Joy is a little green ball

I woke up and felt like crocheting amigurumi. (Amigurumi: cute little crocheted figures) The internet is filled with inspiration and I have collected many patterns and inspiring pictures. I have 3 favorite places to search for crochet inspiration:  google image search, etsy and ravelry.

So before doing anything else (except chasing after Oliver) I decided to crochet a little pig. I found the free pattern here after searching on ravelry.

Now until recently I have spent most of my time doing really practical and useful things. Mostly practicing the flute (my professional training is in classical music). I guess I have always been quite ambitious (maybe that is an understatement). But a few months ago a little lightbulb went off for me and I realized that it is ok to spend time doing things that bring me joy even though those things don't have an obvious "payoff" as far as bringing me closer to some goal or another. Now to most of you this is probably pretty obvious. But it was a lesson for me. So here is my little piggy. He is neither practical nor useful. But he is really really CUTE! And I had fun making him.

He has a cute tail.

Here is the inspiration for the little green ball. I found this picture here. (after a google image search) And I used a free pattern from ravelry called ideal sphere. I will eventually make this necklace I think. Also only because it would be FUN and CUTE!

*UPDATE*  (19.11.11) I found the original source for this picture!  And it is from a really cool place!  It is from the pattern designer of some of my favorite patterns (the bird rattle on my blog ++).  I discovered her website after buying her new pattern on ravelry.  She offers the pattern for this necklace for free here:

Easy makes me happy website

She makes lots of other cool things, too.  Check out her site!

The chair project

I really love the idea of making something new out of something old.  Recycling old clothing in new sewing projects and that kind of thing.  It is eco-friendly which is great, but it also presents new challenges and stimulates creativity.  A win-win.  

We needed a chair in the baby room to nurse in and I couldn't find one I liked.  (That's not entirely true.  I found one I liked, we bought it and it got "stuck" in the living room where Øystein also liked it as an ideal Simpsons-viewing device.)  In anycase, I went to a big garage sale and bought an old rocking chair for kr. 50,- (about 8 bucks)  I also found 5 meters of awesome fabric (steal!).  So with an investment of about 15 dollars (ok, and a 20 dollar stapler) I went to work!  

Before:

Now let me be clear.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  How hard could it be to reupholster a chair?  

First you have to remove about 2 million staples.  

Then tear the whole thing apart finding old treasures like coins that are no longer produced in Norway etc. I ripped it all apart and decided to keep the wood.    

Then I started the work of putting it back together.

I used part of a mattress and an old comforter that I washed and prepared.

Staple, staple, staple.....  Then I figured out fabric placement.

Made new buttons from an old funky purse.  (that I bought at the same sale for the fabric)

Sewed and stapled away and voila!  

Several hours later (ok days later...) and I had one unique funky chair to nurse in!  A success!  

A Saturday crochet day

Yesterday I made it to the yarn store and was able to buy the yarn I needed to finish some started projects and to start a few new ones.  It is fun to come home with a big bag of yarn!  The first thing on my crochet agenda was to finish this scarf.

I found the pattern here.  A blog called lilibeth's garden.  I used the same hook size that the pattern calls for and drops yarn "Merino extra fine".  I really like that yarn.  I used it for the viking hat and booties, too.  It is easy to crochet with and it is really soft.  This yarn is a bit thinner than what she used I think so I made mine longer.  (she had 34 rows, I made 41)

This scarf is crocheted with only 2 stitches.  The chain stitch and the double triple crochet stitch.  Easy and fun!

It turned out cute, I think!

Next I will crochet 2 viking hat orders!  (My first order.  Cool!) And my husband who plays in a ska band (think Jamaica) has ordered a north norwegian rasta hat.  So I have green, yellow and red yarn ready.  Stay tuned for that one!

Mei tai summer

My mom and I like creating stuff together.  We live an ocean apart (Minnesota - Norway) but were able to spend a whole 5 weeks together last summer.  2010 was a really cool year in our family because my husbands brothers were also expecting babies.  3 perfect little cousins in 2010! We were first with our baby in March and I had discovered the wonder that is the Mei-tai.  Baby carrying is cool and after trying many types of carriers I found I liked the Mei-tai best.  A friend of mine here let me borrow hers that she had sewn and mom and I went to work making lots of them!  Thanks, Sissel for introducing me to baby carrying and letting us borrow and copy yours!  So all the little cousins and their parents got a matching mei-tai!  It was a really fun project!  Here are some pictures from the process!

Mom and Oliver (4 months) buying fabric at the fabric store.  (oh, how I miss the American fabric stores)

Mom working out the pattern in her brand new sewing room.

Oliver helping figure out what design to cut out of the fabric.  This fabric we bought at Ikea.  Tip:  Ikea sells great fabric for this type of project.  They have many cool prints in the right weight.

Nice sewing room, Mom!

Finished!  Man it looks warm there, doesn't it?  It was warm.  Hot, in fact.  Nice to look at these pictures in January!

Oliver was really sweet and cooperative.  He likes to be carried in the mei-tai.  We have used it alot.  He has been on many hikes here in Norway in that carrier.

Here is one example.  Oliver's first meeting with a cow.  (He slept through it)

Here he is awake on Øystein's back on another fall hike.

There they all are!  Now they are in their respective homes carrying their respective babies!

Viking baby

Here is my little man in his viking helmet.  It is the second one I crocheted.  I'll post a picture of the other one another time.  The first one was in cotten and this one is in merino wool.  Merino wool was way better because of it's stretchiness and softness.



























A true Norwegian!  I bought the pattern from this cool lady on etsy:  mamachee
I bought several of her patterns including the crocheted tree on my header.  Very cute stuff!  The booties in the picture are also hers.

They are great!  The stay on his feet.  A big plus for baby booties!

Viking babies also need to eat...

... and play!

New blog!

Welcome to my blog! 

Here is my evening snack and what I managed to crochet today.  I cute litte flower.  I am using my evening to make Optimistic by Nature!  Hurra!  Here it is!  I hope you enjoy it!