Bunday and a post

It is bunday again and time for some shots of the little trolls.

Around the internet I have some friends and one of them were saying she wanted to give away some of her stitching things as she had stopped stitching and I kindly volunteered to receive some and in exchange she will get some Norwegian yarn.

Here is the parcel and Valmin would not leave the box unopened and was giving me the look to get it open.

 He even tried jumping on top of it and scratching it open himself, so I took the hint and started opening it, wondering what on earth this little guy was so keen on.

Nose hard at work.

Come on human, open iiiit!

And inside I could see why he was so interested! Some lovely herbs that smelled wonderful, I almost fancied a bite myself.

But look at all that stuff! Some magazine cut outs with bunnies (I had none of those), some patterns, some small freebie kits, and lots of beads and fabric, thread and thread keepers! 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel like stitching again!

*

Other than that, me and *Kio started doing water gymnastics again this week, we attended a book reading at the local pool which was fun, I had forgotten how much I like Roald Dahl, maybe that will be this months reading (which I have not forgotten, I am just a little behind, more on that soon), Mister M and I did some house chores and started cleaning our new (old) grill and we have watched 3/4 Jurassic Park films.

Also since it is bunday, here was a sweet picture of Mimle with Valmins ear protectively over her head, but I disturbed them so I got this picture instead. But they do look adorable nonetheless.

Also I have started the gifts, you might be wondering why there have been so few post with me ranting about gifts yet, but we did buy loads in Japan, and I have finished quite a few already. But in a few days we will be attending my cousins two boy's birthdays so I needed something quick and fun. I am knitting ear warmers to go with their presents, just because I found some reflective yarn on sale!

I am thinking making a few of these, in varying difficulties, but we will see, I have promised to make some more of those bearded beanies this year so I need to start that soon, I am not the fastest knitter...

A Happy Hooker Hooked on Yarn

Remember I started a new cardigan and dress? Then I ran out of yarn on both?! Luckily my LYS had the dark pink for the cardigan but I needed to get into town to buy more of the light pink and so I asked Mister M nicely if he wanted a happy wife and he did. He was going to town anyway to go to the movies. 

It was a bold move because Mister M is not the best with colours, but I gave him the dress for comparison and he came back with the right colour. He was lucky though because for some reason there was only one shade of pink in the shop, last time there was four different pinks so he didn't really have any other colours to choose from.

And I was very lucky since he came home with six balls of yarn and I didn't need that much yarn so now I can make another dress and perhaps a baby blanket although I might need more yarn if I start a blanket;)

I gingerly continued on both the dress and cardigan with a goal to finish within the weekend, but with a girls night out, book reading and housework I didn't finish. But I did have a lot of fun on Saturday with friends and reading on Sunday with Mister M in the rain, and we actually managed to take a small walk between showers.... 

(I haven't finished all the June books yet, I am on the last one so that post will have to wait, and there is no Bunday post since it was all thunder and lightning yesterday so we didn't watch TV or sit on the computer all day, sorry E2 who I know loves bunday posts)

but I finished the dress tonight, and a small baby bonnet by Marumin Crochet.

The colour in this picture is off. I made chains to make the thread at the bottom to use up this scrap of yarn, but I still have a tiny bit left, so I may have to make another bonnet. I used a 4 hook, but I think a 3 would have been better, so I had to stop sooner than the pattern said.

I used Søstrene Grenes bomuldsgarn in cotton. Almost three balls for the dress and bonnet I think, will weigh them later. Next time I want to make the shoulder part open and add buttons for closing so that it will be easier to put on and take off. And I am not too sure about the trebles (US), I think it would look nicer in dc's... I used dc in the scallops both on the shoulder trim and bottom of the dress. I love the pattern though and hope to find someone who can wear it. But it would be a nice baby gift so maybe I will just put it in the box. 

And I am on the last arm on my cardigan so that might be finished soon too. You might be getting sick of all this baby stuff, but I am crocheting other things too, honest, just that those things are Christmas presents so I can't show them off yet... ;)

So toodeloo from a happy hooker who might be a little yarnoholic.

