Moving on...

I'm moving on. From August 2010 you'll find my blog at http://aliasannajm.wordpress.com.

As you can see, I've decided to go with a new name. I'm moving on from Anna's Corner of the World. I needed something new and Alias AnnaJM is a fresh start.

I hope to see you there!

Kitchen Makeover

My boyfriend and I have worked hard during our summer vacation. We have transformed our kitchen!

Before

What it used to look like from the dining area (we had started investigations to figure out how the load-bearing wall was constructed and that's why the wall over the door looks like it does)

Now

What it looked like from the dining area earlier today - notice how the linen closet isn't there anymore and how much wider the door opening is.

Before

This is what the sink-and-oven-side of the kitchen looked like. Everything was at standard measurements from the mid-60's (low counter tops and strange sizes for drawers). The dish washer was placed at the far left, between the stove/oven and the wall to the dining area.

Now

And this is now! The white countertop is just temporary and will be replaced by black granite in about a month. After that, we'll get white tiles up on the wall. The dish washer is now over by the window, next to the sink.

Before

This used to be the fridge side of the kitchen. The fridge was placed with its back to the side of the linen closet you can see in the first picture. Next to the fridge we had the pantry. Our freezer stood over by the window.

Now

We now have a combined fridge/freezer and an oven placed at counter top height. We've added a "breakfast bar" to sit at. No more fridge or pantry sticking out into the room as everything is placed at the wall.

Before

There used to be a door between the house's entrance hall and the kitchen. The wall on the right is the side of the pantry and the microwave oven has its back to the back of the linen closet in the first picture. To the left is the bookshelf we used for extra storage and the freezer.

Now

No more door! And no more free-standing freezer! The wallpaper is a picture we've taken ourselves and transformed into wallpaper with the help of www.perswall.se.

We love our new kitchen and spend lots of time in it!!! Even without it being all done. :) We've done what we can up 'til today and the rest of our work has to wait for the new granite counter tops. We have tiles to put up. A fan to install. Two "boxes" to build from the top of the higher cupboards to the ceiling. Splines to put up where the walls meet the new ceiling and the new floor. We also have to fix the corners of the new door opening as they're still raw.

And I've forgotten to mention how proud I am over us! How could I?

What's going on?

Well, since I wrote here last I've slept and walked on this:

The Great Wall between Jinshanling and Samatai

and we're right now in the middle of this:

This is called a kitchen renovation...

Cottage Garden Sweater

The yoke of my Cottage Garden Sweater

Pattern: Cottage Garden from Twist Collective (Autumn 2009)

Yarn: SoftWoolSilk from Gepard Garn, colours 469 and 81

Needles: 3,75mm/US5

Project time: February 18th - May 10th, 2010

This is what it looks when worn

Pattern modifications: I didn't really change anything. Because of my body shape I had to start out with an XL for my hips and then decrease down to a medium in the waist and a small for the bust. I didn't change needle size when working the second part of the picot edges. The neckline ended up being fastened with a 3-needle bind off as I couldn't get it to look pretty when trying to sew it down. I lengthened the sleeves quite a bit as I have long arms and I really wanted the cuff to hit my hand and not my wrist.

I love the length of the sleeves after blocking

Thoughts: Love!!!

And once I got the hang of knitting stranded with one yarn in each hand, it went fairly smoothly. My knitting isn't perfect, it puckers some and is too loose elsewhere, BUT I'm still proud of myself. It definitely looks good enough for being my first completed stranded knitting project.

Becoming a shopping monster in China?

I'm going to China in a couple of weeks. I'll start out vacationing in Beijing for a couple of days and then I'll be working in Shanghai for just over a week. I have very mixed feelings about this trip but they are mostly good. I'm positive I'll be experience something extraordinary. A country I've never been to, customs I've never experienced first hand before and challenges I'm meeting for the first time. I'll be eating well, smiling lots, and hopefully laughing as well, walking and meeting a ton of people. I'll be speaking English. What's there not to like?

Our vacation plans for Beijing are still hazy. We don't know where to stay. We don't really know what to do. I'm interested in going to the Chinese Wall and spend the night sleeping on it. Like this. I'm not fooling myself; I know it'd mean lousy sleeping and a sooooore body after walking/climbing the wall for hours and hours, but wouldn't it be unforgettable? We'll be visiting the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. And probably do some shopping.

But you know what? This is where it gets tricky for me. When I was given the chance to spend time in China my head was filled with images of buildings, people, food, trees, walls and whatever. I didn't think shopping. But as soon as I started telling people I was going to China I was drowned in tips on what to buy. And how much money to bring. And how much space I should leave empty in my suitcase going there. And to be honest, I find it kind of disturbing.

