WIP: 18th century cats - Baroness Burberry

I'm still working on my 18th ccentury cats project. But I've finished another one. Now I only have one to go and I allready have an idea about the character for that one. This is our only lady cat and she really acts like one. That why we always call her a baroness. I hope you like it! You can find my other cat portraits here.

WIP: Marlee

I'm working on my first pattern! It's a tunic called Marlee!
After several attempts to knit "heart lace top" by Betty, I frogged it all and decided to make something up. Iwas knitting with grey cotton, so I wanted to make a summer top. But all the patterns I could find on ravelry didn't seem good enough. That's when I started to knit... I began with a broad collar, made some decreases and started to work on an open back. The first part was knitted on circular needles, but at the beginning of the opening at the back I divided the piece in a front part and a back part. The back is almost done, I'm now working on the cap sleeves. I don't know exactly what to do with the front. But I made a rough sketch, so we will see how this thing will turn out. Maybe I just make something up, while knitting.

This is the back. It looks a bit funny, because the edges tend to curl. Also the opening isn't going to be as round as it appears to be.

 

This is the piece seen from the front. As you can see, the first part is knitted on circulars.

You probably wonder why it's called Marle, or maybe not, but either way I'm going to tell you. I watched all six episodes of Case Histories while I was working on this piece. I can tell you, it's pretty addictive! Marlee is the daughter of Jackson Brodie - the private detective- where the show is about.

Hm, talking about addictive! These are too:

 I baked these yesterday. My best friend, niece, ucnle and aunt were visiting my grandparents. Since I am staying at my grandparents lately I decided to make a little treat. I found these on Saving Room For Dessert A blog full of delicious recipes (and pictures!) I can't wait to try out some of those pies. I mean...Baileys Irish Cream Mousse Pie, Chocolat Peanut Butter Pie, Lemon Ice Box Pie and Marshmallow-Almond Key Lime Pie, how can you resist them! (and almost all the other pies)
I didn't expect the visitors would like my date bars, because dates are a bit exotic. But they loved them! And I must say, they are delicious! Full of sweet moist date filling and crunchy oats on top!

Husqvarna, dude!

I bought a sewing machine :D!!!

I’d seen this baby  in the window display before and then the other day it was in a market stall for just 50 euros! But I didn’t buy it and kept thinking about it. So I went back and they didn’t sold it and the actual price wasn’t 50 euros, that was just a market day offer. But in the end I got it for only 50 euros :) It is a very solid an therefore very heavy sewing machine, a Husqvarna 4710! It is a very groovy machine with it’s brown and orange colourdetails and it runs like a train ;) Now I only have to find something to sew on it. I’ve allready set my mind o a tunic with my lovely brown and orangy fabric I bought a while a go (it matches  my sewing machine :P) Maybe some of you remember it from my earlier post .

This is the fabric I’m talking about. I borrowed a book from the library, called ‘Tuniques’ in French (mine was in Dutch obviously!). There are some very nice and easy enough patterns in there. So you’ll see the product of it very soon on my blog I hope. Now I’m working on a knitted tunic, so that has to be done first. I don’t have my camera and my knitting in the same place, so pictures will follow later on. I’m making the whole pattern up, so I hope it works out! You’ll get an update on that subject soon.

Here’s my new sewing machine in it’s full glory ;)

The abandoned garden

 

Since we are not much at home lately, our garden and plants got a bit neglected. Some plants were drowned by the rain, others dried out. But the damage isn't that big and we tried to water them every day.
In my last blog post I allready talked about the reason for us not being at home that much. Luckily I have some goodish news. My grandma is back home again, after she'd lain in hospital for four weeks. After some scans the docters saw 'something' in the coxa, that didn't belong there. They didn't know immediately what 'it' was, but it was sure that thing pressed on one of her sinews, which gave her terrible painattacs. After more examinations they've found out it is some kind of a tumor, in the lymph gland in her coxa (somewhere around the tailbone). Luckily this can be very well treated with chemotherapy. After one or two treatments the tumor will get smaller and the pressure on the sinew will decrease. We are glad they found the source of the painattacs and that it can be treated that well. My grandma will start her chemotheraphy at Tuesday. So I'll still won't be at home that much. I want to thank all the people who thought about my grandma, wished her the best and asked about her :) It was so sweet to see you all so concerned.
Let me show you my plants now, they deserve a little more attention.

