The Vogue Knitting Live Event

Back home,

- all the work behind us,

all in all,

this was a great experience!

Click on picture for larger view

Our booth came together quite all right,

and we sold pretty well.

It would have been a hard and hopeless job

without my good friend Michaela.

I could not have made it without her!

Besides drooling over yarn,

I also made some great new connections.

Sincere Sheep 

And how great is it

that Meg Swansen complimented my designs

as she visited my booth.

Also Clara Parkes (Knitters Review)

visited and took some pictures.

This knit creation has thin wire inserted
to every rose, to keep the shape.

My greatest moment was at the Gala Dinner/Fashion Show,
where Kaffe Fassett was the guest speaker.
What an inspiration,
what a great designer he is.
His color work give me goose bumps....
Beautiful!

Denne turen til Los Angeles 
har vært svært inspirerende for meg.
Det var på mange måter en travel helg,
med mye å se både av garn og design.

For besøkende var der forskjellige kurs,
demonstrasjoner og foredrag dagen lang.
Innimellom kunne de besøke markedet som jeg var en del av.
Jeg opplevde at mange er "redde" 
for å strikke mønster med to farger.
Selv erfarne strikkere tror at det er overmåte vanskelig.
Det å måtte klippe opp for f.eks. ermeåpninger
er så skremmende at mange tar at steg bakover.
Men jeg tror jeg overtalte noen
om at votter er en god størrelse til å trene på,
selv om svært få fra LA noen gang får bruk for votter
med sommertemperaturer så og si hele året.
I allefall etter norsk målestokk...

(Klikk på bildene så blir de større)


Ha en fin dag!

LA, here we come!

It almost didn't happen.

After shipping all my boxes to the show,

I found myself on crutches.

A painful infection in my hip

made it impossible to walk.

But a steroid injection and 

anti inflammatory tablets helped.

Now I am almost perfect...

I look forward to meet fellow knitters,

and my good friend is coming with me 

to help me out in my booth (#84).

But this is most for the experience.

We have tickets for 

a Gala dinner 

with Kaffe Fassett as a speaker.

I promise pictures

when I am back!

Wish me luck!

I have been busy

preparing for the Vogue Knitting Live show,

and blogging has not been on my mind.

I have had to remake some of my samples

because somehow some of them 

had ended up in the "gift pile".

Maybe my "Helene II" pattern (above)

is one of my favorites,

it also one of the oldest.

The booth has to be dressed up,

and arriving by airplane,

my options for decorating are limited.

Some of these pictures will be posters,

and they will all hopefully fit in my suitcase.

Between planning and preparing

I have been working on another shawl pattern.

It is not ready yet,

but I hope to have it all put together 

within a month or two.

The one above was a present to a friend,

and the yarn was a lace weight yarn, 

bought in Santa Fe a while ago.

Maybe I could have the store ship me some more....

 I just loved this smoky blue color.

The pattern will be named Virginia.

 Follow-up will come in not too long..

One week at the Faroe Islands...

When I learned that Sommerakademiet 

arranged a trip 

 to the Faroe Islands this summer, 

I wanted to tag along.

It is one of a few places I have been wanting to visit.
 

This summer it worked out, 

as I combined it to a trip to Norway,

and because we flew out of Bergen.

It was a great experience!

The tour was very well organised,

we got to visit several of the largest islands

and some of the smaller ones too.

One of these was Nolsøy.

It was a 20 minute ferry ride

out of Thorshavn.

People live out here with the Atlantic Ocean 

right outside their back door.

I have this love for churches....

And every little village had one. 

Its like if they have been there always,

they fit so well into their surroundings.

Here is a lot of history ...

in town and at the country side...

...and - lots and lots of sheep...
75000 on these islands I was told...

I have to mention the boat trip out of Westmanna.
We got to these rock formations 

and grottoes, by boat.

The ocean has carved its way 

into these volcanic rocks over time.

 Jeg var heldig å få reise med Sommerakademiet 
til Færøyene i sommer.
En fantastisk fin tur, absolutt å anbefale!
Vel organisert og med et tett og smidig program.

Visiting my roots

One of my favorite places is Egelandsdal, 

where my mother grew up. 

Allthough I am in Norway every year, 

I dont always take the time to visit 

this beautiful place.

To many places to go,

many friends to see.

I have so many memoried from here.

We used to go skiing every winter, 

and we also spent summers up here,

dipping our feet in the stream.

The sheep enjoyed the warm summer day,

and so did we..

Vogue Knitting LIVE 2011

...I will be there!

It happens in Los Angeles September 23 - 25.

On their web side they write:

"Vogue Knitting LIVE in LA 

will be the knitting event of the year! 

A star-studded celebration filled with fashion,

fiber and education......"

I got an invitation to showcase my "stuff",

and arrangements are made!

It is very exiting,

I have never been to LA,

- not that I will have much time for sightseeing...

The Vogue Knitting show in NY in January

was a success,

and we hope this one, in LA,

will be as great!

Lots of packing and knitting of samples 

will be going on

between now and then,

so I better get busy!

Maybe I will see some of you there as well?

Here they are, the Santa Fe mittens....

....all of them finished, in 3 types of yarn.

When I work the samples, 

I often make up one mitten in each size,

worrying about finishing the pair later on

(ofte strikker jeg kun EN vott i hver størrelse,

og bekymrer meg heller siden 

om å strikke ferdige par).

As you know, I love New Mexico. 

It is so inspiring walking the streets 

of Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos,
studying the architecture, the old churches, 

the people, the wide range of artists,
the nature, the colors, the history.

 (New Mexico er et herlig sted.
Det er utrolig inspirerende å vandre rundt i 

Santa Fe, Albuquerque og Taos.
En fargerik blanding av kunstnere og indianere, 

fastboende og turister.
Rik historisk bakgrunn, adobebygninger, 

gamle kirker og ikke minst naturen rundt).

The charts in this pattern are the same for all sizes,
it all depends on your choice of yarn

(diagrammet er det samme for alle størrelser,

det er  garnet som bestemmer hvor stor votten blir).

For the small size 

I used a sport weight yarn similar to null

(mine was local yarn from null),

but check the gauge before starting.

They are 9 1/2“ long and about 4” wide

(liten: lengde 24 cm, bredde ca. 10 cm).

For the medium size

I chose Rauma Finullgarn.

They are 11“ long and about 4 1/2” wide

(middels: lengde 28 cm, bredde ca. 11,5 cm).

For the largest size

I chose Cascade 220 Superwash.

They measure11 1/2“ and are about 4 3/4” wide

(stor: lengde 29 cm, bredde ca. 12 cm).

The pattern is available at Etsy in either Norwegian or in English,

and on Ravelry, English, for direct down load, here.

(Ravelry, mønster på norsk kan lades ned direkte, her). 

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!