...a bit stressed...

We have had some really nice sunsets lately- but we are still waiting for Spring! 3 to 5 Celsius at night is NOT Spring! DD1 is being confirmated on Saturday, we've been rather busy with the preparations, cleaning and baking and finding the right clothes is a bit stressfull. Sheep got out today- there is very little grass in the fields, everything is 2 to 3 weeks later than usual.
First batch of guests , 9 in all, arrived today- one sister drove 700 kilometers (12 hours), the other 900(14 hours), expecting 6 more tomorrow. Good thing we have the seahouse with 10 beds ready to house them!

Lots of lambs too... We have had lots of neighbours too...do you see the deer? Photo taken at 10 am, and there were 4 deer very close to the road. Not enough food up in the mountains yet.

Det er ikke helt vår enda...3-5 grader om natta er kaldt!

Datter #2 skal konfirmeres i helga, så det har vært litt stress med baking og vasking og klær, og alt dette andre styret som gjerne følger med! Nå begynner gjesten også å komme, en bil fra Sørlandet (90 mil, 14 timer, 4 personer) og en bil fra Stavangerkanten(70 mil, 12 timer, 5 personer) kom nå ikveld. Imorgen venter vi to fra Østlandet og 4 fra Sunnmøre, det er godt vi har sjøbuda med senger til 10! 11 er det faktisk...

og så er det lam her. Slapp ut spælen idag, men det fins jo ikke mat enda, alt er 2-3 uker senere enn normalt.

Og så har vi noen nye naboer...hjorten koser seg på markene, selv langt utpå dagen! Fins ikke mat i marka enda.


Have a great weekend!
Ha en flott helg!

Knitting next time. I promise!

Det blir strikk neste gang! Jeg lover!

...they call it Spring...

I blame these entirely on Michaela... She tempted me for so long that I just HAD to knit them;-D
Polly Jean, in blue, cheap sockyarn, on my DD2's feet, she walked off with a grin. Fun pattern to knit, and rather quick, although they were tucked away for nearly two weeks while I did some other stuff. Started on March 20th, finished last day of Easter(5th of April).
Jeg skylder på Michaela...Hun fristet meg så lenge med disse at jeg bare MÅTTE strikke dem;-D. Polly Jean,i sokkegarnet fra Europris, på yngstedatteren sine ben, hun var godt fornøyd! Morsomt mønster å strikke, og ganske så raske, selv om de fikk et ufrivillig opphold fordi jeg hadde andre ting jeg måtte gjøre! Begynte 20.mars, og var ferdig 5. april. Fun pattern, and the daughter was happy with them!

Mr. Black is of course supervising...

Svartekatta holder oppsyn...

My little goddaughter turned 8 in the end of March! So I found some flannel and jersey, and sewed a pajama, it fits ,and she put it on straight away! She had a party with 7 little girls...plus 9 kids under 18, and 3 adults...A bit noisy...but fun:-)

Guddatteren min ble 8 i palmehelga, og feiret stort- 7 venninner, pluss 9 andre unger/ungdommer, og tre voksne...det var ganske høyt støynivå en stund!

jeg sydde pyjamas til henne, og hun ble godt fornøyd. Flanell i buksa, og en bit jersey fra Stoff og Stil i trøya.

Ahhh, Polly Jean again...just turning the heel...

..og her var da Polly Jean igjen...har akkurat strikket hælen..

And here is what I spent most of Easter doing! Båndvev! I got a mail some time ago, from L., asking me if I could possibly help with some ribbons/ trimmings for a Vestfold 1956- bunad. I decided to give it a try, but that was easier said than done...weaving is not among the most popular crafts these days, so just getting a loom was difficult! Getting the correct yarn was even harder, especially since Husfliden would not tell me what kind...