Basil

Chives

Last year I had a big basil plant. It even got flowers! When the flowers died, I harvested the seeds, which I have sown this year. The chives and East-Indian cherry seeds are bought at the supermarket. But I also collected the pumpkin seeds myself. Last year I baked a pumpkin pie and I've dried the seeds to sow them. And now look what they've become :)! I cheated a bit with the tomato plant, because I bought that allready being a little plant. But still, it has grown pretty good! I snatched all the leaves, so the plant can put all its energy in growing the fruits.

Organic pumpkin

Basil & East-Indian cherry

Tomato

Thomas Dybdahl

It's been a while since you guys have seen me here. That's because my grandma is in hospital at the moment, so me and my mom have to look a bit after my grandfather. We cook diner for him and take care of the houskeeping that has to be done. We don't know exactly what my grandma is suffering from. She has a lot of pain coming from her back/hip, going all the wat through her leg. They made pictures and scans of it and there is something pushing against a nerve which gives her these pains. Last week they did a puncture, so hopefully we get to hear the results this week.

Now you all know what took me so long to post anything new. Because I still have to blog about this amazing Thomas Dybdahl concert I've been too.

He was giving a show at Vera, Groningen on the second of May. Since I am a big fan of him I had to go there. I only saw him once with his band 'The National Bank.' Now I finally had the opportunity to see a gig where he sings his own songs.
The show wasn't sold out, at all, so I didn't need the reservation I made for my ticket. But there was enough public for a great evening. They were so enthousiastic, just like me!
Before Dybdahl started playing there was a support act from the Norwegian singer Susanne Sundfør. I already listened to a couple of songs from her on YouTube, but live she was even better!
Then finally the moment arrived that Thomas Dybdahl got on stage.
He played a couple of songs from his new album 'Waiting for that one great moment' which isn't actually his newest CD. He just brought out a new album, featuring no new songs, because he now has a new label at Strange Cargo/Universal, with a worldwide deal. So we are bound to here more of this great musician in the future! But luckily he also played many 'old' songs, not that I don't like the new ones :)
By the way, not all the credits go to Thomas ofcourse, because he also had an amazing band with him!

Jeg snakker lit Norsk!

I'm wearing a Pippi Longstockings shirt, by the way. The sunlight makes it hard to see.

I signed up for a new study!
After 2 years of studying archaeology, followed by a year of doing 'nothing', I decided I want to go to University again.
To many of you it will be of no great surprise that the study of my choice is:

Scandinavian language and culture!

Right at the start of the first schoolyear you have to choose between Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. I will be choosing Norwegian, which also isn't a big surprise to you I guess.
The new study will start in September, so there's still plenty of time to prepare for this new study.

I can't wait to begin :)

Norg

Saturday 2nd April my mother and I went to Norg. A beautiful place in Drenthe in the Netherlands. It’s surrounded by woods, heathlands, fens and meadows. People who know me well know that this is the place where we go on holiday each year.

One of my first times in Norg.

Inside the cottage, my mom (right) is knitting
something for me I guess.

The first time I went there, I still sat warm and cosy inside my mommy’s belly. My uncle and aunt spent their holiday in a little wooden cottage called ‘Tummetot’ (named after the gnome of Astrid Lingren’s stories) these days and we stayed with them for a couple of days. I have lovely memories about my younger years in the woods! My uncle and aunt got two children, one girl – a bit older than me- and one boy, a little younger than me. So I always had someone to play with. I remember the squirrels running around the cottage and robbing little pieces of bread from the birdfeeding table, the

Making 'forest dishes'

woodpeckers with their drumming and loud sgueeking noise and at night the screaming of an owl. We always had so much fun and we were never bored. If we didn’t have anything to play with we always made something up or created stuff from the thing the forest gave to us. I can see the three of us, when we were ate the age of about 10, sitting around a table outside and making all kinds of ‘forest dishes’. Using pineapples, sand, rocks, twig and everything else we found.
When I was 8 years old, me and my mom spent our holiday

On the campingsite, making a landscape,
using all kinds of natural things.

for the first time at the campingsite.
The weather was very bad one day, we saw the lightning strike the field in front of us and it rained all evening! You don’t feel very  save in a tent on a moment like that. Luckely my aunt and uncle stayed in ‘Tummetot’ so my uncle came to ‘rescue’ us. After a couple of hours the rain stopped and the thunderstorm passed. What was left where very large pools! After all the excitement of the storm, we didn’t have to think what we wanted to do with them! My uncle and cousins and me went outside and danced like idiots in the pools!

And now…things haven’t changed that much. I still like to dance in pools after a large rain shower!
The past 5 years we all went together to the campingsite. Often, girlfriends, boyfriends and other friends were brought along. It was like one big happy camp, with lots of laughing, playing the guitar, singing, playing, cycling and making forests walks. But little kids get big and leave home.
This is the first year we aren’t going to spent our holiday with all. But who knows what the future will bring. I am certain the big happy camp will be restored one day. Because Norg is a very special place. It’s like a second home, for me at least. But I know lots of people how feel the same way about it. You have to have been there to experience the special ‘Norg sensation’
My most favourite place is a heathland called ‘Noordsche veld’ which means something like Nordic Field. There are Scottish Highland cows and goats who are grazing the fields. It is not only a beautiful place but, a very interesting place for archaeologists! There are a couple of megalithic graves (dating from the Neolithicum, Bronze Age and Iron Age) and some celtic fields (prehistoric farmlands.) Everytime I go there, I can’t resist the urge to look out for artefacts. I always come home with my pockets full of flints. But I never found an artefact like a scraper or a handaxe.

This is me (with red hair!) Watching through a telescope in search of Highland cows I suppose ;-)

A holiday without Norg isn’t a real holiday. So now me and my mom are celebrating our holiday with my grandparents in a cottage in the woods in June. We’ll stay for one week and somewhere in July mom and I will stay a week on the campingsite: http://www.boscamping.nl/ (in Ducth!)

Our tent (right) and the one of my uncle and aunt (on the left) and the orange tent is a guest tent.

Pimp My Shirt

 

Recently I spent more time sewing than knitting. Probably because my knitting project is a winter   sweater and it’s beautiful weather right now.
I was however in desperate need of a summerish vest. So I grabbed an old and too large black long sleeve shirt and turned it into the vest I wanted. I didn’t make pictures of the shirt before, but I think you can imagine wat it looked like, just a plain, boring shirt.

I’ve cut the front from collar to bottom and cut the sleeves in half. Then I grabbed and old black and white striped top from my closet and made them into cuffs. I also made a tiny cut in the back of my vest. It’s perfect to wear instead of a jacker right now. I’m very happy with the result!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spy…something orange!

 

Carrots!

I must say I hate raw carrots, they give me headaches! But cooked, mashed or baked I love them. A couple of weeks ago I made carrotcake for the first time. I’ve already eaten some before. But at Volunteersday I finally baked one myself and also made a creamcheese icing with it.  It was delicous, if I say so myself! My favourite recipe comes from a little cookbook that we own for many years. I don’t like raisins and sultanas in my carrotcake, so I replace them by walnuts. If you do like raisins and sultanas, you can add half a cup of walnuts, a quarter cup of raisins and a quarter cup of sultanas. This is how I make my carrotcake:

Carrotcake

2 beaten eggs
1 cup raw cane sugar
1 cup grated carrot
0,75 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 tablespoon (tsp) gingerbreadspices
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

Icing

100 g/3,53 ounce creamcheese
o,75 cup sifted sugar powder
2 tsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger powder
You can replace the cinnamon and ginger powder by 2 tsps of honey.