Bunnies are happy too and say hello, they are still molting.

The dress weighs 89 grams and the bonnet 29 grams. So it was after all good that Mister M came home with six balls of yarn and not just two as requested.

I will calculate my in and out yarn input sometime later this week, so stay tuned, have I managed to use up any yarn? Or is my running out of yarn and having to buy more ruining everything?

Finished Friday

Mimle helped me today, she thought I was too slow darning in my ends, so she did it herself....

I was busy reading in the sofa when I looked down on my feet and Mimle was munching on something, my heart almost stopped when I saw a large white thread peering out of her mouth. I was fast to hunt her down and take the thread from her. Luckily she didn't ingest much and she even let me have a small piece of thread to safely sew in the end...

But I do love Mimle. Even when she is a little troll.

So here is my sort of finish, it needs a bead in the middle of the flower and then sewing it to the headband. I think it looks good, it is for a birthday girl so I feel lucky Mimle left enough yarn for me to sew in the end.

And the second baby-gift-bundle is finished. Unless I put something else into it that is;)

 I made two more of these bibs and the purple is from a book called "Hekle til babyen" and a pair of baby booties from the same book (which I will review soon) to go with the blanket. :) 

so now the baby can come.

I am not sure how much yarn I have used up, the booties was made in Drops Paris Cotton and I used 45 grams, each of the three bibs weighed around 15 grams and I used Søstrene Grene yarn.

So so far I have used up 90 grams of yarn on baby-things in this bundle. I have already counted the blanket.

The first bundle I made four bibs, but it is only the green which was finished in May and haven't been counted yet. That also weighed 15 grams.

And then there is the flower headband, that weighed 14 grams.

So May so far has been 119 grams, or a little over two skeins of yarn out.

And nothing in. 

(except some red, white and blue for gacha stitches and some yarn for our next project, but that doesn't count!)

Finished Friday

The summer is here, and with that I have had a headache the past three days which is why there wasn't a Wedding-blanket Wednesday post this week (I have no excuse for last Wednesday, I must have forgot there was a Wednesday last week) So that post will have to come later this weekend I think.

*Kio and I are superbusy but hopefully there will be a small surprise soon.

And speaking of surprises, a co-worker of Mister M is having a baby and she was coming in to the office today with cake, so I prepared a little gift for the baby. A set of four bibs, the green one is the newest and the one I haven't shown, the others I have made a little over time. So now I need to make more bibs, they were so much fun to make.

Baby bibs, Norwegian pattern

I love the colours on these bibs and even if they might know the gender of the baby I pretended I didn't and just had fun with colours. The stash busting acrylic baby blanket is coming along nicely. I have a lot of fun with these colours too, Mister M claims they look like candy and that that yellow especially makes him feel like having a banana. But I think babies need those colourful fun things?

Other than that I have made a bunch of wrist warmers and the pattern is coming closer to getting finished, *Kio and I are looking into yarn at the moment. 

(which means I have not bought any yarn this month still, gacha in stitches have. 14 skeins in total this week, hush, don't tell anyone, it is not cheating)

And the gifts form my giveaway have been put in the post, but since it is a five day holiday at the moment, they will not get sent out of the country before after the constitution day (17th). So it will take a week or two before you get it. ^^ I hope you will like the gifts.

Friday date night

M and I are having Friday date night today with Sushi, Big Bang Theory, The Walkin Dead and X-files.

That is what happens when M come home early, so we pretend Valentines is today. 

I have some gifts blocking for Sunday, but since we are going to a triple birthday I need to make more. Two heart coasters since it is the season and a small doily. So I got to use some of that read yarn after all.

And the -I need these coloured balls of yarn just because I love the colours but I don't have a need for them just yet-  baby blanket is coming along... I like colourful baby blankets and I don't care about gender colours. I like pink so I use pink. I like blue so I use blue. I like these greens and some red and peach would look nice so I used them too. All cotton from Søstrene Grene.

