Mobil-pose

Jeg liker ikke riper i mobilen, og er flittig bruker av hjemmelaget etui til mobiltelefonen. Da jeg nylig fikk ny jobbtelefon laget jeg etui til den også - i nytt "design" og variant. Denne ble jeg veldig fornøyd med noen ting på, mens jeg savnet noe fra den "gamle" versjonen. Dermed måtte jeg jo bare sette igang med en til, og her er resultatet.  Målene er ca 7cm x 13.5cm, og den kan nok strekkes litt i begge retninger etter behov. 

Blir nok et par til etterhvert som jeg finner tid innimellom alt det andre som fyller dagene mine... for disse tenker jeg er supre å ha på lur til impulsgaver, eller for salg om anledningen byr seg :)

I really don't like getting scratches on my mobile phone, and I'm always using my own homemade mobile phone pouch. It's kept my phone nice and clean for almost four years now - and I can't do without it. When I got a new mobile phone for work I made a similar pouch, but with a different design. I really liked some things about it, but it also had some weaknesses. The result was that I just had to make another, improved version, and here's the result. The pouch measures around 7cm x 13.5cm, and can probably be stretched a bit in both directions if needed. I'll probably make a few more of these when I find time for it  - I'm sure these will turn handy as gifts, or maybe even for sale if the occasion presents itself :)

Toulouse - la ville rose

Jeg har vært ute på tur igjen, denne gangen i Toulouse i Sør-Frankrike - en by jeg har blitt veldig glad i. Også denne gangen var kameraet med - og jeg prøver fortsatt å knekke "fotokoden". Er nok blitt litt mer "bevisst" på valg av motiv og innstillinger, uten at det betyr at resultatene nødvendigvis blir så mye bedre... Men jeg fortsetter å øve meg, og koser meg med de få bildene jeg blir fornøyd med! 

 

  

 

I've been travelling again, this time to Toulouse in the south of France - one of my favorite cities. As most times, my camera got to travel with me - and I'm still trying to crack the "photography code". I guess I am a bit more aware of both choice of motive and camera settings, but that does not necessarily mean the results improve... But I keep practicing, and enjoy the few photos I'm actually happy with! 

 

Nye maskemarkører

Etter at jeg endelig fikk bestilt litt perler og utstyr for å lage maskemarkører måtte jeg jo såklart lage noen flere. Jeg laget fire par i slengen, og det blir nok flere etterhvert - har fortsatt perler jeg ikke har "prøvd" ut ennå, og ideer til mange variasjoner... Blir nok en ny bestilling på mer perler etterhvert også, spesielt etter at jeg oppdaget hvor lett det plutselig var å lage fine øredobber selv. Maskemarkører er morsomt å lage, men det er litt begrenset hvor mange man trenger selv, så da er det greit å kunne bruke utstyret til litt annet også. Om disse markørene her går i min egen samling, til gaver, eller til salg på julemarked får vi nå se, men enn så lenge koser jeg med å lage dem! 

 

After I finally got down to order the tools needed to make some more stitchmarkers, I made some new sets. I made four pairs that evening, and I'm sure I will make some more later - I still have beads I haven't tried out, and ideas for new combinations and variations. I'll probably order some more beads too, especially as it turned out to be fun and easy to make my own earrings. It's fun to make stitch markers, but there's a limit to how many I need for myself, which means it nice to be able to use the tools for something else too. Whether these stitch markers will end up in my own collection, as gifts or at a sales booth at a christmas market time will show. In the meantime - I'll probably make some more!

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Selvlaget ørepynt

Etter mitt første møte med verktøy for smykkelaging da jeg laget mine første maskemarkører i sommer ble jeg såpass inspirert at jeg etterhvert satte meg ned og bestilte litt perler og utstyr fra ebay. Igår fikk jeg endelig testet det ut, og det var gøy! Jeg kjøpte noen glasshjerter som bare måtte få bli til ørepynt, og heldigvis hadde jeg vett nok til å bestille noen sølvkroker til ørepynt i samme slengen. Jeg er strålende fornøyd med resultatet, og gleder meg til å bruke dem!

