Virkelig mærkelig mandag / Indeed a weird Monday

I dag skal min mor begraves. Det bliver sandelig meget sørgeligt og mærkeligt.
Turen til Disneyland var helt fantastisk, og der kommer billeder. Mange billeder! Niecen og jeg har hygget os og slappet rigtig godt af, og det var faktisk meget rart, midt i alt det andet.
Jeg var så heldig nok til at knække en tand, så denne formiddag er brugt i en tandlægestol. Men nu har jeg også en fin tand. Det ville være så dumt at skulle begrave sin mor med en grim, knækket tand!
Vi høres ved i morgen - der er bare ikke flere ord til bloggen lige nu.

Today my mother will be buried. It will be very, very sad and strange.
Turen til Disneyland was amazing, and there will be photos. A lot of photos! My niece and I have had a wonderful and relaxing time, and actually it was very nice in the middle of everything.
I was fortunate enough to break a tooth and spend this morning in a dentist's chair. But now I'm the proud owner of a new, pretty tooth. I wouldn't like going to my mother's funeral with an ugly, broken tooth!
This will be all for today. I have no more words for the blog right now.

Off we go

For et par måneder siden inviterede jeg min ene niece med til Disneyland Paris i denne weekend. Selv om min mor lige er død, så tager vi afsted alligevel. Det støder nemlig ikke sammen med begravelsen. Vi glæder os begge enormt!
Som de fleste af jer nok ved, er jeg jo absolut Disney-freak. Niecen har også troligt siddet og set Disney-film hele aftener, selv om hun er 18 år (og helt vildt sej. Faktisk.), så jeg forventer, at vi bare skal hygge os helt vildt. Hun har aldrig været i Disneyland før, og det bliver sjovt at se hende opleve det hele! (De vildeste ting kan hun værs'go' prøve alene....)
Sidst jeg var dernede, var internetforbindelsen ikke noget at råbe hurra for, så nu må vi se, hvor meget hul igennem der bliver i weekenden! (Ellers må jeg gå enormt meget på Starbucks.)

A few months ago, I invited one of my nieces to go with me to Disneyland Paris this weekend. Even though my mother just died, we will still go. The funeral will not be until after the weekend. Both of us are excited to go to Disneyland!
As most of you know, I'm a big Disney-fan. My niece likes Disney too. She has spent evenings watching Disney-movies, even though she is 18 years old (and very, very tough. And cool. Really!), and I really expect a wonderful weekend with her! She has never gone to Disneyland before, and I can't wait to seeing her experiencing everything! (She is very welcome to try the most crazy rides. Alone.)
Last time I was there, I didn't really find a good internet-connection, so we'll see, how much you will hear from me this weekend. (Unless I spend an enormous amount of time at Starbucks.)

Ærme? / Sleeve?

Beklager det dårlige morgenbillede i kunstigt lys. Det første ærme til min Hexagon-bluse snegler sig af sted. Jeg var faktisk nået langt på Fanø, men opdagede så, at det var for smalt. Om igen! Denne gang med indtagninger på hver sjette i stedet for hver fjerde pind!
Mine strikkeveninder var så søde i toget at minde mig om mine egne ord 'Hvis man trevler op med det samme, føles det næsten som et nyt strikketøj'! Grrrrrrrr.... Heldigvis nåede de levende hjem.

I apologize for the awful photo in artificial light. The first Hexagon sleeve is growing very slowly. Ón Fanø, I had come a long way before discovering that it was actually too tight. Rippit! I tried again, this time decreasing on every 6 rows instead of every 4.
My knitting friends very kindly quoted my wise words, as we took the train back. 'If you unravel right away, it almost feels like a new project!'
Grrrrrrrr...... Fortunately, they made it home alive.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Pas på elgen! / Beware of moose!

Strømper? / Socks?

