Forever Itchy Fingers

Arianne's Chocolate Brownies

2008-12-15T13:22:00.001-08:00

My friend Arianne gave me this recipe for chocolate brownies about 15 years ago. I found it recently flicking through one of my old recipe books. I made some today for our office Christmas party. They don't look so pretty but they really gooey and very yummy.

Ingredients:
4 oz (110g) self-raising flour
1/4 teasp salt
1 1/2oz (40g) cocoa
4 oz (110g) butter
8 oz (225g) soft brown sugar
2 eggs, blended
1 tblsp milk
Icing:
1 1/2 oz (40g) butter
1 oz (25g) cocoa
3 tblsp evaporated milk
4 oz (110g) icing sugar

Beat butter and sugar together til light and fluffy. Add eggs a little at a time. Fold flour, cocoa, salt and milk into the mixture. Turn into greased tin about 11 by 7 inches. Bake gas mark 5 (around 190 celsius) for around 30 mins. Cool in tin.

Melt butter for icing. Add cocoa and cook over low heat for 1 min. Remove from heat and add milk and icing sugar. Spread over cake and leave to set.

Does it count...

2008-12-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

Does it count as handavinna or föndur if it comes from a box with pre-made everything and you just have to stick it together? Cause if it does, here is our piparkökuhús

Aðventukrans

2008-11-30T05:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I accept Lisa's challenge to be more active on this blog!
Christmas preparations are in full swing in my house and I've been knitting presents left and right!
I knitted some traditional wool socks for my friends Guðjón and Rúnar who are living in Brussles. Apparently it gets cold down there in the winter! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures before I wrapped them up :/
So, insted I took a photo of my aðventukrans

The idea is totally unoriginal but it's so easy! Just stick a ribbon on a candle, print out numbers (or shape them in coarse wire) slap them on and voila! The berries were just because I was bored ;)

The tablecloth that is underneath is from hendes verden, a danish magazine and the pattern is available there for free. It's meant to be something you place your christmas tree on but I made the pattern smaller and used it for the table - turned out pretty good actually!

So, I'm knitting a few hats and stuff - will post as soon as I take some photos!

New look!

2008-11-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

I thought it was time our blog got a face lift with the help of this wonderful site and feel free to change it at will whenever the mood takes you. Next month marks not only the month of Christmas but also the first anniversary of this fantastic blog of ours and I thought it would be really nice if in December we could all post one thing we've been making... even if it's just a photo of the Christmas decorations in our homes... creativity comes in all forms!! :-) Or if you haven't been making anything maybe just a blog about some creative discovery you've made or an arts and crafts shop that you've stumbled upon.. lets get a bit more active girls, who's with me? (Picture woman with flag marching down a road... just for extra impact!) hahahaha

Skrappkeppni

2008-10-29T09:04:00.001-07:00

Jæja ég ákvað að vera með í skrappkeppni á skrapplistanum... svona til að koma mér aðeins í gang í föndrinu. Keppnin felst í því að skrappa 7 síður á 7 dögum, hver síða er nokkurn vegin fyrirfram ákveðið verkefni og ég hef 24 tíma til að klára síðuna. Hljómar nógu einfalt... en fyrstu tvær eru búnar að vera hell og ég var að skila 2-3 mín í skilatímann!!

Jæja ég set inn fyrstu síðurnar til að sýna ykkur - þið krossið svo fingur fyrir mig að ég nái að klára alla 7 dagana.

Dagur 2

Dagur 1

Christmas is coming!!!!!!

2008-09-25T02:17:00.000-07:00

Today is the 25th of September, which means 3 months till Christmas, or 13 weeks, or 90 days to be precise!!! I have started my Christmas-card making but I still have loads to finish and I was planning on handmaking all my gifts as well... so this year I am starting early so that I don't run out of time like last year. I am of course trying to encourage a bit of ceativity amoung our group by telling you this... I'm hoping it will inspire some action on the hand-making front, whether it's Christmas orientated or not. ;-) Below is one of my finished Christmas cards for this year. Since my boyfriend celebrates new year I decided to have merry christmas in my language and happy new year in his language on most of our cards for here and Jersey. I am of course a Christmas fanatic (as you all know) so for me preparing Christmas cards at this time of year is great fun... but for those of you who are still enjoying the summer weather (that would be Jamie and Hulda who are in America) spare a thought for us over here who are well on our way to winter!!!

