Number Thirteen (without superstition)

Dishes are more fun to photograph than actually do. But I have had a productive morning. Applied for another 2 jobs and dropped in a cv for relief teaching at a local school. Here's hoping. Time to clean the house now.

I'm late, I'm late...

Gosh, I am so late with this and it's a dumb one too. I meant to take my camera on our visit today, but unfortunately forgot. Very unfortunate, in fact, because we had the loveliest day.

We went to visit Juliane and Fredrik's house, surrounded by strawberry fields (though these are covered in snow right now), in the countryside near Höör. Juliane is in the knitting group, but I hadn't met her before as she spends half her time in Berlin. She is a doll maker (take a look: frokenskicklig) and was previously a professional puppeteer! Fredrik is a sound engineer and has the craziest studio full of retro sound equipment in their little country cottage. It was Juliane's birthday and she had invited some of the knitting group and other friends and family. Everyone was delightful and there was an incredible array of cupcakes and the like. We didn't want to leave and hope we can visit them again.

It was just how we wanted Sweden to be.

Shopping Success!

After 4 completely unsuccessful outings I have finally bought some new clothes! New-old clothes from the recycle boutique in town. It turns out that you need a sister who shops more or less continuously to point you in the right direction! I got 8 different things, including a denim jacket (I know, 1990s flashback) from Diesel and a NZ designer skirt to wear to E&G's wedding next weekend. Wohoo!

Plus, Masco's was fab and I bought 5 skeins of this beautiful alpaca-merino-silk blend. Mmm. Luxury knitting.

Number Twelve

Had a quiet morning doing some knitting. Have got 2 more repeats to finish off the increase section, I like how it's looking so far. Is yours quite curly? I suppose blocking will fix that. Sick of all my wool at the moment so am paying a visit to Mascoes (sp?) today and having a coffee with my sister while I'm in town. How did the Swedish lesson go?

Stuck in the mud

Mini banana cake with chocolate cream glaze. For dessert tonight. I followed the recipe out of the Swedish book - but banana cake is the same in any language, of course! This little tin accompanied a larger sized one, so the main cake was baked in that, but it ended up too dry. I think this little guy will be just perfect though.

Saturday morning re-do

So, I have finally got going with the scarf! I started using 6mm needles but it looked loose and gappy so I have done the same as you and gone down to a 5mm. This is much better, and means I get to use my bamboo needles rather than the steel ones which sound like teeth grinding together when you knit. I should get another couple of repeats done today, it's a good pattern isn't it?

So far I have only had one moment of confusion on the last row, where I thought 'bind off 3' meant the next 3 stitches, not including the one already purled. Oops.

Number Eleven

I contemplated doing a massive heap of tissues shot, but decided that it might fall under the over-sharing category. Mmm. Bed. It's even nicer today because I had to call in sick to work (I did this yesterday so that Sara could find cover. Supposed to be assisting today at an enormous Korean wedding where the bride has 5 different outfits. Just couldn't do it. Not a good look to be blowing my nose and sneezing at the back of the church really). This book is good. I almost couldn't read it because the cover illustration creeped me out so much, but it's interesting.

4〫C

It's like Brambly Hedge round here!

Today we went for a walk to the "hill" - a park that's a bit higher than the rest of Lund, and from which, on a clear day, you can apparently see Denmark. Skåne, the province, is very flat, but Lund apparently has the greatest height discrepancy in all Sweden - the difference between the highest and lowest points of the town is the most pronounced here. By NZ standards, however, that difference isn't much...

The big melt has begun, but I doubt that this is the last we'll see of the snow.

Number Ten

Morning tea. Had to assist a friend at a photo shoot all day today, and I'm SICK, blergh. So I plodded through and was very happy at 10 (how convenient) when some lovely person brought me a tiny pot of tea. Aren't nice people nice?

In other news, my car failed its warrant. Damn. $400 worth of repairs need doing, got 2 new tyres on the way home today, that was exciting.

Has your present arrived yet? Hope I sent it to the right place! I will post some photos of the saroyan tomorrow, have been a slacker. Sorry! I'm off to soak in a hot bath for a while now. My head is all stuffed full of cottonwool and steam feels like a nice idea.

5 pm photo

Late because internet has been playing up.

