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posted July 4 2026
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General Updates!: Added a rhubarb dye and mordant page, and a knitted sweater page to my projects page. Additionally, after this blog, I think I will create a general blog comment section rather than attempting to do a separate one for each blog. ~ ~ ~ June 23: I moved into a small summer cabin for a couple days to create my rhubarb mordant in an area where there was good ventilation with many windows, and to also focus on other art things (and work and cooking and etc). Special things that I made were a couple of soy sauce marinated eggs and a jam comprised of rhubarb, elderberry flowers and peaches. I also visited the lake nearby but I didn't swim as it was quite cold and I just wanted to walk there to see it! I had been there last year but hadn't visited this year yet, so just needed to make sure it still existed. As I was sitting there, just watching the water and sun, two ladies showed up and skinny dipped!! Based on their reactions, it seemed like the water was quite cold, but it could've been fun to go swimming with them, well if I had a swim suit or really a towel with me. |
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~ ~ ~ June 24: I went to Elviks Gard with some family friends to pick up some raw wool from the farm and to also have a picnic by the water. We saw very few sheep out in the fields as most of them were in the forest up on a hill, hidden behind all of the trees, many horses, cows, and a giant ant hill. Processing and spinning raw wool will also be added to the project page soon! I got 1.5 kg for around 15 dollars (150 krona converted). |
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~ ~ ~ June 25: As I had now bought weaving yarn and was spinning green wool (should I make a project page that just consists of spinning photos??), and I had access to a loom at this point, I figured it was time to start measuring and planning out my tapestries that I wanted to create for my summer project. The page will be updated once all the projects are done I think though I'm not entirely sure how I should set it up. I'm glad I have been able to get two other projects up though!I plan to do four (or was it five) tapestries that are around 40-45 cm wide and 50 cm long. I haven't thought out all of the themes quite yet, but so far I have planned a seagull tapestry as I've seen so many of them and surprising many baby seagulls as well, a currant bush and lupin tapestry and of course, a sheep tapestry as a homage to this entire project. All I did this day was start measuring out the warp length and calculating how many ends I needed, which later in the week I figured out I messed up and needed to add a lot more. Well mistakes happen and we will just have to learn from them. (Though it is VERY annoying I have to say with weaving on a loom but hopefully I will do better for the next project. As long as it works out it will be fine. ~ ~ ~ |
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June 27: My birthday! We started off with a birthday breakfast that consisted of swedish pancakes, strawberries and whipped cream. Soon after, we (me and my partners parents) started on a road trip south to Karlskrona where my partner was playing a concert (BIBA for those who know). On the way down, we stopped at Kalmar castle which was only an hour away from our final destination, and had a little tour of the place. It was a very nice experience and the tour guide was quite knowledgable, describing the different rooms, decorations and people that were painted and hung on the walls (though I guess it is also their job to know what they are doing). All the people involved with working at the castle - the tour guides, the receptionist and people at other booths - were all dressed up in medieval wear such as maid or queen outfits.
