Pictures in passing #2

Today I want to share a picture from my veranda with you.

I couldn't find a pot for my new lavender, so I found one of my big mugs for it to stay in.

And I'm pretty happy with the arrangement! 

The mug has been in my brothers basement for a few years, and probably haven't been used for way longer than that. 

Pictures in passing #1

I was recently inspired to start taking pictures again, thanks to The Playful Day podcast.

They won't always be pretty, and certainly not professional, but I enjoy doing it. 

So here is my first one. 

I hope you like it. 

This is a stream by the place I'm working this week. 

Prepping for Stash Dash!

So, The Knit Girllls are once again hosting Stash Dash.
And this year I decided to join!
This year there will be 3K, 5K, 7K, 10K and 15K levels.

I'm aiming for the 5K, hoping for 7K, but will probably end up at 3K.
But we'll see.
It is after all 89 days of knitting. Much can happen in that time, and I might surprise myself.
Stash Dash starts May 27th and ends August 21st, and the good thing, for me at least, is that I don't have to pick a finish line until the end is near.

But I do have a list of things that I want to knit during Stash Dash.
So far that list has 13 items, but I might add more to it as I finish some.
4 are old WIPs, 1 are a sweater I have to fix, 1 are a my travel knitting, and 7 are new projects that needs to be done in preferably under a month.

1. Pinson sweater. Need to redo the i-cord edge around the neck.
2. Oline-hat for baby girl. Almost done, just have to knit the last row, bind off, do the i-cords and pompoms.
3. Oline-hat for Andrea.
4. Go'klompen cardigan for baby girl. Almost down to the arms right now.
5. Go'klompen pants for baby girl.
6. Flora top for Andrea.
7. Tube socks. One almost done.
8. Surya shawl. Am about one skein in.
9. Forecast cardigan. Arms, buttonband and bottom part of ribbing to go.
10. Colorful crochet blanket. Probably 2-3 repeats to go.
11. Breezy baby blanket. Maybe half way on this. Depends on how long I want it.
12. Mystik spiral socks.
13. Smartypants.

I think these projects will take me to about 5K, but I'm not really sure how many meters each project will take. So I' doing the best I can to knit on a few of these projects before Stash Dash starts.

I think this will be fun!!

Mystery Knit-A-Long

Yesterday, Sunday 17th of April, I joined a Mystery Knit-A-Long.
It's for a shawl, and the first clue was pretty easy, but still interesting.
The pattern is by Ardilanak, and the pattern is called Udaberri Mystery KAL.
When I first saw this KAL I was thinking of using a variegated sockyarn, but then I remembered that I had some yarn with sequins in my stash. And it should be enough for this pattern.

When I went to have a look at the yarn I found that I had 3 skeins of the yarn, in different colors.
So why not make 3 shawls?!
Well, I'm doing 2, and my mom got the last skein, so now we're knitting the same shawl.
I had one white, one grey and one brown. Mom wanted the grey one, so that went to her. And I'm doing both of the shawls on one long circular needle.
Can't wait for the next clue to come out!

Making

I'm inspired!
Yesterday, I was listening to A Playful Day, and in that episode she talked about preserving and eating seasonal produce.
In Norway in the winter months, you don't get much fresh produce, but we do have those veggies that you're able to store for a while, like potatoes, carrots, beetroot, parsnips, onions and other.

I had to go to the grocery store yesterday after I listened to A Playful Day, and started looking in the vegetable shelves to see what was produced in Norway.
Of course the lemon and lime and oranges was from Spain, but that is not something you typically find produced in Norway anyway.
But the leek was also from Spain, and I know we can grow that during the fall and in greenhouses and have all winter.

To my glee, I found beetroots, ecological, grown in Norway at Rosnes Gårdsdrift in Sande.

So today, I decided to do something with them!
I could have done a numerous things with them, salt baked them, made brotsj or whatever.
But my choice fell on pickling. Or preserving as it's also called.
Off I went!

First I boiled the beets for almost an hour. Check if they're done with a knife, they should be tender.
Then, peel them! For this you should wear rubber gloves! Unless you want your hands to be pink after. Then you cut them into the shapes you want.
I did small cubes, whole slices and half moon slices.
You also need a preserving liquid.
For 1 kg of beets I made it out of:

6,5dl 7% vinegar
5dl water
3 dl sugar
2 teaspoons of caraway seeds

Let it come to a boil and let it cool down.

Then you put your beets into a jar and pour the liquid over.
Let it sit for 2 weeks before you have a taste.

Chai Masala #2

Today I decided to try out a new recipe for Chai Masala. 

I added some grated nutmeg, and sweetened with demarara sugar instead of white sugar. 

2 peppercorns

4 cloves

4 cardamom pods

1,5 cm cinnamon stick 

a small grating of nutmeg

1 deciliter water

1,1 deciliter milk

1 bag of tea

2 teaspoons of demerara sugar

I put the spices in the mortar to crush them up a bit, added them to the pan of boiling water and left it to simmer for 7-8 minutes. 

Added the milk, sugar and bag of tea, brought it to a boil and let the tea steep for 5 minutes. 

