Beautiful Stockholm

We have tried to enjoy the sunny days outside before the winter comes. Here are some photos from our travels around town.

View from the bridge between Södermalm and Kungsholmen

Home

Painting our apartment!

The sun hanging on the horizon in the middle of the day. Winter is coming. 

 Beautiful building in Östermalm

Biking down at Kungsholmen 

Favourite Little Place in Djurgården: Rosenlunds Trädgård

 Greenhouse restaurant 

 Gorgeous Porcelain

Irresistible Easter Eggs

 Lisa and I at the garden in June

Lidingö Naturreservat

an amazing lone mushroom we saw

Dan perched on some rocks

 Dan collected some apples from a tree on the side of the road. 

shot of the autumn trees


Assorted Funghi

 Our booty

Dan and I decided to explore some other parts of Stockholm that we had not yet visited. We kept hearing an island, Lidingö mentioned as a beautiful place, and we were hoping to find some Swedish forrest food. Although we didn´t come across the sought after kantarell mushroom, which I have been using for soups, risottos and omelettes, we did find some delicious apples that are just in season. We also didn´t have much luck finding any wild swedish berries. In reality, we found lots of berries that were Swedish, but maybe not edible.

Beginnings in Knitting

My First Free Style Knit

I was inspired by a beautiful hat made out of hand spun wool on The Purl Bee website. My mom had made some hand spun wool for me, the colour of cotton candy, which I had been itching to use for months. I decided to try to use the same style of the hat on The Purl Bee, and to make a few changes. 

http://www.purlbee.com/fun-kids-hat/

Here is the link to the website, and this is a photo of what the original design looks like. 

I thought that the curled rim of the hat may be a bit childish if I changed the design to fit an adult, so I had to buy some extra white thick yarn to make a ribbed edge for my hat. After that, I tried to make some guesses as to how many more rows I would need, and also how much wider it would need to be. After some trial and error, here is the final product: 

While in Sweden, I decided to take up a new hobby. I don't know whether it was the long dark winter nights or the influence of all of the beautiful knitted items Swedes wear, but I decided to start knitting over October break.

Here are a few of the items that I started with - all scarves.

Second Project- Grey Cowl

During the summer, my mom and I decided to start a knitting project together. We chose a pattern from Tiny Owl Knits, a gorgeous cape with twisting cables and a hood to start with. Mom assured me that it would be 'no problem.' Needless to say, so far the project has been a challenge, but it is still coming along nicely.

Front side of cape

http://www.somerandomknit.blogspot.com/

Dan, escaping the cold streets.

Another amazing thing about Tallinn was the amount of cozy cafes that were around town. Each cafe that you go in to has something special about it. Whether it is the homemade chocolates, the ambiance and the music, the themed and tasteful decor, or just the friendly demeanor of the staff, each one had something different to offer. This was especially good, because about half of our trip budget must have went towards hot drinks - very necessary to survive when walking around outside in the cold all day long.

Christmas in Tallinn

We decided instead of going home for Christmas and enduring the canceled flights, dangerous weather and inevitable delays, that we would travel a short distance to Tallinn, Estonia for a short break.

Dan and I had no idea what to expect of Estonia. We booked two tickets at the Nutcracker ballet in advance, and left all of the rest of the planning until we arrived.

The streets of old town were filled with stalls and vendors, selling their handicrafts from the region. One of the neatest things that they made were called "Bear Pants." They are a knitted pair of pants or stockings that grandmothers in Estonia traditionally make for children. People in Estonia certainly know how to dress to keep warm. There is a lot of knitting and knitted products for sale here, but they specialize in multicoloured yarn that is felted.. and they make hats with amazing, adorable and sometimes astonishing detail.

Even though Estonia is apparently a very secular country, the most beautiful attractions in Tallinn have to be the churches. The Russian Orthodox church was just incredible - ornately decorated, and just very peaceful and quiet.

On our last day, we went to the Kadreorg Palace. The building was gorgeous and was filled with art exhibitions, mostly Dutch artists. We enjoyed the paintings and the beautiful painted ceiling and then took a stroll by the President's office and through the park and gardens surrounding the palace. Although it was bitterly cold, it was very nice to be able to walk through an actual forest in the middle of a city. Apparently in the summer the gardens are even more beautiful.
                                                                                                        

Ceiling at the Palace 

Cinque Terre

View of one of the Islands from the Ferry 

 In the alleyway down to Lerici...