Come on people... get creative!!

2008-07-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that I was the only participant in the chocolate challenge but that's ok... I have of course won, so that makes up for the lack of participation!! ;-) I have decided to hand the "theme" reins over to Lára. She can decide when the next theme challenge will be and what the theme is and we'll see if anyone's any better at participating next time! I have really been concentrating on jewellery lately so I thought I'd post a photo of my friend Auður modelling her earrings, necklace and bracelet set. One of our members, Jamie, will soon be heading to the States so we'll be even more widely spread than we are now... I hope everyone's having a wonderful summer so far... keep on creating!! xx

Chocolate - Súkkulaði - Le Chocolat - Schokolade

2008-06-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

It's time for those of us who have participated in the chocolate challenge to show our stuff!! Well closing date is July 1st... so I here's a reminder... that's tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's mine. I took my inspiration from one of my favourite things to eat in the world... chocolate chip cookies... hmmm... and made myself a little sign for the kitchen wall. I found a finished piece of cross-stitch that I liked on Carrie's Creations website and printed the photo out and tried to cross-stitch from it but made a bit up as I went along.

Cross Stitch

2008-06-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture I cross stitched ages ago. I forget what it's called but it's fun and funky and I of course changed all the colors in it I think. More fun that way. Plus then you use the colors you actually have and don't have to buy a bunch of new ones ;)

As per Lisa's instructions I put this picture in our Flickr photo album, but I suck at Flickr apparently because I can't seem to figure out how to go back and write more in the description bit about the picture. Blah, whatever. Cute picture and it hangs on my wall and it's a craft and I did it and it's not baking. Plus it's in a brown frame, does that count as a chocolate theme...

Here's a link to the pattern, it's free to download.

Necklace and earrings in black...

2008-06-18T13:00:00.001-07:00

In an effort to keep the creative juices flowing on this blog I thought I'd post a photo of my friend Chantelle wearing the necklace and earrings I made her for her birthday. I think black beads are beautiful, especially if they're a bit petrol-y and shimmer when they catch the light... and she looks great in them. I'm very proud of this set!!!

Hope nobody has forgotten our chocolate challenge... 1st of July to show what we came up with!!

Pics, updates and scrapping...

2008-06-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well Monday night was our first "meeting" and it was really fun even though not everyone could make it... Sigga went so far as to crash her car to get out of coming... I mean really Sigga, if you hadn't wanted to come, you could have just said so! ;-) Nooooo, poor Sigga couldn't make it but she wasn't hurt in the crash and I know she really wanted to come so next time we'll just find a place within walking distance!!!!! But Jamie came with her cute baby outfit she was knitting, Gógó brought her stamp collection with her for scrapping, I worked on a recipe folder for my friend Sandra for her birthday and Sissa cross-stitched a toilet seat... hahahaha!! Yup, it's possible to cross-stitch just about anything... and here she is below incredibly excited about her toilet seat!!

Jamie and Gógó with föndra stuff all over the table

I also thought I'd post a photo of a recipe folder I made for my friend and sister-in-law Azra. I took a plain brown folder and personalised it with scrap paper and stickers and ribbon and now she has a beautiful folder to keep all her recipes in...

Tonight's the night!!

2008-06-02T04:28:00.000-07:00

Hi girlies, just a reminder that tonight is our first real-life saumaklúbbur meeting... I can't wait to see you all and see what you're all doing. It's a shame that Jessica and Lára can't be with us but I hope they'll be knitting or quilting or cross-stitching in spirit!! :-)

Theme of the Month... or Season... or Year... or ???

