19

I dag fylder min søsters ældste 25! Så i et kvart århundrede har jeg været nogens moster. Det er en ret god titel! 

Selvfølgelig skal han have strømper. Det skal han da! Det blev den lette løsning med striber i (næsten) ensfarvet og Zauberball. Jeg synes det bliver så fint, og så er det jo altså nemt!

Strømperne er strikket på pind 2,5 som sædvanligt, og de er dejlige og bløde og vejer 80 gram. Jeg håber han kan lide dem! 

Today, my sisters oldest is 25! So I have been someone's maternal aunt for a quarter of a century. It's a really good title!

Of course he is having socks. Of course! I chose the easy solution with stripes in (almost) mono-color and Zauberball. I really love the result, and it's so easy!

The socks are made with 2.5 mm needles as usual, and they are nice and soft and weighs 80 grams. I do hope he likes them!

Odense

I søndags var jeg lige i Odense for at komme til sommerfest. Jeg tænker denne her skulptur er en fortolkning af H.C. Andersen? Han må finde sig i lidt af hvert! Skulpturen står lige i nærheden af Skt. Hans kirke, og jeg benyttede lejligheden til at komme med til gudstjeneste der. 

On Sunday, I went to Odense to join a summer party. I would guess that this sculpture is some kind of interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen? So many things happen to him! The sculpture is close to Skt. Hans church, and I used the visit to join the service there. 

Bagefter fik jeg frokost hos mine venner inden festen. Min veninde havde en bekendelse. For mange, mange år siden (30?) fik hun en aflægger af en kaktus som jeg havde arvet fra min fars moster. Hun har været noget bedre til at tage sig af dem end jeg har. I hvert fald måtte hun bekende at den originale kaktus hun fik var blevet så stor at hun havde givet den væk. Men hun har stadig alle dem her. 

Altså - MIN aflægger har det ikke halvt så godt, selv om den er nogenlunde stor!

Afterwards, I had lunch with my friends before the party. My friend had a confession to make. Many, many years ago (30?) she had a sprout from a cactus that I got from my fathers aunt. I guess she has been better taking care of them than I have. Because her confession was that the original cactus was so big now that she had given it to someone else. But still she has all these. 

You know - MY cactus is not doing half as good, although it's big enough!

Med lidt besvær tog jeg så en ny aflægger. En ret stor (og stikkende!) baby. Den måtte jo komme i jorden sent søndag aften, og så tænker jeg at min nevø på Bornholm skal få den. Som en aflægger af en aflægger fra hans morfars tante. 

Det er sjovt når planterne bliver i familien!

With some trouble, I took another sprout. A quite big (and prickly!) baby. So it had to get some dirt late on Sunday evening, and then I do think that my nephew in Bornholm will have it. As a descendant of a descendant from his grandfathers aunt. 

It's really fun when plants stay in the family!

Det største ferieprojekt / The biggest vacation project

Det var faktisk sjovt at sy kjole og toppe til mig selv, men det var nok også en måde at udskyde det virkelige ferieprojekt, nemlig skjorter til min yngste nevø som snart har fødselsdag. 

Han havde specifikt valgt det her stof med G-nøgler, og hans søster fik mig til at købe stof til en skjorte mere. De to bliver hans fødselsdagsgave, og eftersom han bor i USA, SKAL de bare blive færdige så han kan nå at få dem!

Stoffet blev i hvert fald klippet i ferien. Udendørs. 

It was much fun sewing the dress and tops for me, but it also was procrastinating the real vacation project which are shirts for my youngest nephew who's birthday is coming up. 

He specifically picked this fabric with G-keys, and his sister made me buy fabric for another shirt. Those two will become his birthday present, and since he lives in the US, the MUST get done in time for him to get them!

So I cut the fabric during my vacation. Outdoors. 

Jeg strøg også vlieseline på de dele der skulle have det, og jeg kantede alle stykker med zig-zag. 

I also ironed the lining fabric on the parts that needed it, and I stitched all the edges. 

