Designing frustrations

July 1st

In my perfect world I crochet and knit all day and some wonderful fairy cleans my house, weeds the garden and feeds the family, in reality none of the above is true. 

In actual fact I am to be seen tearing around the house, trying my best to keep it clean and tidy when in essence all I do is move one pile from one room to another or if I am feeling particularly energetic I shove one of the numerous piles into a drawer or cupboard hoping no none but especially me, will need to open the draw or cupboard for fear of the drawer becoming wedged and having to frantically shove it the centimetre or two back and forth and trap ones hand in at the top.   Of course then there is the cupboard door that one opens in trepidation weary that opening it quickly will result in everything falling to the floor.  Hopefully I have learnt if I open it slowly I can often hold onto the items with one hand stopping them from falling and needing to be sorted and manage to extrapolate the required item.  Know what I am talking about?  No!  Oh well it's just me then...

So onto my perfect world where I knit and crochet all day...

The Scheepjes Cal is proving to be so much fun. 
Week 10 was how to make crochet look like knitting!

Week 11 was called dancing bobbles

Following others patterns is fun and I learn heaps in the process, there are so many different ways to create the same thing that it all adds to the experience and makes one more adventurous.  So much so that for some while I have been designing my own creations BUT my latest is proving to be either too ambitious or I am not feeling it.  The design has been on and off  for months now and we are having a battle of wills whereby it tells me I am useless at putting stitches together and I scream back that it is too touchy, the project yells back at me that I have no idea about tension.  At this point I strop off in a huff and fling said project into a corner.  Until I hear it whimpering and begging for attention again a few days later whereby we start our tirade of abuse towards each other.  Anyone else recognise this?  No!  Oh well, that's me all alone again ...

Starting well and I am sure I will
finish this design in no time

Using Rico cotton and loving the stitch definition

ARGHHHHHHH, and not for the first time on this design

Elsewhere in my life...

A quick dash into the capitol this week to sort
out a visa and spied this wonderful piece of graffiti art

In honour of Wimbledon I made
a Pimms Cake for the crochet class

And finally today is July 1st and the sun shone briefly this morning just so we could have a quick breakfast outside before the children had to dash to school...

The sun shone for the first time
in a long while, it called for waffles

Joining in with   Amy   sharing my Five with you this week

and hoping the sun stays with us now for the summer...

Wordpress update: 

It would appear that ALL my comments on any WordPress blog end up in SPAM.  This does not happen to any other blogging platform and so know that I will make comments on WP but that you may need to look and retrieve from SPAM.  I have tested this out with one WP blogger and this is the case, she retrieves my comment and then it does turn up on her blogs comments, but be aware, despite having retrieved it any subsequent comments I make still go to spam

 and she needs to retrieve them!  Such a PAIN! 

And so it continues...

27th May

Life continues no matter what.  Sometimes momentous news hits us and we wonder why the world does not just stand still and stop but it doesn't and it can't.  At other times I feel the world spins so fast that I'm running at a fast jogging pace just to try and keep up, those difficult moments when you wish you could fast forward a bit in your life and then finally there are those times in life when all seems to go swimmingly well...  Do you find the same?  Where are you in your life?  In our household we are all in different phases of the above and makes for a very interesting time let me tell you!

Exam fervour continues here with the youngest joining in this week and sitting his GCSE maths a year early, could be an interesting result, as is our tradition we had waffles before breakfast to wish him well and his older sister who had to sit two exams that day...

My mad as a hatter husband partook of a challenging and enduring sailing and fell running race that was non stop from noon last Friday until Monday evening of this week.  Even the organisers of the race were quoted on BBC radio,  which took place in Scotland, called the class that he entered as the 'nutters' who partake!  It was dangerous and I am tired from being able to track them on line.  A tracking device that was on the boat and then had to be on the runners as they ran through the night up and down Scottish highland mountains was refreshed every half an hour and so consequently I refreshed every hour even during the night, I may not have been in the race but I sure am tired!  More on this race later in the week with stunning Scottish scenery.

Brimble with many in the fleet ahead and some behind

We have a wonderful flower show here in the UK every May called the RHS Chelsea flower
show and as often as I can I attend.  I have very dear friends who have a stand there every year and this year they won Best Trade stand in the show, so proud of  David Harber    But did you spot and see the knitted and crocheted poppies?  It was hard to miss if you live in the UK or indeed in the Antipodes.  I have been a liker of the Facebook page  5000Poppies for a while and have watched in fascination as a group of people have from the small beginnings of 120 handmade poppies created in memory for respect and remembrance have now had makers from all around the world produce over 300 000 poppies which have lined and carpeted the flower show.  What an amazing and glorious sight and a genius way to keep the stories of war alive.  I've been quite emotional about it all.

