The last of June

We are halfway through summer and it has become hot and real summer weather instead of rain, although I remember it rained a lot in summers when I was younger so I wonder what weather constitutes for real summer weather... Anyway I loved the rain. The sound of rain on our tent or cabin ceiling, it was so cozy. hot tea with grandma and doing general indoor things like games and drawing. I enjoyed those summers a lot. I know I liked the sun as well, because at least I wasn't cold, sunbathing in my sleeping bag in the grass, bathing in the water with my cousins... Summers were good.

But anyway I like rain, I like it when it rains in the summer, but I also like the sun in the summer and I won't complain about either even if lack of sun suits my skin better.

I have a finish! Another bunting, and in the season of finishing things before I can start something new I can now start something new. I have started to make a Maybelle flower square.

No idea where I want to hang this one yet though but sometimes it is nice to just make something for the sake of making. And these bunting really feels like some sort of meditative craft.

Maybelle square number one

It will be in my lovely cotton yarn from Søstrene Grene, and I will simply just make as many as I have yarn for, because Søstrene Grene never has the same colours for long so I can't buy any more. Although I could possibly buy some more in other colours.... Hmm, temptations, temptations. 

This will be some sort of blanket or pillow in the end, we will see how many squares I can manage before I start something new...

I ripped up the border on this blanket that I made all the way back in 2012 because the border was all ripply where it should have been stripy. So I got these neat little balls and I am trying again to make a good border. Good enough that I feel I can give this baby blanket away to someone because that is a lot better than just keeping it in my closet and feeling unsatisfied by it's looks.

I like how it is going and can't fathom why it took me three years to just get on with it. Especially now that it only took me two nights to finish... Tsk tsk. Oh, well, it is finished now, all but the ends woven in, but I will do that next I promise. No more three years in a closet for this blanket. Hopefully it will be rehomed soon.

My backside of the secret project is getting on. I still like the pattern and I can't wait for it to be finished. I am now contemplating making a matching vest for boyfriend or something.... I am full of ideas.

Speaking of being full of ideas, my friend and I started our second children's book together today. This one I feel has more potential, but even if nothing comes of it and we never finish it, (like our first book)  I had lots of fun.

We had lunch and stitched and I finished my baby blanket for its second time and just generally had a blast. I enjoy these sessions of social craftiness, if anyone wants to join me someday just let me know;)

Since I am decluttering as best I can I let her look through my old cross stitch magazines and take some designs she might want to stitch one day. I have even removed another bag of clothing to give away to Good Will or something, but there is still lots more I can let go, so I will try to do that this year.

Mimle says hi, since we had company over Valmin hid in his HOL most of the day so Mimle got all the attention, and treats, I think she had a great day.

Tadah buntings finally

My 400th post is fast approaching and when it has arrived I will do another giveaway I think, this year I will also celebrate my five year blogiversary which calls for a second giveaway.

Other than that I have made some decorations this year which I never fully showed you. I did finally iron and pegged them up, just in time for boyfriends birthday. I finished half an hour before the guest arrived;)

Here is the whole nook, can you tell which decorations I am talking about?

Yes, it is the bunting from way back in march, finally completely finished.

Here is where I found the pattern, I did some customizing, like adding four centimeters at each end two times to be able to tie the bunting down, which I ended up not using here, but you can see it below.

Here is the second bunting I made in sort of a gradating color scheme, this is above the bookcases in our TV- nook and I really like looking at it. I would have loved not to have to look at all of boyfriends DVD's at the same time though, looks far too busy... But we are still contemplating how best to utilize that space whilst still having the DVD's on hand.

This is the last batch for now. Four colours, light pink, dusty purple, pistachio green and baby blue. I am thinking of making three of each colour and crocheting them together as the others. The garlands make me feel instantly happy and joyful and sometimes it is nice to have something easy in-between the larger and more complicated projects.

