Joined Team Sweden

Now I have officialy joined Team Sweden for the Knitting Olympics! I've been fiddling to get the button to show in my sidebar, and after some days of work, I finally did it!! Marika made the nice button, kudos!

Tonight I made a pair of pearl and bead ear rings for a friend that goes back on maternity leave tomorrow! She has worked over the holidays, and now she's gonna stay at home with her first child until the second one is due in July. It is so exciting, a new baby on the way! Of course, I'm making a quilt for the baby when it arrives (I might even sew it before the arrival, if I get to know the sex of the baby).
Anyhow, I think she deserves a gift. First day off + exactly nine months since the birth of her daughter + she is just a great friend! *waving to Nette* I'll post a pic when I have given the ear rings to her, don't wanna spoil the surprise :)

Did some 4 inches on the fuzzy scarf watching Desperate Housewives and Joey. To much yarn left...

Both my boys are asleep now (DH + DS), and I'm joining them now since it's darn close to midnight...

Books are allowed

Since I have my own little Stashalong going, I can't buy any more yarn or fabric 'til 1 April. But books are still allowed! Therefore I have done some shopping...

First, I found Lucy Neatby's Cool socks, Warm feet at a good price at Amazon.de, so I ordered it. I placed the order Wednesday, and I recieved the book today! Thats what I call fast! I have browsed through the book and I like the models, although they are only six :( On the other hand the book teaches you how to create your own socks. It explains different kinds of cast-ons, toes, heels and general sock knowledge, and my aim is to read the book and try all the different heels and toes. Who knows, I might just learn something :)

I also found (read about them in Saartje's blog) two Estonian books called Kirikindad I & II - Patterned mittens. They are of special interest to me since my gransmother is from Estonia, and I'm really looking forward to getting them! Btw, kindad means mitten in Estonian :)

All the way to Ikea and back

We didn't go to my inlaws over the weekend. They had gone to DH's sister, and we ha forgotten to ask if they were gonna be home... Thus, no knitting this weekend. Or, not much knitting. I knitted on the hateful fuzzy scarf all the way to Ikea and half the way home. Still a lot of yarn left :(

The trip to Ikea was good though! We bought a new storing system for two of our closets. We don't have many things that should be hanging, but lots of stuff that fints nicely into drawers :) Yesterday I spent a lot of time assembling 4 pieces of Antonio - the wire drawer rack, and it acctualy involved a hammer and no screws! I cleaned out the two closets and put the racks in there, sorted my, DH's and DS's stuff and put it in the drawers. A day well spent!


I also found two very nice teacups that will eventually become "sewing stations", a place where you keep the sewing notions you use every day. I will post pictures when they are finished.

In the same building as Ikea there is a Panduro store (craft and hobby products), and they are about to close, so they had a 25% sale on everything! I bought some beads, metal rings, brass snap-hooks and large safety pins. I just love Panduro!

Kitchen towel swap arrived

Yesterday my kitchen towel set from Barb D arrived! We are having an off-list mini swap (see the posting about the bath towels), and this is package #2 of 3. It is a beautifully embroidered terry towel in yellow and white with matching wash cloths. Thanks Barb!

More stitch markers

Made some more stitch markers tonight. This time in blue and green tones, with some silver accents. Five of them are going in the mail tomorrow, finding a new home at a friend's. Bad pic as usual...


The upper row is green and the lower one is blue.

Weekend plans

We are going to my MiL's over the weekend. They live in the countryside = no internet = no postings :( And no reading other blogs :~( But since MiL and FiL will be playing with Linus all the time, I'll have some time to knit!! I'm taking the fuzzy scarf and the Lovikka mittens with me, hoping to finish both.

Fuzzy scarf

I found another knitting UFO! It is a simple scarf that was meant to be a gift for my grandma last christmas. I never finished it since it was sooo boring! And I hate the yarn. My sis knitted one of these in like two days and I thought I might do the same, what was I thinking?
The yarn is Idéna's Happy Multi in some beige-brown colorway (#72), and it's some hip fussy polyester stuff. My mom asked if I had shaved the cat... The pattern is as simple as knitting 30 stitches, turn and do the same, for a few hundred times... I'm using up two skeins, and I just began no 2, so I'm only half way... Anyway, I plan to finish it this weekend.

