inbetweeny time

Christmas is over and we're in that funny bit between Christmas and New Year. David's back at work, but I won't be until after New Year.

We had a good Christmas, we had our first visitor here in Helsinki - David's younger brother... as we were moving, we were trying to predict who would be the first to visit us, and we never thought it would be him. My parents usually arrive just as we're unpacking the boxes, but this time they aren't coming till February, as they thought it would be too dark at the moment (it does limit what can be done in a day when it gets dark so early).

I believe my knitted gifts have gone down pretty well - I only gave the socks and knitted purse to my Mum and have heard that the socks fit, but nothing about the purse - no doubt when we next talk properly I can get some proper feedback.

There's lots of thoughts about what to knit and make next year going on... including what's already on the ikke ferdig list there's the wedding dress, and also a couple of accessories (for both me and David - don't worry I'm not going to try to make David a suit!). I also got some knitting books for Christmas, two about socks and a vogue book that I've had my eye on for ages now - so lots of food for thought.

It'll only get lighter

Yesterday was the shortest day.

In Helsinki the sun came up at 09:25, and went back down again at 15:10. I make that 5 3/4 hours of official day light. Not too bad compared to Trondheim, where yesterday the sun came up at 09:59 and went back down at 14:28 (just short of 4 1/2 hours). We've really noticed the extra 1 1/4 hours - it hasn't seemed anywhere near as oppressively dark as it did last year. I think this time last year in Trondheim it was cloudy a lot of the time, which didn't help, whereas here in Helsinki we've had some clear, cold, crisp sunny days (like yesterday).

I still think back to when I moved from Knoxville, Tennessee back to the UK (in 2003) - I think Knoxville this time of year has about 9 1/2 hours of day light, and Bristol has about 7 3/4 hours, I remember really noticing the difference over the winter, and thinking that Bristol was really dark - looking back, I didn't know anything. I can't imagine living north of the arctic circle and not getting any light whatsoever.

I've altered the Koolhaas hat so that it covers my ears - it was quite stressful ripping back the crown shaping - before I ripped anything I thread a smaller circular needle through what I thought was a row and unravelled back to it - I had managed to thread through a row (they're difficult to spot through the cables) and so it all went OK. So, here's a definitely finished Koolhaas hat:

Sunset

There was a beautiful sunset here in Helsinki this evening - not a delicate wispy multi-coloured affair, but a stong, vivid, bright, the sky is on fire, deep pink sunset. Red sky at night, shepherds delight - I'm now excited about what tomorrow's weather is going to be like. I did think about taking a picture, but I think in order to do justice to a sunset you must have a super-dooper camera and a certain skill for taking sunsets, otherwise I think it's best to just enjoy them while they're here.

I've now properly finished my koolhaas hat (photo to follow) and have managed to make a decision about what to knit next. I finally decided to start a pair of bee socks for Rach - part of what has become the Poulton bee series! Not a lot done yet, but the stripes are taking shape.

I'm using the same basic Sirdar pattern as I have for quite a few of the socks I've knitted and some suitably bee-coloured wool. I'm using a random stripe generator to figure out the stripes and am trying to do stationary jogless stripes.

finished Koolhaas (edit - not quite...)

A finished project to show.. This is the red hat I've been knitting from the Interweaves Knit Holiday Gifts 2007 magazine. I like the pattern and geometric-ness of the design and its shaping etc... it's pretty snug, and I'm not sure it's really warm enough for the Finnish winter weather, but it's cute and it matches my red coat.

(Edit - I wore it to the shops and decided that it's too short - so I've just ripped back to the beginning of the crown shaping and am going to make it a bit longer.... )

I really like the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran that I used, it's ever so soft and squishy. There's a couple of different thicknesses of wool in the Cashmerino range, so I'm wondering what else I could use it for?

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I've been pondering what I should knit next - there's so many different knitting techniques that I've heard about and would like to try... I'd like to do some more cables, and I'd like to try my hand at some colour work, maybe some mosaic stitch, and there's always the lure of stripes. Decisions decisions (not an easy thing to make for a libra!).

