Introducing the Sampler Mittens

As I have now been knitting the Granliden Mittens for several years (since 2011, more exactly), the supply of vegetable dyed yarns is decreasing. It was part of the upcycling investigation, both seeing how long it would last, and trying to communicate the finite nature of the mitten production to those who wanted to buy a pair. Get them now, or that particular colour will be gone forever! Certainly an odd way of running a business, the concept of development and growth being completely detached from the whole thing.

At the moment, as most of the balls of yarn has shrunk to the size of… let's say, a meatball, I needed to take a new direction. 

As a way of using this material to the absolute end, I decided to make tinier patterns. They are inspired by or found in old pattern books, as well as old cross stitch samplers. So, here are the Sampler Mittens!

Available in the shop as from NOW.

New project: Stand where you dig!

The first project I've thrown myself into in 2015 is an illustration relay blog! Called STAND WHERE YOU DIG/STAND WHERE YOU'RE DIGGING, which we think is a good motto generally in life.

It's as simple as it sounds: The first person makes a picture, which the next person use as inspiration for the next picture - and so on! It's a project between myself, Angelica Edin, Katarina Frisö, Linn Schildt and Victoria Olsson-Bill.

Tomorrow is my day! 

Back at it

It has been VERY quiet around here for the last couple of months! I hereby put an end to it. There has been a lot of things in the making over the last months, and now is the time to start sharing them. A hint: Look for #finelittledaybook on Instagram.

The painting above is closely connected to that hint, in ways that i will soon present here. Through recent projects, I have discovered one of the finest combinations ever - water colour and cross stitches. It might turn into a small collection of prints...

Bird cherry cordial

Makes 2,5-3 litres of concentrate

Ingredients:
50 bird cherry flower sprays
1,5 litres water
1,5 kilos caster sugar
50 grams citric acid
2 organic lemons, washed and sliced

Preparation:
1. Clean and rinse your glass bottles with a pinch of sodium benzoate dissolved in hot water. Rinse the flowers well in cold water. 
2. Bring the water to boil and mix in the sugar and citric acid.
3. Put the flowers and sliced lemons in a bowl, bucket or pot that can be sealed quite tightly. Pour over the hot sugar mixture, stir it and cover it up.
4. Store the mixture in a dark and cool place for about 4 days. Stir it gently once a day. 
5. Next, line a jug or bowl with a straining bag and use a soup ladle to put everything into it. Squeeze the bag at the end to gather up all the liquid. Pour into the clean bottles.

Store in the fridge.

Dilute 1/4 concentrate with 3/4 water, or to your liking :)

Tip: Take 25 ml gin, 25 ml bird cherry cordial, top up with soda water, garnish with sliced lemon. It is SO good.

Picking bird cherry

There is an old saying, that the cobbler takes his summer holiday between the blossoming of the bird cherry and that of the lilac - because it is the most delightful time of the year. I totally go along with that.

So, this spring, me and my friend Linnéa got the idea to try making three different flower cordials. There is the obvious and classic elder flower, but we will also go for bird cherry and lilac, using the same method.

We picked the flowers and made the mixture yesterday, and now it will have to "brew" for four days in a cold and dark place before we can see how it turns out. I will share the result as well as the recipe here soon!

TRÅD fanzine

"TRÅD is a biannual fanzine focusing on the subject of innovation and sustainability in fashion. It features articles by designers and other creatives within the field of fashion and textiles."

"Thirteen Swedish artists, designers and entrepreneurs are interviewed or tell us about their work in the fanzine. They have in common that they all work with fashion and sustainability by using sustainable materials and methods or by offering a different approach to the mainstream fashion system.  Erik Annerborn forecasts the death of dinosaur’s aka the big old fast fashion companies. Deadwood Leather tells us about how they make classic biker jackets in a non-classic way and the artist Maria E Harrysson, who made a special print that comes with the fanzine, invited us to her studio, showing us the process of her work. The fanzine is available (only in Swedish) in a few selected fashion stores in Stockholm or by mailorder. (trad@futurethreadsproject.com)"

Text from futurethreadsproject.com

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I'm contributing with a written piece about Granliden mittens (of course), time, upcycling material and site specificity. I'm thinking about making a translation of the text and put it here on the blog, for all of you who don't know Swedish :)

Read more about the project in its whole here.

An interview in Swedish.

And one in English.

And Facebook.

Buy a copy here.

More to come!

LGW inspirations of late

New year, new projects. 

Researching and collecting material for another follow-up to The Last Girl in the Woods, a project that comes into its third year this year. There's just so much more to do.

First of all came the bark boats, developing into an installation, later distilled in the pages of a zine.

Now, I'm looking forward to approaching LGW through working with costume, garments and such.

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Images:

1. Diapositive taken by my grandmother

2. Twig weaving

3. Versailles dress

4. Cave Collective: Kelp Triple Layer Wraparound

5. Sashiko stitching

6. Detail from my exam project

7. Forged iron crosses from Ekshärad, Värmland

8. 17th century Greek bed panel

9. Found on Pinterest

10. Kinfolk

11. Liv Ullman in Nybyggarna/The New Land (1972)

12. Buenaventura Marco

Tales from the Woods

A couple of weeks ago, I got involved in a new project. It's called "Tales from the Woods" - and what could suit me better?

