Rainy Day

It was deadly quiet and still this morning, and then the thunder came. There was no wind, no rain, the sky was grey in the north and orangeish, yellowish, and grayish in the east. (I love creating new words). The leaves in the tree were so still that I thought the tree was a statue, not a living creature.

Then the rain came. It came with an army of rainbullets, pounding the poor tree leaves, pounding anything that was in its way. I remembered that I had to take a shower and get ready for work.

I have been thinking of my designing career. For some reason I have never thought of myself as
a designer. I have just made things. Either from patterns or from my imagination. Either way,
designing isn't the word I would use for my work. I would use creating stuff. I give all designers credit for their hard work and beautiful ideas; I just don't think that I should be included in that group, since I don't work hard to make patterns, I don't make things so that other people could copy. I just create things as my mood allows to create. The technicality of pattern writing isn't something that will sit well in the filing system of my brain. Just give me a hook, or needles, piece of yarn or thread, and tell me to start from a dot, and I'll do it. Just don't tell me what I MUST make, because that will turn my interest around. Unless, of course I myself decide to make something specific, like a gift for someone. Christmas is coming and my pattern books are out. TSK TSK.

Said that, I am truly fascinated on work that other people design/create and this is how my interest stays alive for the knitting and crocheting art.

Idle chat again

I am staring at a plastic container on my desk. There are several green and red jelly beans.
I had put some of the jelly beans already in the front desk candy bowl. You see, I quite often go and visit the receptionist, or should I say, the candy bowl. I left some in the container for my desk, so I don't have to get up and walk to the front. I feel extremely lazy today.

Oh, yes, the dress from our granddaughter was a perfect fit, and she looked amazing in it. I mean, she looks amazing anyway, but this time it was the dress too.

If there are any knitters or hookers reading this, I would like to have your honest opinion (I know a few answers already) of what happens when you buy a magazine or a book with a specific pattern that you want to make. If you don't start immediately but have already bought
several magazines since then, do you go back to the one you liked first, or do you think something better might appear in the next batch of magazines? Or, do you create your own pattern and use ideas from any old/new magazines?

I bought silk yarn in Argentina, two years ago, and started drooling over it yesterday. First I decided to make my own pattern, then I checked a few magazines, and now I want to combine one pattern from Berroco, and some from my magazines, and the rest depends on how the yarn will cooperate.

This is so hard, this planning phase, don't you agree?

Here is the silk yarn. It's a little bit heavy, so I have to be careful
what I am going to make.

You may check in a year or two to see, if I made anything at all.

Dress Done

Finished the dress for our granddaughter. I hope it's the right size.

I just hope to get a picture of her wearing the dress.

It's 1 a.m so good night all.

Day of leisure

I am on vacation today. Back to work tomorrow.

Hubby and I went first to Michaels, and went aisle by aisle, and bought tons of craft stuff. He has a photo design business, and his head is spinning with ideas. I love to see that, because then I get to go to Michaels and really browse, with no rush. I like it, until we hit the cash register. OUCH.

Then we went for lunch, to Harveys hamburgers. I have not had those for eons, and I had mine with everything by mayo and hot peppers, oh, and I also had onion rings, instead of French Fries. I truly enjoyed my lunch. Hubby had a grilled chicken sandwich....with mayo and tomato.
plus fries.

From Harveys we went to Rona building supplies, and finally from there we were heading towards home.

There is a park in the valley near home and sometimes, like today, we go and get a coffee from a drive-in coffee place, drive to the park and have the coffee there. Well, today we also took pictures of the budding fall colors. The colors are not very bright yet, only somewhat muted, but I liked them regardless.

Friday Sky and more ramblings

I might not remember to take a picture of the Saturday sky, so I took one today. It is Friday, isn't it? My day is very confusing, I am living on Saturday, or occasionally Thursday, but not Friday. I decided to take a picture of the sky, to make me live for today.




This picture is of the dress in process for our granddaughter.



A friend of my sister's invited us for breakfast one morning, while I was in Finland. Yeah, I would not go, if I was here, at home.

Anyway, the friend had the chocolate mousse cake, covered with cream puffs, and pineapple fruit yummies, as well as grapes from a nearby store. She had sprinkled sugar on top of them and my sister laugher that they were moldy, hahah. The mini tomatoes were also fresh from the garden. Nice breakfast, indeed. Oh, she also had cheese, buns, and coffee.

Idle rambling

These are shopping carts in a shopping center, somewhere near Helsinki. They look so beautiful, lined up like that. Can you imagine if your kid wants the green one from the middle. Heheh.

I have been lacking any inspiration lately. I go to work, come home, stare at my many WIPs and get nothing done. I did watch Grey's Anatomy and CSI new episodes last night. Oh, and the other night I watched Bones, Criminal Minds and CSI NY. Now, if I could last until next Tuesday, Gilmore Girls are supposed to begin a new season. Not bad for someone who doesn't watch TV too much.

