When I was younger there was a Strawberry Fair held not too far from my village, every July. The area was called the Strawberry Beds, not quite a town, more a long rural road with a few cottages dotted along one side and the River Liffey flowing along the other. It was and is a very beautiful place and to be able to see "countryside" so close to my home always made me love where I grew up.
At this young age, strawberry was my favourite flavour in yoghurts, jams and sweets. The point of the fair was to dine on the fresh strawberries, so when I finally got to taste one of those delicious looking little fruits, I went for it, and was disgusted! This was not the same as my favourite jam or sweets! Something must have gone wrong, so I tried another... and no, I disliked it also.
Therefore from that day until yesterday, the 4th of July 2009, it has taken me roughly 20 years and only 1496.05km to taste another one. Egged on by watching Hugh Fernley Whittingstall's tv show Summer at River Cottage and also reading about the fresh strawberries delivered to Reykjavik, from the greenhouse in Fludir(where we used to live). I decided to give them another try.
I baked up a batch of cream scones(half white flour, half wholewheat) and whipped up some cream(no devonshire). I can now join the throngs of strawberry lovers. I can see where my 8 year old taste bud's were coming from, a little bitter and that is all 8 year old me would have tasted, but so full of flavour and just lovely on the scones with the cream.
I would love to try my hand at making my own jam, but considering the punnet I got cost 599kr/3.38e/2.89£, it's a wee bit pricey. Well okay, it may not seem much in the other currencies, but consider that would have been half that a year ago!! So, no jam for us :( Unless we grew our own, but I don't see that happening for a while.
Here is a photo of the finished product.
Looking through some of Stephens film footage, I found a nice still of my shrug that I knit. You can see it better than the previous photo and the lovely lace cuff.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Emerald Isle
I have just returned from a visit to Ireland. I had not been there for 4 years, so it was a great treat to see my hometown and my family again. My sister was making her Confirmation and back in December at my mosaic class I made her a present. So now I can finally post the photos!
Working out how the design will go.
Finished :)
My sister also turned 13 the day of her confirmation, so I made her a gift for that. I found out the colour's of her confirmation outfit and used them in the jewellery I made. I had bought some Swarovski beads and used them.
I made these earrings for my mam, I used the blue Swarovski beads in them. It actually turned out the dress she wore that day was the exact colour's of the earrings, and they matched perfectly.
On my last day in Ireland, the weather was brilliant and we took a trip to Glendalough. I hadn't been there since I was about 10, so it was great to get some new pictures of it.
This is my village.
The old house by the weir on the river Liffey.
Working out how the design will go.
Finished :)
My sister also turned 13 the day of her confirmation, so I made her a gift for that. I found out the colour's of her confirmation outfit and used them in the jewellery I made. I had bought some Swarovski beads and used them.
I made these earrings for my mam, I used the blue Swarovski beads in them. It actually turned out the dress she wore that day was the exact colour's of the earrings, and they matched perfectly.
On my last day in Ireland, the weather was brilliant and we took a trip to Glendalough. I hadn't been there since I was about 10, so it was great to get some new pictures of it.
This is my village.
The old house by the weir on the river Liffey.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Two Shrugs, One Woman
I finally took the plunge into circular knitting last week. For some reason the mere sight of 'circular needles required' in a pattern made me shiver and get goosbumples. Now that it's all over, I am in love with circular knitting and cannot wait for more!
I found a really interesting and friendly website called The Purl Bee, it has amazingly beautiful patterns for knitting, crochet, embroidery and some of the most thorough and pretty(if that's possible) tutorials, for every imaginable obstacle you could come across.
This is where I found the perfect pattern I had been searching for, a lovely shrug.
It knit up like a charm and the wool is so soft, yet thick enough to keep my arms warm if a slight spring/autumn/Icelandic breeze should blow.
I needed the shrug, as I am taking a trip back to Eire for a week in May. My sister is making her confirmation and seeing as it will be 4 years(to the day) since I last visited the motherland, I thought hey, why not? Courtesy of my fabulous parents of course ;)
Anyhoo, the dress I will wear is a sleeveless one and as I am unsure of the rules of the church these days, thought it best to cover up ;)
Here are a couple of photos of the shrug. I have not blocked it yet, so the lacy cuff part is curling over, when it's blocked it should lay out flat.. I hope!!
