New Beginnings

It has been a year and a half since I wrote a new blog post. Since then a lot of things have happened. My family and I have moved to a new country. It has been a long year and we are finally getting settled. We now live and work in the Middle East for a few years and it is a dream come true for us. We were here between 2007 and 2010 as well but had to leave very suddenly to battle cancer together. After a few years we were able to return and we are so thankful. 

One thing I find difficult here is to find inspiration. It is a dusty and dry country, often lacking in colors. I love living here but I do find that I don't have as much inspiration to create here as I do at home. I have also been extremely busy so creating has not been something that I have had time for. I feel more alive and at my best when I do create though, so I know I have to try to get back to doing it regularly soon. I have made a tea cozy that turned out really well (until the cat got hold of it) and I tried fishbone stitch during last winter. It turned out to be a really cute scarf for my daugther. 

I have also tried to find inspiration in new things. Like making the most of fig season. Something I would never get to do at home. Just look at the colors together, figs and plums. Not just yummy, beautiful too. 

This is hopefully the first step to bring this blog back to life. Hope you will enjoy the pictures and be inspired by a different life and by very different views than what you are used to!

Blankets and Popcorn

I LOVE By Haafners Popcorn Blanket Pattern (find it here). She is a very talented crochet designer and has so many different patterns I would like to try. I have been working on this blanket forever and I actually can't remember when I started.

The last blanket I made was 3 years ago and I used a lot of different colors then. This time I decided to use neutral colors and chose two of my favorites: grey and aqua.

I found this picture on Instagram, so I guess I must have started before the summer.... 

Doesn't that look just wonderful, can't wait for summer!

For the border I made 3 rows of single crochet using only the back loop. I then made a type of picot border, but instead of sl.st. into the first chain I used the same back loop that was used to create the chains. This gave it a more twisted look which I really liked. 

February is in Sweden known as the month when people are sick the most. VAB stands for Vård av barn (care of child) and is the name of the pay parents get from the state to stay home and take care of their sick children. In February a lot of parents hardly ever get to see their work places, let alone get a decent salary and the month is therefore referred to as "Vabruary". My son is sick right now and is lying on the couch with a bunch of blankets on. I'm sure this one will come in handy. 

Apart from being practical it is also beautiful to look at. When we come out of this "Vabruary" fog I will start another big blanket project but for now I am content with little and quick projects such as gloves (or gluuuuves as my 3 year old calls them) or scarfs. If you want to try something similar there is a wonderful pattern by the same designer called the Smitten Blanket. It is a lot smaller but also really beautiful. 

Happy Crocheting! 

Winter Favorites

 It is winter, and winter really is not my favorite season. I am not a huge outdoors person, and hate the cold. However, I never cease to be amazed at the amazing neighborhood we live in. During our Christmas break we have gone for walks, the kids have been skating on the lake, the sun has been shining. It is truly magical.

We have this old, wooden church close to our house. It is very much a functioning church with kids activities and beautiful Christmas services. We went there for Trettondagsafton (which is twelfth night or Epiphany). Our daughter Elina was a camel in the church play and did a great job.

We were also able to go up to the mountains for a few days and we had a great time there. The stillness and peace is so good for the soul. The kids got to do some skiing and sledding and we played lots of board games. 

Just before Christmas I made some candles. I have made candles before, but never with soy wax. The candles turn out much better and the wax is softer. My favorite kind was this Bergamot scented candle. I called it "Earl Grey Infusion" and gave some away as Christmas gifts. 

This wreath was a new idea and I liked the way it turned out. We have a HUGE spruce tree in our yard and it is very useful during Christmas. In Sweden, using branches from pine and spruce trees is very common. We put them in big vases outside, make wreaths or even put some down on the porch as a mat. We usually don't use pine cones in wreaths as well but I think it gives it a nice look. 

      This banner always hangs in this spot during Christmas. I made it 2 years ago and it is always a favorite tradition to hang it every year. We put it up during Thanksgiving and leave it until Epiphany. Cross cultural marriage and lifestyle is a funny thing, we have such a mix of traditions. Just before Thanksgiving we put up the Advent decorations and the Christmas tree, we then have Thanksgiving dinner followed by glögg and ginger cookies and lighting of the first Advent candle. Then we celebrate Swedish Christmas on Christmas Eve, open the stockings on the morning of Christmas Day, watch New Year Celebrations from Sweden, New York, London and Dubai, celebrate Epiphany and dance around the Christmas tree before we throw it out on Tjugondag Knut. This Christmas a new tradition started when we listened to a wonderful Arabic Christmas song. I wonder how many different traditions we will have in a few years...

Looking forward to spring now!

Dreams of Dublin

I don't know what it is about Scotland and Ireland, but somehow I feel at home there. I used to live in the UK and always wanted to go to Ireland but never got around to it. My sister went there 3 years ago for a course in Irish Literature that she did and she really liked it. We decided to go together and we spent a long weekend there in November. 

To me, this was the perfect blend of history, cute little cafe`s, vintage shops, yarn stores, scenery and TEA, always TEA!

We stayed in a Airbnb place in a great location and this was the view from my window. 

We did some historic sightseeing such as Trinity College, the General Post Office and the Dublin castle.

The Chester Beatty Library has a huge collection of old manuscripts and books from 2700 BC to the present day. It has some beautiful early sources for the Bible on papyrus and includes the earliest known copies of the four gospels and Acts, the letters of Paul, the Book of Revelation and various very early samples of the Old Testament. There are also some beautiful examples of Islamic Calligraphy. 