2008-05-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

There is NOTHING to do at work today so naturally my little mind has been ticking over with endless ideas of things to do to spend our freetime... and here's what I thought... that every now and again we could take a theme and all do our own thing that we associate with that theme. So for example if the theme is "Ice-cream" (which it isn't) we all take that as a base to do a project... a scrap page with someone eating ice-cream, ice-cream coloured scarf for the knitters, a recipe for ice-cream... anything in fact! It would be kind of fun to see the different ways we use the theme and then we all post our efforts. If nothing else it could be a way to get our fingers moving if anyone's struggling with what to do next. I suppose they have to be broad themes so that everyone can interpret it in one way or another, but then again, the stranger the themes are the bigger the chance to create something ingenious and since everyone does different crafts, there will be a real variety of stuff. So I have been thinking about it all day, and I propose that the first theme be: CHOCOLATE

Now take from that theme what you will, whether it be nothing more than the colour... and remember that chooclate comes in a few different shades and I also recommend at this point that people eat a lot of chocolate while they're creating something... it helps with the overall creative process!! So lets say that the closing date for the CHOCOLATE theme is July 1st and we all post our efforts... I hope as many of you as possible join in!!

P.S. Everyone can make our first meeting next week so I can't wait to see you all!!

Members Tea Party!

2008-05-22T05:27:00.000-07:00

Well our first real-life "meeting" has been planned for Monday 2nd June at 19:30 and so far I think everyone can make it except for our two girls who are away, Lára and Jessica. Can't wait to föndra with you all and see what wonderful things you are all creating before they are finished!!! Feel free to bring whatever you want with you including magazines or patterns you don't mind sharing and maybe projects you're stuck on and need help with or just whatever you're working on this minute. I'll be providing coffee, tea and cookies and you are all to come in a creative mood! :-) Keep föndring...

Hi all

2008-05-22T01:41:00.000-07:00

My name is Gógó and I work with Lisa at Icebank :)
I mostly scrapbook and make cards but occasionally do something else like knit or crochet.

And Lisa omg were did you find this pic?

First proper post here

2008-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I finally sat down and found photos of something I actually made!

Thing is, I keep forgetting to take pictures before I give these things to people but luckily one of my friends keeps sending me photos of her son in the things I've made ;)

Here is a knitted cable hoodie that he got when the winter turned cold in Denmark and look how happy he is! He also got this stripy number here

This is crochet and comes from an old, danish magazine called Hendes Verden from 1977! I've made this in several colors and they're always a bit hit!

I'm doing some stuff at the moment but since the mum hasn't yet given birth I think I'll keep it under wraps for now ;)

Introducing Gógó...

2008-05-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

Girls, we have a new member and her name is Gógó... she's a "Scrapper" and does beautiful pages and will be a wonderful addition to our fabulously talented group! :-) Which reminds me? Which one of our fabulously talented members is going to do something and post some photos already?

Welcome to the Forever Itchy Fingers Crew, Gógó!

xx

Rising from the dead...

2008-04-17T03:58:00.000-07:00

Hulda mín, all is not lost, I loved getting your bollur recipe and I have saved it so I can make bollur next year! I personally have been creativeness personified this past month but my old camera died so I got a new camera just recently. First of all, I wanna show you all the lamp I made from glass... I'm really proud of it it's sitting happily in our kitchen window for all the neighbours to see! ;-)

But I have also been making jewellery like crazy and here are some of my pieces. They are what I am now calling mobile phone bling! Or GSM skraut in Icelandic and people seem to really like them. I am now starting to make cards so we'll see how that goes and will post photos asap! I hope this silence doesn't mean you're all being lazy on the crafts front... and none of this I've been busy raising children and/or preparing wedding stuff... housework whenever, föndring forever! ;-)

Murder?

2008-04-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

Have I killed this crafty blog with my baking?

Say it ain't so!

Vatnsdeigsbollur

2008-03-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

I know Bolludagur has come and gone, but here's the recipe I use when that day rolls around.

125 gr. margarine
250 ml. water
125 gr. flour
4 eggs
You put the margarine and water in a pot and heat until the margarine is melted. Then you put the flour in (ideally you sift it but who has time or patience for such fancy smancy kitchen theatrics really?). Stir until the dough is smooth and thick, yes it will happen even if you don't think so at first.

Then remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool (I have no patience here and usually throw it in the fridge to speed up the cooling process).

Next add the eggs to the mixture and mix well, here also you think that it will not mix, but it'll happen, have faith.

Then just use two spoons and make little blobs on a baking sheet, bake at 200 degrees Celsius in the center of the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until they have that nice golden color.

Warning: Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes or the buns will fall! and you will have failed miserably at your bun making, consider yourselves warned.And example (done purely to show not what to do, huhumm)

These buns are delicious with whipped cream and jam in them. Slurp. Oh yeah, and I usually melt some nice Suðusúkkulaði to put on top.