I'm not one to advocate for consumerism. I'm not extreme in my beliefs, but I try not to buy too much stuff that I don't really need. I do it for environmental and political reasons. Now, people seem to expect me to become this shopping monster just because I'm going to a country where I can buy things cheaply. I believe in copy right. I don't download songs, movies or tv show episodes that I haven't paid for. And now people expect me to buy plagiarized jackets, jeans, watches, glasses, movies and shoes. And not just a pair or two, but enough to fill a suitcase. It disturbs me a bit.

I will do some shopping while there. And I probably will buy some things that are plagiarized. But I don't see myself becoming this shopping monster that they expect me to become, leaving all my principals behind. Even though I'm going to China.

I see myself taking tons and tons of pictures. I see myself buying silk fabrics. And I see myself trying to get a dress or shirt custom made by a seamstress. I see myself looking at fake Canada Goose-jackets, Diesel jeans and Rolex watches. But I don't see myself buying them. Even though I'd have room for them in my suitcase.

January in our garden

With spring working its way to stay, I thought I'd show you some pictures from January 29th this year. Our garden was completely covered in snow for the longest time this winter... For being in the south of Sweden at least... :)

Snowy orpins

Glistening snow covering our lawn

Our grill had been out since last summer

JumJum observing the snow

Skorpan playing with some snow

Asia, here I come

So, I've been abscent from this blog of mine. Ever since the start of this year, I've felt unmotivated to make updates. Spending the time forming words, unloading pictures from the camera and get them here in posts and everything else that comes with blogging, just didn't feel inspiring anymore.

Add to that, a long winter that wasn't good for pictures, a sore body (from two falls when biking), a university class in Creative Writing and tiredness, and you get more of the picture.

Now, when female bloggers "disappear" and come back after random posting for a couple of months they often come back to announcing that they are either 1) pregnant or 2) working on a book as they've gotten a deal. I'm doing neither of those. (Which being me is 1) just as it's supposed to be and 2) a bummer but I haven't tried getting one...)

I'm still pottering around with my knitting. I'm still by the sewing machine from time to time. I read books and see my bookclub friends every 6th week. I make my assignments for the Creative Writing-class and I'm enjoying it. But it's more time consuming than I though it'd be.

And.

I'm going to Asia for two weeks early this summer. For the first time in my life. I'm combining a couple of days of vacation with days of working. Most of the time will be work. I know I'll be dead tired when I come home after 16 days away, but it really feels like a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity and I couldn't let it pass me by.

Ready for spring

It's March. Time for spring?

This winter has been long. As I've mentioned before, we've had an unusual amount of snow for being in the south of Sweden. Late last week, the temperatures rose above zero and they've stayed that way over the weekend. At least during the days. A lot of the snow has melted and we can now see the ground in about half of our back yard.

We can see green leaves and yellow buds in our flower beds.

Yesterday I let the cats out in the garden for a bit. Skorpan had his first roll on the ground for the year. He looked ridiculously happy afterwards!

I'm ready for spring now. I want warmer temperatures so I don't have to bundle up as much every morning and afternoon when biking to and from work. I want the ground to be dry so I can bike through the park again. I want the trees and bushes to turn green so my eyes get some practise looking at colour after months and months of grey, brown and white. I want the sun to come visit regularly again. I want the days to get longer so I can keep my blog updated with pictures of my projects. I want to be able to sit on our porch reading without being cold or in the darkness.

I want spring.

An FO

Something has been knit. And something has been blocked.

Close up from blocking

Random Friday (nr3)

1. I'm alive.

2. Work kind of slowed down for a week or two and then picked up again. I don't think I've ever earned my salary as much as I have these last couple of months. And I deserve a raise! I've lost count of how many evenings I come home, eat something and then crash. Sometimes physically. Sometimes mentally. Often both.

3. I'm dead tired today. I promised to come and get my boyfriend and a colleague of his from a company dinner yesterday. I was expecting a call at around 9pm but it didn't come until just after 10pm. It was 11pm when I got in bed and when boyfriend started snoring I had the hardest time falling asleep. Even though I was dead tired. Men!

4. I spent yesterday afternoon in Copenhagen. A work thing brought me and some colleagues over. I haven't walked on Ströget in ages and ages. The visit got me thinking about when my best friend in Canada came to see me in 2004 and we spent a great day in Copenhagen. Do you remember that day, Shel?

5. My writing class is fun! And challenging. Our second assignment is a lot of work. It's really interesting to see how we all use our words differently in our writing. Some put the words together in a very complicated way and others make their texts flow really well by using a mininum of words. I'm doubting my own writing project though as a result... I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet.

6. I'm a bit tired of snow. We've had an unusual amount of snow and cold days here in the south of Sweden. We've actually had snow on the ground since the week before Christmas (with two or three days interruption thrown in there). I'm sick of biking in temperatures below zero and not being able to go my usual way as there's too much snow in the park.

7. To end this post on a positive note: It's Friday!!!