Hurra for meg

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a very mellow, very nice day. First off the sun was shining, for which there is certainly no guarantee in Norway in September. I woke up early and was excited to bang out my thoughts on my new book plan. On Friday I had a major conceptual breakthrough. I realized that I have another book gestating that is not the cabin book. This other book, which is on Ibsen's Peer Gynt and the production of meaning, is begging to be written. I have a strong feeling that I can get it done by December of this year. The cabin book just isn't coming together, and I think it needs more time to percolate in the background. So now I have a chapter outline for the new book and I've gathered together all the related work I've done on Peer Gynt (which turns out to be a lot) and apportioned it out into the right chapters. I have over 70 pages and a very clear plan for the rest now. That was a great way to start my day. How exciting to discover that I have nearly half of a book written!

Once the guys were up and running we drove down to the local Kiwanis Club barn sale and I scored in a big way! You have to understand that I am a real tightwad, I hate being parted from my kroner, and that I live in a country with ridiculously high taxes on consumer goods. Things that would cost $2 in the US sell for closer to $20 here. This makes furnishing a home a difficult challenge. I have been looking for a table cloth that fits on our very wide table when it is fully extended since at least Thanksgiving time last year. There is just nothing out there, but in the stacks of linens upstairs in the Kiwanis barn I found one, and not only is it big, but also new and clean and really nice: 100% cotton in lovely, deep blues from Habitat that will work with our colorful Fiestaware dishes.

I have also been looking for a pepper mill since we moved here in December 2008. I see them in stores all the time, but I am just not going to pay $40 dollars for a freaking pepper mill. The fabulous Kiwanis had three to choose from. I took the least garish and gunky one. It had an irritating label stuck on, but after soaking the mill in hot soapy water for 15 minutes it scrubbed off like a dream, and now I have a sparkly little pepper mill:

KE thinks it's hideously ugly, but clearly he's just plain wrong about that! How can someone who barely ever uses pepper be expected to appreciate the glory that this is?  I paid 30 NOK for both the table cloth and the pepper mill -- just under $5 right now. Now that's a price I can live with, and it was the best birthday present I've had in I think five years! Okay, so I'm easily amused and "billig i drift" (cheap to maintain) as they say here in Norway.

We went grocery shopping (thankfully painless) and then I baked myself a cake and made pizza on a gloriously sunny afternoon in our kitchen, with the door to the patio wide open. After the pizza we took a walk around the neighborhood. We were feeling bold, so we scoped out the yard of the abandoned house that we desperately want to buy. That only made us want it more, so on the way home we were scheming and trying to figure out how to make that work. I know it's possible to find out who owns a particular property, and I'd like to contact the owners, but we have a lot of financial stuff to work out, and plus we need at least one of us to have a permanent position. It is totally my dream--an old house on the verge of collapse--combined with KE's dream--perfect solforhold (a quintessentially Norwegian word that I don't think has an English equivalent. It means "sun conditions"--meaning how early the sun shines on the property in the morning and how late in the evening at all times of the year. Norwegian are--quite justifiably--obsessed with solforhold) and a little bit of a view of the fjord. Sigh. Want want want want want. I would be willing to sacrifice a lot to buy that house. Since we can't do it, we went home and consoled ourselves with birthday cake.

It was the same cake I baked last Saturday for KE's birthday (yes, we're exactly seven days apart, born in the same year). Last weekend I tried out the ginormous stand mixer that KE insisted on buying for baking bread. It ended up producing a huge amount of big, awkward parts to wash and a cake that wasn't even close to properly mixed (seriously, it looked like a failed marbled cake, with random chunks of yellow cake in what was supposed to be plain chocolate). This time I baked in my usual way, which is to say by hand, and the result was much better. The cake was as light and fluffy as the machine mixed one, but it was actually blended. I like being a Luddite when it comes to baking. The icing was chocolate too, with a few tablespoons of coffee in it. I hate coffee, but I do love coffee ice cream and chocolate-coffee icing. Yum. KE and E sang both "Hurra for deg" and "Happy Birthday" and a good time was had by all.

I finished nearly everything on the Lanesplitter skirt last night while watching MPGjr (cringe)--now all I need to do is buy elastic for the waistband, sew it down, and it's done. It turned out to be a size large rather than medium, and I think it probably would look better on if it were a medium, but I'll still wear it. Pictures to come, once the elastic is in.

Sakte men sikkert

This is a three-day weekend in Norway because we're supposed to commemorate the day on which the holy spirit entered the disciples of Jesus. We haven't exactly been doing that here in the Kverulantinnen household, but we have been trying to relax. E has the highest energy level I have ever seen in him. He wakes up early, ready to yell and run around, and doesn't stop until he falls asleep two hours after his bedtime. The kid just doesn't stop!