Men dette er det jeg tilbrakte størstedelen av påska med! Båndvev! Jeg fikk en mail fra L. for en stund siden, hunskulle ha bånd til en Vestfold1956-bunad, og fikk ikke hjepl fra Husfliden, så hunspurte om jeg kunne veve. Trengte litt betenkningstid, men fant ut at jeg skulle nå prøve. Og gikk på Husfliden for å kjøpe vev og garn. Men det var lettere sagt enn gjort! Veving er vel ikke det mest populære for tida, men de hadde altså hverken veven eller garn inne. Heldigvis har vi en forretning på Eid som fører slikt, Eid Miljø, og der fikk jeg det meste av det jeg trnegte. Men siden Husfliden ikke ville oppgi hverken garntype eller fargenummer, ble det litt gjetting...

...but L. sent me a belt and a vest, and I copied that. The colours are right, and the belt/trimming for the skirt is right, but the trimmings for the vest is a little bit wider that it should be. The original is 15mm, mine are 18mm. Hopefully it can be steamed in place...

It was really fun to weave again though!

...heldigvis sendte L. meg både et belte og en vest, så jeg kunne kopiere det. Fargene er riktige, og båndet til belte og stakkekant er rett, men båndet til vesten skulle nok vært vevd i et tynnere garn. Originalen er 15mm bred, mine ble 18mm. Håper det lar seg gjøre å forme dem til med dampjernet...

Uansett var det skikkelig moro å veve slikt igjen!

But Spring is more that weaving and knitting...these two met me in the barn one morning...

Men våren her vest er mer enn veving og strikking...disse to møtte meg i fjøset en morgen..

The last of Winter...we got 20 cm of snow the first weekend of Easter! It's all gone now, and the fields are getting greener...the kid took the camera before I remembered to take a "now" photo!

Og her er siste rest av Kong Vinter...det la ned 20 cm i palmehelga! Heldigvis forsvant alt i løpet av etpar dager, og jordene begynner å få grønnskjær, jeg skulle tatt "nå" bilde, men ungen stakk av med kameraet!

Have a great weekend:-)

Ha en flott helg:-)

baking...

We started baking yesterday..there are a few sorts that we "need" every year;-)

• First up: Krumkaker! Yummy!

Vi begynte å bake igår, det er noen sorter vi bare "må" ha hvert år...

først ute er krumkakene! Namm! The recipe:

• weigh the eggs with shell. (I used 5 eggs, they weighed 295 grams)
• add the same weight of sugar (in this case 295 grams) and stir well.
• melt the same weight of butter and stir in.
• add the same weight of flour. Mix well.
• add a little bit of cardamum (you can also use vanillasugar, but I prefer the taste of cardamum...)
• I also added some water, because the batter was quite thick.( About 1 deciliter to this amount,but you have to try...)

Then bake/griddle/fry- or whatever it's called, in the krumkakeiron/griddle. I used to have an old iron that could be used on the stove, but now it's electrical.

Oppskrifta: (det er vel mange som har denne)

vei egg med skallet på (jeg brukte 5 egg, og de veide 295 gr.)

Ha i like mye sukker(295g), jeg pleier å vispe nå.

Smelt like mye smør (altså 295 gram) og ha i bakebollen.

Vei opp like mye mel og ha i.

Bland alt godt.

Ha i litt kardemomme, eller vaniljesukker hvis du liker det bedre.

Så hadde jeg i ca.1 dl vann..for røra ble litt tjukk...

Så skal de stekes i krumkakejernet, som nå er elektrisk. En gang i tiden hadde jeg et som lå på ovnen...

• use a cone to form them once they're out of the iron. Let cool. They should be very crisp.
  And here's the result...put in a box, and try to hide from begging children;-)

Jeg har en kjegle som jeg former dem over med det samme de er stekt. Avkjøles. De skal være sprø...

og her er resultatet... legg i en boks, og prøv å gjemme dem fra tiggende barn;-)

Speaking of begging children...here's what they did...julemanna. The kitchen was a mess afterwards, but they had fun!

Apropos tiggende barn...her holder de på med julemanna. Kjøkkenet så ut som det var bomba etterpå, men de hadde det moro!

The result: A box full of cookies- and normally we will have to bake these at least three times during December....