Shrouded lady

I went to my first ever knitting group meeting - at the Kamppi Cafe in the centre of Helsinki. I've never been to a knitting group before and was pleased that I fit in with the groups demographic (rather than it being lots of older ladies knitting for their grandchildren) - it was fun, I'm at an obvious disadavantage not speaking Finnish, but they were very nice and spoke some English so that I was included. I think I was also the only one knitting "English" style - I've never really been around anyone else knitting, other than my Mum and Nanna (both who knit English), so it was interesting to see it done "continental". The majority of people seemed to be knitting socks, although I seemed to end up in the red corner as I took along one of my current red projects and the lady to my right was knitting a red shawl and the lady to my left was knitting a red cardigan - maybe there's something in the water? There was also some books that had been brought to look at, and there was some wool as well. I was told about some other knitting groups that happen at various times of the month - I'll probably stick to just this one for now as it's so convenient to get to. We're also hoping to start Finnish lessons in the New Year, so I don't want to fill up too many evenings that are then going to end up clashing with classes. So, all in all a good evening.

I spent a bit of time during the week making progress with the wedding dress dummy run. I've done as much as I need to do now (altered the pattern and made the dress from an old sheet, without lining including a zip and the foundation) and am happy with how it's turned out - so next step is to start making the actual dress. I need to find out when David's working weekends so that I can work on it then.

Here's how it's looking....
Ha ha - you didn't really think I'd show a picture, did you? Felicity Anne, is again helping me model, but she's shrouded so that David doesn't see too much.

A case of the reds

I seem to be going through a red phase at the moment - not sure why - although red is my favourite colour, so it's bound to happen at some point.

I'm making progress with the red cardigan - I'm knitting it in a slightly different order than the pattern calls for - I'm knitting up from the cabled belt first as I think I may want to make it a little longer, but I only have a finite amount of wool. Lots of stocking stitch at the moment, but I'm managing to keep it pretty even and neat. I've also cast on a Koolhaas hat, again in red - a dark, overcast Finnish day has made the hat look much pinker than it really is.
This is taking more concentration than the cardigan, but I'm doing OK so far. And the Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran that I'm using feels lovely and soft - I'm hoping there won't be any itchy forehead syndrome once it's done.

The latest baby booties went in the post yesterday along with our wedding invitations - so no going back now! I've got a plan for some socks for Mum-to-be-Rach, so once I finish the Koolhaas hat I'll get on with them. And I've also got a small project called wedding dress to make progress with and a date of February 5th to have it finished by so that my parents can take it back to the UK with them when they come to visit us. Now if I can just figure out how to measure the length of my legs by myself...

Even more booties

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I had a request for some baby booties to match the bee socks I'd made for Rob for his birthday. The baby isn't due until mid-January, but I thought it would be nice to get them done and in the post along with all the Christmas post. So, here they are: Thinner stripes than Rob's socks, as always I hope they fit.

Snow report

On Saturday night we had about 5cm of snow here, it was lovely to wake up and it be white over. There was the peacefulness that comes with everything being covered in snow too. David did a bit of snow clearing and we walked through it to get to and from the swimming pool, but apart from that we just enjoyed looking at its whiteness and wondering how long it would last. It didn't take long to realise that the temperature was rising during the day, and when it was 4°C by the evening we knew it wouldn't last. There's still a little bit left today, but according to the BBC the temperature's meant to get to the heady heights of 7°C by the middle of the week. I'm sure it'll be back and I'm still feeling positive about a white Christmas.

