Norway

I added a few more pictures to the Norway folder on Webshots. The same link as below will take you to them, but if you run a slide show it seems to only show the first group uploaded. These are from my last night in Norway and the trip home. The rest of the trip is on that card the computer doesn't want to read, and on a CD, but I'm not finding everything. It will take me a bit more time to get it figured out, and tomorrow I will be cleaning like mad because the appraiser is coming.



Solvår let me try on her bunad, which she made herself. We are about the same size, and since I was under the impression that it was July, and didn't take a lot of warm clothes, and South-Western Norway was experiencing the coldest, rainiest July on record for the last 12 years, I borrowed her clothes a lot. She also showed me how to do some of the embroidery so that I can make my own bunad once I manage to save up for it.

Here is one more picture of me at preikestolen. The height and the drop-off really didn't bother me. Don't try this at home, kids!

Knitting



Everything is expensive in Norway, with some exceptions. I found a great sale on yarn, at the factory in Sandnes. This sock yarn was sold in bags of 20 skeins, but I split a bag of it with Solvår, and I think I paid about $1 per skein for what is normally sold here at closer to $5 per skein. I have been knitting these socks, based on "Summer Solstice" from The Sock Calendar. Finished the first one on the way back to Vernal from Cedar City. When I tried the sock on, it wanted to be a knee-sock, as it was just a little big for the lower part of the leg. After the 11th repeat of the pattern I worked 4 evenly spaced purl 2 tog decreases, and 3 more after the 13th repeat. The decreases really don't show in this stitch, and worked out just right. Sock #2 is half done at this point.

I did knit on the plane. I knitted constantly while in Norway - a pair of fingerless gloves with a mitten flap, with a reindeer motif, and then a pair of handwarmers. I am not finding pictures of those tonight - I tried, and they will turn up eventually. I even knitted on the plane coming home! (didn't dare on the way over, but I saw someone crocheting on the plane, which gave me courage) I showed my knitting (handwarmers on #6 bamboo dpns) when I picked up my boarding passes, before checking in my luggage, and asked if it was ok to take on the plane. They said yes! Finished the first handwarmer in the airport while waiting to board the plane, and knitted the second one while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Nobody said a word about it, and I made sure to declare my knitting needles at each security point so that nobody thought I was trying to hide anything.

There were 3 flights, involving plane changes, each way. On the way there I flew from Salt Lake City to Detroit, and then to Amsterdam, and on to Stavanger. Coming back the plane changes were at Amsterdam and Minneapolis/St. Paul. I had no trouble with security or anything - didn't even set off any metal detectors, even wearing my thread-cutter pendant, until Minneapolis. I was in a hurry there because there was less than an hour to change planes, and we were required to collect our luggage and walk it through customs. One of my bags was missing, and I had to spend the time to look through everything 3 or 4 times searching for it. No luck. Ran as fast as I could to catch the next flight, but at the security check point, I set off the metal detector. They could see the thread-cutter pendant, so didn't mind that, or my watch. Had to do the search with the wand, take off the shoes, .... They took my sweater and my shoes to x-ray. While I was standing there with no shoes, they brought over one of my bags that was going through x-ray because something looked suspicious, so they wanted to search that too. Turned out to be the cheese-cutter that my great-aunts gave me as a present, which I had to take in carryon luggage in order to get the tax-free refund. Nothing was said about knitting needles. But that left me 15 minutes to run to catch the plane. Made it just at the time it was supposed to take off, and got on-board. Then they had a delay because the luggage was not loaded yet - turns out that they had to unload it and replace the net that keeps cargo secure during take-off and landing, and that took a little while. Meanwhile I saw them pull out my one suitcase that wasn't lost, throw it onto the ground, pick it up again and throw it back onto the ramp. Well, at least I knew it was on the plane! The plane finally pulled away from the gate, ready to proceed to the run-way, and the entire airport shut down right then because Air Force Two was landing. We had to wait for the vice-president's convoy to leave the airport grounds before we could take off. It was an adventure. Oh, and they delivered my missing bag to the door of my house two days later, on a Sunday even. Both of my checked bags had notes in them saying that they were searched.

More about the trip and about moving another day. For now, I will leave you with a picture of Suzie, who was lonely with us all gone (the kids stayed with a friend - actually they went camping at Yellowstone, and Mark had to travel for work - he actually started working in Cedar City the week before I returned from Norway). The dogs have been outside, so Suzie meows at the door until she gets let out to go play with them.