Summary of 2010...

Let's see... What happened, and what did I do last year? I'll start with the crafting and patterns I've made. There are quite a lot... I've made six sets of Cute Little Dudes!

Forest Dwellers vol. 1

Forest Dwellers vol. 2

Forest Dwellers vol. 3

Happy Pets vol. 1

Christmas Dudes vol. 1

Christmas Dudes vol. 2

Then there are the Great Big Bugs, which - as someone correctly pointed out in a comment last night - aren't really bugs at all! True bugs belong to another order of insects than the ones I've made; Bumblebee, Ladybug, Dragonfly, Dung Beetle and Fly:

And then there are two arachnids; Spider and Scorpion:

I've also made a few free crochet patterns, plus I've participated in a number of fun amigurumi CALs during the year :) I've learned a new craft: tatting. I've become totally hooked and have even made a new blog for it! I've even got a new tattoo to celebrate two very important things in my life - crafting and Bollan:

During the spring term I decided to quit the university for a while, partly because I  didn't feel like keep trying to get an expensive education that had no real job opportunities for me, and partly because I realized that I'd lost my motivation and wasn't really good at it anymore. So I only took two exams of the four I'd originally signed up for, and I didn't bother to sign up for any more for the fall semester. 

This summer I had a taste of work life, and I found out (again) that I'm not made for working in social occupations. The cleaning job I had for four weeks suit me just fine :) I then decided to start studying again, but something completely different - biology! I honestly think that it's something I'll be happy & comfortable working with later. I just have to get through a few mandatory math courses first (eek!)...

As for my personal life, well, I guess it has been as usual. Since I dropped the university I haven't had the study support that I normally get, and my boyfriend hasn't had a steady income either, so the lack of money has been quite straining. Hopefully that changes when I start studying again! Don't know if everyone supports my choice though, I feel like my boyfriend still wants me to finish my bachelor in linguistics, and he doesn't really believe that I'll get through the biology either. He says I quit on everything that doesn't go my way right away. Blah :/ I'm not the most optimistic person, but his attitude sure doesn't help. 

Anything else? Can't remember, so probably nothing important :p 

Home again :)

My summer holiday is now officially over, and I'm back home in my apartment. The dreaded busride turned out to be quite nice this time. Not really sure what's happened, but I guess the bus routes have been changed or something, because now I only had to change buses once, and not in one of the places it used to be. And all my luggage was still with me! Yay :) Here's a better picture of all my stuff (the previous one was taken with my phone):

Because of the weight, that black bag and the big suitcase are now ready for the scrapyard... Oh, by the way, more than half of that pile is YARN! Some stuffing and finished amis as well, but mostly yarn :) I guess you can imagine Dung Beetle getting tangled up in all that, with the Velcro on her legs! She'd stick to everything and frizzle up my yarn... So I solved the problem by putting her in a plastic bag. Not the most pleasant picture! But I can assure you she survived the trip and is now happily reunited with her dung ball :)

Bollan, Glyptodon and I were all very happy to come home, but I think Piggen and the kids were just as excited! They couldn't wait to show the family pictures and tell all the stories of their summer adventures :) (I will tell you all about it in a later post, I promise!)

Yesterday I got a lot of things done, but I'm still working on my CV and I haven't applied for any jobs yet... So many details to include! I don't even have all my records of school and previous jobs, so I'm not sure what to do about that... Looked all over the apartment today, but can't find them :( But at least I got to buy math and biology books yesterday. The biology book is so cute! It has a honey bee on the cover, because the book is called Bi 1, which is short for 'biology', but it's also a pun on the Norwegian word for 'bee' ("bi", even though "bie" is most common these days), plus the ring around the '1' sort of makes it read 'bio'. Very clever on so many levels. I think if I'd been high school age I would be embarrased for the people making this book, grownups weren't supposed to have humor back then :p Almost finished reading the first chapter already, and I love it! This is definitely what I want to do :)

Tomorrow I'll go out and talk to some councellor about jobs and financial support, because I won't get payed for the last week of work until the middle of September. That's a long time without food! Well... if my blog doesn't get updated in a while (within a week or two, I think - you can survive for a long time as long as you have something to drink!), I'll propably have starved to death or something :p

Bags are packed...