Tusind tak for jeres hilsener de sidste dage. De varmer helt utroligt! Det er hårdt at miste sin mor, men jeg glæder mig rigtig meget over, at det gik som hun ønskede, og over at jeg bare kan savne hende. Ingen fortrydelser eller andre ting. Bare savn. Det er nu meget godt.
Jeg ved godt, at I ikke tror, jeg bare ligger i hængekøjen og slapper af, men billedet er da fedt, ikke? Det er fra Esbjerg, hvor de har hængekøjer nede på stranden.
Niecens strømper blev lige sat på pause, da hun dagen efter sin fødselsdag tog til Barcelona uden en fast adresse. Desværre for mig Heldigvis for hende fandt hun ret hurtigt et sted at bo, så strømperne måtte jo lige rykkes op på prioriteringslisten igen.
Nu er de så helt i top, for der er jo udsigt til at jeg ikke behøver sende dem, men kan overrække dem i forbindelse med begravelsen. Så der strikkes! Heldigvis mangler jeg kun en enkelt fod, så der mangler ikke meget. De bliver SÅ lækre, og bestemt ikke kun til hamstere!

Thank you so much for all your comments over the last days. They are heart-warming. It is really hard losing my mom, but I'm very happy that everything turned out the way she wanted it, and that I can just concentrate on missing her. No regrets, no hard feelings. Just a feeling of loss. I'm very thankful for that.
I know that you don't suspect me lying around in a hammock all the time, but isn't this picture great? Taken in Esbjerg in a place with hammocks on the beach.
The socsk for my niece were put on hold when she moved to Barcelona the day after her birthday without a place to live. Unfortunately for me Fortunately for her she found an apartment very soon, so the socks came back on the list of important projects rather quickly.
And now they are in very top of the list, since I won't have to mail them to Barcelona, but will be able to give them to her at the funeral. So I'm knitting! I only need to make one more foot, meaning they are almost done. They are turning out wonderful, and I guess hamsters won't be the only ones loving them....

Oktober - igen! / October - again!

Som sædvanligt i oktober hedder "mærkelig mandag" temaet brystkræft. Dels, fordi det er en alvorlig diagnose, dels fordi jeg nok har et blødt punkt for ting, der er pink, og så bare fordi der også er en hel del sjove opskrifter derude.....
Vi lægger ud med disse fine halvhandsker, der faktisk også kan præstere lidt glimmer.... De er strikket på pind 3,75 mm, og du skal bruge garn, så 35 masker passer rundt om din hånd.
Opskriften kan du finde her - og den er faktisk gratis i hele oktober!

As usual, October's "Weird Monday"-theme will be breast cancer. Partly, because it's a very serious diagnosis, partly because I secretly LOVE pink stuff, and then just because there are so many fun patterns out there.....
First pattern this year is for these pretty fingerless gloves, that even have a touch of sparkle..... They are made using US size 5 needles with yarn of a thickness that will allow 35 stitches to go all the way around your hand.
The pattern is found here - and it's actually free in October!

Fredfyldt / Peacefully

Tidligt i går morges døde min mor. Ikke uventet, men alligevel pludseligt. Stille og fredeligt i sin seng, som hun ønskede det.
Stille og fredelig har weekenden været, mens vi sang hende ud af lejligheden og fik lavet diverse aftaler.
Jeg tror, vi skal ses igen i Himlen, men indtil da må jeg savne hende. Allerede nu er det mærkeligt ikke at ringe til hende hver aften, som en slags livline for hende. Det bliver mærkeligt at kunne tage til kor onsdag uden at skulle forbi med indkøb og suse rundt og ordne ting. Det bliver mærkeligt at kunne planlægge weekender uden at skulle huske at der skal være tid til et besøg hos hende.
Det bliver også dejligt med lidt mere tid, og vi er alle glade for, at hendes liv fik lov at slutte så fredfyldt og godt. Men lige de næste dage og uger skal jeg vænne mig til det mærkelige.....

Very early on Saturday morning, my mother died. Not unexpected, but still suddenly. Quiet and peacefully in her bed. Just as she hoped for.
This weekend has been quiet and peaceful, when we sang for her as she was leaving her apartment in the coffin, and as we made the different, necessary arrangements.
I believe we'll meet again in Heaven, but until then I'll miss her. Even now it feels very strange not calling her on the phone every night, so she knew I was right here for her. It will be very strange on Wednesday when I won't have to visit her and do her shopping and all kind of practical stuff before going to my choir-night. It will be very weird in the future, being able to plan my weekends without having to remember to leave enough time for a visit to her.
I'm looking forward to having a bit more time in my life, and all of us are really happy that her life could end in such a peaceful way. But the next days and weeks I'll have to get used to all this new strangeness.....