I've finished the socks I've been knitting for my Mum. It seems to have taken me ages to knit these - I guess I did have three attempts at starting them, which didn't help. As I said in another post the pattern isn't exactly as written - but it gives an interesting textural ribbing, which I like, and I hope my Mum does too.

konfekt ferdig and red jumper started

Finally, I have something substantial so show finished. I finished all the knitting and sewing up on konfekt 18703 about a week ago, but had to wait to declare it finished finished until we got a new ironing board (the old one used to collapse while you were using it so we decided it wouldn't be joining us in Helsinki). The sun shone and I managed to take a couple of pictures in natural light, for once, with the help of Felicity-Anne. I'm pleased with how it's turned out. And quite surprised considering I was following Norwegian instructions. I managed to have two balls of wool un-used, which makes me think I've done something wrong, but it looks fine, and fits OK. The pattern called for some popcorn wool to be used around the collar and cuffs, but I decided against adding that.

So, as I've finished one, I've decided to cast on another - keep the momentum going and try to keep the wool stash under control. I'm knitting lemonade as published in the August edition of Magknits. I've had this red cotton wool lying around for ages after I bought it and then didn't like what I was starting to knit with it. It'll feel good to finally use it. I've been looking for a suitable pattern for ages, and thought this one was very cute when I saw it a few months ago now. It's shown in magknits pictured on the designers daughter (I think), so am hoping it looks as flattering on a more "developed" figure! I haven't done much yet, but it's a start.
We're planning on walking into Helsinki today from home (about 7km) as David has the day off work. We've been directed to a goldsmiths that we think may be able to make us some wedding rings (we have a couple of old wedding rings that we'd like re-cast for us). We're hopeful that that will be another thing ticked off the immense wedding planning list that we're slowly making our way through.

purses and hats

We woke up this morning to Helsinki having been covered by a dusting of snow overnight - it's very pretty and makes me wonder whether we'll finally have a white Christmas - we thought we'd get one last year in Trondheim, but they had some freak mild weather and it never happened. So, fingers crossed I haven't just jinxed it for this year.

I've followed through on my thoughts about knitting a change purse. As you can see - a few rows of ribbing and then just plain old stocking stitch. As I'd thought, I knit it in the round and then did a three needle cast off along the bottom.
I've also put a zipped lining into it:

The wool's fritidsgarn by sandnesgarn. It's nice and chunky - I wanted to make a fairly firm fabric so used 3.5mm needles (more than anything because I seem to have a gap in my needles for knitting in the round (both dpns and circulars) from 3.5mm to 7mm and didn't feel like going out and getting more at that point). I'm pleased with how it's turned out. I've made it so that it's big enough to put a bank card in it - for those times when you want to just take out a bit of cash, but then a bank card just in case...

I've got another ball of this same wool in the greens colourway, so am going to knit another one, but this time with more texture - maybe some cables? I have a change purse at the moment that I made (sewed rather than knit) and can never find it as it feels the same as the inside of my bag, so I think some texture should help.

I ended up going into Helsinki yesterday in order to swap over our modem so that we could get the broadband TV service to finally work. While I was in town I decided to check out a wool shop that had a stand at the Arts and Crafts Fair that we went to last Friday and also had good reviews on knitmap . So, I wandered around and found Käsityötalo Priima. A nice little shop with some interesting and well known wools. I also found out that they have a knitting group twice a week - so I'll probably try to go.

So, I bought two balls of Debbie Bliss' casmerino aran in order to knit the Koolhaas hat that's in the interweave knits holiday gifts 2007 magazine.

What else? I photographed all the wool I have and uploaded it into ravelry - I seem to have an awful lot of pretty random parts of balls, or just odd balls of wool. so I need to have a think about what I can use it for.

I've also made a start on my wedding dress - but no photos...!

Bootie parade

I thought it was time to have a bit of a knitting update:

The Konfekt 18703 has been making good and steady progress and now has two sleeves - so I just need to pick up stitches around the top edge and knit the neck and then it can join the ferdig list. I'll be pleased to have one largish project behind me - means I can move onto another one!

The first of my Mum's socks is done, and I've cast on the 2nd one. I realised as I was starting the pattern on the 2nd sock, that I've actually not followed the beaded rib pattern correctly from the sensational knitting socks book - so not only have I not knit these sock toe up as in the book, but I apparently haven't followed the stitch pattern either - whoops. I guess as long as both socks match each other it doesn't really matter. I think I might start at the beginning of this book and try to knit a pair of socks from each section - but first I'd like to knit some hats.

