onsdag 13 juni 2012

Jeg er en heldiggris!

Yes, I am a lucky pig!

I spent last weekend in Skarnes in Norway, invited by May Lis Martinsen who runs the Projo yarn shop to give a talk and a workshop at a weekend retreat for knitters.

One Danish and 34 Norwegian knitters came to listen to me talking about traditional patterns from Sweden, Norway, Scotland and the Baltic countries. Then we all tried to create new patterns with the inspiration from the old and historical.

See what good students I had!


The evening before we started talking about these special Norwegian wafers called krumkaker. They are made in a special krumkake-iron. These old irons  are very beautiful and often have a lovely, swirly pattern.

So May Lis, whose father just happened to have worked in a krumkake-iron factory, brought her own iron to show me. I thought it would make a nice knitting pattern so we all started drawing.

 

Like a piece of art.





















But when May Lis opened up her shop all my industrious students just disappeared...

This is May Lis giving Margret some advice.


 There was a whole shelf filled with Koigu – my first love that is still close to my heart.



















A couple of skeins found a new home in Sweden.

But it was very hard to pick a color.

May Lis garage had magically been turned into a yarn shop. Somehow it must be bigger on the inside.
















May Lis sister Anne-Marie helping out at the till.
















Most of the time was just spent talking and knitting. And eating.



Beate started knitting my Peace & Love mittens in a great color combination: orange and deep blue. It started a craze.

Marianne, to the left in the picture, acted color consultant – so successfully she might have found a new career.




















I have always dreamed of visiting Norway, so I was very happy that  I finally got the chance. It´s such a beautiful country. And Norwegian knitters are very kind to us inferior Swedish knitters I´m happy to report.
 I have a nasty habit of going running sometimes and this was the view from the top of the hill. 
But I also got some time to knit and I had brought this old friend along: the fair isle sweater that I started back in 2008 (had to check my Ravelry page because I couldn´t even remember how long ago it was).



I wasn´t happy with how the edges turned out so I decided to knit the sleeves again. This is how far I got. Not very impressive. 
But now the summer holiday starts and I´m about to spend two weeks with the kids on the island of Edö.  This will be one of the projects that I will bring along. And maybe three other. Can´t risk running out of yarn on a remote island now, can I?

Thank you May Lis for a wonderful weekend! 

13 kommentarer:

  1. Det var en super helg. Reiser 300 mil t/r for å være med.....men det betyr ingen ting med lang reise. En god ide med mønsteret i krumkakejernet, Har 4 gamle hengende på hytta.
    Ha en flott strikke sommer.
    Kanskje vi sees til neste år om du kommer til neste strikketreff.

    SvaraRadera
  2. What a wonderful time you had! I would love to have been there. Fantastic! :)

    SvaraRadera
  3. Så fint at du har hatt en bra tur til Norge! Nydelige farger på genseren du holder på med!

    SvaraRadera
  4. Hei Johanne.Takk for en hyggelig helg.Håper du tar turen flere ganger, var spennende å høre på foredraget ditt, og mat og krumkakediskusjonen, ved middagen :)
    Hilsen Elin

    SvaraRadera
  5. Takk for sist - det var et bra og inspirerende strikketreff!
    Blir spennende å se om det blir en oppskrift av krumkake-krumelurene :-)
    Ha en fin sommerferie!

    SvaraRadera
  6. Takk for et flott foredrag du holdt. Det var interessant å høre om de forskjellige strikketradisjonene. Dessuten var det jo hyggelig å få hilse på deg! Håper vi treffes snart igjen!

    SvaraRadera
  7. It looks like a great day, and that looks like it is going to be a great sweater. Are you going to make a pattern? It's all my favorite colors!

    I had a pan like that, and somehow, no doubt during a move, lost it. It was beautiful, but making the cookies was very tedious.

    SvaraRadera
  8. Takk for sist! Det var et veldig spennende og inspirerende foredrag du holdt. Jeg koser meg med å strikke på votten Elise :) Kanskje jeg får laget meg et mønster selv også etterhvert, selv om jeg var blant dem som forsvant for å gå i garnbutikken ;)

    SvaraRadera
  9. Hello, I am a new follower of yours - or should I say devotee- (or I will be officially when I understand how to register - it's all in Swedish!). You are so VERY funny and inspirational and I am learning a great deal from your blog. For instance I have learned from an old entry of yours, that there is a wool shop near me in Islington! I had no idea!

    I'm in love with your fair isle jumper! It was a picture of it in a Google search that made me first discover your old blog on typepad. I plan to do a simplified version of it with Faroe Islands' wool. But first a few mittens just to practice a bit..

    Looking forward to new entries!

    SvaraRadera
  10. Her var det inspirerende for ei strikkeglad som meg!!! Gleder meg til å følge deg videre!!! Ha en fin mandagskveld!! Mvh. Ruth

    SvaraRadera
  11. Datt innom bloggen din via Muffin. Så mange fin ting du har strikket! Den genseren ser ut til å bli helt super, men for en jobb.
    Legger meg inn som fölger så kan se den vidre utviklingen av denne.
    Önsker deg en fin midsommer helg (selv om det regner)

    SvaraRadera
  12. Härliga färger & så fint det blir.....är så Imponerad & önskar jag hadde dina tallanger.
    Ha en fin Dag // Kram Carina

    SvaraRadera
  13. Hello i am Tanja. Nice to find your blog. you are lucky girl to have such wonderful opportunity for knitting weekend! May i virtually visit you here on your blog?

    SvaraRadera