As far as shopping goes, The Powerscourt Townhouse Centre was by far my favorite. It is a converted Georgian townhouse and has such a nice and unique feel to it with lots of Antique shops and cafe`s. 

This was by far my favorite of course. A heaven for a yarn lover. It is called This is Knit and is run by a mother-daughter team. They have lots of different brands to chose from including Irish brands such as Studio Donegal and Townhouse Yarns. They also run lots of different classes and workshops. 

I was amazed by the friendly people and lovely atmosphere in Dublin. It manages to be trendy without being snobbish which I really like. The accent doesn't hurt either. 

On Saturday we went to the Temple Bar Food Market and had a divine cup of hot chocolate. Seriously amazing. The market had everything from vegetables to bread and cheese and smoothies with questionable colors and contents. 

We spent 2 days in Dublin just exploring and on Sunday we took the train to Howth, a little fishing village half an hour outside of Dublin. We went for a lovely cliff walk. I have always dreamed of seeing the green hills and the cliffs along the sea and although it was November and not very green, it was lovely. 

"I have spread my dreams under your feet, Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

After the walk we stopped for Cream Tea at the Marie Louise Tea Rooms. It was a perfect end to a lovely day.  

I just have to find an excuse to go back, often!

Love and war and snow

I started watching Gilmore Girls in 2003. I was living in Stockholm at the time and I was flipping through the channels when I discovered it. Little did I know, I would still be binge-watching it 13 years later. 

What is it about this show that I love so much? I have no idea, I just do. Like many others I can't wait for the new Netflix release on Friday. As I was going through all the episodes again (I think I have seen the first 3 seasons at least 10 times) I noticed this wonderful hat. It is from the episode "Love and war and snow" and is one of my favorites. I decided to try to make my own version of it. 

The hat in this episode is knitted but I made a crocheted version. I used dc with sc at the end and then a type of shell stitch. I used a really nice and warm alpaca yarn. I also added a lining to make it warmer (and less itchy).

This is how I made it:

I used a 3,5 size hook. (European size)

Ch 3 then Dc 11 into magic loop. (12)

Ch3 then 2dc in each stitch. End with sl.st. in 3rd ch. (24)

Ch 3, 1dc in the same stitch then  *1 dc in next, 2dc in next stitch* continue until the end of round. End with sl.st. in 3rd ch. 

Ch 3 then 1dc in same stitch, * 1 dc in next 2 stitches then 2dc.* Continue until end of round. Sl.st.

Ch3, then 1dc in same stitch, *1 dc in the next 3 stitches then 2dc.* Continue until end of round. Sl.st. 

Continue to increase like this until you have the circumference you want. I made about 8 rows of increases. 

After this you continue with dc in each stitch until you get to the top of your ear. Then sc until you have just about covered your ear. Then make shells like this:

 Skip one stitch, 5dc in next, skip one, sl.st. Do this all the way around. 

I then added the stars with a very simple stitch as you can see and also added a simple stitch on the bottom of the one with the grey stars. 

I made one with blue stars for my 8 year old daughter, I thought a little "Frozen" theme would suit her.  

Now I am just waiting for Friday night. I will get yummy snacks and really hope that the kids will behave and go to bed easily. Can't wait to go back to Stars Hollow!

Citronille

This last summer was a difficult one for me. For a long time I have been struggling with everything that needs to be taken care of. The kids, the home, work, other activities. I was extremely tired all summer and didn't really enjoy myself at all even though we all had 5 weeks off together. I felt guilty that I wasn't enjoying our time off and that made me even more tired and drained. I am doing much better now, thankfully these things pass, and now I can remember the summer with joy. Since crafting is a way for me to relax, I took the time to make 2 wonderful dresses despite my tiredness and stress level. I am really happy with them although sewing jersey proved a challenge. The patterns are from Citronille but I have modified them a bit. You can see the result below. 

My beautiful daughter Elina loves dresses and these ones fit her perfectly. 

I love the simplicity of these patterns. They are so beautiful and very... french somehow! The Albertine pattern has short sleeves instead and the Apolline was made into a dress. The fabric comes from Art Gallery Fabrics. 

Vintage Dreams

I recently read the book "Brooklyn" and couldn't wait to see the movie. My husband bought it for me on a trip he did in May and I really enjoyed the movie too. I absolutely love the time period, the fashion, the colors, the knitted cardigans. 

We had a family reunion earlier this summer and I was so happy when my Aunt had brought some old photo albums. My Grandfather was a farmer and a father of ten. He worked the farm using a horse while my Grandmother ran the home. I've been told she got up at 5am every morning to bake bread for the family. I have 3 kids and a washing machine, dish washer, bread bought from the store. How in the world did she do it with 10 kids and having to do it all from scratch?

While my Grandfather was working he would take a mid-morning and afternoon coffee break and she would bring him what we in Sweden call "fika". It is usually coffee with cookies or cinnamon rolls. I never met my Grandmother, she died before I was born, and I love seeing these pictures and imagining what life was like for them. Busy and tiring I'm sure but these pictures are also so full of love. 

I made this little purse with the colors and patterns of the early 50's in mind. I used the starstitch on the top and then used dc for the bottom. 

 I am currently working on a new one, slightly different this time but still with the feel of the 50's.