Have you heard the news?

If you are on my email list, or as I like to call it, my list of wonderful internet friends, then you already know. The secret is out and now the entire world will know, or at least the portion of it, I come in contact with...

I'm pregnant

That explains a lot, doesn't it?! Between an engagement, planning a wedding, a move and thesis writing the 20 hours per day nausea set me out of commission entirely. But I'm all better now and we are so excited to welcome this tiny human into our family. I'm 16 weeks pregnant and the baby is due on November 29th.

I still have one more exam left before the wedding and my impending summer vacation. So you may not see a lot of action here for the next week or so, but then I plan on coming back, full force. I have a few 'duties' I've neglected in the form of knit crushes that I wanted to make, trust me, but the nausea won, what can I say? I didn't even want to knit, much less look at patterns. 

Speaking of knitting, I have some secret knitting I'll be revealing soon, and yes it is baby related. I'm also looking for a few test knitters for a vest and a sock pattern for the up-coming e-book, so please join in if you are up for it. 

Finally, if you would like to be in the know sooner about things like this in the future or say, get the very special discounts that are reserved for my list of wonderful internet friends, then go ahead and sign up now, this way you won't miss it in the future (and you get my e-book Faithful Knitting for free as well).

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A day in the life of a thesis writing university student.

*Eat, write, knit, repeat from *. My days are easy to sum up at the moment and since the only knitting I'm doing is secret knitting, I though I'd do something different and share a day in my life as a thesis writing university student. 

As I still have the remainders of a horrible flu in my body, I'm sleeping in without an alarm, resulting in some late mornings. Today I woke up at 9am to the sound of the church bell. The first thing I do every morning is to grab my phone and read my Bible portions for the day.   

Once I got that done I got out of bed and fixed breakfast and had a chat with my parents, whom I'm visiting at the moment. 

Not long after finishing a non-picturesque breakfast, I grabbed my laptop and started writing on the last analysis needed for my thesis. By now the church was sounding 10am and I was off to a good start. 

No hero is complete without his trusty sidekick and when it comes to thesis writing I seem to have two: food and knitting. By 11am I was feeling peckish and grabbed a midmorning snack. My mum had fixed a batch of bread for our up-coming wedding, and had 1 bun left over from the circle. It was delicious and just what I needed to get a little more writing done.   

When I inevitably fell into a writing rut, I decided it was time for a shower and as I returned from it, all refreshed and relaxed, my mum was fixing lunch. There really is something to be said for having all your meals prepared by someone else when your trying to write an important paper.

After lunch I managed to include an important point in my paper that I had no clue where to place up to that point. A look on the thermometer revealed that it was really all to warm outside to be working inside, so I grabbed my laptop and the needed papers and headed outside.

It wasn't long, however, before it felt like it was time for a knitting break. 

Ahh, look at all that sunshine... Unfortunately secret knitting does not get a paper written and I was determined to finish the analysis today, so I returned to the screen (thank you technology for screens you can actually see outside in the sun nowadays). 

Some more eating of snacks and some more knitting was involved. I even finished one secret knit and cast on another and by 4pm I had a finished analysis and just under half of my conclusion written. Not bad for a days work. What does a typical day in your life look like at the moment?

Engagement rings and other excuses

Life is changing rapidly at the moment and with all that change blogging has proofed difficult. The one yarn related thing that has been happening is a secret, ironic isn't it, in the year of full disclosure. I had so many plans for this year, but God had different plans - much better plans.

I haven't blogged since March. One excuse is that on April Fool's day in the middle of the LYS my mum works for, my man got down on one knee and proposed to me. We are now trying to plan a wedding in just a few short months and will tie the knot on July 4th 2015.

I'm so excited to be engaged, after being with this man for 7 years, there is nothing I'd rather do than marry him. 

But I'm getting way ahead of myself here. You see, 4 days ago we were offered a one bedroom rented flat. Since then we've seen it, signed the contract and paid the deposit. I've lived in the studio we call home since May 2009. Now, in May of 2015, I'll leave. My man has lived here for 4 or 5 years too. For some reason people seem to think we are rockstars for pulling that off. That many years together on 28m2 and the only place you can 'escape' to is the bathroom? Truth be told, we've hardly ever had to 'escape'. 

Now, in just over a month, we'll be moving to a place twice the size of our current flat. With an actual bedroom and kitchen! In just over 2,5 months we'll be married as well. But again, with the getting ahead of myself. 

In between the move and the wedding I have two big exams. For my oral exam on June 24th, I have to first write a synopsis, the topic will be given on May 26th and we only have a few days to write that. Then on June 1st my BA thesis is due. 