Gråvejr / Grey weather

Dette billede er lånt fra nettet et eller andet sted, men jeg synes egentlig, det ligner meget godt. Vejret lige nu er mørkt og vådt. Man får bestemt lyst til at blive inde og hygge sig!
I aften skal jeg lige nøjagtigt sidde inde. Det bliver hyggeligt. Forhåbentlig kan jeg så også strikke lidt....
Det er dog et lyspunkt, at min søster nu er kommet hjem til familien. Der var glade børn og en træt mor med jetlag, og en træt far, der havde været græsenkemand. Men det er rart, at de er samlet og er i nærheden!

I borrowed this picture on the internet somewhere, but I think it looks very authentic. The weather right now is dark and wet. You sure feel like sitting indoors, enjoying yourself!
Tonight I'm going to do just that. I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully I can knit a bit as well.....
Some rays of sunlight are still here, though. My sister just returned home to her family. There was some

Hamster

Da min mindste nevø fyldte 7 år, var det stort! Det var også stort at se hans nye hamster, kaldet "Hammi", "Hamster-Bob" eller "Ludvig", alt efter hvilket familiemedlem man spurgte.
Hamsteren skulle selvfølgelig ind at se lidt af den store verden (dvs. spisebord), og som hamstere gør, vimsede den ivrigt rundt for at se det hele (dvs. finde et sted at gemme sig?).


When my youngest nephew turned seven, it was a big day! It was also huge to see his new hamster, called "Hammi", "Hamster-Bob" or "Ludvig", depending on which member of the family I asked.
The little guy had to come see a bit of the big world, naturally (a.k.a. dining table) and like any hamster would do, he ran around to look at everything (or maybe to find a place of hiding?).

F.eks. ville jeg nok behandle en hamster pænt, der var i besiddelse af en revolver.....

Like any other sane person, I would treat a hamster very nicely, if it did carry a gun!

Nå, men til sidst fandt det lille kræ min igangværende strømpe. Et sikkert hit! Den gemte sig grundigt, og hvæsede, når vi forsøgte at få den ud..... (Det var IKKE nemt!)
Hvorom alting er, så har jeg nu lovet at strikke en hamster-strømpe. I samme garn som min mindste nevøes strømper, selvfølgelig!
Jeg tror, modtageren bliver mægtig glad.....

Well, in the end the little guy found my sock in progress. Oh joy! He hid very thoroughly and hissed loudly at us, when we tried to get him out.... (It wasn't easy!)
Anyway - now I promised to make a hamster-sock. Of course using the same yarn as was used for my youngest nephews socks!
I think, the recipient will be very, very happy......

Fanø 2012

Garn / Yarn

Da vi var i Ho, købte jeg også lidt garn. Ja - I hørte rigtigt. LIDT GARN!!!! Til gengæld var der rigeligt med lækkerhed. Sådan noget her Fleece Artist håndfarvet Blue Face Leicester garn har jeg længe haft et godt øje til, og med 20% rabat OG både et opstrikket halstørklæde på pind 3 og et opstrikket sjal på pind 6 til rigtigt at vise, hvor skønt det er, røg der hele to i tasken..... Selv om jeg har rigeligt at strikke, tror jeg altså også snart det ene skal blive til et lille halstørklæde. Til mig! Jeg købte også 50 gram Cashmere lace. Nok til et sort sjal, og såååååå blødt.

When visiting Ho, I also bought a little yarn. Yes - I'm not kidding. A LITTLE yarn!!!!! Although the amount was small, the yumminess was colossal. Yarn like this Fleece Artist hand dyed Blue Face Leicester yarn is something I have admired for a long time, and with 20% off AND not only a scarf knitted on 3 mm needles but also a shawl knitted on 6 mm needles to proof how great this yarn is, I bought not just one, but 2 skeins..... Even though I have plenty of projects, I think one of these skeins will be a scarf before long. For me! I also bought 50 grams of Cashmere lace yarn. Enough for a black shawl and soooooo soft.

Min cumulus og jeg blev også fotograferet sammen. Den var perfekt som overtøj, både varm og blød. Jeg er bestemt ikke blevet mindre glad for den!

My cumulus and I had our picture taken together. It was perfect for wearing outside without a coat. Warm and soft. I definitely just love it even more after using it!

