/home/marte/craft

Baby It's Cold Outside

2009-04-18T21:42:00.003+02:00

Er ikke denne søt? Den er til en liten jente som ble født like før jul. Oppskriften kan du finne her. Jakken er heklet i Alpaca Silk fra Hjerte Garn med heklepinne 3. Etter et par prøvelapper fant jeg ut at jeg måtte doble både antall masker og rader i oppskriften for å oppnå rett heklefasthet. Oppskriften var enkel å følge og det tok ikke lang tid å lage den.

Knappen kjøpte jeg i Lativa for et par år siden, og oppskriften til blomsten fant jeg i et blad jeg hadde liggende. Dette er det første babyplagget jeg hekler og jeg er veldig fornøyd med resultatet!

D for DS

2009-03-26T22:06:00.001+01:00

Ukens bokstav er D og min D står for Nintendo DS, her i huset kjent under navnet DS'en. Nintendo DS er et håndholdt spillkonsoll med to skjermer, hvorav den ene er trykk-sensitiv. Min DS er en DS Lite, en forbedret og redesignet versjon av den opprinnelige DS. DS Lite ble sluppet av Nintendo i Japan i mars 2006. De første kom til Norge i juni samme år.

Jeg fikk DS'en av Min Kjære til jul 2006, og det er også han som kjøper spill til meg utfra hva han tror jeg vil like. Så langt har han truffet veldig bra. Jeg har 4 spill; Advance Wars Dual Strike, Super Mario Bros, Puzzle Quest og Chrono Trigger. Super Mario er jeg kjempe dårlig i. Det går altfor fort, og jeg klarer ikke trykke på knappene i tide. Advance Wars og Puzzle Quest er jeg flinkere i. De er strategi spill med litt hjernetrim hvor det er lov til å tenke seg om :) Chrono Trigger tilhører sjangeren rollespill. Det er ikke så mye slåssing og når det er så er det mot noen ekle monster som heldigvis ikke er for vankselige å slå.

Dette er det første spillkonsollet jeg har hatt noen gang. Foreldrene mine ville ikke at vi skulle ha TV-spill eller andre spillkonsoll, så jeg er helt uten elementære spillferdigheter. Noe som av og til føles som et handikapp blant venner som har mye mer erfaring enn meg. Jeg prøver så godt jeg kan å ta igjen i voksen alder :)

Her kan du se hvilke andre bloggere som har tatt utfordringen. Vil du være med finner du regler her. Takk til Petunia som har dratt det i hele i gang.

Programmeringsspråket C

2009-03-21T10:09:00.007+01:00

Da har vi kommet til C i ABC i ord og bilder. En ikke helt så enkel bokstav i det norske alfabetet synes jeg. Etter en liten brainstorming med Mannen kom vi frem til at det måtte bli programmeringsspråket C siden vi begge programmerer en god del.

Jeg antar at ingen som leser bloggen min vet hva et programmeringsspråk er, langt mindre at det finnes et som heter C. Det kan også godt hende at du som leser dette ikke har noen som helst interesse av programmering. Jeg skal derfor holde det kort og så enkelt som mulig :)

Et programmeringsspråk er det vi bruker for å skrive dataprogrammer. Det finnes veldig mange forskjellige språk, hver til sitt bruk kan man si. C er det språket vi bruker når vi vil skrive raske programmer som skal kjøre "langt nede" i datamaskinen. Operativsystem, som Windows XP, er et eksempel på programmer skrevet i C. Kode skrevet i C ser ikke nødvendig vis særlig pent ut, men det får jobben gjort raskt og effektivt.

For å vise hvordan C-kode ser ut har jeg tatt bilde av kode til et operativsystemet jeg lagde i studietiden.

Til slutt vil jeg bare få lov til å si: TUSEN TAKK for alle kommentarene på A og B inleggene mine. Det er så koselig å lese så mange hyggelige meldinger. Jeg har også fått besøkt mange nye og spennende blogger og synes det er spennende å se hvordan alle løser ukens bokstav forskjellig.