Oh and there's more. Much more, that I can't or won't tell you at this point. Not everything is meant to go on the internet. 

All this has lead to a lot of debate in my head concerning blogging. Should I stop? Should I just post when I actually have something yarn related to share with you? How about a year from now - where do I see this blog then? The answer to all those questions is I don't know. 

I love the community of blogging. I love reading your comments and getting to know you just a tiny bit better every now and then. I love the creative outlet writing is and I wouldn't want to be without that. But if this blog is going to survive and I really want it too, then it may have to go through as many changes as I am. These past two months have seen more life changes for me, than the past 4 years put together. 

In a quiet moment I'll have a talk with my fiancé (that is so odd to type) about this blog. He almost always knows what questions to ask and when to just listen and frankly, that may be all I need to figure out what the future, at least the near future, of this blog entails. 

For now, thanks for stopping by and thank you for being part of my community. 

Vacation time and crocheting.

For the past month I've been in exam mode. As of yesterday I had my last exam of the semester and I now have a quick break before I return for my last semester of my BA. It's so exciting to be at the brink of writing my first proper thesis and while it will be a lot of work, I'm looking forward to all of it.

As so often before the days of my vacation have quickly been filled with all sorts of activities. I have a good deal of work planned for the remainder of this month and a trip to go spent 3 days with a dear friend on another island.

Of course my vacation plan also includes fibre, organic cotton to be exact. I've begun to wear some make-up more frequently and that means I need a few more cotton rounds to tide me over between laundry days.

If you'd like some no fuss cotton rounds  squares too, then the pattern is included in my free e-book Faithful Knitting.

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Take a leap of faith in 2015

How to make this your best year yet

Making this your best year yet will not be easy or painless, it will however be worth it. So often we stay in the comfort zone or maybe we gather up our courage and walk to the edge, take a peek at the abyss below us and suddenly forget that if we take that leap of faith we may be granted wings to soar.

If you are ready for your best year, then please join me and ask yourself these (somewhat difficult) questions and then do the most important part: take action!

Insanity

The well known definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Now I ask you - is there a part of your life in which you are insane?

It's very likely that we can all answer yes to this question. I certainly can. I want my micro business to grow, yet I keep doing what I've been doing all along. Writing the same types of blogposts, working on patterns when I feel like it, which truth be told isn't very often, because most days, after work I'm 'too tired', or so I tell myself. I keep telling myself I'm committed to making this a profitable business, but telling myself isn't enough, I have to take action as well.

There may be more than one area of your life, in which your actions and expectations aligns with the definition of insanity, if that is the case then choose one, the most pressing one, the one you feel most uncomfortable with, the one that will bring the most and best change to your life and focus on that area in 2015.

Full Disclosure

As you may know my theme for 2015 is Full Disclosure. It stared out as full disclosure towards you, but I've come to realise that it means so much more - it means full disclosure towards me. No longer will I be kidding myself, wondering why things aren't moving faster, when I put in so much effort... When in fact I'm not putting in nearly as much effort, as I though I was. So look at the area of your life you just decide to focus on and ask yourself this: Are you being completely honest with yourself? Are you telling yourself lies and more importantly, are you believing them? Identify at least one lie you are telling yourself in regards to your chosen area.

Failing to plan...

Another famous saying is that if you fail to plan you plan to fail, that is why you need a plan to even have a shot at making this your best year yet. Make a list of 12 small things you would like to focus on inside the limits of your area this year. These aren't goals, they are sub-areas to focus on, you could even do 4 bigger headings with 3 goals each. You'l need 12 in order to have a new focus each month. I'll show you about mine to illustrate what I mean:

Blogposts

1. Evergreen
2. Quality over quantity
3. Compilations

Social meadia stragegy

1. Pinterest
2. Twitter 
3. Instagram

Patterns

1. Layout
2. E-book
3. marketing

Education

1. Pattern writing
2. Designing new pieces
3. Techniques

Make some goals!

Now it's time to make some goals for your sub-areas, preferably SMART goals, that is goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.  First of all your goal should be Specific, it can't be 'work on my blog', it has to be something like 'come up with ideas for evergreen content'. Now Measurability comes into play and it's an important one, you can't just say you want to come up with ideas for evergreen posts, that way, if you come up with two you have succeed, because that fits the plural of your goal, instead make it your goal to come up with 2, 12 or 24 (you get the point) ideas for evergreen content. Your goal also needs to be Achievable, but make sure at leat one of your goals for the month is a bit of a stretch, while still Realistic: what can you expect to get done? The Timely bit mostly gives itself in this case, as you have one month where that specific sub-area is your focus, so make sure you can get it done in one month.  

