BERGSLAGSGATAN

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 room with a view (part 1)

Tuscany is every bit as pretty as it is on film. I just came home from a lovely week spent in a country house in La Romola, south of Firenze. It's the first real holiday I've been on since I don't know when. My summer got extended by seven extra days. This is the sort of place where doing absolutely nothing feels like the best thing to occupy yourself with most of the time.

Summer's End

My quiet, dreamy summer has come to its end. Last week, I packed as much as I could carry and took the train to Gothenburg. Living here now, I'm using my bike to get acquainted with my new surroundings.

From now on, I'm working part-time at Two Little Birds, a café/arts & crafts gallery in the city center. Make sure to drop by if in Gothenburg! Great exhibitions, great fika.

This summer, all of my best second hand thrifts has been different kinds of bags. As if preparing for my new nomadic life, having no place of my own yet. But I'm having a great time already! Now I just need someplace to work, a studio.

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In August away I must

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Dress by Up the Wooden Hills, bags by Fieldguided, Fjällräven and the Cambridge Satchel Company.

Forest bound

I love pine trees, pine needles, pine cones, pine bark.

...And the mittens keep growing fingers. I'm very fond of this mossy green dye. It's made from birch leaves.

Of lakes and forests

This is one of my last chances to post dreamy photos of lakes in forests, so let's grab the opportunity. In two weeks time, my summer vacation is over and I will move away from the forest for a while to become a resident of the little big city of Gothenburg - on the west coast. I don't mind the sea, but there's nothing like a swim on a still lake surrounded by a pine forest. Just sayin'.

Colour circles

I absolutely love it, the colour chart of vegetable dyes that my mum made back in the days. And apart from being just beautiful, it's also a great piece of documentation. It can be quite hard to get around to doing that sort of thing, but sooo rewarding. And useful. My mitten project wouldn't be what it is without these samples...

And then another color chart appeared in the sky. I'm very fond of how neatly organized it is, the rainbow.

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!