This is a book of Swedish cakes and cookies. In Swedish. I bought it today at a book sale, along with a Swedish/English dictionary. The Dalahäst mini cake tin is Ikea.

Number Nine

Chore day today. Have just finished 5 hours worth of errands which included a trip to Pak 'n' Rage. Am tired. Have work (after school care) in 45 minutes and all I want to do is sleep.

Late but not forgotten!

Number Eight

My get-the-kids-attention stick with little bells. Works like a charm with the younger kids and means I don't lose my voice by the end of the day. I wonder how many words I use during a teaching day? I have never done so much talking.

This is all I got

I'm happy with how this is coming together. The pattern is really easy to follow for an idiot like me. And this wool is perfect for the project.

Number Seven

At 10am I was teaching PE and so didn't get a chance to stop for a photo (20+ 9 year olds without the boundaries of a classroom meant a fair bit of behaviour management). But this is outside where I was teaching, cute little kiwi school that it is they have native flora and NZ themed decorations.

LYS

This place has great capacity to bring cheer to my day. I thought you might like to see it. The picture's a bit dark unfortunately as it was quite late in the day, and it started snowing while I was taking the photo.

As I mentioned, I wasn't too happy with my swatch in the merino-silk, so I bought this instead.

I think the colour is more Mum. Again, not a great photo because taken at night, but it's a pretty muted blue-grey. Best thing is that it was only SEK 20 a skein (NZD $4.00)!

And it's Monday again

Tim brought these back from his mini trip. I eat them at all times of day.

I actually missed 10 am today. I had a terrible night's sleep punctuated by dreams (nightmares) about my former job. I think it's because I finally received my reference from my boss. The reference is fine, but it makes me feel flat - 2 and a half years rolled into three short paragraphs...

Knit-a-long

One big ball of wool ready to be knitted into a Saroyan!

Number Six

I had a really frustrating morning (see email rant) which was salvaged by coffee with a friend at Chapter in Mt. Eden. She told me that wherever we are at any given moment is exactly where we are meant to be and that I should stop berating myself and not worry. This turned out to be good advice. I was so cross with myself about work that I decided I would go and deliver my cv to as many local schools as possible before 3 and find some more teaching work dammit!

I click-clacked into a school office in Westmere and was promptly offered a day next week. I had walked in just as the school was trying to arrange enough cover for 7 teachers to have a training day on the new national standards. Excellent.

The food we eat

I was uninspired to photograph anything but another breakfast. Constructed mainly from last night's left-overs: polenta and a tomato-based sauce, to which I added a poached egg this morning. Delicious, but eggs two days in a row - what would the anti-cholesterol crowd have to say about that?

Number Five

My titles just get more and more creative. This is what we came out to this morning, and it explains all the caterwauling at 3am. I think its little hairy toes are quite sweet in a squirmy sort of way. Sorry about the lack of creativity, I'm tired. I'll try and be more interesting tomorrow!

Saw Mel today , got a new toy! A swift so that winding up my wool will be quicker and easier...and I may have also bought a really nice skein of koigu to practice with. Mel says hi!

Äggröra

I nearly missed 10 am today, so sleepy. The stripes? Yes, that's my dressing gown.

Number Four

Saturday morning coffee in the sun. Dressing gown makes its debut : )

My excuse for not being dressed yet is that we were out late last night at a drinks thing for Mikhail and Tuki who are over here for a couple of weeks. Was nice to see them, and by late, I mean late for me. So midnight-ish. It's Elise and Giona's hen and stag dos tonight, will take photos!

Even in Sweden

Flipping through the junk mail yesterday afternoon, I came across this and just had to show you! Sale price is about $12.00.

Fresh snow

We had a light snow fall yesterday afternoon. I love the way it sits when it's just new. So I decided to cosy up in my snow boots and coat and do a little outdoor shooting this morning. The light is so low though and unfortunately my camera ran out of battery before I could take many.

(I'm not sure what this metal structure is supposed to be, but it's near the bike rack).

The men in our lives as they were 12 years ago

I had a sentimental afternoon looking through my old diaries (cringe), and found this, thought you might get a laugh.

These are some notes that Cameron and Tim gave me in class ('umm...heheehe...here you go. These are from some other people who asked us to give them to you...snigger'), very subtle they are. Obviously I was miles ahead of their mental development and saw through their ruse with no trouble whatsoever.

