Travl torsdag / Busy Thursday

I kan godt se det, ikke? Intet billede af blusen. Jeg fik strikket, men blev ikke færdig. Men der skete masser af ting alligevel!
Det var min fridag i går, og jeg skulle til Hillerød. I toget mødte jeg hende her og ja, hun sad og strikkede. Det var rigtig hyggeligt! (Og jeg kan godt afsløre, at de bukser hun strikker bliver rigtig, rigtig bløde!)
I Hillerød skulle jeg syne min mors lejlighed og aflevere nøgler. Hvor er det altså bare underligt! Det var allersidste gang jeg var i den lejlighed som hun elskede så højt og hvor der bare emmede af hygge. Det føles virkelig mærkeligt ikke at skulle derop og ordne noget mere.
Men sådan må det vel være. Jeg glæder mig over savnet, for hvor ville det dog være helt forfærdeligt ikke at savne!
Efter at have brugt det meste af dagen dér kom jeg hjem og kom til at tænke på, at jeg måske burde få kigget efter om jeg har gaver nok til pakke-kalenderen til niecen der (for 2. år) er på efterskole.
Heldigvis var der ting til 24 pakker, der omhyggeligt blev pakket ind og sendt. Så kan hun hygge sig med det her i december!

You noticed already, right? No picture of a blouse. I worked on it, but didn't finish. But lots of other things happened instead.
Yesterday was my day off, and I was going to Hillerød. On the train I met this lady, and yes, she was sitting there knitting. It was really nice talking to her. (And the pants she's knitting is made from some really, really soft yarn!)
I was going to Hillerød to hand over the keys for my mothers apartment. It was such a strange thing to do! The very last time in the apartment that she loved so much. The place that really felt like the nicest place. It feels very, very weird that I'm not going there any more and won't be fixing more things up there.
But I guess that's the way it is. I'm happy while missing her, since I think it would be truly horrible not to feel any loss!
After spending most of my day there, I arrived home and got to think about the advent calendar for my niece who's on boarding school (her second year). Fortunately, I had 24 gifts. They were wrapped and mailed, and she has something to look forward to in December!

Jeg kan også godt glæde mig! For se, hvad min søde niece på 10 har lavet? En julekalender som jeg må få. Der skal bare være gaver i alle rørene først.
Er det så nok om julekalendre? Tjoeh...... Niecen på 18 skrev på facebook om ikke der også var julekalender til dem, der lige var flyttet hjemmefra. Det kunne da også være hyggeligt, men der er jo bare det, at hun allerede HAR fået efterskole-kalender og iøvrigt fik hendes 2 storebrødre ikke noget i den retning da de flyttede hjemmefra. (Men de spurgte selvfølgelig heller ikke!) Og det ville sandelig være nærmest umuligt at nå, eftersom de næste dage også har en del program på!

I am excited as well! Just look at what my sweet 10 year old niece made? An advent calendar for me! She just needs to put gifts in all the tubes first.
So this is the final word on advent calendars? Wellll...... My niece, who is 18, asked me on facebook if there was no calendar for those who just moved away from home? It would be nice, you know, it's just the facts that she already DID get her advent calendar while on boarding school, and her 2 older brothers didn't get anything when they got their own places. (But they didn't ask, either!) It would also be impossible to make anything, since the next couple of days are very busy as well.

Snart / Soon

Jeg har været på kursus de sidste 3 dage og derfor strikket nærmest fra morgen til aften. Sådan VIRKELIG strikket igennem! Inden kurset tænkte jeg, at kroppen på min hexagon-bluse da vist ikke kunne tage mere end 1 til 2 dage at gøre færdig. Derfor var der medbragt op til flere strømper som ekstra strikketøj. Men dem fik jeg altså ikke brug for!
Der mangler liiiiige et par rækker mere og ombukningskanten. Det er nogle rimeligt sure rækker, men jeg fortsætter stædigt. Jeg ved, at jeg bliver gladere for en cm ekstra i længden i forhold til at stoppe lidt før.
Forhåbentlig bliver den færdig i dag?
Husk iøvrigt min give-away. Jeg trækker en vinder på lørdag.

For the past 3 days, I have been attending a course and have had the joy of knitting from morning till evening. You know - REALLY knitting constantly! Before I went, I thought that the lower part of my hexagon really couldn't take that long to finish. Maybe one or two days? So I brought more than one sock for emergency knitting. But I didn't need to do that!
I still need to make just a few more rows and then the inside-border. I hate those last rows, but I go on stubbornly. I know that I will be happier for just another half inch compared to stopping too soon.
Hopefully I will finish it today?
By the way - remember my give-away. The winner will be found this Saturday.

Kurser / Courses

4 fødder / Four feet

Faktisk burde det vist hedde "8 fødder"..... De første 4 kan holdes varme med de strømper, der endelig blev helt færdige, med stumper og stykker af lyseblå tråd til de sidste omgange. Til gengæld blev de to lyseblå strømper helt ens!
Strømperne er til mine gode venner, der lige nu er 18 måneder i USA. De opholder sig et sted, hvor der vist kan blive rigtig, rigtig koldt om vinteren, og da jeg er så blødhjertet (Ja! Igen!), kom jeg vist nok til at love at strikke strømper til dem alle 5. Eftersom vinteren nærmer sig, måtte jeg jo komme i gang!
Strømperne er strikket af nogle nøgler Viking "Frøya" der lå på lager. Købt engang på tilbud. Dejligt blødt og varmt og med den ekstra fordel, at det kan strikkes på pind 3. Strømper er altså lige en smule hurtigere at strikke så, i forhold til den sædvanlige pind 2,5! De vejer tilsammen 160 gram og der er absolut ikke mere garn!

