Yarn along and spring in the air

Do you knit all day long? I don't. I knit on the same thing for weeks (or years ...) because I'm into so many things. Earlier I used to believe I should try to focus on one single thing instead of trying "everything", but over the last years I've come to the conclusion that this is who I am, this is how I do things. I'd get bored if I was only doing one single thing.



So I'm knitting and crocheting. I'm sewing and selling. I'm gardening and cooking and baking. I'm photographing, I'm playing, I'm painting, I'm crafting. I'm beading. I'm ... trying new things. Re-discover old things.

At the moment I'm knitting in Malabrigo worsted, my favourite, and reading. Nora picked the flower. Vitsippa, in Swedish.

More yarn along over at Ginny's.

Leaves and a dog

This time of the year we focus so much on the flowers. I do so too. I love the tulips in my garden, the lilacs (not in bloom yet), the lily of the valley behind our house. I dream of them during the dark winter months and I look at them, touch them, smell them (and take photos of them) in Spring time.

But during the last few days I've been looking at the trees. Aren't they amazing? The buds and the first, small leaves, they're beautiful just like the flowers. This is the maple beind our house.





and a favourite dog ;-)

Spring time

The best thing about being born in May is that people are happy this time of the year. After a long, cold, dark winter it's now sunshine, light evenings, birds singing, flowers everywhere. And people are outside, smiling and talking and being friendly. It's a happy time.



The flowers in my garden are in bloom. Suddenly there's so much to do. Soil and manure, plants and seeds, weed and bugs. Laundry drying outside in the wind. Nora: Playing outside all day, never want to go in, never want to go to bed, falling asleep in a few minutes time.

History, churches and the countryside

I grew up in southern Sweden, but moved to Uppsala (one hour drive north of Stockholm) ten years ago to study at the univeristy. A couple of years later I met Magnus (2004). We lived in Uppsala until 2007 when we both had jobs in Stockholm and decided to move there. We rented a house for a year, then we bought the house where we still live. It's situated halfways between Uppsala and Stockholm (as that's what we could afford - both Stockholm and Uppsala are too expensive for us), next to Arlanda international airport. We moved in here 2-3 weeks before Nora was born, so it took quite a while until we began exploring our surroundings (except for our closest neighbourhood - having a dog makes as get to know all streets and trees and paths close to home). Only six kilometers from our house is Sigtuna, Sweden's first town (now a small, cute "town" with 10 000 inhabitants). We often go there as it's very beautiful, and also because they have several really good cafés. There's a lot of "history" in this area, many old churches and also rune stones from the vikings. In an attempt of getting to know the countryside + a bit of history, I decided that we'd go visit the churches around where we live and also bring Zam and go for a walk at each place. Today we went to Odensala church.




The oldest parts of the church were built in 1100-something. It has a lot of beautiful paintings inside that I was looking forward to see, but unfortunately the church was closed. (Here you can see panaroma pictures from inside the church.) They have begun to lock the churches in the countryside when no personell is there, as they've had problmens with thefts. That's so sad, in many ways. We had a lovely couple of hours anyway. We looked at the church from the outside, we tried the swings, Nora picked two flowers, and we went for a walk.








(Do you see the airplane?)

Our kitchen: Nora's photo

Preparing for Easter

Boiling eggs with onion.

Making chickens etc with Nora.

Hunting: Spring flowers

It was a day with sharp spring sunshine and birds singing. We went for a long walk, brought biscuits, water and an apple. We were on a spring flower hunt.

Here's a tussilago. (Names in Swedish.)

Toddlerwearing ;-)

When Nora was a baby we used to carry her a lot. Nowadays she walks, and runs :-) But sometimes she wants to be carried in a wrap, but only for a few minutes. (The wrap is one I sell in my shop, it's a LennyLamb in bamboo/cotton.)

Spring in our garden

I'm back, and so is spring. There's a little bit snow left at a few places, but now we can find spring flowers and the birds are singing. We play and work in our garden. I want to show you Nora's little sandbox which we made last year. It's rather small, but our garden is small too.