I wish that I had crushed the spices a bit more, and maybe simmered it for a few minutes more to reduce the water. 

All in all, a good attempt. With the demerara sugar it became a bit less sweet, but that was ok. 

Not throwing away food

The Spanish call it tortilla, the Italians frittata.
We Norwegians call it bondeomelett, which translates into farmers omelet. Or as I call it, "chop up veggies and leftovers, cover with eggs and enjoy" omelet.
That's what we had for dinner today.

Here I have onion, chili, garlic and spring onions.
In the fridge I also found some potatoes that I peeled, chopped up and boiled.
The chorizo is something my boyfriend usually put on his slice of bread for breakfast. I'm sure he won't mind that I used some slices in his dinner.

First I put the potatoes in the frying pan with a knob of butter.
Then I added the onion, garlic and chili, then the spring onions and chorizo.
Five eggs were beaten together with a splash of milk and a pinch of salt and pepper and poured over.

I remembered that we had some cheddar in the fridge as well! Nom nom! So I grated some over while it was still a bit wobbly.

I didn't want to flip it over, so I covered it and let it set completely. Then I slid it over on a plate and served.
It was yummy! We each took a fork and shared it on the plate.
I love doing that some times. It makes the simple omelet a bit more exciting and slightly romantic.

#14 Leftover Retro Mittens

Last year, after I finished the Retro Playsuit I had some yarn left over. I did make Archimedes von owl out of some of it, but still had a bit left.
So I decided to make mittens.
But did I finish them? No...

But today I did! I finished the #14 Leftover Retro Mittens!
#7 and #9 is taking some time to finish, and I really really really wanted to finish something!
So into the bag I went, pulled out the mittens and started.
There was only 1 thumb, seaming and fastening of the treads to do. And I got them done within the hour!

Yay, another item to cross of the list!

The pattern is from the book "Strikk til Nøstebarn" by Kathrine Gregersen, and the yarn is Garnstudio Drops Baby Merino. The mittens are knit flat and seamed up the side.

Trønderrokk 2016 update

I'm so glad I went with my mom to the Trønderrokk 2016 last weekend.
Not only did she spoil me rotten, but I had a really good time!
Thank you mom!!

I had met some of the ladies before, bot most of them were new to me. But everyone was just lovely! Friendly, including, loud and chatty and interested in what others were making.

My mom spun on her Schacht Sidekick that she bought last summer at Spinnvilt.

And I got to try one of her drop spindles. We don't remember who it is from, but the hook has a weird shape. It is lighter than my Kromski drop spindle, and I found it easier to spin Shetland with it, than with mine.

After trying it for a while, I got to try my mom's Turkish Spindle. It was pretty and light, but I felt that it was to light for me, so I went back to her other one.
Suddenly mom got up and went over to the sales tables and came back with another Turkish spindle.
Try this, she said, and so I did.
It was lovely to spin with! You're welcome, mom said! She had bought it for me!!!
It was an 24 grams cherrytree Turkish dropspindle made by Kjerringrokk, or fru_elle as she calls herself on Instagram. I highly recommend checking her out!

After I got my new Turkish I was allowed to dive into moms fiberstash. There I found a pretty braid of 80% merino, 20% silk. And it plays so well with the Turkish! So I can't wait to get it spun up!

Oh, and mom showed me a new technique! If I'm spinning on the other dropspindles I can do the Andean plying bracelet if I want to ply my yarn.
Very practical! There are lots of YouTube videos on how you do it.

There was also a talk about wool at Trønderrokk 2016, by Rhonna Robbins. And we also got samples of the wool she talked about.
This year she talked about the three C's; Cormo, Corridale and Cotswold. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot about the different types of sheep.

 Kittens love wool, did you know that?

In addition to 3 samples of unwashed wool, we got 3 small samples of prepared wool. The difference is miles apart!

And we also got a goodiebag from the people arranging the Trønderrokk 2016.
Bamboo circulras, a ribbon, a balm for our spindles, stitch markers, wpi gauge and a tiny bag of lovely Cashmere!

I really had a lovely time! And I might go again if I can.

Chai Masala #1

I was looking around the web, looking for something yummy to drink, and I stumbled across Chai Masala. Chai Masala is an indian tea made of spices, milk and sugar.
And I foundt that there must be equal as many recipes as there are moms in India!
So today I'm trying out one of the recipes I found.

Chai Masala recipe #1
1,5 cm cinnamon stick, broken
3 black peppercorns
4 green cardamom pods, crushed
1 dl water
4 cloves
3 teaspoons of sugar
1 dl milk (I used lactose free, 1,5% fat)
1 bag of black unflavored tea

Add the spices and water to a small pot, bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the milk and sugar, bring to a boil and turn off the heat.
Add the tea and let steep for 1-5 minutes (depends on what tea you have).
Give it a god stir, strain the tea and serve.
Enjoy!


It's nice and creamy, the taste of the cloves and sugar is quite dominant.
The next time I think I'll let the tea steep a bit longer, and maybe cut down on the sugar. 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons will probably do it. And maybe I'll crush all the spices coarsely in the mortar, to free more of their aroma.

But all in all, a very good Chai Masala!