Actually I should have called this "8 feet".... The first 4 feet will keep warm with these socks that finally finished, using scraps and bits of blue yarn for the last rounds. But the blue socks are identical, which I'm very proud of!
The socks are for my good friends who are staying 18 months in the state of New York right now. I think it will get very, very cold during winter, and since I'm so soft (Yes! Again!), I think I happened to promise them warm socks. All 5 of them. Since winter is coming, I figured I'd better get started!
The socks are made from some skeins of Viking "Frøya" from my stash. Bought at a sale once. Really warm and soft and with the extra bonus of thicker yarn. I used 3 mm needles, which was somewhat faster than the usual 2.5 mm needles. They weigh a total of 160 grams, and there is absolutely no yarn left!

I skal da ikke snydes for et billede af glade "Hammi" i sin nye sok. Ejeren er vist glad, og søsteren (min niece) var dødeligt jaloux over at han fik en slikkepind som bonus. Næste gang skal der ekstra slikkepind med.....

And here is a picture of happy "Hammi" in her new sock. Her owner seems happy, and his sister (my niece) was very jealous at the lollipop he had as a bonus. Next time I will need to remember an extra lollipop for the sister.....

Hamster

Jeg er ikke den eneste, der finder på ting til hamstere. Tjek lige det her fine hus ud!
Det er hæklet, og jeg tror nok lige, der ville være et begejstret (eller undrende?) lille dyr der fik sådan en gave.....
Læs mere her.

I'm not the only one making stuff for hamsters. Check out this pretty house!
It is crocheted and I bet it would be a very exhilarated (or puzzled?) little creature who had a gift like this.....
Read more about it here.

Det blå garn er mit! / The blue yarn is mine!

Det lille "hamstertæppe" er trevlet op. Det var ikke nemt! Selv om det var strømpegarn og det kun er 9 dage siden jeg strikkede det, havde tæppet allerede været forbi en del hamsterpoter, hamsterpels og klistrede drengefingre, så det var enkelte steder lidt filtet.....
Men nu skulle der altså være håb om at få strømperne færdige. Jeg glæder mig!
Lige nu sidder jeg inde og kigger ud på regnen. Om lidt ifører jeg mig fornuftigt tøj og gør mit bedste for at nå et smut forbi Fåreavlernes julemarked på Østerbro, inden jeg skal synge koncert i Helligåndskirken. Jeg vil så gerne nå julemarkedet også!

The "hamster blanket" is no more. It wasn't easy to unravel! Even though it was sock yarn and only 9 days since I knitted it, this little blanket already met a lot of hamster-feet, hamster-fur and some sticky boys fingers, which meant it was a little felted here and there.....
But now it should be possible to finish the socks. I can't wait!
Right now I'm inside, looking out on the heavy rain. In a little while I will find my rain-suit and do my very best to make time for a look at the sheep farmers Christmas market here in Copenhagen, before I will get to the church where we will sing our big concert. I really want to see the market as well!

Tik Tak / Tic Toc

Tiden går lidt mere tydeligt herhjemme nu, efter at jeg har fået min arv. Mine forældre havde forlængst bestemt, at jeg skulle arve bornholmeruret, eftersom jeg er opkaldt efter min oldemor, hvis familie det (vistnok) kom fra. Uret er passet, plejet og repareret, og nu står det så her i min stue og tikker og takker. Døgnet rundt. Det er faktisk meget hyggeligt!
Til min lettelse kan jeg også godt sove fra timeslagene om natten, selv om jeg var lidt bekymret.
Tiden går også derudaf udenfor lejligheden. Lige nu er jeg midt i en voldsomt travl uge. Det gode er, at jeg har bestået avanceret genoplivning af børn OG der mangler ikke så meget af denne uge. Lidt fredeligere skulle det blive fra slutningen af næste uge (ja ja... Jeg ved det godt. Jeg siger hele tiden, at NU bliver det fredeligere, og hvad sker der så????), men først er der lige lidt arbejde, et kursus og et par koncerter.

The passage of time has become a bit more obvious at home after I had my inheritance. My parents decided many years ago that I was to inherit this clock, since I was named after my great-grandmother and the clock came from her family (I think). Great care has been taken in preserving and repairing the clock, and so here it is in my living-room, doing all it's tics and tocs. Night and day. It's quite nice, actually!
Great was my relief when I found out that I can sleep at night, even though the clock strokes also all through the night and I was rather worried!
Time is also passing outside my home. Right now I'm in the middle of a very, very busy week. The good things are that I passed my "Advanced pediatric resuscitation course" AND there is only a few days left of this week. Everything should be a little bit more peaceful after the end of next week (yes. I know. I'm always telling you that NOW it will be more quiet, and then what happens?????), but first I need to get around a little work, another course and 2 concerts.