Resultatet: En boks full, og vanligvis må dise bakes ihvertfall tre ganger til før jul... (I've made a little bag to keep all my cookiecutters in)

(jeg har laget en liten pose til alle utstikkerne mine)


Instead of my dailyview, you'll get my kitty, she is very interested in the computer, and tries her best to write some on it...she also doubles as a scarf- winding herself around my neck. She is lonely now, her brother was given away a couple of weeks ago, and we had to let the mother go, because she was a menace, so she's left with Mr.Black, and he's not always willing to play anymore...

Og så skal dere få en liten kattefrøken istedetfor dagens utsikt...hun er veldig glad i dataen, og prøver å få skrevet litt he. Får hun ikke lov til det, kveiler hun seg rundt nakken på meg som et annet skjerf...Tror hun føler seg litt alene...vi ga vekk broren for etpar uker siden, og mora var vi til dyrlegen med, hun var blitt så sint og uberegnelig, så nå er det bare Svartekatta igjen. Han er ikke alltid så villig til å leke han heller... Still icy roads- I've never seen the cars drive so slow here!

Have a great day:-)


Fremdeles fryktelig glatte veier- har aldri sett bilene kjøre så seint noen gang!

Ha en flott dag:-)

WIP's...

Still here;-D
I've titled this post WIP's- work in progress- and believe me, I have both wip's and finished objects...after not blogging for so long, the pile is high! My regular computer is still acting weirdly, so I'm using DD2's laptop. She uploaded the pictures from my camera before she left to visit a friend, and I've been looking through them. Not ONE single photo of any knitted item!!! Not one!!! So I guess I'll have to post again tomorrow...

ButI have some other wip's- a few fourlegged ones. I've just been to Selja to check on the sheep, and finally found them. They were doing fine, they really seem to like it out there!

We have lost two of the ewes, reason uknown, but the rest have lambed, and there were 20 lambs. Most of them are really wild, but some come close. It all depends on the mother. If she comes, the lamb will follow.

The ram and one of the ewes have started to drop the wool. They look awful when they do this! Most of them will lose their wool between now and midsummer. Then we gather them, and shear the rest. I suppose I should be picking up the wool...

Curious little fellow!

DS2 and DD2 came with me two weeks ago, and they got to hold one of the lambs. Photo taken at 9:15 pm...now it's even lighter.

We've been away a few days too. My sister's daughter was confirmated last Sunday, and we went home for the festivities. It was really nice to be home again, but it's a long trip...900 kilometers each way, we drove for 13 hours south on Thursday, and another 13 hours (actually 14...)back on Monday. It was worth it though. The confirmation was held in "my" homechurch.

I did some knitting at home too, but it was mostly about eating cake...

When we came home again, I finally started something that I've wanted to try for ages...being inspired by
Sandie and Suzanne, amongst others, I wanted to learn spinning. And I wanted to do something with my own wool. So last Fall, when we had sheared spælsauen, I kept the coloured wool, and sent the white one to the manufacturer's ( Nortura...) I sent roughly 50 kilo, paid the shearer NOK 1200,-, and got paid nearly NOK 1000,- for the wool... Soooo, I filled the sink with hot water and some wooldetergent and soaked the fleece.

It was rather dirty, and I realized I had not skirted the fleece properly...oh, well, I know 'till next time!

Several hours later, several waters and rinses later, the water was clear, and the wool ready for drying. It took a couple of days to completely dry the fleece. Now it sits on the washroomfloor ready for some carding and spinning...and my DD2 wants to both card and spin with me! I don't have a wheel, but I hve a spindle. My sister's husband's uncle made a spindle for me, and also combs for the wool. I bought handcarders at a thriftmarket last summer.

The colour of this is pretty accurate. Blusihgrey with some black tips, and some of it lighter. The sheep is still alive, so if I ruin this fleece, I'll get another chance the next time I shear! At least it didn't felt in the wash!

This is before washing...it looks more steelgrey, I think, but there is quite a lot of black spots in it.