The wool is Aran, from this post, this wool was also the first time I have had to deal with a hank of wool, meaning I had to actually wind it up into a ball myself! Considering how much it bloody well cost, that's quite a cheek!
This next item, is a long sleeved top that was so badly made, I could never wear it. I found a very cool project on Cut Out and Keep. Here is my version:
I found a really interesting and friendly website called The Purl Bee, it has amazingly beautiful patterns for knitting, crochet, embroidery and some of the most thorough and pretty(if that's possible) tutorials, for every imaginable obstacle you could come across.
This is where I found the perfect pattern I had been searching for, a lovely shrug.
It knit up like a charm and the wool is so soft, yet thick enough to keep my arms warm if a slight spring/autumn/Icelandic breeze should blow.
I needed the shrug, as I am taking a trip back to Eire for a week in May. My sister is making her confirmation and seeing as it will be 4 years(to the day) since I last visited the motherland, I thought hey, why not? Courtesy of my fabulous parents of course ;)
Anyhoo, the dress I will wear is a sleeveless one and as I am unsure of the rules of the church these days, thought it best to cover up ;)
Here are a couple of photos of the shrug. I have not blocked it yet, so the lacy cuff part is curling over, when it's blocked it should lay out flat.. I hope!!
The wool is Aran, from this post, this wool was also the first time I have had to deal with a hank of wool, meaning I had to actually wind it up into a ball myself! Considering how much it bloody well cost, that's quite a cheek!
This next item, is a long sleeved top that was so badly made, I could never wear it. I found a very cool project on Cut Out and Keep. Here is my version:
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Peach Cobbler and Homemade Poptartys
I have been a busy bee the last few days. It feels quite good when you are being creative like that, especially in my case when it involves either finishing old knitting projects or re-using something that previously had no use!
The knitting project I finished was a little knitted kitten that I started a few months back, with this random ball of wool my mother brought over last March. I knit it up real quick, but had misplaced my darning needle.. so off to UFO corner it went. I was rummaging in my knitting bag yesterday when I found the darning needle and quickly grabbed the kitten parts and seemed her up.
She is not perfect, but is now a nice little desk buddy for Stephen, who insisted on calling her Caren.. So far Tara the real kitty has left her alone.
Last week on our day off, I baked a peach cobbler. My friend Wendy had been talking about making her own and it really made me crave some. She passed along the recipe and I whipped it up. Along with some delicious vanilla ice cream, this was so good. I am not a huge peach fan, but in this pie they were scrumptious. Also the way the cobbler forms is quite cool.
This evening we were both craving something sweet, but there was nothing in the kitchen, so I scoured my bookmarks for something tasty. I found these homemade poptart things. Using this site for the pastry recipe, I whipped up three of them using Icelandic blueberry jam and marmalade. They were so delicious! I still have a lot of pastry left over, so I will definitely be making more of them. Great for a quick snack.
The knitting project I finished was a little knitted kitten that I started a few months back, with this random ball of wool my mother brought over last March. I knit it up real quick, but had misplaced my darning needle.. so off to UFO corner it went. I was rummaging in my knitting bag yesterday when I found the darning needle and quickly grabbed the kitten parts and seemed her up.
She is not perfect, but is now a nice little desk buddy for Stephen, who insisted on calling her Caren.. So far Tara the real kitty has left her alone.
Last week on our day off, I baked a peach cobbler. My friend Wendy had been talking about making her own and it really made me crave some. She passed along the recipe and I whipped it up. Along with some delicious vanilla ice cream, this was so good. I am not a huge peach fan, but in this pie they were scrumptious. Also the way the cobbler forms is quite cool.
This evening we were both craving something sweet, but there was nothing in the kitchen, so I scoured my bookmarks for something tasty. I found these homemade poptart things. Using this site for the pastry recipe, I whipped up three of them using Icelandic blueberry jam and marmalade. They were so delicious! I still have a lot of pastry left over, so I will definitely be making more of them. Great for a quick snack.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Mash Up
I bought some gorgeous wool the other day, it's from Artesano and it's called Aran wool. It's so lovely and doesn't seem like it would irritate my skin. The colour is twilight, a turquoise colour with some light flecks of purple and other colours. I haven't found a pattern I like yet, but I am going for a short cardigan style to wear when I visit Ireland in May.