Meanwhile, I'm trying to make it through all of André Bjerke's crime fiction in preparation for evaluating a MA thesis. So far I've read Nattemennesket (1941), De dødes tjern (1942), Døde menn går i land (1947), and Skjult mønster (1950). The thesis is actually primarily about the late novel Enhjorningen (1969), which is next on my list, obviously. So far, much to my delight, cabins and summer houses play an important role in the first four, which confirms my suspicion that Bjerke needs to be in my cabin book. I have a definite preference for the two with Bernhard Borge as the narrator. He's such a fop and a perfect foil for psychoanalyst-detective extraordinaire Kai Bugge.

I've been plugging away at the aran sweater. Yesterday I finally finished the back. It feels like it took forever. According to my project page on Ravelry, I started on 9 May. At this rate I won't be done until the end of August. I suppose that's a good thing, since I strictly speaking don't need any more sweaters! ETA a much better snapshot of the back being blocked:

I'm pleasantly surprised with how it has turned out. I didn't think I would like it, for some reason. It makes me really anxious for the Jamieson & Smith yarn to arrive so I can start working on Fulmar. I'm not entirely convinced it will actually ever arrive.

ETA: We found out a couple of days ago that one of our elderly next door neighbors died this spring, and that her husband has been moved to a nursing home. KE was talking with their son, who has to sell because he and his sister are in a dispute and can't work out a compromise. I have to admit, we're both very tempted to try to buy the place. It's a very funky old house that has been added on to rather willy-nilly over the years. It has a pretty spectacular lot, almost twice as big as ours, with an annex a cool old stone stairway and a very strange stone root cellar. We've actually had our eyes on a different old house in the neighborhood for years, but with the news that this one would be coming on the market, we got very excited. I think I'm going to go to the bank and get a reality check this week. We should do that any way, so that we can be well positioned in case the other house becomes available. It's better to know exactly where we stand than to expend endless amount of energy fantasizing about something that isn't realistic...

Penger på bok!

Happy November! Yesterday the sale of our house went through, and I deposited the check in our bank account! I'm so totally thrilled to no longer own this house. Our buyers are incredibly easy to work with, and we will be renting back from them until the day before we leave for Norway (16 December is D-day).

We barely got more than our down payment back, but really that's okay. Everyone I've told agrees that we're just incredibly lucky to have sold at all in this market, especially given that we didn't even have to use a realtor or have masses of people come and look--much easier in a family with a toddler who spreads his toys everywhere.

So now we're anxiously eying the exchange rate. Earlier this week the dollar reached 7 crowns, but now it's back down to just over 6. I know the election on Tuesday will probably bump it down significantly. I think KE would have done the exchange yesterday if he could have (we couldn't because we got the check too late in the day on a Friday). I'm kind of interested in waiting and seeing, but there are never any guarantees. This week was a 2-year high I think.

E wore his "James" (from Thomas the Tank Engine) costume to preschool yesterday. He was really proud of it. Things have become kind of a struggle with him. He is so stubborn that he resists everything. I'm starting to get tired of all the battles, especially now when my energy is so low because of my cold.


As you can see, I have been crocheting like crazy with some more of the weaving linen my mom gave me. I finished all the grannie squares for the Häkelbeutel bag and sewed it together today. Now all I need is straps and some kind of lining. And then today is the day I'm supposed to start knittng the hat for my mom's birthday next weekend...

Don't heckle the hekler

I need a purse. I had a very expensive leather Coach purse that I carried for about 5 years. I kind of liked it, but not really since the straps always slid off my shoulder. It started getting worn looking, and I jettisoned it during part of my decluttering this summer for our move I had a great crocheted basic sac thing that I always used for travel since it was light weight and easy to pack, but that has disappeared. I have an ancient (I bought it when I was 16!) small leather purse that I can't quite fit enough in. So, I need a purse. I decided that I could possibly crochet enough to make one for myself. I started out trying to make one out of "grannie squares," and it was a disaster. It turns out one of the fundamental things I enjoy about knitting and the like is the continuous process of knitting (or crocheting) a long strand. Both grannie squares and the knitted mitred squares that some people use (I also tried that) entail all the things I don't really like about knitting, and very little of what I actually like. I was about to give up, but then I found this! It is the exact duplicate of the great travel purse I have misplaced, and what's more, it is super fun to make! It's just one continuous spiral of 50 rows of single crochet stitch in a big loop. I, who thought I couldn't crochet, am actually having fun and making an acceptable creation. It's so cool, and I'm so excited!

