Easter and such

These past few days we have been busy cleaning and tidying the house, it is amazing how much clutter can accumulate in such a short while, but we were not too busy to bake a cake. (from a bag though) But it was delicious.

*

I still have March books to write about, but we will do those when we come back from our trip. My heart is all aflutter and I am not too sure I will get to sleep at all. Mister M and I have been playing a lot of board games this Easter. I am not a sore loser at all... Although Mister M might not agree. The Easter bunny gave us quite a haul this year, I even got teeny tiny yarn, candy, and some hand lotion. I am sure my bunnies had something to do with that after all they must know the easter bunny?

Someone wants to go too! 

Mister M and I are going on a trip as I said, to see a concert, but our trusty bunny sitter will be here and hopefully give lots of attention and treats to my trolls, Mimle might not think she will get enough treats, but then again she always thinks that...

Also, my knitting adventure continues, I made a baby bib from some leftover yarn from the yarn I used to make the baby blanket baby shower gift, I found the pattern on Vibbedille's blog, (norwegian only) and I gave it a go. It was not too hard, but I still struggled a little since I am new to the whole understanding a pattern in knitting thing....

Happy Easter

I made a egg-cozy bunny for Mister M, he loved it. The bunny light things were a gift and I love them, you can never have too many rabbit things in my opinion.

Another Friday, another year

Usually January means I show off some gifts made for Christmas and perhaps some of my own presents, but this year I was very late with the presents partly since I was sick and partly because I am me and I don't make anything easy on myself so I kept adding things and making things not on the list... So there are still about five things on my list to make and I need to get cracking so before I can show off what I am making I need to finish the presents and give them away.

But I did make ten of these little doilies for aunts and mothers, but I still haven't made one for myself...

My mother got three turned into a nice table runner and that is what I am aiming for to make for me. This year as well will be more finishing things and making more things for me, I don't think I finished anything I was making for me last year... Except the sewn skirt my sister-in-law helped me to sew. 

So business as usual then.

I had parties and were with friends and family as one usually does during the holidays, December is my favourite month of the year, there is so much to do sadly is also the saddest month of all, because your anticipations are never completely fulfilled and I get lonely. But that is also business as usual.

I had my grand father's old chair reupholstered.

I have seen lots of TV, (Gilmore Girls, Enterprise, Full House/Fuller house, all the Advent calendars and most of the Christmas movies, husband agrees next year we start Christmas in November) read some books, more on that at a later time and these little trolls have grown fat, well, the one on the right have. Too much Christmas three I think, but the bunnies are happy and if they are happy I can be happy too.

I have some finished I can show though since it is Finished Friday and all. I made my two favourite younger female cousins matching scarfs, my friend *Kio and I designed them and they might be up later at gachastitches.

Valmin for comparison, 

please ignore the stray poo, he forgot to eat it.

Also another friend is having a baby so I am busy crocheting a baby blanket. Babies can never have too many blankets right?

A-Z challenge Z

Z is for Zen

There have been numerous studies on knitting (and one can assume crochet or cross stitch might get the same results) and the health benefits of that. Mindfulness and Zen is all the rage at the moment in our busy life and crafting seems to be an outlet to lower ones shoulders and relax.

Although I think it might not be so beneficial if you have a deadline or get too frustrated with your project.  

If you would like to read some of the articles I found on the matter I will provide you with some links. 

The Washington Post
British Journal of Occupational Therapy
The New York Times
Lifehack 6 benefits of knitting

And remember, tomorrow is bunday, my giveaway and also I will talk about this months books so please check back, I hope you have enjoyed my A-Z challenge, I have, even if I did write most posts the same day and probably not got health benefits with me stressing about.

I think the meditation-like mode I fall into is very good for me because I am super good at stressing, but I also think one of the reasons I craft is the sense of accomplishment I get when I finishing something and it looks good and I mastered a new technique. And it gives me a creative outlet.  The finished project isn't bad to have either.

Why do you craft? And do you think it helps you to stress down? 

What is your favourite thing about your craft?

Hope to see you tomorrow, now I am off to another z, the zzz kind, good night.

A-Z challenge T

T is for To-Do-List

Which keeps growing and growing the more I patterns I discover so much so that I am not quite sure I will ever be able to do them all! I am sure all crafters can agree!

I have most list in my head, but I sometimes have actual lists too, I am a real list-person.

 Ravelry is a place I have a huge list and the good thing about that place is that it is where the patterns are too so they are easy to find.

So here is this weeks list, next week things may change....

I wonder how many hours this list would take to finish? Some of the cross stitch things are quite big and difficult, Frederick the cat is on black aida and is a real pain, Henry the eight has lots of beads... I think I started those about four years ago...  So those are real wisps.