Speaking of complicating projects, this man spent six years making this great blanket. I love video games too, and I know boyfriend would have loved a minecraft version of this blanket. I know that too big projects tend to take forever and minecraft and other games usually have a colour scheme that I find off-putting, so I think if I were to make something like that for someone it would have to be a lot smaller or more my kind of colours;) 

I made boyfriend this small Star Trek amigurumi decorations in 2013 and it was hard to keep it a secret, I had to make it at night when he was sleeping. I can't imagine making something that would take years and being able to hide it from him. It would have had to not be a secret then I think.

Monday mesh

Mum and I bought this flower last time we were at a thrift shop, since my hands are more pink than green we thought some fake flowers would liven the apartment a bit up. The pot was brown and clashed with everything we owned. So I crochet a cover in a sort of mesh like pattern and boyfriend agrees that it looks a lot more at home now. 

The whole thing only took me a couple of hours and I used Safran from drops in a muted white tone. I am contemplating making a couple of crochet flowers because there is a flower missing from it. Maybe in white or a more light pink? We will see. 

At the moment the dress is still going strong and my goal is to finish the skein of yarn by the end of the week.

Take a bow

Yay! 

I am halfway! I have finished the front, it needs stretching because even if it is 82 cm I still think that is a bit on the skimpish side and a little bit longer will look better on me I think, (after all I am taller than most japanese women), but we will see when the whole thing is finished. I may just have to make the straps a bit longer to fit. 

There is also going to be a little border around the bottom in the end, so I might not need any extra cm to make me feel more comfortable. We will see.

Oh, and I have made a cute little bow, I am going to make a couple more I think. Just in case.

Boyfriend is not sure about it. but he doesn't have all that much saying power. Mimle and Valmin like it so there is three against one. He might just have to gracefully bow down and take his defeat like a man.

After my little break when the front was finished and I faffed a bit with other things, I started on the back. I hope this will go rather quick now that I know how the pattern goes. ;) I must say I adore the colour on both the pink and purple and they go rather well together as well.

Because I have been a good girl this week and checked off a lot of my boxes on my to-do-list I got to buy the newest Norwegian crochet magazine. If I don't fail in my crochet clothing endeavor I might want to make a top or two from this magazine, as well as a shorts or skirt,  (some more skirts ) from Drops and Ravelry.

We ate tacos today which is always a treat because the bunnies get lots of salad and rocket which only I and the bunnies like so we try to scarf down as much as possible in one sitting...

Mimle's eye seems to be in order, although I have no idea how it looks on the inside of that tear canal. I wonder if it needs to be flushed if it is clogged.... Maybe I need to call the vet on Monday to hear what they have to say about that.

Thank you for the enquiries about Mimle and the crossing of paws we appreciate it a lot. There is nothing worse than a sick loved one.

*Bows humbly japanese style*

My baby worries me

First Act:

Bunnies were at the vet's yesterday and all was well was the verdict after much prodding and two vets looking intently at both bunnies teeth. They both have some spurs so we need to have that in mind for later. Mimle had lost a little weight, which is good since she is a bit pudgy, I blame all the running and jumping on and off of the sofa, and Valmin had gained a bit more. He now has lots of muscles and a fine thick coat. when we came home we noticed Mimle had a wet eye. I thought she had just had some hair in it and waited. Some hours later the first milky white gunk appeared. I looked at her eye, but found no irritants, so I just wiped her with a damp cloth and went to bed. She seemed happy with floppes, licks, treat begging and hay eating so I did not worry.

This morning boyfriend woke me (and the bunnies) up to tell me the side of her eye was full of gunk. I scooped her up and inspected her again. No redness, no hair, but still lots of gunk. I cleaned her and she hated me a little. So I sat on the floor to observe. I got some licks lucky me, but after I tried to inspect a little more vigorously she became skittish and ran and hid. So now we are waiting for the appointment at the vets and boyfriend is off to procure a car. Bunnies are both in the HOL eating hay. I so hope it is just a bacterial infection or something, like us being the overprotective bunny parents we are rather than an tooth-abcess. Both her cheeks seem to be the same size and normal, but I am not a vet. So please cross your paws, thank you.

Second Act:

So my baby girl has some irritants or something in her tear duct. The yellow fluid on her eye were placed there by the vet to see if her eye were hurt, which thankfully it was not. Since none of the fluid came out of her nose the vet thinks that her tear duct is clotted or something. She said to flush with saline water for a few days since Mimle is still flopping and eating.

