crafting 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

spinning ;-)

I'm learning how to spin with a drop spindle. It sure takes some time since I have to learn from books, but after practicing a bit I think I'm doing it the right way now. I want the finished yarn to be a bulky thick and thin one, however not as much difference between thick and thin as you can see here ... But I guess it's just to keep on practicing, practicing :-) And it's really fun. I'm working with gotlandsull, wool from Gotland sheep, and it's not the most clean and smooth one (I find small sticks and straw in it). It's quite easy to work with, I think, but the result isn't the smoothest, softest yarn to be found. Now I want to go and buy wool/fibers in different qualities to learn more about spinning, but it has to wait as the place I want to go to, Åddebo ull isn't really nextdoors.

gold flower

Detail of a necklace :-)

knitting, knitting

Early mornings on the bus and train ... I knitted this scarf for my mom as a Christmas gift. It's not perfect in any way as knitting at 5.40 in the morning on a bus isn't really what I'm best at, but I still like it because of the wonderful yarn (mohair lux). I added some glass beads to the scarf. Actually I have one more scarf to finish, it's for my grandma's birthday which was just before Christmas. But I wont meet her until next week, so I still have some time to knit ;-) Oh, and I almost forgot that I'm also knitting a scarf for Magnus, a thick soft one in black and purple. It was the last craft project before Christmas and I didn't finish it since I fell asleep on the train every morning and afternoon and I could not, of course, knit at home 'cause then it'd be no suprise. So, I wrapped the half-knitted scarf and promised him the other half as well ;-) But I guess there's no need to hurry, it's not very cold outside at the moment.

the Me-holiday

This summer I was working, working, working. So, now between Christmas and New Year I'm taking all days off and I'll just ... be at home, be with Magnus and dogs and I'll cook and walk in the nature, tidy up a little, read, write letters and - most important of all - craft & create. It feels so great, yet a bit strange. I can hardly remember what it's like to be this free :-)

This ball of yarn is the one I got from Jes and I've already begun knitting a bit. It feels so luxury to knit something that is for ME. And I'll be beading, making necklaces ... And I will do it now!

God jul

Today is the day of finishing and wrapping the last Christmas gifts (and by finishing I mean things that I'm making, not buying 'cause I've already done that), cleaning up a little at home (I like to wake up in a clean tidy home the 24th), cooking, listening to music etc. Tomorrow Magnus, the dogs, Magnus mom and I are going to my mom who lives on the country side close to where we live. After Christmas I have photos to show you of gifts that I've made, but I'm not sure who'll be reading this today so I have to wait until I'm sure everyone has opened their gifts ;-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS
GOD JUL
to all of you!

~maria

some work in progress

This photo was taken in the November last year, but yet we haven't seen any snow since 1 November. Today we do have colder weather, this morning there was, for the first time, a little ice (however thin) on the puddles on the streets. They said it'll be warm again, but today I enjoy the colder weather and the beautiful sunshine. I'm about to bake saffron-marcipan muffins, this evening Zam (the dog) and I are going to meet some of my friends at a friend's house and have dinner and I'll bring the dessert, the muffins (served a bit warm) with vanilla icecream. It feels like a Christmas-y dessert.

Earlier this week I bought some new beads, I'll make a necklace which will be a Christmas gift. Here you can see part of the work in progress (the beads I bought are, as you see, not in the photo) ...

yarn swap!

The softest alpaca yarn and hand dyed green wool and a knitting magazine and a handmade pendant, all the way from Maine and Jes. I got it late in the evening and the following day at work I was dreaming of my new stash of yarn. I have a plan ... I think I know what to knit ... But it has to wait until I've finished all the things I'm making for Christmas.

Thank you so much Jes!!

*shop update*

Go to Sweet Daisy to find out what's inside the hats ;-)

december feels like neverending november

It's warm. I don't need my mittens, my hat or my scarf. It's December but we haven't had snow since 1 November. It hasn't been below 0 degrees Celcius one single time since then. I get up at 4.50 every morning (and when talking about that, I wont be unemployed by January as I said before, I'll stay at my job at least until 31 March) and it's not cold. But it's dark, all the time dark dark dark. Today, Sunday, we had some sunshine and finally - with the help of all lamps in my living room - I could get some acceptable photos of necklaces that I've made quite long ago. I'll show them soon. The problem with the warm weather is that it doesn't feel like Christmas, or December, at all. I try but ... no.

time for fruit

I'll be back ;-)

snow dreams

It's the busy time of the year ... And it doesn't really feel Christmas because the weather is so warm, I don't need my hat or mittens when going to work early in the morning that's ... strange. I love this time of the year but I don't have so much time to enjoy it, I only have three and a half weeks left at my job and I have things to finish. I'm looking for a new job but most likely I'll been unemployed for a little while in January (hopefully not too long). In some ways I wish it was the other way around, that I was unemployed in December when there is so much else to do and that I had a job in January when nothing is happening anyway. Well well ...

