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*

Worst song ever!

Today has been a really long day at work! Not because of the hours, but because every second I spent cleaning I had the most annoying song ever stuck on my brain :( I get songs stuck very easily, and some of them stay for quite some time. The longest I've ever had the same song was a whole semester, about five or six months... Beethoven's ninth symphony. Not the worst song, but still annoying enough if you listen to it for too long. Today it was a song called "Oah" by Alexander Rybak, the guy who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Norway last year. Thankfully not with that song! I feel like such a traitor for hating his guts (and his songs!), but I can't help it. I just can't stand listening to pop music for too long, or I'll go crazy, I'm more of a rock 'n' roll kind of person :)

Anyway, this song has been playing on TV a lot lately, because the guy has a new album coming out, plus I sometimes hear bits and pieces of it when I'm cleaning people's offices and they have the radio on. I guess the melody is fair enough, but the lyrics make me want to cry! I first heard the song when I was at the dentist, and I almost choked when it came on the radio: "Oah, I love you Moa, you're way too young for me, but I don't mind!"...


Oh, so HE doesn't mind? Well, that makes everything okay! Hmpf! This guy is only 23 or something, which makes me wonder how old the girl is (or was when he wrote the song)... *shiver* If you should want to listen to this atrocity yourself, you can follow this link (haven't listened to it myself, I just can't, but there are others in case this is crap). 


At lunch I couldn't take it anymore and complained to my mother. She tried to give me "Aiken Drum" ("Åkken Bom" in Norwegian) instead, which also gets stuck in your head really easily, but even that had to give way after a while, to the horrible OOOH AAAH, I love you MOOOO-AAAAH.... Didn't make cleaning toilets any more fun! *sigh* I even tried humming the Hamster Dance song to myself, but that didn't help much either, now I have all three songs in my head playing on top of each other :/ But the hamsters sure are cute! :D


There, just had to get this out of my system! Sorry for the long and relatively pointless rant (and apologies to any Rybak fans out there), but I hope the song will disappear from my head soon! Hoping for a better day (and song!) tomorrow :)

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 :)

Work, work & apologies

First I'd like to apologize to my readers and commenters for being really bad at responding to your nice comments the past weeks. I know it sounds like I'm lazy, but I just haven't had much energy for keeping up with my "online life" lately because of my job. Jobs, actually. Plural... I've been cleaning the town hall five days a week the past three weeks, and last week I also had the job of cleaning the town's public toilets & showers. That's not really much, just a couple hours twice a week, but it's still something I have to do after I finish my other job. Right now there isn't a lot of people working at the town hall because of vacations, so I use less time than I normally would, which is great, because I don't think I could manage to stay there for five hours every day. I guess this can sound like a piece of cake to some, but I'm not used to working this hard, and when I get home I just crash on the couch and can't really do anything for hours. Of course, my crafting really suffers because of this. I don't get much crocheting done during the week, creating patterns just takes too much energy and effort :( I sure hope I get used to living like this really soon, because if my creativity has to go, then... well, it's not the life I want :/

It's now almost half past eleven and it's time to go to bed, I start work at eight tomorrow morning. My final week in this job, and then I'll have some time off before I begin looking for a new one. Hopefully a more comfortable one, but beggars can't be choosers, so I guess I'll take more or less whatever I can get (within reasonable distance from where I live since I don't drive)... Anyway, once again I apologize for not replying to comments and stuff. Don't think that I ignore them, I really do appreciate all the nice comments I get! Thanks, and good night :)

Great Big Dung Beetle... with Dung!

If anyone thinks that I've been a little absent lately it's because I suddenly found myself stranded at my grandmother's this weekend, and nobody thought to bring a laptop so I could get on the internet. The weekend was still fun, even though I felt a little lost (addicted? me? nooo....), and I finally managed to finish the latest Great Big Bug :)

