Crocheting along...

As fast as time permits :) The Secret crochet-along is now on part 3, which I haven't had time to make up yet, but here are last night's pictures of part 1 and 2 (head & hat):

The Groundhogalong is also coming along nicely. The head of the thing is finished, and it looks like it will be a very cute groundhog :) I used a safety nose instead of embroidering it on. Today or tomorrow I'll get some money, and I think I'll order some new eyes to make an albino groundhog as well! I just hope the eyes will get here in time...

I am also considering joining a block-a-month cal, a group I found on Ravelry. You basically choose between 3 different square/block patterns that are posted every month, and at the end of the year you should have enough squares to make a blanket or something. Sounds exciting :)

Back to school

Woke up to 20 degrees C in our apartment this morning, almost comfortable :p I think it's getting warmer outside as well, so I'm hoping the indoor temperature will rise to a survivable level during the next few days.

Yesterday I bought school books for more than 3000NOK (more than 350USD), the most I've ever paid for curriculum books in one semester (yes, books are insanely expensive in Norway), but then I haven't taken as many courses before. Two linguistics classes, an Egyptology class and a full semester of Latin :) I think all the courses adds up to about 2.5 regular semesters of credits... I'm going to be very busy this spring! This means that I probably won't post as often as before, partly because my studies aren't that exciting, but mainly because I won't have time to do much crafting to blog about.

Today I have tried to tidy up my yarn stash, but with little success... I have too much! Bags and boxes everywhere, and nowhere to store them :/ I think I'll give up the tidying and start working on my Latin vocabulary instead. First class tomorrow, yay :)

Freezing!

Got back to our apartment today, and it was just over 3 degrees Celsius inside! No time to unpack, just to turn all the heating on, and then we curled up under a pile of blankets, with hot water bottles (yes, plural!) and tea. We lit lots of candles and had a very quick dinner, and now I plan to stay in my chair until bedtime :) Poor Glyptodon had to rest on a hot water bottle, he was so cold. I still have both my alpaca hat and wristwarmers on, and I have trouble typing... It was actually warmer in the fridge! Now, a few hours later it's almost 8 degrees, practically summer :p

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, hopefully the apartment will have warmed up a bit more, and I'm going to buy lots of new school books. Always the most fun part of the semester :)

By the way, this is what it looks like when I go back from a holiday.

To start with, I pack very little yarn, a few balls only, because I know what I'll end up with... The strange thing is that I rarely need to buy colors that I know I already have, so I don't end up with several balls of colors that I use very little of. Quite practical :)

A new crochet-along!

I will be participating in the Groundhogalong, crocheting a super cute groundhog from the pattern by June Gilbank (PlanetJune). The cal ends on February 2nd, at Groundhog Day :) On that day the groundhogs come out of hibernation, and if they can see their own shadow, the winter lasts for another six weeks. If not, spring has arrived :)

The crochet-along has a group on Ravelry, found here, and a Flickr group found here. Buy the pattern and start crocheting :)

A night out and more yarn :)

Yesterday we were supposed to meet all the people we haven't had time to see earlier this holiday, so we went out early to have lots of time. First we stopped at the yarn store so I could buy some more yarn :) It's more or less the same colors that I bought last time, but this yarn is for felting (and the other yarn is superwash and won't felt). I need it for a new project I've started (surprise!), which I'll post about later :)

After that I parked my boyfriend at a cafe while I went looking for more craft stuff. I had put Tunisian crochet hooks on my Christmas wishing list, and when I didn't get any, I decided to buy them myself. This is what I ended up with: two metal afghan hooks and one bamboo, the tiniest circular needle I've ever seen (only 23cm/9.5 inches long, perfect if you can't use double-pointed needles to knit small things in the round) and a regular crochet hook with a bamboo handle. It cost me a bit, but I think it will be worth it :)

After the shopping we met two of the friends we've seen several times this holiday, the other ones couldn't come after all, they apparently had some trouble with their dog. I understand the dog is fine now, though :) I got a delayed birthday present, an RPG dice set with pretty purple dice with weird shapes :)

Haven't played with them yet, but the few rolls I made last night weren't exactly good... Maybe I'll donate them to The Boll, she likes to play :) I understand that all roleplayers are extremely superstitious, some won't let other people borrow or even touch their dice. I have no problem with other people using my dice, but I have found the ones that work for me (a mix of my own and by boyfriend's), and don't like to use other ones...

