Hvilket farve? / What color?

Ham her er lige fyldt 4 år. Da jeg var til fødselsdag fortalte jeg ham at han er højt oppe på listen over hvem jeg skal strikke til næste gang, og hvad han godt kan tænke sig? 

Han svarede at han "godt kan lide pirathovedet med kødben" (altså hans storebrors sweater med dødningehoved) og jeg spurgte hvilke farver han vil have? Det var nemt. Hvid og sort! 

Men han skulle vælge en tredje farve. Og svarede ret hurtigt "lortefarvet"! 

Så - øh - nu skal jeg så vælge en eller anden farve fra kit-farvet over gul og grøn til brun og sort. Det bliver sjovt!

This guy just turned 4. When I went to the birthday, I told him that he is very high on the list of who I'm going to knit for next time, and asked him what he would like?

He said that he "like the pirate head with the meat bones" (that's his big brothers sweater with the skull) and I asked him what colors he would like? Easy one. White and black!

But he was to pick a third color. And quickly answered "poop-colored"!

So - well - now I need to pick some color from putty-colored over yellow and green to brown and black. It will be fun!

Det er ikke diagrammet.... / It's not the chart.....

Mit sjal er nu kommet så langt at jeg er i gang med andet forsøg på kant. Jeg er ikke begejstret for diagrammet, og jeg blev SLET ikke begejstret da jeg opdagede at grunden til at maskeantallet ikke passer er at jeg læste diagrammet forkert. Jeg kunne ikke forstå at "ret-slå om-ret" blev vist på to forskellige måder, hvor den ene skulle laves i 1 maske og jeg troede den anden skulle laves i 2 masker.

Altså. Bare SUK! 

Så nu laver jeg det om igen. Jeg håber virkelig at tredje gang er lykkens gang!

My shawl has gotten so far that I'm on my second try with the edge. I'm not too happy for the chart, and I was not at ALL happy when I found out that the reason the number of stitches did not work well is that I read the chart wrong. I didn't get that "knit-yarn over-knit" could be shown in two different ways, where one should be made in 1 stitch and I thought the other one should be made in 2 stitches. 

Seriously. Just SIGH!

So now I'm re-doing it. Again. I really hope that the third time is the charm!

Christiansfeld

 

Sønderjylland / Southern Jutland

I weekenden tog jeg til Sønderjylland for at komme til 3 gange fødselsdag. Lørdag tog jeg toget til Kolding og nåede lige at se et glimt af Koldinghus før bussen videre sydpå skulle køre. 

This weekend I went to Southern Jutland for a 3 times birthday. On Saturday I took the train to Kolding and got to see a glimpse of "Koldinghus" before the bus was leaving to go south. 

Jeg havde booket hotel i Christiansfeld, som jo virkelig er en meget smuk by! (Flere billeder i morgen!) 
For nogle år siden var jeg på rundvisning, og denne gang var jeg inde og se kirkegården. Mest fordi min farmors søster er begravet der. Hun ligger i den ene side, hendes mand i den anden side, eftersom selv kirkegården er kønsopdelt! I det hele taget er det meget fascinerende at høre om Brødremenigheden. Det var utroligt meget anderledes!

I booked hotel in Christiansfeld, which is such a pretty city! (You'll get more photos tomorrow!)

A few years back I took a tour there, and this time I went to see the graveyard. Mostly because my paternal grandmothers sister is buried there. She is on one side, her husband on the other side, since even the graveyard has specific sides for the genders! All in all it was very fascinating hearing about the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine. So very different!

Sønderjylland er jo noget af det mest danske og kongetro man kan finde! Så søndag morgen spiste jeg morgenmad under billedet af kong Frederik d 9. og dronning Ingrid. Det føltes vældigt royalt!

So Southern Jutland is extremely Danish and faithful to the royal family. So on Sunday morning I had breakfast beneath the picture of king Frederik the 9th and queen Ingrid. It felt so royal!