Work the plan

Each month you'll focus on a new sub-area and it's specific goals, for example in January I focus on coming up with evergreen content for this blog (kinda like this post, genius, right?!) and then come February my focus will be on quality over quantity, but I'll still keep the evergreen aspect in mind. Thus each month you'll add a new aspect to focus on while you build on the past months' sub-areas. By December 31st you'll have done a complete overhaul of your chosen area in life.   

Now go out and take that leap of faith!

Picture Perfect July

August already?! Summer is passing by quickly and we're enjoying it as much as we possibly can. 

I love seeing round up posts like this one, so I though I would share one as well. 

^ Sightseeing on our island - church tower

^ Mum's birthday present

^ Knitting on a design

^ Seagull 

^Medieval cast iron door  

^Medieval cooking  

^Medieval floor tiles

^ 3 berries jelly

^ Liquirice puffs (Let me know if you want a recipe)

^ Ditto

^ Freshly picked strawberries

Island flowers

One of the things that always amazes me when I'm back on the island during spring and summer is all the lovely flowers. Just as I am certain there will be no more new flowers to take pictures of, a new kind begins to bloom in my parents' garden or house.

These flowers always bring a smile to my face, I love thecomplexity and colours of orchids.

A garden bouquet for my MIL from my parents' garden.

But my all time favourite flower is callas, here in a bouquet we bought for my MIL (sensing a theme? She had a birthday).

Oh and yes, my mum knit that poncho I'm wearing out of leftovers and then decided it would look much better on me than her, which it was rather difficult to disagree with.

New life - elbow patches

It's fashion baby

It finally happened. I managed to wear out a part of a knitted cardigan long before the body of it gave in to all the (ab)use. My best and currently only knitted cardigan was no longer just see-through-thin on the elbows, it was threatening to sport a giant hole any time soon. 

Handmade clothes are precious in my wardrobe and this was the first cardigan/sweater my mum ever knitted for me, so it is even more valuable to me. Thankfully, elbow patches are not only in style, but fairly cheap as well. I paid 50 DKK for my faux leather (aka machine washable) ones. 

Placement

Getting the perfect placement of these patches wasn't easy. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my mum's help. There were a few factors to keep in mind:
1) The worn patches had to be covered (obviously)
2) The new patches had to be centered on the sleeves
3) The new patches had to be placed at the same point on both sleeves.

The latter proved extremely difficult.

Secrets revealed

After struggling with the placement for a while, the measurering tape revealed a great secret, that not even my mum, the knitted of the garment, was aware of. I finally knew why I keep tucking at one sleeve, but not the other. There is a good 2-3 cm difference in length from one sleeve to the other. Of course the obligatory teasing of my poor mother ensued. Somehow she had been in a hurry to finish that cardigan. 

Iron and sew

With the placing problems resolved, we turned to the actual attachment of the patches, which frankly felt a little like cheating as they were ironed on. They were also neatly perforated, showing me where my stitches should go. It turns out sewing on patches takes longer than I assumed. I spent a good few 5 min brakes in betweeen studying, sewing the patches on carefully.

The final result

For the first day or so the patches were rather stiff and uncomfortable, but they are getting more pliable by the day and are placed perfectly (it was so worth spending a long time on placement). My guess is that these new patches will add a good 3-5 years of wear to the cardigan and they don't look too shabby either.

Useful bargains and a little FYI

These past few day have included a little enhancement of my belongings.
First I found an amazing 'new' cook book from 1896. Its by a famous woman who had a number of restaurants with her husband back in her day. It is so much fun to read and cost me only 20 DKK on sale.

Next, I discovered a new charity shop by the red cross and in it was a dress that had my name all over it. It ends a little above the ankle  and is made of pure and lovely silk. For 175dkk it was most likely less than 10% of what it would be in a shop.

For a while I've been adding a cm to every measurement I had to make since my old measuring tape lost its first cm. Patterns says knit to 26cm, I have to measure 27cm. It gets old very quickly.
This means I've been hunting for a tape measure with both cm and inches. It's proven slightly difficult, so when my mum found this bear she thought of me and got it as a small present for me!

The last purchase I've made is a skein of yarn for my Still Light Tunic. Now instead of running out I'll have a lot left over, but I'm planning to knit some cute baby items of the leftovers so I don't really mind that much. The best parts about having to buy this skein was that a) my mum and I got to go to a new (to us) yarn store and b) there was a 35% sale on the yarn.

And now for the FYI: I started my study break (two words that do not belong together) yesterday and will be crazy bussy for the next 3 weeks. I plan to relax in the evenings with a little crafting, but in case I go a little MIA you know the deal and I'll be back (said in an Arnold accent) once my real vacation begin. 2 months of crafting time is worth the wait. 