And- just to prove that I HAVE indeed something to show off: Ikke lappeteknikk, men lappverk;-) "not pathwork, but patches..." A cloth for the wintergardentable. The back is bright and yellow!

Sooo- let's see if I get back tomorrow with some actual knitting to show off!!!

Have a great day:-)

(oh, btw- I asked some time ago if anyone was interested in doing a Pay It Forward? HeidiBean signed up, does anyone else want to participate? I promise to make you something and send you within a year. There are still two spots free? tell me in the comments if you want to participate. And HeidiBean, please send me your adress: my mail is: maritkoATmsnDOTcom. )

...walking the cats...

...on a beautiful frosty morning... ...not a car in sight...

...so I may have some fun...

Thought I'd give you a couple of links for some Christmaswritings and -fun...

BrittArnhild writes daily about the meaning of advent, and she also has an adventblog for kids( sorry, Norwegian only...) here.

Melanie also post daily- look at that himmeli she made!

And of course- just like last year- Drops/Garnstudio has a Christmascalendar, also availible in english...

Have a nice day:-)

I'm back:-)

Thanks for all your nice comments:-) I really appreciate it. Life has been busy lately, so there hasn't been much time for blogging, unfortunately. It's a lot easier to do when I'm home alone...like now, hubby left for Houston this morning, and the kids are in school. So it's just me and the cats.
Hubby's been home five weeks- he got an extra week becuse of Ike the hurricane. So he's been busy outside, we've got a new driveway down to the house, and we've done a lot around the seahouse.He's used the excavator, and also hired a man to help. Getting the stones in the right place isn't always easy.

But I've had a couple of hikes too- to look for the sheep. First nearly three weeks ago, the weather was gorgeous, and I had a great day. Found all the sheep too, but they were not ready to go home yet, so they ran off from me, and I didn't have the guts to go after them...I'm in awfully bad shape:-(
I took a few pictures though. Hubby bought a new camera, aKodakV1273, which I haven't learned how to use properly yet...and it's REALLY hard to find the pictures on my computer afterwards! It does help a bit when I remember to download them though...LOL! Hubby was unable to use, it has a touch-screen, and he can't see what's going on, so I got it;-)
It's a nice camera so far.

Enough of that! I was going to show you this set- I carried it along the day I went for the sheep, but it was too warm a day to wear it. So it only got out for display, I thought the background was quite nice. It's Crofter'sCowl by TheShetlandTrader. I made a matching hat. The yarn is SandnesGarn Alfa, a 85%wool,15% mohair blend, very soft, and a bit "sloppy". Colour 4323. I knitted it on 6mm needles, and it's very warm (yes, I have used it- last week when we went deerhunting. And no, I don't shoot, but I try to go anyway) More knitting- the lambjacket for the vet's little babygirl. There is a pair of
booties there too, pattern made by Laura, it's a great pattern and very easy. They don't show up very well, but they are really cute! I liked the sheep-pattern so much that I used it for a pair of socks....
This pattern from WoolyWorks, with a bit of my own ideas. I really like the edging on the cuff! They are knit mainly in Silja from Gjestal. The cuffs are done one at a time on 5 DPN's, the heel and foot done with magic loop. I always make a mess of it when using magic loop for colourwork!
Now over to something else...the wool:-) The kids, our sheepfarmer neighbour and I went looking for the sheep last Sunday. And found them. The kids did really well, and we got them all back home. So now we are hearing bells again. It feels good to get them back home. They weren't too eager to come, since the weather was so good, but now it's turning, and they are better off down here.

As I mentioned earlier, we went deerhunting last weekend...this is what met me when I crawled up a hill! 12 goats, very curious and friendly. They belong to a neighbour.
Hmmm, I still haven't figured out how to sort the pictures here- this one is taken when we gathered the sheep. The island in the middle is Selja, more info if you like. Behind is Stadhalvøya. This is the view from the deerhunting trip....a bit steep.... our farm is at the bottom, and we walked the sheep home over those mountains to the left of that little lake.
Oh, I've found a way to use that boat i wrote about earlier! We went to Drøbak this summer, the kids and I, and this boat was down near the harbour. Really cute! I think that will be a good way to use our boat which is beyond repair....We'll see next spring. It would be fun to have it next to the seahouse with some flowers and herbs.

