...aestlight...

Gudrun asked for testknitters for a new shawl she has designed, and I was one of the lucky ones! A beautiful garterstitch shawl, with a lace border and a knitted-on edging.

Gudrun spurte etter prøvestrikkere til eit nytt sjal ho har laga, og eg var ein av dei heldige som fekk strikke! Eit stort, flott sjal i rettstrikk, med ein enkel blondebord, og kant som er strikka fast på tvers. Yarn:

Tove from Sandnes Garn, it weighs 172grams, which should equal 550m...or nearly 4 balls of yarn...

Knitted on 4mm circular needles.

Fun, fast and faboulous.

The pattern is really well written, and I didn't have any problems with it. She should have it up for sale shortly.

garn: Tove frå SandnesGarn. Sjalet vèg 172 gram, det skulle bli ca 550 m, eller nesten 4 nøster... Strikka på 4mm rundpinne.

Raskt, enkelt og flott.

Mønsteret er godt skrevet, og eg hadde ikkje nokon problem. Det er snart til salgs.
The yarn I choose, is a bit heavier than the original, so the shawl is quite big- 200cm across, and 85cm at the tip.

Garnet eg brukte, er litt tjukkare enn originalgarnet, så sjalet vart stort og godt- 200cm tvers over, og 85 cm frå nakken og ned.
Love it! Thank you, Gudrun, for letting me testknit this!

Oh, and Happy Solstice! It doesn't get dark here! But it's so cold a woolshawl might come in handy...some summer we're having!

God midtsommar! Det vert ikkje mørkt her! Men det er så kaldt at det kan vere godt å ha eit ullsjal i bakhand...litt av ein sommar!

...gardening...

Look what I got in the mail! Lise had a give-away on her blog recently, and I won these cute heartpins- and blue stitchmarkers! They are great, and already in use! Perfect for when I'm knitting on 7mm needles, because of the wire. Thank you, Lise!
(btw: if you're planning on going to Prague this summer, Lise's sister has an apartment up for rent- more details on her blog here. )


Sjå kva eg fekk i posten! Lise hadde ein gje-vekk på bloggen sin nyleg, og eg vann stilige hjertenåler, og flotte maskemarkørar! Dei er allereie i bruk, eg strikkar noko på pinne nr. 7, og då passa dei fint med viren i enden. Tusen takk, Lise!
(forresten- hvis du har tenkt deg til Praha i sommar, har søstra til Lise ei leilighet der som ho leiger ut for sommaren. Sjå fleire detaljar på bloggen hennar her!) We've got almost summer here. The flowers are blooming, many of the farmers are already busy with the haymaking- especially those that have sileage or roundbales. We haven't started yet, hubby is in Houston working (any ideas of what he can bring home from there? Yarns, books, magazines???), and we will try to dry most of it as hay. I prefer that to the sheep, but it all depends on the weather. We've had some sunny days lately, but very windy and rather cold.

Det er nesten sommar her. Det blomstrar overalt, og fleire bønder er allereie godt i gang med siloslått og rundballeslått. Vi har ikkje begynt enda, gubben er i Houston på jobb, og kjem ikkje heim før etter jonsok. Vi prøver å tørke det meste til høy, eg fortrekkjer det til sauene, men det kjem jo heilt an på korleis véret vert. Vi har hatt nokre flotte, solrike dagar i det siste, men det har blåst ein kald nordavind her.

We have a proper kitchengarden this year! The potatoes are sprouting- barely...- we've had spinachsoup twice from our own spinach, we eat salad and radishes. I just wish I liked to garden...I've always wanted to like it, but sadly I don't. I'd like to have a nice garden, but I would have preferred if it came with a gardener...

We have tomatoes too. I just planted some outside, against the stonewall,, hoping they will thrive there. It's an experiment. I have a few plants inside too, but so far they are not blooming.

Vi har ein skikkeleg kjøkkenhage i år. Potetene kjem- såvidt- men det vart ikkje sett før 23. mai, og det er litt seint. Vi har ete spinatsuppe to gonger med spinat frå eigen hage, vi et salat og reddik.Eg skulle berre ønskje eg likte å jobbe i hagen...eg har alltid ønska å like det, men eg gjer det ikkje. Eg vil gjerne ha ei fin hage, men hadde foretrekt om den kom med gartnar...

Vi har tomatar også. Eg har akkurat planta nokre ute, under duk, langsmed steinane langs vegen, og håper at dei vil trivast der. Det er eit eksperiment. Eg har nokre plantar inne også, men førebels er det ikkje mykje som blomstrar.

But the cucumbers grow!!! We have 6 plants, and one especially is big. DD2 is talking to it and watering it, and looks at the fruits several times a day. They are as long as my hand, and there are many more to come! I call it my "new curtains". My mother-in-law wanted me to put up some curtains in that window, she felt that everyone could look right in (they can, but only when they stand on the road staring!). Now I have a live, green curtain! And people are probably staring more now, wondering what this is...

