You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘life’ tag.
Oktober har været gåture i skoven og ned til søens vand, hvor man kunne finde ting at smide i – eller bare lege, at man fiskede farlige fisk. Naturen er tæt på, og oktobers farvespil har været så smukt, at vi har måtte ud mange gange.
October was walks in the forest, or down to the lake to throw stones in the wather – or just play that you were fishing for dangerous fish. The woods are close by and colours of October have been beautiful and tempted us for many walks.
Oktober har bragt en ny rejserute i hverdagen. Nyt job og nye udfordringer, stejle læringskurver og gode grin med nye kollegaer. Jeg er glad, men træt.
October has meant a new route for my daily commute. A new job and new challenges has meant steep learning curves and many laughs with my new colleagues. I am happy, but tired.
Oktober har været en fødselsdagsmåned (er det hvert år). Vi har nu igen en 3-årig dreng, fuld af løjer og krudt og med kærlighed til løbeture og fægtekampe med en god pind.
October has been a birthday month (as it is every year). We are once again parents to a 3 year old boy, who is endlessly curious, filled with energy and with a love for running around and for playing with sticks in the forest.
Oktober har budt på kultur og familieglæder. Kulturnatten med børnene, og besøg hos dinousauren hos Zoologisk Museum.
October has been filled with culture and family visits. Kulturnatten in Copenhagen for the first time, and the dinosaur at Zoological Museum.
Oktober er kommet og gået, ligesom mine første 31 år. Jeg har lært at lave franske fletninger, men har stadig ikke lært at balancere alle tingene i mit liv (i hvert fald ikke hele tiden). Jeg øver og prøver og husker en pause i ny og næ. En måneds blogpause krævede det, men nu er jeg klar igen. Jeg håber, I alle har haft en dejlig oktober.
October has passed by, just like my first 31 years. I have learned to make French braids on myself, but still don’t know how to balance all the things in my life all the time. I’m practising and am remembering to take a break every now and then. A month long blog break seemed like just the thing, but now I’m back again. I hope you all have had a wonderful October.
Det er jo ikke nogen hemmelighed, at jeg elsker Grønland. Derfor var jeg også rigtig nysgerrig efter at få fingrene i Annette Danielsens nye strikkebog med inspiration fra Grønland. Jeg skal være ærlig og sige, at da jeg blot så billederne af modellerne, tænkte jeg egentlig, at de var da fine, men at jeg ikke helt kunne forstå al snakken. Men på Fanø Strikkefestivallen havde jeg muligheden for både at se modellerne i virkeligheden (og prøve et par af dem på), samt bladre i bogen, og så var jeg faktisk solgt.
I probably don’t surprise any of you by admitting that I love Greenland. So when I heard that Annette Danielsen had made a new book with inspiration from Greenland, I was rather eager to see it. I will be the first to admit, that when I first just saw the pictures of the models, I thought that they were pretty, but that I couldn’t understand what the fuss was about. Fast forward to Fanø Strikkefestival, where I had the opportunity to see the models in the wool (and try a few of them on) and hold the book in my hands, which resulted in my being completely sold.
Det er muligvis den flotteste strikkebog med den mest sammenhængende fortælling, som jeg har set. Jeg er ret vild med ideen om at forfølge en visuel inspirationskilde, sådan at bogen jo faktisk ender op med at være en strikkefortolkning af nogle smukke fotos, som de tog på en tur på Grønland.
It is probably the most beautiful knitting book with the most cohesive story, I’ve ever seen. I really love the idea of following a visual source of inspiration, which means the book ends up being a knitted interpretation of the beautiful photos, they took in Greenland.
Der er 16 modeller i bogen, 2 kjoler og 14 trøjer og cardigans. Flere af dem bliver jeg nødt til at strikke på et eller andet tidspunkt her i livet. Særlig er jeg forelsket i ‘Isbjerg‘, som jeg prøvede på Annettes stand på Fanø, men også ‘Sort is’ er på drømme-strikke-ønskelisten herhjemme. Alle designs er illustreret med smukke billeder af de visuelle inspirationskilder fra Grønland, detalje fotos af modellen og en fin stregtegning. At der så også er et gennemgående tema med fine grønlandske “grafiske landskaber”, gør det jo bare endnu bedre.
There are 16 designs in the book, 2 dresses and 14 sweaters and cardigans. There are several that I feel I must knit at some point in the future. I’m especially in love with ‘Black Ice’ and ‘Iceberg‘, which I tried on at Annettes booth on Fanø. Both are on my dream-wish-knitting-list. All of the designs are illustrated with beautiful pictures of the visual source of inspiration from Greenland, pretty shots of details on the models and a lovely drawing of the design. The cohesive theme of pretty “illustrated landscapes” for each design just adds an extra level of beauty.
