Third Floor - Knitting Room

Here we are - the third and final floor. Well actually, after the knitting room is the sewing room but since it was being restored, the knitting room is the final room on the tour.

This is where all kinds of crazy machines, of varying shapes and sizes, turned the spun wool into webs of woven wonder. So exciting!

One thing that really surprised me was all the machines knitting in rounds. Of course up in the sewing room they would just cut the pieces and make whatever they wanted, but I was surprised that so much of it started in circles.

It was also amazing to see that each machine was knitting in different patterns. Some, such as this one, typically Norwegian in style.

The colours were especially lovely in the area where they knitted lots of small details and trims...so pretty!

The most astounding machine for me though, was the sock knitter. It knitted pairs end to end and spat them into a collecting tube. So funny! So clever! Seeing those socks just streaming into the tube, a new one every minute or so, really made me look industrialisation in the face. Kind of entrancing really...

So I hope you have enjoyed your tour of the Salhus knitting museum. The next post will be all about Christmas in Norway. Wishing everyone and their families a very Merry Festivus ;) Eat, drink, eat some more, drink some more, snooze in the afternoon and be merry! Loves of Love and Special Christmas Kisses...

Second floor - the spinning room

Moving on to the second floor...the superbly splendiferous spinning room! Mmmmmm...

This is where women, and children entered the production process. The women operated the machines and the kids ran the errands :)

First the wool was spun from the big bobbins downstairs onto more manageably sized cones.

While the enormity of some of the machines spinning the thread from the bobbins to cones was truly astounding, the view from the window was not bad either!

As you can see, a lovely light pink shade at about 2:30 in the afternoon...

This is also where they got to do cool things like spin different colours into one thread, so we can all make cool things like gorgeous speckly socks! Yay!

Next time I will spin us from here up to the knitting room....wooohooooo.....

Salhus Knitting Museum, Tour of the Bottom Floor

Well winter is well and truly here.

Darkness has set in and I know this because I have had to buy a 'dawn simulator' alarm clock, which wakes me by slowing lighting my room with all the power of an artificial sun. The cold, dark, long, lonely nights (okay not so lonely given the delightful presence of J and the hounds!) have reawakened my desire to deck myself in wool and wile away the hours click click clicking on some knitting needles. And yes Dr Kylie, the first thing I decided to knit was my very first sock!

A lovely Spanish girl and fellow GM crop researcher and activist who is currently visiting my research centre for 3 months, Miss Rosa, kindly offered to be my guide. She is in the process of knitting socks and many other wonderful things herself. In honour of the birth of my first sock, on sunday we decided to celebrate in style and visit an old knitting factory on a fjord in Salhus - about half an hour bus ride out of Bergen.

So glad we did! Very interesting! And surprisingly beautiful! For someone who had never visited a textile factory before, it was completely fascinating! I was intrigued by the cold metal of the machine against the soft supple touch of the wool. I was fascinated by the complexity of the whole process from sheep to sweater. I was amazed by the scale of the operation. I was amazed by the speed of the operation. Humbled in my own little struggle to create a single baby sock. Pondering the difference between mechanical precision and the art of the handicraft.

In this first installment, I send you some pics from the bottom floor. The start of the factory process. ..The 'men's work' floor, where the wool was combed and spun onto massive bobbins.

In it goes...

The combing cogs in natural colour

The machine that places the wool on the arm length bobbins...

Like I said, the boys floor of the factory...

Next time...I will take you to the spinning room - are you excited yet?? xxx

QnA

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night.

Dr Seuss
2. What were you doing at 0800?

Sleeping while snow fell all around the house

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?

Norwegian homework

4. What happened to you in 2006?

Got my PhD...woohoo, Mum got sick...boohoo

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?

Is that okay on your legs?

6. How many beverages did you have today?

Crickey, could be too many to count...5 hot ones at least...

7. What color is your hairbrush?

Don't own one and can't remember the last time I used one...must have been when I was burdened with long hair...hehehe

8. What was the last thing you paid for?

Milk, lollies and a DVD (The Last King of Scotland) from the local servo

9. Where were you last night?
Snuggled up at home with a fire burning

10. What color is your front door?

Boring Brown wood baby

11. Where do you keep your change?

In a little ceramic pot on the shelves inside the front door

12. Whats the weather like today?

Around zero, snow, and blustery blizzard like winds

13. What's the best ice-cream flavor?

All fruity ones are good - strawberry, banana, boysenberry, raspberry, lemon etc etc etc

14. What excites you?

Visiting new places and climbing into bed at night

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Big time! I miss my Carly....

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yes but who's counting really?!

17. Do you talk a lot?

Mmmm...sometimes.

18. Do you watch the O.C?

Fraid not.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?

Yep, I know a few of them. Does it count if they spell it with a ph?

20. Do you make up your own words?
Stephen with a ph is not a made up word!

21. Are you a jealous person.

I try not to be

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'.

Ana

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'.

Karl Arne

24. Who's the first person on your received call list?

My Dad, god love him

25. What does the last text message you received say?

Yep, I think so.

26. Do you chew on your straw?

Mmmm...sometimes

27. Do you have curly hair?

Oh how I wish! always been a dream...

28. Where's the next place you're going to?

Apart from work on Monday, yesterday I booked a trip to Tromso for new years, almost 400kms north of the Arctic circle...dog sledding and ice fishing here we come!

29. Who's the rudest person in your life?

That is a bit hard to answer on a public blog!

30. What was the last thing you ate?

Lollies from the local servo

31. Will you get married in the future?

Not likely

32. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?

Babel - was surprisingly good.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?

This little hound with his heavy head on my lap is kind of okay!

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?

Me personally? Day before yesterday maybe? I have a good house husband!

35. Are you currently depressed?

Not this minute

36. Did you cry today?

Not yet

37. Why did you answer and post this?

Because I do not have any particularly exciting news to report and enjoyed reading Kylie's answers on her blog :)

Words

Tell me of a sunset.
Sing me a waterfall.
Teach me the words of the wind!
My child, I'm so sorry,
I can do none of these things.

Play me the sound of a fire in full flight.
Show me the sight of stars without night.
Teach me to fly and how to grow wings!
My child, I am sure, I can do none of these things.

Show me the sound of an avalanche breaking,
Tell me the feeling of a child in the making.
Sing me the sense of sun on my skin!
My child, I know I can do none of these things.

Then teach me to laugh without making a sound.
Tell me the feeling of being wrapped in goose down.
Describe to me the smell of a rose.
My child, this would be like showing you the emperor’s new clothes.

There is only one way to know of such things.
Only one way to feel all that life brings.
You must live with both your eyes and your mind,
Opening your heart to all that you find.

You must be aware and alert and in awe,
Prepared to embrace all that life has in store.
It is a magical world we are blessed to live in.
Take your time to remember,
Breathe out and breathe in.

White Weekend

Hei! As you can see, we had some snow this weekend!
It has been wonderful to see the world turn white again. I have also been studiously observing the many different forms snow can take and can now understand just why it is that the eskimos have so many words for it. There can be anything from large fat floaty flakes to tiny hard hailstone like kugler, (sorry, Norwegian taking over, I mean balls) ... and of course everything in between. Now I know that people who live in areas where it snows regularly will already know all about this, but for me it has been an interesting learning curve! I am also learning about where it is safe to walk on snow and ice covered roads...a sometimes painful learning experience :)

J and I really are like kids when it snows, we get so excited! And just have to keep telling each other about it - it is really falling now, check out the size of those flakes, wow it is thick on the ground, don't the trees look pretty, etc etc etc. The dogs also love it though. They have spent lots of time this weekend rolling around making their own little snow angels in the backyard. Then they get the sillies and run around in circles like mad dogs before falling down and rolling around again. So cute.

Everything just looked so beautiful that I decided to take my camera out on my usual walk with the dogs and snap some photos of the neighbourhood. I hope you enjoy them...

This is a photo of the mountain called Ulriken, bathed in a fabulous moment of sun!

Looking across the park to Ulriken, yes that is a snowman and a grown man on a sled in the foreground - real winter fun I tell you!

One of the paths around the park...

Looking from said path back across the park to Lovstakken - the mountain we see from our backyard.

Now I also know that I promised you some pics of my beloved Kombi, so here they are...isn't she a beauty?!

Not so easy to ride in the snow though!

Wait a minute...look at me go! xxx

Autumn in Aarhus

Okay so I have been convinced to continue! Thanks! But I have also been convinced that the blog does not have to be about other people and readers, that it has value to me as documentation of my travel and as an exercise in writing. So here goes....

J and I were fortunate enough to get a long weekend in Aarhus Denmark last weekend. I travelled there courtsey of the uni to attend a workshop on toxicological and environmental aspects of nanotechnology. Yippee. J travelled there courtsey of frequent flyer points. Double Yippee.

