Maybe this will be the help for me...

to learn how to knit.

Some of my small and big dreams and maybe some time to be projects...

OK... when I see this and this from Knitty I want to learn how to knit and this sweater how to crochet.

I love frogs (check comments by SmilinThyme and follow this breadkrumbs journey) so to make this lovely 17th century frog purse would be so fun. It is totally awesome. Image from Museum of London Picture Library.

I dream of a new apartment with a little garden, where I would plant herbs for health and food, inspired by medeival monasterial herb gardens...

Speaking of medieval stuff, it was far too many years since I visited the Medieval Week on Gotland and it was also 12 kgs heavier so I am dreaming of making some new garb.

I have many ideas and dreams... this pattern from my favourite garb pattern maker Sophia's Atelje is tempting.

At Scaramouche (a manufacturer and maker of medieval garb) I found following ideas (all images are from the Scaramouche website).

Maybe something fancy or plain.... and admit that the cloak down below is awesome!!

Well...for the time being I'll just dream on and prepare for the holidays....

Long time since I blogged....

I've been far too busy for a while and forgot to post the rest of the CDs I got in the DualDiscDebacle
CD swap.

This one with such a beautiful cover comes from the crafty ass chick at Polka-dot-Stripe.


Here is another one, with an interesting theme - one CD with male singers and one with female... I also especially love the CD-labels that gives the impression of a ball of cotton.... made by Suzie at The Purly Gates.


Tori at Knitting, Dogs and More sent me this one:


Thank you all so much, I like some of the music on each one and have made some pleasant and fun new discoveries.... I really was lucky to receive all my 5 CDs....

Oh, I'm in the creative flow...

Right now I am at my parents home, we celebrated my 32nd birthday yesterday. We had nice dinner together and I got a nice CD and a lovely bling-bling necklace. Another birthday gift is that dad is helping me out with a part of my gymcard for a year. I also got the chance to take a ride on dad's new motor bike, a Yamaha 1000A Dragstar Classic. We took a long ride and it was so fun!


I have started make an embroidered necklace... just simple stitches in silver thread. Progress so far on the left. I'm having fun!

Today I also have taken time to scan some old family photos and my mums old bookmarks. Really hope to use them in my projects later.

"The Gathering" - Sarek

Sarek is a Swedish band that has combined contemporary music with folk music (etno pop). Genom Eld och Vatten was their breakthrough and was their entry in the Swedish Song Contest 2003 (IE Swedish ESC preselection '03).

Here are the lyrics in Swedish and my rough English translation:

Jag har inte silver och inte guld, inget du kan få
Det jag äger ligger blottat för din syn
Mina händer är tomma, men hjärtat fullt av nåt du inte ser
Så jag har nånting som är mera värt ändå
För om du tappar modet och faller ner på knä kan du vila här hos mig
Som en klippa i stormen att luta dig mot
Och jag sviker aldrig dig

I have not silver and not gold, nothing you can have
What I own lays bare before your eyes
My hands are empty, but the heart is full of something you can't see
So I have something more valuable anyhow
'Cause if you loose your courage and falls down on your knees you can rest here with me
As a rock in the storm to lean yourself on
And I never will let you down

Jag ska följa dig genom eld och vatten
Över land och hav
Jag ska älska dig tills hjärtat slutar slå
Från det högsta berg till den djupaste av dalar ska jag gå
Genom tid och rum
Ja, alla mina dagar ska du få

I will follow you through fire and water
Over land and sea
I will love you until the heart stops beating
From the highest mountain to the deepest of valleys I will go
Through time and space
Yes, all of my days you will have

Och när vindarna ligger på vidderna dansar jag med dig
Och solen bränner svalkar jag din hud
För om du tappar modet och faller ner på knä kan du vila här hos mig
Som en klippa i stormen att luta dig mot
Och jag sviker aldrig dig

And when the winds lays on the expanses I dance with you
And the sun burns I'm cooling your skin
'Cause if you loose your courage and falls down on your knees you can rest here with me
As a rock in the storm to lean yourself on
And I never will let you down

Jag ska följa dig genom eld och vatten
Över land och hav
Jag ska älska dig tills hjärtat slutar slå
Från det högsta berg till den djupaste av dalar ska jag gå
Genom tid och rum
Ja, alla mina dagar ska du få

I will follow you through fire and water
Over land and sea
I will love you until the heart stops beating
From the highest mountain to the deepest of valleys I will go
Through time and space
Yes, all of my days you will have

"The Gathering" - Alban Faust

I have a weakness! I love BagPipes! It reminds me of when I lived in Scotland. Scottish bagpipes has a massive, majestic sound with a very, loud "undertone" (a constant bellowing). Once I heard the bagpipe being played indoor, in a room about 50 square metres, and I tell you it was almost not bearable.
Later I discovered the smaller French and Swedish bagpipes, this was when all things medieval was my big interest (I still love medieval stuff). Then, this summer I discovered:

"Alban Faust, one of the major bagpipe makers and pipers in Sweden, has a CD called Bordunmusik från Dalsland (Drone music from Dalsland). Most tracks include bagpipes of Swedish, French, German or Flemish origin." link

He played with his group Faust at the folk music festival I visited this summer, I loved it! On this compilation though he is represented with one of my favourite tunes - a wedding march - Brudmarsh från Äppelbo. When I eventually get married, this tune is must on my wedding...

