pointless. Besides, it was getting cold outside and I started to long for two. I went back to the yarn store and asked them to pick out a ball of yarn that'd go with my one leg-warmer. Now I'm knitting the other one. To be used in 2013, maybe. And I'll probably look like a Noro version of Pippi Longstocking.

The book? I bought it last winter but haven't read it yet (and no, I'm not pregnant). It's three years ago I was pregnant and I think it's only now the book is somewhat easy for me to read. I picked it up again this morning and started reading.

Yarn along - read more over at Ginny's.

Tomten

Ten years ago I took a papir maché class. The teacher was an artist working in Israel, but that fall (or spring? I don't remember) she was in Sweden to visit her mother and she taught this class. It was a really great class and I learnt a lot. I made several big things, but also a bunch of small tomtar (gnomes). They are really, really small.



This one use to sit just above my sewing table to see that I work as I should (or else Santa wont come visit me). However Nora really likes him so I think half of the time he's moving around in our house but sooner or later he pops up again and I put him back where he lives. On the corner just above my sewing machine.

Where I sit, where I sew

I want to show you this stool (is that the correct word in English?) that we bought a few months back. It's a simple wooden one from Ikea, but I have painted it in Nora's and Magnus' favourite color. (It's a bit dirty on the photo though.) I've decorated it with an elephant as Nora really likes elephants (at the moment she's all about Babar the elephant. I mean except for tigers. And Christmas.)



I like this stool, it's steady and very useful. At the moment it's my "chair" in my new sewing corner. I've moved out of our bedroom to the small space next to the stairs. I think it's a really good place, except that I can't fit my more comfortable chair between the stairs and the table and have to use the purple stool. It works, but I can imagine many better chairs ... :)

Ridgeback wrist warmers

Nora and I have been to a big craft (mostly fabric + fibers) fair today, about 50 minutes by train from home, and we are soooo tired, but it was really great there, even Nora liked it. Because of that I'll only show you a photo of what I knitted for my friend, and then call it a weekend :-)



When I uploaded the photos I saw all of them were bad, no focus etc, but by then I had already sent the warmers to my friend. I think they do look better irl than on this photo as it's hard to see the "ridgeback" part of it in the photo. And yes, they were actually inspired by the dog breed Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Our tree

A walk to our story telling tree (we sit under it and tell stories).



Kom, mamma! (Come, mamma!)





Toller rolling.





There's a little santa tiger under the tree. She wants to hear a story about a cat and a christmas tree.

Yarn along

Knitting a gift for a friend (can't tell what it is yet, in case she's reading this post before she gets the gift) while reading Business administration. It's a small and simple knitting project, but a not-so simple book (however useful).

Inspired by Small things.

Some links for you

Waffle knit dishcloth pattern.

Crochet Grandma tree.

Fifi is already sharing some unusual and creative Christmas decorating ideas.

Anna Maria's fabrics are so colorful and make me happy. Soon irl too, as I've just ordered a bundle.

Moline always inspires me, especially through her flickr photos of her crafts and home, but also her collages which often are color themed.

Working hard

It's really hectic here at the moment. I've been working hard lately and I plan to open my new, improved (and Swedish) shop this week. I hope ... There are so many many small and big things to do, so much to think about, texts to write and photos to be taken, but also all those little details that you hardly notice when it works, and when being a buyer, but as a seller I have to think of all details. It's fun, but nonetheless hectic.



This doll arrived from Germany last week. Her name is Mandy, as my business name is Milly & Molly I thought Mandy might be a suitable name for her. She's heavy and the size of a 4-6 months old baby (not really remembering when Nora was that size, maybe even older?). I will use her to try my baby carriers (wraps, soft buckle carriers, mei tais etc) and also to show customers how to use them. I really like her, she feels almost like a real baby.

Did you have a nice weekend? Do you have Halloween where you live? We've only had it for the last 15 years or so, growing bigger each year. When I was little there was absolutely no trick or treat here ;-) But this year several kids have visited us, and of course I have given them treats ;-) although a bit in a hurry as I know Zam, our dog, woulde be scared if he saw them. He scares very easily.