Presenting the Presents of 2015

I started making presents for real in October this year, because of of the wedding and all, but considering I started quite late I think I did alright.

I have made:

Three sets of mug rugs, four cat heads (two in black and two in white) and one seasonal one (gifted for a birthday in December). Patterns on Revelry here for the cats and egg, flower, pumpkin, the snowflake one I made by myself.

I have made four finished and one half finished ( still hoping to finish the last half soon) wrist warmer and two and a half pairs of socks (one was started by my mother).

The dark grey and red one was made in alpaca after this pattern and was given to my neighbour and friend with a scarf and a lip balm.

The dark grey and lilac one is also in alpaca and the pattern was from Simply Crochet Magazine 11 and the designer is Jennifer Reid, and although I like the pattern and have used it many times it is very time consuming, but luckily for me, I started it in January so I only had to finish one. For my friend Evi.

The other tree is loosely based mostly on this pattern, but a bit from my head too. I gave the grey one to M, the blue ones for my travelling cousin and the blue and grey one will be for my carpenter cousin.

The tree socks are a pattern my friend *Kio gave me that was passed down in her family so I used that on all socks. (the blue pair was started by my mother so I only finished one half of one sock).

I have made four scarfs.

The scarfs are made using this pattern, the red ones were also made in alpaca that I bought on sale, one for our neighbour and one for M's aunt. I think they were well received. The pink/grey and purple  pink ones are made in mohair, the purple pink I bought when my mother's local yarn store went out of business and the pink is from the 80's from my mother's stash, I had to buy the grey because the pink one turned out a bit too small. So another batch of inexpensive but pretty gifts that were fun to make (at least when I didn't have to unravel any mohair stitches that is).

I try to make my gifts because then I can give to almost 30 people and add a small something that fits instead of not giving anything because we live on a limited budget.

My aunt got three washing cloths and a soap. 

Almost everyone got around three trees each this Christmas so I think I made almost fifty in total. I also made this owl in a pattern by Drops. That I haven't given away yet since we didn't see them yet this year, she also gets a Christmas towel, but she likes owls so I hope she likes this little dude. All are made from scrap yarn.

I made two sitting pads for two teenage boys that have a dog, so I think they walk a little, at least now if they do take a walk they can also take a break;) They got a little money on the side. Most of the yarn is scrap, but when you the star is getting bigger you need more yarn for each round so in the end I had to buy more yarn, luckily I was using rather inexpensive Nille wool yarn.

I made four lap blankets, this one for two people, my aunt and her wife, this blanket is made mostly in regular sc and dc, but some x stitches and v stitches thrown in. I made this of scrap wool except the border that I bought. There is even some yarn from our wedding in there.

The bottom blanket was made last year but given to my mother at her 60th birthday, but it was the only picture of all lap blankets I had.

I made three of the lap blankets in the same star pattern I used for the sitting pads, one for my uncle and two for two little boys that we celebrated Christmas with (they also got some money) the pattern is also from here. Mostly made from scrap yarn, but the last rounds used about one skein each so I had to buy a little. So all in all, not too expensive since I use Nille wool yarn again.

Lastly I made 9 hats, three crochet cat hats, pattern from here, for my friend and cousins, and one crochet hat in grey and blue, pattern from here, mine looks a lot different because my gauge was way off. All the males in our family that we celebrated Christmas with got a hat each. My uncle got the crochet one and the rest got knitted ones, M also got a hat.  The other knitted hats are from various Norwegian knitting books but all the knitted hats are made from Nille wool yarn. The black cat is made from reflective yarn that I also got on sale when the yarn store next to my mother went out of business. 

One hat though is a 2014 gift but a 2015 finish, the one for my cousin with a beard, the beard is from here too and the hat is a Tristan from Drops again. 

I am getting better at following patterns and these small finishes help with feeling a sense of accomplishment which is important.