WIP in my knitting basket is a dress for our granddaughter. She's going to be 2 years next week. I am working on the second sleeve. Then to finish the front and back bodice. The back bodice is almost done. I have also been working on some earrings and bracelets. But the dress is now number one project. I hope to finish it today. I also have a paisley portrait to finish by my friend's birthday, which is tomorrow. The portrait is a paisley group project and the deadline is tomorrow. I am off work today, since I still have quite a few vacation days left, and have to use them before this year ends. I have no plans to go anywhere for two weeks. I kind of like taking a long weekend here and there. I am off on Monday, too. This is so relaxing, don't you think.

My home is a mess, but this is a vacation day, so no house cleaning today. Of course, when I get tired of knitting or crocheting, I will tidy up a little bit. Woohooo, like laundry. Get real, woman! I just felt shivers going thru my body, thinking of housework. ICK.

Here is my niece's cat. Isn't she beautiful. My niece has three cats, but I only got a nice picture of this one, the other two were curved up into a ball, and I didn't really feel like taking pictures of furballs, well I did, but they will stay in my files. This cat wanted to show off and was walking around me as if to tell me to take more pictures.

Back to knitting.

About to go home

We (my sis and I) are leaving early in the morning. It is time for me to go back home. My sister is driving me (nuts)...er... to Helsinki to my brother's place, and then he will take care of me until I go to the airport.

I had promised myself not to buy too much yarn, but promises are supposed to be broken, I believe. Well, I did. I bought tons of Novita Colori crochet thread, number 800. If you go and see the yarns, mine is towards the end of the page. I did buy some sock yarn, too. Not going to make socks, mind you, but thought that I might change my mind, after all, my promises seem to be just promises.

This one is my sister's dog, Wilma, who is waiting for me to go and throw the ball for her. She will bring the ball back, but it's a game to get the ball from her mouth.

They also have a cat, Julia, who does nothing else but sleep, eat and play with my yarn. My own cat doesn't play with my yarns, and when this Julia lady jumped on my lap, the first time, I thought that the cat was weird. Then I realized that she was not interested in my caressings, scratching her neck rituals, but just my yarn, sheeesshh. Just a normal cat. My own cat is abnormal then?

The cat picture was taken from upstairs. Julia's castle is at the bottom of the stairs. She did not care to pose for the picture, so this one is the best of my attempts. Sure, right after, when my camera was not ready, she came leisurely to see if there was any food for her, and then she disappeared.



I was not going to post more pictures, but this picture of Julia is so cute, I couldn't resist.

Second week in Finland

The morning was not too exciting. We had breakfast and lunch and worked on a crossword puzzle at home. YEAAA. Then, finally, we decided to go for a ride, towards a nearby seashore area, which is about an hour and some drive. First stop was in a small town, where we had a coffee and danish in a quaint little restaurant by the water. Of course we took some pictures. Here we are on the patio of the restaurant.

We went for shopping in one of the discount stores. I bought two balls of sock yarn, a tee shirt, and candies. I wanted to go to the center of that town, because I was there some 12 years ago, and I remembered that there was a beautiful yarn store. It was a red brick building, on a small "hill". There was no such building, no such hills. We drove thru the town three times, and no yarn store. Needless to say, I was miffed.

From there we headed towards my sister's family cottage by the sea. The water was calm, the sun was hiding, hence the pictures turned a bit
glum (sp?). Nevertheless, we enjoyed our little trip to the cottage. We sat inside, had some typical Finnish "donuts" (no hole) called "possu" (piggy), and red lemonade. We pretended to be kids at a summer camp.

From the cottage we headed towards another town, where we were supposed to find a clothing store, with beautiful and unusual garments. We ended up asking directions at a gas station.
I forgot to tell you that we were in the Swedish speaking area, and my Swedish has long gone. I do remember a few words, but not enough to ask where a particular store is. The poor girl didn't speak too much Finnish, and I asked if she wanted to talk English, but she ignored me, which made me think that she didn't speak that language.

We did not find the store, and the closing time for stores was near, so we decided to go back home.

I am not too disappointed about our shopping of today, because tomorrow we go to Keskinen, which is a large shopping place. We are not planning any shopping, it's a therapy trip for my sister, her friend and myself. Of course, if we find something that jumps into the shopping cart, we might consider accepting some items to come back home with us. In my case some extremely yummy cotton thread, which I am going to use for Irish Crochet. I already bought two skeins of it, but now want more. Sheesh.

Another thing, please forgive me if there are any typos that I didn't catch. this keyboard is weird (i before e, except after c.....weird????), and there are some fonts that truly interfere my excellent spelling skills (as if...)
This computer reads Finnish, and does not want to do the spell check in English, or I am too lazy (tired) to figure out how.

more country

Here some other pictures I took.
I took that bicycle and went grocery shopping. My sister's car is diesel, and there are too many tricks to use that sort of car, so I chose the two-wheeler.


Other pictures are of the farmhouse porch, and that little red house is nearby my sister's home. There are lots of mini houses around here; for one reason or for another. I think that one is for storing sand for the winter. Need I ask?

Greetings from Finland

Here are some pictures I took today, on the way to a farm, to buy home-made cheese. You cannot imagine how good it is. I tell you, it's delishhhhh!!!

I have other pictures, too, but now I am needed in the kitchen. I promised to make a special salad for dinner.

Later.

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.