Jeg laget også fire sett maskemarkører - men jeg mangler gode bilder av noen av dem, så de må få et eget innlegg etterhvert når jeg har funnet ut av fototeknikken.

This summer I had my first go at using jewellery-making equipment, when I made my first stitch markers. I got very inspired by this, and ended up ordering some beads and bits and pieces for jewellery making from ebay. Yesterday I finally got to test it out, and it was a lot of fun! I had some glass heart-shaped beads that I just had to make into earrings, and luckily I remembered to order some silver hooks for earrings too, just in case... I'm very pleased with the result, only looking forwar to wearing them now! 

I also made four sets of stitch markers, but I'm struggling to get good photos of them - they'll get their own post when I've got my photos sorted!

Blå Sheldon

Endelig ble jeg ferdig med et prosjekt som har vært på "to do"-listen min lenge... Som vanlig ble den ferdig i siste liten, men nå er den gått i posten og på vei til sin nye eier - en herlig liten gutt som snart fyller år...

Sheldon the Turtle er en herlig liten maskot som jeg nå har laget for 2.gang... Jeg vet ikke om det blir så mange flere, for selv om den ikke er så vanskelig å lage, synes jeg den er ganske kronglete og putlete å lage, og montering av masse smådeler er ikke min favorittsyssel. Men når den først er ferdig er det helt klart verdt arbeidet, det bare skorter litt på motivasjonen underveis.

Sheldon fant jeg første gang oppskrift til på knitty.com, et supert nettsted for strikkeoppskrifter og strikketips.
Her finner dere oppskriften til Sheldon, og om dere vil gi ham egen garderobe, så finnes det litt å velge i der også om man ikke skulle være så kreativ selv. Han har til og med sin egen blogg med oppdateringer på nye mønstre!

Slenger inn et bilde av min første Sheldon også - var veldig fornøyd med den også - og den ble gave til en annen liten gutt som nå begynner å nærme seg 4 år... tiden flyr!

I have finally finished a project which has been on my "to do"-list for a long time... As usual it was finished just on time, but now it has been posted and is on the way to his new owner - a very fine young man who will soon celebrate his first birthday! 

Sheldon the Turtle is a cute mascot I've made for the 2nd time now. I don't know if I'll make many more of these, as I find them quite time-cosuming and a bit tricky to make... sewing together small parts is not my favorite pass-time... But - as soon as it is done it's definately worth the hassle - I just struggle a bit with motivation when I'm working on the smaller parts.

I first found the pattern for Sheldon at knitty.com - a brilliant website for knitting patterns and instructions. You can find the pattern here, and if you'd like to give him a stylish wardrobe, then there should be something to choose between too. He even has his own blog with updates on new patterns!

Here's a picture of my first Sheldon too - I was very pleased with it, and he ended up as a gift to a small boy who will turn 4 in January - time's flying by! 

Hils på familien Nøkkelpus

For en stund siden spurte en god venninne om jeg kanskje ville bidra med noe som Dyrebeskyttelsen Drammen og Omland kunne få til utlodding eller salg. Jeg funderte litt på hva jeg kunne finne på, og endte til slutt opp med å prøve meg på noen heklete puser til nøkkelhanker. Jeg laget min egen oppskrift, og siden det tar litt prøving og feiling før man finner det "riktige" ble resultatet en fargerik familie på 4:

A while ago a very good friend of mine asked me if I wanted to donate something handmade for the animal care organisation in her hometown, Dyrebeskyttelsen Drammen og Omland. After thinking a bit while finishing some other projects, I decided to try out some crocheted cats for keyrings. I made my own pattern, and as it takes some trial and error to get things "just right", the result was a colourful family of 4.

