In Finland

Here I am, and have done shopping already. I bought some Nalle and Seitsemän Veljestä yarn.
I finished the batwing shawl in the plane, and made a bracelet with beads. I have alse bought two magazines, Kauneimmat Käsityöt and Moda.

There is one cute purse in Moda magazine, I might even make it one day.

Here is the shawl, which I made for my SIL; there is also a bracelet on top of the shawl (grey and black shades). I have my own little room, in the attic.

Well, I was brave and reduced the size to show the bracelet. It is supposed to be grey with black but in my eyes there seems to be awful lot of green. Oh, well, my eyes are green, so maybe there is some reflection.

Oh, and here is a new and improved picture of the black to grey to white shade shawl, which should go well with the bracelet, or vice versa.

I have to go now lunch is ready.

On my way

Going to Finland in a few hours.

I decided to let my sister have the batwing shawl, if she hints at least once that she likes it.

I started another one, with different color, and though of giving that one to her, but then decided that I want to give one to my brother's wife. This one is made of shades of old rose. The picture shows the start of a beautiful thing.

I don't know about anyone else here in Toronto today, but I feel humidity covering my entire being. Everything is sticky. Even the mouse I am using. This is insane. It's supposed to be nice and sunny and dry. That's what I want.

I'll be back in September.

Something gets done

I finished a baby blanket that I started last year. It only needed one end and one side to have the finishing row. I have a picture of it, not blocked, but it's ok. The size is 28 x 36 inches.
The yarn is some baby stuff.

Then...ahem, I started a batwing shawl on Monday, and I finished it tonight. Clap, Clap, Clap.

One thing is almost certain, the batwing shawl will not come back with me. I am sure my sister will hide it from me, when I am ready to leave for home.

I still need to make a few little gifts for my family members, but I still have time, like tomorrow night and Friday night. On Saturday I will be busy packing and on Sunday I will be leaving.
Hubby is going to be all alone...oops, with the cat, for two weeks.

Doll talk

I have been thinking of dolls all day. Well, not all day, but once in the while. I was looking at the pictures of the dolls from years ago and found the picture of this tall one. I have no idea where it is. Did I give it to someone, or is it somewhere in a box? I vaguely remember giving it to someone, as a gift, over 10 years ago.

Here is another doll that I really like. I call it "green doll". I made it for my mom, and when she passed my father kept it, and now that he is gone, my sister has it. I am going to Finland for two weeks, and see if the doll comes back with me. Only if my sister insists on giving it back to me.

Piggy Tails

Do you know how hard it is to put toddler's hair on piggy tails?

I did part of the hair, most of it is still behind her head. I just wanted to try.

It's another Saturday afternoon with Dora...er, our granddaughter. She is watching Dora DVDs. I am starting to say, in my dreams: "oh, maaan" and "we did it"!

There is one part at a gate, when GD wants to see it "again" and "again" until we invent some other points of interst. She just wants to see the gate open. At least she says "again, please" . I have seen the gate open at least 50 times. This is what grandparents do, they obye the grandkids.

I went to our crochet guild meeting this morning, and had a great time. Sherri had her stash sale, and I bought some apple green cotton yarn, and some cotton thread. Although, I could swear one of the threads was linen. I don't know how to test it.

Phone usage from Radisson Hotel

I received my phone bill yesterday. As many of you I went to the CGOA Chain Link Knit and Crochet show, in King of Prussia, PA. I stayed at Radisson Hotel by Valley Forge Convention center.

I called my hubby, in Canada, used my CALLING CARD. Of course, first I dialed 9, and then I had to put the calling card number.

Guess what, I was charged $13.00 per minute (Canadian $), by the hotel, even though I had not used their services. The total charges for 45 minute calls was almost $200 plus tax. We called our phone company, and they told us that this is what the hotels do. They charge their own fees, even if the customer uses their own methods of calls, as in Calling Card, where the charges go directly to your own phone bill. All the calls were also marked as "collect". I don't think this is legal.