“Tales from the woods” is a unique artist-in-residence project that gives you the opportunity of following the lives of five young artists (called The Art Flaneurs). Each Art Flaneur is a representative of a partner organisation from Estonia (Creative Center Carnation), Finland (Kronomagasinet), Sweden (ARNA and Not Quite) or Norway (Rogaland Art Center- L/R). During the project all of them will visit one of the partner organisations to experience a short term artist-in-residence programme. They will also work on a joined project that will be introduced to the public in April 2014 when all of them meet at a symposium in Tartu.

In addition, a small research is made about the affect of arist-in-residence projects to the local communities. All of the partner organisations are located more or less in smaller cities or some even in the real woods. The project is coordinated by Creative Center Carnation from Estonia.

So, in a few months time, I will be headed to my residency at Lukkeskåra/Rådlausjuvet in southern Norway. And then to Estonia! But my research starts now - I will share the process here on my blog.

Follow our project here, or through Facebook.

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The photos above are from my latest edition of my exam work installation "The Last Girl in the Woods". Staged in our barn in August.

Her again

There she goes again, the Last Girl in the Woods. A character I originally made up to be a more outrageous version of myself. But lately, she has been growing up to be her own person. She also goes by the name the Local Patriot. (Back then, it was about embroidery and bark boats.) I define her by words such as proud, exuberant and obstinate, and seeing the world through her eyes and hands renders everything slightly more illuminated and significant. 

I made her a room, a zine, and even a small fleet! Next up I think there will be clothing. The Last Girl in the Woods is the driving force behind most of my creative work nowadays.

The photos of the Pine Cone Bag above are taken by Elisabeth. The lupin photo is taken by my mum in 1982 (the year of the mittens) ♥

Scallops!

So, this is what it could look like, the "Scallops" wallpaper. 

I'm thinking about how I'm going to use it when I get my hands on it - I have quite a few ideas :)

There is no way I will ever get tired of this simple kind of pattern. We may have seen the scallop shape being used in different kinds of ways for years by now, but just like a true classic, it doesn't go out of style. It is a shape I will always come back to. It is such a perfect ornament! Visual, fun and simple - just as I like it.

Styling and photo by Fine Little Day. 

Curated by Fine Little Day

Dear everyone!

My "Scallops" print has turned into wallpaper, as a part of the Curated by Fine Little Day Collection for Photowall Sweden! It is a collection of wallpapers selected by brilliant Elisabeth Dunker of Fine Little Day, and are being released one per day this week. 

I am quite proud to be represented in the same collection as such talented people as Kindra Murphy, Mogu Takahashi, Cecilia Pettersson and Steffie Brocoli!

Take a closer look at the project at the Fine Little Day and Photowall blogs. And stay tuned for more to come!

In with the new

I have been giving my portfolio a slight make-over, since it had started to feel a little outdated lately. Things are in the making, and my idea of a good portfolio is ever changing. It is maybe less descriptive in its present form, but I'd like to try letting the images speak for themselves. I think they can handle it.

This one above might very soon (most likely) appear in a fanzine I'm making as a sort of spin off from my exam project. The photo was taken on this spot on a chilly and grey day last summer. Jenny and I spent a day wandering in the woods, looking at views, taking photos and having late breakfast in a quiet house.

And the webshop is updated!

They're finally finished, the first batch of the new Granliden Mittens! Some of them have fingers, some only a thumb - which means one more choice to make, except from the many colours...

The shop will be continuosly updated, since the mitten supply naturally is quite limited. At the moment there is just one pair of each colour, but I will knit knit knit and restock constantly - though some colours will be finished up sooner than others, due to the different quantities of each dye.

But, isn't it more exciting that way? :) I can't take special orders any more, so be sure to keep an eye on your favourite colour!

Any day now

Spent yesterday afternoon in Fredrik's studio, getting some help with taking my picture for a little press feature that will be out in December. More about that later.

The original purpose for the studio visit was to take some final shots of the new mittens, before updating my webshop for the autumn. But. Though I'm knitting like mad to be able to release the new Granliden Mittens, being done with the first batch already this week proved to be quite impossible. So instead I did this little teaser through Instagram.

Hopefully, I'll have updated the shop by the end of next week. Come back here for news and updates!

A room with a view (part 2)

Some more pictures from the house in La Romola. It was so quiet and still - a perfect place to work. I spent a lot of my time there knitting, writing and reading, all at a very slow pace. Still I got so much done. An equation to ponder on...

As you can see, a new addition to the Granliden collection was born. Originally an idea from my friend Linnéa, a knitted hat is of course the obvious complement to the mittens. I'm currently working on the final design and pattern. What do you think?

A new collection

Not that I want to say that it will soon be winter or anything, but I have started knitting mittens again. I'm still using the original wool, even of most of the colours are now used up - except red, orange and the darkish pink. And some indigo I think.

But it won't end there. Some six months ago, I had a phone call from an old lady who had seen me talking mittens on the local news... Who offered me to buy all of her old vegetable dyed wool. Needless to say, I did. There were all sorts of wonderful dyes - moss, bilberry and rose for example. And due to some odd twist of faith, the street just outside her house was called Bergslagsgatan! (Meaning "mining district street" - there are actually one in each town in this part of Sweden.)

And along with some lovely new colours, I will also add... fingers! No offense to the fingerless mittens, but it just gets a little bit more classy, don't you think?

Last but not least, I recently started a Bergslagsgatan page on Facebook. Go there and like it!