RHS Chelsea Flower show

As always in my week there has been my own making and the coming together of ideas with the talented Phil from http://thetwistedyarn.com/  Do you know her, do you follow her blog?  Her writing is second to none, she has a way with words that make me titter and sometimes even guffaw out loud, she really is rather talented and she's not bad at knitting and crochet either, hee hee. 

Crochet: An idea begins to come to fruition

And finally there has been much comfort food in our house this week and as requested by my daughter we had Toad in the Hole one night.  Oh yes real toads, take a look... ;)

Toad in the hole, can you spot any?

Joining in, sharing my five photos of the week,  as always with Amy,

pop along and see what others are sharing today.

 

 

 

♥  Wishing you all nothing but good times  ♥

Humble half term antics

February 19th   

This year for the first time ever my husband lept out of bed last Sunday mumbling he had to dash downstairs as he'd left my Valentines present in the study. A slow silly grin began to appear on my face as I thought to myself wow, we've never exchanged presents before... 

I should have known and he swears he did not say present but that he had mumbled card and within a few minutes tea and coffee in hand he produced (for him) a beautifully newspaper wrapped gift...

Still grinning from ear to ear I began to open. He had gone to so much trouble. What have I done to deserve such a man. What was my gift-cum-card...

... an engraved parsnip!

An engraved heart With blue food coluring

A 'V' for Valentine

See I am loved and we both had a good giggle whilst drinking our morning cuppas in bed. Hope you all had an enjoyable day last Sunday too. Oh how he still makes me laugh all these years on. 

What else has half term produced this year, well as always a much nicer me. I become less frantic and calmer not being ruled by the clock and the beginning of the week was taken up with dentist and eye appointments but with those out of the way the week has gone from strength to strength. 

My latest glass fusing antics this week have led me to decide I am going to produce an entire cake plate range throughout the year. My first cake plate I present to you now. 

Plate before firing

...and after firing

The inspiration to cake plate making was my
glass cake dome, it needed some 'wow', I think I may have found it

The week saw us also jump on a plane to visit mamma in Norway and despite the extremely mild winter the south of Norway have experienced this year, the weather gods were on our side and it snowed for us. We donned the skis and managed some sledging too all in the dark. Adds a frisence of excitement. 

Apologies for bad quality photos the
camera phone did not like the conditions!

Fun in the snow

And what would our visit be without eating traditional food, it has to be waffles as far as the children are concerned. Being with bestemor means they are spoilt and why not?

Home made waffles as soon as they were
off the waffle iron they were eaten,
I couldn't manage to photograph a whole stack!

Home made Bestemor strawberry jam
on some and chocolate spread on others!

And what would half term be for me without a little crafting... I finally began and finished the Shaun the sheep hat after a false start. Having begun the hat I frogged it not liking the yarn I had chosen and opted to buy the correct colour rather than using from my stash. I'm pretty pleased with the result although I feared it was too small half way through and thought it might need to be frogged again. But I continued my heart not really in it as I thought I was wasting my time. However I have been rewarded with a perfect fit. Just hope my husband likes it when he recieves it tomorrow.

I know it's half term when I'm knitting in bed in the morning

Beginning to grow but looks a tad on the small size!

Shaun the sheep beginning to shape up nicely

Apart from fastening off, it's done!

Ta-dah!

Joining in with  Amy  for the first anniversary of the beginning of 5 on Friday, do pop along and see what others are sharing and remember Amy has a giveaway this week too!


I must apologise for not having responded to all comments from last week yet, I will reply to each and everyone as I always do, but am a tad behind this week, sorry again!
Please do not let that stop you chatting with me, I love it more than you know x

Wishing you all a fun filled week ahead

xxxx

What do we want... half term WAFFLES

28th October 


Waffles in the  making Norwegian style

This half term we are staying put so to speak.  Life is often lived in the fast lane and there is little time to spend at home doing nothing.  Other than a couple of day trips out, the plan is to be home bodies and enjoy doing nothing!  (Believe that and you believe anything, the number of new projects I have started this week is ridiculous! but the good intention was there.)

So to sweeten the half term staycation, I promised my lot that I would make waffles and lots of them at that.  So far we have had waffles for breakfast two mornings this week already.

