Alone again

Forgive me of my absence but as the rather drastic headline suggests My Loved One has been to see me for ten glorious days (and now gone back home to Glasgow). And that means no time for blogging. Priorities, my dears, priorities.

The man is good for me though for with him in the room I get more done and feel less intimidated of trying new things. It has been a good week for crafting - I even conquered my fear of using bias tape.

Soooo, my dream of trying to start a little something of my own businesswise has been rekindled and work is now in progress for that to happen. Watch this space for more!

Where there is sun there will be cats

And, yes, that is the disarray that is my desk...

Paperhouse

Found this amazing site - The Toymaker - where you can download a whole lot of paper toys for free. A great thing to do if you have kids and nothing to do! Or, as in my case, no kids and lots of far more important things to do...

Homemade stuff

You likey?

Arty farty photos

Presents for my cousin

Yesterday my cousin finally received her birthday presents - her birthday is in january(...) - so now I am free to post the pictures here. I have been reading a lot about resin on Crafster and seeing all the wonderful things that other people have done with resin made me want to try it too. For a long while I had the idea of making my cousin a bracelet with pictures of her son Kelvin. My first idea was to make it with laminated pictures but then I realised that resin was the way to go. So this is what I did. And am quite darned pleased with it too for a first try!

Exterminate: A Dalek for my Valentine

What says LOVE more than a crochetted Dalek? Make one for the person you love too - you can find the instructions here.

Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday it snowed

A sweater for a little one

This is a sweater that I made from a book by Erika Knight. The swedish title is "Stickat och sött" (unfortunately the english title isn't printed in the book). It is in fact the first real garment that I have knitted (scarfs, mittens, socks and headwear doesn't count...) so YAY! me. I had the hardest time understanding the instructions though and I will blame the translation before I blame my lacking skills in reading knitting instructions. But I prevailed despite sometimes not knowing at all what the hell it was that I was supposed to do knittingwise and made things up as I went - thinking that it at least will turn into something approximating a sweater even if I didn't do every thing exactly correct. And I think it did so hurray for prevailing!

Now who to give the sweater to?...

Svartån by night

Irish hiking wrist warmers

I made these little babies just recently after finding a quick and easy project that would give me a chance of trying on kntting cables. Found the instructions here but shortened it so that the one ball of yarn that I had would be enough. Bought the yarn from Shilasdair on a trip to Skye last summer.

Stockholm

Umeå stencil graffiti

One of my favourite things to do when I'm in Umeå is to walk around and look at the city - at the things that have changed after I moved and the things that remain the same. Unfortenately I didn't have the time to do so this time because I didn't stay for long enough and there was other more important things to do - such as spending time with family and celebrating Christmas. I did though manage one walk on Christmas Eve and did take these pictures of some stencil graffiti that I found.

If you are Johan - avert your eye now!

What better way to start the year but with some totally gratuitous shots of my beauties - Feisty och Scaredy. This is for what I believe will be a rocking 2008!

2007 is at its end...

Long live 2008!

Merry Christmas!

In a couple of hours I will get in my rental car and start the drive up north where I will be having a Merry Christmas with family (but no flushing toilet - it's a long story...).

So I will be gone from the blog a while but just wanted to wish you a Merry, White and Grand Christmas where ever you are!

Have a good one!

(Oh, and NO DRINKING AND DRIVING, kids!)

Quick and easy Christmas presents: Ornament Octupuses

What says Christmas more than a tree decorated with some creatures from the sea? Let me intruduce you to Jeremy:

He is maybe not the most cheerful type but he is loyal to his friends.

Jemina:

Now she might not remember your birthdays but boy is she the life of the party!

And Lucy:

She, unfortunately, has gone completely insane due to too many blows to the head during fights...

This is how you make them:

What kind of size hook you need is dependent on what kind of yarn you want to use. That in turn determines the size of the finished octupus (duh). Guage is - in other words - not so important.

Body:

Rnd 1: chain 2, sc 6 in the second st from the hook (6 sts)

Rnd 2: sc 2 in every st (12 sts)

Rnd 3: *sc 1 st, sc 2 in next st* around (18 sts)

Rnd 4-9: sc around (18 sts)

Rnd 10: *sc 1 st, sc2tog* around (12 sts) (Now will be a good time to stuff the octupus)

Rnd 11: *sc2tog* around

Pull yarn through to close and leave a tail long enough to fasten the tentacles with.

Tentacles:

Make 4

ch 8 cut yarn and fasten.

Assembly:

Place the tentacles in a X-shape to the bottom of the octupus (thus forming 8 tentacles) and sew unto the body. I have used beads for the eyes and emroidery floss for the mouth.

Now go decorate that tree!

Climate change

Yes, I, too, have heard about global warming and the changes to the climate it has brought about but imagine my surprise when, as I was tending to my plants, I came across this little fella!

Not only was the season wrong but, surely, Sweden is not the right habitat for such a species?

Puzzled I watched as the diminutive creature first came closer as if to check me out and then, after he had deemed me harmless, started to play in the nearest flowerpot.

Mesmerized I observed his careless play and just as I had recovered from the chock of seeing him there I realised he wasn't alone! Another, equally out of place, friend had joined him in taking up residence in the same flowerpot - seemingly just as happy as if she really belonged there.

I didn't know what to do! Could they stay where they were? They seemed quite content eventhough there were dangers.

But would they be safer if they were sent away? And as I looked into their warm green eyes and smiling faces I just knew - they were here to stay...