Lastly I made this little dude for my mother, I started this last year, but managed to finish it in time for the holidays. I hope I will be able to do more cross stitching next year. Also I hope to knit more and make cloths for myself as well as presents;)

I hope everyone has had a lovely year and that they liked the presents I gave them.

I do try to give something that fits the person but sometimes I just have to make a pattern because I have a hang up on it and have to find someone to give it to after;) Like with the scarfs.

Today we are celebrating New Year and I have a sinking feeling the last present of 2015, the wrist warmer, won't be finished in time especially since I have been doing presents for next year instead. Oooops. 

Oh well, Happy New Year, I hope next year I will finish all presents within the actual year itself, it might be too much of a stress to hope I will finish all presents in time for Christmas;)

Ellevte Desember

Today's tea was really good. Black tea with cinnamon, rooibos, ginger, vanilla and Irish cream. I love Vanilla flavour.

This is a bit of a cheat, because I finished this a while ago, but I darned the yarn ends today, and I still need to make it's pair. I just figured out that I need to make four and not three wrist warmers, do you think I will have time? Or do you think everyone will get one half? All this thin thread is taking forever, the next one I am starting I am starting in bigger yarn, that's for sure!

We got another Christmas card, this one too is from Finland... It feels a bit bad that we are not giving cards to everyone in Finland, but honestly since I have a huge family and I can't write Finnish I feel like it is limited what I could do and have time for. I mean, I have made and sent over 20 cards already...

The ones that haven't been sent are the Finnish ones that need M to write and address and he is not home. Funny how the cards that need extra time to their destination will be sent at a later date than the ones that are just going to the same county. Hehe.

Oh, well, I am off to bed, tomorrow we are baking, that is another tradition that is newish.

Tiende Desember

Today's tea is black tea with cardamum, cinnamon, ginger, apple and caramel. It was delicious, seems like they are trying to use a bit of the same ingredients to make all the teas taste a bit the same but you can taste the differences between them.

 I L O V E this cup, one of my favourites, I only have one, but I would love the whole set, too bed shipping to Norway costs a lot, I got this from a forum member last year. 

Happy birthday to my friend, I finished your present just in time. Hope you'll like it. The paper is bought with  you in mind too.

I was packing presents whilst watching Kirstie's homemade Christmas, I really like Kirsty and I love watching programs where I get tips on presents to make or decorations to make, really helps to get in the spirit!

M complained that I didn't really show the bunnies lately, but this is the reason, in the days they do two things, sleep under the stool/table or they mug me for treats before going back to sleep, so there isn't really that much to talk about, but here is a picture of grumpy bunnies trying to sleep.

But I did get to get back at them because Valmin woke me up the other day at seven wit lots of noise, he was doing laps back and forth (why do laps back and forth when he can actually run around the house?) for a while, I couldn't go back to sleep so I got up....

Bunnies, flowers and hats in Socktober

M got flowers from work. This is one of the two vases we got from our wedding. I like it, and I love the flowers, I wonder how long I can keep them alive. 

*

 I want to show some of the hats I made this year, two were finished, but never really had a proper Tadah moment, but the last I had to redo several times, I am still not completely happy with it, the top looks a bit funny, but the yarn is too tired of frogging for me to try again, so I decided it was done too.

This knitted hat has been done for almost a year now, poor thing and never got a proper tadah post, but here it is finished. It is a tiny bit too small for M, but he wants to keep it anyway. (that is the trouble with making things and using myself as a model because I have a tiny head, and I thought I had made this the right size.)

This hat was finished several times, but first it was too small and then it was too pointy and weird looking, it is still a bit pointy, but M claims he likes it that way. This is crocheted in reflective yarn. If I ever find the pattern I used I'll let you know. 

Now it won't matter if M forgets to put his reflectors out from his jacket pocket when walking home from the bus. (Yes, it is that dark here both in the mornings and evenings already)

I found the pattern here in this Norwegian blog, she makes lots of hats and has decided to give hats for all birthdays this year.