There was a storm here last night. A tree fell down behind our house (luckily outside our garden). Our garden was once again covered in autumn leaves that the strong wind carried back to us ;-) We're outside playing and working a lot now, preparing our garden for the growing season. I fight with it every year as the soil is too muddy, the garden in the shadow AND in north east, and my vegetables are invided by hungry snails of different kinds every year. But I don't give up ;-)

Nora is cooking. This is food for the birds. She was so happy to see they had eaten of it. I didn't tell her it was the storm ...

I want spring.

I'm so fed up with this. Not the weather, but that we've been ill for five weeks now. First the flu, then a cold. That's why I'm not blogging, I'm focusing my energy on family + home + work a bit. And coughing. I do that a lot.

Art: work in progress

You can find it on Etsy.

Yarn along and my socks

I finally found my sock knitting. It had fallen down behind a pile of magazines in my bookshelf. I couldn't find my printed instructions, but luckily I remembered where I found them on the internet three years ago, so I could go get them a second time. I'm pretty sure I'll not finish them now either, as I have some big plans with other knittings, but at least I was happy to find it :-)

More yarn along over at Ginny's.

Going out

The last few days have been a little bit warmer, just a few degrees below freezing point. Today we decided to spend more time outside, Nora and I, and I'm sure Zam agreed. It could have been a cozy, relaxing walk, but unfortunately it wasn't.



I soon realised Nora hadn't recovered 100% yet, she was still coughing a bit and more tired than usual. She wanted to go there so much, but once we were there she was too tired, and there was a lot of whining. Zam, on the other hand, was so happy, and very frustrated with Nora's slow slow walking. And I was somewhere in between, suggesting Nora should sit on the sledge, but she didn't want to. She wanted me to carry her, and when I said no (I was carrying a bag, holding Zam and the sledge) she prefered walking herself.



We had a little break, and it was nice. Nora and I had some biscuits and Zam was chewing on a stick he found. The birds were singing, you know that song you hear when it's still winter, but the days are longer and brighter. Then a small stick got stuck in Zam's throat. As you can imagine, he panicked. I must say I was quite afraid there for a while - we were out in the middle of nowhere and what would I do if he couldn't get rid of it himself? Finally he did manage to cough and throw it up (together with some food and blood). He was crazy for a while after that, shaking. Nora and I sat down to pat him, then we walked back to our car and went home. Zam didn't eat at all until late evening, perhaps it hurt a bit. His fine now (sleeping under our bed, which is his favourite spot during the night).

and we're back

I took a break and the break became longer and longer. We catched the flu. And a cold. Today I finally felt fine again, so I begun cleaning our house. It was much needed (and I still have places to tidy up and clean tomorrow, believe me). Nora is still coughing, but otherwise she's fine. I just wanted to explain my silence.

Tomorrow Nora and I will bake. Saturday is Magnus birthday and he wants a Schwarzwald cake. Outside it's still very, very cold and a lot of snow, but they say next week it'll be better. I hope it will. We've had snow every single day since mid November. I need Spring.

She whispers

It's actually one hour past midnight and I have been working like crazy since Nora fell asleep. I feel like I could work all night long - and I have so much to do! - but that wouldn't make me a good mama tomorrow ... ;-)



And I have painted. You can see it here, on Etsy.

Now I really need some sleep.

Yarn along again :-)

I'm quiet as it's my migraine week and I avoid comupter time as looking at the computer screen too much triggers my head ache. But I am knitting, on several things actually. And reading books for Nora.



My mittens. Growing slowly. And a book from 1973 about a boat trip.

More knit along over at Ginny's.

One small change: laundry

I've joined One Small Change in making an eco friendly change each month. Over the last years we've already made many changes, I'm reading and learning - and changing - so much, still there is so very much more to learn and to do.



This month, February, I will focus on laundry and mainly the tumbler-dryer. In summer we hang our laundry outside, but in February we hang it inside and sometimes we use the tumbler-dryer. We use it when there is a lot of small things (underwear, socks etc) + towels (because we are lazy!) and we use it for bed sheets, mainly to get rid of dog fur (as we don't want to use softener). So, for february: I will hang also all small things to dry even if it takes time ;-) and I will only tumble-dry our sheets for five-ten minutes (as I think that's enough to get rid of the fur) and then hang the sheets to dry. I've also made eight wool dryer balls (and scented two of them with peppermint oil for a fresh smell) to use in the dryer. That will be my change for February!