Jeg kunne ikke helt forstå at dronning Margrethe ikke fik lov at være der, men senere fandt jeg et billede af hende som dronning. Først fandt jeg dog det her! Hun står halvt gemt bag sin mor, med en fin sommerhat på. De besøgte Christiansfeld lige efter den nye grundlov som gjorde prinsesse Margrethe til kronprinsesse. 

I didn't quite grasp why queen Margrethe didn't get to be there, but later I found her photo as a queen. Before that, I found this! Here she is, half hidden behind her mum, wearing a pretty summer hat. They visited Christiansfeld shortly after the new Danish constitution that made princess Margrethe the crown princess. 

Efter en god morgenmad gik jeg en dejlig (og LANG) tur til fødselsdag. Det var temmelig koldt, men man får jo varmen når man bevæger sig. 

Fødselsdagen var virkelig hyggelig. Det var dejligt både at se familie, men også at se det nye sted de er flyttet til. 

Så var den weekend også godt brugt.....

After a lovely breakfast I took a very nice (and LONG) walk to the birthday. It was quite cold, but as always I felt warm after moving a bit. 

The birthday was so nice. It was lovely seeing family, but also the new place they moved to. 

And then the weekend was really well used.....

Kalkunhovede / Turkey head

Jeg holder julen ud i strakt arm lidt endnu (det må vente til december!) og denne uges opskrift bliver endnu en Thanksgiving ting. Denne gang en lille kalkunhue til et barn. Kalkun smager godt, og den går vel også fint til børn som ikke er amerikanere og derfor ikke fejrer den største amerikanske højtid? Opskriften finder du her. 
 

I try to keep Christmas at bay a bit more (it will have to wait until December!) so this week's pattern will be yet another Thanksgiving thing. This time a turkey hat for a child. Turkey is delicious, and I guess the hat goes well with kids that are not American and therefore do not celebrate the biggest American Holiday? The pattern can be found here. 

Te-drengen / Tea-boy

Min yngste nevø ELSKER te! Da han var i Danmark på sommerferie for godt 3 år siden købte han helt vildt meget te. Jeg tror han havde et par kilo med hjem til USA igen! 

Han er ret kræsen, så det var alle slags mærker af Earl Grey han købte - og så den fra Østerlandsk Tehus som hedder "Kiss Me Quick". (Den er også helt vildt god!)

Nå. Han er nem at købe gaver til, som I nok kan regne ud!

Da jeg besøgte ham på college fortalte han mig, at han nu var løbet tør for te! 

My youngest nephew LOVES tea! When he was on summer holiday in Denmark about 3 years ago, he bought crazy amounts of tea. I do think he took home a few kilos!

He is also quite picky, so he went for all the different kinds of Earl Grey - and then a tea from "Østerlandsk Tehus" called "Kiss Me Quick". (That one is really good!)

Well. You might have guessed that it's very easy finding gifts for him!

When I visited him in college he told me that he ran out of tea!

Man KAN jo tænke at det ikke er hans mosters problem? Men når nu lige denne her specifikke moster synes hun kender nogle gode te-butikker OG er helt vild med at købe gaver til andre, så hoppede jeg på krogen med det samme!

I Lund ligger denne her butik. De har vildt god te, blandt andet en "Skåne Earl Grey" og nogle Lund-blandinger. De har kun åbent til kl. 18, og det har været helt umuligt for mig at forlade arbejdet tidligt nok til at gå forbi den. Indtil i går! (Jeg gik ikke fordi jeg var færdig med alt mit arbejde. Der er masser til på mandag også!)

Det er den hyggeligst te-butik med kø. ALTID lang kø. Jeg fandt lidt til ham, og noget julekaffe til mig selv. Man kan finde rigtig mange ting derinde, så det bliver hurtigt dyrt! Måske er det godt jeg ikke så tit kommer forbi?

You MIGHT think that this could never be my problem? But when this specifik auntie believes she knows some very good tea-shops AND just loves buying gifts for others, then I fell for it right away....

In Lund, they have this shop with really great tea, for instance a "Skåne Earl Grey" (with local herbs) and some Lund-mixes. They are only open until 6 p.m., and it has been impossible for me to leave work early enough to go by it. Until yesterday! (I didn't leave because I was done with everything. Plenty of work for Monday as well!)