So what are waffles?  Waffles are leavened batter heated between two iron plates with an engraved/raised pattern to provide the final product with shape and impression.  See above photograph.

In our household there is only one type and it comes in a heart shape.  But many know waffles as the American favourite used with maple syrup and called Belgium waffles.  To us, these are not waffles, sorry, but they are not!  These 'waffles' are large in size with deep grid pockets and the batter uses yeast.  They are incredibly popular and when out and about in the UK and America, these are generally what you are served.  True waffles, not that I am biased at all you understand, come from Scandinavia.  Scandinavian waffles are heart shaped and have a thin, easy to hold in one hand size about them.  They tend to be made with sugar and are sweet, although there are several savoury versions of the batter available too.



Nothing beats a stack of Norwegian waffles


Whenever I am not sure what to make, waffles are our families firm stand by, they are quick and easy and as mentioned can be made sweet or savoury.  If the children have a class party day, they always request waffles to take into school.

I do not follow a recipe anymore as I have made them so often over the decades, wow, decades, that makes me feel old, but it is true, I have been making these for about 30 years and eating them for a lot longer than that! So I tend to go by look and I add a bit more here and a bit more there. As a rule of thumb, I make the mixture quite a bit thicker than you would pancake mixture.  So you can use the ingredients below and just make sure the batter is thicker than pancake mixture and there is no need to measure, just go with your gut feeling, or alternatively below are a couple of recipes.  I have successfully substituted the flour with gluten/wheat free flour before and although the mixture looks different, the taste is fairly similar, I know my friends with these intolerance enjoy the waffles.


Basic waffle mixture


Waffles best served with crème fraiche
and home grown raspberries

♥  500g plain flour
♥  250g icing sugar or 150g sugar (we prefer icing sugar)
♥  1l milk
♥  3 eggs
♥  150g melted butter
♥  optional cardamom powder or vanilla essence


Melt the butter and then add all ingredients together and mix till smooth.  I use an electric whisk.  Leave to stand for 30 minutes in an ideal world.  Often the children cannot wait and the mixture only stands for a few minutes, but it is best to wait if you can.

Heat waffles iron, spray for the first waffle with oil to prevent from sticking, but this should not be necessary after the first spray.  the melted butter in the batter should prevent sticking to the sides of the iron.

Each waffles takes only a minute or two at most to cook. 

Continue cooking until all the batter is used up and serve.

Any topping work well, but traditionally in Norway in the summer months you would serve with cream and sliced strawberries.  but anything goes!


Sour cream waffles 

♥  600ml sour cream
♥  1 tsp salt
♥  1 tsp baking powder
♥  220g plain flour
♥  200ml water


Mix all the ingredients together until smooth and let stand for about 10 minutes before cooking.

These are savoury waffles and work well with smoked salmon and crème fraiche, thin omelette on top of them, sliced meat etc.  Anything that you fancy really!  These make great canapés and just that little bit different!



No waffles maker, no worries. 
Make drop scones instead!

Don't have a waffle iron?  There is a way... 

You can now buy waffle irons here in the UK, so I suspect you can in most countries, however you can still use the above recipes  and make drop scones on a griddle or in a frying pan instead.  Make the mixture as normal, but instead drop some mixture onto a very hot griddle or frying pan, sprayed with a thin coating of oil and cook for a minute or two on each side.  Add toppings as desired! 




I am sure we will be having waffles again for breakfast tomorrow, after all isn't half term about having fun and enjoying yourself?

Heart shaped waffles



♥ Enjoy half term everyone ♥

Norwegian hearts

5th December




Even the kitchen Christmas
curtains have hearts ♥

Both in Norway and at home, Christmas time is filled with red hearts, they are just everywhere.  No one really knows why but it is assumed that it is to do with love and warmth and welcoming of family and friends within the home.  The Norwegians fiercely defend that the 'woven' heart comes from Norway but the Danes and Germans also claim rights.  In fact whenever you search for woven hearts on the web, Danish hearts flourish!  The first known woven heart was made by Hans Christan Andersen and can be found in the museum dedicated to him in Denmark, it was made in 1860, but it is known that they were made long before that.

More hearts in my kitchen
♥

All Norwegian school children can make woven paper hearts and they have always been made to adorn the Christmas tree and are filled with nuts and raisins.  The hearts are made into little baskets and are hung on the Christmas tree.  I have made them for as long as I can remember and have taught many children and adults alike along the way.  They can be fiddly to do, but once you have the hang of it, can be very addictive.  I prefer with most things to keep it simple and make only the straight plain weave hearts, but over the years people have become very inventive and skilful managing to include the pattern with the weaving or weaving with curved edges or ones of different widths, this really is taking it to another level.  These woven hearts if filled and put on the tree quite often do not survive from year to year, they are only made out of paper after all.  It becomes another tradition to spend an afternoon or evening making these each Christmas season.