B is for Boxes

Posting #2 for the ABC-along. Boxes. I love boxes! I love to sort and store stuff in boxes. All the boxes below contains crafting stuff. DH thinks I have to many of them, but I can't help it, I must have more!! Some might say I'm obsessed... I have the same feelings for binders, card indexes and other accessories for sorting :)

These boxes are for quilting stuff, I have six of them. They contain fabrics, batting and other stuff. In the background you can see the Singer sewing machine my sister and her boyfriend gave me. They found it in the scrap yard and I'm renovating it. Don't know yet if I'll keep it or sell it. Don't have a Singer, so I might keep it...

These beautifully blue boxes is where I keep some of my ongoing projects. There is one for knitting, one for crocheing, one for my lifetime hexagon quilt and one for embroidery. The knitting one is the most frequently opened at the moment.

And these boxes holds just about everything! One is for current projects and contains my Lovikka mittens, my Bronwyn Hayes embroideries (for a quilt) and some beads. The others contains things like invoices, tapes and MD's, silly teenage memorabilia, computer cords and much more (have about 15 of these boxes...)

Tomorrow I'm going to IKEA, and there's a good chance I'm picking up some new boxes so I can bring my yarn stash up from the basement :)

There is one more box that I just love, but that one will get a separate posting :)

Finished the Opal wristwarmers

Tonight I finished the Opal Wristwarmers. Now I have a matching set of socks and wristwarmers :) They are oh so nice and warm, and my wrists rest so soft while I type :) I like the way the begin and and with a red part!

Recieved bath towel swap

Today (or last friday acctually, but I picked it up today) I recieved the first of the bath towel swap packages! It was from Barb E, and it was sooo wonderful! She is so considerate!

I recieved a white towel embroidered with blue flowers + matching wash cloth, a pink towel, cotton blossom body lotion (it smells sooo nice!), Dove mini soap and lotion and Dove chocolates.

She had also made a parcel for Linus! He recieved a red towel embroidered with motifs of a black cartoon cat (I think it might be Oscar? + the water soluble needs to be washed out), a blue whale to have in the bath, a mini slinky, a Nascar carshaped tin with chocolates, a bag of Lion King Gummi Bugs (with squishy centers!) and one of those compact towels that grow when you put them in hot water.

Thank you so much Barb! I really love everything you sent me and Linus! He immediately started chewing on the whale, and that is a good grade :) I just love swapping with you!

Beads beads beads

I had so much fun the other day making stitch markers, so today I bought a bunch of new beads! The ones I had was mainly pinks and purples, so I bought green, blue and silver ones. In two weeks I'm going to Stockholm and Panduro Hobby, and then I'll get a lot more :) Beads are not in the stashalong deal :) Not a very good pic this time either, I think I have to take a photo class...

Ufo #2 finished

Today I finished UFO #2! It is a makeup/toilet bag based on a pattern from a book by Annie Eikenes. This one was originally intended to contain my MiniDisc player, ear phones , some MiniDiscs and extra batteries. Now I think I will use it for the toilet stuff we tote around for Linus, such as nasal spray, cough mixture, painkillers, saline drops, cue tips etc. The pics show front and back. Sorry for the bad lighting. Can you spot DH in the background? :)

My creative corner

My friends at Quiltsnack's mailinglist has been posting pics of their sewing rooms, and I follow the stream. Here is my sewing corner on our kitchen table. We have our dinner here every night, so I have to push my stuff to the side all the time... This is just as messy as it usually is :)

Inspiration

I found this tablecloth in my drawer. It has been my paternal grandmother's, and I rescued it when we went through her things after she passed away. I don't think it has ever been used, it has that stiff new feel to it. And it still smells like grandma... I love the fabric and would like to use it for a bag or two, but just I can't cut it up. The tablecloth is for a round table and mine is rectangular, so I can't even use it for what it was intended for. Any hints on how to deal with these sentimental feelings so I can use the fabric? Maybe if I found some more of her old stuff?

The colors are actually this red, the darker areas are not black but dark brown. I love the combination of orange, tomato red and fuchsia.

Sleepy Sunday

This has been a great day! We (including Linus) slept until 9 am, and then we had a long breakfast together. Around 11 am we were getting a bit bored, so we called our good friends in Stockholm and made plans (they were just as bored as we).

