Autumn blog header!

It's that time of...season...again! The blog just got a facelift! Summer has been over and done for a long time now over here and the autumn oficially started on the 1st of september, so 'bout taim to change that blog yo!

So, let's put summer behind us...

And enjoy the autumn for a while!

I am enjoying the colder weather and I'm hoping for a bliztering cold and snowy winter. Yes, I'm one of those crazy people that enjoys winter so so much. Being born and raised in Norway does things to you. For all you 'Murican readers (and probably the rest of the world too), Norway doesn't have snow days in school. Nope! As a kid, I rode my bike in -30'C (-22'F) and several meters of snow! GAH! Please! Let it be a crazy snowy winter!

But I digress... It's still only autumn... I decided to sneak out in the early hours of the day to snap some pictures of this pretty yarn in the bright, fresh daylight before anybody else has awoken. We don't have much green outside of our appartment, so to get pretty pictures, I've have to sneak into the garden of our landlords and neighbours...like a creepy person. Our landlords have some huge trees on their property and they've now finally started to drop their pretty coloured leafs, so it's a perfect time to get autumn pictures done. And I must admit, this header is probably my favorite of them all so far!

I love autumn, I love autumn colours and just about everything else! The only thing I can't stand about the autumn is the friggin' spiders that have decided to grow huge over summer and then move INSIDE of our appartment since it's so cold outside. Blasted araknids! GO AWAAAAAY!

Something to remember...

New projects!

No idea how I managed it, but my yarn storage has actually shrinked since the start of this year! Just did another round up of my used yarn (I keep a list on my laptop of each new skein I break open, and when this list is long enough, I add it up and update the yarn count widget on my blog here and on dA), and I am currently at 16900 grams of yarn. That's 16,9kg (37,2 pounds) and translates to 338 skeins! Of course, there's a huge amount of scrap yarn and some skeins that's both smaller and bigger, so my yarn storage has a lot more yarn in reality, but it still feels good! For your information, I'm only counting whole 50gram skeins which is pretty much the standar size over here.

But what I was originally going to blog about is my two newest projects! I finished up Sips and Sjin the other day and washed the blue hoodie yesterday...which I now realise I haven't shown off yet (I've become lazy with this blogging, yo)... I'm still waiting for the buttons for it, so I'll talk more about it on a later time, but here's a sneak peak on my baked bean sweater! 10 points if you get the reference!

Yes! Two new projects! That's what I was supposed to blog about! Since I finished up Sips and Sjin, and the hoodie is on hiatus until the buttons arrive, I've been at a loss for what to do next. I eventually got started on the little matching jacket for the baby rompers I finished not too long ago. I'm using this pattern from Drops for it. It's pretty simple, but it matches the rompers better than the jacket that's supposed to go with. Using the same colours of course. Hopefully I'll have enough green to go around, but I might just have to do the sleeves solid yellow. The yoke will be solid blue and it will have buttons going all the way up in the front. So much fun working with thin needles again! 7mm is a hassle while 2,5mm feels so tidier!

 

But that's not the only new project I've got! I've also started a pair of fingerless mittens! Crazy you'd say, it's the middle of summer and the sun are blazing hot, burning my skin as if it were crispy bacon! Calm down, I'm not planning on using these during summer. It was a rather impulse project and I started it based off the colours only!

For a while now, I've been looking for the perfect pattern and colours for a pair of fingerless mittens for myself, but I'm a picky bastard and nothing's good enough! I do however enjoy this pretty pattern called Susie's Reading Mitts on Ravelry. I've made these once before for the Jane Austen contest on dA last year. They're simple, yet decorative and I've been wanting to make another pair of these that fits more my style. I'm not saying that the ones I'm making now will be more my style, but I am serriously making these based of the colours ONLY!

As you've probably already figured out, I've turned into a crazy Yognau(gh)t with Lewis as my favorite. It has gone so far that I am currently using his skin in Minecraft and I've drawn up a similar one in Animal Crossing New Leaf (sorry Nostalgia Critic, but I'm replacing you). I just love his burgundy coat with gold details.