I've also been knitting and finishing off baby booties. This first pair is the small pair I was knitting just before we moved. I decided that, even though I thought they were too small it would be worth adding buttons and sending them to one of my friends that's just had a baby - just in case I'm wrong. So these went to Sophie:
Along with a bigger pair in the same wool:

I also knit a little blue pair for Anna's baby boy, Henrik. These came out a lot better looking than my blurry photo lets on. They were in the post before I realised I'd taken a rubbish photo.
I've had a request for some bee booties to match Dad to be Rob's bee socks - and if I have time I might try to knit Mum to be Rach some bee socks too - so the whole family will match. Their little one isn't due till mid-January, so I have a bit of time.

Moving photos...

Hoorah, we're online at home now. Let's celebrate - ginger beers all round.

Now that we've got the computers set up at the new monkey house, I've finally properly downloaded my photos from during our move and thought I'd share a few:
This is us driving over the pass between Norway and Sweden - I don't think the Abba was quite playing by this time - as you can see there was a bit of snow!
This is a statue of George and the Dragon in Stockholm.
This is the boat we were on between Stockholm and Helsinki.
This is David enjoying a beer on the boat.
And this is David pretending to be a pirate (he needs more practice)


And this is us arriving into Helsinki the next morning. Arriving at a city (especially one that you're just moving to) by boat is different than arriving by plane - there's something less immediate and quick, and therefore more real about it. Or maybe I was just pleased to finally be in Helsinki at last?

Getting back to normal

We went to see Atonement last night, we've both read and enjoyed the book, so it was on our list of films we wanted to see and finally we had our chance. We weren't disappointed - a really good film, tragic in parts (most parts), a good adaptation of the book and some beautiful cinematography and images. I'm not a big Keira Knightly fan, but she was very good - I think it's her jaw I'm not keen on (I didn't say I had a good reason for not being a fan!). Afterwards we went to go to a Thai restaurant - we looked in the window and found that it was packed (very small restaurant with a good reputation - I guess we will book next time) so tried next door in a Malaysian restaurant. There was nothing pretentious about the Malaysian restaurant - good food, no airs or graces. To top the night off we bought me a mobile phone - so I feel all connected and mobile again.

I mentioned in my last post that I was having a bit of a bootie knit - I've got one pair finished:

I used the same pattern and wool as the last pair I was knitting, which came out tiny - but have used larger needles this time. This pair look much better, and I found four yellow buttons for them too. I think these look more girly so I'm going to send them to Sophie for Beatrice and start another pair, probably with some leftover sock wool for Anna's Henrik.

Helsinki one week on...

Well, as I said last Thursday we've made it to Helsinki safe and sound, our stuff (which seems to be getting more and more with each move despite the efforts to not let it grow) arrived the day after us, which is good - as now a week on we're pretty much packed and able to live. The house is better than I'd remember when we'd seen it back in August. It feels very grown up, I can't explain what it is about the house that makes it feel grown up, maybe it's that it's new, or that it has a working dishwasher (that isn't from the 60s), or that it has a walk in wardrobe (or should I be pretentious and call it a dressing room?), or that it has two bathrooms - I don't know, but it feels grown up. It's nice and warm, so despite the fact that the temperature is going to plummet we have underfloor heating and a very efficient fire, and lets not forget the sauna, to keep us warm.

David seems pleased with the kitchen and has already started restocking the freezer!

We've been given a date of next Monday (Nov 19th) for the internet to be turned on - ahead of the expectations we'd been given, which is good - and hopefully in time for a work meeting I have scheduled. In the meantime I'm hanging out in our local library, which is part of a culture centre in our local area - from what I can tell it is very well used and looked after.

While we've been in the midst of moving two friends have had babies - Sophie has had a baby girl, Beartrice on Oct 31st and Anna has had a baby boy, Henrik on November 2nd. So, I'm back to knitting booties, the booties I was knitting for Anna's baby turned out too small so I'm starting again with those ones, and now that I know she's had a boy, maybe they won't be pale yellow.

