for me!

my mother in law dropped by this afternoon to show her progress on the bunad she is making for me. Yes, bunad!, handmade!, big  project!, for me!! It's a pretty amazing thing to do for someone else, so I was happy to hear that she's loving the work. In fact she's so obsessed with it that she gets up at six o'clock in the morning so she can get in an hour of embroidering before work. In less than a week she has almost finished the shawl!



You may remember the child size bunad she made for Nene. Mine is from the same region, so it's similar, but not identical. The embroidery is a different pattern, and mine is a brand that uses a lighter, more delicate fabric, and lighter thread so the overall impression is more delicate. They also have a wider range of colours to choose between for the bodice, and the embroidery is available in a warm autumn colour scheme, which suits me better than the bright colours that were used for Nene's bunad.



The modern bunad tradition in Norway is dominated by the crafts council, which (to some of us) comes across as a bit religious and strict about it, and are jokingly referred to as the bunad police.If they knew that I plan to use silver jewelry from a different region, they would proabably try to have me arrested. The company I have chosen is a bit more relaxed, and they thought it was a splendid idea to use the
 beautiful silver belt i have inherited, even if it's from a different region and technically belongs to a different bunad. I have talked to many people about it, and some think I'm crazy to even consider it, and others think it's a beautiful idea to use what you already have and connect with the past through it. I think you have to be a local to understand quite how emotional people get over these questions!

new wheels

well, it's actually only one new wheel. We have bought a trailer bike for
Nene, and most of the time she loves helping her dad pedal, and enjoys the admiring looks from the little guys in kindergarten. There's only one catch: It's the adult up front who decides where to go, and at times she finds that unacceptable. The trailer bike is meant to replace her bike seat, but
her legs are a bit short, so she gets tired fast so I guess we'll only use it for short rides in the beginning. But don't they look cute!

a brand new heirloom

Babystepping my way back to blogging,
I give you the post that I didn't write on Christmas day,
about a very special Christmas gift that Nene (4) got.

I wrote a post before about the Norwegian bunad 
tradition and one about the little bunad that is  our family heirloom. Nene won't be wearing that bunad (but her cousin uses it), because her grandmother made her an heirloom of her own: A tiny bunad from our region (Rogaland), handmade by grandmother, an exact replica of the adult bunad from our region. Grandmother did both the embroidery and the tailoring. She has a bunad herself that her (late) mother made for her. She took the bonnet from that bunad and turned into the purse that Nene
wears in her belt, so her great grandmother had a hand in this too.

The shirt isn't really supposed to be worn nonchalantly 
open like Nene does, but she was sick two minutes before these pictures were taken, and I  thought she would be more comfortable (less likely to puke) this way.

The Rogaland bunad features a shawl and a bonnet too,
that grandma didn't make because she didn't think Nene 
would want to wear them. But the bonnet was the first
thing she asked for when she received the bunad, so I
guess it's back to the embroidery floss for grandma!

eye candy friday

revisiting a favorite theme: My Summer paradise in Winter. The pictures were taken this Easter.

red

I haven't knitted or blogged for a long time, and was starting to think I'll
never be inspired again. But when Lolly launched the new Project Spectrum
I couldn't help myself and signed up immediately. Lolly is always such an inspiration and always manages to come up with something new. This time her idea was to link the colours with the four elements, starting with fire. I love firey colours, they make up half my stash in fact. Yet all my current wips are decidedly non-red. In my jewelry design on the other hand those colours are very much present, as I'm in the process of limiting my palette and focus on a handful colours with red as my number one.

I'll try to come back to knitting and blogging. I think it's best to do it with babysteps. So I'll go knit a row or two now.

Pink newspaper

Dagens Næringsliv is Norway's biggest financial newspaper, and although I like their weekend section, I must admit most Saturdays it's not my first choice of coffee mate (Monday morning coffee break at work - now, that's a different story!). But I digress. The reason I mention this today is of course 
that today's issue features a big article about crafting, the handmade trend, internet and craft sites and blogs, and of course etsy. And - a-hem-  I'm in it :blush:. That's me - wrinkles and all - in the little photo in the corner,  saying  that handmade is unique and other intelligent statements in that vein.

ETA: Found a link to the article - first page - second page.

etsy Friday

carnelian rings for Nene and myself - whimsical and cute for her, minimalistic for me. Nene's ring is from Lunasadesign, who makes fabulous metal jewellery, and mine is from BirkaScandinavian, in her beautiful signature style.