Dette skulle have været / This should have been

Dette skulle i virkeligheden have været et overskuds-agtigt billede af ikke bare et, men hele to par færdige strømper! Det ene par er faktisk færdige, og dem skal I nok se senere. Men det andet par?
Jeg havde ikke så meget af det her garn. Faktisk kun lige nok til to par. Og da jeg så strikkede et hamster-tæppe, gik der vist lige lidt kuk i beregningerne. Hvis de her strømper nogensinde skal blive færdige, skal nevøens hamster undvære sit fine tæppe.

This should have been a wonderful picture of not just one, but two pairs of finished socks! The first pair is well done, and I'll show them later on, but the second pair?
I didn't have a lot of this yarn. Actually, I had exactly enough for 2 pairs of socks. Then I knitted a hamster-blanket and my calculations went terribly wrong. If this socks are ever to be done, I think my nephew's hamster will have to do without the pretty blanket.

Der skal nok forhandles med den unge mand - hamsterens ejer. Men jeg synes selv, jeg har gode kort på hånden! Her er nemlig første model af en hamster-strømpe, beregnet til at kravle ind i, så man rigtig kan sidde derinde og hygge sig som hamster. Mon han lader sig nøje med det?
Jeg har brugt 25 gram wollmeise til strømpen, og dermed er årets forbrug oppe på 2860 gram.

There will be some serious negotiations with this young man - owner of the hamster. But I do think I have some great stuff to offer! This is the first model of a hamster-sock, meant to be a place for hiding. You can crawl in there and really feel snug and safe as a hamster. I hope my nephew will be happy with this! I used 25 grams of wollmeise, and so my total this year is 2860 grams.

Flyvetimer / Flying lessons

Min lille, nye undulat er faldet godt til. De elsker hinanden rigtig højt allerede, hvilket er ret sjovt. Er den ene ude af buret, sidder den anden og kalder (meget højt!) indtil de kan se hinanden igen.
Med til at være fugl hører jo, at man kommer ud at flyve. Det medfører en del kalden!
Min nye fugl (der iøvrigt er endt med at hedde Amanda) flyver opad. Og opad. Indtil hun støder hovedet mod loftet. (Nej, undulater er ikke super kloge!) Eller nød-lander et eller andet sært sted. Som på dørkarmen!

My new, young budgerigar has settled in. The 2 birds love each other very much already, which is kind of funny. If one of them leaves the cage, the other one starts calling (loudly!) until they are within sight of each other again.
Part of being a bird is flying freely outside the cage. Which leads to a lot of calling!
My new bird (who by the way ended up with the name Amanda) fly upwards. And up. Until her head hits the ceiling. (I never said these birds were very wise!) Or she crash-lands somewhere weird. Like on the doorfram!

Imens sidder han-undulaten og venter. Og undrer sig. Og kalder. (Højt!) Men ikke tale om, at hun kan finde tilbage til buret!

All the while the male is waiting. And wondering. And calling. (Loudly!) But no way can she find her way back to the cage!

Næh - hun kan finde et enkelt sted, hvilket er på gardinstangen. Der har man godt overblik! Til gengæld kan de finde hinanden, hvilket jo er rart. Hun gider ikke flyve hjem, men er mere optaget af at forsøge at kigge ned bag gardinet, når nogen udenfor stiller cyklen. Når jeg så tilbyder at bære hende hjem på en finger, kommer hendes sande natur frem. Hun er ikke specielt bange. Men OM hun gider sætte mere end en enkelt fod på min finger? Næh nej! Hun strækker sig så langt hun kan for at undgå at jeg får begge ben. Når hun så overgiver sig, når hun at flyve væk et par gange, inden vi når buret. Der er en god del stædighed i denne lille krop!

She knows her way to one single place, which is on the curtain rod. You can see far from here! And they can find each other, which is nice. She doesn't want to fly home, but tries to bend and look behind the curtain to see the person placing his bike. When I offer a safe ride home on my finger, her true nature is showing. She is not very scared. But by NO means she wants to put more than one foot on my finger! Oh no! She is stretching as far away as possible to keep one leg to herself. When she finally gives in, she manages to fly away a few times before reaching the cage. This little bird is very stubborn!

En anderledes vinkel / Another angle

Origami

Den langsommelige bolero i retstrik er færdig. I aftes nåede jeg endelig de magiske 110 cm og kunne sy sammen. Straks blev den forvandlet fra bare at være enormt kedelig til at være vaskeægte strikke-origami!

The slow-going bolero in garterstitch is done. Last nigth I reached the magic end and could begin sewing it together. And - oh magic! - immediately it was transformed into an example of knitting origami!

Det meget lange stykke blev strikket sammen 2 steder, og er nu blevet vasket og trukket i facon til en bolero, som I her ser forfra. Det er str. small, og jeg kan umuligt klemme mig i den. Men til den rigtige (lillebitte) person tror jeg den bliver rigtig pæn.

The very long piece of fabric was knitted together in 2 places and by now it's washed and shaped into a bolero-like form. Here it is from the front. It's the small size, and it doesn't fit my size. By any means. But for the right (tiny) person I think it's really nice.

Her er den bagfra. Ialt har jeg brugt 250 gram Blackhill højlandsuld i en meget mørk og en knap så mørk blå. I morgen skal den med til kor og afleveres, og så skal jeg vist til at koncentrere mig om at forsøge at få gjort årets igangværende og planlagte projekter færdige, mens tid er..... Ikke noget med at sige ja til flere ting!