Here is the Great Big Dung Beetle, complete with her Great Big Ball of Dung! Well, I'm only guessing it's a she, since the dung balls are used for laying eggs in, and then serves as food for the beetle babies. For all I know both the male and the female beetles collect dung, but I do know that they are pretty precious to them, they have huge fights over these smelly (I think) little balls :) Really cute critters, aren't they? Dung beetles come in lots of different colors and sizes, some have really cool antlers for fighting and attracting mates, and only some of them actually make balls of dung that they move around by rolling it. My dung beetle, however, is based on the kind that was sacred in Ancient Egypt, which is very plain (though it's not known exactly which species the Egyptians depicted). The Egyptian god Kheper was depicted either as a human with a beetle instead of his head, or as a scarab beetle rolling the sun across the sky. This dung beetle is actually all black, but I made mine partially blue, sort of to show that it's all shiny, but also because I didn't want it to become too boring :)

The ball can be attached to the back of the beetle with little pieces/strips of black Velcro on the beetle's back legs and abdomen. Looks like she's rolling it, right? :) The pattern is as always added to my Ravelry store and will be listed on Etsy soon.

Long time & a new hobby :)

Feels like it's been ages since I last posted on this blog... Two weeks! I have lots of things to post about, but I'll start with the most recent news: I'm learning to tat! Like I need another hobby :p 

It started last weekend (I think - I've been a little lost in time lately), when I was searching my grandmother's house for a pair of hand carders both she and my mother insisted she had. (Another story, I'll tell you later!) Anyway, I didn't find the carders, but I did find a whole lot of other things, and among them were two tatting shuttles. One old and one newer plastic thingy. I remembered that my mother learned to tat when I was younger, and she had bought the new shuttle. The old one looks like it's home made, carved from bone or something, and we think it has belonged to my great grandmother. She lived from about 1890 to 1966, so the shuttle could be pretty old :)

So naturally I had to learn tatting :D My mother sat down and showed me one evening (last Thursday, I think), and the next day I had finished my first tatted item! The pattern is Flower Bookmark by Yarnplayer (you should check our her blog, she makes awsome things and she has just published her second pattern book!). Since I don't have threads in any fancy colors (at least not in the same size) I made the bookmark in one color and added some beads for a little sparkle :)

Now I just need to learn to do the split chain and split ring, and I should be able to make most of the simpler patterns :) But the split thing is complicated, and the best thing would be to get it explained by a person. Pictures and text just isn't the same :/ Also the picots are still a pain to do, I can never get them the same size! I guess it just takes practice. And then some more practice! :p

A lot of the patterns I want to try requires use of two shuttles, which I didn't have (since my mother was using the other one), so I fairly quickly went online and ordered some more shuttles and a few books, both for learning and patterns. And the best part is, I didn't have to pay much for it, since I'm splitting the "loot" with my mother and mostly used her money :D But then yesterday I got tired of waiting for the new shuttles and decided I'd try and make some myself! I posted the tutorial on my pattern blog if anyone should be interested in trying without spending money on new shuttles :) And the shuttles work, too! 

Turned out I really didn't have to go through all that trouble yesterday, because today I got three new shuttles in the mail! Yay :) They are so pretty and comfortable! One plated brass filigree shuttle bought on eBay, and two Peter Cua shuttles bought from this site. The latter shuttles are both 2 inches long and made from horn, and one is etched with a phoenix motif. It's so beautiful! There is a dragon shuttle I'd like as well, but it was sold out. Maybe later :)

I tested the filigree shuttle earlier today, and it's great to work with! I made a really tiny bug from this pattern. 

The metal shuttle is probably a bit heavy for some, but I think both the weight and size is perfect for me :) I felt that the old shuttle I was using was just a little bit too long for me. It will be interesting to try the cheap plastic ones we've ordered, I suspect they are very long (especially the ones with the pick on one end) and very light. I like to feel the weight of the tools I'm working with, otherwise they very often just fly out of my hands... Well, now it's on to practice some more with my new shuttles :D

Great Big Fly

Yesterday I finally sat down and made the remaining four legs for the Great Big Fly, and now he's all done! I gave him red eyes because house flys have red eyes, and not because I wanted him to be scary :)

The pattern is ready, but unfortunately I'm not able to upload it to Ravelry yet. I have to wait a couple of days until I go by my mother's place again, this connection is so slow that everything freezes if I upload anything much bigger than 1mb :/ Oh well, this way you'll have something to look forward to! :p

The fly pattern is the same difficulty as the other bug patterns, but there is no embroidery on this one. I just couldn't resist the temptation to make a more realistic mouth part, and after that it became a little weird to have a smiling mouth as well.