Internet connection-less

We've made it to Helsinki, but it looks like it's going to take 3 weeks until we're connected to the internet. So, I guess my entries are going to be even more intermittent than they have been!

bits & bobs

I thought I'd better show some pictures of the outcome of the miracle freezer emptying desert from last night...They baked up fine...

They were an oozy mixture of apple and chocolate with a very subtle texture of dried apricots... And they disappered just fine! Yum yum. Not bad for a cobbled together use-up desert. And the condensed milk was the pièce de résistance.

I spent most of the morning putting back up the horrible pink shiney curtains that were in the living room when we moved in. They're still just as pink and just as shiney, I think they can be seen in a previous post at about the time we were moving in. The other thing that is pretty hideous about this house is the wallpaper in the toilet - so I thought I'd take a photo and show it to the world...

The toilet's only about 1m squared - so it's pretty overpowering.

Oh well, we'll soon be in our all white house in Helsinki and miss all the colours.

bootie turnovers

The booties I've been knitting from the Saartje's bootees pattern are finished apart from buttons - the buttons will have to wait till we're reunited with our furniture and stuff next week once we get to Helsinki... I enjoyed knitting these, they're quick and easy and quite cute. I think they're probably a bit small - a scant 3" in length. I have no idea if Anna's baby's going to be big or small, so once I'm reunited with my needles I'll probably knit another pair on bigger needles.

As part of the move one of the things we've had to do is empty out the freezer and fridge - David and I like to keep a pretty well stocked freezer, mostly with home made stocks, leftovers, extra portions of things we've made etc (we don't tend to do frozen pizza or ready meals). As the move is now T minus 3 evening meals and one of those is going to be spent in a curry house here in Trondheim with friends, we're pretty much scraping the last edibles out of the freezer - one ingredient that did have us a bit stumped was a couple of sheets of frozen puff pastry. But genius that I am (and modest) for desert tonight we're going to have turnovers. They're stuffed with an apple (bought), apricots (so few of them left we decided they weren't going to join us on our travels) and some chocolate flaky bits that we got with some ice cream and have been sitting in the fridge ever since. I had to use a beer bottle instead of a rolling pin, and didn't have any flour, so it was a potential sticky mess.
So fingers crossed they bake up alright. We have a half finished can of condensed milk sitting in the fridge that needs finishing as well, so I'm sure that will help! Although we may not be able to sleep this evening for all the sugar.

Squirrel

I was sat here yesterday (waiting for my boss to call) watching a red squirrel out of the window leaping about a tree. He was fun to watch - very agile jumping about all the branches with apparently no fear of falling. It's nice to see red squirrels here as in the UK the red squirrels have most often been squeezed out by the non-native bully grey squirrels. I wish I had a fancy camera with a zoom lens etc as he was hanging upside down from a branch at one point and it would have been good to have been able to take some proper squirrel antics shots. Instead I've ended up with this photo He's in the centre of the photo heading right, you can just see his tail straight out behind him parallel to the branch he's running along.

In case you can't see him, here he is zoomed in. Unfortunately you can't see his nice red colour, or his white underside.My boss never called so I decided to cast on another pair of baby booties as another of my friends, Anna, is just about due. They don't know the sex of the baby, so I've used a pale yellow fluffy wool I was given by my future mother-in-law when she was clearing out some stuff.
I'm using a pattern available free on the web by Saartje de Bruijn. It's a pretty easy pattern with some simple, but very effective shaping and from the pictures I've seen of finished ones looks pretty cute. I hope it fits a baby foot - I didn't make any attempt at checking my gauge as I have a limited amount of unpacked needles (one set) and a limited amount of wool available (one type).

The calm week before the storm....

...at least for me, anway.

Now that all the furniture has gone and is on its way to Helsinki, apart from making sure our current house is in a respectably clean condition when we leave, there's not a lot more for me to do concerning the move until we start driving next Saturday morning. I think I'm going to have to go and see the tax man at some point, but apart from that my life continues pretty normally. David's on the otherhand is very busy at the moment as he has one last big commercial review thing to do at work this week.