Her kan du se hvilke andre bloggere som har tatt utfordringen. Vil du være med finner du regler her. Takk til Petunia som har dratt det i hele i gang.

Collage & Stitched Cards

2009-03-16T18:39:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I participated on a workshop at the Edge Gallery here in Lancaster. The workshop was with artist Priscilla Jones and the theme was "Collage & Stitched Cards and Envelopes". It was really inspiring and fun. We used fabrics and papers, combining the materials in personal collages and then we stitched everything together using sewing machines. I have never used a sewing machine like this before, and though it looked very difficult. But it was easier than it looked, and I'm really happy with the results.

When playing with colors, I very often find that the light, sweet, pastel colors are the easiest to combine and make nice things with. This annoys me because those are the colors that I absolutely don't use neither for my clothes or the house. Why then do I like to work with them?

B for Bålkos

2009-03-13T18:32:00.006+01:00

Runde nr to i ABC i ord og bilder er selvfølgelig bokstaven B. Min B står for Bålkos. Bildet er fra en tur på Kvaløya i Troms i mai 2008. Først gjorde vi et strandhugg og fant masse skjell og kråkeboller og fotomotiver (Du kan se noen av bildene på flickr kontoen min). Etterpå tente vi bål, grilla kjøtt og bakte poteter, og til avslutning: Kaffelars og grillede bananer med sjokolade. mmm :)

Som den finnmarkingen jeg er, har jeg tilbragt mange timer ved bålet, og det er et av mine favorittsteder. Fra jeg var liten kan jeg huske påsker i Pasvik hvor vi satt hele dagen ved bålet, på reinskinn og godt pakket inn i scooter-dresser. Og der ble jeg kjent med roa. "Kjenner du roa komme?" spurte mamma, og jeg bare nikket og var langt borte inni meg selv et sted hvor alt er rolig, mens øynene ikke forlot bålet.

Ønsker alle som leser dette en riktig god og avslappende helg!

Her kan du se hvilke andre bloggere som har tatt utfordringen. Vil du være med finner du regler her. Takk til Petunia som har dratt det i hele i gang.

Hva gjør man på en regnværsdag?

2009-03-08T21:30:00.003+01:00

For tiden er jeg i Lancaster, nordvest i England. Jeg skal være her i tilsammen 6 måneder i forbindelse med doktorgradsarbeidet mitt. Arbeidsdagene blir lange, men helgene tar jeg fri for å se landet jeg besøker. Men hva gjør man når lørdagen kommer og det stri-regner og en hadde planlagt en lengere sykkeltur? Her er mitt forslag:

Man starter med et inspirerende foredrag om klestradisoner fra vest nord Afrika for deretter å hadle stoff, perler og knapper fra damen som holdt foredraget. Stoffet er hånvevd og de blå perlene er laget av resirkulert plast. (Hun har en nettbutikk som du kan besøke her. Hun har masse fine stoffer for de som driver med applikasjon og quilting.)

Deretter drar man til nærmeste sybutikk og kjøper sytråd som matcher det nyinnkjøpte stoffet. På veien hjem stikker man innom en annen sybutikk med en hyggelig dame i. Det er umulig å komme ut derifra uten å ha kjøpt noe:

Her fant jeg heklegarn til halve prisen av hva det koster hjemme i Norge, broderiperler i lekre farger, søte sløyfebånd og mønster til et lite broderi.

Kombiner innkjøpene med god kaffe, cupcakes (store muffins) og god musikk, og resultatet blir en ny veske til mobiltelefonen (beklager fargene på disse bildene. De ble tatt sent på kvelden i dårlig lys):

Faren for at du setter igang med flere prosjekter basert på dagens innkjøp er stor, så kvelden skal være reddet :)

A for Amigurumi

2009-03-06T20:26:00.013+01:00

Jeg tar min første blogg-utfordring! Petunia Har startet ABC i ord og bilder - en ukentlig utfordring som går ut på å ta bilder og skrive noe du forbinder med ukens bokstav. Dette er noe for meg! Ukens bokstav er A, og min A står for Amigurumi.