It was great to have J along for company in the evenings, especially as it helped me avoid spending an excessive number of hours in the company of members of the NanoEthics Network - not that they weren't nice or anything, most of them were, but after hanging with them all day at the workshop, 2 conference dinners seemed excessive! And besides, they were not exactly the people I wanted to share the hotel spa and sauna with, if you know what I mean!

The bad thing about having J with me though was of course that he got to go out and be a tourist in the city while I sat and stared out the windows of the workshop! That means that he got lots of fabulous photos of the old city part of Aarhus while I could only snap those parts of the university grounds that I got to see during a 40minute lunch break! It was such spectacular autumn weather though that I hope some of the colours make up for the lack of location diversity! The uni was in a nice area of town, about 40minutes walk from the city centre. For those of you who don't know already Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark and a port town...but as I said, you will not be seeing photos of any of this below, just some lovely autumn pics from around the uni campus!




It is really lovely to be watching the seasons change so dramatically, and today marked an extra special moment - the first day of autumn that I left the house for work and saw snow on the mountains. So beautiful! Sadly this may also indicate the slow decline of my bicycling to work - peddling home in the dark and the snow sounds far more desirable than it actually is! Especially when you are battling the constant threat of being blown off your bike and copping the tyre wash of every passing car and truck! Hmmm...we'll see how things go. Hopefully I can post pics of my beloved Kombi bike next time. xxx

PhD Course

Some of you might remember that a few weeks (was it even months??) ago I was involved in teaching a course for people doing their PhD in Norway in something nano related to get their ethics and philosophy of science credits. There is kind of a requirement here that all PhD students have to do a course in ethics and phil of sci at some point in their degree.

We held our week long PhD course at a lovely little place up in the mountains called Vatnahalsen and took one afternoon off teaching to walk with the students down the 20km track into the Flåm valley and up (ouch!) to a lovely eco/local food only farm for dinner, before catching the train back to the hotel/course location. It was a lovely time so I wanted to share some of the photos.

Front of hotel getting ready for the walk...yes notice the wet weather gear on most (all except our one philosophy student in the middle - he did not believe in the reality of rain) and man did we need it, we got drenched!!

This here be the beginning of the track down...

This is the tunnel of light - when we walked into the tunnel it was pouring and when we came out it was hot and sunny, very very strange!


Strolling after the tunnel of light

Farmers look away, there was no shortage of water here...



The killer uphill climb at the end of the day



Finally the great farm house and food at the top!

This was a lot of photos and there is a reason for this. I am thinking about making this my last blog. You see, with the facebook revolution, I am not sure how many people (except dear Kylie) are actually checking this blog. It is far too time consuming to post for no/one reader so if you like the blog, hate the facebook, let me know by leaving a comment and I might be persuaded to continue! xxx

Pics from Paris

I know it has been a long time between posts and for that I apologise. Those of you who know me will know why. I thought I would make it up to you though by posting some pics from my recent trip to Paris. Yes it was a business trip, I was there for a conference, but who says you can't see some of the sites at the same time ;) Hope you like them as much as I enjoyed being there. It really is a truly magnificent city.

Perfect Prague

Ahhhhh Prague! What a wonderful time we had and how sad it is to be back. Such a beautiful city and so cheap in comparison to Norway - we were in heaven. The beer was literally cheaper than water and the cocktail prices were laughably low. This meant everytime we felt the need to take a break from strolling the streets and seeing the sites to sit down in a cafe, we inevitably had to go for beer and cocktails.

I also think J ate a slab of meat every single night we were there. One night he even ordered the 600g pork knee, just to make sure his body got the flesh he so sorely misses in pricey Norway! The weather was also perfect - hot and sunny during the day and light rain on our roof when we were tucked up in bed at night. The ancient city, the dark history, and the rain on the roof also all made a perfect setting for reading the final Harry Potter book out loud to each other!

The only minor downfall was the sheer mass of people, which was simply unbelieveable (for example, check out the people on charles bridge below).

Somehow we adapted though, blissed out on cocktails perhaps, and in the end, not even the throng of tourists could detract from our joy. We strolled the castle and the maze of cobblestone streets, attended a classical concert in a spectacular venue, shopped ourselves silly and just generally had a magical time. It is such an interesting city, with an intriguing sense of a dark and disturbing history lurking just below the surface. We hope to return again sometime soon, but in winter next time so as to get to know the city when it is grey and cold and not so crowded. We hope you enjoy these photos from when it was coloured and sunny and packed to the max though! xxxx

Wenceslas Square

The red rooves of the city

The Rudolfinum where we saw a classical concert.

And Us - blissfully happy and radiating joy in the sunset!