Ylvi needs a husband...

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while, probably remember that I made a doll with the naalbinding techique for my daughter. 

It has been 6 years now and recently she (my daughter) declared that she (the doll) could no longer be single so I had to make a husband. Well... ok then! 

We went to the market to buy some cream coloured wool and I got to work. This is probably the easiest husband I will ever make for my daughter (*giggle*)!

There really is no pattern. All I do is start with a round start (or Josephine knot). You can watch an introduction clip of that here on YouTube!

And then I just continue, making the arms and legs as thick as my fingers. The upper body of the husband (we've decided to call him Gunnar) is a bit longer than Ylvi's, so he is a bit taller. Other than that he is the same.

Gunnar's legs were started with his boots, which I made with a few left over strands of darkbrown wool. I attached those to the legs, like I did with Ylvi because I always see dolls with just one shoe and that is a shame with handmade dolls, imho.

I will keep you posted on Gunnar's development!

Ylvi patiently waiting for Gunnar

Gunnar is still half a man...

Vikings on holiday

Dear all,

We just returned from a magnificent holiday in Denmark! I used to live in Copenhagen as a student and ten years ago in 2006 Einarr and I went to Denmark again. This year, during our May Holiday, we went to Jutland for the second time and had a really marvelous time. Allow me to write a few reviews on the 3 Viking museums we visited.

1) Haithabu Viking museum - Northern Germany
Driving all the way up to Denmark was a bit of a tall order for us, especially with a 7 year old in the car. So we decided to stop for 2 days in Northern Germany to visit the Haithabu museum

We found a campsite across the street from the museum, which was very convenient. If you ever want to go there, here is the campsite: http://www.campingplatz-haithabu.de/ Their services are excellent and in the summer a jump in the lake is probably very amazing.
Now, the Haithabu museum itself has undergone some much needed changes since our first visit in 2006 and it has improved A LOT! There are much more items on display with excellent audio information. The bookshop as well has a great selection of books too.

the outside of Haithabu museum, Viking houses

2) Ribe Viking museum
We went to this museum in 2006 and greatly enjoyed it. The timeline is very well done and there is a lot of info. We discovered to our surprise that the museum hasn't changed at all since 2006. This was, in all honesty, a bit of a let down because in our opinion you cannot have the same lay-out/exhibition all the time. Still, it is worth a visit and our daughter really enjoyed the museum!

3) Ribe Viking Centre
This open air museum is not very big but it is bursting with energy and activity. Truly a great place. We went on a Monday when the annual Viking market wasn't so crowded and this gave us plenty of time to see everything and talk to some old friends we hadn't seen in a while. The museum is great for kids, plenty of time and opportunity to roam and play!
We were staying at this campsite http://ribecamping.dk/ which I can really recommend for its fantastic facilities

The bird show was great, our daughter LOVED it!

The Three Norns who guard the entrance

In short: Go to Denmark when you have a chance!

Easter at Archeon

The winter, eventhough in our area it really wasn't a proper winter, is finally over and we had our first event a few weeks ago. As usual, the Dutch Viking season opened at Archeon with the annual Easter Market.
We had bought a new tent from Tentorium (http://www.tentorium.pl/) and it was pretty exiting to try it out! The owner of Tentorium, Michal Siedlecki, has handmade the entire tent and we think it is awesome!

Here are some photos of the event, it was a bit chilly still but we had great fun!

Svenja focussed on the ducks

It's a horse! Well...kind of anyway!!

Painting Easter eggs, very concentrated

Our gorgeous new tent, far right