It is the nicest tea-shop where there is ALWAYS a long queue. I found some tea for him and some Christmas coffee for me. You can find so much good stuff in there, so it gets expensive very fast! Maybe it's a good thing I don't visit it often?

Lidt længere / A bit longer

Egentlig havde jeg startet på kanten på mit moskusokse sjal, men der var stadig en hel del tilbage af det lækre garn, og efter at have kigget på det en uge bestemte jeg mig for at det skulle være lidt længere inden kanten. Det er da for ærgerligt ikke at få brugt alt luksusgarnet, ikke? 

Så - af med kanten igen! Nu strikker jeg til jeg har et maskeantal som passer med diagrammet. Jeg håber det bliver rigtigt i først forsøg denne gang.....

I had actually started knitting the edge of my musk ox shawl, but there was quite a lot left of the yummy yarn, and after staring at it for a week, I decided to make it a bit longer before knitting the edge. Would be a shame not to actually use all this luxurious yarn, right?

So - the edge went off again! Now I'm just knitting until I have a stitch number that fit the chart. I do hope I will get it right on the first try this time.....

29

For lidt over en måned siden var jeg i Helsingborg en dag og købte det her garn på vej hjem. Arne og Carlos strømpegarn fra Regia. Et enkelt nøgle. Jeg er glad for at jeg ikke købte mere!

Mønsteret på strømperne ligner slet ikke billedet på banderolen. I har nok lagt mærke til at jeg kan gå ret meget op i at få ens strømper, og jeg plejer at begynde med at slå masker op lige der hvor to farver mødes så det kan blive ens. For de her strømper gælder det om at slå masker op "efter det gule stykke", og det er alt for uspecifikt for mig. 

Så jeg strikkede. Og pillede op når det blev forkert. Et par gange. Resultatet er jo sjovt nok! De er til min nevø som havde fødselsdag for ikke så længe siden, og de vejer 70 gram. 

A bit more than a month ago I went to Helsingborg over the day and bought this yarn on my way home. Arne and Carlos sock yarn from Regia. One skein. I'm happy I didn't buy more!

The pattern on the socks is nothing like the picture on the label. You have probably noticed that I put an effort into making identical socks, an usually I start the cast-on right where two colors meet, to make them identical. But for these socks you need to start casting on "after the yellow bit", which is far too unspecific for me. 

So I knit. And unraveled when it turned out wrong. A few times. The result is really fun! They are for my nephew whose birthday was not long ago and they weigh 70 grams. 

Masser af arbejde - og sne? / Plenty of work - and snow?

Den sidste uge er godt nok fløjet af sted! Arbejde og forsinkede tog og SNE! Altså - jeg føler mig slet ikke klar til det? 

Jeg HADER at cykle i sne. Virkelig. Så i morgen bliver det måske en gåtur til toget i stedet. Gåture i sne er dejlige!

This last week has been flying by! Work and late trains and SNOW! You know - I don't feel ready for this?

I HATE biking in snow. Really. So tomorrow it might be a walk to the train station instead. Walks in snow are nice!

Efterårsfarver / Fall colors

 

New York City

I min ferie havde jeg to dage i New York City. Der er ret mange ting jeg ikke kan lide ved den by! Der er SÅ mange mennesker! Over det hele! 

Eller - næsten over det hele. Jeg kan godt lide at være ved Hudson River hvor jeg sad og nød udsigten til Frihedsgudinden og strikkede. 

During my vacation, I spent two days in New York City. There are many things that I don't really like there. There are SO many people! Everywhere!

Or - almost everywhere. I do love being at Hudson River where I sat enjoying the view to the Statue of Liberty while I was knitting. 

Jeg så også det nye World Trade Center, hvor der heller ikke var helt proppet med mennesker. Det er virkelig imponerende!

Endnu mere hyggeligt var det at finde en rigtig, stor hobbybutik hvor jeg kunne kigge på stof! Det var meget trist da JoAnn lukkede....

I also passed the new World Trade Center, an area without too many people. It looks so impressive!

Even more fun was it when I found a real, big hobby store where I got to look at fabric! It was ever so sad when JoAnn closed the shops......

Men min absolutte yndlingsting på Manhattan er at tage svævebanen ned til Roosevelt Island. Hvis du får chancen - så PRØV DET! Det koster en almindelig billet til undergrundsbanen, så mindre end 20 kroner, og det er så vildt at svæve hen over al trafikken! 

Det er nok den ene ting jeg gerne vil prøve hver eneste gang jeg får chancen!

But my absolute favorite thing to do in Manhattan is taking the cable car down to Roosevelt Island. If you ever get the chance, then TRY IT! It will cost you a plain underground ticket, which is quite cheap, and it is really amazing getting to soar over all the traffic!

I do think it's the only thing that I want to try every time I get the chance!

Før jul / Before Christmas

Mange steder er der kommet julepynt op. Jeg synes måske det er sådan liiiiige tidligt nok! Altså - man når jo at blive træt af det inden juleaften? Derfor snupper vi lige et par mandage nu hvor temaet er Thanksgiving. Den amerikanske højtid som jeg har hørt er større end jul. Jeg har aldrig rigtig fejret det (men det skal selvfølgelig ikke stoppe mig!) men derfor kan vi da godt snuppe en kalkun-krans til hoveddøren? Mønsteret finder du her. 
 

In so many places, Christmas decorations are up. I do think it's a tiny little bit early! You know - you will get fed up with this before it's even Christmas? So that's why we will have Thanksgiving-theme for a few Mondays. The American holiday that I've heard is bigger than Christmas. I never really celebrated it (but of course I will not let that stop me!) but we could still have a turkey-wrath for your door? The pattern can be found here. 

Dejlig lørdag / Lovely Saturday

Det blev godt nok en fancy lørdag! Vi lavede Afternoon Tea, og jeg kan være helt ærlig og sige at sjældent har mit spisebord set SÅ godt ud! Lækre scones, sandwiches og kager som det tog os meget lang tid at få spist! 

Vi så ikke Stolthed og Fordom. Men vi holdt Jane Austen tema. Eller - Jane Austen inspireret tema! Vi så blandt andet Bridget Jones. 

So the Saturday turned out to be really fancy! We had Afternoon Tea, and to be really honest, my dinner table have rarely looked THIS good! Delicious scones, sandwiches and cakes that took us a very long time to finish!

We did not watch Pride and Prejudice. But we did keep the Jane Austen theme. Or - Jane Austen inspired theme! One of the movies was Bridget Jones. 

Mit sjal kom så langt at jeg er startet på kanten. Det var ikke nemt, for dels havde midten flyttet sig lidt (åbenbart), dels passede det ikke med det maskeantal der stod i opskriften for at få diagrammet til at passe. Men efter lidt fifleri gik det alligevel ret godt. 

Kanten kommer til at tage lidt tid. Man tror det aldrig, men kanten kan snildt tage lige så meget garn som hele den første del af sjalet! Det bliver så flot!

My shawl got far enough for me to start on the border. It wasn't easy, partly because the center stitch had moved a bit (apparently), partly because the stitch number matching the pattern did not work with the chart. But after some moderations it worked out anyway. 

The border will take some time. You would never guess, but the border can easily take as much yarn as the entire first part of the shawl! It's going to be so pretty!

Mister Bingley

Mine veninder og jeg plejer at se "Stolthed og Fordom" i starten af året. Men denne vinter starter vi tidligt! I dag skal vi have "Afternoon Tea" og nyde synet af arme Mr. Bingley som ikke må få den søde Jane for sine skrappe søstre.....

Glæder jeg mig? JA!

My friends and I usually watch "Pride and Prejudice" in the start of the year. But this winter we start early! Today we are having "Afternoon Tea" while enjoying how poor Mr. Bingley struggles with his tough sister's to be with sweet Jane.....

Am I excited? YES!

The Friend's experience, the one in New York City

Jeg er ikke sikker på at det er kommet så meget frem her på bloggen, men jeg ELSKER Friends! TV-serien, I ved. Der er et afsnit som passer til de fleste ting i livet og jeg har set hele serien et par gange....