Anyway, after dinner we went to a pub where a friend of a friend works. It was very dark and very hot, but a cool place. I was of course crocheting all night on my new project, and ended up with some yarn ends. I gave a piece of string to my friend, and this is what he made of it:

He calls it his minion...

Oh, by the way, I have become totally hooked on the soundtrack from the new Sherlock Holmes movie. If you haven't seen it yet, you definitely should! The music is great, sort of gypsy style with violins, mandolin and a broken piano :)

Finally, in this very long post, a picture of some pretty grafitti on a wall:

Happy birthday to me :)

It's my birthday today :) Well, technically it was yesterday, since it's now past midnight. I'm 27, and rapidly closing in on 30... Should I worry? I don't feel old at all, not much older than I felt 7 years ago. 

Earlier today we went for a walk at the frozen lake, and it was extremely cold. About 12 degrees freezing. I had a knitted alpaca hat, and my newly washed hair was tucked in my jacket, but the inch that was exposed actually froze stiff... 

My mother-in-law gave me some money for my birthday, and I thought I'd spend most of it on yarn in fancy colors (I need them all!). The yarn shop had a 20% discount on all yarn, so I  went a little bananas :) This is the yarn I usually use for small amigurumis, and for my granny squares:

I can also mention that I'll be participating in a crochet-along at Veronica's blog Ulliga Gulliga Saker. You find the crochet-along here. I understand it will be something like an amigurumi, but otherwise it's a secret. The pattern will be posted tomorrow, I hope. I'm so excited :)

Hooked on grannies again

Haven't really done mush crocheting since Christmas, but I'm currently in a period of granny crocheting. Squares, I mean. I started a granny square blanket last summer, but after about 20 squares I got tired and packed it away. I brought a few squares with me on holiday to continue the blanket, but yesterday I realized that the new squares I've made are a lot bigger than the original ones :( I have used the same yarn, but I must have used the wrong hook. I was so sure I'd used a 3.5mm hook for the first squares, but apparently I didn't...

But, since I refuse to unravel stuff I just have to make the new squares into something else. I've been thinking of a pillow to match the blanket that propably never will be finished :p

I've alway been a winter person, but I think my subconcious is looking forward to summer... Anyway, I've made these sunshine granny squares, though I don't know what to do with them yet. Just felt like making something festive for a change :)

The holidays

There hasn't happened much this Christmas, so there isn't a lot of fancy stuff to blog about. I did promise to write a little about my presents, but I have nothing exciting to show off, as I only got practical presents this year, and nothing craft related at all. I/we got a radio to have in the kitchen (baking/cooking is more fun with music), a new bread knife, an apron with wine glasses printed on (perfect!), a pair of knitted socks (I wear wool socks all year if the temperature allows it), a book about archaeology, a new external hard drive and some foreign coins (which I of course collect). Pretty happy with the outcome this year :)

For my birthday I got (and will get) some money to buy whatever I want, and I think I'll spoil myself with some fancy yarn and a few Tunisian crochet hooks when we go shopping on Friday :)

We spent New Year's Eve with some friends, eating turkey for dinner and playing boardgames and Warhammer RPG. A few days ago I went to see the new movie Avatar in 3D, and it was amazing! The plot itself is pretty predictable, but the 3D technology really works, and the movie is visually stunning, so all in all it was an awsome experience :) I'm definitely going to buy it and watch it again, though I'm not sure how the movie works as a regular dvd. Some of our friends was very disappointed when they saw it in 2D... Yesterday we saw The Imaginaruim of Dr. Parnassus, and that's also an awsome movie. Totally weird and crazy, but I liked it. And Tom Waites rocks as Mr. Nick :) I would recommend both movies to anyone who likes going to the theater.

The weather has been freezing the whole time since we got her. I'm not used to temperatures this low for very long periods, but I like freezing winter a lot better than melting away in the summer. On New Year's Eve we went for a walk on a frozen lake right by the house, and the ice was 20cm thick. You could drive a car on it. Tomorrow we'll walk over to the other side of the lake :)