Ok, now another thing:

Blogger will not post my pictures. I tried last night and today. Still nothing.
I have tried since, what, the other day, when I was talking about my cat.

So, today is Thursday, and no pictures.

I joined a Crochet Along (CAL) in one group. It's a tote bag. Instead of using hemp, I am using
"Real Jean" cotton yarn. It's apparently discontinued or hard to find, but when Lewiscraft (craft store) was still alive, Maggie and I went to one of them stores in the West end of the city. The store had a back wall full of bins with discounted stuff. In one bin there were several skeins of "Real Jean" cotton. Thanks to Maggie, she was showing the yarn to me. I had not noticed.

BTW, Maggie has pink toe nails, hahaha.

Back to my bag. Poet I'm not, but with my wit I'll get shot.

So, I am crocheting away with the very dark RJ yarn and I am getting a nice shade of blue on my forefinger. I cannot wait to wash the bag...If I ever get it done...I am not going to worry about the color running, I want it to happen, otherwise it's not going to be a real jeans type bag.

I am still angry with the phone thing. I think I go for a walk, or buy some chocolate.

Cat Talk

Have you ever experienced the ice cream and cat phenomena?

Your cat is sleeping in the furthest corner of your home; in a place you don't even know exists.

You just know that there is a secret place for a cat to sleep. Ah, the cat is sleeping. You want some ice cream, and you open the freezer and take the ice cream bucket out and ever so carefully place it on the counter. So far so good. Then you proceed to take a dish for the ice cream and scoop the said mush into the dish. Still no sign of the cat.

This ice cream is a night time treat for yourself, while you work at your computer. I know you are not supposed to eat by your computer. I do, sue me. So, if some of the keys get stuck, you fix the problem. Either open the dang keyboard, or use one of those aerosol blow thingies, or call your better half who knows how to fix things. In my case I complain that one of the keys is stuck, and then I look, I can make it happen, very ignorant and let the hubby sigh deeply and come and take the keyboard and fix it. There.

So, I was scooping the ice cream into the bowl. I carefully placed the bucket back in the freezer. Then I turned to start walking towards my computer. Did you notice how I changed the pronoun for this story. First it was you, and now it's me.

I take two steps and almost trip on something on the floor: The Cat. Where the heck did he come from now? How did he hear me? I was so quiet, even the neighbors didn't hear me.

I am cleverly ignoring the cat, who is now positioned right at my feet, staring at me eating the ice cream, which I don't enjoy at all, by now, but just giving the cat hard time, I eat very slowly, so that the ice cream is melting in the bowl, before I come to the end of it. The cat, now impatiently starts moving around, changing his position, and pretending to sleep, although I can see his left eye slightly open and staring directly at me.

How does he know that I have two more spoonfuls to eat? He is already getting up and coming pretty close to my legs, and now telling me to hurry up. Instead of ignoring him, I look at his big eyes, so innocently staring at me, that I have to put the dish on the floor so he could lick the remains of the ice cream. He thanks me loudly, or is it, "it's about time", and starts licking, and then walks away and disappears.

If anyone has any tricks how to get the ice cream, eat it, without the cat knowing about it, please let me know. I will not close the door to his hiding place, because that would be cruel, and then I would not know if he hears me or not.

Cable stitches

My friend Sherri started making this cardigan.

She made some of the cable pattern yesterday, but I was busy with our granddaughter, so my knitting was left for today. I think I have done up to 17th row on the cable pattern.
I must admit, I am not going to make the cardigan, I am making the cabled strips and join them with something else. The cardigan would look better on Sherri anyway.

I bought the newest issue of Vogue Knitting and have been dreaming of how to make more time to be able to finish the projects I am working on now, and then start on the projects on that magazine.

Saturday in the playpark

Our granddaughter came for a visit, and we went to the playpark. She had lots of fun and didn't want to leave, but the sun was burning her skin, so we left, and started watching Dora the Explorer.





