A gift for Ms. Fujiwara

Before leaving for Japan I made this for Hirokos mother - we would be staying at her place for quite some time and I wanted to thank her for her hospitality.
Please forgive me for the poor quality of the photos - I took the pictures two minutes before leaving and the sun wasn't up yet.

Three balls of Arwetta, a dpn size 3.0 mm and approx. two weeks of knitting.

Claudia Evilla by Ruth Sørensen

I began knitting this skirt some 3-4 months ago. The designer, Ruth Sørensen, chose Evilla yarn, which is much like Kauni, which is what I chose. I followed the pattern to the letter using needles size 3.5 mm. And Kauni is such an interesting yarn; at first it seems stiff and itchy but once it's been turned into a garment it's smooth and soft. I used around 200 g for this skirt.

Japan - I love you

Moe and I went with our dear friends, Jeremy, Hiroko and their son Tristan, to Japan. They left Denmark two weeks before us; they had family reunions to attend to, and we couldn't afford four weeks away from work. But during the two weeks we stayed in Japan we had the most fabulous time ever!! We visited a million places, saw temples, neon lights, weird food, strange costums and enjoyed every minute of it.

Japanese food - I don't know what any of it is...

Jeremy and I in Tokyo



Tokyo



The temple where Tristan finally had his temple-blessing-thingy done. Sorry, I don't know what it's called, and Hiroko didn't offer much help when I asked her ;)

And for those of you who might think that the Japanese are reserved and controlled at all times, well, let me say this: I have never ever felt so relaxed and enjoyed the company of strangers so much as I did in Japan. I love the Japanese for:

not shouting in the street
not letting their rubbish lying around in the street
being polite at all times
being cheerful
making wonderful food
for being considerate at all times
etc., etc., etc.

I want to go back - Moe is dreaming of a science fiction-like gate to Tokyo; you just go through straight to Tokyo. I'm not one to blame him :)

Socks for sale!

One of my mother's colleagues asked, if I would knit socks for her. And I thought 'what the heck...'

Arwetta yarn, needles 2.5 mm, no pattern as such.

Socks for my roomie

At work I share an office with Ulla. We have so much fun together (our boss, who sits in the office next door often smiles and shakes her head at us ;)

Ulla's feet are always cold, which means I have to listen to her complaints about it! Warm wollen socks must be the answer to that problem :)

Zauberball sock yarn, needles 2.5 mm.
Ulla was surprised and pleased when I gave them to her; she told our co-workers just what a brilliant person and colleague she is and that it finally paid off! ;)

Ella Funt

One day in October I decided to go 'shopping' in my own stash, and in it I found one of my favorite yarns; the Lana Grossa Cool Wool 2000 - 100% merino wool. I love it. And the colour range is incredible! I had some denim blues, a few greens and some other balls of Cool Wool that didn't go with anything. So I bought a few extra balls of yarn.

To begin with I didn't have a plan as such. I just knew I wanted to make something for Tristan, and since cardigans seem to be a lot more practical than jumpers at his age, I thought a cardigan with a round yoke would be a suitable thing to make. Searching through Ravelry I came across Ella Funt.

I made it a wee bit longer compared to what the pattern dictated - and I'm glad I did.

Moe's sister had a baby

And of course that meant knitting! I didn't have much time. The baby, a girl, was born as we were on our way back from Japan. I managed to knit two baby hats in two days, which was all I had before we went to see both parents and baby.

Baby hat size 0-3 months, Arwetta yarn from Filcolana, needles 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm.


Baby hat size 3-6 months, Arwetta yarn from Filcolana, needles 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm.

Tristan in his cardigan

We - as in Tristan's parents, Tristan himself, Mogens and I - went to Japan. Great experience! I simply loved the country and everything in it, and I felt like staying there for months. The people we met, mainly Tristan's uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. were all so very friendly, and more than once I felt embarrassed that I couldn't repay their hospitality.

The first couple of days were spent in a log cabin that Tristan's granddad had built some ten years ago. I chased Tristan down and took a picture of him - actually, I took several, but since he kept running they all came out blurry :)