A bit of glass art...

2008-02-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

Ok finally I contribute something to this fabulous blog of ours. This is my first piece of glass art!!! I decided to join my mum on a glass art course and I love it! It's every Saturday morning for 4 weeks and I just finished my second time and this is my first finished piece and I have just started making a lamp for myself... so I'll show you all that when it's finished. It's so much fun and once you get the hang of the cutting technique it's not so hard... the worst dilemma is choosing the patterns and the kind of glass you want to use. Butthe best part is that m mum has all the equipment at home so it's something I can carry on when the class is finished.

More hats and scarfs.....

2008-02-14T11:08:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of things I have recently done:
A hat for a friend of mine.

A hat and scarf set for my sister - I'm only modeling it!:-)

two new scrapbook pages

2008-01-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

well I have actually done more than two pages this january but I just have pics of theses two in my computer

This one is of Hugin's first time on a horse back

and this one is of his first bath

I just love scrapbooking ;)

Happy Birthday Lára!!

2008-01-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

Hi guys, yesterday was beautiful Lára's birthday but I couldn't get online to do her a birthday post... but I'm sure you will all join me in wishing her a belated happy birthday!!!! And in honour of her special day, I would like to show u all a photo of the beautiful wall-hanging she made for me for Christmas this year. We have a running sheep joke and this was a perfect hommage to that and I shall be hanging it in my home with pride for years to come!!!! I will be posting a sewing thing of my own shortly, but it's taking me some time to finish... might be because I keep falling asleep while I'm in mid-flow!! ;-) I'd also like to point out a new link we have to Lina's knitting page (under "Links" believe it or not). Lina's a friend of Jamie's and Jessica's and she churns out jumpers like bees churn out honey... take a look. Anyway I am so pleased with how this blog of ours is going and I love checking in to see who has posted next... keep up the good work girls and keep those fingers itchy!! ;-)

Here's one I made earlier ...

2008-01-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

My knitting projects aren't showing any sign of being finished soon - I ripped out half of my Dad's jumper for the second time over Christmas. So I figured I should do a post about something I finished a while ago. I love doing these tapestry cushions. They take ages to do - like a few years generally for me (in my defence I tend to work on them from time to time when I'm not doing other things!) But then I get a real sense of achievement when I finish one. Next post will be in five years when I've finished the next one!

"the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...."

2008-01-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a picture of our Christmas stockings. I used Icelandic wool (Lopi) and a sock pattern that I found on the Internet. I just made the socks a bit longer than usual - so they fit more stuff!

A very merry Christmas to all FIF members!!!!

2007-12-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

2007-12-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Sweater
I am apparently turning into one of those moms that knit the big, itchy Christmas sweaters. This one is for my friend's son Ragnar. He loves to play outside more than any kid I know and this sweater is intended to keep him warm in the sandbox or wherever else his playtime takes him. Currently - as in late at night when my hands are free - I am knitting James Hafsteinn a Christmas stocking. Will post pictures when I have it done!

Exploding Box

2007-12-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

well, I have been working on "exploding boxes" for our parents for christmas as well as Dóri's grandparents...sooo, here are some pics of the boxes (exept for one which is already in Borgarnes)

2007-12-18T00:57:00.000-08:00

Hats!
Here are a couple hats that I knit for our friends in Norway. They enjoy going on winter walks so I figured that they would probably be able to put these to use.

Eggnog
With Christmas right around the corner, it about time to put back a little eggnog - little being the key word! Don't let me see you chugalugging this down, keep the glasses small:-)

Eggnog consists of milk, eggs, and sugar mixed together and is served cold. Most often it is topped it off with a dash of nutmeg, cinnamon, or allspice. Whisky, rum, brandy, or cognac can be added according to taste, but it is also good with out alcohol. Unlike most holiday drinks, this one is served cold.

6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup of whisky, rum, brandy, or cognac
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup milk

Beat the eggs until they are frothy. Add the sugar, vanilla and nutmeg. Mix well. Add the milk, whipping cream and milk. Stir in by hand. Pour into small glasses and sprinkle a little nutmeg on the top.