I also took a picture of the Saturday Sky.

Our cat, Oliver wanted to pose for a picture also, so here he is standing, and waiting for treats.

Knit & Crochet show in NH 2007?

Oh, I want it to be true. I checked the directions from here to Manchester, and it's only an 8 hour trip. That is definitely doable. Wow, I would be more than happy about that.

On the local news, or national, which ever way one wants to take it. Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss have published a new book "new ideas for today's crochet", and guess what, I have my necklace in that book, on pages 126 and 127. I have decided to have a double shot of coffee to celebrate.

I need to start planning for the trip to Manchester. Maybe I will drive there, maybe not. If I have no other choices to fly than with Air Canada, then I will drive.

Actually, driving there excites me, unless the gasoline goes up a lot more by then (July, 2007).
Everything will be higher in prices then, so that has to be taken into consideration.

Doll number two

The Doll for my nephew's little girl is now done. She will be shipped, if not tomorrow, then on Wednesday.

I think I will do something else for the rest of this week. There is a baby doll to stuff, and finish off, and that will be it for now.

Doll for my nephew's daughter

I could not wait longer, I had to post a picture of the new doll which does not has a face yet.
That will be yet another doll picture. I should name my blog reflecting dolls. Nah, I do other things, too. Right now I am on a doll kick. The skin color is off quite a bit. But my skills with the photoshop are still on the simmering stage. At least I know how to crop, so the picture doesn't have all the extra mess around it, only a little bit. You see, when I am ready to take a picture,
I just take it, without planning the set-up. In this case I did put the needles on the doll's hands, but just to keep them from flying outside as wings. Don't ask.

I was going to make a little jacket for the doll, but the word bolero keeps haunting me, and I don't have a pattern for that neither. Do I have to create a little doll bolero now? Sheeesshhh.
Or a shawl.

You should see what else I found in those boxes. UFOs...unfinished objects. Objects, indeed, because some of them made no sense. Most of them did, though. I must have planned to make an octopus at one time, because I found a head, actually three, but one set of legs in black, and one finished leg in green. Must have been an alien octopus. Three heads, seven legs, hahah. Ok, so three different color creatures, sounds better.

I know I have a box full of doll parts, in one of my closets. If I am in a doll kick now, NOW would be the right time to dig them up and FINISH them off. But that would not be logical, would it?

I was reading Janet's blog this morning, and she's telling about her mountain in the hallway, and if anyone would like to visit her and stay over, they should bring mountain climbing gears. Well, that sort of goes in this place, also. I think Janet and I should get together. Hey, we could meet in Kansas!

I think I will put the boxes in the hallway, in the orderly fashion as in staircase. I have such bright ideas sometimes.

Nothing exciting has happened in the last week, other than I started another doll for my nephew's little girl. I even tried to write the pattern down as I was making it. I tell yas, it's a slow process. Even with just writing k1, k2 takes away from the needles.
I have the doll made minus the face. Right now working on a little dress/pant. I am just too lazy to make underpants and then a dress. This dress looking pants are fine. After that I will make a little jacket, and then the face. I should be done...the operative word here is "should", by Monday.

I have spent most of today organizing different yarns. Hubby and I went to get some boxes from the locker room, five to be exact. It was time consuming, but fun work. Why didn't I sort the yarns when I was putting them in those boxes, I will never understand. Never is such a definite word, I think I understand now, I was in a great big hurry when I was clearing the extra bedroom which I needed for our guests a few years ago. So, you can imagine that the yarn in the boxes isn't from this year or last year. I even found a receipt from a yarn store that was dated in 1998. Oh, and then there were some yarns from waaaaaaaaay back when I did my first afghan, and that was in the 70's. I did my next one just a few years ago. I'm not really an afghan maker. I will make one, if I have to, but out of mere pleasure, no.

I can only imagine what is in the 30 other boxes that are in the locker room. I don't think I need to buy any new yarn ever again. What a neat idea.