This is a great thing to do this year, take a coffee break have a go yourself and then maybe invite a friend or two or your children and have some paper fun. Anyone can do this and you will have a piece of your own Scandinavian homemade decoration.  In Norway, you can buy glossy paper especially to do this, called 'glanspapir', but you can try it with any paper of medium strength and pliable.  Decoupage paper might be good or even lovely good quality wrapping paper.  I have also made them with card and used them just on the mantelpiece rather than as hanging baskets too.  In case you have not come across it, there is a fantastic online shop, (they do have retail shops dotted around) and are found in most major towns in Norway, they are erm, well, Swedish, but hey ho!  Check them out at http://www.pandurohobby.co.uk/ 

A couple of good instructional web pages to visit to create your own woven hearts are:


Woven paper hearts with a crocheted heart bunting below
♥.

http://craftandcreativity.com/blog/2011/12/08/flatadehjarta/  SCROLL DOWN and the instructions will be in English too!

or

http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Special_Occassions/Valentines_Day/wovenheartbasket/wovenheartbasket.html


But why stick to paper woven hearts when you can make a knitted one I say?  I just love this, although it does not look quite so good and becomes a little baggy if I put anything in it, so it is more of a hanging piece of decoration.  For a similar pattern for those of you into knitting this Christmas, have a look at:     (I think actually this might be the original pattern!)

http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=3917&lang=us

or a crochet version, I might try this next, again, another to add to my wish list of things to create!

 http://alipyper.com/2012/12/03/free-danish-heart-crochet-pattern/



In our front room where we snuggle down on a winters evening in front of the wood-burning stove which chucks out an incredible amount of heat, we have three wall lights that over the Christmas period cry out for being adorned, so what do I give them?  Hearts of course.  These were a very quick make and can be sewn either by hand or by machine.  Simple and effective don't you think?  At the moment I have some hanging up in the hallway too, just to add a splash of Christmas along the common thoroughfare.

Most Norwegians had only home made decorations on their trees, but as with all things in life we move forward?!!? Many have now beautiful shop bought adornments, I however, cannot bring myself to do that in its entirety.  So we have about 90% homemade on our tree and then about eight bought baubles of glass and glitter.  What are our home made decorations, can't you guess yet?  Hearts of course, red hearts!  Lots of hearts, many hearts.  These hearts are made out of trolldeig or as the English would call it, salt dough.  In the twenty years I have been married, we are only on our second set of home made trolldeig hearts.



Trolldeig (salt dough)

1 part salt: 2 parts flour: 1 part water
1 table spoon of cooking oil


Mix the flour and salt well in a bowl.  This is essential to ensure the salt will dissolve and allow for a smooth dough.

Next,in a separate container mix the oil and the water together, then pour over the dry ingredients.

♥ 



Knead well for 10-15 minutes.   This too is important to ensure a smooth dough.  The dough should now be quite firm, a good test to see if it is ready is to roll it into a ball, if it retains it shapes after 3 minutes the dough is ready. 

♥



You can at this point add food colouring to dye your dough, I do not do this and prefer to paint them with acrylic paint once they are cooled. 

♥



Place it for best results in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for at least one hour before rolling out. 



When ready create your Christmas tree decorations or any other shape either 2D or 3D.  Remember for hanging decorations to make a hole, I use a straw, to allow for the thread for hanging! 

♥

Oven temperature should be about 80 Celsius. (175 Fahrenheit).  Depending of the thickness of your decorations and or 3D figures, drying time in the oven can be from 2 hours to 24!  Keep an eye on them, dry them on a pizza tray with holes in to allow for quicker drying.  Once cooled, decorate!

                                                                               





                                                                                                                             

So What else can we find in heart shapes in a Scandinavian Christmas house, umm...food!

Waffles with locally caught salmon, home smoked of course accompanied by freshly made fragrant pesto sauce, of course in the traditional heart shape! 

Let's not too forget the pepperkake, has anyone made them yet?  Would love to hear if you have and better still to see some photos too!

1st Sunday in Advent

1st December

My kitchen is not normally laid out like this, but thought I would
      show you some of my kitchen crockery.  More on this in a later post.