Prikken over i’et for mig er dog, at jeg havde fornøjelsen af at se Annette fortælle om modellerne og inspirationen bag dem på Fanø Strikkefestival. Det var en rigtig stor fornøjelse, for hun er et fortællemæssigt naturtalent. Særligt kommer jeg nok aldrig til at glemme konstateringen om, at det var svært at strikke “Grønlænderhunde”, for hvordan fanger man egentlig lyden af en hundeslædetur over sneen og lugten af hundene (og angsten for at de skider på en). Som Annette så fint og tørt konstaterede, så nøjedes hun med sporene i sneen og de filtrede skagler, og lod resten være i minderne.
The absolute top point, however, has to be the wonderful presentation that I saw Annette make on Fanø Strikkefestival. She talked about each design and the construction of it, the special details and the inspiration behind it. It was a great pleasure as she is a story telling genious. I’ll probably never forget how she rather dryly commented that making the “Grønlænderhunde” (i.e. sledge dogs) was rather difficult, because how would you capture the sound of the sledge across the snow and the smell of the dogs (and the fear of them shitting on you). As Annette said, she’d narrowed it down to the tracks in the snow and the tangle of the lines and let the rest be preserved in memories.
Jeg synes, at hvis I ikke allerede har haft mulighed for at kigge på bogen, så bør I “bladre” lidt i den på Annettes hjemmeside og se, om også I bliver fanget. Jeg er i hvert fald helt solgt.
I must say, that I think it’s a beauty and would recommend that if you haven’t already seen it – try “browsing” through it on Annette’s homepage and see what you think.
Jeg har grublet over, hvordan jeg mon bedst beskrev oplevelsen af min allerførste Fanø Strikkefestival. På nogle måder er det svært at sætte fingeren på præcis, hvad det var der gjorde, at jeg nød det så meget. På den anden side er det ligetil: menneskene, hyggen, naturen, husene, borebiller (!!), grin, strik, afslapning. Jeg tror, jeg lader billederne tale i første omgang, og så vil jeg vise lidt af de mere præcist definerbare minder senere.
I have wondered how to describe my very first visit to Fanø Strikkefestival (knit festival). In some ways it is hard to define what made me enjoy it so much. In other ways, it’s easily done: the people, coziness, nature, buildings, laughter, knitting, relaxation. I think I’ll let the snap shots speak for now, and then try to describe some of the more specifik moments later.
Der er en grundlæggende, utilgivelig sandhed i et stykke strikketøj. Det kan godt være, at du tænker “det jævner sig” eller “man ser det ikke efter vask”, men som Yarnharlot så klogt konstaterer, hvis der er noget grundlæggende galt med strikketøjet, vil det ikke blive bedre lige meget, hvor meget du håber, tror eller tænker (og blokning er ikke et magisk værktøj). Det er en sandhed jeg sådan set har erkendt længe, men selv designere og garvede strikkere kan nu godt blive fanget af ønsket om, at hvis man nu bare tror på det, så går det nok. Eller rettere, hvis jeg nu ignorerer problemet, behøver jeg ikke at strikke det om… dum med dumt på.
There is a fundamental, unforgiving truth in a piece of knitting. You may think “It’ll cancel out over the rows” or “you’ll never notice after blocking”, but as the Yarnharlot wisely writes that if there are essential problems with the construction of your knitting, it will not get better nomatter how much you hope, wish or pray for it to (and blocking is not a magic fix-it-all). It is a truth I’ve known for a long time, but even experienced knitters and designers can be trapped in wishful (self-delusional) thinking that if you just believe it will be ok, it will be ok. Or rather, if I ignore the signs of a problem, I won’t have to reknit this section… stupid is as stupid does.
I har sikkert en anelse, hvor jeg vil hen med denne post, ikke? Jep, klassisk fejl nr. 3: jeg samlede for mange masker op langs kanten af den lille børnetrøje. Selvom jeg nogle retriller inde i knaphulskanten godt kunne se, at det bulede lidt, så blev jeg ved med at strikke med den blåøjede tro på at det nok skulle blive fint, når jeg vaskede det (fejl nr. 4 – se ovenstående). Selv da jeg havde lukket af og sandheden var foran mig, tænkte jeg, at jeg hellere liiiige måtte prøve at vaske den for at se om dog det ikke blev bedre…
Selvfølgelig gjorde det ikke det! Med mindre trøjen blev trukket fuldstændig ud af facon, så var der bare for mange masker. Efter at have udtrykt min uforbeholdne mening om mine egne evner (og mangel realitetssans) trak jeg saksen frem og klippede kanten af. Knaphulskant nr. 2 er under strikning og med 20 m mindre på hver forkant ser det temmelig meget bedre ud.