Oh, and the fly is really a he. I have referred to it as a she earlier, but when I finished it today it became clear that it's actually a male fly :) Here he is checking out the garden bench I've painted earlier (today I did the black on the sides, it smelled awful). For some reason flies seem to be very attracted to fresh paint... But don't worry - he was very careful not to get any wet paint on him!

The market

I know I promised to write more about the market and how it went, but I've been held up with computer trouble and work the past days, so it's a little late. But now it's time to dig up some pictures and make a real post :)

The market thing was supposed to start at noon on Sunday, but we had to be there very early to do one final rehearsal for the play, and still have time to prepare our sales tables afterwards. We got there at nine thirty in the morning, like we were told, but most people didn't show up until ten... The lady in charge was going crazy with stress and nerves, poor thing, so people being late did not help at all :/ This is the fifth year this market is arranged (but my first time to be home in time to participate), and she has finally had enough, she says she'll never do it again... 

I wish I had some photos from the actual performance of the play, but I couldn't find anyone to use my camera. I have asked to get copies from a friend, but I haven't got them yet, so here are some pictures I took at the rehearsals:

A big troll throwing the island further out into the sea so he could pass with his boat (the people in the background are a family that sort of tells all the stories that the actors play out - while the storyteller is talking, everything else has been recorded beforehand)

A ship in a storm - crew falling on top of each other

Two kids and a dead noble lady (a very floppy doll!)

See something I've shown you before? :p The three of them are supposed to be the divers that discovered a famous shipwreck just outside where I live, and the colors are to show where they are from. The guys in hats are supposed to be Swedish, and the one in orange and blue is from a nearby town - he's wearing the colors of the football team :)

After the rehearsal I had to run to set up my stuff, and fortunately my aunt had secured a table for me :) It was madness, with people taking other people's places... It was inside a large tent/pavillion with the front wall removed, so it was nice and open. Thankfully the weather was good (not too hot and not too cold - and not raining!), so I didn't freeze. Here is my table of stuff for sale:

I was in place with all my things about eleven thirty, and before the gates were open for real (at noon) I had sold three things! The hedgehog Dude went first, then the Great Big Bumblebee, and then the black and white crocheted hat :) I sold a lot of things to people I know (or people who know me through my mother), but there were also complete strangers from other places. I talked to lots of nice people and some very enthusiastic children, got served hot dogs and cake (because I couldn't leave my stand), AND I actually made money :D I did not come there expecting to sell much, because there aren't that much people (somewhere between four and five hundred tickets sold, plus a lot of children under 16 who got in for free), so I'm extremely pleased! This is what I had left after the market:

And now I've sold even more! A lady called my mother on Monday while I was at work and said that she needed to buy some things because her son had bought something on Sunday, and her daughter was now very jealous and sad that she didn't have any animals. I remember that the lady came to have a look on Sunday, and she said she'd come back, but unfortunately she forgot and went home. And then a friend of mine who'd promised to come to the market had also forgot, so she's coming by to buy some things later :) All I have left now is three Dudes, three hats, two owlets, two cupcakes and the two tiny whales. I NEVER expected to sell that much! I actually got enough money to pay for my new laptop :D

In the next tent there was a cafeteria, and they actually ran out of food, even though they had more than the previous year. And since food probably is the main attraction at these things, people started to leave a little early (around five). At five thirty the few harmless drops of rain that had fallen earlier suddenly turned to heavy rain, and that was pretty much the end of the show. Just as well, since it was getting cold, and the market would close at six anyway. This is a view of the market area (after a few of the stands had left because of the rain):

And this is the part of the harbor where we had the play:

After we had packed our stuff together there was a little gathering to review the day's events and the preparations, and all in all it had been a successfull arrangement. I only hope the lady in charge decides to do it again next year, and that she is a little better at handing out work so she's not as exhausted as she was this year... I definitely want to do it again, I had so much fun! :) 

Oh, and by the way... From the sale of amigurumi animals and a few hats I made more money than I've made from a week of cleaning! Crocheting and designing patterns is all fun, and cleaning is hard work that kills my feet - there is not a doubt in my mind what I'd like to to for a living! :p