Sooo...

Soo, my first trip to a Canadian thrift store was quite successful. I wanted to buy an electric kettle for my dorm and I found one! Although it was pretty dirty I managed to clean it up. The only downside is that it smells of vinegar now. Pretty badly. But I guess it will fade when I use it frequently.

I also found this super cute (pink!) tea pot. Of course I couldn't resist. And a matching cup for 25 Cents? Great deal!

Today we went to an Indian reservation for a BBQ and some information on the Indian's fishing technique. Or so we thought. It turned out to be a little get together of about 15 people with lots of fresh fish. But the location was quite nice :)

We also visited some of Gerd and Diana's friends who have a small llama farm in their backyard. The llamas were super cute and I got to feed them :) Apparently it's not very uncommon to breed llamas here. The wool they handspun and dyed was super soft and fluffy. Apparently llamas are not very difficult to raise. Soo if you've been thinking of getting a new pet, why not consider llamas? They are useful and cute - everything a knitter wants :D

First days in BC

My first days in British Columbia were full of beautiful landscapes, hikes and thrift shopping.

Lake Harrison is surrounded by beautiful mountains and it's just gorgerous to look at.

On Sunday, we went on a 22km hike to the First Brother Mountain in Manning Park.

The hike was beautiful, we got to see a huge variety of flowers (and mosquitos) and even some snow!

I could get used to seeing these gorgerous landscapes every day :)

Tomorrow we'll visit an Indian reservation and on Wednesday I'll move into my dorm :)

Goodbye...

... good old Germany! I've packed my entire life (or so it feels) into two suitcases, said good bye to all my beloved friends and family and shed many tears. But that's okay because life is changing and the unknown is pretty scary. My parents will bring me to the airport tomorrow morning and then I'll be on my own. I hope that Vancouver will treat me well. See you on the other side.

Finished Quilt

YAY, we finally finished the quilt! We don't have a name for it yet (any suggestions?) but I'm super happy that we got it finished in time.

It is made out of 294 squares (21 rows and 14 columns) and there are about 60 different fabrics in it.

It was quilted about on both sides of the seam to make the squares 'pop out' :)

The back of the quilt is a really fluffy flannel. To make it super warm we used a wool batting. I love how colorful and joyful it turned out to be. It will be perfect to add some color to my dorm room :) And of course keep me warm during those dreadfully long and rainy winter months in Vancouver.

Summer Vacation: Knitting Edition

As the weather forecast was pretty bad for north Denmark, we decided to bring along lots of craft projects to spend some cozy days/evenings at the summer cottage we rented. The weather turned out to be pretty great so we didn't have nearly as much craft time as I had hoped for. But! We sat on the porch and knitted nearly every day.

My vacation long term project was the Haruni Shawl designed by Emily Ross. My mom knitted the Haruni, too so we could complain about the pattern together. Haha. Chart A got pretty boring after some time and (for whatever reason) I even did two more repeats. It turned out almost too big - next time I won't knit it larger. But I still love it dearly!

I used needle size 4mm and the lace weight Zitron Filigran Yarn in Lavender. Here's a link to my Haruni on ravelry.

I also knitted a pair of striped socks because I always have cold feet and you can't have enough socks, right?

I knitted two rows of pink and four rows of grey. Love them!

On the 9-hour drive home I started a new pair of socks - this time 6 ply yarn. I'll use these as 'dorm socks' to wear these over normal cotton socks. Love love love the colors! And the knit picks/pro needles coordinate great with the yarn ;)

Of course we couldn't pass a single yarn store without cuddling (and buying!) some yarn ;) There are lots of beautiful yarn stores in Denmark. I especially loved the Bindestuden in Saltum and the Garnhuset in Aalborg (picture above).

Did I mention that I grew up in a knitting-addicted family? My mom learned to knit in elementary school and never really stopped since then. She knits beautiful cardigans, lots of cozy socks for the entire family and she recently got addicted to lace ;)

I'm not sure when my dad got addicted but he used to knit beautiful Norwegian pullovers. Nowadays he only knits socks due to a lack of time :(

My sister learned to knit in elementary school(just like my brother and I) but didn't knit much since then. In Denmark, we got her hooked again and she knitted a pair of beautiful Bella's Mittens. And she already has big plans for future knitting projects :)

Seems like we inherited the knitting gene ;)

Summer Vacation

I'm back from a two week vacation in Rodhus, Denmark!

My sister and my parents came along. My brother had to stay at home and work(and - of course - feed the cats^^). Poor guy! 

We rented a cozy cottage about half a mile from the beach. We chose a house with lots of windows and a very bright interior because we wanted to spend lots of time crafting.

As a souvenir, my mom and I bought this cute guy and gave him to my dad. We bought it at a Fair Trade Boutique. It is made of recycled materials only. We call him 'co-worker' ;)

We saw some sea gulls. Some alive, some made out of stone.

We spent lots of quality time at the beach. I love seeing how happy my parents are - even after almost 26 years of marriage! 

We watched how candy was made - and of course tasted some ;)

We had lots of great home made food! Like cinnamon rolls,

mushroom risotto

and freshly baked bread!

We saw the lighthouse 'rubjerg knude' that is (currently partially) covered by a huge, wandering sand dune.

Of course we couldn't get enough of the fresh ocean sea breeze and went to the beach almost every day. I love how the beach looked different every day we went there. I particularly loved these sand formations.

We admired some boats at a harbor...

And watched vintage cars on the highway. This one had a cute suitcase loaded. Loved it!

I'll be posting some pictures of our summer crafting projects soon! :)

Asian Cuisine

As part of my 30 recipes before 21 challenge I wanted to learn how to make sushi! I love Asian food - especially tofu! So I asked a Korean friend if she could show me the secrets of the Asian cuisine :D My friend Charlotte joined in as well. The food was sooo delicious! Yumm.

Hyunji showed us how to roll sushi. Not as easy as it looks.

This was rather a sort of dessert. So we didn't put many ingredients in. But it was really tasty!

Hyunji also taught tried to teach us how to eat with chop sticks. We had a lot of fun but I wouldn't call myself a cho-pstick-master yet ;)

Afterwards we went outside to enjoy the sun. And of course I had to snap a couple of pictures...

a new quilt.

So on Friday I decided I needed a soft, cozy and bright quilt for my dorm. Yesterday, my Mom and I cut all the fabrics into squares. It's a quirky collection of very bright and colorful fabrics. I love the variety - lots of dots and owls!

Today we improvised a design wall large enough to fit a bed size quilt (we hung some fabric in front of my closet. not perfect but it works well if you don't touch it too much) and started designing the quilt (meaning putting all the squares in a random order).

This is what we ended with (please ignore the mess on my bed). We started sewing it together. Turns out we aren't super talented with keeping the correct order so the final quilt won't exactly look like the pieces on the design wall. But oh well, it's a random quilt ;)

We only have a couple of days left to finish it because we'll go on vacation to Denmark on Friday - and I want to finish the binding during the 9-hour drive. Soo tomorrow we'll finish sewing the top, do the basting and then my Mom will machine quilt it :)

I can't wait to see (and share!) the finished quilt. I hope your weekend has been as productive as mine.