While roaming though my yarn storage earlier today, searching for yarn for the amigurumi Lewis, I rediscovered this beautiful burgundy merino skein I got ages ago, from England none the less! It was too thick to use for the amigurumi doll, but perfect for the fingerless mittens pattern! It also hit me that I had some scraps leftover from the retro Marius sweater I made earlier this year, so BAM! I had a new project and I had to start it right away!

Merino also regulates heat more easily than normal wool, so it wouldn't kill me if I started using them as soon as they're finished. MUCH FUN! SO GREAT!

Summer blogging!

There! I finally managed to get a good summer header! It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than the one I tried to make two weeks ago.

So lets more on from spring...

To summer!

 

It took me forever to get these changes done... First off...I'm lazy as all heck...you should know that by now... But when I eventually remembered that I needed to get a summer design for my blog, and got my ass out the door, it was harder than you'd think! Cause we don't have too much green outside our appartment, it's mostly gravel, and I don't really want to sneak into the garden of our neighbour to get some pictures of yarn! Not to mention that I'm not that good with picking summer colors. 

Two weeks ago, I did try to get some pictures taken, but that didn't go so well. On the tiny patch of grass we got, there was this little cluster of withered straws, and I didn't notice these until I actually uploaded the header to my blog. And at that point, the straws looked like poor editing skills or spilled white paint! Just look at this horrible mess!

Well...it doesn't look that bad scaled down like this... But up close, it was just horrible! I couldn't use it!

So I decided to try again today...even though it was raining. We've had nonstop rain for two days now, sprinkled with some thunder and I've had a headache for DAYS because of this sudden shift of weather. And between the snails and the spiders, I did actually manage to get a decent picture. What do you guys think? Is it too green perhaps?

Crafting nook "makeover"

I'll make this a short one since it's not yarn related.

Recently I pruchased a dress that I got half off original price from a online clothing store. With it I got two decorative pillow cases and a blanket for free with free shipping. I figured that these last mentioned items would be great upgrades on my otherwise boring little crafting nook.
When I craft, I'm located in this huge, comfy and green chair from IKEA. It's actually so big that I could curl up like a cat and still have room for half my yarn stash next to me. But when I snug up, I like to stuff my surroundings with pollows, so I got in total four pillows in my chair that I use to keep my butt in place. Two for the back and one each to pop my elbows on. It's like I got a chair of pillows inside a chair...of pillows!

Not to mention that I love to cover myself up and snuggle down with a blanket, so I got this huge and fluffy faux fur blanket...that's full of cat hair mind you. But all of this seem pretty bland, don't you think? Black on grey on green? Even though the colors are great, there's not much going on there. The only kind of fun thing happening in that chair are my awesome polar bear pillows!

Let me talk about the polar bear pillows for a bit, cause they are actually hand sew by yours truly! Let's try and make this craft related at some point atleast...
So, I've had this extreme facination with polar bears since...I have no idea when... Forever it seems... And one time when my parents and I were off on a shopping trip in Sweden (cause we norwegians do that all the time), my mom dragged me to this craft store for some reason. They sold yarn and fabrics, but since this was before my yarn craze, I didn't really browse through their yarn stash. Instead I found this little piece of plush, fleece fabric with polar bear print on it. It wasn't a big piece, but because of my facination with polar bears, my mom bought me this fabric and suggested that I could maybe sew something with it.
Some time later, my mom dug out some kind of stuffing fabric thingy stuff and gave it to me along with the polar bear fabric and told me to bring it to school. Since we at that point had sewing in the art and craft class, she said that I should ask the teacher if I could use this stuff to make myself some pillows, which my teacher agreed on.
Since the polar bear fabric was so scarce, I could barely make two pillows out of it. To get the big polar bear on the front, I had to be creative with how I sewed it up. One has the seam on the side while the other got it 1/4 on the back. This may not be the biggest accomplishment for you sewers out there, but for me, this was big!
So the polar bear pillows have followed me for over 10 years now, to every dorm and appartment I've been living in.

Because of this, it's sad to see them go, but they were the only pillows that would fit these new pillow cases. It's kinda comforting knowing that they're still there, under the fancy zig zaggy pattern.

The blanket is thin and acryllic, so it's not very warm, but perfect as a summer blanket. The faux fur ones tend to be too warm during summer, so it'll be good to have this lighter one to pull over myself, even when I don't need a blanket. As I said at the beginning, I love to snuggle down under a blanket, no matter the temperature!