We have accepted the bid on the house and it's in escrow now! Yay! It was low I suppose (2% less than what we paid in 2005), but all things considered, I think we're very lucky to have an offer, especially even before we officially put the house on the market. We'll be doing the transaction without a realtor. We really like the couple who wants to buy the house. Here's hoping it all goes through...

P.S. Note to self: in honor of the upcoming season of Survivor, I'd really like to get myself one of these, the "pre-pixelated t-shirt produced by Ironic Sans.

Framskritt

It feels like things are starting to happen quickly here, and I'm feeling a little anxious even though things are going well. Here's what's happening on the house front:

1. We paid to have some interior painting done on the house. It really needed it, and it was niggly work that I just wasn't up for doing myself.

2. We found a contractor to do the repairs called for on the pest & dry rot inspection we had done on the house.

3. KE has been working like a horse on cleaning up the yard. He is a machine when he gets going!

4. We may be getting an offer on the house from some friends of friends! She called this afternoon to say they wanted to make an offer and wanted to do it before we list the house with a realtor.

On the moving to Norway front:

1. I actually did get the contract from the University of Oslo. It's now signed and on its way back. It was good to get everything in writing and squared away. And heck, the fact that the salary is $15,000 more a year than I make here doesn't hurt either!

2. We bought our (one way -- egads!) plane tickets! We're leaving the US on 16 December.

3. KE already gave notice to both sets of renters in our duplex in Norway. One side has asked if they could move out early because the date we suggested was during their exam period. KE cut them an extremely generous deal. The family that lives in the other unit hasn't responded yet, which is a bit odd.

4. We've been getting bids on moving our stuff. It's kind of weird. The companies send out agents who walk through the house looking at your stuff. They then say how big of a container they think you'll need and then a few days later you get a bid. It's expensive. As in exhorbitant. I've always though of myself as a minimialist, but of course I'm really not once you start really looking in drawers and closets and bookcases. This move is really going to put me to the test. I'm going to have to liquidate a lot of things that I have a pretty strong attachment to. It's making me really anxious, but at the same time I'm a bit exhilerated at the prospect of whittling down my possessions so much.

On the home front there's not much to report. I have another free week before orientation starts. E has a runny nose. I'm still knitting like a madwoman: close to finishing the gray sweater and also a scarf... My big discover is Ravelry. I just can't get enough of searching and poking around on this online knitting community. It is mindblowingly absorbing. Imagine Facebook, but with every single person on it sharing one and the same passion with you. Really fun, and outrageously geeky.

Nerver, del 2

We met with our trusted realtor yesterday and had a pest and dry rot inspection done today in preparation for selling the house. Kind of bad news, but nothing I wasn't expecting. We'll have to put some money into the bathroom and a few other things, and will try to have the house on the market by the end of September. We will probably only be able to sell it for what we bought it for, which is a bummer, since we put a lot of money into repairs over the past three years. Ah well, as they say, "easy come, easy go" and "its only money."

Meanwhile I'm actually sleeping really well, which is odd, since I have insomniac tendencies. I attribute that to two things: watching the Democratic National Convention each night this week (snore) and continuing to knit like a maniac. If I weren't knitting right now, I'm sure I'd be chain smoking. There is just so much that we need to get taken care of.

I just took pictures of this week's worth of knitting. Here it is:

Last night I finally completed the finish work on the little setesdalkofte. It turned out pretty well -- all I had to do was the edging around the opening and weave in the loose yarn ends. I decided I couldn't be bothered to make buttonholes. I don't really think it needs any buttons, but the very first think KE asked was whether I was going to put some on. I guess I could find some kind of nice hook clasps...

This is the stripy sweater I started on the Bend trip. The goal was to use up my stash of random colors of Rauma finull, and I actually got through most of it. I decided to control the wildness by making an all black yoke, and will have to buy more black yarn for the sleeves. I'm pretty excited about this project. I haven't designed my own sweater pattern for years and years. I used to do that all the time in high school. It's size is calculated based on a pattern for a sweater for an 8-year-old, so there's no time pressure to finish it...


Today I decided to knit a preemie beanie for a little girl named Beatrice. She is the granddaughter of my mother's best friend. It went so easily and quickly that I went ahead and knitted two. I kind of had to wing it, using the leftover Dale babygarn that I used for the setesdalkofte and the classic strawberry cap hat pattern I've had for years. I have no idea if it's the right size. How small is a preemie? Hard to imagine.

A couple of days ago I started really exploring the knitting resources available on the internet, and discovered cowls, snoods, neckwarmers, whatever you want to call them. There are dozens of patterns, but I tried to make up my own. This is made from some leftover Peer Gynt worsted weight yarn. Probably not soft enough for a cowl, and a little wonky and weird, but oh well....


Now I've started on a scarf using more left overs...