In this calm, I've managed to take a few photos of my current projects that are on the ikke ferdig list, and that have managed to not get packed.

I've kept back the socks I'm knitting for my Mum - it's coming on well now after its failed first attempt as a toe-up sock (that's why the wool coming from the ball is all crinkly).
I'm also thinking about making some knitted purses - I bought this wool on Saturday in town: I'm thinking about knitting a simple tube about 10-15cm in diameter, which I'll then do a 3 needle cast off in order to seam it up at the bottom. I've got in my head a fairly dense knitted fabric so will probably use smaller needles that the wool band calls for - I'll probably just do stocking stitch for the first go. The plan is then to make a lining out of some cotton fabric with a zip in the top, which I can then insert and attach. That's the plan anyway!

I've also sewn in the 1st sleeve into the Konfekt 18703 top - I'm pleased with how it's shaping up. So 2nd sleeve is on its way and then I think I pick up stitches around the neck area and knit around for a bit. Lets hope the Norwegian on that bit isn't too difficult as the Norwegian-English dictionary is on the lorry.

Other things that I'm thinking about:

Should I change the name of my blog to reflect that I'll no longer be in the land of brown cheese?

How can I knit more quickly and efficiently - I don't sit and knit for hours at a time, but it would be nice to know that I was being as efficient as I can be when I do. I have a feeling that I'm not holding the wool in my right hand quite right - I'm sure I was taught the correct way to hold everything when I learnt when I was 4 or so, but there was quite a long hiatus until where I am now.

I've set up my ravelry account and added some things to my stash and current projects etc etc. I've also joined some groups - I joined a Helsinki group, so will make contact rather than lurking once we've actually got there - I'm hoping some of the members of this group will know about knitting groups, and maybe classes so I can start meeting some people.

sporadic blogging

In this time of moving and general change it's not really so surprising that my blogging is getting a little sporadic.

So, we got back to Norway after being in the UK last Friday. It was a successful trip - our main aim was to get ourselves sorted legally with the registrar and book her for us getting married next year, and also to find a venue for getting married and the reception afterwards. We were successful on all counts. Our meeting with the registrar went fine and we managed to remember our names and the other details she needed. We also found a venue - we ended up not going for the combination I last blogged about as it was starting to feel to complicated to organise from afar, so instead have gone for here for both the wedding and reception. It's not too far from Penrith and we think will suit having a relaxed type wedding, and having it all in one place takes out the whole logistical worry of how to get between different parts of the day. Also, the lady that runs it is very very enthusiastic about weddings and I'm sure will end up being invaluable with us arranging the wedding from Finland.

Since we got back we've been organising ourselves for our furniture etc being packed and starting on its journey ahead of us. It all went yesterday, so now we're left in an empty house with an inflatable mattress, sleeping bags and a cork screw for a week before we set off.

I did keep out a few crafty things to do, as we won't have much entertainment from the TV etc over the next week. And I also intend to take some pictures and get my ravelry account started (username deballan).

Starting to shape into a plan

We're in the UK at the moment starting to do wedding planning stuff - nothing definite yet, but the current scheme involves here, here, here and here... maybe some of these and maybe these guys (or at least what they're drinking!). We have a couple more possibilities to look at next week, so everything might change. We're trying to figure out a relaxed, fun day - not too formal, but fitting for getting married without being too frivolous.

We've also managed to catch up with a few friends, and of course sampled some of the local beverages......

Last weekend's trip

I feel a bit guilty for only getting around to posting about the weekend before last's trip today - but ho hum, this is my blog and that's what's happened! Since we've been back I've had a 2nd wisdom tooth out (which took a bit more getting out than the first one), and have also had some work to do.

Anyway, lets get beyond the excuses and back to our trip.

