winter or spring (or neither)

We're still waiting for winter to properly arrive in Helsinki. We did have a nice covering of snow on Sunday night. Some of it has melted already but I'm optimistically going to hope there's some more on the way. This is a photo from my office window before it started to melt. And while we're waiting for winter I'm still going with my spring sock. I've knit my first short row heel ever. I don't think I've done too badly for a first attempt - it's not perfect, but then not being a perfectionist that doesn't bother me, as long as it's close enough (which it is). I'm enjoying the fair isle pattern - I think I've definitely decided that I prefer to create my own pattern rather than using self-striping etc wool.
The sewing went well last weekend. The dress is done and ready for my parents to take it away with them. I've also started on a wasitcoat for David. So, now my thoughts are turning to what I'll sew next.... I have some ideas but need to think some more first and not get too far ahead of myself.

We have visitors coming this week - my parents - which will be good. And we've also got our friends Jo and Andrew booked to visit us for the weekend at the end of February - so I'm sure there's some mischief to be had.

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?

Selbu strikker

Another trip we did when my parents were visiting was to Selbu - it's an interesting place with a village museum and a church, and is of course the home place of selbu knitting - the two stranded, eight point rose pattern. There was a museum about it at Selbu too.... I took some photos:

We especially like the man to the far right in the wedding photo - very snazzy matching socks and jumper - David, what do you think?

A bit of outdoor wear - I think my parents may want his and hers matching knitted jumpers and socks! (probably not)

The museum was interesting - finding out about the knitting industry around there, and the patterns, although what was in the museum had a bit of a dated feel about it - which in itself was quite fascinating.

I did get this:

The selbustrikk book by Rauma, it has lots of patterns for mittens, gloves and socks - so I'll probably give it a go at some point.

Orange booties

I finished the orange booties for Annie's baby, Edward, before my parents arrived for a visit.

We then packed in loads of visits and trips and walks and a bit of gardening while my parents were here in Trondheim. I need to sort through the photos I took and then I'll post about some of the places we went to and things we saw.

We also did some thinking about wedding arrangements and some other possibilities that are going on at the moment - I think we're going to be pretty busy over the next few months.

knitting update

The yellow booties I finished a week ago or so have finally gone into the post to Jen et al - Jen had a boy on 12th July (a couple of weeks late), they've decided to call him Samuel Frederick.

I thought I'd better start the next pair of booties. These are for Annie - her due date has passed, but as far as I know she hasn't had her baby yet. (Update - I've just heard that she had Edward on Friday afternoon) Annie makes fun of David and I for both being red-heads, but as she's got a red-headed brother I'm sure she's going to have a red-headed son (she's blonde, and Tony is brown) - so I thought it only appropriate to make orange booties for junior:

Here's the progress I've made on konfekt 18703 - slow, but steady - it's starting to feel a little less "just started" than before.

I also have finished the first half of David's not grey socks:

And have cast on the second half:

My parents are coming to visit this next week - I ordered this book from Amazon, which they're bringing with them, which will hopefully give some inspiration for the next pair of socks to tackle. My Mum's also bringing some Jacob wool that she got locally. The plan is to make it into a cabled zip front cardigan, but I'll wait to see it before I completely commit.

I'm not sure what we're going to do while they're here - we've got a day trip to Røros planned, and probably some walks, and some playing in the garden, I just hope the weather's nice - we're having a few days of rain at the moment, but I don't think it'll last for too long (fingers crossed).

First visitor

We had our first visitor this last weekend - Liz from Bristol. We know Liz through the walking group we both belonged to back in the UK. Luckily we had really good weather here on Saturday and Sunday, so went out for a hike both days. Liz was overwhelmed by how light it was - it is pretty crazy. It's 10:15pm now and the sun is streaming in the window.

So, with all this light we were able to put our guest to work and persuaded her to help us a little bit in the garden. Shel helped us cut back to a sensible height the thorny-est hedge possible. And also helped in the veg garden digging. This is how it's coming along:

We planted turnip, cabbage, celeriac and spinach in the bed that Liz and I dug, and I started a third bed this evening while David was at work. With all this light the plants can't do anything but grow. And we're planning on buying a lawnmower this weekend so we can get the grass all neat and tidy - in order to show off the veg or course.

So, with all this walking and digging there hasn't been a huge amount of time for knitting. The only progress has been with Anna's second sock - I've managed to turn the heel - so I'm on the homeward stretch now.

moose poo

I'm steaming ahead with the sock production. Here's a picture of my first ever pair, on my feet - they're made from Sirdar Town & Country in what I believe is known as Volcano. I'm really pleased with them, and we thought their stripes looked particularly good against the bedding planes of the rock. I also think that I was right to match them.

To keep the momento going I cast on a second pair. Here's how they look so far, these are with some wool I got here in Norway - not quite as bright as pair number one. I'm using a pattern in a magazine I bought in the UK - I think the pattern is called Ice on the Pond.

I did try to figure out what to do with the red wool I posted about before, but of my two options I had - one was using a wool of a completely different guage, so I decided against that, and the other I didn't have enough wool for - so I'll keep looking.

As David has said in his blog, we had visitors this last weekend, David's sister and her husband, Joe. We had a pretty relaxed time and took them around Trondheim and a little bit in the vicinity. We took them to see the house that we're moving to. I took a few photos, I would have taken more but my batteries ran out after three:

View from the living room window.

Dining room end of 1st floor.

Living room end of 1st floor.

We also took Suzi and Joe on a hunt to find the site of a crashed Lancaster bomber from WW2, and moose.

We managed to find the site of the former:

But only the poo of the latter:

Maybe we'll have better luck next time?

Work trough

Things are a bit slack at the moment work-wise, but I'm trying to stay productive. Yesterday morning I turned the compost heap - that was hard work - I don't think it had been touched for quite some time as there were bits of plates and other non-compostable things in it and it was quite dry in places. I took out about a trug and a half of compost, which I'll take with us to our new house. I put all the compostable stuff back, and added a bit of water near the bottom - so hopefully that will kick start it back into action.

I'm also starting the gradual packing of a few bits and pieces ready for our move at the end of May and also to try to get a few bits and bobs away before the visning (house showing), which we think might be next week.

I've also been having a bit of a think about what I can make from this wool that I have:

I bought it to make a cardigan from a Debbie Bliss book I have, but after I got about 15cm in I decided I didn't like it and so took it apart. I've got two thoughts at the moment: one is to make this jumper using either just the red I have, or getting a second colour like the pattern shows, and option two is this jumper without the funny scarf thing or bobbly edging - which would also test my Norwegian as the pattern will be på norsk.

I've also turned the heal on sock number 2 and am shaping the instep and trying to figure out where the best place is to join the next ball of wool on.

We have visitors this weekend, David's sister and her husband are coming to Trondheim. Depending on the weather I think we're going to take them to Kristiansund and drive the Atlantic highway, which we've heard is very pretty. We're also going to visit our new house and show them a bit around Trondheim and the area.

Eating with the neighbours

I feel like I'm playing a bit of catch up with the blog.... we finally had our (current) neighbours over for dinner at the weekend. We didn't cook curry as we'd first thought, but did cook a tried and tested Delia Smith recipe http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/pork-chops-baked-with-wild-mushrooms-and-creme-fraiche,982,RC.html followed by Stjørdalsblink, which is a recipe I found in our Norwegian cookbook (Norsk Mat og Kultur) and is a very easy custardy apple cake. It all seemed to go down very well - even with the kids, who we had also bought back-up frozen pizza for, just in case.