Number Three

This is one of my knitting projects at the moment. I am just longing to finish it because I'm so sick of it! Spidery wool and lots of ribbing. It's going to be a tiny baby singlet, and once it's done I'm sure I'll love it, but my next project will definitely use bigger needles and thicker wool!

Photos of photos

Tim's back and at 10 am I was given an Archi photo tour of Berlin. We'll have to go back, looks like a very cool place.

Number Two

I have to be honest and admit to a photo-fail on this one! I was in such a flap about my first day of teaching today that I forgot to take my camera with me, and 10 came and went ridiculously fast as I was teaching statistics to 28 6-7 year olds. However, I figured it is better late than never and so I took this as soon as I got home!

It is fairly reminiscent of my day actually. Lots of stories and colours and tiny stickers that make the kids disproportionately happy when they see them on their work. I loved most of my day, and it was so nice to have a chance to teach in my own way, which is a lot less loud and growly than I was forced to be on placements. There were a few minor admin blunders when I forgot to send an absence through, and then forgot I was supposed to be co-teaching fitness at 10.15 and blithely continued on in class until a flood of other children poured in and sat down wondering why I was doing fitness inside and sitting down. But nothing too major for a complete beginner! It was a scary, scary thing to close the classroom door behind me and have all those children waiting on me to be a teacher.

Lazy or what?

But at least I got out of bed to take the photo!

Actually I have quite a lot, relatively speaking, to do today. The knitting group is coming here tonight and I need to do more baking (I made chocolate afghans so far, cheese scones to come) and vacuum the house.

Any of these take your fancy?

Hi there my knit-a-long friend. Here are some of the patterns I am keen to try and are big enough to keep us busy for a wee while without being too tricky. This jacket, this scarf, this nice shawl,

this wee top, and this cardigan (I saw that you have this one in your queue. I have this pattern at home. Ahem. Hint about loaning it to you. Ahem).

I (gasp!) have teaching work tomorrow! So, I will definitely shoot something for our project at 10, but won't be able to upload it until after school hours...so don't wait up : )

Number One

Mmm. Homemade granola. Could have done a dressing gown photo today, but why rush? I'm sure it will be possible later in the week : )

Edited to add recipe (I should point out that I had to ask my lovely friend Angela for the ins and outs of making granola):

Right, so basically you mix together the following and toast it in the oven (180c?) until it's golden, stirring occasionally....

rolled oats

chopped nuts (I used cashews)

sesame and pumpkin seeds

coconut

dash of vanilla

raw sugar (soft sugar is ok too but doesn't melt as well)

honey (thank you bees).

A healthy start

Predictably perhaps, a breakfast shot. I'll try to avoid too many of these because I eat the same breakfast every day, so it'll become tiresome rather quickly. I love that I've put the newspaper there like I actually read it. I do attempt the headlines at least, which is probably dangerous, as I'm sure I end up with quite a skewed perspective on the news...

A Wholesome Weekend

Cameron and I went to his parents place in Katikati for the weekend, needed to escape Auckland for a bit and it was really nice. Thought you might like some photos...

Thou shalt not covet thy in-laws wools...



There was some knitting. I am making my first pair of socks. Mainly because I needed a brain-awakening project but I didn't want to bother with winding up balls of wool, and this sock wool was already in a nice, neat ball and has been sitting in my stash making me feel bad for a while now. Time to use it. I got this far into the sock, and realised it looked bloody tiny! Will it ever fit my (un-manicured) foot?

Yes. It does. Very stretchy wool and stitch pattern. Socks are quite fun to make so far. Although I am ignoring the instructions for 'turning the heel' until I have to do it.

Feeling sepia

Finished my hat today, except that I think I need to block it. As usual, I failed to follow the instructions properly and found that I had made twice as many stitches during the increase row. But if I hadn't, I don't see how it would have qualified as "slouchy" - it's pretty much a beanie as it is (this may or may not have to do with my ridiculously tight cast-on row).

Anyhow, it covers my ears and that's good enough for me.

Tim's in Berlin on a field trip for the next couple of days. And I am becoming beyond lazy - how does one stay motivated to get up in the morning when each day feels like the previous one? Today, despite having looked forward to it for a week, I couldn't even force myself out the door for a pilates class. I told myself it was because it was snowing (hardly).