Mailbox

It was just after lunch. We had pasta + something I can't remember, and the pasta box was empty. "Let's make a mailbox" I said, and she was very enthusiastic.



We choose a wrapping paper and glued it to the box, then used tape (a strong one) to put it on the door to her room. While she looked at something else I put a postcard and an envelope (with a little note inside) in the box. Then we played posting and picking up post for a while ;-)

Her new clothes

I've been sewing for Nora.

Color in our home

I'm obviously not the only one in need of some color this time of the year. Here's what I found in our home. Most of it in Nora's room, actually.

Saturday night

The days are indeed longer now, more daylight, more song (the birds, not me), and sunshine that is warming us up. But, well, there is still snow and will be for many more weeks to come. But in Nora's window it's spring.




Thank you for all comments on my last post, I really appreciate that you take your time to write a few words :-)

Today I've been sewing clothes for Nora. I will show you soon!

Mittens and a favourite book

Today will be a rather silent post as we are on our way out in the snow and sunshine. I wish you a happy, sunny day (and an evening full of yarn ;o) )






More yarn along on Ginny's blog. I know it "should" be a single photo, but I really want to show you the wonderful illustrations of the books we read, hence the many photos.

share some happiness

I use to think of (and sometimes blog about) things that make me happy, or things I'm grateful for. Everyday, ordinary things. The small joys. It really is a good habit and it helps me focus on what is important in life. But how do I involve my family in it, I thought today as we had dinner.



I recently read one family where they, at dinner, asked each one of the family members what was the best thing that day. Besides the more obvious positive effects, it also gave them a chance to learn what each one of them valued the most. Everyone, each day, was listened to. As good as it sounds, it doesn't really work in our family. I did ask Nora, though, but she answered what she wanted to do, rather than what we actually did ;) And I did ask Magnus, but he was too tired to think of anything but sleep.

How can I inspire my family? Can I inspire my family? I thought of this, and when I read Ginny's blog post today I got an idea. Maybe I can take a piece of paper and put on the fridge, and every day write down a few words on what made me happy or what I enjoyed that day? It'll help me focus, but it's also there for everyone to read (and be reminded or inspired). Will it work? It's worth a try, isn't it?

---

And I found a great (and free!) online class on how to use twitter. (If you want to follow me on twitter, you can find me here.)

I saw the sign ---

You know how one thing can lead to another and you sometimes end up doing something else than you had planned to? The other day when I went for a walk with Zam I brought my camera and without much thought I started snapping pictures of signs. It made me think of the Ace of Base, a Swedish pop band, popular in the early 90s. They have a song called The Sign. Thinking of them made me think of a boy I was in love with then.



The lyrics of The Sign are crappy (to say the least). Or what do you say about this:

I saw the sign and it opened up my mind
and I am happy now
living without you
I've left you
I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes
I saw the sign
no one's gonna drag you up
to get into the light where you belong

Thinking of them made me think of him as we both liked Ace of Base at that time. I was a quite shy 12 year old and I think he never knew how I felt. Sometimes I thought maybe he liked me too, but then, probably he didn't. I guess I wasn't the kind of girl you notice. He was from USA and lived in Sweden for only a couple of years with his family, then he moved back when we were 13.



A few years later he came back to visit. There was a girl in our class who stayed in touch with him (I think), I suppose she liked him too ;) and she was the one who told us he'd visit our school during a break that day. I think I never got around to talk to him, I probably felt awkward in some way. Besides, by then I was not in love with him anymore.

As I walked there with Zam and my camera I came to think of him and wondered what he's doing today. I searched on Google (isn't internet amazing?!) and his name popped up. As I know which state he came from, and as his name is uncommon, I actually only found one person - but several hits. I'm not sure it's him as I didn't see any photos so that I could recognize him (and maybe I wouldn't anyway, a 12 year old look quite different from a 30 year old). I was looking for an email address or some way to contact him, but couldn't find any. I did find a text written by someone who seemed to know him, and that guy did have an email adress. So I dropped a few lines ...

Do you think I'll get an answer? Do you think it's him?



More crappy lyrics:

I got a new life
you would hardly recognize me
I'm so glad
how can a person like me care for you
why do I bother
when you're not the one for me