Socks and first snow and spindle bags

I've been knitting socks. Surprise? And today we got the first snow. It melted.

The yarn is hand dyed Super Biffle from Easyknits.co.uk, a semi solid BFL yarn I like very much. Cat Bordhi's Ocean Toes to the left, Jane Cochran's Hedgerow to the right. Someone will get a Christmas present :)

I bought more sock yarns at the fair in Tampere. Surprise? Four skeins of Hopeasäie Sukka, BFL of course. It's finer than the Super Biffle and very good for really thin woolen socks.

The rest of the shopping is a new singing Tolvana from Tolvana to keep company with the one I bought last year, a nice hand dyed Merino top from Louhittaren Luola, and a box for my sewing whatever they're called in English (bobbins?). Now I have to buy more bobbins so I have something to keep in my new box.

My sewing is almost finished. Here are my first three box bags:

Long and narrow for spindles! Someone will get a Christmas present :)

Wovember

A link for all wool and sheep lovers: Wovember

Look at the Gallery on the site also. Great pictures!

A new sheep

This cute little sheep came home with me from Tampere:

 It's for putting out candle light, so it's hollow.

Presents for Christmas

This time of the year is dangerous. So many fiber and yarn shops have filled their supplies for Christmas.

Here are a few suggestions for shopping in the Nordic countries:

Finland

Hand dyed (semisolids): Hopeasäie
Yarns, knitting supplies (blocking wires!), spinning equipment (Schacht, Majacraft), and hand dyed yarns and fibers from KnitLob's Lair aka Louhittaren Luola: Villavyyhti
Knitting accessories: Succaplokki
Natural dyed Finnwool, knitting kits: Riihivilla
Fibers: Woolgrey
 

Sweden

Fibers, hand dyed yarns, knitting supplies: Limmo-Design
Hand dyed fibers and yarns: Friday Studios
Hand dyed, also custom dyed fibers: Kariola
Fibers, pelts, yarns, spinning supplies like very handy and well made wool combs, weaving supplies, knitting supplies: Gammeldags
Hand dyed yarns and fibers, handmade textiles: VickeVira
Fibers: The Wool Business - Ullaffären

Denmark

Yarns (also hand spun), fibers, spindles, knitting supplies: Garngalleriet
Roving: Henrichsens Uldspinderi
Fibers: Uldportalen
Fibers: Uld og Silke
Hand dyed yarns and fibers: Marezidoats


Norway

Stitch markers: Mono! =)
Yarns, fibers, spinning equipment, books: Spinnvilt
Yarns, fibers, spinning equipment: Fiber and Art
Hand dyed fibers, knitting bags, hand spun yarns: Tante Ull
Hand dyed fibers, felted items: Ullgruven
Hand spun and hand dyed yarns, knitted garments, soap: Maskesprell

Overwhelmed by beautiful things

I saw these fascinating paper bowls in a shop for paper crafters in Gothenburg in Sweden. They are made by Cecilia Levy.

The craft center Verkaranta in Tampere (Finland) shows design by Ritva-Liisa Pohjalainen until December 6 2011. She is a versatile designer, works with textile, metal, glass and cheramics.

The dress miniatures are small sculptures:

My main reason for going to Tampere last week was the gigantic yearly craft fair Kädentaidot. I didn't take many photos because the artisans are so afraid of copy cats. But I have permission to show this:

I fell in love with the red/orange bowl at the front. It's made by Tuula Herranen in raku technique.

The fair was big as usual, and as usual I got overwhelmed by all the beautiful things our artisans produce. I met a dear friend, saw a few vendors I've come to know, and met a couple of Ravelry people I hadn't seen IRL before. It was fun, I'm broke, I was SO tired the next day.

Still sewing...

Yes, I'm still sewing, spinning my Shetland, knitting socks, and knitting a nice scarf as a Christmas present for a friend.

Nothing to show yet, but tomorrow I'll show some of the nice things others have done and I've seen in Gothenburg and Tampere.

Our barn glows in the low November sunlight:

Sewing!

I'm so excited! Tini talked about a Sew Along on her podcast Twinneedle and I thought why not, maybe it could get me started sewing again. So I'm in! I've never taken part in a Sew Along before. Read about it here Ravelry thread and listen to the podcast here Knit Purl Gurl.

Autumn cleaning

Hubby is cleaning up in the garden.

I love mushrooms

Walking the dog in the autumn takes a long time. I love the autumn, there's so much to see. In November it's usually been snowing a few times so everything is grey and brown on the ground, but this autumn is mild with no snow so far. There are lots of mushrooms you don't usually see. The vegetation is still green in some places, but there are also the pale yellows and browns I love so much.

Here's what I saw yesterday. The first mushroom was someone's lunch. Probably a magpie, they are so curious:

In the garden my wild teasel has decided it's spring and started growing new plants:

Wouldn't it be better to do that on the ground?

The house plants are still pretty. This is Oxarv, an old Swedish pelargonium:

The Streptocarpus I stole from Sarah shows us two pretty flowers:

This glowing beauty I took from mother in law's summer house about ten years ago: