Conditioner for the soul!

It truly is hard work remodeling the garden i bought last year, but it also is like conditioner for the soul working the garden.

I have enjoyed a few days of great warm and sunny days in the garden:

As soon as the sun comes out, my fingers itch to get out there and start preparing my dream of a garden.

I ordered a bunch of seeds from Isabella Smith and  Frøbutikken.

All the seeds was delivered to my mail box really quickly. Frøbutikken delivered in this gorgeous package with a little somethin extra :-)



So while I wait for the weather to get ready for sewing all this wonderful flowers and vegetables, there is a lot of hard work to be done in the garden.

I decided to take it section by section. First step: make room for a small greenhouse.

The perfect spot: Backside of the shed. So let's start there.

Here are some Before and After photos:

Before: This is how it looked, when I took over the garden

First task: Clear away all weed...

Made a clean a border, but the shed itself looks a little worn:

Let's paint. My daughter Isabel is helping out. Good job, girl!
... And here we are, all ready for the greenhouse.

We still need the last piece of border. In front of the roses we planted Ironcrosses and I aim to make the rose grow on an espalier on the shed..... Guess we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

So for now, have a nice weekend.



Owls in the Attic

My newly established Etsy shop needed a name and a look. Since Owls is the new black and I am riding the owl-fascination wave, it had to have Owls in it:

The shop can be found here.

New additions to the available products are:

And many others. Drop by the shop :-) Door's always open ;-)

Upcoming products in the shop will be the circular needle holders:

Hope you will drop by and invest in my new adventure :-)

Now with a shop.......

Apparently 2012 also brings new self chosen challenges - I have introduced myself the world of Etsy - and I have shopped som really gorgeous yarn, that I am unpatiently waiting to be delivered at my door step. I will tell you more once it arrives :-)

While I was browsing for gorgeous yarns, I thought to my self "I can also show off my creative side here" and I instantly set up a shop. Find it here.

Well I admit there's not a lot there yet. Mainly stitch markers...... But the session this Sunday was to make the markers, take pictures and add them to the shop..... it kind of took a while - longer than anticipated. But I got the hang of it so hopefully the items in the shop will keep growing in the future.

Have a sneak peak here of what I did today:

And I just love Monsieur Le Frog

Ying Yang of Roses

And brilliant greens

Drop by the shop anytime.http://www.etsy.com/shop/msandvig

New goals for 2012

Christmas and New Years has past and it is time to set new goals for 2012. I actually already completed one of my goals for 2012, but I am bringing it here anyway :-)

Goals:
1 - Finish the PI sock I cast on for the Sokker 2009 KAL in January 2009 - here
     I suffered a serious case of Second Sock Syndrome on this one.
2 - Learn to knit two socks at a time on circular needles - to avoid ever suffering from SSS again.
3 - Destash - I started the Stash Buster Challenge where I have to double the yardage I buy new.
4 - Knit more for myself of larger project - I tend to make a lot of smaller project, but I would really like to do at least two tops, a sweater and a cardigan for myself in 2012.

As I mentioned one of the goals have already been accomplished #1 - Finishing Pi socks.

The socks are knit using the number PI for stripes : 3,14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510


When I came to the first zero - I started knitting the heel - since heel knitting never completes a round ;-) And when I came to the second zero - the sock was finished - and Halleluja, the sock fit my foot smooth as a glove, even though I didn’t measure anything, but only used the Pi decimals :-)
Only thing is, that the 2 yarns match too perfectly in coloration, which results in the pattern looking as if the yarn was made that way :-( bit I know the beautiful truth - and I love them….

I used Alpaca from Drops and 4-ply Opal self striping sock yarn. The project totals 581 yards :-)

I had the flu in the beginning of January and once the fever was out of my joints it was time to knit. So I also finished these projects:

Basque Hat from DROPS in 2 thread Alpaca also from Drops. 404 yards.

Then i test knitted some Bonita yarn from Ingelise yarn I have had in my stash for the longest time. I am not too happy about the color, but I wanted to know how it knits up, because it is a fairly cheap yarn.

Pictures are pre-blocking... But the yarn knits up really great and is very soft against the skin. The pattern is a yoke baby sweater from the magazine Hendes Verden 18/2007.

I think that's it for 2012 from a needle point of you, but let me just give you an update from a garden view. I'll finish this post with mood pictures from the garden in a Danish winter without snow....

Ohh how the winter winds howl while I knit a midnight Owl.....

Autumn and winter are great knitting seasons, is there anything better than sitting indoors with hot tea and cookies while the wind tries to blow the last couple of leaves off the trees?

Our family got a new member in November - meet Gulliver, the midnight hooter.....

 
The pattern is from Purl Bee and can be found here. I was the lucky owner of a couple of skeins of Yabba from Hjertegarn and scraps of Eskimo from DROPS in matching colours - a true stashbuster :-)

Gulliver takes up a total of 179,7 yards of yarns a full plus-size filling. It was a quick, fun, easy knit that is just loveable - Soft and huggable.

Also - a romper is on its way to Sweden for dear little Alfred......

The pattern is from Kreativ Strik - a Danish knitting magazine - and I have been wanting to do this project for the longest time. Finally the right yarn found its way to my stash - Asland Trends Glaciar Del Cielo - an absolutely gorgeous cotton, that I bought on sale at Little Knits. 

This little cutie took up a neat 561,7 yards.... Which brings November's total at a 1165.6 yards......

Weekend Creativities

Isabel and I rolled out with the heavy artillery this weekend - sewing machine, needles and what not.

In random disorder - here's a sneak peak at the needle projects:

The sewing kit for the hearts is from Malika & Rosa - they have the cutest fabrics and this sewing kit is so easy that even Isabel who's 8 years old could do them with a little direction from Mommy :-)

Come Christmas - we are ready and in the right spirit :-)

And I also had to earn som yardage for the Stash Buster Challenge

I finished another Squishy Love for a cute 4-year old in Sweden, Alma. It knits up in a jiffy. I used about   70 grams of cotton blend for this one - all left overs.

Almost a year ago my daughter got a chameleon - a tiny cute one. She called it Cola. A few months ago it passed away - the first pet we ever lost - OMG!! What to do, what to do.... Easy peasy - knit a new one.....

It's not real, but it is big, soft, warm and homemade - and it was certainly NOT easy piesy.... The design is from Hansi Singh - and it is genius! I knitted it in Jasper from Berrocco - and the greens are just perfect for the project.

So here is to you - Cola - RIP

I actually finished one more project, but that is in the mail on its way to someone who just had birthday - so stay tuned....

That brings the yardage for the first week of November to 196 (chameleon) + 101,2 (Squishy Love) + 327 (Secret Birthday Project)...