Dagens læresætning: lyt til mavefornemmelsen, når den fortæller at noget er galt og spar en masse dobbeltarbejde!
You will probably have an idea of where this blogpost is going, right? Yup, I made rookie mistak no. 3: I picked up too many stitches for the button band on the little childrens cardigan I’m working on. Even though I spotted the problem a couple of rows into the band and noticed that it really looked like it would flare, I shut of the inner voice of reason and kept on knitting in the delusional belief that it would be ok after blocking (mistake no. 4 – see above). Even after binding off and with the truth staring me in the face, I still held onto mistake no. 4 and thought “I’ll just wash it and see if it gets better”…
Nope, of course it didn’t. Unless the cardigan was streched beyond the resemblance of shape, there simply were too many stitches. I will admit that it took a couple of minutes of good honest swearing (expressing my opinion of my own skills and lack of sense) before I could pull out the sissor, cut of the band and start over. The second incarnation of the button band is underway, and with 20 sts less on each side, it looks quite a lot better.
Lesson of today: listen to your gut, when it’s telling you that something is wrong, and save a whole lot of work!
Magen og ungerne og jeg har tilbragt en dejlig sommerferie med at køre rundt i Tyskland og se nogle af alle de ting, man suser forbi, hvis man blot drøner sydpå ad autobahn. Det var en god oplevelse. Tyskland er et smukt og meget varieret land. Fyldt med skønne landskaber, fine små (og store) byer, masser af borge (nogle gamle, andre knap så gamle) og gode muligheder for vandreture og oplevelser. Da vi kom hjem, havde vi kørt 3482 km, men ingen af dem var spildt, for vi havde haft det skønt alle fire.*
The Mate, the kids, and I have spent our summer vacation driving about Germany and seeing some of all the things that you miss, if you just rush past on the autobahn on your way south. It was a good vacation. Germany is a beautiful and very diverse country. It is filled with beautiful scenery, beautiful little towns and strapping big cities, lots and lots of castles (some old, some not so old) and a plethora of opportunities for experiences. When we returned home, we had driven 3482 km, but none of them were wasted, because we had a blast all four of us.*
* Jeg er yderst taknemmelig for, at mine børn er så gode til de lange køredage sådan en ferie nødvendigvis medbringer. Det gør det hele lidt nemmere og sjovere.
* I am utterly grateful that my children are so easy travellers on the long driving days that are a necessity on such a vacation. It makes travelling a whole lot easier and more fun.
Det er Sankt Hans dag – den længste dag i året. En dag, der byder på solskin (heldigvis) og sommervejr. Cykelture og legoleg. Madlavning og kaffedrikning. En generel følelse af, at denne sommer da egentlig bliver meget god. For mig har Sankt Hans altid markeret begyndelsen på den “rigtige” sommer – lige meget, hvordan vejret så ellers teede sig.
I går var vi til Sankt Hans aften hos venner med bål i grillen og børnevenlige tider. Det var hyggeligt og fredeligt, og i morges lugtede både jeg og resten af familien så fint af bålrøg, ligesom man jo egentlig skal. God Sankt Hans dag til alle derude!
It is Sankt Hans day today – the longest day of the year (perhaps not actually – but that’s the tradition). A day which gives me sunshine and summer weather. Activities with the kids (lego) and for myself (a bike ride). A day, where I have the general feeling that this summer is going to be rather good. Sankt Hans has always marked the beginning of the “actual” summer for me – with total disregard to the weather or planning of Holidays.
Yesterday we celebrated Sankt Hans night with friends. There was the obligatory bonfire in the grill and a children (and parent) friendly time schedule. It was lovely and relaxing and fun, and this morning both I and the rest of the family smelled faintly of the smoke from the bonfire, just as you are supposed to. Happy Sankt Hans (or St. John’s) day to all of you out there.
Jeg elsker at kigge på bygninger og skulpturer, menneskeskabte linjer og former. Jeg elsker at se mulighederne for blødt strik i det hårde stål og sten.
I love looking at building and sculptures, man made lines and shapes. I love seeing the possibililies for soft knitted shapes in the hard steel and stone.
Nogle gange er det hverdagens grå ting under mine fødder, der inspirerende fanger mit blik.