Some of the crochet things will go by in a breeze if I ever sit down to actually finish them that is, but the knitting might be harder as I am not quite confident at that yet.

I think even with all my stash I don't have enough yarn or fabric to finish all these things, and I think it would take me all year at least to finish the crochet alone... Oh well, it is good to have dreams, and to-do-lists to dream about and faff about.

How long is your To-do-list?

A-Z challenge K

K is for Knitting adventure

I have never been much of a knitter, my mother is a much better crocheter than knitter so it is no mystery that crocheting is something I found a lot easier than knitting but I did want to learn and so about a year ago I started my knitting adventure. I learnt how to make socks, my friend wrote down her pattern and helped me to knit two whole socks and a half (a ufo from my mother) and a whole community on Ravelry cheered me on because we were having a knit-a-long making socks. I made a couple of shawls, which unfortunately were quite curly even with blocking but otherwise they were good.

And then I started making hats for Christmas, I made six hats and three washing cloths. I felt I had a good grip on hats and started on scarfs, I have now made two scarfs in garter stitch and am having so much fun. It was interesting to see the difference a bigger needle made.


But my biggest challenge, my all time knitting adventure has been on hold for a while (because I have no idea of where I am in the pattern after I put it down to concentrate on my wedding dress), it is a jacket! I adore the pattern, another friend of mine made me one moons ago but it is too small so I grudginly gave it away and now I SO want to finish my jacket. Then it is onwards and upwards on my continuing knitting adventure! I want to become an OK knitter, I want to be able to make dresses, baby rompers because there is nothing cuter, scarfs with lace and not just accidental holes, I want to learn cables and make owls and bunnies with little puffy tails.


I want to be able to knit just as naturally as I do crochet. I want to be able to wing it and tweek patterns.

So please join me in my knitting adventure, it has only just begun.

A-Z challenge H

H is for hooks,

Did you know that in Norwegian we call it a crochet needle and knitting stick?

(well sometimes it is called a heklekrok (crochet hook)

 Also in Norwegian there is a saying "Å ha orden i sysakene" which translated means to have order in ones sewing kits, but it is used to mean you have order in anything:
So it can be used at the workplace for someone who is on top of everything and has everything in order.

I wanted to show you I have my sewing kits in order. (in this case my hooks in order)

I have lots of crochet hooks, some are better than others I must confess. I L O V E my pink Tulip hooks, those are the best I ever had to crochet with, the grip is perfect, it weighs just right, the plastic handle is good quality and the hook part works perfectly. Unfortunately I have lost my number 1,5 hook:(

The plain iron hooks in the picture above are the worst I can work with, because they don't have a handle, but I bought them before I knew there existed the handle ones and after I purchased the plastic handle ones I can crochet for hours without hurting!

I have some in bamboo and wood and those are better than the iron ones, but still not perfect, I have a  flat wooden hook which is even better than the round ones. 

The black, green, blue and white plastic handle ones are number two on my list, the coloured ones are not as heavy as my pink ones and therefor are marginally worse to use than my pink ones, the black ones are in between those two regarding usability over time.

I have one glittery hook which is a little bit better to use than the iron ones, but I would not recommend buying one.

My smallest hook is 1,75 in this picture and 6 is the biggest, but I do have even bigger ones, just scroll down.

(let me add that I hold the hook like my mother which is not the right way to hold it, I hold it like this)

Because I hold my hook a bit weird I have not tried the ergonomically correct hooks.

My biggest hooks. Sizes 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. I wonder if there is an 11... I haven't used these yet, so I am not sure how good they are, but the grip seems fine since it has that all important plastic handle.

I have lovely little pouches for my hooks with a darning needle, scissor and in the bigger ones I have measuring tape and place markers.

The odd hooks I have in a small pink pencil case and some with my knitting needles.

Speaking of knitting needles, here are my entire stash of knitting accessories.

And they all live neatly in my dollhouse in a designated box.

Back to normal

Now that Easter is over I can tell you that I did finish my goals, and you might know how I like to make myself goals and some of the time actually finishing them. But I have gotten better at making goals that I can finish so that might be it. I finished my Florida shrug, did a bunch on my knitting adventure, was social, read four books and spent lots of time in the sofa with Mister M and the buns.

But look, it is finished. It weights 111 grams so I did get to use up some of my acrylics that was leftover from my pink granny square blanket.

Pattern here.

Today I also went to my LYS for their opening, the paper was there too. I got some balls of yarn on sale that I wanted to start a shawl with and I wanted to have one with changing colours and shockingly I didn't have any in my stash so it was good the store had some for sale.... (excuses, excuses, I would have found some way to justify any yarn I bought)

I love zombies, this was a picture from a friend of Mister M where we were social this easter you know but I forgot to show you then.