Derefter var ferien slut! Jeg KAN ikke lide at blive tvunget til at sidde og sy om aftenen. Jeg kan SÅ meget bedre lide at synke sammen i sofaen og kigge tv mens jeg strikker! 

Men altså - de skal være færdige, jo!

And then the vacation was over! I sincerely DISLIKE being forced to sew in the evenings. Instead, I prefer just collapsing on the couch, watching tv while I knit!

But - you know - they need to get done!

Så nu øver jeg mig i at sy en smule hver aften. Jeg kan bedst lide at gøre tingene færdige, men jeg skal jo også sove. Jeg øver mig også i at høre musik i stedet for at se tv. 

Alt i alt sikkert vældigt godt på alle måder, og skjorterne er snart færdige!

Hvem ved - måske ender jeg med at kunne lide at sy dem?

So now I'm practicing sewing a little bit every evening. I prefer just finishing things, but I also need to sleep. I'm also practicing listening to music instead of watching the tv. 

So all in all very good in many ways, and the shirts will be done soon!

Who knows - maybe I'll end up enjoying the process of sewing them?

Island / Iceland

18

Ferien er slut og hverdagen er skudt i gang. Det er faktisk også fint nok, selv om det er herligt at have fri! 

Jeg fik ikke strikket meget i Disneyland, men det gjorde jeg til gengæld på Island! Så derfor kan jeg præsentere næste par strømper som er til min nevøs hustru som fylder år på lørdag. 

The vacation is over and the work-life started again. It's actually fine, although I also love to just have days off! 

I did not get to knit much in Disneyland, but then I knit on Iceland! So that's why I can present the next pair of socks for my nephews wife who celebrates her birthday on Saturday. 

Mønsteret hedder Angee, fra Cookie A.'s bog Sock Innovation. Det er jo ved at være et godt, gammelt mønster med 15 år på bagen. Bogen begynder også at se lidt slidt ud, selv om jeg jo stadig føler at den er "ny". Det er et fint mønster med mønster som ligner snoninger uden at være det. 

De er strikket i håndfarvet garn som var et af mine første forsøg på rejefarve. Det blev det ikke, men det er en fin orange-rød! Jeg har strikket på pind 2,5 og de vejer 75 gram. 

The pattern is called Angee, from Sock Innovation by Cookie A. So the pattern is a good, old one. Actually 15 years old. The book has started to look a bit worn, although I still feel that it's "new". The pattern is really pretty - it looks like cables, but it's not. 

They are made with hand-dyed yarn that were one of my first tries to do the shrimp color. It did not work out, but it's a nice orange-red! I used 2.5 mm needles and they weigh 75 grams. 

En pose til din pose / A bag for your bag

I dag har jeg fundet noget virkelig mærkeligt som kan strikkes - en strikket pose til din tepose! Den er meget sød og sikkert hurtig at strikke, men jeg aner virkelig ikke hvorfor nogen har fået denne her ide. Det er garanteret en god opskrift til rester!

 

Today I found something really weird that can be knit - a knitted bag for your tea bag! It's very cute and I'm sure it's a quick knit, but I really have no idea why anyone every got the idea of making this. But I'm convinced it's a really great pattern for left-overs!

Garn fra Island / Yarn from Iceland

Jeg købte jo også noget garn på Island. Min veninde havde prøvet at finde nogle garnbutikker, men jeg ville helst i det supermarked som sælger garn, så det kom jeg. 

So I also bought some yarn on Iceland. My friend tried to find some yarn shops, but I would rather go to the supermarket that sells yarn, so that's were we went. 

Den islandske krone er meget lav, så da jeg skulle betale kostede det så meget her!!!!!!

The Icelandic currency is very low, so when I was paying, this was the price!!!!!!

Bagefter tog vi også i en garnbutik (som ikke rigtig havde noget islandsk garn) og jeg forelskede mig i denne lille babyvest, hvilket betød at jeg købte et bundt (dansk) garn for at få fat i opskriften. På islandsk. Jeg er ikke helt sikker på om det var en klog beslutning. Der er ikke noget diagram, nemlig. 