If you use a gas oven make sure that you preheat it at 180 °C/ 356 °F.
This is not necessary if you use an electric oven.
Butter a rectangular or round tin (you can use whatever you want). Put a sheet of backing paper on bottom and sides of the tin.
Mix eggs, grated carrot, oil and walnuts in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients en stir until you have a moist dough. Spoon the mixture in your tin. Bake it aorung 40-45 minutes. Let it cool a bit down and put it on a grate. When cooled down completely, coat with icing.
Making the icing is quit simple. You just put all ingredients together in a bowl and stir it.

Enjoy your carrotcake :)!

Since I had bought to much carrots then I needed for my carrotcake, there where a few left.
First I wanted to make Hutspot/ Carrot Hotchpotch (?) of it. But I didn’t feel like it. So I tried something different, with the same ingredients!

Carrot Rösti

For 3-4 persons

4 potatoes
2 carrots
1 onion
1 beaten egg
2 Tbsp flour (plain flour or whole wheat flour)
1 tsp mustard
salt
pepper

Grate potatoes and carrots in a big bowl. Chop the onion in tiny pieces and add to the patatoe carrot mixture. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Put some butter or oil in a hot pan. If the butter is heated well place little heaps of the picture in your pan and flatten them a little. If one side is brown, turn them over. Both sides have to be a nice golden brown.
Enjoy your meal!

Album of the Month: March

It’s time for a new ‘album of the month’! This time it wasn’t easy to pick one. There where many good album releases. Alamo Race Track, a Dutch band,  released a new album past month called ‘Unicorn loves Dear’. They’re one of my favourite Dutch bands. Also J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) released a solo album and R.E.M. also released a new album. But I decided:

Alamo Race Track – Unicorn Loves Dear

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen: 3 voor 12 Luisterpaal
Release: March 26/2011
Website: http://www.alamoracetrack.com/

Not only does this album sound good, the cover also is wonderful! The first time I saw this band was in 2007 when I was in Plato (my favourite recordstore in Groningen). Before that, I’d never heared of them. Their music grabbed me instantly. Back home I immediately went to the library to borrow their album (‘Black Cat John Brown’ from 2006). I still love it! The new album sometimes reminds me of the previous one. But it’s a bit more sober. No more electirc guitars, but more acoustic work. Singer Ralph Mulder has a unique voice. You can hear that in all songs ofcourse, but in the titlesong it is very prominent. They will perform at Vera the 12th of May. But I’m not sure if I’m going to be there. because there’s aslo Thomas Dybdahl and the Liberation Festival in the same month :)

Come back for more next month!
Uhm, well you can drop by earlier to read my other stuff ofcourse ;-)

Eddie Vedder and an Into the Wild camper

Todat was a beautiful spring day. Although it was a bit cold, I enjoyed the sun. I took a walk to the harbor and made some pictures. After that I went to the hairdresser, because the last time I went there was 2 years ago ;-) My hairstyle didn’t change that much, only the neccesary bits were cut off, because I like my hair looong :) On my walk I came across this amazing hippie camper. It reminded my immediatly off the Into the Wild camper (you know, the one Jan and Rainey drive around.) I couldn’t find a picture of it, so you have to watch the movie if you want to know what I’m talking about ;-) I have no idea who drives this beautiful van, but I think they life in the neighbourhood, cause I this van close to my home before.

It was beautiful clear weather, so i could look all the way to Germany.

Last saturday it was Earth Hour. Between 20.30 and 21.30 local time, we had to turn off all the lights. So we lit the candles and played outside with my glow pois. And I sung some campfire songs and played on my guitar. Next year we’ll turn off the lights again :)

Last but not least, I have some exciting news to share. Eddie Vedder is about to release a new album on May 31 (that’s mom her birthday!!!) The album will be called ‘Ukelele Songs’ so you can already guess what kind of album this will be. You can already listen to his first single ‘Longing to belong’ Together with this new ablum he releases a live concert DVD called ‘Water on the Road’

Sadly Eddie isn’t playing any gigs in Holland :( Hopefully next time!