So what do you guys think of my new surroundings? Does it look any better? I do think so!

How are things in the crafting section?

Time for an update! I've actually been doing some progress this time, not on one, but several projects! And seeing as I now got actual stuff to show off, I figured I'd blog about it!

First off, let's do a WIP on the Marius sweater... I ran out of yarn...not a surprise really, ever since I started the yoke, I noticed that I was short on yarn. Mind you, I ordered an extra skein of yellow just in case, even after the extra skein my friend told me to get, so with two skeins over, I'm still 10 rounds short and had to order yet another skein extra. Right now, I'm just waiting for it to arrive so I can finish this thing up.

 

That didn't stop me from working Marius though, no sir! Right after I finished cried over the loss of yarn and had ordered a new skein, I started a long dreaded cover for my tablet! Took me about a day to finish this thing up. Nothing big, just plain and simple Marius, minus a few rows on 4,5mm needles. I used the leftover yarn from this thing and wouldn't you know, I had just enough for it! It was like destiny! It's not my first pick in colors, but who cares? It's better than my old cover anyway...though I got a more sentimental connection to this traditional pattern than Marius...so in retrospect, I kinda regret that... But I can always make more covers in the future! And for the record, my tables is a Asus Eee Transformer with a detachable keyboard, an old son of a bulldog in tablet years...

After I finished that thing up, I dug out my eternity scrap blanket again and worked in a good bunch of scraps. My little bag of scraps was starting to get really full, so I almost emptied it and got in a good 5cm (2") on the blanket! That's half a years work in eternity scrap blanket years! The good thing about this though, it's now big enough to cover and warm my cold and hurting knees while working on it!

After I cleared out just about all of my scraps, I figured I'd continue on the Lalylala doll. The last thing I did on this thing was the first boot, but since it's been forever since I worked on this thing the last time, I figured that I'd redo the boot just in case. Gonna start the second boot as soon as I'm done with this blogpost!

And as a last note, I got these adorable PBJ felted pieces that Drunk Uncle June sent me. Ever since I got these in the mail (along with a bunch of other amazing items and candy), I've been wanting to put them up on my fridge, but I has no magnets! I ordered a bunch of tiny super magnet for a buck off eBay right after I got these, and today they arrived! Didn't take me long before I glued some on the back and smacked them up on the fridge!

Dyed and bleached yarn!

I am finally awake and I've gotten around to wind up and photograph all the yarn I've been dyeing over the last week or so! So much fun new yarn and so many fun few colors!

First off, we have the Gloss DK yarn from  Knit Picks that Brooke sent me. It's so pretty and soft, I was scared to dye it, in case I messed it up, but I love the outcome! With two packs of Kool-Aid Lemonade and half a pack Lemon Lime, I got these fantastic colors, variating from minty green to neon green! Fits my life so perfectly!

Right after I finished up dyeing this skein, I dipped two skeins of Bomull Sport cotton in bleach and got these amazing colors! A much better result than my first bleaching cause these don't go to white.

So I then decided to try and bleach a different cotton brand that has a totally different feel to it. This was a skein of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton that I recieved from Star during Secret Santa. It turned into these amazing camo colors which I really love.

And at last, we got the tea dyed yarn. I've wanted to try this ever since I started dyeing, the result was better than expected, tough, I wish that the herb one would turn out better. Bottom left is green tea on Safirgarn, 100% new pure wool yarn. Bottom right is black tea, also on Sarfirgarn. The one on top is herbal tea on Karisma from Drops, 100% wool, superwash treated.

So, maybe I should start using some of the stuff I've dyed and bleached now before I do more? Yeah... My shelf behind me is getting stuffed...

All kinds of updates!

For some reason, I forgot to keep this blog updated with my crafts while dyeing yarn like a maniac over the weekend and then some... So I figured I'd make a little catch up blogpost here...

First off, Pickle's scarf is pretty much DONE! I'm currently waiting for some more projects of some kind to get done so I can wash and block it. The edge are curling up and it drives me mad! But I'm SO darn glad to be finished with this stupid thing! NEVER EVER AGAIN will I make anything with swedish weave! It was HORRIBLE and BORING!