Humlen og Blomsten

For rundt et år siden kjøpte jeg speilreflekskamera. Greit nok er det laveste modell i Canon-utvalget, men jeg kan nok ikke skylde på kameraet når det ikke blir bra bilder. Nå er det ferietid, og jeg har tid til å lese litt om foto, prøve og feile, og beskjære bilder. Jeg øver meg på å ta bilder, rett og slett.

Idag var jeg en tur i Botanisk Hage i Oslo, og dro fram kameraet. Minst halvparten av bildene var av blomster og humler, og selv om noen var feilfokusert og andre utbrente, så ble da noen ganske ok til meg å være.
Jeg er fortsatt nybegynner og har mye å lære til og med av "basis" fotokunnskaper, men man lærer av sine feil, og når jeg sitter og ser på bilder og tenker "her er feil utsnitt" og "jeg skulle ha eksponert mer eller mindre" så er det egentlig ganske motiverende. Etter råd fra eksperter har jeg nå begynt å skyte (som det visstnok heter på fagspråket) i RAW-format også, så noen ting kan man jo fikse på bare man får satt meg inn i hvordan man gjør det. Jeg fortsetter å øve meg videre, og da er blomster, med eller uten humler ganske takknemlige motiver å øve seg på.

 Just over a year ago I bought a digital SLR camera. Although I did get the lowest camera in the Canon SLR range, I still can't blame the camera when my photos don't turn out great... It's vacation-time, and I finally have some time to read, test out and crop photos to experiment. Simply said - I'm practicing taking photos. 

Today I went for a walk in the Botanical Garden in Oslo, and of course - brought my camera. At least half of the photos I took was of flowers and bumblebees, and even if some had wrong focus and others burnt out, some of the remaining photos turned out pretty decent for being me. I am still a beginner when it comes to photography, and I have a lot to learn even of basis photography tricks, but I learn from my mistakes. When I look at photos I've taken and I think "this is the wrong position" or "I should have had more or less exposure" I find it pretty motivating - it means I might improve next time! After advice from my expert friends I've now started to shoot (it appears that's the proper term ) in RAW format, meaning that some things I might be able to correct later, as soon as I find out how to do that with the appropriate tools. In any case, I keep practicing, and I find that flowers, with or without bumblebees, are good motives to practice on.

Maskemarkører

Det nærmer seg ferietid, og årets ferieprosjekt er tunikaen som er vist i et tidligere innlegg. Til den trenger jeg maskemarkører, og jeg hadde bare en - i beste fall, ettersom jeg ikke er helt sikker på hvor jeg har den... Jeg har pleid å bruke tråder i en kontrastfarge, men innbiller meg at det er lettere å holde styr på noe man trer inn på pinnen...
Inspirert av G-Anette og diverse varianter av maskemarkører på Epla.no dro jeg på en aldri så liten workshop hos en venninne, og kom hjem med to sett med fem markører. Dvs - fem markører + en sjette med karabinkrok som til vanlig kan holde de andre sammen, men som også kan brukes som markør man hekter innpå masken.
Jeg ble kjempefornøyd med resultatet, og det blir neppe de siste jeg lager - dette var gøy!

It is soon holiday time, and this years vacation knitting will be the tunic shown in a previous post. For this I need stitch markers, and I only had one - at best, as I'm not entirely sure where it is right now... The few times I've needed stitch markers I've only used bits of yarn in a contrast colour, but I imagine it must be easier to deal with markers kept on the needles... 

Inspired by G-Anette and various sellers on Epla.no I went for a small "workshop" at my friend's place, and returned home with two sets of five stitchmarkers. Or - to be exact - five + one, as there's a sixth marker with a carabina clasp on, holding the other five together, but which can also be used to mark a stitch. 

I am very pleased with the result, and it will not be the last time I make these - this was fun! 