Eggnog samanstendur af mjólk, rjóma, eggjum og sykri blönduðu saman og er borinn fram kaldur, oftast toppaður með múskat, kanil eða "Allspice". Viskí, romm, brandy eða koníak er svo hægt að bæta við eftir smekk.

6 egg
1 bolli sykur (2 1/2 dl)
1/2 tsk vanilla
1/4 tsk múskat
1 bolli (2 1/2 dl) viskí, romm, brandy, or koníak
2 bollar (5 dl) rjómi
2 bollar (5 dl) mjólk

Allir vökvar, þar með talið áfengið, ættu að vera ískaldir. Kælið áður en hafist er handa við drykkinn.

Þeytið eggin í 2 til 3 mínútur með þeytara á meðalhraða eða þangað til þau verða froðukennd. Þeytið svo sykurinn, vanillu og múskat saman við eggin. Slökkvið á þeytaranum og hrærið rommið (eða það áfengi sem þið völduð), rjómann og mjólkina saman við blönduna áður en hellt er í glös. Stráið svo smá múskat yfir hvert glas.

Icelandic pancakes

2007-12-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

Hiya ladies, this is such a cool idea. I haven't been very active with the crochet and crafts lately, but I wanted to put in this recipe of Icelandic pancakes, they are my favourite, so yummie!

Íslenskar pönnslur

4 dl hveiti
3 stk egg
7 dl mjólk
1/2 tsk matarsódi
kardimommudropar

Allt hrært vel saman og látið standa í ca. 1 til 2 klukkutíma - þá er brætt og kælt 60 gr. af smjörlíki og bætt við...

og svo er bara að baka/steikja!

Icelandic pancakes

4 dl flour
3 eggs
7 dl milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
cardamom drops (or vanilla drops if you haven't got the cardamom)

Stir everything together and let it stand for about 1 or 2 hours - then melt and cool 60 gr. of margarine and add to the mixture...

and then just bake/fry!

Best results are achieved if you have the Icelandic pancake pan to fry them on. Then you just add your topping of choice, sugar, jam, or whipped cream, and enjoy!

newest memer of this oh so cool blog

2007-12-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody :)

I just had to join in when I read about this cool club on Lisa's blog. I'm an arts and crafts nut, love to knit, sow, paint and scrap.

I'm currently sowing a christmas calander (have been for the last year :P), scrapping "exploding boxes" as christmaspresents for mine and Dóris parents as well as paperbag albums for our grandparents and as that wasn't enough I'm making a scrap book for my son Huginn and another one for our three trips to Roskilde festival. I know, buisy buisy...but when your supposed to be studying for your final exams and writing a B.A. essay ofcourse your going to be very buisy doing anything else possible...right?

anyway...here are two of my scrap book pages. I going to finish one of the "exploding boxes" on friday and maby i'l post pictures of it here as well

Anyway...have a nice one...Sigga the newby

Salut

2007-12-12T00:59:00.001-08:00

Well, well!
As I am the creator of the piece posted by Lisa I should inform you that it is from a book by Thimbleberries called Classic Country Christmas

It holds many beautiful projects, including that tree-blanket you see on the cover.

I'm currently knitting stuff and will post pictures when I'm done :)

Welcome...

2007-12-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

So here it is, the world's first online saumaklúbbur/sewing club... ok I have no grounds to believe it is the world's first but surely, it shall be the best!! ;-) The idea is for a group of women to share in the love of making things by hand whether it be cooking, knitting, sewing, crocheting, cross-stitching, jewellery-making, weaving... and anything else you can -ing... and by doing so promoting that age-old idea that homemade is best. I love the tradition of making things yourself and I especially love to give and receive handmade gifts because it shows you that somebody has taken the time to make something for you and those are the gifts you treasure forever.

So I thought I'd start by posting my favourite Christmas decoration, which was made for me by Lára in 2005 and it has hung next to my door each Christmas since. I love it! It's my new year's resolution to learn to knit so I am sure I will post some photos of my first attempt when it's done and in the meantime I shall post my cross-stitch projects as I complete them. Our other members are knitters and crocheters and sewers and bakers and I'm sure we'll get some great ideas from each other... p.s. I may post a few blasphemous entries as I am beginning to learn the basics of knitting as my patience in these things is not reknowned!! ;-)

--- Lisa