In a Norwegian magazine I found some sweet (both in the "eating" and in the "looking at" sense) things to make for Christmas. I tried the "snow dreams" as seen in the photo and brought them to my job. On Friday afternoons we use to have a 30 minutes coffee/tea break in the afternoon and sometimes someone brings something like icecream or a cake.

I guess snow is what I dream of now. I will regret it later, but now I want some snow to get the right December feeling :-)

for Thea

I'm knitting something for my niece Thea. She's 1 1/2 but I choose the size of two years old. But it seems to be bigger than that ... But that's good, better too big than too small, right? I really like the colors, they're so September, October.

crafting sushi?

I think making sushi is something "crafty", in some way. I had never tried until my friend Lina was visiting and we decided to try. For being our first attemt I'm very pleased with the result.

and the winner is ...

... Audrey! Email me at nenitas (at) spray.se with your address :-)

I want to say thank you to all of you who gave me links, they were all really great and inspiring. If you haven't seen them yet, go to the text (posted a couple of days ago) and read all comments, where you find the links.

The photo above is from my mom's house an early morning (with Zam still in bed).

new floor

We had terribly boring & ugly floor in our flat. They were from the 70s and seemed to be dirty & dark no matter how clean they were. This week we got new floor, it wasn't a day too late ;-) But it was a mess in here meanwhile. We had to move everything from room to room, this is what the living room looked like one day:

The new floor is much, much, much nicer :-) But now I'm busy putting all furniture, books etc back. Not mentioning all my craft stuff, phu!

PS. I'll come back to the contest later today.

~new friends~

"Hello" says Mofflan & Myfflan.

wedding album

Here are some pictures from the photo album I made for my sister. She got married in May in a church by the sea. I'm not the photographer of the majority of the photos in the album (the photografer is Sune Olsson).

contest: give me a link, win a lip balm

Outside it's dark, rainy, cold, boring. Far from the summer day in the photo. It's that kind of day when you need something inspirational to look at, something that cheers you up, make you happy, give you inspiration or just ... make you forget about the boring weather for a while.

Give me a link to one of your favourite blogs or websites, something inspirational or beautiful or just something that makes you happy or in a good mood (no matter the subject). Leave your comment here before Friday evening and I'll pick a winner who'll get a Be Gentle Lip Balm from my shop. It's a soft and kind lip balm for the cold winter season. Or just for dry lips ;-)

to craft in the dark ... ;-)

It's been raining all day and the sky was so dark (well, now it's evening it's even darker). I think the thing that disturbs me the most when crafting isn't that I want more space but that I need light. There's just too bad light in our flat if it's not a sunny day (and most days aren't sunny and if they are I end up being outside playing with dog Zam instead).

I go to work by bus at 5.40 and then train at 6.10 and metro around 7.00. I use to knit sometimes on the bus, almost always on the metro (if not too crowded) and only for a little while on the train because on the train I use to sleep. But the first 5-10 minutes I sometimes spend knitting and then I like to keep the light off and knit, knit until I'm sleepy enough (knitting is really meditative). I think that's the only time when lack of light when crafting can be good instead of annoying.

the christmas spirit grows for each new day ...

As it's getting colder outside and it's already November I'm thinking of Christmas. I love Christmas time of the year because I love all the cooking and baking and candy making, all the great smells, all the candle lights, the decorations ... and, of course, all the reasons to craft and create. I use to make holiday cards, gifts, decorations, gift wrapping ... However, this year I work so much I realise I wont enjoy all the preparations if I have to do everything in December. Hence, I've already begun making some gifts for Christmas. Some involve photos, many involve knitting (since knitting is kind of the only thing I can do on the train).