The truth is, I'm feeling shades of brown and grey right now.

Bebeh Bootehs

I warn you not to make these. They are a complete pain! It took me ages to finish them because I got a feeling of dread whenever I thought about the pattern. But finally they are finished and a weight has been lifted off my shoulders : )

The best part was choosing the buttons from my button-bottle. There is something very satisfying about collections of practical things that sit on your bookcase looking interesting.

Hat Fail.

So, this was intended to be a hat for you, but it turned out kind of hideous and I can't inflict it on you after all! It started off so well, I love the knubbly brim and I finally nailed the joins in dpn knitting, no ladders, just a nice neat pair of stitches bumped up together. Plus, this project had the added bonus of using up some partial balls of really nice wool. However...It turned into this. I ran out of white, and when I went to buy more I found that it had been discontinued, so I thought 'oh well, I'll stripe it with my nice noro wool'. I ran out of that too. So it is finished with a nasty white acrylic on the top. So I am taking a leaf out of your book and sending it to a 'Hats for Haiti' charity drive. I know it's hideous, but I think it's made reasonably well (meaning that I wove the ends in properly and such, so it's not going to fall to pieces) so maybe someone will use it anyway.

On a different note, here is a picture of the lovely soft wool I bought from the markets in Pisac, Peru.
The lady selling it had a cool store that was a little room, jammed floor to ceiling with alpaca wool (at least she said it's alpaca, and I'm inclined to believe her given the number of those creatures wandering all over the country). She liked that I wanted it for knitting, she liked that Cameron and I were married, she hoped that we would have children soon (Peruvians are big on family, it's lovely) and she would have sold me the whole shop if we weren't backpacking and having to carry it all ourselves, but I couldn't resist getting this lot and I am still really glad that I did. Nothing worse than coming home from somewhere you are unlikely to visit again and wishing you had bought this, that, or both. If you see any shawl, wrap, or cardigan patterns that you think would be good then send me a link because I want to use it but don't know what it should be yet.

By the way, your new coat is lovely! Looks great with your scarf xx

Long overdue

Almost 2 years later I have finally taken a picture of the first knitted item I've made, my pink scarf, along with the scarf I knitted for Tim. I did it so as I wouldn't be so ashamed of my Ravelry profile after finally finding yours and discovering you have uploaded no less than 27 projects!

So here they are:

That's the coat that I bought here too, which I completely love, even though it seems to pick up every bit of lint going, including numerous of my flatmate's long blond hairs. Tim might start to get suspicious...

(Ew, the pictures look a bit yuck, but I had to use the flash today as it's a bit white outside.)

I'm really enjoying getting into knitting more while I have some time, but I have to admit that I feel guilty spending all my time doing just this. I'm not exactly having much success finding work (this worries me of course), so at least I have something productive to do. And which isn't baking, because I just eat that.

Passing the time

Your wrap (thneed?) looks great! Clever you, mastering the yarn overs and cables.

I, meanwhile, finally taught myself to knit on dpns! And it's so easy - what was I so worried about?! I finished my first baby hat tonight. Now, you're not allowed to laugh, because I took some serious liberties with the pattern due to the garish pink and black yarn running out before I was finished. I know I should have matched the yarn weight, but as I previously mentioned, there's a dearth of acrylic in Lund and so my options were limited. I have, therefore, created a very odd looking hat. It reminds me a little of an iced cupcake and I'm tempted to make a "cherry" to go on top.

(Tiny needle-felted red ball? How?)

I spent some time today stocking up on knitting necessities. In the bag packing rush, I omitted a tape measure, stitch markers, crochet hook, tapestry needle... expensive habit. But of course, I couldn't stop there, and also bought a beautiful skein of organic Swedish wool. Now that I'm a dab hand on the dpns, this is going to be my first me-sized hat. A slouchy beret I think, to cover my wee ears in this chilly place. If it's a success, who knows what may follow...

The yarn is sitting on my other current past-time - a children's story by Selma Lagerlöf, who was a prolific writer during the early 20th century, and also a Geography teacher (she's so important that she's on the SEK 20 note). The main character, Nils Holgersson, is turned into an elf and rides on the back of a goose over the Swedish countryside and has many adventures. All the while, Selma takes the opportunity to point out all the important landmarks Nils encounters along the way. I like it.