Don't be pulling my ... finger

You Are a Pinky

You are fiercely independent, and possibly downright weird. A great communicator, you can get along with almost anyone. You are kind and sympathetic. You support all your friends - and love them for who they are. You get along well with: The Ring Finger Stay away from: The Thumb

What Finger Are You?

Came across the above somewhere in blog-land. Just couldn't help myself - had to try it;-)

Amy, Denyse, and Kaffe - I just adore y'alls

The last couple of days have been cloudy and rainy here in my nick of the woods. Makes me want to fiddle with some colourful yarn and fabric. Luckily some stash aquisition has taken place lately, and after some good mail days this week, I am ready to get some more summery knitting going, and to start cutting fabric for a new quilt:



Unfortunately the sun didn't really come out while I was taking this picture, and the boards of the terrace were still a bit damp - but these colours cannot fail to make me happy, especially when they are part of designs by my favorite fabric designers!

Sadly I cannot really spend much time right now on knitting or sewing. Got an exam coming up on june 6th that I need to prepare for...

A few days ago Polly commented that some references says that cold colours usually are prefered by logical thinkers. Well, in my case I believe this could be right, Polly, 'cause every time I have tried one of those not-really-scientific tests of thinking patterns, the result has been that I am a logical/analythical thinker. But I see this as being in contradiction with me having a yarn/fabric stash, that has had an exponential growth for the last couple of decades!!! Maybe that relates to another test result around my brain usage - that I have a total balance between my left and right brain ;-) (Don't know if this means that they are both turned off sometimes?).

Mieke shared a great link to the knittinginjapan yahoo group when commenting - thanks a lot, Mieke!

Yvonne asked for a japanese craft book source: I usually get my fix at YesAsia! Not always the fastest way to get a book, but very reliable and a lot of great knitting/sewing/crochet books.

Meme

I just noticed that I got tagged by Steph while I wasn't looking ;-)

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.

A lot of bloggers have been tagged by this meme already, so instead of pinpointing someone, I'll let you decide for yourself: If you'd like to participate, consider yourself tagged!

7 random facts about me:

1. Colours means a lot to me, and I feel them almost physically. Greens and aqua/teals are my favorites - reds make me feel bad and yellows almost makes me feel sick. I know, I'm weird.

2. I always hated history lessons in school. In my adult life I have nevertheless spent many hours enjoying reading heavy books on social issues in Europe in the middle ages; and especially on womens role in society. In many ways the middle ages were less dominated by male authority than is the case of european culture of today.

3. I am a knowledge-junkie. Right now I am heading for my second masters degree.

4. I am terribly afraid of heights. But I love flying on an airplane.

5. I am probably a rather cynical person. Even my close friends and family says so. Still I love a romantic Jane Austen novel. Though Elizabeth Gaskell also gets a chance.

6. I learned to read english by myself when I was around 11. The simple reason was that I adored reading Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise novels, and only a few of them were translated into danish at that time. I tell myself that my tastes in litterature have been somewhat refined since then ;-)

7. I bore easily. I have bored myself now.

Being a japanese craft junkie

Long time ago I got bitten by the japanese craft book-bug. These japanese books take up a lot of space here, but nevertheless I have eagerly been awaiting another fix. And it was a good mail day today!



The large book in the middle is filled with georgeous lace crochet patterns. The two small ones holds wonderfull, simple sewing patterns for girls garments. My japanese vocabulary is non-existing, but the patterns are really not hard to follow. Don't know if it is the case with all japanese craft books, but the majority of those I have seen have been very visual and giving pretty understandable instructions. Off cause it can help a bit to have a japanese stitch-ionary handy when dealing with some japanese knitting patterns ;-)

But I am not supposed to make use of the above books right now. In stead I should allocate my craft time to this:



The Rainbow design in Rowan Summer Tweed from The Kashbah Collection. Ehem - no, I am not knitting a rainbow. Stripes tend to somehow "broaden the horizon", so I'll make do with a monochrome version. Hope this is one of those knits that I will actually finish!

By the way - try to pop over to Lolly and take a look at her great Bohus sweater!

A good day was had by all

Yesterday was a holiday here in Denmark. So the cosyness crept in, heavily supported by pouring rain for the I-don't-know-how-many days in a row. What to do, then? Make cupcakes!


Unfortunately, they tasted just as booring as they looked. Even 7 year old Marie lost her cake-hunger after just two.

We simply had to do something more colourfull. So out on the floor came a bunch of Amy Butler Lotus fabric squares, and she and I started to fit them together in a suitable way, so that they could eventually be sewn together into something resembling a small quilt.

This morning I woke in the wee hours, and just because I really needed to do a lot of different stuff, I ended up sewing the quilt together. It was finished by the time the rest of the family woke up, and it almost instantly became part of a lair together with some cushions and small tables, built by Marie.



This being the first sunny day in a long time, and a day off for all of us, called for some outside activity. A quick tour to the bicycle dealer on the corner got us the bike that Marie was promised to get this spring, and then off we went to Tivoli, the enchanted garden/amusement park in central Copenhagen.

Marie and her dad high up, blue skies, warm weather.


Tivoli is a very special place. On a day like this there are thousands of visitors, but even then some parts of the park seams quiet and peacefull, like this.


Around nine-ish the weather was still fine, and the air full of spring. But as tomorrow will also hold a lot of activity, it was time to go home. And for the tired girl hiding in her jacket, it was time to get a good nights sleep.



A good day was had by all.

The Exchange is on

So it is time for another Rowan International Exchange. All the Rowanettes - members of the Rowan International - participating in this, are getting started. The veil has been lifted for who each knitters recipient is, and now it's time to get creative. What to knit for your recipient?

Last year I got the most geourgeous gifts from "my" knitter. First a cushion arrived, made from Rowan Wool Cotton, that was a perfect match for this family's couch (and for our "Steve of Many Faces"):



Then a while later I got the rest of my gift; not that I wasn't allready more than pleased with the one I had received. A beautiful shawl, knitted from Rowan Kid Classic in one of my favorite colours:


Here modelled by the kiddo.

I was sooo fortunate! The shawl box even carried a great shawl pin too.

So now I am looking forward to knit something lovely for my recipient of this year. And I am waiting in anticipation to see, what my knitter will come up with.

More on this later! The lamb in the oven is almost done ;-)

Thanks a lot for the nice comments yesterday!

To blog or not...

Hey, everybody has a blog, right? Well.....almost everybody? I want one too!!!

No, not just that. I also want a place to keep in touch with my "virtual friends", and at the same time a possibility to start some kind of craft diary. Sometimes I really need such a thing to remind me of what I started, and what I need to finish before moving on to something new.

Regarding crafts, I consider myself most of all a knitter. But - as you can see in this weeks creations above - occationally I also sew. And bead. And crochet. And felt. And embroider. And... Well, just continue ad nauseam. Maybe that's why I have so little finished stuff hanging around.

I live in Denmark, but have chosen to blog in english. Mostly because the majority of my internet aquaintances are british/american. But also because I like it ;-)

And - if anybody ever reads this, maybe I should present myself: I am Bettina. Mother, wife, knitter, blogger, worker, student.