Og så var der nogen, der brugte deres I-pad som kamera. Meget diskret!

Someone used their I-pad as a camera. Very handy and discreet!

Kartoffelferie / Potatoes and vacation

I de gode, meget gamle dage, fik børnene ferie i efteråret for at hjælpe med at høste kartofler. Dvs. kartoffelferie, der blev til efterårsferie.
Nu kommer vi ikke udenom at det er efterår. Kartofler er jo generelt en overset grøntsag, så skal vi ikke hylde den lidt i dag? Mønsteret på den strikkede variation kan findes her.

In the good, very old days in Denmark, all kids had a week of vacation during fall in order to help harvest the potatoes. This was the potato-vacation that became fall-vacation.
Well - it sure is fall! As a vegetable, potatoes are not hip in any way, so todays post is for giving the potatoes some credit for all we get from it. The pattern for this knitted kind can be found here.

På vej hjem / Going home

Så er det snart tid at komme hjem... Vi mangler jo 'lige' Ho Strik og en dejlig frokost på Ho Kro. Det bliver en dejlig dag!

It's almost time to go home..... We still need to go to Ho strik and to eat a lovely lunch.
This is going to be a wonderful Day!

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Indkøb / Shopping

Så lidt købte jeg. Garn og opskrift til en 'overslyngel' af Bente Geil.
Det var ikke mig, der købte mest garn, hvilket jeg er uendeligt stolt af. Og jeg købte kun noget i 1 ud af 3 butikker!

I only bought yarn and pattern for a blouse by Bente Geil.
I wasn't the one buying most, which I'm very proud off, and I only bought something in one out of three shops!

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Garn og udsigt / Yarn and view

Vi kom lidt senere til Fanø. Jeg kunne ikke finde et sted at sætte min cykel på Hovedbanegården og kom med et senere tog. Burde sådanne problemer ikke være forbeholdt biler?
Til gengæld lagde vi hårdt ud med pakkeleg. Et bjerg af pakker med dejligt indhold! Det var faktisk som juleaften.....

We came to Fanø a bit late. I couldn't find a place to park my bike at the central station and had to catch a later train. I thought this kind of problem was for cars only?
When arriving, we had the dicegame. A huge pile of gifts with lovely content! It was better than Christmas....


I dag ser udsigten sådan ud. Regnen som var lovet ser ud til at holde sig væk, og om lidt starter garnbutik-turen. Lige nu sidder jeg i en dejlig læderstol der kan gynge - med denne udsigt! - og er ikke helt sikker på at jeg overhovedet kan svinge mig op til at rejse mig. Aaaahhhh!

Today the view is like this. The rain that was promised seems to stay away and in a little while we are going yarn-shop crawling.
Right now I'm sitting in a leatherchair that's also a rocking chair - with this view! - and I'm not sure I'll be able to stop being so relaxed and get up!

Fanø

I dag er det tid for årets Fanø-tur. Selv om der kun er strikkefestival hvert andet år, så kan man altså godt lave sin egen festival. I år bliver vi 4, og der er hygge-garanti....
F.eks. skal vi da selvfølgelig lave garn-pakkeleg, og som I kan se, er jeg helt klar! Måske ligner papiret lidt for meget juleaften, men det føles næsten også sådan.
Vi skal selvfølgelig forbi samtlige garnbutikker på Fanø (Ja - der er jo hele 3!) og helt klart også en tur forbi Ho strik.
Behøver jeg overhovedet forsøge at forklare jer, hvor meget jeg glæder mig?

Today I'll be going to Fanø after work. I'm so excited! Even though the knitting festival is only held every other year, we just make our own wool festival. This year we will be 4 persons, and there will be loads of "hygge".
As usual, we will have the yarn-dice-game, and as you can see, I'm well prepared! If you think the wrapping paper looks like Christmas, you're quite right. This weekend is almost like Christmas.....
Naturally, we will visit every single yarn-shop on Fanø (there are 3!) and also Ho strik.
I can't even explain how much I'm looking forward to this, but I guess you understand.