And another reason I sort of had trouble keeping with my one in two out yarn policy: My friend *Kio came by with some leftover yarn for me...  Over 350 grams and with the yarn I got from Mister M for our anniversary and the yarn I bought on sale for the kitties in a row blanket I have so much yarn I can't see that I can make twice as much as I've gotten in this year. Hehe. But I will still try.

Here is my ongoing Knitting Adventure. I L O V E the colour in this, and the price was awesome if you remember, 30 kr for two balls of 100 grams, they are on sale on Panruro now too, 50 kr for one ball of 100 grams of yarn, you can see why we couldn't pass the opportunity when it was presented?

 I still have plenty of yarn before I start the decrease and it is already longer than the orange one, so using a bigger needle really did do the trick, I can't wait to start the next one.

Bunnies are napping as usual.

*

And I have joined the A-Z challenge.

Happy Easter and all

Happy Easter, did the Easter-bunny visit you? 

We got our eggs early, and the Easter bunny left an egg here for my mum too. She even got some of those bunnies I made a few days ago and a book with crochet and knit patterns in Norwegian. Mister M got a Nemi magazine from the Easter-bunny as well as his egg with candy, I only got candy, but I have so much yarn so I am fine^^

 I tried taking pictures of the buns but they were fairly uninterested, but both buns chinned my fake plant so now it belongs to some buns, not me.

I have no idea who chinned it last to be honest, so I don't know who owns it.

We have these adorable bunny eggs, these are the humans and the buns are only borrowing them for props but they were more interested in the fake flower anyway.

We made turkey dinner with mushroom, potatoes and Brussel sprouts yesterday and it was delicious, I even got to use my napkins and Easter Bunny light, although we never lit it because our matches were no where to be found. Oh well.

The other day we were invited to a friends house and ate lamb and today we are going out to another friends house to have pork of some kind, I am looking forward to it. Bunnies get Basil and are thrilled about that too, I am happy they are still easily pleased.

My goal is to finish the Florida Shrug this Easter and I am almost there! Just a couple more repeats before the assembling and edge. I can do it!

I also started another scarf, this one in the same yarn we got on sale but on bigger needles, I think I used 5 last time and 7 now and it is flying of the needles. I think it might turn out longer, but we will see.

I love the colours on this, very emerald with some grey blue patches and some more blue and more green in-between, I think this colour would suit almost anyone, I wonder who I will give it too, or if I should just put it in the Christmas box and see...

Anyway Happy Easter!

I still have lots of Chocolate left!

Today I can't count but does that count?

Hello, says bunny, she likes to get attention and since I have been out today she is a little diva and demanding attention constantly.

But

My scarf/shawl is finished! It measures 1,54 m long and 0,40 m wide and weighs a little under 200 grams. Yay! I started this five weeks ago but since I concentrated on the large blanket this got only a little love. *Kio helped me start it but I remembered how to do the decreases all by myself which is a big step forward with my knitting skills.

Here is the scarf outside our apartment, I used two skeins of Katia Azteca which I got on sale from Panduro. My mother also bought some, I wonder what she will make.

Next time though I think I will make the increases every sixth row instead of four, but here is the pattern anyway if anyone wants to try it... I want to make another, but I need to buy a bigger knitting needle, I need a circular 6 I think...

Waffles is the best!

I mentioned I was out and about, since I have so many finishes I could buy some yarn so I met my friend Evi for coffee, shopping and a trip to the library. And I did do lots of shopping.

Now on my bunny blanket I used 10 balls of yarn and the scarf used 4 so I could buy 14 new balls of yarn for my cat afghan, too bad Nille had a sale... Does this look like 14 balls of yarn? I am blaming my dyscalculia;)  these 24 balls are in cat colours, but I bought some that were just on sale and not cat colours because I had to buy 10 for 100 kr and most of those were not in cat colours. Teehee. (I might be only showing you the cat coloured yarn I bought and not the others, so I might have bought more than 24 balls of yarn)

And I bought a box for my yarn, which Mimle hated and tried to bite through, so much for buying something the bunnies would leave alone. You see I wanted a wicker basket but Evi said that would be eaten up within the week and since I agreed this little box came home instead. But we put it away by the sofa and Mimle hasn't found it yet. Hah. I win.

Some of these colours I am sure will turn into presents, (Some of these I already had)

So: 14 balls of yarn out

and 35 in? 

Oops.... 

Obviously I can't count, (this number may also be wrong) so I better use up some more yarn, because I want to use more than I buy!

 Wait, I have given away 8 balls of yarn too from my stash so that counts right?

So only 22 out and 35 in, better, but still room for improvement I think.

And I have made another pattern repeat on my kitties in a row afghan and some only white shrug.