Candles with a personal touch

eg har lenge hatt lyst til å lære meg teknikken med å dekorere kubbelys selv. Jeg har lest på nettet hvordan folk gjør det, men mitt første forsøk selv ble sånn midt på treet - ok, men det var liksom ikke helt "rett". Men på fredag var jeg på "opplæring" hos en venninne - og plutselig går ting så meget bedre... Det er lett å bli litt "hekta" - er jo så mye fint man kan gjøre og ideene strømmer på...
Dette er også en super ting å gjøre på en "hobbykveld" - det var veldig koselig å sitte rundt bordet og prate og dekorere lys - og ikke minst er det alltid kjekt å lære nye hobbyteknikker!

For quite a while I have wanted to try out decorating candles, after reading about the technique online. My first attempt turned out ok, but not great, and I was not completely happy with it... But last friday a friend of mine taught me how to do it properly, and the result was much better... You can easily be a bit "hooked" on this - it's so much fun trying out new "designs" and there's just so many ideas that needs to be tried out... 
This is also a very nice thing to do for a "hobby night" with friends - it's an easy and fun thing to do while chatting - and of course it is always nice to try out new hobbies and techniques!

New temptations

To Damer har denne uken 30% rabatt på Sandnes Duett og Sandnes Mini Duett, begge 55% bomull og 45% ull... dermed ligger tilhørende oppskriftshefter på forsiden deres, og da måtte jeg jo bla i dem... og falt pladask for denne her (foto lånt fra Sandnesgarn.no):

Resultatet: en kjøretur til Askøy igår kveld, og 11 nøster Mini Duett pluss mønster fikk bli med hjem... Nå er ikke disse fargene helt min stil, så jeg har byttet fargepalett. Jeg både håper og tror dette blir bra! Det er mulig jeg må tilpasse mønsteret litt for at den skal sittte pent på meg, men det må jeg regne litt på før jeg begynner. Blir nok litt venting på dette prosjektet foreløpig - som vanlig har jeg noen andre ting jeg må gjøre noe med først :)

This week To Damer has Sandnes Duett and Sandnes Mini Duett cotton/wool-blend yarn on sale - 30% off. I had a look in the pattern booklet, and fell for this fairly simple tunic with a colourful pattern on the top and bottom. Result: last night I went to the shop, and returned with 11 balls of Sandnes Mini Duett - in 4 colours of my choice. The colours in the pattern are not really my style, so I went for something a bit "calmer". I hope it will turn out to be as nice as I think it will... I might have to recalculate part of the pattern to get the right "curve", as I (as most other women) do not have a "standard shape" that normally fits into standard sizes... But I'll do some measurements and calculations on that before I start, to make sure it's worth the effort! 

As always - I have one or two other projects I have to finish before I start this one - but hopefully it won't have to wait too long!

Finally something new to post...

I am not being very productive at the moment... at least not when it comes to actually finishing up project... I've been working on too many "small" projects now, and I am now looking forward to starting on a big project again - I'll soon cast on for the first sweater I'll be knitting for myself! That story is to be continued though...

I have just finished a project I've been having on my needles for quite a while, and on my "to do"-list even longer. The pattern is Toddler Moc-a-Soc by Bekah knits - very cute crossing of socks and shoes for small feet...
However - I tried to use a different yarn that was thinner than the yarn called for - and thus they don't keep the "shoe-shape" they seem to be supposed to. Can only blame myself for that, though... They are still very soft and cute, but if I am to make another pair of these at some point, I'll try to find a yarn closer to what the pattern calls for.

Babygift

A very good colleague of mine had a son born on sunday. I wanted to make and give a small "something" - and here's the result: A pair of soft babysocks in Drops Alpaca.
The small darling will probably need a few months to grow into them, but at least they're all ready and gift is handed over!

Beautiful Cat-cards

As I have nothing new to presents of my own, I'll this time show some greeting cards I've just bought.
Or... I've just ordered my second bundle... The cards are just so beautiful that I'd struggle to use any of them to give away...
They are just absolutely beautiful - even more so "in real" than on the photo!