Volunteers day

Two weeks ago everywhere in Holland people could join 'NL doet'/'NL does' On march 18 and 19 people could volunteer at a project or organisation of their choice. Since a week or 2 I work at a biologic garden called 'Sarasvati'. My mom has worked there a couple of years ago. Now we both do volunteers work there. My job is to photograph all the plants, trees and shrubs, to make an index of all plants in the garden.
At volunteers day we also went to Sarasvati to help there. I baked carrotcake with creamcheese icing and lemon cupcakes with lemon icing. The carrotcake was a huge success, which was very flattering :) The project on volunteers day was pollarding willows. We worked very hard and enjoyed the nice weather. When I came home I discovered my face was a little burned by the sun. Well I guess that's the price you got to pay with such a pale skin like me ;) But it was worth it, cause I enjoyed it all very much!

My hero is coming to town :D

Yay, I'm so excited. Thomas Dybdahl will give a show in Vera, Groningen on the 4th of May! And guess who's going to be there? Yes, you're completely right, me! I'm so happy I finally can see one of his shows. I only saw him once, but that was a National Bank concert. A norwegian supergroup, where Thomas is the singer.

And that's not the only exciting concert news....pa-pa-pa-pam *drums rolling*
ahum...
The Magic Numbers are playing a gig on The Liberation festival in Groningen 3 days after the Thomas Dybdahl concert, huzzah!
And last but not least, Jaga Jazzist will play a gig in Vera next sunday :) Some of their members play in the National Bank too!

WIP: That Groovy Sweater!

Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Baloeba/tubey
Progress: Half done
Designer: Cassie Rovitti

A while a go I started knitting this sweater. I first photoshopped a picture of the original, to try out different colours. I decided that I liked this colourcombination the best. It's dark orange, limegreen, petrol and eggplant colour. I sleightly altered the pattern of the sleeves. The pattern said that I should make widening sleeves. But I didn't like the idea. Instead I made puffing sleeves, by knitting the next to last row like this: *k1, k2tog * repeat. After that, knit 1 more row and bind off all stitches. Now I only have to knit the body and then it's ready to wear :D Maybe a bit late, since winter is gone allready, but I can wear it in spring!

Album of the month: January & February

I decided to start a new series of blogposts. The idea is to post a blog every month about the album I liked best. Since it is March already I'm 2 months behind So I'll start with two albums.

January: The Decemberists - The King is Dead

Well, this one was quite easy. Since I listen to this CD the whole time.
I already new the Decemberists, because I had this sampler CD from Rough Trade with one track from them called '16 military wives' Which is a pretty well known song I guess. But when I heared this new CD I was totally surprised, in a good way. There are more folk influences and in one song 'Rox in the Box' they use an Irish tune (known as Raggle Taggle Gipsy. The Dutchies may recognize it as an song that Rapalje plays often :)
They use more backvocals, which gives the whole a very melodic and folky touch. This album makes you a bit nostalgic. You wouldn't guess that this band is actually from America! The sound is so Irish/Scottish. I didn't even know, untill I googled the bandname.

Here is my favourite track from the album the King is Dead:




February: Daniël Lohues - Hout Moet

Actually, this one was easy to pick too! I'm a big fan of Lohues. He sings in a Dutch dialect called 'Drents' which I, as a 'Groninger' can easily understand. Before this album he made a series of 4 albums. All titled 'Allenig' ('Alone'), marked with numbers I to IV, but you can also indicate them by the seasons. Each album stands for a different season. Now he made a new album with different artist, but with the same strong lyrics. He really is a word artist. It's a shame the non Dutchies, well and even some Dutchies will not understand the lyrics. But the melodies are great to! It's a folky albums, with Irish/Scottish influences in a couple of songs. We didn't here that in the previous albums.
'Hout moet' has two meanings, it can mean: 'as it has to be' or 'keep a good heart'
I couldn't find my favourite teack on YouTube, but I like all songs, so here is one track, called 'Prachtig mooie dag' which means: very beautiful day.



See you again next month ;) (Well, I think you'll see me earlier with another blog post!)

