Above: Beautiful and peculiar plants in Ano Syros 
Above: Dividing flower wall right outside our door in Galissas 
Above: Beach lilly, Dellagratsia (Poseidonia) 
Above and below: sunset in Galissas, seen from our favourite taverna 
Above: The very friendly neighbourhood dog came to see us every afternoon
Above: cool citrus colours, but an awful smell...
Below: the all over present Bougainvillea
Our week in Syros, Greece, was wonderful and thanks to the wide brimmed hats, Spf 30 and big parasols at the beach and by the pool we could enjoy the warm, sunny weather every single day. The detail photos in this post are mostly from the beautiful medieval village of Ano Syros, but the above photo is from the island of Tinos not far from Syros. The photo below shows my progress on sleeve #1 for Supermans cardigan 36 hours after leaving Norway. I nearly finished both sleeves during the week. Well, they are not actually finished as this is going to be a raglan cardigan - but still...they are up to the arm pitt and I am happy with the progress!
Princess made this mosaic heart at the beach of Galissas 
My beautiful Princess is finally wearing her ice blue Cotton Viscose tank top - I hope it was worth the wait! It definitely fits her, especially after I ripped the neck strap back quite a few inches. The bottom pictures shows how uneven the fabric came out when I picked up this project after exactely one year... the difference between last summers even and nice gauge and this summers crazy-ugly gauge is obvious, but luckily the soak in a mild detergent DID even it out enough for me to be willing to let it pass as "good enough"... 
Above; after a good soak and flat drying. Below; barely off the needles in all its misery 
- and below; the faithful dummy wearing the tank pre-soaking and with adult length neck strap. The difference between 2009 gauge and 2010 gauge was too much for me to bear... 
Summer in the city can be easy breezy! All this greenery and the peaceful scenes are surrounded by the quite noisy and loud streets and railway tracks of our town centre. At the moment the soundtrack of these images is a mix of pouring rain and sunday traffic right outside the garden fence. The cars can be disturbing sometimes, but luckily both Superman and I find the noise of the railway and trains romantic, soothing and charming. The veranda (not shown in this post) is a perfect place for reading in this kind of weather, at least if you keep dressed to protect arms and legs from the mosqitos. As soon as the sun is back there will be executed some serious laziness in the hammock too :o) 
Agurknytt means "cucumber news" which refers to an old English proverb; summer = the tailors holiday and time enough to grow cucumbers... in Norway the term agurknytt refers to the seasons lack of important news in the paper, and the journalists more or less making up news to fill the pages. This post is in the same category... in lack of something new to brag about I´ll scorn myself instead, by showing you how badly I am failing at my numerous attempts of getting the tension/gauge right on this tank top for Princess. I have no idea why I am unable to knit up a smooth and delicate fabric as the bottom 15 cm from last summer shows. Anyhow; I have decided that a "soak & press"-treatment will help a lot and if the difference between the lower and upper part is still bothering me I´ll add a ribbon to enhance this accidental line. PS - I am not growing cucumbers, but I am very pleased that the things I actually do grow is blooming willingly right now, so here you go... 
The finished Circle-in-square-cotton-scrap-project is done and even found it´s use. A multi-purpose tote/bag, at the moment holding an UFO and the two little bags pictured further down.
...not exactely matchy-matchy; I couldn´t be bothered to change the outfit of my ready-to-party-girlfriend here... she does the job, though, showing the proportions of the bag ;o) 
It feels sooooo good to use even the scraps of the scraps for something handy like these little purses. The bigger one is lined with scraps from the same white cotton sheet as the big bag - and I took the trouble of adding a zipper to keep the little scissors, measuring tape, cell phone or whatever safe inside. 
This is the dress I wore in my dear friend A T´s wedding on June 12th. It was originally started as a test/dummy-dress for my own wedding dress last year. As my wedding day got closer, I had to focus on the "real" dress. The work on the dummy was not wasted, though - sewing on my brand new serger for the first time was a little less scary after my trial with these light and "hard to keep still"-fabrics. It was a bit of a challenge to finish the test-dress as I had tucked it away without adjusting and correcting anything - but I made it! Just like my wedding dress, this one was finished less than 24 hours before I wore it. If I work best under pressure, you ask...? 
...and this is me, being a bit blurred (and shy) at the wedding reception carrying an old Ladybag by Baglady (my own brand) and the stola from 2006
I am starting two large projects simultaniously these days - while trying to finish the cotton granny circle-in-square project and finding time for painting the bathroom ceiling and a wall... even thoug the clear weathr and sunlight gives me more energy these days, 24 hours are still 24 hours. So Don´t hold your breath while waiting for the transformation of these two patches into a cardigan for Superman (top picture) and a dress for me. Oh, and I am also planning/preparing a white, long and partly lacy crochet cordigan for me, sewing a black linen dress (also for me) and of course finish last years attemt to knit my Princess a halterneck or tank top... And who knows, even finally complete the Tulip Secret dating back to 1991! And it is still more than two weeks until my holiday starts, so we´ll see about the progress of all this ;o) 
Going away on a two day conference I grabbed my cotton scraps and a 4 mm hook running out the door - hoping that my playfulness and love for colour would come to action and provide a nice "something"! Over the last few years I have started (and completed) several scrap projects that just grew and grew... requiring new purchases of yarn (but still leaving my stash slimmed down in the end). This time I decided I would just make as many squares as the scraps would allow, and THEN decide what to use them for. I stayed true to one simple principle as I hooked happily away with a new and exhilarating feeling of freedom: A strongly coloured centre, a paler mid row forming the circle and a bright hue on the last row. I had a few balls of white cotton to join the cicle-in-square patches. The pale scraps for the mid row lasted for 54 squares. The rest of the yarn will be used for the finishing touches of this project (and will even last for some dish cloths, purses etc) - stay tuned to find out where my scrappy mood leads this time :o) 
My clever Princess made delicious meringues filled with whipped cream and finely chopped peaches last week. I must admit mine was gone in seconds so I am glad I got this snapshot to prove her talent as a baker ;o)
...and an even better day for a red wedding on June 12th! "Hey little sister what have you done? Hey little sister who´s the only one?" We all got the answer on this rainy but oh, so beautiful day. The bride in red, the groom in off white, the seremony so soulful and solemn, yet light spirited... a wonderful party of about 65 people aged 10 months to + 80 years all contributing to the collective feeling of a truly loving and happy athmosphere. Yes, my dear friend - this is soooo right! Congratulations A T & G - I love you! (-and I am so pleased that the bolero came out fitting perfectly, as the weather truly required something little and snug to warm the brides proud shoulders...) 
The title is taken from a 90s Norwegian hit (you can listen to it here) by Weld/Vibeke Saugstad. I find the song melancholy and bitter sweet, so it doesn´t really match my associations with the crown/chocer shown here - but I like the song and love the title :o) This piece of jewellery was made in 2008 for an exhibition, and it was displayed as a choker at the time. It is made from original postal stamps, silver, aquamarines and Chinese bookroll fabric. Later I added a silk chiffon veil and used it as a bridal crown with my home sewn wedding dress! In just a weeks time my dear friend A T will get married and I REALLY hope the wedding bolero will come together nicely for her... I am so happy for her and her groom, and I am sure they will have a wonderful life together with or without this bolero, but still... FO-photos will be posted soon - I HOPE ;o) 