The drawings are made by a very very talented lady, Hilde Bjørsvik, - and the prints are very clear and high-quality, in size A6. I really hope there will be more collections to come!

At the moment she sells this collection as a bundle of all 4 cards for 150kr + postage.
If you're interested, she can be contacted at noffine@hotmail.com. 
There's only a limited number of prints available, so you better be quick...Happy shopping!

Crocheted slippers

After finishing the blanket last week, I have now finished a small project: Crocheted slippers for a friend of mine. 

I used pattern 113-32 Crochet slippers in "Eskimo", size 38/40, with colours 21 (blue/violet, 3 balls) and 30 (pink, 1 ball).

They are now ready for delivery - I hope my friend will like them! 

Soft Wavy Baby Blanket

Finally! The blanket I've been working on for quite a while is finally done! Just in time for the due date for the baby it is made for :)

The blanket is made from the pattern DROPS Blanket in wavy pattern in Alpaca. I used the Alpaca yarn called for, but chose different colours, as I had to keep it neutral - don't know yet whether it'll be for a girl or a boy... I am very pleased with the final product! :)

 

My own, personal labels!

I present my new labels, which I will put on all my handmade items as a personal signature:

I ordered them from an Etsy seller, Jennifers Jewels, which I can definately recommend. Good customer service and great flexibility for the designs. I picked one of her many standard designs, but she'll print almost any design you may want. I ordered 90 labels, but as I ordered a much smaller size than the standard, I got almost twice that number. Again - I am very pleased with both the labels and the trade - and now they're all ready to be used!

A moment of weakness...

My stock of yarn has generally seen more yarn coming in than going out. It's not like I have crazy amounts, but I have quite a few balls I've bought without any planned purpose, or I might have abandoned the original idea I had... especially if that was an idea from another weak moment...
The last few months at least I have been very organized, and only bought yarn that I had a safe plan for. I have yarn for a few projects all ready - and I don't really need any new yarn for quite a while...
But yesterday I had a weak moment and gave in to an urge for putting in an order for new yarn.

This time I've ordere 7 different colours in an Alpaca yarn from 123knit.com. I have never bought this yarn before, but I've seen it, and it's very light and soft. And -  I do have a plan for it - if it works... that's still left to see...

For quite a while I've been dreaming of making a granny-square blanket for myself  - and I'm now starting to get a fair idea of how I'd like it... Ideally I'd like it light, fairly thin and it HAS to be very soft - and that's why I'll give it a try using this Alpaca yarn...it may be too thin- and I may have to use it double - in which case the amount of yarn needed may be far off what I can afford spending on this kind of project - but I'll test out a few different designs and different needle thicknesses, and hopefully I'll find a way that works. I also had to get one of each of the colours I'm considering, so that I can get a proper idea of whether they go together or not, and how I'd like the blanket to be...


If it turns out that this yarn was a bad idea for the blanket, there will be plenty of smaller, cute projects I could use this yarn for - no way this yarn will stay unused in any case!

Give-Away hos En Liten Blanding Små Drops

Linda har nå Give-Away i bloggen sin En Liten Blanding Små Drops.
Bloggen hennes oppdateres ofte med inspirerende ord og bilder - jeg koser meg hver gang jeg titter innom der!

Premien er et nydelig englemaskesjal - titt innom henne på linken over for å være med du også!

Earlier project show-off: Babywear

As I haven't finished any new projects lately I'll use the occasion to present another project I did a while ago.
I knitted a set of babywear - jacket and trousers - for my friends' to-be-born baby, size 3 months to be sure it would at least fit for a while.