There are always some among my friends and family that are so easy to make/buy gifts to. And then there are those you never know what to give, still you want to give something. You don't want to put a lot of effort in making something - they wouldn't really appreciate it anyway - but you don't know what to buy either. For the "easy" ones I already have so many ideas that I have to choose since I simply don't have enought time to make all. Unfortunately, I cannot show you so many of my gifts until after Christmas. What are you making/buying for your friends and family?

dragonfly

I got this beautiful necklace from my friend Fillan, you can see more of them in the shop Ärtan Pärtan.

hot pink & orange fatbook

For the first time in my life I participated in a fat book. It was Joleen who organized it and the theme was hot pink & orange.


Since it was my first time and since I'd never seen a fat book IRL I wasn't really sure how to do. We were supposed to make 40 copies so I figured I'd better have a rather simple design to be able to make 40 ... When I had made 20 I realised other people made one and then copied it. Oh ... was it that simple!? I asked myself and made 20 copies ... So now I had 20 made by hand, 20 copied. I did learn something about making fat books ;-)

This is my favourite spread, I think:

**good-bye 1940**

I love this pendant and wear it very often. It's made by Jes. The text, good-bye 1940, is perfect for me because at the moment I am saying good-bye to the 1940s! I work as an archivist and for some months I've been working with material from that period, however now I've almost finished it :-)

friendly knitting :-)

My friend Lina is a teacher of textile handicraft. It's good to have such friends when you get stuck with your knitting, or sewing project, or ... something else textile ;-) Recently she was visiting me and, of course, we were knitting. She made those colorful socks:

home decorating

When we moved in here in April we knew we wouldn't be staying here so long so we did no attempt to make it nice like in our last flat. Then I got my job and had no time or energy to make it nice. And then we realised we are allowed to stay here for maybe two years, if we want to, so then it was worth making it nicer after all. During the summer we were told they'd change the floor in all flats here and they'd begin in August. They begun with the house opposite our house and we had no idea of when they'd come to us, but we decided not to do anything about our flat until they've changed the floors since we have to empty all rooms then. Now we know they'll come very soon.

We live in a 1970s flat and it not beautiful at all - too much grey plastic everywhere - but it's nothing we can do about it (we're not allowed to). The walls, doors etc are the way they are (ugly), but I'll do my best to make something nice out of it (and meanwhile I dream of when we have our own place, some time in the future). I read home decorating magazines and my favourites are Danish Mad og bolig and Swedish Drömhem och trädgård (one good thing about speaking swedish is that you can also read and understand magazines from Norway and Denmark). Mad og bolig isn't only about home decorating, but also about food and sometimes crafty things, travels, inspirational interviews etc. Drömhem och trädgård isn't only about home decorating either, but also about a little bit of food and crafting and a lot about gardening. Here's a picture from Drömhem och trädgård:



I'm also inspired by what I see on the internet, sometimes even when it's not about home decorating at all. Camilla Engman's blog is one of those that inspire me by beautiful photos and all the glimpes of her home you get. My friend Fillan just started a blog about her family (she has two cute little boys), decorating, design etc and I think it'll be an inspiring blog too.

Yvestown is another blog you should check out, as well as one of my absolute favorites at the moment Posie gets cozy. Lantliv i stan is a home decorating blog in Swedish, but go check it out even if you don't understand the text - the pictures are really nice. The picture is from a web shop that'll open soon, Cosas, it seems promising, right? (On the picture is "Ljuslykta".)

What inspires you?

~WIP: knitting~

After rain come someshine, they say. After a beautiful sunny day comes ... snow, wind, more snow. I was lucky that day to have a headache. Yes, because if I never had that headache I wouldn't have decided to go home earlier from work and if I hadn't gone earlier I woulnd't have gone anywhere at all ... Because of all the snow, wind, ice on the streets all trains, buses etc stopped. And since it normally takes me two hours to get home from work (metro+train+bus) it's really not possible to walk. My coworker, who is also living in the same town as me, had to stay the night in Stockholm (where we work). So, thank you my head for having a headache that day! ;-)

My train did get stuck for a while too, but it was warm and cozy inside and, as always, I carry my knitting in my bag. So, I was knitting, knitting and looking at the white world outside (yes, it was blowing a lot so you couldn't really see more than just ... white). Snowy weather is knitting weather. Here's one of all my works in progress:

October ~Sunday walk

Last Sunday was the first day below 0 degrees Celsius here (which is quite late I think). It was a sunny, beautiful day and since it was Sunday I wasn't working so I took Zam (big dog) and my camera and went out for a walk. Such days (the sunshine and the nature so beautiful) give me a lot of energy and make me really happy :-)







Go here to see more of my photos.