They were supposedly having four weddings on the day that we visited, but it seemed like two of them had canceled (or ran away or maybe something scandalous happened!!!), and we originally would not have been able to go into the chapel of this church. However... as the wedding that was supposed to have happened when we were on the tour did not, we were able to enter the chapel. It contained an organ. That is what is important. Also they had a crazy colorful exhibit regarding AI?? very interesting to see this in a castle but free will IG. |
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After the castle visit, I was treated to a budapest roll at a cafe/restaurant. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of it but I will tell you that it consisted of whipped cream, hazelnut meringue and tangerines or mandarins. It was quite yummy and I would recommend trying it if you get the chance! Soon we headed to Kalskrona. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel, bought some groceries for the next morning as it was getting late, and headed over to the church where the concert was at. It was a great concert and lasted for two hours with a variety of groups playing and different kinds of music (all brass with the exception of I think just one percussionist) and I would say that overall it was a great day with lots of activity. My partner and I also went swimming in the harbor after the concert!!! I love swimming. ~ ~ ~ |
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June 28: We (the family and I) wanted to go to this ice cream place the day before, but we weren't able to as the concert was TWO HOURS long and the ice cream shop had closed by then (10 pm). I realize that I keep saying we but it might be confusing as to who exactly is included in the we, but hopefully I have acknowledged the "we"s in this blog. Please note that I uhh do not proofread my blogs and have sent them out via email as soon as I finish writing about the past two or so weeks haha. Anyways. We got ice cream after our breakfast at the hostel. On the road trip back to Stockholm, we stopped by Kosta Glasbruk/Boda which was a Swedish glass making company and museum. I bought a notebook at the Kosta like outlet shop(?), then we headed into the glass making area. There were a bunch of German tourists who had already taken seats watching someone make a glass vase. We took our seats as well and watching the person finish the vase, then another person make a different vase from start to finish. Watching this sort of fueled my desire to do some glass blowing/making in the future, but that can hold off for now as I work on my current hobbies which are also more viable/accessible/things I already know how to do. Then for the rest of the day, we headed north back home. ~ ~ ~ |
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June 30: We (the family and I without my partner) traveled north to Sundborn, where their family summer cabin was located. I don't have much to say about this day as we were mostly traveling and stopped at one town I think but we were mostly trying to get to our final destination. The other thing is that my partner biked all the way from his house to the summer cabin (275 Km/ 171 Mi) and we did sneakily catch him while he was resting. So we technically stopped twice (Go Abe!!). ~ ~ ~ July 1-3: During the couple days we were at Sundborn, I was able to wash some of the raw wool that I bought in the lake (intentionally). I decided against scouring the wool due to the amount of extra work needed, and energy required to heat up large amounts of water (with soap) just to get lanolin out of the wool. Lanolin is a natural oil that sheep and other wool bearing animals produce which provides some waterproofing aspects. I also just don't need it removed for the project I am doing and so I wanted to leave it in. Once that was washed in the lake, it was left out to airdry. I started carding the gray wool as well, since it dried faster in the sun than white wool.I realized that I should also explain what kind of wool I got. I got Gotland (gray and white) and Gute (more a mix of colors than just one). Gotland fibers are much more curly and longer than Gute fibers, but both have their benefits in the kinds of things you are making. For the trip north, I only brought a bit of both colors of the Gotland wool. My partner and I also boated into town to see the church (again!) and a pottery store that was closed when we had last visited. This pottery store brough us so much joy as we had noticed that some of the pottery in the summer cabins had a signature of Sundborn... and we found the potters who had made those pieces. As I didn't take any photos of the pottery and they well.. are sitting in a paper bag right now about a couple steps away, I think it is too much hassle to take photos and upload them to the website now but might be posted on my instagram. I've been neglecting it too... so I should get some stuff up there anyways! We got a cake platter, and two candle holders. On another day, my partner drove about an hour north to see some local potters, and Nittsjo Keramik, a big ceramics manufacturer. All of them were very interesting, and we learned that so many of these local potters, both in Sundborn and Rattvik area, just have so much that they are doing in their life while balancing ceramics, which is both time and energy intensive even if you are experienced. One person was making mango chutney as they were showing us their studio; Someone else was a recorder and music history teacher; Another person made their own glazes and overglaze which we hadn't seen other local potters do. Most of them just bought glazes as it was less time intensive even though it probably costed them more money overall, but they don't get to learn about the chemistry behind glazes and the fun experimentation that comes with it. Well, they can do as they wish anyways but definitely an interesting observation. During the adventure of going to all the potters, we also went to an ice cream place. Wow are you guys seeing a theme yet with what I have eaten and done so far this summer...... On another day, we biked around town and out to this farm that had cows, horses and GOATS. The goats were actually so cute it was crazy but they were quite quiet just munching on their grass and moving around. There were two really baby goats that headbutted a lot but not hard at all. On the way back to the summer cabin, I picked some lupins, which are invasive, to use for dyeing. |
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~ ~ ~ Now onto some lupin dyeing and starting this weaving project and doing work lalalala. See you in the next blog! |