And I'm sort of ready to go home to my apartment. But only sort of. I hate traveling alone, especially by bus. Have tons of luggage and I have to change buses two or three times. Always worried I won't get everything with me, or that someone else will take my bags :/ They are locked and tagged, but still... And then the buses are so crowded this time of year, all the students coming to town at the beginning of the semester. At least I'll have things to pass the time on the ten-hour bus ride. Tatting shuttles wound with thread for a new project, yarn  & stuffing to make some Bug legs, and best of all, my new laptop has batteries to last at least six hours of music and movies :D Perhaps I even get to sleep some of the way, that will shorten the trip a lot.

But, when I finally get there with my 30+ kilos of stuff, I have to drag it with me virtually uphill all the way from the bus (can't afford a taxi on a Sunday), and the forcasts say it will be 24 degrees C and bright sunshine! Whew, think I'm going to die... At least Bollan and Glyptodon are anxious to go! Wish I could be carried home in a bag, too :) (Um, you know what I mean!)

When I get home I need to put together a proper CV and start applying for jobs. Really scary stuff. Worried I can only get crappy jobs, or that I won't be able to do the ones I do get. Maybe I can't find anything at all and end up on welfare or something... I know I can probably get a job as a cleaning lady fairly easily,  but I'm not sure if I want to have that as my first option. The cleaning itself is not that bad, but I've become allergic to the gloves that are used :( I've tried wearing cottong gloves inside the latex ones, but that only helps a little... 

Plus I'm no longer a university student. Was going to take a year off anyway when I couldn't begin a Master in Arabic this fall, but now I've decided to give up on languages & linguistics pretty much for good. It's all very exciting, and I'm pretty good at learning new languages, but I've come to realize that I'll never find a job with an education like that. I wouldn't survive as a teacher, getting a PhD also includes teaching and stuff, and that's pretty much all there is as far as I can see right now...

So, I've come up with a new plan. Since I'll be working for a year now anyway, I can just as well spend the time doing something useful, like studying! :p I've decided that if I go back to the university I'll study biology. To qualify for that I need to take some math and/or biology classes at high school level. I sent in an application to a school which has adult classes in the afternoon, but they were all full, so my only option is to try doing this by myself. Signed up for an exam in math and the beginning course in biology, and we'll see how it goes. Off to buy books tomorrow, and hopefully I get to spend most of next week reading biology :) 

Well, time to have some breakfast before I go! Ugh...

Changes :)

Today I decided it was time for some blog redecorating again. I started with Bollan's blog, which took me about two hours to get right, even with the new and easier Blogger tool feature thingy (I've had a glass of wine and can't remember what it's called!)... Finally I was able to give her blog three columns and space enough for both the gadgets and the blog posts! I still have some minor things to add, but they probably won't change things too much :) Oh, and by the way, can you guess what the background image on her blog is? I haven't added it myself, it was already in the default backgrounds added by Blogger :D

While I was at it I decided to change my own blog as well, but not as much as Bollan's. I've recently developed a thing for the color purple (not the movie, though it's wonderful and you should see it!), so when I found this background while searching for something for Bollan, I just had to have it. So there :)

I think my pattern blog is up next, but I think those changes will have to wait a little while. Tomorrow I'm going back out to my grandmother's, and while I'm there I can't really do much on the internet... Some time next weekend I'm going back to where I live during the school semesters, so I'll have to catch up with my online life then. See ya :) *waves goodbye*

Two CALs and a "feature" :)

As you may have noticed by the links in my right sidebar I'm participating in two CALs this summer :) I've already shown you the beginning of my owl for Itsy Bitsy Spiders Great Owl Crochet-along. I finished the owl a while ago, and I made even more changes to the little bird: added embroidered eyelashes and feathers on the belly :)