And here it is from the back. I used 250 grams of Blackhill wool in a very dark and a not quite so dark blue. Tomorrow it will go with me for my choir rehearsal and given to my friend for the Christmas market, and then I guess I need to concentrate on finishing this years ongoing and planned projects while it's still 2012.... No more unplanned projects!

Bacon

Det er virkelig koldt. Så trænger man til tung mad, ikke? Kulde og mørke skal fordrives med - - - bacon!
Dagens opskrift er virkelig sjov og rimeligt nem at gå til. Jeg tror faktisk du kan være med, selv om du ikke har hæklet meget før. Bacon-puden finder du her.

It's really getting cold. Makes you crave heavy foods, right? The cold and dark will feel less bad with the help of - - - bacon!
Today's pattern is really fun and fairly easy, I think. Even if you didn't crochet a lot before in your life. The pattern for the bacon-pillow can be found here.

Travl / Busy

I dag pakker vi min mors lejlighed ned. Fortsat fra i går. Pyha - jeg bliver meget taknemmelig for at det ikke var et stort hus! Men der er 'skatte'. Det er så hyggeligt.

Today we are emptying my mother's flat. We started yesterday. I'm really grateful that it's not a big house! We find 'treasure' filled with memories. It's a nice job.


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Hamster cirkus

Niecen har fået ny hamster. Den hedder Plet og er rigtig nuttet! Jeg skulle selvfølgelig se det lille vidunder, men beklager den forringede billedkvalitet. Hamstere er ret svære at få til at sidde stille.....
Plet havde lige et flot trick oppe i ærmet..... Øh. Kindposen. Der kunne være imponerende mange stykker valnød!

My niece had a new hamster. It's called Plet (Spot) and is really cute! Of course I had to visit to see the little cutie, but I have to apologize about the poor quality of my photos. It's really hard to make a hamster sit very still!
Spot new a really nice trick. He can have an incredible amount of nuts in his cheek pouches!

Min mindste nevø kom åbenbart i tanker om, at det var meeeget længe siden han havde set mig strikke og kom anstigende med de dér tynde træ-grillspyd og noget sytråd og ville lære at strikke.
Som om! I stedet fik jeg det lille, hurtige projekt, der gav øjeblikkelig glæde, da vi i stedet fandt strømpegarn og fik startet et "hamster-tæppe". Der altså er strikket på grillspyd. Vel ca. pind 3, tænker jeg!

My youngest nephew seemed to remember that he hadn't seen me knitting for a long time and presented me with those thin, wooden kebab-sticks and some sewing thread and asked me to teach him how to knit.
As if! Instead I was lucky to have the little, quick project bringing instant joy, when we found some sock yarn and started a "hamster-blanket". Made on wooden kebab-sticks. I guess it's like 3 mm needles.

Her ses den lykkelige hamster så i sit tæppe. Den fik så sit eget cirkus-"nummer", hvor den kravlede igennem den strikkede ring af flammende - uld!

And here you see the happy hamster in her blanket. She now has her very own circus-"trick", crawling through the knitted ring of flaming - wool!

Give-away

Det varer ikke særligt længe, så er det 1. december og julen rykker tættere på. Jeg kan godt lide december. Med julepynt, lys, dejlig musik og julethe!
Noget af det bedste julethe får man i Percks the-hus. Da jeg var derinde købte jeg lidt ekstra. Til en af jer!
Desuden er der lige kommet en ny, fin bog med opskrifter på nissehuer. Hvem kan ikke finde nogen, der har brug for en lille nissehue?
Så. Altså. Pakken bliver til 1 heldig vinder og består af 100 g grøn julethe fra Percks, den nye nissehue bog, 50 gram rød Arwetta og 100 gram Zitron Trekking, farvet af mig i julerøde farver. Der er garn til at strikke ihvertfald 1 hue fra bogen.
Alt, hvad du skal gøre, er at skrive en kommentar, og så trækker jeg en vinder i løbet af d. 1. december og sender pakken af sted snarest derefter, når jeg har en adresse at sende den til. Du kan deltage indtil d. 30. november.
Håber, I vil være med!

It won't be long before it's December 1. and Christmas will be getting close. I really like December. With decorations, candles, lovely music and Christmas-tea!
The best Christmas-tea can be found in Percks tea-house here in Copenhagen. When I went there, I bought a little extra. For one of you!
Furthermore, a new, Danish book with patterns for "Nissehuer" has just been published. (It's hats for our special Christmas pixies. Some very nice creatures with red, pointy hats. They do make a lot of trouble in December, but in a nice way.) Who wouldn't know someone with a need for a hat like this?
Anyway. This present will be for 1 lucky winner and is filled with 100 grams of green Christmas-tea from Percks, the new "Nissehue"-book, 50 grams of red Arwetta and 100 grams of Zitron Trekking, dyed by me in Christmas red colors. There is enough yarn to knit at least 1 hat from the book.
All you have to do is write a comment, and then I will find a winner at some point on December 1st. I'll mail the present as soon as I have the adress. The last date for participation will be November 30.
I hope you will join the game!

