Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

More of Marta's crafts.

On this last day before I start my advent basket blogging I want to show you some of the wonderful work Marta is doing right now. It started with a bracelet Ingrid got from a friend some time ago. They are very popular here right now, and Ingrid wanted to see if she could manage to make one herself, and may be even make a necklace.

Oh, that's easy, Marta (10) said, and just started. And after making a few she taught Ingrid (17) how to do it. So now both girls are busy.

Guess what their friends will find under the Christmas tree this year :-)

I can't resist telling one more thing today. A few years ago I got the most wonderful book to my birthday from Kathy in USA, Between Friends - Craft Projects to Share by Charlotte Lyons. And guess what! Yesterday I got a comment from Charlotte here on my blogs She is a friend of Kathy, and remembered me from when I got the book and wrote a review of it on amazon (and the review is still there)! I love the blogger world :-)

Charlotte has a wonderful blog. If you go over for a visit I can guarantee you alot of crafty Christmas inspiration. Send me your address Charlotte, and you will be the first one out to get a heartfelt thank from me!

Heartfelt beauty.

Only two days left. I will be on the road, by train and plane, all day tomorrow, so I cheated and started filling my first advent basket last night. And I picked out one special Christmas book to take with me on the travel. But the basket will not be unpacked untill Friday morning. Then I plan to start late at work to give myself a "my advent hour" in the morning.

The blog world is growing fast, and I discover new, wonderful inspirational blogs every day. I plan to feature one new Advent/Christmas blog every day during my Advent Basket posting, from the coming Friday till December 25. A link will be given at the end of every daily post, together with a few words about the blog. If you have a blog you think I might be interested in, please put a link in my comment section. The owner of the featured blog will get a little hearty surprise in the mail (if you send me your address, to <[email protected]>).

A knitting in progress.

Nowadays most yarn comes in finished spools, not in skeins as they did when I was a girl. I remember I loved streching out my hands to hold the yarn while my mother or my grandmother winded.

For my 8th birthday I got a wonderful gift, The Borrowers by Mary Norton. I sat down even before the guests had left to read it, and my mother had to force me to bed that night. I never forget what I read this first night of my 9th year, the old lady who told the story about the small people, the Borrowers. While telling her story she winded yarn, and she managed to wind it to the perfect shape of an egg. I could't believe how she could do it!

Oh, how I practiced afterwards to manage the egg shape. It took me a long time, but since then all my wool was winded into a perfect egg shape.

Nowadays my daughter loves to wind the yarn for me, and we don't need an extra pair of hands to hold the skein anymore. Years ago I inherited a wool winder from my mother in law. And though I have read The Borrowers for Marta several times, the wool egg story is not hers, she makes perfect round balls out of her yarn.

Lining up for the Advent Basket.

Down in our basement I have an old desk. Through the year I use it to display old writing equipments, but yesterday old pens, books, papers and bottles of ink were stored away. For a few weeks now the desk will hold some of my Christmas decorations in wait for a place in our house.

Starting Thursday night I will fill my basket every night and place it in front of the hearth in our livingroom. There I will find it the next morning, and after reading my Bible and saying my daily prayer I will empty the basket. I will hang the daily angel, find room for the daily nativity scene, put up one more snowman for every day, play another Christmas cd, and so on.

It was like having a party yesterday when I opened the storage room where I keep all these treasures through the year. There was the nativity scene I bought in Haiti in 1998, there was the snowman a dear friend made, there was the snowglobe Kathy bought me in New York when we met there before Christmas one year, there were a few new treasures gathered through travels this past year.

Only four days left till Friday and December 1st. Are you going to join me in this fun?

The making of a creamcake.

Our church had it's annual pre-Cristmas sale yesterday, and I was asked to bring a cake. Cream cakes covered with marzipan are my favorite, and I love decorating these cakes with good help from my sous chef.

I got the empty plate back last night. I had a small piece while visiting the sale though :-)

With Love in every Stich.

I hate cold fingers and I love mittens and gloves. For my daily use I have a pair of thick, rather expensive rabbit fur gloves, but from time to time, especially when it is very cold or when I am out walking or hiking, I wear handknitted pure wool  mittens.

During the years I have gathered quite a wonderful collection, and even have a collection of vintage ones hanging on the wall down in my basement studio.

My newest acquirement is a pair of mittens from Lofoten, given me as a present from the mother of Ingrid's boyfriend. My dearest pair though is the one with the year 1979 knitted in.

Terje and I met during the summer of 1978, and the same autumn we became a pair. The following winter Terje knitted me these love mittens, and since then I have never had a pair which gave more comfort and warmth than these ones. They are almost worn out, and I have mended them several times, and they become more and more dear to me. I will keep on using them and mending them untill the day I don't need them anymore. It must be told that Terje also knitted me a waistcoat the same winter, bottle green in a very intricate pattern with knots and braids. We got engaged the next summer, and since then he has not knitted a stich :-)

Stubborn Creation.

Creation has a strong will to grow, to spread it's limbs, to reach out in praise for the Creator. Though sometimes life itself is a heavy burden and it becomes impossible to grow upward against the sky.

All creation has it's own beauty, weather it grows upward or find other ways.

Last night I took part in a Service with the Church City Mission here in Trondheim. They have been working among the street people here in Trondheim for 15 years, and the service was a lovely tribute to these years in the service of God. And a lovely tribute to God's people.

The photos are from our mountain hiking at our cabin a couple of weeks ago.

Miss and mrs Santa's workshop.

At armchair travelling yesterday, Peter had a reflection about when to start celebration Christmas. Peter is a teacher, and in his class one year none of the kids were supposed to mention the C-word untill December 1st.

I so much agree with Peter, and it makes me frustrated that Christmas seems to come earlier every year. I think we loose something this way, when the time finally is there we are in many ways fed up with the celebration. In Norway for some year we've had a campaign going on which we call "Take Christmas Back", where we try to persuade both shopowners and consumers to wait till December with Christmas. It seems to be a job done in vain though, but I will never stop this fight.

So here in our house there are no signs of Christmas yet, and will not be untill December 1st, and even then advent will dominate over Christmas till December 23rd when we finally decorate our tree and the whole house. With one exeption! Marta and I have started to make Christmas presents. This is a task that can be started early, and we are having so much fun planning, looking through our collection of craft materials, designing, glueing, cutting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, scrap booking, photographing, carpenting, drawing, painting,writing ........and talking about the recievers of the gifts and if they will like what they get.

And while sneaking in this very first sign of Christmas in the House in the Woods, we are counting down days till the 1st of December and the blessed period of advent.

Lemonade

In Bamburgh, on my way to Lindisfarne I found this sign in a flower pot.

I love lemonade, especially the home made one made by my sweet love. His is mostly made of much sweeter berries than lemons though.

After the Service

Last Sunday our pastor through 20 years had his last service in our church. He has got another job as a pastor working in a hospital. Hopefully he and his wife will keep on living in our neighbourhood and our congregation.

It was a beautiful service. 5 babies carried forward to be baptised, and a full church. The five candles in the front are for the babies, one for each child as a reminder of this impotant day in their lives.

After the service we had coffee and alot of different yummy cakes, pastor Øyvind is the king of cakes and parties, and alot of speeches were given to him.

Thank you Øyvind for the important work you have done through 20 years in Kolstad church. You will be missed.