We took the bus to their place and had a cup of tea, Linus played with their cats. Then we took a stroll to Fältöversten, a nearby mall, and did some windowshopping. After a really good pizza we took the bus home again, satisfied with a calm yet meaningful day with friends. (Waving to Karna *wave wave*)

Poetry in motion

This is my 9 months old son Linus having his bedtime bath tonight. Oh, my heart aches when I look at this picture, I just love him so much... That thing he does with his tounge is the latest "thing", he puts it out a bit and giggles. Sleep well my darling, mommy loves you!

Lost in time

Today I made a disturbing discovery. I haven't used my calendar/organizer since the middle of OCTOBER!!! The plastic thingie that marks the week was still in october... This led to another discovery, I don't even have new calendar sheets for this year, it ends in the beginning of january!

This is a personal catastrophy! My calendar is usually scribbled full with meetings, appointments, reminders and ideas, but since october it is empty. Is this what life as a mom is? No time at all for me? I guess that it's ok when I think about it, after all, Linus is the most important thing in my life!

I love my organizer! It is a golden cognac brown leather Filofax, pocket size, and it has kind of a western/equestrian theme going on with the marked seams. I bought it last summer (2004) at the bookstore in Ronneby where I used to work. It cost me a fortune, about $100. But as my friend Iopop put it: I will use it for at least 10 years (I did with my last one), and that will only be $10 per year :)

Well, tomorrow I'm going to the stationer's (where I also used to work) and getting a refill for it, and perhaps some nice colored note papers too, to make up for lost time...

Stitch markers

Tonight I have entertained myself by making beaded stitch markers. I had a lot of fun making them and I'm sure I'll make a ton more of them :) Maybe I'll sell some, if anyone is interested. In that case, make a comment or send me an email and we'll arrange something!
Acctually, I've never used markers before, but having read about them on the net and in blogs I wonder how I could ever have done without them?! The colors are not very good in the pic, the beads are more iridicent and colorful irl.


Btw, I think I have lost my latest pair of bamboo pins, 4mm :( I bought them in november and I have used them for one project since, but now I can't find them. Hopefully I left them at my MiL's, I have to call her tomorrow and check...
But on the upside, if I really lost them I have a good reason to buy new 4mm's, but in rosewood this time :)
Added later: The pins were neither at my mom's or at my MiL's, so I just have to buy new ones, but I guess it has to wait until after March 31, or DH will go nuts... Guess I won't be knitting anything with size 4mm unless I do it with regular metal pins...

First kitchen towel done

The Knitting Olympics

Today I have joined the Knitting Olympics at YarnHarlot's!

**********************
Concept:
You must cast on a project during the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics (Feb 10)- and finish before the Olympic flame goes out (Feb 26). That's 16 days.

Rules:
1. The project must be a challenge for you to complete in 16 days.
(...)
4. No casting on before the flame is lit.
5. Finish before the flame goes out.
6. You may swatch before the games. (I consider this "training.")
**************************Quoted from YarnHarlot's blog

During the Olympics I attempt to knit one sock from any English language pattern. First, I have only knitted one pair of socks, and it took me two years. Second, I have never knitted in English before, only Swedish, so it will be a real challenge for me to figure out all the abbreviations! Don't know if there is a Eng/Swe knitting dictionary somewhere on the net, but I'll try to locate one...

If I manage this challange there will be a whole new world opening for me! I have been surfin around over the last few weeks, and I have found tons of nice patterns I want to try, but they're all in English...

There is another challenge connected to this. As I blogged about a few days ago, I'm doing a Stashalong, and I can't buy any new yarn or fabric until March 31. And I don't have any sock yarn!!! But I will make do with the superwash yarn I have in a lot of colors! The socks will be striped :) Or maybe I'll just raid my mom's stash ;)

A is for Almost Amish

My first ABC-along posting is kind of late, but here it is! Almost Amish by RJR Fabrics is my favourite series of quilt fabrics. The colors are quite dark, yet a little faded. The motifs are subtle or tone-on-tone. Beige, taupe, old rose, burgundy, dark gold... Yummie! Sadly, they are a few years old and quite hard to find. Lucky me have some left :)
The pics show two make up bags I made from these fabrics.