Afterwards, we went to a yarn shop (that didn't really sell Icelandic yarn) and I fell in love with this little baby vest, which meant that I bought a skein of (Danish) yarn to get the pattern. In Icelandic. I'm not sure if that was a wise decision. It does not have a chart. 

Men her er det så - islandsk garn fra supermarkedet! Først er der nok til en trøje til mig i Spuni, dejlig blød merino. Jeg ved ikke om fårene er islandske, men mærket er!

So here it is - Icelandic yarn from the supermarket! First, I bought yarn for a sweater for me in Spuni, nice, soft merino. I'm not sure the sheep are Icelandic, but the brand is!

Det fine, tynde Einband i smukke farver kunne jeg slet ikke stå for, så det kom også med hjem. 

Så nu er det den problematiske tid på året - hele året har jeg faktisk købt mindre garn end jeg har strikket. Indtil nu. Om lidt er der garnfestival og min fødselsdag. Det går vist ikke godt......

The pretty, thin Einband in the beautiful colors were too tempting and also came home with me. 

So now it's the problematic time of the year - all year I've actually bought less yarn than I knit. Until now. There is a yarn festival and my birthday coming up. I'm not sure this will end good.....

Vulkan! / Volcano!

Da jeg kom til Island fik jeg at vide at vulkanen ved Grindavik snart ville gå i udbrud igen. Dagene gik, og der skete absolut ingenting på vulkanfronten! Før den sidste aften, altså, hvor min venindes søns kæreste kom hjem kl. 22 og spurgte om vi havde set nyheder? For vulkanen var aktiv igen! 

When I got to Iceland, I was told that the volcano at Grindavik would erupt again soon. The days went by, and absolutely nothing happened, volcano-wise! Until the last night when my friend's son's girlfriend came home at 10 p.m. and asked if we watched the news? The volcano was active again!

Og så tog vi simpelthen på vulkan-jagt! Vi kørte til den vestlige del af Reykjavik og kunne se lyset i det fjerne. Det så jo ud som en vild solopgang eller en kæmpe brand (hvad det jo egentlig også var). 

And then we went volcano-hunting! We went to the west part of Reykjavik and could see the light in the distance. It looked like a wild sunrise or a giant fire (which it kind of was).

Efter at have kigget ude fra ved vandet kørte vi op til "Perlen" som ligger meget højt. Det var altså en virkelig spændende og vild oplevelse at se en aktiv vulkan! Det havde jeg så heller aldrig troet jeg skulle prøve!

After having looked from by the water, we drove up to "The Pearl", which is located very high. It was such an exciting and wild experience seeing an active volcano! So this was another thing I never thought I would experience!

Da jeg næste morgen skulle til lufthavnen kørte vi lige forbi vulkanen igen. Sprækken var 4 km lang og voksede til 8 km! Det så ikke ud som om det var alt for langt fra vejen, men altså vinden blæste røgen væk og vejen var åben. Den Blå Lagune var derimod lukket, og 1300 hotelgæster var blevet evakueret sent om aftenen. 

Da jeg så kom op i flyet kunne jeg desværre ikke se noget som helst fordi der var så mange skyer. Men altså - det var VILDT!

Next morning, when I was going to the airport, we drove right past the volcano. The rift was 4 kilometers long and grew to 8! It looked like it was quite close to the road, but the wind blew in the opposite direction and the road was open. The Blue Lagoon was closed, though, and 1300 hotel guests had to be evacuated late at night. 

In the airplane I couldn't really see anything, unfortunately, because there were so many clouds. But it was CRAZY!

Det var også lidt surrealistisk at køre forbi vejen til Grindavik hvor bynavnet var streget over. Der er stadig folk som insisterer på at bo der og derfor skal evakueres hver gang der er udbrud, og åbenbart er golfbanen åben i byen, men ellers er det forbudt område. 

Det var meget spændende at se, men det var altså også rart at komme hjem til Amager hvor vi IKKE har vulkaner!

It felt quite surreal to drive past the road to Grindavik and see the name of the town crossed out. There are still people who insist on living there, and therefore has to be evacuated at every eruption, and apparently the golf course is still open in the town, but otherwise it's restricted area. 

