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Kæru þið sem heimsækið síðuna mína. Ég er komin með nýja síðu, www.doppan.is. Þessi verður áfram notuð fyrir enskan texta en Doppan verður á íslensku. Velkomin yfir, smellið hér :)

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Dear friends, I have a new blogsite for my icelandic readers, this one will remain in english. So if you want to read my blog in Icelandic head on to Doppan, if you prefer english than scroll down. Thank you for visiting my blog :)

Countdown potato

Phew, live is busy now... kids are having tests at school, trip to the country with the kindergarten, biketrips with school, alot of classmates birthdays, saying goodbuy to the teachers, visits to the dentist (Andrea broke her tooth!), sleepless nights with the little one... and I'm alone! My husband is in Luxemburg for 10 days, competing in Beach Volleyball at the "Games of the small states of Europe 2013".

So you can imagine, there is not much time left to blog, much less to make something to blog about!

There is one clever thing though, Andrea and Arna made a "countdown potato", yes countdown-potato. This is something my mother used to make for me and my brother when we were excitingly waiting for something like our birthday, summer vacation or Christmas... kids have hard time to understand "10 days" but when it's visiual like this it's no problem!! So, daddy will be back in 10 days and then we pick one toothpick out every morning.

The flags are made from toothpicks and washi-tape, I love washi-tape!

Campus sweater

I was going to knit this sweater at the hospital (yes, I know... fourth kid and I still think I'm going to knit at the hospital!!!) but it was so easy, fun and fast to make that I finished it before we went to the hospital.

I just finished putting the buttons on it. Now the little one must get bigger fast to fit in it! :)

The sweater is made from the remainder of his little crocheted throw. I absolutely love this yarn!!

Book: Baby love: Cuddly Knits for Wee Ones
Pattern: Little man on campus, pg. 48
Size: 3 mánaða
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK
Needles: 4,5 mm and 5,5 mm

p.s. notice the corrections for the pattern here. Lori (the auther) was so nice to send it to me personally. Makes the sweater even sweeter :)

Why... oh WHY?!!

Why can't I just quilt and sew and knit and crochet all day long?!!!

Buttons

I went to the store yesterday and came by a local knitting store to buy lopi yarn for a lopi sweater for my newest one.

At the store they had these wonderful wooden buttons, both simple and with printed patterns on them. It was so hard to choose from but these are the lucky ones who got to come home with me.

The small simple ones, I'm going to use for a knitted undershirt for the little lad. The heart buttons I'm going to use for a new dress I'm about to start making for Arna. The only question is, which ones?

These...

... or these...

 

Premiere

And here we finally are... the little latest beauty of the house.

This little lad was born April 2nd, 52 cm and 3.320 gr.

No name yet, we still haven't even discussed it... no hurry, we have 6 months to name him :)

All family members are so excited and we are enjoying every minute together!

 

Bow tie dress is ready

Arna's dress is finally ready.

It was premiered on the red carpet (at my parent's house!) at Easter dinner and it's going to be the perfect dress for the Icelandic national day (June 17th)

Arna loves it and has already started using it for Kindergarten (I don't think we'll use it only for special occasions, since the kid grows but the dress won't )

The only thing I could criticise is the neckline, it's a bit to tight. Maybe I'll make a small clip and a button on the back to make it bigger.

Intarsia knitting

Last year (late summer) I was at a local knitting store buying some petty yarn... when I... as sometimes happens... got caught in a situation. I started flipping through books and magazines. The latest Debbie Bliss (spring/summer 2012) issue was laying in front of me and I started flipping the pages until I came across this adorable red sailor dress for little girls. Little later, as has happened before, I came to in my car holding a bag in my hand, amazed I looked into it and saw that someone must have bought me the magazine AND the yarn needed for the dress... all there was left to do was to assemble it!!!

After knitting alot from the icelandic wool (which b.t.w. I love!) and all in around, I've been wanting to try to knit a "real" piece from more delicate yarn. The pattern is in english and nothing but abbreviations so it can be really tempting to throw it into the next corner... well, I decidet to get over my fear and started knitting. First the back piece, back (k) and forth (p), back (k) and forth (p), back (k) and forth (p)... I knit continental and purling is so boring!!! The back piece did still go well, forming the sleeves wasn't a big problem and the pattern was easier to understand than I had thought at the beginning.