But if it doesn't get better to come in over the weekend... This is going to be a long weekend.

Even if she is doing the things she normally does I can tell she feels a bit off. I even got some licks yesterday so I know she feels bad. But as I said, she eats, poops, begs for treats and cuddles so I think she will be alright in the end and her tear duct will hopefully heal soon. I haven't seen any gunk which might just mean she takes care of it herself, but I'll wash her eye anyway.

Valmin is a good nurse and kisses Mimle.

Redesigning and rethinking pink

I have started the journey to redesign this ottoman like thing. And boy there were lots of nails on this. So many in fact, that when I removed the covers and nails I feared for the structure of the wood when I put some new fabric on it so I guess I need to go to a hardware store to get a new top. Was planning on using this not just for storage but for guest to sit on so it needs to both look good and not cave in when sat upon.

Bunnies got some dried dandelion from grandma's house. And so far I like how it was dried, I simply took a box and filled with newspapers and placed the dandelion on it and voila, a week later and the bunnies are having a feast.

So far my superscecret dress is on the third ball of yarn, here I am just finishing up the front and am about to start on the bust, so I think I will have plenty of time to finish this. 

I think the color of this is more accurate in the first picture and the second is somehow upside down.

It measures 54 cm high but there are more than the 60 rows that the pattern states, but I think the cm is more important in this piece.

I haven't done anymore on the knitted garment yet because I want to finish one half of the dress first.

My new regime seams to be working, at least temporarily, the gel makes my face seem pale during the day and by night the effect has worn off and I look all red again, so I hope the tablets give me a more lasting effect. I love pink, just not on my face, I am a bit worried that I can't wear pink anymore because it makes my face look even more pink. I guess my love of rosa made me all rosacea. (yes, the bad joke most joked about in our household these days)

Making a dent

Well, so my dermatologist confirmed what we all thought. And I have a new strict regime of medicine, creams, skin care and diet. No sun, which is bad news for my vitamin D insufficiency... But I'll manage, hopefully I'll look and feel better soon. Or at least within four months when when I am done with the medicines for now.

Here is a picture of the finished shawl that still after blocking, ironing and fussing with  still won't lay flat, but I like the border it got. And you know I made this in the hopes of stash busting that light pink yarn, I ended up buying two skeins of the multi-coloured one (and using up both) but did not make a dent in the intended light pink yarn... Oh well, so much for stash busting, at least in the end I did not end up with more yarn just a finished item.

(Same picture as last time because it sort of still looks the same ten centimeters on)

Oh, and my secret dress ( I have never made a big garment before that needs to fit so it is a good thing I started to make one now for a special occasion with a lot riding on looking good. :P /sarcasm) is now 40 cm long, and is, according to the pattern done, but since the yarn is not that stretchy I am making it a bit longer before I start on the bust and back.

The jacket I am knitting is still on the backside, but I think I'll finish that soon and then we will see if I understand the rest of the pattern, in the series of a first of everything.

Valmin is a blur these days as he is always out and about doing important bunny things. And for some reason, he wants to dig on one particular part of our living room floor. Too bad it is hardwood and he is not making a dent in it. And I just trimmed his nails so he doesn't have much digging tools anymore anyway, but he still keeps busy.

Speaking of tools. we finally went through dad's old tools. we kept some and handed some over to my cousin the carpenter as a way of paying for all his help with our move and stuff. 

(I have a picture on boyfriends phone, but he is asleep, which I should be too, so you'll have to wait for tomorrow.)

This is all the stuff he got, we kept one large box and two boxes will be sent to recycling.

Mimle is also busy these days. busy using her ears, and if I move the slightest she is by my feet or in my lap looking for a treat. I have no idea why she does this because she does not get treats more than 4/10 times she does that. But maybe she is just bad at math. Or she is trying to make a dent in my resolve to not give treats more than I am giving treats. Or she just hopes I am bad at math. Which I am.

anyway, I am off to bed, wish me luck with actually getting to sleep as my nose feels like someone filled it with cotton and I can't seem to use it much these days...