this weekend's adventures and accomplishments
Yesterday was a fun-filled, and busy day. It started with some past-due home maintenance--I cleaned out the drain trap under the bathroom sink, and since I was still feeling motivated, I also pulled the shower stall forward so that I could get to the plastic pipes that run from the shower to the drain the the floor, and I took them apart and cleaned out the accumulated hair and ick from there. Yah, I know, most people wouldn't think to include these sorts of tasks under the category "fun", but, honestly, I like making gross things clean again--there is something so satisfying about it. It is also wonderful to shower without standing in water deep enough to cover my feet, too.
Then we went to lord_kjar's office to print some new passport photos for me (the ones I had turned in with my passport application last week were, so they tell me, covered with white dots "like they had been put into an envelope before they dried". So I need to send them some new ones. Luckily, I am sending everything to the Australian Embassy in Stockholm, not needing to send it all the way to Australia. From there we went to the post office and picked up my US passport (which the Australian embassy returned, since having seen it, they no longer need it to process my application for the new passport), and from there to the grocery store, where we bought a couple of turkeys.
Yes, that is right, two of them. Swedish turkeys as so small! We bought the two largest we could find, one 5 kg, the other 4.5 kg. Together they are pretty much the same size as I used to roast for holidays in the states and Australia (where I tended to go for the 20 lb birds). They have been put into the freezer, where they will wait till the New Year's party at our friend K's house in Umeå. She wanted to do a dinner, and had thought about a potluck, and I thought it sounded like a great excuse to do a proper holiday turkey dinner.
Then we went to the housewarming party for our local count and countess. My, did they luck into a nice place! I love the timbered room with the old style fireplace downstairs. Would be perfect place for having a bardic circle. From there we went to a folk dance.
Last night's folk dance, like all of them I go to totally reinforces my desire to keep living in Sweden. Swedish folk dancing is just so much fun! The musicians in the Luleå Hembygdsgille are so talented! The crowd this time was small--five musicians and 10 dancers, but the quality of both was high, and I had ever so much fun. I, of course, danced every dance--sometimes I was the only one dancing. This despite the fact that before we walked in the door I had been ready to take a nap. But dancing always provides energy!
In the middle of the dance we stopped for "fika", and, since I never eat that late in the evening, I got my nålbinding out of my pack and stitched a bit, and managed to finish the project in progress, which took 9.8 hours over the course of 54 days to make (can you tell this has been the "live in the backpack in case I need a project" project?).
This hat is all the fault of a friend of mine in the West, who saw the photo of me dressed as a Viking man and fell in love with the hat. She wondered if she could make one using nålbinding instead of knitting, and I had to try.
I had some nice baby wool on hand in red and black, so I gave it a try. My first attempt, using my favourite Finnish stitch, was just ugly, since every stitch interlaces with at least three on each side of it, so colour transitions get very messy. Therefore I stitched to Dalarna stitch and tried again, and was happier with the results. Since this yarn is thin I worked with a double thread.
This hat fits me better than the knit one I had borrowed from lord_kjar, so he tells me that next time I play Vitbjörn I will look a bit less like a dwarf.
The temps this weekend have been lovely: -5 to -10 C, so we haven't lost any more of that think layer of snow we have, and today I even walked on the ice on the water at the bottom of our property. First time I have been willing to risk that this winter. I am a bit concerned with the forecast though--it says that it should warm up above zero by Wednesday. I hope they are mistaken.
Then we went to lord_kjar's office to print some new passport photos for me (the ones I had turned in with my passport application last week were, so they tell me, covered with white dots "like they had been put into an envelope before they dried". So I need to send them some new ones. Luckily, I am sending everything to the Australian Embassy in Stockholm, not needing to send it all the way to Australia. From there we went to the post office and picked up my US passport (which the Australian embassy returned, since having seen it, they no longer need it to process my application for the new passport), and from there to the grocery store, where we bought a couple of turkeys.
Yes, that is right, two of them. Swedish turkeys as so small! We bought the two largest we could find, one 5 kg, the other 4.5 kg. Together they are pretty much the same size as I used to roast for holidays in the states and Australia (where I tended to go for the 20 lb birds). They have been put into the freezer, where they will wait till the New Year's party at our friend K's house in Umeå. She wanted to do a dinner, and had thought about a potluck, and I thought it sounded like a great excuse to do a proper holiday turkey dinner.
Then we went to the housewarming party for our local count and countess. My, did they luck into a nice place! I love the timbered room with the old style fireplace downstairs. Would be perfect place for having a bardic circle. From there we went to a folk dance.
Last night's folk dance, like all of them I go to totally reinforces my desire to keep living in Sweden. Swedish folk dancing is just so much fun! The musicians in the Luleå Hembygdsgille are so talented! The crowd this time was small--five musicians and 10 dancers, but the quality of both was high, and I had ever so much fun. I, of course, danced every dance--sometimes I was the only one dancing. This despite the fact that before we walked in the door I had been ready to take a nap. But dancing always provides energy!
In the middle of the dance we stopped for "fika", and, since I never eat that late in the evening, I got my nålbinding out of my pack and stitched a bit, and managed to finish the project in progress, which took 9.8 hours over the course of 54 days to make (can you tell this has been the "live in the backpack in case I need a project" project?).
This hat is all the fault of a friend of mine in the West, who saw the photo of me dressed as a Viking man and fell in love with the hat. She wondered if she could make one using nålbinding instead of knitting, and I had to try.
I had some nice baby wool on hand in red and black, so I gave it a try. My first attempt, using my favourite Finnish stitch, was just ugly, since every stitch interlaces with at least three on each side of it, so colour transitions get very messy. Therefore I stitched to Dalarna stitch and tried again, and was happier with the results. Since this yarn is thin I worked with a double thread.
This hat fits me better than the knit one I had borrowed from lord_kjar, so he tells me that next time I play Vitbjörn I will look a bit less like a dwarf.
The temps this weekend have been lovely: -5 to -10 C, so we haven't lost any more of that think layer of snow we have, and today I even walked on the ice on the water at the bottom of our property. First time I have been willing to risk that this winter. I am a bit concerned with the forecast though--it says that it should warm up above zero by Wednesday. I hope they are mistaken.