Det sorte hul / The black hole

Det går langsomt fremad med omelet-sjalet. Der er forfærdeligt mange masker på pinden nu, og jeg må indrømme, at der vist også er et par småfejl. Silke og alpaca er glat, og smutter der en maske af pinden redder jeg det efter bedste evne, men jeg orker ikke at strikke 2-3 pinde baglæns og gøre det helt perfekt. Det sker udfra min erfaring at ingen kan se det alligevel hvis jeg bare får det ordnet rimeligt........ Sikkert en direkte glidebane til et eller andet slemt! Jeg vil være så frimodig at kalde det kreative fortolkninger af mønsteret istedet for fejl.
Sjalet bør meget snart blive færdigt, da jeg skal strikke et til. Så jeg prøver at tage en pind mere!
Jeg går iøvrigt og pønser på en lille nu-er-det-snart-jul give-away. Mere i morgen.

The omelet shawl is slowly growing. A row holds a horrible number of stitches now, and I might as well admit that there are some small mistakes. Silk and alpaca is very, very slippery, and if a stitch falls off, I do my very best at saving the pattern, but I really don't have the energy and patience to tink (knit backwards) for 2-3 rows and correct everything perfectly. I do this with some confidence since my experience is that no-one will notice it anyway if I just give it my best shot...... This is probably the beginning of something very, very bad to happen to a knitter who won't do her very best! I even insist on calling it my creative interpretation of the pattern instead of mistakes.
The shawl really needs to finish very soon, since I need to make another one. So I constantly remind myself of knitting just one more row!
By the way - I have a little Christmas-is-just-around-the-corner give-away coming up. You will here about it tomorrow!

Stakkels England / Poor England

I forbifarten / Running by

I dag har jeg fri. Det det med oprydning kører åbenbart på, så der er VIRKELIG blevet ryddet ud. Ikke, at man lige kan se det, altså..... Der er lidt vej endnu!
I Føtex fandt jeg disse smarte plastic-bokse. Perfekte til garn og rigtig gode til at minimere støv.
Desuden har jeg sagt farvel til det meste Kvickly strømpegarn. Vi har haft mange glade stunder, javist, men jeg er stødt på andet strømpegarn, og vi er ligesom vokset fra hinanden. Til gengæld flytter det over til en der vil elske det og strikke mange strømper. Kan det blive bedre?

Today is my day off. The tidy-up thing is alive and kicking and even though I REALLY threw out lots of stuff, it's kind of hard to see any results from my effort unless you know it. I still have some work to do!
In my supermarket I found these really smart shoe-boxes. Perfect for storing yarn and great at minimizing dust.
I've waved goodbye to my cheap supermarket sock yarn. We had a lot of fun, and I really loved it, but I've got to know other sock yarns and we just grew apart. Now it will make someone else happy and become lots of socks!

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Så sidder jeg her / And here I am

Hos frisøren. Der er ventetid. Jeg skulle SÅ meget have husket mit strikketøj! Også selv om det bare er kedelige strømper....

At the hairdresser. I have to wait a bit and I miss my knitting project so much! Even though it is just boring socks...


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Stjernetosset / Young stars

Man kan lige så godt starte tidligt, ikke? Her er en sikker vej til at hjernevaske selv babyer til at elske Master Yoda.
Måske elske ham på hovedet, eftersom man plejer at vende flasken om, men alligevel.....
Den gode Yoda hjælper garanteret også med at holde mælken varm!
(Og ja - jeg kom til at se "Star Wars" i TV i går.)

You might as well start young, don't you think? This is the way to brainwash even young babies and make them love Master Yoda.
Maybe they will love him upside-down since you flip the bottle, but still.....
The good Yoda will also help you keep the milk warm!
(I happened to watch an old Star Wars film on TV last night...)

Knap nok / Barely

Jeg nåede (selvfølgelig) ikke engang halvdelen af alle mine planer. Er I da tossede, så mange håndarbejdsblade man kan nå at samle sig på omkring 20 år!
Der blev kigget blade, så jeg var lige ved at få kreativ kvalme. (Nej, okay. Det sker vist ikke....) Så købte jeg ind, bestilte tid til frisør og til nogle kulturelle oplevelser op til jul - og lavede mad!
Selv om jeg havde glemt, at det var Mortens aften, fik jeg and (men det kan I ikke se....), bare i wok. Det smagte fantastisk!
I dag står den på arbejde. Hele dagen. Det går nok. Forhåbentlig kan jeg komme ikke alt for sent hjem (måske inden kl. 21?) og nå at strikke lidt. For det nåede jeg sandelig ikke i går!

It is not a surprise that I barely made it through half my plans yesterday. I never imagined I would have this many craft magazines collected in just 20 years!
I looked through my magazines and almost got creative nausea. (Well. No. That's not gonna happen!) Then I went shopping, made an appointment for my hair and for some nice, cultural things closer to Christmas - and cooked!
Even though I forgot it was "Mortens aften" (an old, Danish bishop who hid in a goose stable from his enemies. Unfortunately, the geese gave him away, and as a revenge we eat duck on this special night. No. Doesn't make sense!), I still had duck. Just prepared in a wok, not as roast duck. It was amazing!
Today I'll be working. All day. It will be fine. Hopefully, I will be able to get home fairly early (maybe even before 9 p.m.!) and knit a little. I surely didn't find time for the needles yesterday!

