Lis Paludan

probably doesn´t need any introduction in Denmark. She´s the grand old lady regarding crochet and craft books from the seventies. She also wrote CROCHET, history & technique, which I would love to get my hands on.

For years she wrote the yearly christmas book for a Danish interior magazine: Bo Bedre. I treasured these books as a child. Sadly only one remains in my posession.

And then I discovered QXL - and Danish Ebay look-a-like, and just look what I found:



I´ve been collecting these for the past few months, incredible amount of inspiration inside. Some are made in collaboration with Bo Bedre, some with a womans magazine (no longer existing) called Eva.

The top left book is one of hers too, a childrens story complete with sewing instructions for the animals appearing in the book



The other two are semi-vintage sewing books (I absolutely adore the expression on the girls face!), one is from Eva too. I wish womens magazines would make books like these again...

And I wish I could get my act together and start sewing again, living in an appartement with no backyard, I (at least one of us) have to stay inside in the evenings while Viola sleeps, and I find that very difficult. I´m thinking sewing projects might help my "summer evenings outside longing" to keep quiet...

Hopefully we´ll be able to move to a place with a garden next year, if not earlier. (That one was for the Universe...)

Spoiling myself

with 2 tins of little daily luxury

Todays mail

brought sweet memories back.

The scent of this perfume is exactly the same as I remember the roses in my belated grandmothers frontgarden.



and just look how it was wrapped in the box



I definately found my new favourite perfume.

The newest addition

to the family:



from Danish company Rice.

Some things you have to buy, because there´s no way I would make 4 lions and horses on sticks. We need 4: one for Viola, one for the boyfriend, one for me, and one for the poor person visiting unknowingly.

The hat is mine, a beloved thriftfind from Gilleleje. Always makes me feel like Yvonne - a fashion icon for all of us who watched Olsen Banden as kids...

20 % off

A very fetching title on an email from stash fine yarns... (offer ends today, you might be able to make it if you sign up for a newsletter?)

Not only are the noro prices better than in Denmark, but they have other delicious yarns too.

I managed to restrain myself (need to hide the yarn well for the darn moths, if they ever come back) but a few skeins of Noro kureyon sock yarn i on its way to me (one skein is designated these mittens for next winter), together with a few more skeins of Noro silk garden light. And some Rowan felted tweed for a swallowtail scarf. And this handcolured beauty (my first handcoloured!)...

...OK... I didn´t restrain myself...

I guess, I´ve come to realise the 4 thruth of a stash-o-holic:

1) there will never be a similar offer
2) it might be the last yarn in the World
3) it´s not like I have a lot of yarn (closing in on 60.000 meters!!! What´s that? Only like 6 kilometers?)
4) it´s noro - on sale!

Oh my...

Planning

my first sweater.

Inspired by this beautiful hourglass sweater (ravelry), I´m planning my own version - it might be a cardigan, since I use them more often. I´ll probably use EZ´s topdown pattern.

the topyarn is newly purchased noro silk garden light:



the body is a choice between these from my stash (although I admit it, I´ve been looking for black yarn, to emphasize the colours in the noro yarn, but the stash need reducing. Seriously!)

green (only 630.9 m ins stash - might be too little):



light blue (dreaming - there´s only 384.0 m in stash, and the yarn is discontinued. But cashmere and silk garden - yum):



dark or light blue (scratchy... but sufficient, slightly different gauge though... hmm):


New Zealand souvenir (so soft - more than enough, I brought home 2 huge skeins):



light grey green (996.7 m - so far this is my favorite)



silk (12 skeins, more than enough - but is silk good for a sweater?):



dusty purple (534.9 m, not sufficient?):



some are pretty easy to exclude - looking at the yarns together, I think the green ones is out - but maybe I should just knit the yoke and then decide. Although it looks like the neckline is made from the basic yarn?

Sunny side up

I´m still doing it: crocheting food items for Viola to play with.

below: a pear and a tomato (just to clarify, oh, and above is a a fried egg)



Next up - a mini granny square blanket for the new baby in the house, mostly called "Bibi sove" ("baby sleep") by Viola. She (admittedly I haven´t looked for the gender yet, but it looks female... kind of...) needs new clothing as well - the fleece thingy in purple with a cow on it (I think it´s a cow at least) makes my hair stand up, for several reasons.

Right now I´m looking through different styles of assembling the squares. Currently this is my favorite.

I was assembling a granny square pillow, made from 2 big grannies, but it´s been in the corner for a few days - I missed a stitch on row 6 of 20 - dammit. No such thing as TV-crocheting apparently...