Not so much sewing, but still...

After another day of studying, it is just so wonderful to relax with a bit of creating. I got out the fabric, ironed it and cut all the pieces.

There isn't much to show or tell really. I've always found it odd that this sewing thing involves very little sewing compared to the ironing, pinning, measuring, cutting...

As a knitter I still find myself terrified to cut into my fabric. In knitting you can always undo pretty much any mistake. Once you've made the cut in sewing, then there is no way back. Strangly enough, I have no qualms about steaking. Most of the time I don't even secure the yarn before cutting, I just go to town (much to the regret of my mum and nana, who shouldn't be in the room with me when it happens). It must be, that I'm just so much more confident in my knitting. I know when the wool requires stitching and when it doesn't. While I have sewn about 4 garments (in addition to other items) in my life, I still feel like a complete beginner, wishing someone was there to hold my hand. 

There is this sewing school I dream of attending, but it is 1000DKK for 4 times and entirely out of the question for years to come. But one can dream, right?!

Are you doing any spring sewing?

Beautiful day

The weather is nice, so after studying my tail off, 

I went for a walk in the woods and spent some time with the cows...  

Enjoy the weekend!

Medicinal spinning

There is a lot going on at the moment here and almost all of it is study related. I was ill for about a week and that put me very far behind on homework, so I'm trying to catch up while doing all my regular work as well. Whew.
When evening comes and my eyes fail me and my brain refuses to read another word, I've found it hard to relax. My body is reacting to all this pressure so it is quite important, that I really do find a way to relax.

This is where the title of this post comes in. It turns out, I have done an unusual amount of spinning over the last say 2 weeks. I pop a sermon in my ears for some spiritual refreshment and spin away. The center-pull balls are making my spinning more delightful than ever before and I am finally getting close to finishing the 226g. of Malabrigo Nube I've been working on since December (oh dear, has it really been that long?!). Now there is only 50g left to spin, and it should leave me with 4 big skeins and the small test skein and probably around 1000m total.

Any ideas for what I should make with it? 

Up next: Summer Sewing

I've been to more stores than I care to think about, hunting for a few new summer pieces since my wardrobe, if you exclude everything that is either so washed out it's hardly worth donating or threadbare, promising to rip at any moment now, is fairly empty and a girl has got to have something to wear in the heat. 

After a good many trials and tribulations I started to feel like the only way I was going to get something to wear that a) I could afford and b) Wouldn't burn my skin (yes, I'm looking at you petrol based fibres!) I would just have to bite the bullet and make it myself. 

I ended up in the small fabric shop in the town we live in and the owner is just so kind and helpful. I found a pattern I liked and that should be easy to make and some fabric that made my heart sing. I love dots and this pattern is just so random and perfectly organised at the same time. 

Now the fabric is being washed and I've just copied the pieces and with any luck I may be able to cut them this weekend and they will be done before my vacation begins. 

Are you doing any sewing at the moment?

Easter '14 was...

...plenty of time spent with our families enjoying the good weather.

... an abundance of farm fresh eggs.

... small tokens, hopefully conveying all the love we feel for people.

... hours upon hours spent in the green house, watching the grape vine bud and soaking up the sun.

... not to mention all the kitty time, naps and snuggles.

Study buddy

Study buddies, you either hate them or love them, right?!
I've been lucky with almost every single one I've ever had. They knew how to motivate me, when to work hard and when a little goofing off was in place.
But every now and then you run into someone, where you seriously question if they have your best at heart or even their best.
You know the kind of study buddy, who seems to always get in the way of you doing any real work...

Did you need this?

And the kind that somehow get you to do all the hard work for them...

You write, I nap, okay?! 

Oh well, I guess I had it coming, I have after all known this one for almost 16 years and it is always the same...

Yoda all done

Remember Yoda? He is now framed and sitting next to my man's PC on our desk.

My man is now asking for another Star Wars embroidery for his best mate.

Designing = Frogging

Everything was going well with the design I'm currently working on.. 

Too well in fact. 

It felt odd that I hadn't done any ripping yet.

I'm so used to designing being equal to a lot of knitting and re-knitting. 

But as I said, everything was going well and I started knitting holes in the design.

 Intentionally of course.

And that is when I noticed that the pieces was about 13 cm too short, no wonder it was going so fast...

rip it - rip it - rip it

Oh well, the show must go on and I'm already knitting on it again.

  Only now the rows take double the amount of time they did before...

In other news my mac seems to have come back to life on its own accord. I think placing the install disc right next to it must have had the same effect as holding a gun to a persons head. 

Everything is being backed up again as I type and the mac has been doomed not fit to save anything on, but it seems like it just may be working as always again.