 

The Swing Skirt have stopped abruptly to make room for more important projects, but it's so pretty! I really love the colors and I hope to finish it before may so I can use it for our national day...if I can't find anything else to wear... I keep imagening it with a black west or a poofy black shirt...

And the elastic band for it came in the mail yesterday! Wohoo! I love it when eBay sellers ship out their items quickly. There's 1,82m (2 yards) here and I bought it for about 25NOK ($4), free shipping. It's amazing, I would never be able to find a elastic band to match that price, expecially considering it's a little over 3cm (1.20") wide.

I've so far made 16 granny squares for charity squares + one that needs an extra round, and I've got several more to make. I've almost busted ut all the boring colors in the wool bag! Yaaay!

And speaking of granny squares... I'm ALMOST DONE assembeling the second chair blanket for my mother! I took about a month off from these cause connecting the squares killed me! I've been plowing through the squares for the second blanket over the last 3-4 days now,a dn right now, I only got 9 more squares to connect before I connect the two halves and do the horisontal lines. Hopefully I'll have enough yarn after all that to do an extra boarder around both blankets! My parents are stopping by this weekend, so I was hoping to MAAAAYBE (just maybe) get them done by then so my mom can take them with her...and them remove them from my life...

 

More crochet! I'm surprised of how good I've done with the crocheting on this Lalylala doll. Thanks to Pickle, I've managed to understand and finish the head, the hood and both arms! I've also started a leg, so I got the first boot done! LOVE IT! I really hope I can manage to finish this thing, cause it's so darn cute!!!

But enough of crocheting! Back to knitting! Pickle's friend kinda commissioned me a headband, and I decided to start if when the cowl for Pickle was finished. So here I was, ready to start it off when BOOM! Pattern is finnish... DARN IT! You can find it here BTW... So yeah... Couldn't understand CRAP of the pattern, but lucky for me, there were charts for the cables and stuff! So I'm half winding it, half following the charts and I'm trying my best to make this work! I CAN DO THIS!!!

And one last thing. I'm in the middle of a yarn trade with Brooke, and she sent the package without telling me, so it arrived yesterday and mine are still lying here...waiting... But the yarn trade turned into a sock for cookies trade...so right now I'm just waiting to clear out some projects so I can get started on some Lizzy socks for my 'Murican friend and her daughter so I can get Girl Scout Cookies in return! BEST TRADE EVVAH! ANYWAY (I swear...I'm overtired...) her package arrived today, and she sent me two beautiful skeins from Knit Picks. See, we don't have Knit Picks over here, and they don't send to Norway... I see EVERYBODY gushing over Knit Picks...when they're not gushing over the cheap ass crap yarn from Wall Mart that is...and I've been wanting to see what kind of quality they can bring in their yarn. The skeins Brooke sent was one skein of Palette, which is100% Peruvian Highland wool. It's thin and pretty and soft and I love it! I haven't tried knitting with it, but I'd love to make an everyday jacket in this yarn. But I'm left with only one skein here, so who knows what I'll make of it. She also sent me a skein of Gloss which is 70% and 30%. It is crazy soft and crazy pretty! I want a sea of this yarn and make all kinds of things with it. But again, only one skein...sadly... Both of them are "cream" (aka natur for oss nordmenn) and she told me she thought I would enjoy dyeing them, and therefor she sent me these. HECK YES I WILL DYE THESE! That gurl knows me!

She also sent me a bag of buttons, 5-6 of which I will use for my Tanja jacket. When we started the trade, she asked me what I wanted for the yarn I was giving her, and I told her some buttons for this jacket would be nice cause I have none! So she whipped up some buttons in the size I needed and added a bunch of extra buttons. Thank you Brooke! You're awesome! You will not be dissapointed with what I'm sending you back! Promise!

My crafting history!

First off, to see more of my jewelry stuff, visit my homepage or LARvonCL deviantART gallery. At the last link there, you can also see my paintings and drawings. For knitted stuff, visit my KnitLizzy deviantART gallery.

Since my hand is still pretty sore and I'm knitting in snail speed, I thought that maybe I should to a topic blogpost. And I know for a fact that reading about other's relationship to crafts are facinating, so I could just as well tell my story, cause I'm not all knitting you know.

