One month...

...since last time I blogged.

It might be a record.

But as a friend said:

"Blogging is supposed to be fun

and not a duty"...

She is right.

I have just been lacking the spirit for writing.

This week I came back home

after 2 weeks in Norway.

I saw my four beautiful, Norwegian grandchildren,

and they sure give me a lot of joy!

But the main purpose with this short trip

was to pack up my beloved sons belongings.

I walked in his last footsteps...

Saw his last cup of green tea on the table....

Listened to his music...

Memories of a much to short life

are now stored away,

some of them I will take a better look at later.

Small steps, little by little...

It has been six months now,

almost seven.

It is still so fresh, so unreal, so hard to understand.

Lazy days....

The weather has been very nice,

and I have spent some time in the back yard.

Working this last pair of mittens 

has turned in to more work than first expected.

I am working them in several yarns

(this one in Cascade 220 Super-wash)

to see witch ones I like best.

 

The first pair was a little small,

this one is medium to large.

The last pair is on the the needles,

and I am using Rauma Finull.

Without changing the pattern,
Rauma knits up in a medium size,
(pictures will come)

but Rauma is not as soft as the other two yarns.

It has been a little windy

so even though its a little hot,

it really has not been too bad.

I have my spot in the shade

just like my four legged friend.

She is living lazy days.

And I love to watch  all the anoles lizards,

running all over the walls outside.

Our baby doves are growing up,

but they hang out in the the yard,

being close where they grew up.

Have a great spring everybody!

Santa Fe mittens

I wanted to show these, 

even though I am still working on the text.

The yarn is from a local yarn store in Taos, New Mexico,

so not very customer friendly.

Hard to get, and a little on the expensive side.

With three colors, let me see,

that would add up too about 60 - 70 dollars.

One could off course

 knit several pair of mittens 

from these three skeins alone.

I love the feel of it, 

the yarn is nice and soft.

So I am looking for a different yarn  at the moment...

 I will be back with more....

Tester ut forskjellige garntyper 
for dette nye mønsteret.

Tar gjerne imot forslag.

Satser på pinne nr 3.

Frijoles Canyon

What a fantastic experience it was to visit 

the Frijoles Canyon 

in the Bandelier National Park again.

The drive from Santa Fe is about one hour.

  

To walk around on this old ground

and imagine the Ancestral Pueblo people living here

is just amazing.

I want to go back in time.

I want to see them work, cook, play with their children,

and I want to see how they lived along, 

and climbed these cliffs.

The cliffs has natural openings or holes.

The Indians enlarged the holes and constructed stone dwellings 

in front of them.

This rock is actually volcanic ash,

compacted over time.

These housing units could be several stories tall,

and one can determine how many stories

by counting the horizontal rows of holes.

These smaller holes indicates the next floor/roof,

and the rooms were entered through an opening in the roof,

not through a door as we would do.

The tourist-tracks are off course made for easy excess.

On the cliff-wall are also many petroglyphs (carved symbols),

this one is maybe a turkey?

I allowed myself to use this symbol

as an inspiration for a new mitten design.

This is a "sneak peek", since I am still working on it. 

The colors I used are so special for the area,

the yarn is locally spun (Taos) and colored.

I really like the contrast of the turquoise

against the mud/dirt color. 

The diamonds are  made with duplicate stitches

to make it easier. 

Since this yarn can be hard to get hold of,

the pattern will be worked in a different yarn also.

Denne nasjonalparken var et av stedene 

vi besøkte i vinterferien.

Vi har vært her en gang før

og tregte ikke et øyeblikk på å gjenta opplevelsen.

Her er funn fra flere hundre(ca. 800) år f.Kr, 

og det er antatt at de siste innbyggerne 

levde her opp til ca. 1400 e.Kr.

Det er helt spesiellt å vandre blandt disse ruinene.

Små stier og trinn var tilrettelagt for turister.

  

Det var lett å bli inspirert,

så jeg har et nytt design mellom fingrene.

Garnet jeg bruker kjøpte jeg på turen,

så jeg skal få strikket opp vottene

i et litt mer forbrukervennlig garn også.

Håper du likte turen...

After a trip....

....I am often filled with impressions.

They kind of play on their own for a while,

and often something ends up on the paper

as a sketch, a water color,

or maybe a  pattern of some sort.

l

I did snoop around in a couple of yarn stores,

and one thing I noticed,

especially in Albuquerque and Taos,

was that the yarn stores 

had lots of locally spun and dyed yarn.

The color of the red dirt

and the adobe houses,

the turquoises used in the Indian made jewelery

and on the trim around doors and windows,

were so intense.

Since we flew, I had limited space,

but I managed to stuff some yarn

in my carry-on

(and in my husbands too...)

Disse fargene går igjen i landskap,

i byggninger, smykker og klær.

Nydelig miks synes jeg.

Two things....

I got a scare,

my baby pigeons was out of the pot,

and I worried about the squirrels.

But look, they are out

trying their wings.

My babies are growing up...

Get in line!
It is hard to feed both of you
at the same time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two yards from my back door

was this snake crawled up this morning.

I have to admit

he gave me the creeps...

Probably not a big deal,

but he got really interested in what I was doing,

and turned against me.

I think he is a harmless Garter snake,

but he would probably bite if cornered.

Hadde besøk av denne karen nå på morgenkvisten.

Han er nok ikke så farlig som han gir seg ut for,

fingertykk, ca. 1 meter lang

med grønne og svarte striper.

Ha en fin helg!

"Anna jakken"

...men denne er for Tyra!

Veldig greit å ha noe lettvindt å strikke på

når man er på ferie.

Denne var grei å ha mellom fingrene,

kun restegarn fra et tidligere prosjekt.

Motivet er ment å se ut som en katt,

i motsetning til den originale jakken 

som har en and.

Lagde dennne litt større,

og strikket i Heilo.

Ikke en typisk babyfarge,

iallefall ikke i dette landet (USA).

This jacket is knitted in Heilo from Dale,

on 3.5 mm needles.

A great wool yarn!

It is made a little larger than the original,

because it is for an older baby.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

A walk through town...

Beautiful, beautiful Santa Fe.

Even if you don't have a creative bone in your body,

you have to get inspired here.

Old and new architecture, 

culture, 

colors, 

local art,

and artists, - many more than you can count.

Canyon Rd. is a "must see".

Here are galleries and studios in almost every house.

The colors makes me happy,

so bright and cheerful.

A stop at the The Teahouse on the top of the hill,
was a pleasant experience.
Their Lavender tea is absolutely worth trying!

Wonder if I could use this color in future patterns....

   Still some snow in the mountains, 

but spring is on its way.

Etter en uke i disse herlige omgivelsene
har jeg fått fyllt opp hodet og sjelen
med masse ny inspirasjon.

Santa Fe er et Mekka for kunstnere,
det føles på atmosfæren,
en ny opplevelse lurer rundt hvert et hjørne.
Håper du likte turen....