My Dad came to visit for the weekend on his way back from a conference in Copenhagen. We'd hinted that we might take the opportunity to go on a bit of a jaunt aound, but I'm not sure he was quite prepared for what we came up with... here's a map of our route - as you can see, we covered some distance and visited some pretty spectacular scenery, mostly in More og Romsdal, but we also managed to experience the Hurtigruter. I've uploaded some photos to flickr (which could do with some editing).

Some of my favourites are:
Trollstigen Road - we came from the bottom and were met by this almost shear wall at the end of the valley - which then has this hairpin road up in. I'm glad we were off season, so didn't meet a coach!
This is the Zakarias Dam near Tafjord where they're planning on building a glass bridge and hotel (link) - it looks like an amazing project. and we'll have to go back if it ever actually gets built.

This is a general "I'm in Norway - it's spectacular and it's sunny" photo.

And this one is to show some of the autumnal colours we saw. Very subtle and very beautiful.

For the next month or so things are going to be a bit crazy - a trip back to the UK, followed hot on its heals by the movers coming to move all of our stuff, followed by an uncomfortable week living without "stuff" and finally the physical move to Helsinki, followed by another week living in a new house without "stuff" before said "stuff" arrives and needs sorting into our life again. Change is good, right?

Getting there.....

Things seem to be fitting into place in preparation for our move at the end of next month: rental house has been secured, ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki is being booked, medicals have been carried out, dentist has given us the thumbs up - although I'm having two of my wisdom teeth out :-( , removal people have carried out a survey of how much stuff we have (lots), customs and insurance forms filled in. I think we're just left with being given a date that the movers will come and get our stuff (w/c 22nd October), and then physically setting off on our adventure east once David has finished up work here. Very exciting, I can't wait to be there now - not that I'm wishing my life away, or haven't enjoyed my time in Norway, but there's only so long you can think about something happening before it's nice to have it happen and be able to get on with your life.

I have been doing some knitting - I thought I'd get more done this week (as well as some sewing) as work is slow at the moment, but I haven't really felt like it since my 1st wisdom tooth came out, and I doubt I'll feel much like it next week when the 2nd one comes out - yuck.

So, here's the slow progress:

I restarted the sock for my Mum, I got almost finished with the 1st one, but wasn't happy with it, so unravelled it and started again. I had been doing a toe-up sock using a pattern from sensational knitted socks, but I wasn't happy with its sizing (my Mum has normal sized feet, bigger than mine, but smaller than David's - and the sock I was ending up with fit David easily), I also didn't like the heel - there were gaps where it started back up the leg, and I'd spotted a minor mistake I'd made with the pattern quite a way back. So, I started again, this time from the top down, I am still using the pattern from sensational knitted socks.

I've also been working on the first sleeve of the konfekt 18703:



On a couple of my previous posts I received a couple of anonymous comments, which I'm presuming are from someone in Helsinki, with a hint about a wool shop to check out (Menita's) and also a mention of a Marimekko sale (as if my appetite needed whetting!) - it's nice to receive these comments. I'm hoping that there is some sort of craft/sewing/knitting community going on in Helsinki that I can get involved with, I've read that there's a knitting group that meets in the centre somewhere, and I'm sure there must be more going on. (maybe the anonymous commenter can tell me I've added a contact email address to the side bar).

Norwegian wedding

We had another weekend away - this time to a friends wedding. It was great fun, at a place called Finse, which is in the mountains between Oslo and Bergen. Everyone travelled up by train on the Friday, we arrived in the dark, but by the time we were up the next day it was like this:
We had a walk in the morning and then the festivities began.... what a party, I must say the Norwegians really know how to have fun. It was a great set of people, some we knew already, a lot we didn't but knew better by the end of the wedding. This is the bride - she's wearing a traditional Norwegian bridal crown - it's a little on the large size for her, but what a fantastic thing to have.

This is David and I the day after, travelling back to Trondheim, we were just about alive by this point. We didn't go back the same way we came, but played at being hungover tourists. We took the Flåm Railway and then the fast boat to Bergen, which took 5 hours and went through some really picturesque scenery.