Så da jeg havde et par dage i New York City skulle jeg selvfølgelig ind og se det....

I'm not sure that it is clear from my blog, but I LOOOOOOVE Friends! The TV-show, you know. They have an episode for almost everything that happens in life, and I've watched all episodes a few times....

So when I had a few days in New York City, of course I was going there!

Der var helt vildt meget af både rekvisitter, kulisser og tøj. Her er Phoebe's dukkehus! Noget så grimt og charmerende!

They had a lot of the stuff from the series, sceneries and clothes. This is Phoebe's doll house! So ugly and so charming!

Jeg mødte også Ross's kostume til hans "Holiday Armadillo". Der var Joeys "Hugsie" og Gunters slips. Jeg fik taget SÅ mange kiksede billeder! 

I also met Ross's costume for his "Holiday Armadillo". Joey's "Hugsie" was there and Gunter's ties. 

I got SO many goofy photos!

Her er Monica's lejlighed. Fra balkonen. Faktisk var lejlighederne noget større end jeg lige troede!

Nå - vil jeg gå derind igen? Nej, det tror jeg ikke. Det var bestemt nok med en gang! Kommer jeg til at se serien igen? Det håber jeg virkelig! Selv om jeg har svært ved at finde nogen som gider se den med mig.....

This is Monica's apartment. From the balcony. The flats were actually quite bigger than I thought!

Well - would I go back? No, I don't think so. One time was enough! Will I watch the show again? I really hope so! Although I have a hard time finding someone who wants to watch it with me......

Et sjal til mig / A shawl for me

Til min fødselsdag fik jeg et nøgle garn af 50% moskusokse, 50% merino. Helt utroligt blødt er det! Det kom med til USA, og da min søsters bluse så var færdig, og jeg havde fundet noget rødt garn som passede til, gik jeg på jagt efter et mønster. 

Det tog virkelig ikke lang tid at finde sjalet Goldenoak som så perfekt ud! Der er kun 150 meter i mit nøgle moskusgarn, og jeg ville ikke risikere at ende med en lille halsklud, så det skulle være et mønster med to farver. 

For my birthday, I had a skein of yarn with 50% musk ox wool, 50% merino. It's so incredibly soft! It came with me to the US, and once my sister's sweater was done, and I found some red yarn that looked good with it, I started looking for a pattern.

It really didn't take long finding the shawl Goldenoak that looked perfect! My skein only holds 150 meters, and I would not risk ending up with a tiny neckwarmer, so I was looking for a pattern with two colors. 

Jeg gik i gang på vej til college, og sad og strikkede under kampen. Altså - der var hele tiden time-out! Et eller andet fornuftigt skulle jeg jo lave!

Farverne ser rigtig godt ud sammen, synes jeg!

I started knitting on the way to college, and I was knitting during the match. You know - there was a time-out all the time! I had to do something sensible!

The colors look really great together, I think!

Så langt er jeg kommet. Som I kan se er sjalet nu havnet i det danske vintermørke. Jeg skal i gang med kanten nu, og det ser ud til at blive et vældigt fint stort sjal! 

Jeg tror det skal være mit nye halstørklæde under jakken. Det bliver en luksus-vinter!

This is how far I've come. As you can see, the shawl is now in the Danish winter darkness. I am going to start knitting the edge now, and it looks like it will become a nice, big shawl!

I do think it will become my new scarf with my winter jacket. This winter will be luxurious!

Halftime show

Hvad jeg faktisk kom for / Why I actually went

Grunden til at jeg skulle til USA lige præcis nu var min yngste nevø. Han er på college på Penn State University og spiller med i deres "marching band", hvor han spiller piccolo. Det er ret svært at komme med i deres band, og han elsker det! De spiller når der er hjemmekamp i amerikansk fodbold, og det var der i lørdags. 

Så jeg kom med hans forældre til den anden ende af Pennsylvania, langt ude på landet, hvor universitetet er. De har et stort stadion, og ja - vi kom fra pløjemark-siden.....