Here are two more sprites I made for Stephen. A koopa and Luigi, both from Super Mario World. I got the sprite images from this great site.
During my father and brother's visit, we visited the small town of Stykkisholmur on the Snæfellsness peninsula, while we were there we took a guided tour of a new local brewery, that makes a beer called Jökull Bjór. Stephen and I had pre-arranged this tour through the companies website, having tasted their special brew for Þorrablot. We are not big beer drinkers, but we do like to try the new ones that come on the market, especially when they are local and mostly organic. From my perspective then, it is a nice light tasting beer, the seasonal one being a darker beer.
The woman who gave us the tour, is as far as I know, the manager/owner. They have such a small set up, so small, that two guys were in fact sticking the labels on by hand! They opened for business right as the kreppa took hold of the country, so as of our trip, they were hoping for expansion across the government owned wine stores. (my friend up North claims to never have seen them in her tiny store)
So I wish them luck. We also got a taste of some beer from their taps and along with a small fee of 500kr each, received some lovely branded beer glasses!
Here are two more sprites I made for Stephen. A koopa and Luigi, both from Super Mario World. I got the sprite images from this great site.
During my father and brother's visit, we visited the small town of Stykkisholmur on the Snæfellsness peninsula, while we were there we took a guided tour of a new local brewery, that makes a beer called Jökull Bjór. Stephen and I had pre-arranged this tour through the companies website, having tasted their special brew for Þorrablot. We are not big beer drinkers, but we do like to try the new ones that come on the market, especially when they are local and mostly organic. From my perspective then, it is a nice light tasting beer, the seasonal one being a darker beer.
The woman who gave us the tour, is as far as I know, the manager/owner. They have such a small set up, so small, that two guys were in fact sticking the labels on by hand! They opened for business right as the kreppa took hold of the country, so as of our trip, they were hoping for expansion across the government owned wine stores. (my friend up North claims to never have seen them in her tiny store)
So I wish them luck. We also got a taste of some beer from their taps and along with a small fee of 500kr each, received some lovely branded beer glasses!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
I've Got the Fever
That's the hama bead fever. I have got it BAD! Stephen and I went to the shopping centre on Friday and he bought me lots of bags of beads! There were just so many colours, even glittery ones. He wanted to buy me the 35000 bead box, but the thought of looking through that box for one colour was enough to drive me mental. So I opted for single colour bags.
So I am sticking with a theme for the sprites, this one is Super Mario World, which is Stephen's favourite Mario game. There are still colours I am missing, but I can do without them for now by substituting other shades.
Anyhow, here is the finished Mario in all his chubby little glory.
This is the necklace I made my mother for Mothering Sunday. It is a natural coloured shell in the middle, with small lava stone beads on either side.
Stephen and I celebrated 11 years together yesterday, so I made myself a set of earrings and a necklace to wear with the new dress he bought me :)
The necklace was made with a how-to on cut out and keep.
So I am sticking with a theme for the sprites, this one is Super Mario World, which is Stephen's favourite Mario game. There are still colours I am missing, but I can do without them for now by substituting other shades.
Anyhow, here is the finished Mario in all his chubby little glory.
This is the necklace I made my mother for Mothering Sunday. It is a natural coloured shell in the middle, with small lava stone beads on either side.
Stephen and I celebrated 11 years together yesterday, so I made myself a set of earrings and a necklace to wear with the new dress he bought me :)
The necklace was made with a how-to on cut out and keep.
Monday, March 16, 2009
One more before bedtime
Okay, so I started another sprite tonight. Can you guess who it is?
I would have had it finished, only I am missing a lot of colours, all shades of brown and many others that this sprite calls for.
I think a trip after work tomorrow to the book store is on!
Here are some of my new organizational items.
This is for my hama beads. I am going to need something much bigger soon.
This one is for all my jewellery making bits. I think it's my fave one too. Detachable boxes on the outside, a little removeable tray on the top and lots of space inside for wire etc.
This one was my best bargain, bought in Rúmfatalagerinn for 990kr. A double sided hobby box.
I still have another box of sewing stuff, which is in an old biscuit tub. My fimo is in a big sweet bucket and my glue/glitter misc stuff is in the old hama bead tub! I need a whole room for all this stuff!
