transitioning into fall

It happens every year. As soon as the leaves start to turn and the days get shorter I feel the need to hibernate. Getting up early is harder when it’s cold and dark and staying awake in the evenings becomes a thing of impossibility.

Still, I manage to get a few rows of knitting and reading in most nights before heading to bed bleary eyed.

I’m making slow but steady progress on another cardigan for fall, the Ramona. The classical shape is beautiful and I hope it will be another staple in my wardrobe. With a bit of cardigan experience under my belt I am also itching to try some more advanced knitting, like cables or colorwork next. Oh, and a shawl with some yarn I bought in Scotland. So many projects, so little time.

Other news and inspiration:

• I am getting my act together and blogging some photoshoots from the last few months on my photo blog. Jessi’s summer portrait photoshoot and Mats’ family photoshoot are up.
• I am on Twitter (about 10 years late to the game?). Still trying to figure it all out but I’m wondering why I ever deleted my old account years ago. Come and join me?!
• What if we decided to live a healthy life … to love our body rather than to punish it? Great article on how guilt gets in the way of health.
• How would you describe yourself in five words? Just another way of getting us to reflect on who we are and where we are in life. I will try to do this every year. For now my five words are: creative, photographer, determined, reader, dreamer

Are you feeling the changing of the seasons too? Any knitting projects to inspire me and add to my neverending queue? (I just had to look up how to spell ‘queue’). What are your five words you describe yourself with?

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half circle skirt for fall

Skirts are such a wonderful wardrobe addition, they immediately dress up an outfit. I’d been thinking about adding a half circle skirt to my fall wardrobe for a while and when I found this navy blue fabric I knew it would work great. Everyone knows full circle skirts but for a similar look with less fullness, half and quarter circle skirts are just as easy to make and more suited for everday wear (in my opinion at least).

I hadn’t sewn without a pattern for a while and shied away from the required maths, but after searching for tutorials online I settled on these instructions (One | Two ) and in the end it was way easier than it seemed at first.
The fabric is a lovely cotton that is at the same time heavy weight (drapes beautifully) and almost see-through light. Odd, but perfect for this skirt.

The zipper at the back is handpicked and the waistband closes with snaps. The waistband itself is blindstitched to the inside by hand.

I had originally planned to finish the hem with hem tape, which I didn’t have so I tried bias tape. Bad idea. Had to rip all that out again and settled for a very simple double folded hem in the end which works much better.

All in all a quick project for a versatile wardrobe item that can be dressed up or down easily. It actually came out fuller than I had imagined so next time I’ll try a quarter circle skirt!

blackberry season

It’s that time of year again and I’m wondering where summer went all of a sudden.Today was wet and humid and the air definitely smelled of fall.






Being outside in the soft drizzle felt good and wholesome. (The concept of wholeness)

weekend mornings

I love getting up early in the dark, lighting a candle, making a cup of tea. Watching the light creep though our east facing living room windows, first blue, then rosy red, then bright warm yellow.





I settle down on the couch for a precious hour of blog reading before starting on some photo business tasks. The cats, having had their breakfast, joining me for a few more hours of sleep. Still early after all.

stolen moments

Every year I am amazed at how beautiful autumn is.



A few stolen moments, here and there, on my lunch break, on one of the rare occasions I bring my camera to work. I try to walk around a bit every day after lunch, taking a few deep breaths of fresh air and stretching my legs before sitting down again at the desk for the rest of the day. Even when it’s raining, even when I don’t feel like it. I feel better for it every time.



It gets dark so early now in the evenings that I’m trying to soak up the light at midday.
I’ve a busy weekend ahead of me (if you want to know what I’m always so busy with, check out my Facebook Page) but I’ll try to fit in taking a few pictures.
I’ve sewn not one, but two wearable items in the last few days! I think my sewing vibe and I are on the up again, hurrah 🙂

back online

So, we moved. And as of yesterday evening, we’ve got internet! To everyone who’s commented or emailed me: I’ll try to catch up over the next couple of days, sorry to leave you waiting!
It was a pretty chaotic week and we’re still completely exhausted but we’re loving our new place and are busy settling in. We did four whole days of painting walls and ceilings, putting up wallpaper in one corner, installing laminate flooring (oh that we could afford wood floors!) and base board and lights and finally, assembling furniture. We just barely got done in time and on moving day we were already so tired and sore that we were about ready to drop. But with the help of our amazing friends and family we got all our stuff hauled over and two days of unpacking later we’re making ourselves at home here.
There’s still a ton to do of course and while I’m looking forward to catching up with comments and emails and blogs the main priority this week will be getting as much done as possible and getting a day or two of rest in between before going back to work next week.
So I’ll leave you with some fall pictures that didn’t get posted before moving and get back to my to-do lists.

fall days

We’ve been having some lovely warm and sunny days, which we tried to soak up on lunch break during the week. I’ve a couple of posts planned in my head, but I guess if I wait for them to materialize into real posts with real photos I’d leave you waiting another week.

We have a long weekend ahead of us (the monday being a national holiday) and a still longer to-do list.

But I’m also looking forward to enjoying the sunshine and the last warm days of the year.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

fall tova dress

I did it again…made a dress from one of Jenny‘s patterns that is.
This time it’s another Tova Dress.

The fabric is a linen that I picked up locally because it was on sale (and because I immediately thought it would be perfect for this pattern).

(the colors are more true in the first picture, the fabric is a dark navy blue). The linen makes this a great between the seasons dress.

I’ve been sewing a lot this year but I’m amazed how much of a difference practice makes. With every item I make my sewing is getting faster and neater at the same time. Practice really does make perfect (although I’m still a long long way from perfect!).

It’s not really that wrinkly as it appears in the photo. Or maybe it is and I’m in denial.
I see endless combination possibilities for this dress and look forward to wearing it a lot this fall. Oh, one alteration I made was lengthen it by about 2 or 3 inches, to make it wearable at work. I always have a hard time buying dresses, because the fashionable length is just that little bit shorter than I feel comfortable wearing (I’m officially a prude).
So good that there’s great fabric and patterns out there so I can make the things I like. Which reminds me, both the Tova dress and the Tank pattern are available for preorder at Wiksten right now! Go get sewing in my stead, as I’ll be busy moving in the next weeks and won’t come near my sewing machine too often I’m afraid 🙂

pony shots and more news

The weather continues to change at a quite literally dizzying pace. 14°C and wind yesterday, 30°C today.

On the cool days it feels like fall is already here.



(trees reflected in a trough)
On the warm ones the air is stuffy with humidity and the rich smell of overripe elderberries. A last attempt at the summer we never got this year.


But on to the news! We finally found a great apartment and will be moving in November! I didn’t want to say till we signed the papers but now everything is settled. We really love the new place which will make leaving our pretty but small flat less bittersweet. It has a huge balcony which I’m looking forward to planning a garden for and is situated in a cute little village not too far from our respective work places (my commute will still be about an hour though, which I plan to use for reading and knitting). I’m still not looking forward to moving all our stuff and furniture and cats, but I guess that part of moving is never really fun. So while we wait to pack up we’re plunging into the fun part of moving: the planning and gathering inspiration and colors and, eventually, the shopping.

up and down

The weather is tricky this year. Warm and humid one day, cold and rainy and full of autumn feel the next.

This, one of the warm days.