I know that I have have mentioned Marly from the Yarnthing podcast before, but I got so worked up about her new episode. The last episode is an anniversary, it’s about one year since she started podcasting about yarn, knitting and crochet. 

So happy pod-versary Marly! Hopefully there will be many more years to come filled with Yarnharlots and strange stories

I am superworkingwoman.

Monday through friday I go to my “regular job”, fulltime, as a teachersaid of some sorts at a school in Oslo. The students all have different difficulties, and need more help than most. I love this job, and hopefully I will get into the University in Oslo to study the subject. This month, I have worked every saturday and sunday too, at my new part time job. (No wonder I am tired, since I haven’t had one single day off this month) The job is fairly new, but I like it.

So, why am I working my ass off? I am almost 26 years old, and I feel I need to have a buffer saved up in the bank. (and not just a yarn buffer) 2008 is the year where I will try to be smarter with my money.

So, tired superworkingwoman will go back to the couch now to knit before heading of to bed. I am still working on my 9 to 5 socks, and my Forest Canopy Shawl, and loving each minute.

Hope you all are having a good weekend, I promise to blog soon about some podcasts I have found.

Last friday I turned into a Loopy lover. I got my first order from The Loopy Ewe, and since I turn into a real “Loopy Groupie” when I recieve my sixth order, I will call myself a “Loopy lover” while I wait. I love The Loopy Ewe! Oh my, the package was even better than I hoped for, and the colors, I can’t even describe them. (Good thing I have photos!) The skein on the left is the Cherry Tree Hill in the Mardi Gras colorway.

Thing is, this last week had been a long one. I had a really bad day at work on monday, and on tuesday my boyfriend’s computer blew up, causing a poweroutage, and the rest of the week was just too long. You know when you are just waiting for the weekend? It seemed like it would never come.

Then friday arrived, and I got off early at work. The warm weather already had me in a good mood, but the note in my mailbox telling me I had to pick up my Loopypackage from the postoffice just made my day. I also got one skein of Dream in Color in the Happy Forest colorway, seen on the right. I think I will make a Forest Canopy Shawl of this. I downloaded the pattern from Ravelry.com, and it only cost 6.50$. I will gladly pay that for such a good pattern. It explains alot about knitting lace, and since I have only knitted lace socks, an introduction was needed. I can’t wait to get started on that. The last two skeins in my package was ShibuiKnits in the Dragonfly (1605) colorway. I have already rolled up one of those into a ball. It will become socks as soon as the sockbooks I have ordered will arrive. (I am stalking the mailman still) It is incredibly soft, and I really can’t wait to cast it on. I have another order coming from the Loopy Ewe already, and other goods will be arriving in my mailbox soon too. The next few weeks will be good mailwise.

I will post about my almost finished 9 to 5 sock later, because this is getting to be a long post, and all I really want to do is knit. For more pichures of the yarn, and also a photo of the handwritten (!) note Sheri of the Loopy Ewe sent, go to my Flickr site.

Hope you guys had a great weekend, I am still looking for a name for my Etsy store, check out this blog post to help me out.

I got my behind in gear while I was sick and opened my own etsy store. I am planning to add more items, but working two jobs and keeping our appartment in shape takes up most of my time right now.

I need suggestions to name my store though, the one up now is boring and kind of bugs me. I was thinking of a name that tells people I’m norwegian, but I don’t know if “Viking goods” would be fun? Please leave some suggestions in my comments. I will be very grateful.

In other knitting news, I did cast on a pair of 9 to 5 socks, I got a pair of Lorna’s Laces Sheperd sock in the Georgetown colorway, and I am loving the feel of this yarn. I would pick another colorway if I was making a pair for myself, but I think this pair will get a lovely home someplace else. I had to go down a needlesize to get gauge, so I am knitting these socks on 2mm dpns, and it will take a while to say the least. Good thing I am loving the pattern.

Hope you guys had a good weekend!

I almost went mad. I couldn’t knit for a couple of weeks, I would try and just after a few stitches I was in serious pain. I would lie on the couch thinking and breathing knitting, but not be able to actually knit. I started planning new projects in my head, projects I could start when I got better. Because I would get better right?

I found so much great information on Ravelry on this topic. Both Fibro froggers, and Achy Breaky Needlecraft had tons of tips to share. You don’t have to have fibromyalgia or arthritis to join either.

The doctor told me I had tendinitis, gave me anti-inflammatory drugs and told me not to do anything with my arm. Great, I am pretty useless without my right arm. He also got me an appointment with a naprapathic physician. He told me that was someone who combines chiropractics with physical theraphy, and since I have gotten my share of physical theraphy in life (that is another story), I was in.