I would have had it finished, only I am missing a lot of colours, all shades of brown and many others that this sprite calls for.
I think a trip after work tomorrow to the book store is on!
Here are some of my new organizational items.
This is for my hama beads. I am going to need something much bigger soon.
This one is for all my jewellery making bits. I think it's my fave one too. Detachable boxes on the outside, a little removeable tray on the top and lots of space inside for wire etc.
This one was my best bargain, bought in Rúmfatalagerinn for 990kr. A double sided hobby box.
I still have another box of sewing stuff, which is in an old biscuit tub. My fimo is in a big sweet bucket and my glue/glitter misc stuff is in the old hama bead tub! I need a whole room for all this stuff!
Hot Springs & Hama Beads
I have had an interesting week, I had some family over. My father and my brother, so I was busy showing them around Iceland. It was my fathers third visit and my brothers first. It was so good to see them and we all had such a great time. They hired a car and Stephen and I chose places for them to visit. We climbed a glacier, soaked in an outdoor natural hot spring, visited a local brewery and went horse riding.
This is where the hot springs was(the arrow marks where the spring is)
This is part of the glacier we climbed, Sólheimajokull.
I cannot believe it is March already. I have been a bit lazy on the crafting front recently. Instead I have been re-organizing, I bought some new boxes for my sewing stuff, my jewellery bits and my hama beads.
I have been researching how to make bead sprites. I found out how to make an image I want pixelly, it's not very hard. You find the image you want and save it to your computer, then open it, I just used preview and zoom in until you get the right pixels. I made a few simple ones, but I need a lot more colours if I want to make more characters.
This first one is a band logo for my little sister, the band is Tokio-[sic]-Hotel. The clearer beads are glow in the dark! They glow a bright pink. I love them :)
This is Link, from the Nintendo games The Legend of Zelda, of which Stephen is a huge fan. I am not entirely sure which game this is from, but I am thinking it's from an early SNES game. He is falling in this image :)
This is a coaster for Stephen, it's a fire flower from Mario games.
This one is for me. It is a kodama (Japanese tree spirit) head. I really wanted to make a full one, but alas I could not find an image small enough to make and I do not have any more bead boards to make a huge one. These are on my to buy list.
He is also made with the damn cool glow in the dark beads.
He will just sit by me at my desk :)
There are so many things you can do with these beads, they are quite an addictive hobby, even if you don't do the whole pixel art with them, you can still be very alternative and make bead art. They are sold in one of the big dept stores here and a local book shop, so I can get my hands on them easy, but I am not sure they stock every colour, so I think I may end up buying lots on ebay.
I have one more item, but will not post it until after Mother's day next weekend.
This is where the hot springs was(the arrow marks where the spring is)
This is part of the glacier we climbed, Sólheimajokull.
I cannot believe it is March already. I have been a bit lazy on the crafting front recently. Instead I have been re-organizing, I bought some new boxes for my sewing stuff, my jewellery bits and my hama beads.
I have been researching how to make bead sprites. I found out how to make an image I want pixelly, it's not very hard. You find the image you want and save it to your computer, then open it, I just used preview and zoom in until you get the right pixels. I made a few simple ones, but I need a lot more colours if I want to make more characters.
This first one is a band logo for my little sister, the band is Tokio-[sic]-Hotel. The clearer beads are glow in the dark! They glow a bright pink. I love them :)
This is Link, from the Nintendo games The Legend of Zelda, of which Stephen is a huge fan. I am not entirely sure which game this is from, but I am thinking it's from an early SNES game. He is falling in this image :)
This is a coaster for Stephen, it's a fire flower from Mario games.
This one is for me. It is a kodama (Japanese tree spirit) head. I really wanted to make a full one, but alas I could not find an image small enough to make and I do not have any more bead boards to make a huge one. These are on my to buy list.
He is also made with the damn cool glow in the dark beads.
He will just sit by me at my desk :)
There are so many things you can do with these beads, they are quite an addictive hobby, even if you don't do the whole pixel art with them, you can still be very alternative and make bead art. They are sold in one of the big dept stores here and a local book shop, so I can get my hands on them easy, but I am not sure they stock every colour, so I think I may end up buying lots on ebay.
I have one more item, but will not post it until after Mother's day next weekend.
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