Fra Wikipedia på norsk:

Amigurumi (Heklet kosedyr) er den japanske kunsten der man hekler eller strikker små kosedyr og ikke-menneskelige figurer. Amigurumier er typisk søte dyr (sånn som katter, hunder, kaniner etc.), men det kan også inkludere små bruksgjenstander eller etterligninger av matretter (sånn som en kopp eller en muffins).

Mine små dyr ble heklet i 2007. Oppskrift fant jeg i Vouges Knit1 sitt høst nummer fra 2006. De er heklet i baby ull med heklenål 2.5 og er ca 8 cm høye. Det var litt smått å hekle med så liten heklenål, men de ble kjempe søte!

Lille Kanin liker å vise seg frem mens Rosa Elefant er litt mer engstelig

Her kan du se hvem som har tatt utfordringen. Vil du være med finner du regler her. Takk til Petunia som har dratt det i hele i gang. Bloggen hennes finner du her.

I'm not gone

2009-02-12T23:09:00.003+01:00

No, I'm not gone. I just haven't been blogging as much as I want to. I have been thinking a lot of why my blog posts are so rare. It is not because I don't have things to write about. I have lots of unfinished projects like this one lying around that just waits to be shown. And though the finished projects are fewer than the unfinished, they exist and want to be shown off too.

Earlier this week a possible reason came to mind. When I get home from work each day, I simply don't want to turn on my computer unless I really have to. And when I do turn it on it is to pay bills, or other boring stuff. Thus blogging becomes something I feel I should do, not something I really want to. I find blogging fun and I want to enjoy it. So what to do?

I think I have found a perfect solution: a café! I love sitting at a café reading newspapers and drinking tea or coffee and just relax. So now I'm sitting with a nice cup of tea, a banana loaf, watching people pass by outside and blog. This feels so right!

This blog post should really be accompanied by a picture of my café table, but of course, I forgot to bring my camera. Instead I have chosen a picture from my last biking trip. Yes, a biking trip in the middle of the winter. For a girl from the far north this is very exotic :) You see, I'm not in Norway right now. Until July I will be staying in Lancaster, north west in England. The picture is taken in Glasson Dock - and did I mention that is was sunshine and January? (Remember I had not seen the sun since November because of the polar night back home) But more on my experiences from england in my next café-post.

Big, unfinished project

2008-12-20T01:51:00.001+01:00

I want to share with you my biggest ongoing project. I have worked on this since 2004, and its embarrassing that it is not finished yet. It is an order from my mother, she wants me to make new embroidery on the shirt for her national costume (called bunad in Norway). That is the collar and cuffs. Her eyes aren't good enough to do it, but we have this "agreement" that I embroider and she sews. Earlier I have made my own and my brother's shirt.

The collar is embroidered with linen thread on linen fabric. As you can see, the pattern is full of details. Please, pay particular attention to the holes. They are the reason it is taking me so long time. They are so tiny! They reach over 4x4 threads and through two layers of fabric, so I have to be careful to hit the right spot on the backside. In addition it is a very nice fabric where the threads are woven very close to each other. I have to wear some reading glasses (+3!) while I embroider because else I cannot see.

I use 1 hour on 4 holes. Last I counted, I had something like 400 holes left. Now my mother is pushing me to finish it before 2010. Hopefully this is the kind of pressure I need to finish it. Do you have any projects like this that is lying around for years?

Simple drawstring backpack

2008-12-07T22:22:00.002+01:00

This simple backpack is perfect for a Sunday-walk. It has room for a sandwich, my photo camera and a book. It is made of oilcloth, and the pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter's book called Simple Sewing. It only took me an afternoon to put it together, and was really simple to sew. The straps are combined shoulder straps and drawstring for closing the backpack.