Postbox....I love the sound from it...

The CDs I've posted for the DualDisc Debacle should arrive soon (I hope *bites nails*), meanwhile I just wanted to show how the CDcovers turned out... I just love the colours.


I have received 4 of the 5 CDs in the swap. The first one came from Jason at Food Ninja. (I want to try out that Potato and Leek soup) I think I had only heard about David Usher of the ones at his playlist. Quite a few really cool songs though.



The second one that arrived was from Shanna at Two Trees...with roots like these and contained "everything" from Los Lobos via Billy Preston to Sarah McLachlan. Loved it! Such a cute package... And her website... beautiful!

Thank you Jason and Shanna! I will post the other two as soon as I have taken some pics of them.

I've found "my" radio station....

I have been looking all over for a web radio with a totally international mix... haven't found it, and then it was at the Swedish National Radio all along.... SR Sverige is this lovely channels name.
I listened far to long last night with a big smile on my lips and in my heart.

This is how they present themselves:

"SR Sverige is a digital radio channel with hit music from the whole wide world.

On our channel you can hear tunes from Lebanon, Mali, the USA, Scotland, Iraq, France, Brazil, Cuba, Siberia, Madagascar, India and Sweden, all in the space of half an hour! Sick of the run of the mill monotonous pop music from your usual station? Then SR Sverige is the place for you!"

And yes... that fits right into my musical taste... look at this playlist for example...

• Tomatito "Al Mariyya"
• Chiara Civello "Here Is Everything"
• DV8 "Kera Tera Mul"
• Ray Charles "Georgia On My Mind"
• Think Of One "Sable D'Or"
• Shantel "Bucovina (Haaksman & Haaksman Soca Bogle Mix)"
• Cesaria Evora "Monte Cara"
• Rachid Taha "En Retard"
• Markscheider Kunst "Kvasa Kvasa"
• Malouma "Char´Aa"
• Shoukichi Kina/ Champloose "Celebration Reggae"
• Dusminguet "San Cristóbal"
• Karen Matheson "Early Morning Grey

All these played in the same hour... Yay!!!!

Totally awesome video

I found this video: Breathe Me by Sia at the Naive Knitting Blog. So beautiful and creative...

"The Gathering" - Väsen

Next band I want to present to you is Väsen - a Swedish folk music band. I heard the band members play in various constellations at the Korrö Folk Music Festival. It was a rare treat ;-)
Bart has written an extensive fan page about them - scroll it down and you'll get to know them a bit... Do look it up!!
The songs on "The Gathering" CD is from their first record "Väsen" and more traditional in style than the later ones... Here is a video from the Nordic Roots Festival of later date.

Dualdisc Debacle - CD 2 "Today" - playlist

• 01 Lonely Sometimes - Waterdeep - Sink or Swim
• 02 Obsession - Delirious - Deeper Disc 2
• 03 Undo Me - Jennifer Knapp - Kansas
• 04 Those Who Trust - Waterdeep - Enter the Worship Circle
• 05 Today - Iona - Iona Live: Heaven's Bright Sun Disc 1
• 06 Du är mitt ljus - Bengt Johansson - fästpunkt
• 07 Surrender - Marcus James - Come Now Is The Time To Worship
• 08 How Can I Keep From Singing - Eva Cassidy - Eva by Heart
• 09 Today (As for me and my house) - Kathryn Scott - Satisfy
• 10 Improv - 100 Portraits and Waterdeep - Enter the Worship Circle
• 11 The Danse - Kemper Crabb - The Vigil
• 12 Today (Hebrews 3 and 4) - Waterdeep - Enter the Worship Circle
• 13 Shackles (praise You) - Mary Mary - Thankful
• 14 Be Thou My Vision - Van Morrison - Hymns to the Silence Disc 2
• 15 T-Hule Beannachd (The Blessing) - The Electrics - Visions and Dreams
• 16 Gammal Fäbodpsalm - Carola - Störst Av Allt

Why it's called Today??? Read the playlist again ;-)

Picked up the Covers

from print shop today!! (I have no printer yet myself...). I am so pleased with the glossy paper!! I had planned to use jewelcases but.... that would put up postage by the double :-O so I made cases from Jorma Oksanens excellent origami instructions!! And lo and behold... the CDs are on their way now!!

