Oslo yarn shop

My Mom is a very big knitter so when she visited us when we lived in Norway I had to take her to a yarn shop.  This is Tjorven garn (yarn) in Oslo.  It is located opposite the T-banen or Train/Metro station in the Majorstuen area of town.  Knitting is VERY popular in Norway.  

Norway is well known for its fabulous wool sweaters.  And Norwegians love to pass the long, cold, dark, winters knitting!

The sale priced yarn below is 28 Norwegian Kroner which give or take the exchange rate comes to about $6 a skein.

Here are some ads on a tall pole outside the shop.  You can also see a bit of the scene on the street :)

Do any of you also knit?  I have tried it a few times when I was younger but unfortunately I just can't get into knitting.  I guess its for the best since I have so many other projects that need my attention.

Happy Crafting!

Baby ads...

I really have been meaning to incorporate more cultural tidbits into this blog: here is a tiny one.

So far when I lived in Africa and Norway and I'm sure I will find one in Nepal, I've seen some very cute Advertisements featuring babies!

This one was on display in downtown Oslo...

And this one was in Gombe district or the equivalent of Downtown Kinshasa...

Two New Small Finishes!

Hello!  I'm back with two small finishes today :). The first is Germany in the Kinkavel Krosses Patriotic Hearts freebie series  and can be found here.

This is the third Patriotic Heart I've stitched and this is stitched on 14 count aida. The others were one I adapted for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Norwegian design.  Eventually I want to have a Christmas tree full of ornaments of all of the wonderful countries we have lived in or visited :)  But this German heart is for a very good friend.  I plan to add her name and the year and use fabric to finish the back and give it as another Christmas gift.  I actually started this a little after I started the ABCs of Parenting so its been a few months now working on it!  Usually these beautiful designs stitch up in a day or two and I really enjoy the designs.  I've been trying to think of how to adapt the double triangle shape of Nepal's flag into a patriotic heart...

The next finish (#11 this year!) is designed by Lizzie Kate and is called Just Married.

I stitched this on cream colored 28 count evenweave 2 over 2.  I used the leftover threads from ABCs of Parenting which fits in perfectly with the wedding colors!

This simple design only took me a few days to start and finish.  I was rushing so I could get it framed here in Kathmandu before a party honoring the bride.  The frame shop here does pretty good work for low prices but unfortunately they had some issues with this cross stitch piece.  It is evenweave so it makes it a bit difficult to keep the fibers perfectly square, but I don't think I'll get any more pieces framed here.  I'll just save them for my favorite framer in the US.

I have also been up to a few other types of crafting lately and had some beautiful Nepali cultural experiences that I plan to share soon.  Until the next time...Happy Stitching and Crafting!

September YOTA

Hello stitchers and crafters!  I have been working pretty diligently on my Medieval Lady piece and can't wait to show you my progress I made in August!

This is where I was overall last month...

And here is where I am now!

I focused on the green Celtic braid on the border.  Although I still have more colors to add to it,  I did finish the first page which means I am half way to the top of the design!

Here is a closer pic where you can see a little more detail.

I also added more of the light blue 1/2 cross stitches and one more stem and flower outline in the darker blue on the lower right border.  

You can see it better here...

I am really enjoying working on this design and I hope I can finish it this year so that I will have finished all of my original WIPs from before I started this little blog!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to on your projects :)

 Good luck and Happy Stitching!