Bergen - Tuesday and Wednesday

On the 19th of July our holidays started for real. Together with Antonia I first flew to Amsterdam and then on to Bergen in Norway. The weather was fantastic and we had a great view over Switzerland and towards the Alps.

But over Norway it looked quite different. There were a lot of clouds but I had no idea how intense these clouds were until right before we were supposed to touch ground when one of the flight attendants shouted through the plane to stay seated right before the plane accelerated again and took off steeply back up over the clouds into the blue sky. There we were informed that the pilot hadn't been able to find the landing strip and had had to abort the landing at the last moment. I was so scared during the second landing attempt and for once I clapped enthusiastically when we all safely touched ground.

A good night's sleep made everything better and we were ready to discover Bergen. Our hotel, the Radisson Blu Hotel Norge, is right in the centre of Bergen and so it was very easy to just walk around and explore.

We strolled through a lovely part of the city with lots of colourful houses and quite a few graffitis, with little shops and inviting restaurants everywhere.

When we got to the harbour area we were just on time to hop on a little tourist train that took us all over Bergen and even slightly outside. Definitely a great way to get a first impression.

We also had our first taste of seafood while sitting next to the historical houses of Brygge. Antonia had salmon while I had moules et frites which tasted just yummie.

Towards the evening (which we only knew because we checked, not because the sun had gotten any lower yet), we took the cable car up to Fløyen. In the morning the queues at the bottom had stretched out forever but at around 7pm we only had to wait for about 15 minutes before we were able to ride up the 320 meters. The view from up there was stunning, you could see all over Bergen and the surrounding fjords. It was also rather busy but once we'd walked away a little bit we met new friends and it was beautiful to just enjoy the sights from high up.

Finished Object: Tardis Socks

Pattern: Tardis Socks by Gina Waters

Yarn: Lang Yarns Jawoll Solids

Colours: blue, black and white

Needles: 2mm Round Needles
Start of project: July 19th, 2016
End of project: July 28th, 2016

On Ravelry

 

Antonia has been a huge Dr. Who fan for a while now. She watches the TV series (the old ones again and again and the new ones as soon as she can), she sleeps in Tardis bed linen so when I stumbled of this sock pattern on Ravelry I knew I had to knit her a pair.

I brought the yarn to Bergen on our holidays because socks are always an ideal project while travelling and because Antonia would be around all the time when I needed her feet to see if the socks would fit.

 

I had to do quite a few adaptions to the pattern, which is really just the pattern for the top of the sock anyway. 80 stitches seemed far too big for her slender legs, so I started with 70 and 2mm needles and hoped for the best. It worked out ok, even though now there is only one repeat of Police Box on each sock.

 

I knit in the hotel, outside at Bergenhuis Festning, on the boat tour through the Osterfjorden, in different coffee shops and at the airport on our flight home. I finished the first sock while we were still in Bergen and now the second one is done as well.

 

 

We were both pretty excited with how they turned out (the only thing that could be improved is the colourwork which is slightly too tight, I could have used bigger needles there). We went outside and took lots and lots of photos and now they are drying in the sun to get even and even more beautiful ;-)

First day of the summer holidays

Finally our summer holidays started yesterday. It's always an intense time before the end of the school year with lots of tests and everybody getting more and more exhausted but this year it was even more so because we had had two family losses within a week at the end of June. It was a sad and emotional time and it used up a lot of my dwindling energy.

But I don't want to write about sad things right now because the holidays started and because the next five weeks are stretching temptingly in front of us.

I wanted to enjoy the first day of our holidays together with both Yannick and Antonia. It's not always easy to find something that all three of us like but fortunately Yannick had the best if at first slightly surprising idea on how to spend a few hours together. He wanted to go for a hike in the woods.

Unexpected for sure but less so when you know that he is quite addicted to the new Pokemon Go and has been outside non stop these last few days. He wanted to go to the forest because he was hoping to catch rare pokemons ;-). I am no fan of the game, especially because I don't really get why you have to run after little images of cute monsters, but I love walking and the forest so off we went.

We only stayed in the forest for about two hours but it was just lovely. We drove to the top of the Üetliberg, went up to the top of the tower amongst all the tourists from all over the world. Then we walked down through the wonderfully green trees and had a lunch break in the middle of it. Yannick and Antonia had fun finding their pokemons but it didn't keep them from interacting with each other or with me, we actually talked all the time. What a lovely start...

In a couple of hours I am off to Bergen in Norway with Antonia. I am very much looking forward to discovering a new country and to just spend time with my girl.

Finished Object: Simply Skyp Socks

Pattern: Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku

Yarn: Wunderwolle Sockenwolle

Colour: Fantasieland 

Needles: 2.75mm and 2mm Round Needles
Start of project: June 4th, 2016
End of project: July 3rd, 2016

On Ravelry

 

I started these socks before we went to our school camp. I wanted something to work on but not my Bounce blanket, because that was too big already. I knew I had this one skein of sock yarn that I had bought at the Stitching Retreat at the end of April. 

 

I decided to do another pair of Simple Skyp socks, it's an easy pattern with a bit of variety.

 

 

After the school camp I went back to my blanket and only continued with my socks when I was out and about. I took them to the pool, to the lake, to school and to my grandmother's, so they grew slowly. I almost finished them during the football game between Italy and Germany last night, but then I got too tired to concentrate and I finished the last rows today. 

 

 

As usual I should have knit a bit more of leg, I always think it's long enough and then once I try them on I realise that I could have gone on for another inch. I guess I am just too impatient for the heel to start. I did my first partridge heel and I really love the way it looks, I think that's going to be my new go to heel.