Nye bøger / New books

Annette Danielsen har lige udgivet 2 nye bøger, og da hun altid har nogle ret gode opskrifter, ventede jeg ikke alt for længe med at få føjet dem til samlingen....
Først et hæfte med strik til piger mellem 10-14 år. Meget aktuelt, tænkte jeg, - måske niecen kunne tænke sig noget fra det?

Annette Danielsen just made 2 new books, and since her patterns are really good, I didn't wait for long before adding them to my ever-growing collection of knitting books.....
First a collection of patterns for 10-14 year old girls. Very appropriate, since my youngest niece might want something from this little book?

Så en bog med store opskrifter. Jeg havde nok ikke helt overvejet, at de vist ikke helt er min størrelse, men lige nummeret større. Først var jeg en smule ærgelig, men så kiggede jeg nærmere efter og så, at hver model kommer i 3 udgaver, hvoraf den ene er taljeret. Der burde nok være basis for noget der kunne være brugbart. Modellerne er rigtig, rigtig flotte!

Then a book with big-size patterns. I hadn't really thought about how they were not my size, but bigger. First I was a bit disappointed, but then I looked closer and discovered that all models come in 3 different ways, one of them with a more fitted shape. Should be possible to make something useful from this. The models are really, really pretty!

Niecen på 10 blev sat til at kigge i Tøsestrik-hæftet. Hun var ikke videre entusiastisk. Jeg nævnte, at hvis hun nu var rigtig smart, så kunne man jo godt forestille sig, at jeg ville strikke en af dem til hende, hvis der nu var en hun kunne lide!
Derefter bladrede pigebarnet igen og sagde så: "Moster, jeg er smart. Du må gerne strikke den dér til mig ("Pistacie"), men jeg kommer nok ikke til at bruge den så meget....."
Så kunne Moster tænke over det! Jeg tror nu nok, det er fordi hun er mere til noget med billeder på stadigvæk. Hun gider ikke have noget, man lige så godt kunne købe. Mon ikke vi finder ud af noget sammen?

My 10 year old niece was told to look through the girl models. Not very enthusiastic. I mentioned, that maybe if she was really smart, one might imagine that I would knit one of the models for her, if she liked one of them!
And so the little lady looked again and said "Moster, I'm really smart. You can knit this one for me (the one pictured), but I'll probably not use it very much....."
So, well.... I had something to think about! I guess it's because she still likes sweaters with some kind of pictures, not something you might as well buy in a shop. I also think we'll figure it out together!

Mere fødselsdag / More birthday

Første / First

Strømperne til niecen er i gang. Jeg er meget tilfreds med udseendet, knap så meget med hastigheden.... Det virker rimeligt håbløst at hun skulle nå at få dem om 5 dage, men til gengæld vil hun nok blive glad, selv om de kommer nogle dage for sent!
I dag er min første 'rigtige' fridag. Første tirsdag var jeg syg og for en uge siden skulle jeg alligevel arbejde, men i dag! I dag havde jeg masser af planer. Morgenen var yderst afslappet, derefter røg planerne lige i vasken (sådan kan det gå), men i aften skal jeg ihvertfald til 7-års fødselsdag. Bevæbnet med løst krudt. Glæder mig!

The socks for my niece are coming along nicely. I love the look of them, not so much the speed. Can't really imagine how they will be finished and at her home in just 5 days! Fortunately, I'm quite sure she will love them, even if they are a few days late....
Today is my first 'real' Tuesday off from work. The first Tuesday I was sick, the next one I had to work, but today! Today I had oh, so many plans. My morning was very relaxed. Then all my plans flew out the window, but tonight I'll stick to the plan of joining a 7-years birthday celebration. I'm ready and armed with gun-powder. Can't wait!

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Strikke-videnskab / Knitting science

Dagens mønster er til de helt hårde nørder. Det være sig til strikning eller videnskab. Det kunne jo også være, du ville proppe lidt ekstra viden i knolden på de små poder? De kan jo lige så godt lære det.....
Ihvertfald - det er helt vild SEJT! Det periodiske system som strikkede klodser. Du finder mønsteret som en gratis Ravelry download her.

Today's pattern is for the very hard-core nerds. Wether knitting nerds or scientific nerds. Or maybe you would like to enlighten the youngsters in your home? They might as well learn it sooner than later.....
Anyway - this is way COOL! The periodic system made as knitted blocks. The pattern is a free Ravelry download right here.