Emilia Hat

This hat is designed to match

the Emilia mittens.

It was finished a while ago,

I just totally forgot to blog about it.

The pattern includes two hat styles,

both of them pictured.

This one has a rolled brim,

that is worked in Garter stitch. 

The top comes nicely together

where the four pattern sections meets.

The brim and the top is where the second hat

differs from the first.

This pattern might be easier for a beginner.

They both match the Emilia Mittens perfectly,

although the colors looks different

in the pictures.

As always, the hat pattern is available 

on Ravelry, and on Etsy

It has both English AND Norwegian text,

and can be directly downloaded.

So far I have sent all patterns
 bought at Etsy, out manually.

Etsy has just come with this download-feature,

so I have some work hours ahead of me

to change all my patterns to direct downloads.
It will make it easier for everybody.

I will also make it possible to get both 

languages in one download.

Have a nice day!

Lovebirds Hat

So after travels back and forth 

over the Atlantic

a few times this year,

I finally had enough time 

to finish the second of my hat patterns

written and worked this winter.

This hat is made

to match the Lovebirds mittens,

shown below.

Mittens and hat are both worked in

Cascade 220 wool.

One skein in each color suggested,

is enough for both the hat and the mittens.

I have used this yarn for several of my 

mitten designs,

and find it nice and soft

and very easy to work with.

All my patterns can be found at Ravelry and at Etsy.

They are written in 2 languages,

Norwegian and English.

At this point both Ravelry and Etsy 

offers direct download of patterns,

however I still send the Etsy orders manually,

because it takes some time to load all my files

to the Etsy store.

But I am working on it,

and will have all my patterns 

available for downloads very soon.

Visit my test knitters blog here

Thank you for visiting

and enjoy your knitting!

Souq al-Gamaal

The Birqash Camel Market

I was told it used to be held

in down town Cairo,

and I can only imagine how crazy,

 messy and wild it must have been..

This market is held every Friday,

dawn to dusk,

and has been, for ages...

It is not for the sensitive.

It is mainly a meat market,

and hundreds of camels are being sold,

 bargained for, bought or swapped here.

I was told this is the largest market 

of its kind, in the world.

In all respect for traditions,

it is pretty wild and not very organized.

At least seen with the eyes of us "first-timers",

probably not understanding

how difficult it must be to hold these long-legged,

fast moving creatures in line.

Camels and herders are seemingly running 

in all directions.

And the herders come in all ages,

tradition taught from one generation to the next.

Some of these beautiful "ships of the desert" 

are brought in from Libya,

Sudan, Somalia and Aswan.

For some their last trip

is in the back of a truck.

Drawing the connections to the beef,

sheep and chicken industry

in other countries,

I would put this in the same category.

Some humans eat meat,

some also eat camel meat...

Nadim furniture factory

...and so much more!

What a treat to get to visit this place.

I expected a small furniture making business

and found instead a large factory

where workers are not yet

 replaced by machinery.

Workers with years and years of practice

in the art of traditional, 

beautiful hand-carving and inlay wood work.

Today, 350 workers total, a bit down from 2008
when the same factory had over 900 employees.

My guess is that the revolution

might be to blame, but I do not know for sure...

This man works on a tiny piece of wood,

this again will be cut into even smaller pieces.

See the small piece between the finger tips?

This piece will be joined with yet other pieces

to make this intricate Mashrabiya latticework. 

Just fabulous work!

They build chairs and tables, screens etc.

with to most intricate details...

Nadim factory also contribute to the protection of

a special embroidery technique called Tally,

traditionally practiced by women from

 from Upper Egypt (south).

This by extending the usage to furniture accessories, 

like pillows and pictures.

They also contribute to teach the art
to younger females

in order to keep the tradition "alive".

This is a special kind of embroidery

using metal threads on solid color fabric or net material.

A technique that dates back to the 18th century.

Beautiful work!

And in Cairo you will find cats everywhere,

this place is no exception!

Have a nice day,

hope you enjoy the trip!

Cats in Cairo

You will see them everywhere.

Some enjoying the shade...

some a little shy,

and a bit scared...

some cuter than others,

some friendlier and more curious...

Like this one.

Not shy at all.

Crawled up in my lap

without an invitation...

..uh.... I guess that's not exactly true,

but I didn't have to ask twice...

What can be better

..than an early morning in bed

with grandchildren...

I feel so blessed

and cherish every moment I have

with them.

 Family is so important,

and idealistically

I would love to live closer 

to them all!

But it is easier said than done,

so we need to have a lot of 

quality time whenever its possible..

 I wasn't sure

if the girls were to young

to play with these dolls,

it can be a little tricky to get the clothes on,

sometimes.

So mormor only made one doll

to start with...

The youngest one crawled in bed with me last,

and the first thing out of her mouth was:

" Where is mine...?"

Her sister was playing with 

the only doll that I had made,

so the 2 year old figured 

she could put the already finished clothing

directly on top of the pictures in the book.

Too cute!

Bless her heart!

Within the hour

I was knitting halfway up the leg

on the second doll,

and a few days later,

Annalola was born...

Having to board a plane pretty soon,

the third doll,

for my third little grand daughter,

will be on my needles.

Have a great Valentines Day!