Spring song

Speen kruid - Lesser Calendine

I could listen to this song all day...

 

Spinfever!

 Yesterday we had a spin day! No I do not mean cycling like an idiot to burn as much calories as you can. I mean real spinning, on a spinningwheel! I now use a Louët S10, which belongs to my mothers aunt. But we can use it until she needs it again. Someone I know from Ravelry came here to demonstrate us how to spin. Trijneke en Jelte also wanted to learn the great art of spinning. They had and old standing spinningwheel which actually belongs to Jelte's grandma, isn't that awesome!?
First are spinningwheels were tested and we got a lot of information about different kinds of wool and a spin demonstration ofcourse :)! After that we started practising our selves. First it didn't went very well, but after a while I got the hang of it. I used my sheepfleece to spin, the result was amazing. I didn't think you could spin such thin threads with my own sheep fleece! If my yarn spun and dyed I'll show it here.
The day before I baked a lot of muffins and I made sandwiches, so we had enough food :) It was a very, very nice day and we learned a lot! Our plan is to come together some day to spin, when we practised some more ;)

 Mom made a little video while I was spinning and we took some pictures. I uploaded it with Youtube, you can watch it here:

Hedgehog detective

I didn't make this one. Copyright belongs to Ysolda Teague. Hopefully mine will turn out this pretty :)

Yay! I won Ysolda's 'counting hedgehogs' contest! You had to count all the hedgehogs hidden in the pictures on her blog. There were 10 and I counted the right amount, together with many other people ofcourse! Now I will get this pattern :) Isn't he adorable? Can't wait to knit one!

Visiting

Yesterday I went to visit my niece, together with one of my best friends. My niece moved to Goor 3 weeks ago. Since it is a journey of 3,75 hours by train I will not visit her that often. But we were ofcourse very curious where she lives and since we could buy very cheap traintickets (jeej voor de Kruidvat :D) we spend 7,5 hours in the train yesterday. But I enjoyed it very much! It's nice to see were my niece lives and I don't mind long train journeys. We watched at movie and played Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii :) We had so much fun! It's a pity she lives so far away, but I'm happy for her!

I'm excited!

The sun hasn't been very active the last couple of years but now there is a solar flare comming to the earth (which isn't as scary and threathning as it sounds, so relax ;-))
This could actually be one of the most exciting things that happened since, well, since ever I guess :P
Because maybe (if the weather is clear in the evening) we can see the Northern light HERE tomorrow evening :O :D Yes here, in the Netherlands! So now I'm so nervous and excited, this could mean that one of my wishes will become reality tomorrow. I guess it isn't going to be that spectacular as it is in Norway and other polar countries, but hey, at least we can see a little bit of magic (hopefully!)

I guess we won't be seeing something like this, but if I have an oppotunity to post pictures of the Northern light, I grab it ;)

At least my hands won't be freezing off, because I now have some very nice, soft, warm, handmade mittens :)! I'm very pleased with the result. I saw them here and decided that I wanted to make some myself. Yesterday I was so excited (again) with the idea, so I immediately made them. I used my sewing machine so they were done in a wip.

I used old sweaters to make them.

Ta-daa! Here they are.

I listened a lot to this band when i was working on my mittens, they´re from Iceland :)
I hope we can catch a glimp from the Northern light tonight, happy viewing :)!

 

 

WIP and Valentines pie

Belated Happy Valentines day to you all!
Yesterday I made a savory pie, with mushrooms ragout, onion, chopped veggie burgers, garlic and some leftover belgian sprouts. It was absolutely delicious, it looked gorgeous and it made our refrigerator a bit emptier :D I added a little dough flower to pie, to give it a Valentines day theme. It's so nice to create something with leftovers. Since I always have flowers and butter in my cupboards, I can make these things anytime. That's because I love to bake!

My WIP also has something to do with Valentines day, but you could say the some about my last post ofcourse ;-)
My WIP involves this:

 

Yay, rainbow coloured hearts :)

And this:

That's all I got to say about it right now. So, can you guess what it's going to be? ;-)
See you next time!