My appointment was yesterday, and I told the man my problem: after two weeks the only thing that hurt anymore was knitting. I could write on my computer, I can do anything with my arm really, but knitting makes me hurt right away. He looked at me, smiled and said “Well, I have treated many athletes in my life, but never someone who only hurts while knitting”. He talked to me about how knitters alot of times has their shoulders up by their ears, and how that didn’t look that relaxing to him, although he had been told knitting was very calming and relaxing. He then treated my pain, and I was instantly better. He told me to go home and try knitting, and come bak for a check-up in two weeks.

Back home I picked up my knitting, and while I knitted I tried to focus on my shoulders, push them down when I felt them up by my ears. I didn’t knit that much, I was told “not to knit myself to death” either, took some good pauses and tried to just relax and enjoy. Today I am not in pain, and it feels so good!

So, I am back on the needles, a bit wiser and painfree.

I am having some severe pain in my right arm and shoulder and need to use it as little as possible. That means no knitting and not much writing. So I am forced on a hiatus, hopefully I’ll be good to go in a week or two.

But, before I go on my forced hiatus, I would like to thank everyone who left comments on my last blogpost, and those who sent me messages on ravelry. It warmed my heart

Hope to be back soon

I learned to knit when I was about 7 years old, my mom bought me this “starterkit”. It was a bright pink cardboard box, that contained (I think) four balls of yarn, a little booklet with instructions and easy pattern, and a pair of needles. I made the most horrible scarf you could ever imagine! (But it did have different colors in it, so looking back I am impressed that I didn’t just knit it in one color.

My mom always knitted on something, and she had a huge stash in our basement. I didn’t really knit that much, but from time to time I started something and maybe even completed it. Some years ago, I wanted to knit socks. She guided me through the whole prosess, and she taught me everything from the top of her head. She didn’t need any pattern or instructions. So when I wanted to knit a sweater maybe twoand a half years ago she was very supportive. While working on the sweater I called her so many times to ask her “is this normal? this doesn’t look normal?” and “do you think I have to frog this?”. She guided me through the frightful prosess it is to make a sweater for the first time.

When it was finally finished I brought it over to her to get her review. She was so impressed, and it meant so much to me.

After the sweater I went on a knitting hiatus. I tried to needlepoint, actually made some good stuff, but got tired of it, it wasn’t for me.

Then my lifechanging moment happened. During the Christmasholiday 2006 I left to visit my boyfriends family up in the vest of Norway. I travelled by plane, and as I turned on my cellphone again when I had arrived, my brother called. My mom had passed away. It was very sudden and a big shock. I had left her house only hours earlier, and she seemed in good shape when I left. Later the doctors told me she had a tumour on her heart, that gave her a kind of a heartattack. The tumour was too big to operate without my mom dying under the surgery. As if it was some kind of comfort that she would have died anyway?

I was 24 years old, I had lost the woman that cared the most about me in the whole world, and it may seem stupid, but I turned to knitting. Obviously not right away, but a few months after her funeral, when I had to get back to my life again, I started knitting. I picked up sockknitting again, I needed something to do when my mind started wandering and I got sad. A year or so later, I am still knitting. And I am very grateful that my mother taught me this craft.

I use my wishlist almost as a linklist. Always when my birthday or Christmas is right around the corner, I have a hard time answering the question “what do you want for Christmas/your birthday?”. So now, I can just pop into my wishlist and look for answers. Not bad. I added a new item today, a crochetpattern for a dachshound, made by Planetjune.com. She is so talented, and her patterns are beautiful.

I haven’t croched that much this year. I guess I have been occupied with knitting, and learning more complicated knitting techniques. I learned to knit lacepatterns this month, I have never done lace before, (I was scared to do it actually) but now I am getting good at it. So I am looking for inspiring crochetpatterns, and labeling them as favorites in Ravelry. I love Ravelry, and spend way too much time there anyway….

Notscarlett from Ravelry needs to sell off some yarnstash. Her dog Cricket was hit by a car, and according to the vet it looks good. She has a pelvic fracture, might need surgery and needs to be monitored, but if all goes well she will be home on monday.

I have a dog as well, and I know how expensive going to the vet is. Maybe you need some of the yarn she is selling, and want to support the “Cricket Vet Fund”.

I am addicted. I stumbled over the Yarn Thing Podcast yesterday, and I can’t stop listening to it. The podcaster (is that what you call the person behind a podcast?) Marly is so sweet and funny, and I catch myself laughing out loud of her stories. So, if you like a laugh, and some knitting and crochet content as well, why not download? Go into Itunes, search for “Yarn thing” in the Itunes store, and just click download….