The to-be-mum picked out the pattern and colour herself - I found that to be quite a good solution, as I would then be sure she'd be happy with the result. I have to admit that I needed some help from mum to get the jacket sewn together and the zip nicely done - if I were to do that myself I'm pretty sure the little girl would never have had the occasion to wear this... next time I'll do it myself! (... at least I'll try.... )

I really liked this pattern, and it's not unlikely I'll make another one sometime if there's a suitable occasion...
The pattern called for Regia Silk baby yarn, which was also what I used - we even ended up using the colours from the suggestion in the pattern book... maybe I'll try a different version next time!

KattensSOS gryteunderlag (heat proof mat)

KattensSOS er en veldedig dyrevelferdsorganisasjon basert på Helgeland, som i hovedsak jobber hardt for å gi hjemløse katter nye hjem. De er relativt nyoppstartet, men har allerede fått samlet en liten bunke suksesshistorier. Mer om KattensSOS og deres arbeid finner dere på nettsidene deres.

Når anledningen byr seg har de stand med salg av ulike håndlagde ting og puseleker til inntekt for organisasjonen. Jeg vil gjerne bidra litt også, men har fundert litt på hva jeg kunne lage... Jeg endte opp med at jeg ville prøve å strikke grytelapper med logoen på, og nå er første testversjon ferdig. Konklusjonen er klar - jeg kan IKKE lage de andre på denne måten - det tar altfor lang tid! Her er motivet sydd på med maskesting, så neste - og forhåpentligvis enklere - versjon blir å strikke mønsteret rett inn... fortsettelse følger!
Denne ble også i største laget for en grytelapp - så denne ble ekstra foret så det ble et solid gryteunderlag istedet, ca 25cm x 25cm .

This heat proof mat is a test product for some gifts for a sales-boot for the charity KattensSOS, who works with homeless cats. I wanted to make a potholder, but I  thought the size (25cm x 25cm)  was better for a heat proof mat. The technique I tried out now turned out to be far too timeconsuming, as the cats are sewn on after knitting the base, so next time I'll try a slightly smaller version, with the pattern in the knitting instead. 

To be continued...

Knitted and feltet cat-basket, part II

Some weeks ago I finished the second cat basket - matching the first one , but slightly larger - around 30cm in diameter (the first one was around 25 cm in diameter).

Apparently the new owners like this one too, and today I received some more photos of these beautiful cats in their new baskets. Two of them have apparently made their property of one each - but just as people they have their clear preferences... the smallest cat wants the largest basket, and the largest cat prefers to squeeze herself into the smallest one  ;) 

Crocheted granny-square baby blanket

I finally finished the granny-square baby blanket I started on during the Easter holiday! As this was - and is - intended for a gift, and the baby was born 3 weeks ago, it was definately about time, too...

It turned out not to be as easy as it sounds to make all the squares the exact same size... I still hope that despite its lack of perfect geometry, the blanket is soft, warm, fresh-coloured and very suitable for a little girl.

The gift will be handed over tonight - I hope they'll like it! 

Earlier project show-off: Blue Totoro

In lack of any new projects to write about, I'll present an earlier project: the Blue Totoro amigurumi I made for my boyfriend's niece for Christmas. She's very into dolls and teddys, and when I asked her mother if there was anything I could make that she'd like, that was the obvious answer. I went on the hunt for a suitable pattern - I wanted something cute but not too complicated - after all it was my first ever crocheted amigurumi - and it had to be a decent size - keyring-size-amigurumis are very cute, but not really what I wanted to make this time...

I stumbled across the pattern for this Blue Totoro posted by Heaven's Hellcat, and I just loved it... I kept looking a bit more for others, as Totoro is  not a known "character" for the children today, but although I found many very cute alternatives, I kept coming back to this one... and this was the result:

The gift was very well received, and I was pleased with the result myself too, considering it was my first time doing this type of project. The most difficult part was without doubt getting the different pieces sewn together nicely - especially the part concerning finding the right place to put the ears and the arms... but I guess practice is the only thing that helps there! I'll definately make more stuffed animals sooner or later, but right now they find themselves quite a bit behind in the queue, after a blanket or two, diverse versions of socks, a sweater and a shawl...