Working on a present for mum

In the spring, my parents kindly gave me a new spinning wheel, after I had spent three years learning on a used wheel, which I got for 200 DKK and made me utter sentences like "When I get a new wheel, it has to be able to..."

The new wheel is a Kromski Sonata and it opened up a whole new world to me. The kobination of a good wheel and good fibre made spinning relaxing instead of hard work. 

When I got the wheel, I decided to say 'thank you' with 100 grams Blue Face Leicester (BFL) in royal blue. It was - slowly - spun into a find two stranded yarn. My mum then had the choice of knitting something from it herself or having me knit something for her. She picked the last and asked for a scarf. 

Thus the knitting of New York by Susie Haumann began. It is a simple pattern, I quickly got the hang of, but knitting a scarf takes time! I'm about ready to knit on some of the other projects currently on the needles, so now the scarf has to be done before the weekend, where it has an opportunity for making its way to my mum.

Starry, starry night

This post is about christmas decorations and how February is the perfect (alright, maybe January is just a smidge better) month to buy them and ahem hang them in your windows.

You see, all of December (and October and November before that...) I had my eye on, no wait, I lusted for a specific christmas decoration, from a brand called Ferm Living. These items were not all that expensive relative to other christmas decorations, but my budget for such unnecessary, although beautiful items equaled zero.

Then much to my surprise, when my man and I was walking around Illums Bolighus dreaming, there they were, the items I had been wanting so badly, but couldn't justify spending the money on. I showed the to my man (again) and he really liked them and that is when I noticed they were 75% off. So two of them came home with me and I was about to pack them away for next christmas when my man said I had to hang them up now, Basta! So I did.

Have I kept you in the dark long enough? 

Want to know what I got? 

- Wooden Stars.

Do you have any seasonal specific decorations that you keep out all year long?

A peak of something new...

Here is a small peak at something new I'm working on...  (It turned into this)

And the strangest snow pattern on a lamp post I've ever seen.

Enjoy your day  -  I sure am enjoying mine.

Frogpond visit and full needles

Doing things intentionally means getting some things done, that I've wanted to do for a long time. One of those things were frogging a beautiful, but not at all functional hood and mitten set my mum had made me. You see the yarn is Manos Del Uruguay and much too good to be sitting at the bottom of our  outerwear bin. So last night I sat down and transformed this...

into this...

Then I asked on social medias what I should do with the yarn and the answer was overwhelmingly 'Make  a cowl'. Which means that I'm now pondering cowl designs... However it will be a while before I will be knitting a cowl out of this. At the moment I'm working up a storm on my mum's scarf and have just over 90cm of the 2m she wants done. Then my man has asked for mittens, which will be done by next winter I hope and my dad asked for new socks. I also have a dress on the needles for me and plans for a couple of other things for me. 

I do not like having so much on the go at once, which is why I am working exclusively on the shawl for my mum, mostly because it is made out of my own handspun and I adore working with the yarn. The scarf is working up so soft and the pattern shows really well. 

What are you working on at the moment? 

Sharing is caring: Tudor Monastery Farm

If you have seen the other sharing is caring posts you know I have a great love for all things farming and I simply adore the BBC series on farms of the different eras. This time I'll recommend to you the Tudor Monastery Farm. There are 5 episodes that I know of, but I was only able to find the first 4 here, so please enjoy the show and then go find the 5th on youtube. 

Sharing is Caring: On The Anatomy Of Thrift

On The Anatomy Of Thrift is a brilliant series of videos on butchering pigs and using everything but the oink. THey have a gripping way of telling stories to illustrate how things have changed over time and why.  And a beautiful way to show you how to cook things. Being raised on head cheese, patés, blood sausages and more, these videos are close to my heart. Take your time to watch each of them - hopefully you will be curious enough to try some of these odd bits. They really are delicious.

Please notice that the quality of the first video is nowhere near as good as the later ones. You know practise makes perfect  better. When you come to the last video you will know why I am sharing this, because word of mouth - or blogging - is really the best way!

Securing embroidery in a hoop

This is not a how-to per se, although I guess it could be used as one if you would like. I am however sure that real, good how-tos exist out there on the interwebs. This is simply a recording of how I finished the last of this year's christmas presents in due time.

After finishing the actual embroidery I took the inner hoop and laid it on a fabric to trace the backing. You could get beautiful fabric that matched your embroidery in some way, but doing this on the cheap I just found a scrap I had at hand. 

I traced the inside of the loop cut out a circle about 1-1,5cm (1/2 inch) bigger.

Next, I placed the embroidery inside the hoop and made sure it was tight.

Then I cut around the hoop, again about 1-1,5cm from the edge.

Now it was time to press the edge inside the hoop.

Then I turned the backing in at the line, by cutting slits and pressing them down.

When they had all been well pressed, I pinned the backing to the pressed over embroidery fabric.

  

Then I turned the work to make sure the embroidery was still sitting nicely in the frame. 

After finding the best match of thread available, I started to sew them together with small whip sts.

This took a while, but if something is worth doing it is worth doing it well. And while the result is far from perfect, it is pretty good for a first try in my eyes.

And here you have it, the final christmas present of the year, done and ready to be wrapped up.