And now comes the genius part! I took the almost finished back piece with me to a quilt weekend in September and there my friend Fríða saw it. She took it and showed me a much better way to purl without turning the piece every time, just purling back from left to right. I also think this makes the knitting prettier. This is also a simpler way to do it and when I came back home I found a Youtube tutorial for this method.

Fríða told me she had learnt this when taking a course in Intarsia knitting. Somethimes it's as if you're supposed to meet some people, there are no coincidences. It so happens that the front piece of the dress is partly made with Intarsia knitting. So I decidet to knit the front using this new method from Fríða.

Intarsia knitting opened a new world to me. It's so different from the Fair Isle knitting I'm used to do. The yarn on the back doesn't go over the pattern, instead you are using alot of short strings hanging in the "picture" you are knitting. So this was a true challenge for me but after many Youtube videos and after buying an e-version of an Intarsia knitting book it all went well and was really fun to do... time-consuming, but fun! I also found this great tip online about wrapping your yarn around clothespins, also practical for the embroidery floss.

All there's left now is to join the back- and frontpieces and try it on my little Arna. It's been awhile since I started the dress, I hope it still fits. I think the width is ok, it could be little too short though. If so, I can always add a little lace to the hem or crochet something cute for it.

I'll post some pictures of her and the dress when it's complete :)

 

Bunting bag

Baby boy is due in about four weeks (April 7th)... still we are so easygoing (fourth kid!). We really haven't started any preperation so far, just bought some diapers and I've crochet one blanket and knitted this bunting bag. Actually, in my opinion, you are made to belive you need all kinds of baby stuff when having a new baby, when in fact you don't. You should just buy the bare necessities and then go to the store when and if you need something else.

Anyway, back to the bunting bag! I got these wooden buttons at a cute (and yummi) knitting store, called Litla prjónabúðin (The Little Knitting Store)

Pattern: Garnstudio BabyDROPS 18-2 (free online)
Size: 6-9 mo.
Yarn: Drops Eskimo Tweed no 73 (silver grey)
Knitting needles: 8.0 mm
Buttons: Litla prjónabúðin

Storm

January and February were incredibly warm... considering Iceland :) - therefore we were surprised this morning when we woke up, heavy storm, snowing and really windy ... you couldn't see your feet outside.

Iceland, taking yesterday from a satellite

Still, the kids went to school this morning (we drove them) and little Arna went to the kindergarten. I was going to drive my husband to work but he drove me back home and took the car... thankfully. The whole day the police has been warning people, asking them not to go out of the house, there are cars everywhere, stuck in the snow and/or hit by other cars. The bus company gave up running the bus system and parents have been asked NOT to pick up their kids from school until later in the afternoon!!

The "view" from my living room

So, I'm sitting inside, sending my love to my kids, binding my summery basket quilt and watching tv... poor me! :)

 

Back from the cottage

Me, Edda, Magga, Villa, Dóra, Helga and Brynja... so funny! :)

The weekend went really fast! We're back after three nights and four days at the cottage... it was like a sweatshop - phew! We were so productive... let's show you some pictures!

As always I took way too many, but isn't that better than too few?!! :)

Purse in the making - by Helga

My baskets almost finished quilting it! :)

Boy's quilt by Villa, fabrics: Odyssea by Momo

Brynja cutting and getting her quilt ready to sew

Cutest little doll quilt by Villa

Beautiful table cloth by Dóra, fabrics from French General

My secret quilt :)

Edda was knitting this cute girl's strawberry hat

Great scrap quilt by Villa, pattern: Taking Turns by Monica Solorio-Snow, was published in Quilts and More, spring 2012

Helga's house quilt... was a real troublemaker but she got it ready in the end, and it was a beauty! Pattern from Thimbleberries

My basket quilt almost ready, only the binding left!

This beautiful table topper is by Dóra Dís

One more gorgeous table cloth by Dóra, pattern: Table topper by Joanna Figueroa, got published in Quilts and More, summer 2012

Amazing quilt by Brynja, pattern is from French General

Clever babyquilt by Villa... just cut Charm pack pieces into half and sew them toghether again... put white sashing and your're done, simple but pretty!