We've done a lot with the kitchengarden too, planted raspberries and other berries, and picked the potatoes. Next week I'll get some asparagus from hubby's uncle, and plant. I'm trying to figure out more to plant now. Guess I'll just have to use the winter to plan more. Unfortunately I don't have green thumbs... I'd better stop here, there's more to share, but that will have to wait.

Have a nice day!

...a few finished objects...

Farming on the westcoast means quite some work during summer, to save the hay for the sheeps winterfeed. Those of you who has been here, knows that living here means a lot of rain. A lot! We seldom get several days in a row with sunny, warm weather. So this year has been an exception! First a long period in May with dry weather, then it got cold in June, but when hubby got back in late June, the weather turned again, and we saved a lot of dry hay, plus a few roundbales.

The old barn is filled to the rim with lovelysmelling hay! This will be great to feed the sheep with during winter. I prefer hay, it's easier to handle, and it smells better, also the sheep seem to like it.
The boat you can see a glimpse of, has it's own history-LOL! It's an old færing, and we used it a lot those first years we lived here. It's only for roving, no motor on it, but great to use for some fishing. When hubby was at work, I had to empty it for water every now and then, because it would lie at sea at all times, and it would be filled with rainwater(yes, it "sometimes" rains around here...). Since it's a wooden boat, it doesn't sink easily. But I had been emptying it for water, came back up to the house, and thought it lied just as deep in the water as before. Went down again, emtied it, this happened several times. I finally complained about it to hubby, and he just told me to keep on! Then he came back...and we decided to lift the boat out of the water to check it. It leaked like a strainer...it was the funniest thing to watch! Turned out it had been eaten to pieces by some sort of worms that would make lots and lots of holes through wood! It used to be a good boat, but it would be much to expensive to repair, so it's just been placed in the barn as a curiousity. We've been off on a vacation a few days, and before we left, the cherries were almost ripe, and the trees were laden with them...this is what we came back to: not a single cherry left! I blame the crows...

The sheep are shorn, we did that before we went, and most of them stay in the pasures like they should- these days mostly in the shade! It's a very dizzy photo, I know, I was standing on the road in the sun, and the sheep was lying around in the shadows. I also have a little garden this year, with some potatoes and salads. Looking forward to harvesting the potatoes, but it's too early still.I have done some knitting too. My green jacket is done and worn, and feels great! Yarn:
Føn from Gjestal, knitted on 5mm needles. The yarn is 70% bamboo, 39% cotton, and really soft, but extremely splitty! I've knitted some socks too,Rainforest from Sockamania in June. They were done by the deadline, but I didn't have time to blog about it! Then there are
these from Knitty, both socks knitted in Silja from Gjestal on 2,5mm circulars, two at a time, magic loop.And finally- the little sheep! Our neighbours got a baby daughter on Saturday, and I thought this would be the appropiate pattern for a veterinarian and her sheepfarming hubby! The pattern is from Svarta fåret, but I found it in a Norwegian magazine, NorskUkeblad # 35 2007 (Aug.27th, 2007) Knitted in Gjestal babywool. Most of the body was knitted in the car, on our way to Voss where we stayed while DS1 went to a concert...in Bergen! Yes, he did get tickets to Metallica, and yes, he loved it:-) The kids are finally waking up, they all sleep on the porch because it's so hot! Around 30 degrees Celsius, and a blazing sun is not very common! So we stay in the shade, the kids swim alot, and we do as little as possible, only enjoy the terrific weather! It will soon enough start raining again!

So, have a great rest of the summer- thought I'd share a little tree we spotted on our trip...this is an oaktree, hubby is walking under it...and it grows on my mother-in-laws birthplace! It's protected since many years back, and the sign has almost disappeared-again! It's gorgeous!
Oh, and if you don't know- there is a big event going on in Måløy this weekend, TallShipsRace!

Have a great day:-)