After both children having friends over for a sleepover, they finally trudged down the stairs in pj's to a warm (underfloor heating was on) Christmassy kitchen.  One of mine greeted me cheerfully with a, "Happy 1st of December," whilst the other muttered, "Oh my god, it's red!"  My children have always been chalk and cheese.

Normally I would make waffles for breakfast, but after having a late night myself, we had a quicker version; drop pancakes, smothered in a variety of banana, blueberries and nutella, and occasionally all together!

 Advent star in the front room window.  Warming from
inside and outside. Welcomes us home on dark nights
      and lights up the room inside with a gentle glow. 
Love it.

So what is Advent?  For me, it is the beginning of my absolute favourite time of year, of waiting, anticipation, home making, cossetting, log fires and brisk walks with family.  In reality of course, life is rushed from one 'must to' to the next 'almost forgot to do that' moment.  Life is still at full pace with the added rush of the lead up to Christmas, but do you know what, I LOVE it.

So what is Advent?  Christians see it as a season to remember the first coming of Christ, but it also is a time to direct the mind and heart to await Christs second coming at the end of time!  Therefore it is thought of as a period of devout and joyful expectation.  I can associate with that last sentence, and that is how I too see Advent, A JOYFUL TIME.






Now looking tired and in need of TLC,
on  my 'to do' list in the New Year,
to ensure it will last for years to come.

Advent begins on the closest day to November 30th, which is why it has a different date each year.  The Germans were the first to create a known advent calender, handmade of course, in Hamburg in 1851.  Well mine is not so old, nor as traditional as the beautiful paper calenders you can still find in the shops, but I did make mine when I was 16, some, oh, so, many years ago and instead of filling it up for myself, the children eagerly await to open this Advent calender. 



Close up of the calender cross stitched whilst at secondary
school. We were given the option of taking an extra exam,
to be completed in our own time.  It was art and design
and my whole theme was, you guessed it: Christmas!
 On the back of this calender it is felted and stitched with
various stitches to show different skills to the examiner,
something one would never normally do when making a project such as this.

It is traditional in Norway to make Advent calenders for children, shops sell premade paper bags beautifully numbered 1-24, ready for little goodies to be packaged up and hung on the calender.  Most years I manage to grab a set from my visits to Norway, but alas this year it was not to be.  So, I have hurriedly wrapped mine, having not tied them up in beautiful ribbon, but have hung them by safety pins, not quite the yummy mummy image I would like to create, but hey, I am living in the real world.  This year there has been a big focus in the paper in Norway, (link below) suggesting that some families spend £700 on the presents within the Advent calender!  I do not do that, however, it is an added expensive, but I am on the look out for suitable cheap and fun things all year round, occasionally, things are picked up for free at events, such as key rings and pens.  Where there is a will, there is a way!
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10140741

Poorly photographed, another on my wish list:
a photography course!

When I was first married I felt bad that I had such a large Advent calender, that I made my husband his very own, and every year, we fill the little felt pockets with a tiny chocolate, it always used to be Quality Street but more latterly, Celebrations.  This tradition of counting down the days is fun for all and one I would not want to be without.




Both calenders are cross stitched, I went through quite a phase of it at one time and made a few Advent calenders for friends.  If I were to make one now, it would be in free hand machine embroidery, a new found love of mine.  If only there were more hours...

 

 Advent, means candles, purple not red and four of them, one new one to be lit each Sunday.  This is something we have always done, another fine way of counting down.  Why purple though?  Because it is a colour that symbolises royalty throughout the ages.  So out comes the purple table runner, one year I really should make my own (another wish list item) and the purple candles which were   bought this year in Norway, whilst visiting a very dear family friend, we popped into the local candle making factory, and as I could not choose between the colours, decided to have a mix.  I have since learnt that the third Sunday in Advent, should not be a purple candle, but a pink one, see the below photo!  Apparently the colour represents the shift during Advent from one of repenting towards celebrating. 

After lighting the candle tonight, another newish Norwegian tradition, that began probably 15 or so years ago, is to watch an Advent TV series on Telly.  Each night throughout December families sit together and watch Blafjell, Bluemountain.  It is a lovely end to a hectic day, fifteen minutes, of watching a Nordic scene played out beautifully.  I asked the children this morning, if they were too old for it now, but they both promptly replied, it wouldn't be Advent without our Blafjell.  I LOVE TRADITIONS.

Enjoy Advent everyone, I know we will with so much to look forward to.

Now off to make some cookie mixture for tomorrow...

Advent candles ready to be lit this evening.