Stashalong

I just read about the stashalong in I'm knitting as fast as I can's blog. Sadly, I missed the sign up date by about 3 weeks, but I guess I could tag along anyways :) So, I'm doing my own mini stashalong... I have not bought any new yarn yet this year, so I have not broken the rules yet. The stashalong lasts 'til March 31, and for the two months one week that is left my goals are:

* To finish the Opal wrist warmers
* To finish my Lovikka mittens
* To begin and finish Julia's sweater (size 1 year)
* To begin Linus' woolen sweater (size 1 year)
* To begin a shawl from my one-of-a-kind hand dyed skein of pure wool

I think these goals are quite reasonable, and if I run out of projects, I can always raid my basement stash...

For Linus' sweater I will be needing more yarn since I'm knitting one size bigger that I planned to, but I can order that after March 31 :) Ohohoh, I just had a great idea! If my mom bought the missing yarn and gave it to me as a gift, then I wouldn't be breaking the rules, would I?!

Now, back to the embroidery machine, I'm making kitchen and bath towels today!

In the mail

Today I recieved two nice things in the mail: A book on scrapbooking (that I forgot to let my book club know I didn't want...) and a quilt catalog from Hancocks of Paducah *mmm yummie*

The book will be returned tomorrow as it was quite boring (though it was nice to browse through). The catalog will be read over and over and over... So many ideas that pop into my head when I read those catalogs, esp the one from Keepsake Quilting :)

Opal socks II

I'm back from my mom's and the Opal socks are finished! It took me a total of two years to get them done, I'm not used to knitting with such thin yarn... My first finished UFO in 2006, the year of the UFOs.

From the left over yarn I'm making wrist warmers in a spiral pattern. It's fast and fun!

I'm in an internet swap group, the Santas embroidery stocking swap. We swap all sorts of embroidered or sewn objects, and for Valentine we're swapping kitchen towels. I recieved my swap pal yesterday, and it was just the person I was hoping for! Tomorrow I'll embroider her towel so I can send it out on friday (to South Africa!).

We are four girls from the swap group that are having our own little towel swap, I'm sending two bath towel sets and one kitchen towel set, and will recieve the same. I have bought all the towels and are going to embroider them on thursday I think. Boy, it is fun to swap!

If you're into knitting, check out Knitty! Lots of great free patterns.

Trimming heaven!!!

Wouldn't you love to have these rosewood pins?!

Opal socks

Just a short post today, I'm off to mom and dad's for the weekend. DH is helping dad renovating our boat house.
I'm taking one of my knitting UFO's with me. It's socks in Opal yarn, that stuff that patterns itself. One down, one half to go... Iv'e worked on them for about two years, and I think they are too small :( Well well, maybe sis can have them...
Pattern from Markno design.

I'm also bringing my Lovikka mittens UFO. I began those last winter when I was pregnant, but Linus came in the way of finishing them. All that's left is weaving in the loose ends and embroidering the zig-zag pattern on the cuffs. Perhaps there will be a photo after the weekend :)

Surfer girl

Woke up this morning with some stomach illness :( That automatically leads to a surfing day :) When you feel under, there is nothing better to do than random surfing. Start at page you like (or dislike) and just click away. You can find weird and wonderful things!

My pic today is one of a handbag. I downloaded the pic somewhere on the net to keep for inspiration. Now I don't remember where or who designed it, but please let me know if you recognize it! I just love the simpleness of this bag! I sometimes think I'm creatively impared... So simple but just so great!

Found a nice webshop today. Annelito creates the most wonderful broches and rings!

Also found Abigail A. Percy, a very talented girl that creates outstanding jewlery!

Both links found at Camilla's.

Latest project

Ohohoh, I remebered I finished one quilt after the one I mentioned in my last post! It was sewn on commission for a newborn boy, Loke. It's the same easy pattern as Linn's quilt.

First attempt

Finally, it got to me. Couldn't live without telling everyone about my doings. So I've got a blog.

Since I have no photos of my current projects yet, I'm posting the last baby quilt I made. It's a simple square pattern, quilted diagonally both ways across each square. This was made for DH's newborn niece Linn. Sadly, her mother still keeps it in a drawer after 6 months. I hope it will see daylight again sometime...