It is supposed to look like a cat, and it does, on boyfriend! It is a bit too long on me so the ears won't show properly. So I guess I need to make another for myself? Because M refuses to wear this, maybe my curly haired friend could wear this though. I'll ask.

 This too is made of reflective yarn so that one is very visible for cars. 

I have another started knitted hat and one crochet hat, the knitted is in deep trouble because I have no idea what pattern I used. I am guessing either garnstudio or some other easy Norwegian hat pattern, but since I am such a newbie at knitting I have no idea if the patterns I am searching for is the same I started. So I might just ask someone who knows what they are doing to see which pattern is correct... It is the same as the blue and grey one, do you think it it this pattern?

But when that hat is done I am so doing the Socktober kal on revelry! I need some sock yarn though, because shockingly I have none...

But October has just started so I should be able to finish a pair of sock right? Are socks much harder than hats?

Bunnies have been really lovey-dovey after their ordeal at the photographers.

I think it did them good, I am sad M is back to work because the time we had together felt too short, we haven't really had a proper honeymoon yet.

I am busting my knee with all this stash busting

Remember the yarn we found amongst my mothers stash that moved into my stash?

Well I didn't dally long and I made a small scarf/cowl/thing. I used this pattern, but since I only had about 50 g of yarn mine didn't turn out quite long enough to fold around the neck. So I added a button from my stash and now it is usable.

The colour is somewhat more like the first picture than the others but I just wanted to show you how sunny and spring-y things look around here these days. The colour is something usually referred to as "gammel rosa" in Norwegian which would translate into old pink I think.

The scarf is made of a long since discontinued yarn from Chanterleine called Sissi and is made of a mohair acrylic blend, so it fits nicely in spring., as it is not too warm. Or maybe in autumn as the pink seems more like an autumn pink than a spring pink to me....  I think maybe mum bought it when visiting my aunt since there was a store called Domus there and that is where this yarn was bought... But it does come all the way from Paris.

Anyway, I quite like it and I finished it in a day, or rather a night, I got so engrossed in wanting to see how long it would turn out with only 50 g of yarn. Which was 60 cm I might add and 55 rows.

I liked the pattern and am now going to make another in the Sandnes Kitten Mohair yarn I bought at mums last week, and since I have 100 g I think this one will actually turn into a proper scarf. Although that means I have to buy more Mohair yarn to make the "englemaske" shawl I wanted to make, but that is ok, if I use two or more yarns I can buy one new and at this rate that might happen sooner than you'd think. Also I think these scarfs would make excellent gifts and they are easy enough to make while watching TV but decorative enough that people will actually wear them;) I hope. And buying yarn for presents is always  allowed no matter how big your stash is.

I have to go, I have a bunny nipping at my ankle to get my attention. It is cuddletime.

A sign from us

The bunnies and I won this sign at an auction, where all the money would go to neutering some bunnies who were saved and are now awaiting adoption. They still haven't met their goal yet, if my little bosses tell me something else they want from the auctions I might have to obey. All for a good cause;)

And finally, another pair is finished. My cousins boyfriend keeps steeling her wrist warmers so I made him a pair as well. Now I just have to send them.

And yes, I am making one pair for me too. This is the cheap but cosy alpaca yarn from the local co-op next to my mothers house. I hope they will have another yarn sale soon because I am running out of alpaca yarn.

I made myself a bow. Or rather two. I knitted them all by myself, and all I need now is the hairlip to attach to its back and I am good to go. I wonder if some of my hats need bows too. I did use wool so I might as well wear them as extra insulation for my head. ;) But I think the wool is tough enough that the big bow stands on its own so I think wool was the right choice of yarn on this one, even if it did feel a bit wasted.

Oh, and isn't the mug the best ever? I got mine from here, or rather the person who got me this got it from here:) Bunnies cloud watching. I can't wait for summer when the bunnies and I are going to sun bathe on the porch and look at the sky. 

(Possibly under a parasol so I won't get too much sun on me).