Sometimes it is the humble everyday objects under my feet, which catch my eyes in a moment of inspiration.
Hvad enten mit øje bliver draget op eller ned…
No matter if my eyes are drawn up or down…
… kan jeg på en god dag se inspiration til nye strikkedesign overalt.
… on a good day, inspiration for a new knitting design is to be found everywhere.
Selvom det måske aldrig bliver mere end til inspirationen, så elsker jeg at lade tankerne få frit løb, når jeg kigger mig omkring i bybilledet.
Even if it might never get further than sparks in my thoughts, I love letting the imagination and stitches run free in my mind, when I look around in the cityscape.
I næsten 7 år har min brudekjole ligget pakket nogenlunde pænt ned i en pose. Men det har i grundet ærgret mig mange gange, at den dyreste og pæneste kjole jeg ejer ikke er blevet brugt mere end den ene gang. Selvfølgelig var der i mange år lige det problem, at jeg ikke var i nærheden af at kunne være i den – to graviditeter tog temmelig hårdt på figuren. Det er imidlertid lykkes mig at komme ned i størrelserne igen og efter 7 år og 2 børn passer kjolen mig atter (oh, jubel!).
For almost 7 years my wedding dress has been living the quiet life in a bag in my closet. For just as long it has annoyed me that the prettiest (and most expensive) dress that I own hasn’t been used more than that one time (a good time, but still). Admittedly there were quite a few years, where I wouldn’t have been able to get into the dress – two pregnancies did “wonders” for my figure. However, I’ve managed to get back to my prepregnancy figure, which means the dress once again fits (oh joy!)
Jeg har ikke selv turde sætte saksen i kjolen, men har overladt det til en professionel skrædder, og det er blevet fint. Den er nu i knælængde med et dejligt bredt og snurrevenligt skørt. Der er dog stadig en enkelt ting, som er “i vejen”, for den er stadig cremefarvet, og det er ikke den mest praktiske farve til en festkjole. Men tør jeg binde an på at farve den efter den fantastiske omsyning? Jeg legede den lille kemiker med søsteren i går og prøvefarvningen på afskæret fra slæbet gav vidt forskellige resultater. Selve kjolestoffet er brudesatin = ren polyester, hvilket gør at det ikke tager særlig meget mod farven. Broderiet er derimod med silketråd, der tager farve som en svamp. Effekten med de kraftigt optrukne blonder synes jeg faktisk er rigtig flot. Lige nu hælder jeg mest til den “antikgrå” (nederst til venstre), men jeg er stadig ikke sikker på, om jeg tør! Er der nogen af jer, der nogensinde har prøvet at farve noget lignende? Erfaringer og råd modtages med taknemmelighed.
I didn’t try doing the refit myself, but turned that task over to a professional tailor, which was a good choice because the result is perfect. The dress has been cut to a knee lenght with a wide skirt, perfect for twirling and dancing. There is just one “wrong” thing left – the colour. It is a beautiful creamy latte colour, which isn’t that good for anything but a wedding dress. But am I ready to try dying it after the glorious refit? I played a version of the little chemist with my sister yesterday and the dye samples on pieces of the cut off fabric have yielded many choices. The fabric itself is brides satin = pure polyester, which makes the dress itself very resistant against taking colour. The embroidered details however are done in silk, which just soaks up all the dye. The effect with the dark embroidery on the light dress fabric is rather pretty, or so I think. At the moment I’m leaning toward the “antique gray” (which seems more like dark purple – seen on the bottom left), but I’m still not sure if I dare. Have any of you any experience dying a dress or similar? Advice will be most welcome!
Det har været en dejlig dag i dag, og en af årsagerne er så særdeles strikkerelateret. Jeg har nemlig været til reception for Rachel Søgaard ude hos Rasmilla i anledningen af udgivelsen af Rachels fine nye bog “Ti Trøjer“. Det var virkelig hyggeligt, og der var rigtig mange mennesker. Nu var jeg så heldig, at jeg var den første, der ankom, så jeg fik et par gode billeder inden menneskemylderet satte ind.
It has been a lovely day today, and one of the reasons for that is absolutely knit-related. It so happens that I have been at the reception for Rachel Søgaard at Rasmilla to celebrate the publication of Rachel’s new, rather wonderful, book “Ti Trøjer” (Ten Cardigans). It was a lovely gathering of a truckload of people. I was lucky enough to have arrived before the crowd, so I got a couple of good pictures before the shop was packed tight with people.