It was so exciting seeing this, but it was also very nice going home to Amager, which is 100% free of volcanos!

Hval-safari / Whale watching

Da jeg kom til Island havde min veninde en overraskelse til mig. Sagde hun. Og hvilken overraskelse! Vi kørte ned til havnen hvor hun havde købt billetter til at sejle ud og kigge efter hvaler!

DET har jeg godt nok aldrig prøvet før!

Reykjavik var meget smuk fra havsiden da vi sejlede ud, og havet var spejlblankt. Virkeligt en smuk dag!

When I came to Iceland, my friend told me she had a surprise for me. And what a surprise! We drove down to the harbor where she bought tickets to sail out and look for whales!

I really never, ever tried THAT before! 

Reykjavik was so beautiful when we sailed out, and the water was so quiet and like a mirror. A beautiful day!

Vi sejlede et stykke ud og alle stirrede så øjnene var ved at trille ud for at få øje på en hval. Bare én!

Vi så de første et godt stykke ude og så nåede vi at hallucinere en del fordi vi så gerne ville se nogle flere!

Her er en et stykke borte. 

We sailed out quite a distance and everybody was staring so hard that our eyes almost fell out, trying to spot a whale. Just one!

We saw the first ones in the distance and actually hallucinated quite a bit because we wanted to see more! 

Here is one a bit in the distance. 

Men der var ikke noget at bekymre sig for. Vi så flere hvaler mange gange! Først så man at de blæste luft op og ryggen kom op over vandet nogle gange. Derefter dykkede de og var væk i 5-15 minutter inden de kom op et helt andet sted. HELT vildt spændende!!!!

But we didn't need to worry. We saw several whales several times! First, we saw the blowing of air and then their back came up over the water a few times. Then they dived and were gone for 5-15 minutes before coming up somewhere else completely. SO exciting!!!!!

En af dem kom helt hen til båden hvor vi så den et stykke tid. Vi så mest pukkelhvaler (jeg så kun dem) som kan blive op til 17 meter lange. Helt enormt store! (Selv om hunnerne åbenbart er endnu større, men dem så vi ikke.) Man kan lige ane at han er hvid under sine finner. 

One of them came close to the boat and we saw it for a while. We mostly saw humpback whales (I didn't see anyone else) that can grow up to 18.6 yards long. So crazy big! (Although the females apparently are a bit bigger, but we didn't see any of those.) You can glimpse the white part under the fins. 

Og her er halen på vej ned i dykket. Min telefon løb næsten tør for strøm fordi jeg holdt kameraet åbent, hvis nu der kom en hval.... Man kunne jo ikke se dem i så lang tid! 

Men efter hvalen ved siden af båden kunne kameraet med sindsro pakkes ned igen. Det kunne umuligt blive bedre billeder end de her. 

Nå. Sikke en fantastisk overraskelse! Jeg havde da aldrig troet jeg skulle se hvaler!!!!!!

And here is the tail on the way down in the dive. My phone almost ran out of battery because I had the camera on just in case a whale came by.... They were not there for very long!

But after we had the whale next to the boat, my camera could be closed down again. The pictures couldn't possibly become any better than these ones. 

Well. What an amazing surprise! I never dreamed I would be seeing any whales!!!!!

Til Island / Going to Iceland

Denne her sidste uge af ferien er fuldt pakket med ting! Efter turen til Aarhus mandag nåede jeg at sove lidt (jeg ville også nå at sidde lidt i sofaen og kom derfor sent i seng....) inden jeg skulle tidligt op og ud til lufthavnen. 

Det var en rigtig flot morgen der omkring 06.30!

Det gik lidt langsommere med kufferten, men jeg kom til stationen til tiden - bare for at se at toget var 15 minutter forsinket.....

This last week of my vacation is fully packed with stuff! After going to Aarhus on Monday, I managed to sleep a bit (I also wanted to sit a bit on my couch so I got to bed late.....) before I got up early to go to the airport. 

The morning was so beautiful around 6.30 a.m.!