The pictures are taken at the end of October when we still were waiting for the winter to arrive. It was one of the first mornings with frost and ice, and the light was so clear.

How I learned to crochet

2008-10-10T17:57:00.000+02:00

This purse is the reason why I learned to crochet. I saw it in Norsk Husflid, a norwegian magazine, and thought: I want to make that! I live far away form both my mother and grandmother (my resources for learning traditional crafts), so I borrowed books in the library and searched the Internet for tutorials. This was almost three years ago, and I discovered the online craft community. It was a revelation! My very first resources was Crochet Me, then an online crochet magazine, and the Learn to Crochet tutorial at Lion Brand Yarn. Both websites has changed a lot since I first visited them, but they are still great resources for those new to crocheting both in learning and finding fun and simple patterns. The english tutorials had great figures and instructions, and together with the norwegian books I learned all the terms in both norwegian and english at the same time.

The purse is made in a thick wool yarn with hook size 3,5mm. It is a circle folded in half, about 26cm in diameter. The flowers are embellished with beads in order to break the heavy wool feeling. I was very happy when I finished it, but it is still unused, because the color is really not mine :)

About me

2008-10-05T09:57:00.003+02:00

When I discover a blog I like, I try to find out more about the person who writes it. Who she is (it is most often a she behind the blogs I read), where she is living, how her life is, and so on. Usually this information is easy to find as there often is some kind of “about me” page, or a post introducing the writer. My blog is missing this, and I think that is a bit unfair to those of you stepping by now and then. So here it is, a short introduction.

I am a 29 year old woman, living in the far north of Norway in a city called Tromsø. Here the sun never sets in the summer, and never rises in the winter. It is the biggest city in northern Norway with about 60 000 people and 10 000 students.

I am a computer scientist working on a Ph.d in P2P networks. Hopefully I will have my dissertation in 2011. It is hard work, but I love it. I live together with my boyfriend who's also a computer scientist -we met in the computer lab at the university :) Our living room is full of data cables and yarn – to the joy of our cat Maja.

I have been crafting since I was little. I sew my first doll clothes when I was five on an old foot-driven Singer machine. Later I learned to embroider and this has become craft closest to my heart. Sadly, knitting has never been my thing, but a few years ago I learned to crochet, and have now started on my first sweater! I do lots of other crafts as well, but embroidery, crocheting and sewing are my favorites.

This blog is not updated as frequently as I wanted when I started it. This is mostly because my work is taking up much of my time and when I get home I usually just want to relax on the sofa with some craft in my hands. My goal is to write at least 2 posts each month, but only time will tell if I can do that :)

Please leave a comment if you see something you like! And remember to show me your blog, as I love to get inspired by other crafters!

Love Marte

My new top

2008-08-13T22:13:00.003+02:00

Look what I've made! This is my first crochet cloth, and I'm so proud! It turned out exactly as I wanted it. I had to adjust the pattern a little, just adding some length at the bottom and at the top, but with the help from more experienced aunts it was no problem. The pattern is from the book "Fabulous and Flirty Crochet" (amazon).

Here is a close-up of the pattern stitch:

The yarn I have used is a silk and alpaca blend (20% silk and 80% alpaca). Many of you may think this sounds a bit warm for a summer top, but for the not-so-warm summers here north it is perfect.

This top was a little test to myself to see if I have the patience to crochet large things. Because of the good result, I am now going to make a sweater from the same pattern book. I just have to find the right yarn... The pattern says mohair, but I don't like mohair neither to work with or wear, so I will have to find something else. I'll keep you noticed on the progress!

Fish and sushi plushie

2008-07-09T18:13:00.005+02:00

I made this yesterday for a very good friend's birthday. She loves sushi, so when I found this project at Cut out + Keep I thought of her.