Jeg kender Rachel fra mit strikkenetværk (Copenhagen Knitwork), og hun er en af de mest arbejdssomme mennesker, jeg kender. Jeg er dybt imponeret over hele hendes tilgang og proces med udgivelsen af denne bog, og jeg håber (og er egentlig ret sikker) på, at det bliver en stor succes. Bogen indeholder, nok ikke så overraskende, ti smukke cardigans, af den slags som Rachel selv ville have lyst til at strikke og tage på – det er altså nærmest ti yndlingstrøjer. Bogen er allerede lagt ind på Ravelry, så dem, der måtte have adgang kan se nærmere på dem via dette link. Jeg håber, at Rachel har lyst til at fortsætte selvudgivelserne, for det kan da vist kun blive godt.
I know Rachel from my network of knitting designers (Copenhagen Knitwork), and she is one of the most diligent persons, I know. I am in awe over her work ethic and her approach and proces in making this book, and I hope (actually, I’m pretty certain) that it will be a succes for her. The book contains ten beautiful cardigans (not that much of a surprise, given the name), of the kind that Rachel would want to knit and wear herself – in point of fact you could call it ten favorite cardigans. The book is already in Ravelry’s library, so you can get a better look at all ten via this link. I hope, Rachel will want to continue in this venture of self-publication, because I’m certain she’s got at least a couple of good books in her yet.
Som en lille nytårgave til læsere af bloggen købte jeg en ekstra bog i dag og fik Rachel til at skrive en lille hilsen i den. Den kan vindes ved at lægge en kommentar til denne blogpost inden midnat på fredag (d. 24. januar), så trækker jeg lod blandt kommentarerne på lørdag. Held og lykke 🙂 Lodtrækningen er forbi, og vinderen er blevet trukket. Tak for deltagelsen.
As a little New Year gift to the readers of this blog I bought an extra book today and got Rachel to sign it for one of you. You can win it by writing a comment on this blog post before midnight on Friday (January 24th). I’ll draw a winner among the comments on Saturday. Before any of you English speaking readers put your comment in the pot, you should know that the book is only in Danish, but if that doesn’t scare you, you are more than welcome to leave a comment too 🙂 Good luck! Contest is closed and the winner has been announced.
Nytårsforsæt går vist aldrig helt af mode (selv når man er nået ind i årets tredje uge), men jeg holder nu mere af at tænke på dem som ønsker (så er den risikerede skyldfølelse også mindre). Især, når jeg har så mange, at det med sikkerhed ikke er dem alle, der kan nå at gå i opfyldelse. Men jeg vover nu alligevel pelsen og fortæller lidt om dem, der har med mit kreative liv at gøre:
Resolutions for the new year will probably always be a thing, but I would like to think of them as wishes (that also implies I don’t have to feel bad, when they don’t come true). Especially as I have rather a lot of wishes, so many that they probably won’t all make it to fruition during the year. But I’ll still make a little list here of the craftier ones:
- Blogge en gang om ugen – ok, det er vist nærmest et nytårsforsæt / Blog once a week – ok, this one is more of a resolution
- Fokusere mere på mine design og udgive flere opskrifter / Focus more on my design work and publish more patterns
- Gennemgå (nogle af) mine gamle opskrifter og få dem opdateret og gjort pæne og fine / Work through (some of) my old patterns and update them and make them pretty
- Lave strikkede og broderede bryllupsgaver til et yndlingsfamiliemedlem (wheeeeee) / Make wedding presents (knit and embroider) for a favorite family member (wheeee)
- Sy og quilte et patchwork sengetæppe til vores egen dobbeltseng (gulp!) / Sew and quilt a patchwork bed spread for our king size bed (yikes!)
- Designe og udgive et lille ebogshæfte (!) / Design and publish a small ebook collection (!)
Der er flere ting, der gemmer sig i nogle af punkterne, men det er jo det, som det kommende års blogposter skal handle om. Jeg er allerede godt i gang og glæder mig over alt det gode, der allerede er sket. Og så kunne jeg ikke lade være med at proppe et billede af mit yndlingsdesign fra sidste år ind i blogposten. Hvis bare alle designs endte lige så godt (det er også et ønske, men nok mindre sandsynligt) 🙂
Several of the items above are combinations of multiple things, but that is precisely what the blog is going to be about during the next year. I already feel like it’s going well, and I’m enjoying all the good things, which have already happened. And as a finish, I couldn’t help myself, but had to repost a picture of my favorite design from last year in this post. If all designs went as perfectly as that (this could be another wish, but I think the odds for that one are slim) 🙂
lykkefanten.com 