I've always been creative. Crafts, drawing and painting was so much fun compared to anything else. If I were to track it down to the source, I think I owe it all to our old neighbours at home. An old couple, childless lived next door, and since my grandmother died before I could remember, they became my extra grandparents. I visited them all the time and it was so much fun! The old man, Sigmund, gave me paper and crayons and let me draw until I dropped! He hung them up on a closet and took pictures of them all when there was no space left, then he would give me the picture, take the drawings down and we started over again! The old lady, Olga, showed me yarn crafts, and along with my mother, they taught me knitting! I remember it well, Olga gave me some blue yarn and needles and patiently watched me while I was knitting. When I've done a few inches, she handed me rainbow colored yarn and a needle and I embroided whatever unto it! It was so much fun! She also showed me how to crochet, and I remember her actually guiding me through making a crocheted doily! If only I knew where it was today... If only I had pictures! She even did some collagues with me, taught me how to braid a crown from flowers and showed me weaving! And for my confirmation, she made me this amazingly beautiful wall piece which is pretty traditional to hang on walls over here.

Sadly, they're both dead now, and I miss them greatly, but I got a feeling that I might have started weaving by now if Olga didn't pass away.

My mother made knitted clothing for both me and my brothers while we were kids, and I remember knitting ever since kindergarden...not very well, but I was still knitting! Something about hand made stuff must have facinated me, that and art.

All through my childhood, I drew alot and all the time. Around the age of 7-8 or so...probably a bit older...my mother put me in an after school art class. Our teacher, Åse Karin (whom I still have contact with... HEI ÅSE K!!!) taught us many things, both boring and facinating. She let us play with charcoal, water and acryllic paint, aquarell and oil... Just about everything, and it sparked my interest! I spent a good amount of years in this art class and with the years, Åse Karin let me try more and more oil painting and let me do more of my own stuff. When I was 15-16, the only thing I did was painting!

They actually put me in the local news paper with an interview since I was the youngest member of the art club at that point and I've had my paintings at some art shows.

When I was 16, I got this assignment of doing huge wall drawings at a tourist farm in my home town. It was all made in markers and it took forever! I was stuck in the barn through all autumn and early winter, freezing my ass off, but it was so worth it! The biggest wall piece I did measured about 1,5meter x 5meter (4 feet 11" x 16 feet 4").

They also put me in the newspaper for this.

Needless to say, most people thought I would go on to something creative and artsy. So it didn't surprise people that I went on to goldsmithing school for "college"! But before I get to that part, let me quickly tell the story why I stopped knitting, cause all through this, I did knit on and off, mostly just hats and wrist warmers.

I guess I was around the age of 18 at this point... Had to take a year off from school due to personal reasons, sickness and so on. I was going to clean my room one night so I stepped off my bed over to my stereo, and without noticing, I stepped right into my bag of yarn and needles. One of the needles sunk 5cm (2") into my foot and got bent before I fell over and realised the damage. I managed to pull out the needle, luckily without any serrious injuries, but it gave me a fear of knitting needles for years!

Anyway, back to goldsmithing school. Autumn 2007 I started my first year and it was great! Working with metal was awesome and a new and different way to unleash my creativity. But sadly, the dorm I was staying in had very limited space, so bringing my painting didn't really work all that well, so I started drawing alot more again.

But since the school system was a bit wonky, I had to take an involuntairy year off before I could continue my education. During this year (autumn 2008 too summer 2009) I worked as an apprentice at a goldsmith workshop and gallery right in the town I live now. The man I worked for was pretty nice and understanding and wanted to give me as much knowledge as he could while I worked there! I did anything from casting to repair to all new jewellery! He also let me work with gold for the very first time! I owe this man everything cause if he didn't take me in as a apprentice for that year, I would probably have dropped out from school all together.

The next two years, I went back to school with more knowledge and practice than anyone in my class! I was at the top and everything was wonderfull!

During my last school year, I started knitting again, thanks to a fellow school mate. My first project was actually a gigantic afgan blanket of 8-bit Mario. 280 squares, about 60 skeins, all wool, measures about 2meters x 1,4meters (6 feet 6" x 4 feet 7").

Winter 2011 came my break through in goldsmithing though. February 3rd, I won the norwegian championship in goldsmithing. I competed against 5 other students from the private goldsmithing school here in Norway, I was the only one from my own school, and I won. It was the first time my schoold had ever won the championship and it was probably the best moment in my life so far.
We had to make an earring in gold with all kinds of complicated techiques in three days.