It is sewed by hand, and it took me about 4 hours to make it. You can find patterns and instructions here. It is so funny to look at it's silly expression when it "swallows" the maki while turning into a fish.

Fish "diving" in to a maki.

Mama Bear Picking Flowers

2008-04-21T21:36:00.006+02:00

My first order from Etsy arrived today! I suspect it will not be the last... It is a tea towel made of an old flour sack. I simply love it! It is made by Jacklyn at Cornflower Creations. I discovered her embroideries on flickr one Monday morning, and had a big smile the rest of the day because of them.

Here is a picture of the package before I opened it. Isn't it lovely?

I heart unicorns

2008-03-09T11:02:00.003+01:00

This makeup purse was a gift to a very good friend of me. She loves unicorns, and when I ordered the unicorn believer pattern from Sublime Stitching I had her in mind. It is all made with backstitches. Because I used a colored textile, I decided not to use so many colors on the motif. But I also want to make a real rainbow-inspired unicorn someday. Still have many unused patterns.

Other side of the purse:

Practicing my sewing

2007-11-20T22:45:00.002+01:00

I'm still getting to know my sewing machine and this is what I made last weekend when two of my friends and I had a sewing weekend. I'm so proud of the results :) The clutch is inspired from all the Amy Carol's Artsy clutches I have seen on flickr. I don't have the book, but it's on my christmas wish-list. The pattern for the cosmetic bag with zippers are from queenofdiy's tutorial on craftsters.org. The tutorial is fantastic! Clear pictures and instructions. It didn't take me long to sew, and I think I will make some more as gifts for friends this christmas.

Small gifts

2007-10-27T14:44:00.001+02:00

I made these coasters as birthday presents to two of my friends. They are very easy to make, and I really like the result. Maybe I will make more for christmas presents.

Testing new stitches

2007-09-28T17:24:00.001+02:00

Crafty Daisies has a embroidery school which I really reccomend. Her instructions are very easy to follow and the designs she has made for "homeworks" are really cute. I downloaded two of the homeworks and played around with old and new stitches. I sent them in and they showed up on their blog!

I have not tried the split stitch before, but I really liked it. The lines it makes are more smooth and even than lines made with the back stitch. And it is easier to make than the stem stitch. I also enjoyed the feather stitch and the double herring bone stitch. The are so decorative.

Crochet diagram

2007-07-31T17:26:00.002+02:00

Today I have tried out using crochet diagrams. It is so easy! Why haven't I tried this before? I guess none of my revious projects had diagrams.

I made these sample motifs from different diagrams in the latest issue of Crochet today. The issue contains an article on how to use diagrams that was really easy to understand. And all their patterns have diagrams. I think I soon have made a sample of all small motifs in the magazine :)

Here are some close ups:

A blue flower

A half circle

Small granny square

Party purse

2007-07-03T22:35:00.002+02:00

New purse ready for my cousin's wedding! It's crocheted in a shell pattern with a black cotton and viscose blend yarn, together with a silver thread.

The silver thread was difficult to work with because it was so thin and tangled all the time. Inside I have used the lining for an old jacket. This is my first crochet purse and I'm really happy with it :)

Northern summer at its best

2007-07-03T22:20:00.002+02:00

This picture is taken at 22:00 from our balcony. Temperature 19C. No wind. In days (and nights) such as these there is no place like Northern Norway! All days of dark winter and bad weather are forgotten :)

Small table cloth in smøyg

2007-07-01T22:26:00.002+02:00

As my first post I want to show my current travel-project. It is going to be a small table cloth, but mainly its a swatch in a tecnique called "smøyg". I don't know the english name of it.

I use DMC embroidery floss, 6 strans, on linen. The floss is sewn in such a way that it looks like it is wowen into the fabric.

I will be travelling a lot with train this summer, so hopefully it will be finished during my vaccation.