DualDiscDebacle - Cover Art is now off for print....

I'm not completely happy but I have to stop here ... time to send it out!!! It is supposed to be folded in the middle. I wanted to have more ethnic elements in it but still it has a Medieval arch, an African harper and a Swedish, Dalecarlian couple and flowers. I'm missing the jiddish, balcanic, ucrainian, arabic, spanish and brazilian touch though.... (a lot that is LOL).


All images are from my keeping (paintings and such). I do like the bold colours!!! The biggest hazzle was to make the song titles and artists fit in - readable AND looking nice. I had to settle for readable. Well, well.

Yay!!!

CD 2 called "Today" are all in 5 copies burned today!!! Just need to listen through all CDs due to some burning mishaps... don't want you to get bad copies ;-)

Albumart soon done, hope to get it printed and CDs out in mail in the next couple of days!!!

"The Gathering" - Sabbath Hela Veckan

Sabbath Hela Veckan (Sabbath All The Week) is one of the most represented bands on this compilation. I discovered them this summer when preparing for Korrö Folk Music Festival and fell in love!!! When I heard them live they were even better...

This Klezmer Orchestra is Stockholm based and their members comes from Sweden, USA and Finland.
They started 1989 and consists of Lauri Antila (contrabass), Peter Bothén (clarinets and saxophones), Andreas Hedwall (trombones and song), James Friedman (violins and song), Nils Personne (saxophones and piano) och Niklas Sundén (accordion)

Here is a rewiew of their first cd Klez. They mostly play instrumental music but the vocal songs are great and sung with a lot of drama... hopefully I will be able to put up the lyrics here soon.

(Image is from their website)

"The Gathering" - Thoughts

This compilation mostly contains artists I have a live personal experience of and some other that I love. You'll find music from different places and of various ethnicity. (More about this and the artists in another post.)

But it is also an imaginary gathering, a very special one since it is a fusion of many cultures, still somehow they all are family.

You can follow the evening...

people arriving and being welcomed,
children having fun when the party begins
and develops into a wedding
and wild happy dancing...
the storyteller tells his tales,
there is love
and also a fight...
and when the morning comes
someone is sitting alone
looking back at this fabulous gathering.

I must confess though, even though it is a very happy feast there is a streak of melancholy through it all... I guess it appeals to my Scandinavian heart...

Dualdisc Debacle - CD 1 "The Gathering" - playlist

1. Freilechs von der coupe - Sabbath Hela Veckan - Honga
2. Spanish rhapsody - Robert Wells - Rhapsody in rock
3. Aumba - World Wide Orange -The Grounds Of Mystery
4. Triliseste - Orientexpressen - Balkanica
   
5. Brudmarsch från Äppelbo - Alban Faust - Bordunmusik från Dalsland
6. Genom Eld Och Vatten - Sarek - Melodifestivalen 2003 Deltävling 3 i Luleå
7. Nordsjö Brudmarsh - World Wide Orange - The Grounds Of Mystery
8. Marie's Wedding (with The Chieftains) - Van Morrison - Irish Heartbeat
9. Laguetek - Tony Mouzayek - Maktub II: La Danza de los Siete Velos
10. Vals efter Jan-Olof Olsson - Väsen - Väsen
11. Koleda na Bozic - Ensemble Oni Wytars and Ensemble Unicorn - On the Way to Bethlehem (Music of the Medieval Pilgrim)
12. Saltarello (Italia 14c Medieval song) - Anonymous - Unknown
13. Wild Dance - Ruslana (Ukraine) - Eurovision Song Contest 2004 - Istanbul Disc 2
14. Mabruk - Gisele Bomentre - Maktub II: La Danza de los Siete Velos
15. Hora De La Goicea - Orientexpressen - Balkanica
    
16. Youske furt avec - Sabbath Hela Veckan - Honga
17. Kucevacko Kolo - Orientexpressen - Balkanica
    
18. Mashke - Sabbath Hela Veckan - Honga
19. Om Hon Vill Det Själv - Nordman - Nordman
20. Hibernia - Michael W. Smith - Freedom
21. Zidney's zweite bulgar - Sabbath Hela Veckan - Honga
22. Trollrikepolska - Väsen - Väsen
23. Erinerrungen - Sabbath Hela Veckan - Honga

Hi and welcome

to my new project blog. I will use it when I have some or other project I want to publish. The reason for starting it is this eminent cd-swap.

I am a little late, having burned the 5 CD's for CD 1 and working on CD 2 Playlist...

I plan to post the playlists here, the albumart, my thoughts about the songs and more about the musicians...