Men agurkane kjem! (Agurknytt;-)) Vi har 6 planter, og spesielt den eine er stor. Yngstejenta mi snakkar til den og vatnar den, og kikar på agurkane fleire gonger for dag. Dei er like lange som handa mi nå, og mange fleire kjem! Eg kallar det "dei nye gardinene" mine! Svigermor ville at vi skulle ha gardiner i dette vinduet, ho følte at folk stod på veien og kikka inn (noko dei kan, men då må dei stå og stirre!) Men no har eg eit levande grønt gardin;-) Og folk kikar sikkert meir no... og lurer på kva dette er for noko...

It never gets really dark at this time of year. Sun sets at 10:15pm, and the kids play outside till way past bedtime....not easy to get them back inside! The photo below was taken an hour ago...

Only two more weeks till school's out, and the sailing son will soon be home too. They have been sailing this week, and on Monday he will come to my "hometown". My sister will pick him up, and take a tour on the ship with him first.

Det vert ikkje skikkelig mørkt her på denne tida av året. Sola gjekk ned her kvart over ti ikveld, og ungane er ute og speler fotball til seint på kveld, det er ikkje råd å få dei i seng! Bildet nedanfor var tatt for ein time sidan...

Berre to veker att til skulen sluttar, og eldstesonen kjem heimatt. Dei er på tokt denne veka og neste, og mandag kjem dei til Kristiansand. Det var alltid "Byen" for oss før. (Ja, eg er vaskeekte sørlending- bortsatt på vestlandet;-D) Søstra mi hentar han, og får seg ein rundtur ombord først.

Take care, and have a great Sunday,- and summer ahead!

Ha det bra sålenge, og ha ein flott søndag,- og sommar!

...more fo's...

I have a working computer again!!! Hubby had a friend/former colleague visiting over the weekend, and he knows his way around computers, so all of a sudden it works, and I can upload pictures again! Let's hope it lasts...;-D

We've had a busy few weeks. Two long weekends, both with guests, one where we planted and weeded the garden, and set the potatoes, then one where the kids participated in Dragseidspelet, and the week between was devoted to rehearsals...the weather was very nice last weekend, lousy in between, and gorgeous this weekend when the play was performed! Check out that link, there are some great photos! They had two professional actors participating this year, Roger Hilleren and Mikkel Gaup, both well known in Norway. My youngest came back from rehearsal one night and whispered with stars in her eyes: Mikkel is teaching us how to "joike"!!! At the round-up party for all the participants, she and 6 other girls did a joik that he had taught them, and they had so much fun.


A few months ago, "my" Icelandic knittinggroup Garnaflækja started a KAL, "Prinsateppid". It's quite similar to the Shetland hap shawls, I guess. Anyway, I joined, and knitted....and then other projects sort of got in the way...But now I'm going to finish it, there is only the edging left. 140 repeats, I'm done with 20... Yarn: Tove from Sandnes, white light grey, charcoal and some dark red.
Needles: Knitpicks, 4mm

It was meant to be used as a babyblanket, but I think I'll use it as a shawl. We'll see when it's done. IF it gets done...

May Sockamania... the yarn is too busy to really show off the pattern, but I didn't have any solid blue or red in my stash, so I changed the colours...Another Hey,Teach! off the needles, for my niece K, but she had forgotten that she'd picked white;-)

Yarn:

Føn from Gjestal, I used 10 or 11 balls. The yarn is very soft, a blend of 30% cotton and 70% bamboo, but also very splitty!

I knit on 4mm needles, instead of the suggested 5mm.
The back. I started this with a provisional caston at the ribbing, knit the pattern up, and finished the sleeves, then picked up the live stitches, and did the body downwards. It is considerably longer than the original, more like a tunic.

I also added a little broken rib pattern, and made the neckline a bit higher.

Mother-of-pearl buttons.

I think I promised the links for my blue recycled jacket (and I've got a ton of compliments for it! )(scroll down for photos of it in my last post..those photos are not uploaded to this computer...)

Luckenbooth medallion, used on the back

doubleknot, used on both fronts, but I forgot to give them a mirror image...

Knotty Gloves, used on both back and front, and sleeves.

Elegant Celtic Cabled Rug, used for the peplum.

Then I added some beehivecables, and plain cables. Around the whole thing I made a border with a simple four stitch cable and some seed stitch.

I've used it a lot already, and really like it, despite it's flaws...like the neckline is a bit wide, and the zipper too short, and the sleeves are too long...still- it's pretty colour, it was a fun knit, and it's one of the few things that I've designed myself.

Hubby's left for Houston again, it's cold and miserable outside, the kitchengarden needs weeding, and the sheephouse should be cleaned out. But I'll get another cup of tea, read the papers and knit some more on that shawl...

Take care, and have a great summer:-)