All I remember from the actual competition was being super nervous cause of where I was staying during it all. I had to travel to their school and I lived at this old, cold and drafty appartment/hotel building. I had a tiny room with no heat, no way to make food and shared a bathroom with the entire floor...which was scary as all hell cause the entire bulding was more or less empty. At that time, I was regretting even going to the contest. The school itself was like a labyrinth so actually getting there on time was an impossible task. But I managed it though. I pulled through and it was worth it!

And again I ended up in newspapers, several this time, and I even appeared on radio a few times! I also got to meet the mayor of Valle, the village where my school was located.

Winning the norwegian championship ment that I could once again compete along with the second and third place about going to two different contests as well, Scandinavian championship and world championship. At first, this made me mad, cause as the winner, you'd think I'd automaticly go on to both of these, but in retrospect, I'm kinda glad that I didn't have too.
I also graduated in 2011, so that means that I am fully a goldsmith, both in practice and on paper, all thanks to this little piece.

The two contests they gave us ended up dividing me and second place with only two points. During the norwegian championship, I was two points ahead of her, thanks only to the better soldering gun they had at their school, so when I went back to my school and did the two smaller, non-important contests there, I got stuck with a crap soldering gun since my school was too poor to upgrade them, which then made me loose two points to second place. She and I were pretty much neck in neck the whole time, so she won the right to go to the World Skills, the world championship taking place in London, England during october 2011, while the both of us went to Bella Nordic Jewellery Awards, the Scandinavian championship taking place in Kopenhagen, Denmark during august 2011.

Bella Nordic Jewellery Awards was really an experience of a lifetime! Bella Nordic itself is a huge trade fair, the biggest in Scandinavia actually. The jewellery awards was just a promotional contest, few of the visitors there actually knew about it even though it's annual.

We were two participants from each of the Scandinavian countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iseland, so 10 in total.

We competed for three days, or 21 hours if I'm not wrong. We had a few hours less this time compared to the norwegian championship, and the piece had to be polished as well. Since my fellow norwegian participant haven't really learned polishing at her school, I had the advantage.

Still, we didn't win. No wonder really cause we had nothing on Denmark and Finland whom each had 5-7 years of experience compared to us with only 2-4 years. One of the danish girls came in first, she now has her own jewellery collection and works for one of the biggest jewellers in Denmark. The finnish boy (and the only boy among us) won second while the finnish girl won third.

 

Worth mentioning, we get to meet and greet with the danish crown princess Marie.

 

The jewellery we had to make this time was a brooch in gold with spinning parts designed by a danish jeweller, Ghita Ring. Here's my contest piece.

This actually landed me a job with one of the biggest jewellery stores in Oslo afterwards...only because my fellow norwegian participant was pregnant at the time and couldn't take the job after all. This both made 2011 my year, and broke 2012 and 2013 for me...and techically, I still haven't gotten over the fact that this job made me hit the wall and burn out...along with damn NAV. But at the same time, this is the reason why I started knitting so much as I am doing today. It's the only thing keeping me sane, helps my mind think that I can achieve something. Which brings us to today pretty much, and the end of my story. Over the last couple years, I've done alot of decent knitted projects, and I keep finding new projects and object to knit, and it truly is the only thing that keeps me from breaking appart at this point in my life, along with my international crafts group, I really can't express enough how much you guys mean to me.

 

Inbetween all of this, I've still tried to hold on to drawing atleast, but it has been hard since I've lost motivation and inspiration to carry on with it. Now I can hardly manage to push myself to make art pieces for the yearly artshows. My favorite medium by now are colorpencils and markers. I've never been too good with markers on their own, so I use them as the base coloring and then do the shading and lighting with colorpencils afterwards. But to show you what I can do, here's a few of my personal best pieces.

 

Thank you for reading this horrible wall of text, I bet you've learned alot about me from all of this. Feel free to do your own "craft history" on your blog and be sure to link me back so I can read it. As I've said in the beginning, I find reading about other peoples ups and downs and accomplishments in the world of crafts facinating. See you guys tomorrow hopefully, if I haven't forgotten about my blog...again...