I think I’ve mentioned before that I come from a creative family, where a lot of them like to work with their hands in some way (specially the women, there’s a lot of women in my family!). My grandmother learned to sew and embroider when she was just a little girl, she would sew her own clothes. Not only did she sew, she also knitted. She always favored sewing and embroidering, she was so good you couldn’t tell which side was the inside and which was the outside of whatever she was making. Unfortunately her hands aren’t fit for sewing any more, but she is always available for help and advice when it comes to embroidery and knitting.
My mother was at one point just as good, and I remember she made these beautiful embroidered pictures of flowers in 3D (yes 3D). I would always run my fingers over those portraits (I loved how they felt), and of course I was always told to keep my hands off them. She also knitted amazing pieces, my favorite was a skirt and sweater she made for me in black and white, and leopard print pattern. When I was 15, mother made me a National dress (bunad in Norwegian) for my “coming-of-age” confirmation thing. My dress looks something like this, it’s a Hardanger bunad. I don’t have my dress at hand, so this picture I found on the interwebs will have to do. A few of my aunts are knit fiends, some of them like to sew, it really does run in the family.

The 2 aunts who knit are so sweet, not only do they bother to read this little blog of mine, they also keep me stocked up on yarn. About a year ago (maybe a year and a half)I got a big bag of yarn from one of them, and this year the other  one had gone through her stack of leftovers to see if she had any for me. And lo and behold the mountain of yarn she gave me. This black plastic bag is a big garbage bag, completely full of delightful surprises. There were so much, I couldn’t fit it all in my luggage, and about half of it was sent in the mail. It arrived this week, and I’ve spent 9 glorious hours sorting and organizing it all. Some of the skeins didn’t have their tag on anymore, so I played the guessing game so that they ended up in the right piles. Here’s a “short” list of some of the yarn I got, and to my sweet aunt: THANK YOU!!!

Mandarin Petit, Classic, Soft.
Drops Alpaca, Cotton Viscose, Muskat, Kid-Silk, Karisma, Paris, Fabel, Bomull/Lin.
Dalegarn Falk, Freestyle, Magnolia.
Idena Juvel, Sport, Bambino Ull.
Sandnes Silk Mohair, Fritidsgarn.
Peer Gynt, Camomille, Gjestdal Orkid Luxuspels, Sisu, Labbetuss Raggegarn (Trysil Garn), Pingouin Pingorex Baby, PT2, PT4, PT5, Smart Superwash, PT Sumatra, Kitten Mohair, Monark Superwash, Silja Strømpegarn, Baby Superwash, Lanett Superwash, Topp ´t Tå.