It was a bit slower walking with my suitcase, but I managed to get to the station in time - just to see that my train was 35 minutes late.......

Men jeg var i lufthavnen i god tid, og fik endelig tid til at komme videre på de strømper jeg strikker! (Faktisk strikker jeg to par som snart skal bruges til gaver.)

But I got to the airport in time, and finally I had time to knit more on the socks I'm making! (I'm actually knitting 2 different pairs that I need for presents very soon.)

Turen gik til Island, hvor jeg skulle besøge min veninde og tidligere kollega. Det er 2 år siden sidst, så det er på tide! Det var meget smukt at flyve ned over øen, og det bliver spændende når jeg skal hjem. Vulkanen er åbenbart på randen af et udbrud igen! Det gad jeg godt se!!!!!

I was going to Iceland to visit my friend and former colleague. It's been 2 years since last time, so it was about time! Flying down over the island was so pretty, and it will be exciting on my way home later on. The vulcano is clearly close to erupting again! I would love to see that!!!!!

Det er så hyggeligt at være her igen, og meget, meget afslappende. Jeg kan ikke engang sy skjorter. Kun strikke og hygge mig. 

It's so nice being here again, and very, very relaxing. I can't even sew on the shirts. Just knit and hang out and have a nice time. 

Disneyland Paris

 

En sej tøs / Really cool girl

Det var en dejlig tur til Disneyland! Denne gang med hende her på 6 år som havde glædet sig rigtig, rigtig meget! Hun kan godt lide labyrinter men ikke så godt køer (bortset fra at hun så måtte se film på min telefon. Det kunne hun rigtig godt lide!) og fandt ud af at dødningehovedklippen er en sjov labyrint uden kø den første dag hvor solen skinnede og der var rigtig mange mennesker. 

Vi nåede godt nok at prøve en del, selv om der var mange!

We had a lovely trip to Disneyland! This time it was with this 6 year old who had been so very excited to go! She likes labyrinths but not so much lines (apart from the fact that lines meant that she could watch films on my phone. That was fun!) and discovered that the skull-rock is a fun labyrinth without lines on the first day when the sun was shining and there were lots of people. 

We did try quite a few things, though, in spite of the crowds!

Lørdag regnede det nærmest hele dagen. Først ikke så meget, men om eftermiddagen begyndte det at regne mere. Så den dag var der IKKE så meget kø til nogen af tingene! 

Det betød dels at vi kunne prøve en masse forlystelser, men også at vi var ret våde. Især fordi en af os (jeg nævner ingen navne) ikke kunne lade vandpytterne være. 

Så derfor fik jeg øvet mig i den ædle kunst at tørre ting med hårtørreren. Det gik rigtig godt!

On Saturday, it rained almost all day. At first not so much, but in the afternoon it started raining more. So that was the day WITHOUT all those lines! 

That meant that we could try a lot of rides, but also that we got quite wet. Especially because one of us (no names mentioned) couldn't leave the puddles. 

So I got to practice the noble art of drying stuff using the hair dryer. It went well!

Jeg synes hun var vildt sej og sjov at rejse med. Det var hendes første flyvetur på vej derned, men allerede på vej hjem havde hun ret godt styr på det. Hun blev SÅ glad da de på flyet hjem snakkede dansk, for det der med at ingen forstod hvad hun sagde kunne hun ikke lide. 

De sjoveste ting i Disneyland var helt klart paraderne, dragen under slottet og "Mickey's Philharmagic", en film i 4D. Og labyrinterne. Hver tur er lidt anderledes for mig, hvilket jeg synes er rigtig sjovt!

Hun kunne GODT lide Disneyland, og i morgen kommer der flere billeder. 

I do think she was really cool and great company. It was her first flight going there, but already on the way back she knew how it would be. She got SO happy when she found out that the crew on the plane spoke Danish on the way home, because she didn't like that nobody understood her. 

The most fun things in Disneyland was definitely the parades, the dragon under the castle and "Mickey's Philharmagic" a 4D film. And the labyrinths. Every trip I take is a bit different, which I think is really funny!

She REALLY liked Disneyland, and tomorrow there will be more photos.