Now the crocheting part of the Owl CAL is over (it ended on Sunday, I think), but there is going to be a swap with some of the finished owls. Signing up for the swap was optional, so I'm keeping my owl, but I really enjoy seeing lots of different owls together :) Click HERE to see Karla's post about the birds. Makes me want to make lots more owls and have them roosting on a shelf in my apartment :) I'm sure Bollan wouldn't mind! Speaking of The Great Boll: she was actually mentioned in a blog post along with my owl for the CAL :) She's so proud! Even Bollan's own blog was mentioned :) We are both very grateful to be featured on Itsy Bitsy Spider's blog!

You see, The Itsy Bitsy Spider has this Flickr group where people are encouraged to post their latest finished crochet projects, and she will then pick some of them once a week to be featured on her blog. You can read more about this HERE. Ooh, and guess what, I've been featured again! With my Great Big Dung Beetle :) 

Thank you very much for your kind words about my Bug, I really appreciate it! Bollan and I are both very happy :D

The second CAL I'm in is PlanetJune's Summer CAL, where you can crochet either alpacas or a pot of African Violets. I am of course making the alpaca! I've started the CAL a little late, because I was so sure my mother had some alpaca yarn in her stash, but I couldn't find it (not in the right colors, anyway - unless I want to make a blue one!), so today I finally went out and bought a ball of lovely light brown alpaca yarn :) Expensive, though... So far I've made the ears, muzzle and head, and was ready to assemble the face, but then I discovered that I don't have suitable safety eyes :( I have the right size, but the posts are both too thick and too long (and too hard to cut off), so I'll have to come up with a different solution... No pictures of the alpaca yet, but I'll post some as soon as I've made some real progress - I have until August 31st to finish it :)

Shiny new things :)

First of all, I got my new laptop today! So far I'm very happy with it, it has Windows 7 and everything :D No more Vista for me, yay! It's so tiny, it's pretty much the right size for Bollan! Perfect for posting her little tweets :)

Sorry for the bad photo quality, I took the picture with my phone, which isn't exactly brand new any more... But it has bluetooth, and so does my computer, so I can finally transfer all the pictures from my phone :) I've been wanting to do that for a long time!

Second, I also got new shoes today :D I started training for my new job this morning (the job I'm supposed to have this summer, the other one was just a substitute thing), and after almost five hours of walking and standing and cleaning things my feet hurt so bad I can hardly walk :/ It's especially bad under the heel and the part behind the big toe. My right big toe has been numb for days, I think I've been walking on a nerve or something... I thought I'd get over it from the week at the other job, because I'm not used to that much walking after seven years as a lazy student, but it's only gotten worse, so today I finally gave in and decided to get some more comfortable shoes. The ones I have are not at all uncomfortable - I think they are the best shoes I've ever had, but the soles are not very soft, so I guess that's bad... Anyway, I just wanted to post the picture of my new shoes beside my new laptop - to give you an idea of how tiny it is (or how large my feet are!), and again I apologize for the quality:

Back in town

For a little while, anyway.. Just enough time to let you know I'm still alive, upload a bunch of photos and write a few posts :)

The past week or so I've been staying with my grandmother. The plan was to help out with a lot of gardening and stuff, and to paint all the garden furniture white (we're tired of a very boring green), but the weather's been bad most days, so very little of this has actually been done :/ On Tuesday we did manage to dig up some stone tiles across the lawn that just didn't look good anymore. I carried the tiles away and used them to make a path and a small step up to my gran's new tool shed. Bollan and Glyptodon tried to reach the door, but even together they are a bit too short. Fortunately my grandmother is a little taller :)

Carrying all those tiles were hard work, and the next day I was so stiff and sore all over I could barely move! But the work was worth it. We dug up a new flowerbed and used the turf to fill in the gaps from the stone tiles, and voila - the lawn is all pretty again AND my gran has a new place to put even more flowers :)