Der var rigtig mange som havde taget campinggrej med og fik en weekend ud af det!

The reason I went to the US just now was my youngest nephew. He is a college student at Penn State University and part of their marching band, Blue Band. He plays the piccolo. It's difficult being accepted for the band, and he loves it! They play every time there is a home match in football, and one of those was this Saturday. 

So I joined his parents going to the other end of Pennsylvania, out in the countryside, to find the university. Their stadion is very big, and yeah - we came from the grass-field side......

A lot of people brought camping-gear and made it a weekend!

Vi kom tidligt så vi kunne finde ham. Han ventede temmelig utålmodigt men var megastolt. 

Mens han var inde og klæde om og blive klar, gik vi en tur rundt på universitetet. Vi fandt en lille have til børn hvor der blandt andet var metalskulpturer af dyr. Her en bison. 

Det var også fint at gå rundt på universitetet og se hvor han cykler rundt hver dag fra sit værelse til undervisning. Der er ret hyggeligt, faktisk. 

We arrived early so we could find him. He was waiting impatiently but was also really proud. 

While he went to change and get ready, we took a walk around the campus. We found a small garden for kids where there were metal-sculptures of animals, among other things. Here, it is a bison. 

It was really nice just walking around in the area, seeing where he spend his days, biking from his room to his classes. It's a very cozy area, actually. 

Bandet kom ud og varmede op, og så gik de i parade hele vejen til stadion. De spillede og sang og ind imellem dansede hele vejen, og det var virkelig flot at se! 

Det var helt tydeligt at de bare elsker det! Min søde, lille rødhårede nevø er blevet ham den høje midt i billedet. Hvor bliver tiden af?

The band came outside, warming up, and then they had a parade all the way to the stadion. They played and sang and sometimes even danced all the way, and it was really great to see!

It was obvious that they just love what they do! My cute, tiny ginger nephew has turned into the tall guy in the middle of the photo. Where did the time go?

I pausen havde de et stort show hvor de ikke bare spillede, men også gik rundt så de lavede forskellige figurer. I anledning af "Veterans Day" i dag havde de et show hvor de viste alle de forskellige dele af det amerikanske militær. Det var helt vildt hvordan de kunne være det rigtige sted og kunne bevæge sig rundt så de for eksempel blev en ubåd som sejlede! 

During the break they had a big show when they not only played music, but at the same time walked around, showing different figures. Due to "Veteran's Day" today, they had a show showing the different parts of the American army. It was amazing how they could be in the right spot and even move around so they for instance showed an u-boat sailing!

Selve kampen var HELT vildt spændende! Nu forstår jeg måske en lillebitte smule af spillet. Desværre vandt Penn State ikke, selv om det bare 4 minutter inden kampen var slut så ud som om de ville vinde. 

Ihvertfald nåede rigtig mange at gå før Blue Band skulle lave deres show efter kampen. 

Det var virkelig en helt vild dag! SÅ hyggeligt at se min nevø og se hvor han er og hvad han laver, og meget specielt at se noget som er så gennemført amerikansk og helt anderledes end hvad vi har i Danmark. 

Jeg er så glad for at det lykkedes og jeg fik set det!

The match itself was SO nerve-wrecking! I might understand a tiny little bit of the game. Unfortunately, Penn State didn't win, although it looked like they would be winning just 4 minutes before the game ended. A lot of people had left before the Blue Band had their post-game show. 

It was such a wild day! SO nice seeing my nephew, where he is and what he is doing, and very different to see something so totally American and very different from what we have in Denmark. 

I am so happy everything worked out so I got to see it!

Jeg forstår det ikke / I don't understand it

Jeg forstår ikke amerikansk fodbold. Overhovedet! Heller ikke efter at have set en kamp! Men for at fejre det er her opskriften på en "cozy" til en dåse. Hvad du vil drikke må du selv om. Opskriften finder du her. 
 

I don't understand American football (or just "football"). At all! Not even after watching a match! But to celebrate, here is the pattern for a can cozy. What you want to drink is up to you. The pattern can be found here.