Lørdag / Saturday

I dag er en af de der lørdage, som jeg har drømt om så længe. Som jeg altid tænker kunne være helt fantastiske. En af dem, der står som idealet på en weekend!
Jeg skal være herhjemme. Hele dagen. Alene. Hurra!
Der er masser at lave. Øverst på listen er at få ryddet ud, så bogreolen ikke ser sådan her ud! Med bøger i lag på lag på lag. Det kræver en hård hånd, og jeg tror ikke, jeg skal tænke alt for meget over, om jeg nu er HELT sikker på at denne bog kan undværes? Næh, jeg skal nok bare lige prøve at låne lidt af søsterens oprydnings-effektivitet. Hun er ingen hamster (selv om familien helt klart er til hamstere istedet for mine undulater....)
Nå. Bladbunkerne skal også væk fra gulvet. Der er en lang liste abstracts, der skal skimmes og udvælges og en artikel der skal rettes. (Og så kan jeg strikke imens!)
Der er en jule-cd der skal hentes fra posthuset, og så SKAL jeg altså have bestilt tid hos frisøren. Inden det går helt galt....
God lørdag derude!

Today is one of those Saturdays that I'm dreaming about. I always imagine them as the perfect, amazing days. A day, that makes any weekend perfect!
I'm going to be at home. All day. Alone. Hooray!
There are plenty of things to do. Top of the list is to organize, making the bookcases look very different from this! I have books on top of books. I really need to make myself hard, not thinking too much about if I'm perfectly sure I will be able to cope without this specific book? I guess I just need to borrow a bit from my sister's cleaning efficiency. She is no hamster (although her family clearly prefers hamsters to my budgerigars....)
Well. I need the piles of magazines to go away from the floor. I need to read a long list of abstracts and choose 3-4 of them. I need to work on an article (these two last things include a possibility of knitting. Luckily!)
I need to go to the post office, picking up a new Christmas cd, and I REALLY need to make an appointment at my hairdresser's. Before my hair goes completely wild.....
Happy Saturday out there!

Kedeligt. Punktum. / Boring. Period.

For nogle uger siden kom jeg til at sige "ja". Uheldigt. Jeg var til kor, og spurgte interesseret til en andens strikketøj, der viste sig at være et meget langt stykke retstrik, der med tiden skulle blive til en bolero. Og iøvrigt skulle sælges på et plejehjems julebazar så de kunne spare op til en bus. Om jeg også havde lyst til at strikke en? I den lille størrelse?
Eftersom jeg er så håbløst dårlig til at sige nej til strikkeren, der har sclerose, kom jeg til at sige ja. Men jeg kunne godt sige nej tak til det acrylgarn, plejehjemmet åbenbart havde forsøgt at prakke hende på og som hun så prøvede at prakke mig på.
Nå. 110 cm retstrik. Garnet er 2 tråde Blackhill højlandsuld, og farven bliver mægtig pæn. Jeg er halvvejs. Det går til en god sag. Det var vist så de gode nyheder om den sag.......

A few weeks ago I happened to say "yes". Unfortunately. I was in the middle of a choir rehearsal and asked about another singers knitting project, which turned out to be a very long piece of garter-stitch, that would become a bolero at some point in the future. And was going to be sold at the Christmas Market at a nursing home, helping them save money for a new bus. If I would like to knit one too? The small size?
Since I'm so hopeless at saying no to this particular knitter suffering from sclerosis, I accidentally said yes. But I was able to say no thanks to the acrylic yarn the nursing home had given her for knitting, but she wouldn't use herself.
Oh well. One hundred and ten centimeters of garter stitch. The yarn is some really nice wool and the color is pretty. I'm halfway through. It's for a good cause. And that's the end of happy bolero news!

Hals / Neck

Halsen på min hexagon-bluse er blevet færdig. Af alle dele af trøjen var den nok den nemmeste og hurtigste, men det tager stadig lidt tid på pind 3.....
Jeg er meget tilfreds med den - det er flot med den sekskantede facon og den sidder rigtig pænt. Som I kan se, har jeg lavet en ombukket kant med en kontrastfarve. Den er jeg også tilfreds med.

The hexagon-neck is finished. Of all the parts on this blouse, the neck was the easiest and fastest to do, but it still takes some time on 3 mm needles.....
I'm very happy with it - it really looks good, hexagon-shape and all, and it looks really nice when worn. As you can see, I made a tiny border with a different color. I like that too!

I udendørs dagslys ser ærmet med den anden farve ikke helt så slem ud, vel? Jeg har dog ikke syet kanten op endnu, HVIS nu jeg ikke kan leve med det. (Men det kan jeg nok godt...)
Resten af blusen må lige vente et par uger, til jeg skal på heldagskursus igen. Den løber jo ingen steder!

Seeing the hexagon-blouse outside in daylight, the sleeve with the different color doesn't look so bad. I didn't sew up the border yet, just in case I can't live with it. (But I guess I can, though)
The rest of the blouse has to wait a few weeks for my next full-day course. Not like it's going anywhere!

iPhone cover

Ny kone / New wife

Nu tror jeg ikke, undulater har nogen særlig lang hukommelse - men de kan meget hurtigt føle sig ensomme! - så derfor gik turen forbi dyrehandlen på vej hjem fra arbejde i går for at købe en ny lille kone til min han-undulat.
Var der lige et par fugle, der blev overraskede! Den gamle, fordi der pludselig sad en fremmed fugl i buret, og den nye, fordi den pludselig var et helt nyt og ukendt sted.
Nysgerrigheden vandt dog imponerende hurtigt, og jeg tænker, at den nye fugl er af den skrappe slags. Normalt bruger en ny undulat et par dage med at sidde og stirre skræmt ud i luften, mens den har tyndskid af bare skræk, men ikke den unge dame her. Næh nej. 10 minutter, så havde hun fundet maden og spiste lystigt.