Then it was rainy again for several days, until Sunday and yesterday, when I could finally start painting a couple of garden benches. There are lots more to paint, so I'll have work to do all weekend when I'm not preparing for the fair. Have I told you about that? Hm.. Well, it's a fair. Don't know what else to call it. There will be food and drink to buy, an art exhibit by local people (paintings, sculpture and photography), crafty people selling their stuff, and there will be some entertainment. Among other things there'll be a play, which I have two different parts in. Very scary. Thankfully we're not supposed to speak, because everything's been recorded beforehand :) Most of this will happen outside at the harbor on Sunday (want to keep some privacy, so I won't tell you excactly where it is - it's where I come from and it's a pretty small place). Since I haven't been outside much I've had plenty of time to finish the stuff I'm going to sell at the fair :) Here it is:

I don't count on selling all these things, but it's good to be prepared :) I have have so many different things that even if I only sell one of each, I'll still be half-way to a new laptop! Yay :D Tomorrow afternoon I'm going back to my grandmother's again and I probably won't return to civilization until the fair is done on Sunday evening...

Before I go...

...to visit my grandmother for the weekend (where the internet is horrible and I probably won't use it much), I thought I'd give you a little preview of some upcoming patterns :) After I got my new job yesterday I was in such a good mood that I made almost two new Dudes and started a third! Here's a mallard duck and a beaver:

I still haven't decided if they will be in the same set, so I'm not sure if a pattern will be ready over the weekend, but I'll do my best :) I'll also try to finish the next Great Big Bug for Tuesday, which will be a fly! A housefly, not a blowfly :) I think flies are fascinating, though I don't want them near my food, I love to watch them groom themselves. I have some other stuff to finish as well, plus I really want to begin my owl for The Great Owl CAL :D

Ooh, and I've also stitched up one of my many tiny cross stitch kits! It took me just a few hours to finish - instant satisfaction :D Naturally I started with one of the hedgehogs:

His nose/face is one stitch shorter than it should be, but I think that only made him cuter, so I didn't correct it :)

Well, it's past four in the afternoon, and I think my uncle will be her to pick me up soon, so I'd better finish packing. I can't believe how much stuff I have to bring just for a short weekend! A small suitcase full of yarn and WIPs, my backpack with more yarn, stuffing, a bottle of wine and my laptop, a handbag with even more yarn, a shopping bag with food, and a little laundry that I haven't had time to do... *whew* But Bollan is already packed and ready to go, and that's the most important thing :)

No pattern Tuesday :(

Well, today was Tuesday (I'm going to bed in a few minutes - first day at work tomorrow, wish me luck!), so I should have posted a new Bug pattern. Sadly, that didn't happen, and I'm guessing it won't for a while. You see, converting my Word documents into PDF isn't as easy as it sounds. First of all, I use Word2007, which is new and fancy and I love it :) But, since it's so new and fancy very few other people have it, like the library or my mother's office. Which means I have to save my documents as Word97/2003 to be able to read it on other computers. Second, I don't have a PDF converter. I could do that in the library, but then my formatting will be screwed and the fonts I use will be changed. I know this because I've tried.  I've also tried some free online converters, but they only screw things up even worse. 

So, the solution I've used so far is to e-mail the files to my aunt (who is a journalist and has bought the complete Adobe-thingy through her work with a HUGE discount - it would otherwise cost thousands of money), and then she sends the finished PDFs back to me. Simple enough, right? Nooo... Today I e-mailed my aunt my latest pattern, and she called me back a few hours ago and told me her computer (laptop) had crashed. Completely. Won't start or shut down (sounds weird, but that's how it is), so she has to get it fixed, and that will take at least two weeks :(

So unless I find some other solution there will be no new patterns for a while :( However, this doesn't mean that I'll stop working on new patterns! I just means that I'll have several new patterns out when things are in order again :) Today's pattern was going to be a Great Big Spider! Can't believe I have actually crocheted a spider, I'd told myself I'd never do that... But I got a request to make one, so here it is :)