Since I don't trust budgerigars to have a very long memory - but they do feel very lonely very quickly! - I visited the pet-store going back from work yesterday, in order to buy a new little wife for my male bird.
What a surprise-party! The old one was very surprised over the new, strange bird suddenly sitting in his cage, and the new one was very surprised, being in a new, unknown place.
Curiosity got the better of them, though, and I think the new bird is a tough lady. Usually new budgerigars sit paralyzed for 1-2 days, having diarrhea just because of the utter terror, but not this young lady. Oh no, sir! All she needed was 10 minutes for finding some food, and then she was happily eating.

For at fejre den store begivenhed, fik de persille. MUMS! Der blev spist godt og grundigt, og også sammen. Foreløbig virker det altså, som om det nok skal fungere med de to sammen, men vi får selvfølgelig se. Der er heldigvis hverken afhuggede hoveder eller afrevne lemmer indtil videre!
Nu skal jeg bare finde et navn til hende...... Måske Yoda, hvis det altså ikke var et drengenavn. Hun fandt nemlig ud af, hvor lågen i buret var, og sad så og stirrede intenst på den i meget lang tid. Men den åbnede sig ikke......

For celebration of this very big event, they had parsley. YUM! They ate heartily, even together most of the time. So far it seems like it's going to work out with these two, but we'll se, I guess. So far, no-one lost any heads or limbs!
I just need to find her a name...... Maybe Yoda, if it just wasn't a boy's name. Very fast, she discovered the door to the cage, and stared intensly at it for a long time. But it didn't open......

Din store mund / Your big mouth

Måske kender du det også. Pludselig har man sagt noget, man ikke ville sige, og står bare der og ærgrer sig så gevaldigt over sin store mund......
Nu kan den blive endnu større! Tænk engang!
Man kan da bruge sådan en stor mund til så meget, ikke? Tomme kalorier, f.eks.? Eller lære at blive bugtaler så du kan lade som om, at det ikke var din mund ordene lige kom ud af....... Mønsteret er her.

Maybe you tried it. Suddenly saying something you didn't want to say, and you're just standing there, wishing you didn't have such a big mouth....
Now it can get even bigger! Can you imagine?
This big mouth could be very useful for a variety of purposes. You could use it for empty calories? Or train to become a ventriloquist, pretending those words didn't come from your mouth.....
The pattern is here.

Sykreds / Knitting circle

Det sidste gode døgns tid er tilbragt i Køges omegn, hvor vi endte med en stiftende generalforsamling i "Sykredsen (med blødt D) af 4. nov. 2012". Som I kan læse af vores vedtægter, skal møderne (der gerne er langvarige!) bl.a. indeholde udflugter til relevante steder, så vi nåede et godt besøg i Køges garnbutik, der godt nok ikke er fysisk stor, men rummede uanede mængder lækkert garn og et forbløffende antal mennesker!

The last 27 hours have been spent near Køge, having the very first meeting in our knitting circle (in the most old-fashioned way you can imagine...) I had a wonderful time with Mette and Lise. Our newly formed society have a few rules, one of them is that we need excursions to relevant sites when attending our (very long) meetings. So we visited the yarn shop in Køge, which - in spite of the tiny space available - held tremendous amounts of great yarn and an astonishing number of people!

Selvfølgelig måtte jeg købe lidt (nej, jeg mangler ikke!) Drops alpaca bouclé (det er så blødt!) og sjalsnål.
Ellers gik tiden med en masse strik, dejlig mad og det meste af "Anne fra Grønnebakken". Hvorfor har jeg aldrig nogensinde set den film før?
Superhyggelig weekend!

Of course I had to buy just a bit (I AM aware that I'm not suffering from yarn deficiency!) Drops alpaca bouclé (it's so soft!) and a shawls needle.
The time was spent with a lot of knitting, wonderful food and watching most of "Anne of Green Gables". Why did I never watch that film until now?
Wonderful weekend!

Vel hjemme igen tænkte jeg, at en gåtur ville være god. Men min lille hun-undulat, der så temmelig skidt ud da jeg tog afsted, havde det nu rigtig dårligt og kunne dårligt sidde på pinden. Hun ville gerne bæres, men ville ikke af min hånd igen, og ligger nu bare her og kigger lidt ind imellem. Hun ligner ikke en fugl, der lever mange timer. Jeg synes, det må være rarere at dø i en stor, blød hånd end liggende i noget grus på bunden af buret (når hun nu ikke er bange for mig), så her sidder jeg med min lille fugl og venter...... Det er lidt besværligt at skrive med en hånd!

Back home, I planned to go for a little walk. But my female bird, who didn't look well when I left, looked really bad now and barely held her balance. She allowed me to carry her, but didn't want to leave my hand again, so right now she is just lying here, looking around every now and then. She doesn't look like a bird with a lot of hours left. I think it must be nicer to die when lying in a big, soft hand instead of lying on the floor of a cage (since she is not afraid of me) - so here I am. Sitting still, waiting with my little bird...... It's a bit difficult typing with just one hand!

Omelet

I forgårs fik jeg en sms fra en veninde i Odense. Hun skulle på kursus i Hovedstaden dagen efter og havde nogle timer om eftermiddagen. Om vi skulle mødes? Ja da!
Vi endte på Lê Lê på Vesterbrogade til nogle meget, meget hyggelige timer, hvor alting lige blev talt igennem. Det var faktisk ret VIP-agtigt - vi kom lige inden åbningstid og endte med at komme ind og få et bord som de allerførste! Maden var fantastisk. Men sådan er det jo....

On Thursday I had a text from a friend in Odense. She was going on a course in the Capital of Denmark on Friday and had some spare hours in the afternoon. Could we meet? Oh yes!
We ended up going to Lê Lê on Vesterbrogade and had a few wonderful hours talking about everything. Felt very VIP, since we arrived just minutes before the restaurant opened and ended up being the very first people to have a table! The food was amazing. But that's how it is at that place....

Jeg har aldrig fået vist jer fly-strikketøjet fra sidste USA-tur. En Omelet til min svigerindes mor. Hun er en gæv kvinde, der - ifølge min niece - ALDRIG spørger nogen om noget. Men det gjorde hun så alligevel til nevøens bryllup. Spurgte, om jeg ville strikke et sort sjal til hende.
Se - det er jo noget af en ære, så selvfølgelig ville jeg det! Garnet er silke og alpaca, eftersom hun ikke er til uld.
Der skal strikkes her i weekenden, hvor jeg skal til nørkleweekend i Køge med 2 veninder. Håber, jeg når lidt længere, for der er et andet sort sjal, der også skal strikkes!

I never showed you my airplane-knitting project the last time I went to USA. An Omelet for the mother of my sister-in-law. She is a lady who would never ask anything from anyone - according to my niece. But she did ask me if I would make her a black shawl, when she saw my green shawl at my nephew's wedding.
It's really an honor, so of course I said yes! She is not into wool, so I'm making it in silk and alpaca.
I hope to knit more on it during the weekend. I'm having a crafts weekend with 2 of my friends.
I really want to finish it, since I have another black shawl coming up!

2 lange ærmer / Two long sleeves

Takket være 3 dages kursus blev det andet ærme færdigt. En hel del hurtigere end det første! Jeg har brugt det andet bundt garn til det andet ærme, og det kan man jo desværre godt se i blitzlys. Jeg satser dog på, at når den først bliver færdig og bliver brugt, så må jeg bare bevæge armene så hurtigt at ingen lægger mærke til det.....
Mon ikke det går? I almindeligt indendørs lys kan man også godt se det, men det er ikke noget man tænker vildt over.
Blusen vejer nu - med ærmer - 250 gram, og ligner starten på en Hulk-dragt med god plads til musklerne! Halsen er kommet i gang, og når den først er færdig, hjælper det nok på udseendet.
Selv om den ikke er i nærheden af færdig, tror jeg dog godt jeg tør love, at jeg kunne tænke mig at lave en til. På lidt tykkere pinde.

Thanks to 3 days of endocrinology-course the second sleeve is finished. Much faster than the first one! I used the other skein of yarn for the second sleeve, which sadly is very obvious when using a flash. I hope I can make some very quick arm-moves when it's done and used, so that no-one will see the difference due to my incredible speed!
I do hope it works out. When staying in-door with plain lighting you can still see the color difference, but it's not the first thing you would notice.
By now the weight of the blouse - with both sleeves - is 250 grams, and it looks like a Hulk-costume with enough room for the muscles! I started doing the neck, and I hope this will make it look much better.
Even though it's far from done, already I would love to make another one. On larger needles....

Nemesis

Disse strømper har været længe undervejs. Jeg slog op i juli, lige ved starten af OL, og så har de bare fået lov at ligge. Længe!
Jeg var ikke vild med farven. Egentlig heller ikke med mønsteret, indtil jeg lige lærte det at kende! Da først jeg kom rundt om den første hæl, gav mønsteret egentlig sig selv, og var sjovt at strikke.
Mønsteret hedder Nemesis, og er fra Knitty for et par år siden. Ret enkelt, men virkningsfuldt.

These socks have come a long way. I started them in July, right at the beginning of the Olympic games, and then they just did nothing. No growing what-so-ever!
I didn't really like the color. Didn't really like the pattern either, until I turned the first heel and learned it by heart!
The pattern is called Nemesis, it was in Knitty a few years back. Rather easy to do, but with a great effect.

Strømperne er til min veninde i Odense, der spurgte MEGET pænt, om hun måtte få et par strømper mere. Det første par var blevet vasket og plejet efter alle kunstens regler, og hun købte endda selv garn til det her nye par! Det kunne jeg jo ikke sige nej til, og så snart de var færdige, røg de faktisk med posten til Odense, så de kan varme nogle tæer.
Garnet er "Crazy Zauberball", indkøbt i Flensburg i sommer. Som I kan se, er farverne noget mere neutrale end dem jeg ville have valgt, men meget pæne til strømper. Der er brugt 65 gram ialt.

The socks are for my friend in Odense, who asked VERY politely (pretty please!) if she could have another pair of socks. The first pair of socks I made for her had been taken care of in the most careful way, and she even bought the yarn herself for this new pair! I couldn't say no, and as soon as these were finished, they were posted.
The yarn is "Crazy Zauberball", bought in Flensburg during the summer. As you can see, the colors are much more neutral than what I would ever have chosen, but nice for socks. I used a total of 65 grams.