Unlike the other bugs, this guy is not based on any particular species of spider, since I'm totally unable to google images for inspiration! Heh, it's really that bad... So it's sort of a generic tarantula, with that shell-like thing on its back and a furry butt :) Because the anatomy of spiders is different from insects (insects have three main "parts" while spiders only have two), I have attached all the legs on the front part of the critter, and the eyes are placed in the front. To me, spiders really are little monsters, so I gave him neon green eyes to make him a little (more) scary. He's a green-eyed monster :p

This is the first time I have done a pattern that has color changes in the middle, which raises the level of difficulty to intermediate. Don't worry though, it's only a few stitches on the back end of the spider, and you can skip the patterning altogether if you feel like it. I have also tried to make it as easy as possible by not putting the color changes and the decreases on the same round :)

I must admit that I'm still not sure how I feel about this guy, he almost creeps me out a little, and while working on him I've had more spider dreams than usual :/ Bollan seems to like him, though, she has always wanted her very own spider!

The beginning of my summer holiday :)

I know I've been ranting a lot about how busy I've been the past week, so I thought I'd make a little post about it :)

On Thursday last week my mother came to visit me and my boyfriend in Bergen. The next day I had my final exam in an Egyptology course. I think I did well :) Afterwards we went out to celebrate with fancy dinner at one of our favorite places.

Saturday I baked a ton of bread while my mother went shopping, and we had bread, cheese and wine while we watched the Eurovision Song Contest finale in the evening. 

Sunday we visited the botanical garden for a little while before we went to see the new Robin Hood movie. I liked it a lot. It's definitely not "men in tights", but it's also very different from the Kevin Costner version. Darker, dirtier and with more chaimail armor :)

Monday was the day we'd been waiting for. The Guns N' Roses concert in Bergen! We warmed up with lunch/dinner at the best burger place in town, and then we went to the show. The warm-up band just left the stage as we arrived, and then we waited for two hours... It was so hot in the hall that I was nearly extatic every time someone walked past me and created a little breeze! My feet and back hurt really bad, but when the band finally came on stage it was all worth it! :) 

They kept going for a little more than two hours (which was a little short compared to the other shows on this tour), but it was still great :) The show ended with fireworks, confetti, and this is how the floor looked after it was all over:

I spent most of Tuesday packing up my stuff to go home. And I have a lot of stuff! This time I only packed clothes and no books or other stuff, but I still needed to bring a lot of yarn and two bags of stuffing, since that is practically unavailable where I come from. I filled a small bag with finished amigurumis to be sold this summer, and half the rest of my luggage is just yarn! It's a little insane :)

My boyfriend stayed behind in the apartment, and my mother and I took the bus home on Wednesday morning. I slept most of the way, and didn't do half the crocheting I had planned. When we arrived home I discovered that my mother has killed my cactus! :( Poor Gustav... Another cactus, Carl, is on the floor behind the couch... (In case you wondered, they are named after the Swedish king!)

Yesterday my mother and I went to get new tattoos! Yay :) My mother got a tribal thingy on the back of her neck. I got a small one on my wrist of three Egyptian hieroglyphs meaning "Life, Prosperity, Health", and a larger one on my leg of Bollan! I thought this was a great opportunity to combine two of my favorite things, so I drew her knitting, with two balls of yarn and a crochet hook :D 

I drew Bollan myself, and the knitting and yarn I adapted from some clip-art I found online. I'm very happy with it!

I've talked to the lady who's going to be my boss this summer, and I don't have to start working until next week, so now I'm just enjoying the holiday and doing nothing except amigurumi :D

Sunshine whales :)

Today's the last day of PlanetJune's Spring crochet-along, and I've finally finished a little herd of tiny whales :) I don't know why, but the yellow whale turned out a little smaller than the other two, even though I used the same yarn & hook...

I originally planned to make seven or eight tiny whales, one in every color of the rainbow, but time escaped me, and I only had time to make these three. So instead of Rainbow whales they became Sunshine whales :D 

Maybe I'll make the last four (or three, since I only have one shade of purple) later, but for now Bollan is happy playing with three of them :)