Photo a day 4/365 - WORD TO LIVE BY

Green. In everything environmentally friendly. And food.

Photo a day 3/365 - MY TOWN

Beautiful King's Park in the middle of Perth, WA. I have to admit this photo was not taken today but I just had to use it as I love it so much! It was the wildflower season and King's Park was just a riot of colours.

WIP finished - Baby Socks

My first WIP for the year has been finished! Yay! I got these socks for Finn done and he's already running slipping around wearing them. I like the socks, just the knitting and running both colours at the back all the time made the knitting a bit slower than usual. These socks are made from pure wool so they will be comfortable to use all year round. I think they will even be used now in summer since the nights and early mornings have been a bit chilly. What's better than an early morning trip to the beach when your toes are nice and toasty? :)

Below the text for these socks when they were still a WIP.

{WIP Baby Socks} These have been on the needles since July 2013. That would have been an appropriate time to finish them as well and not in summer like I'm now planning to... Anyway, I started knitting these socks with just one colour but from somewhere I got the idea to add the green as well (or I didn't have enough of the blue in my stash; can't remember!). So they became a bit more complicated project to finish as I haven't knotted that much with several colours and it slows me down lots. However I am now determined to finish these and there will be a post of the socks soon! {WIP Baby Socks}

WIP list started!

I have now created a separate page for my WIPs (Works In Progress) that can be accessed from the tabs under the blog header. It's not a complete list yet but it will be updated when I find other WIPs and when I get some finished. Have a look!

Photo a day 2/365 - BEGINS WITH G

A glass of green tea.

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

I decided to make a new year's resolution this year although I don't really do that normally. It is something just for me and intended to make sure I am happy. It goes:

Do more of what makes you happy!

To me that means more sewing, crochet and other creative and crafty stuff. So... I found this fun crochet blanket challenge on Instagram and decided to take part. It is called Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 and the idea is to crochet one square per day or per week with a colour describing your mood and at the end of the year you will end up with a blanket! I committed to crocheting a minimum of one big square or four mini ones per week and I can make more if I feel productive. This is what I have done so far.

I am using only pure wool for this blanket and will use up my stash first. No doubt I will have to go shopping as well during the year but I'll be ok for now. Here is a quick look at my stash and the colours that can be expected at the start.

I am very excited and can't wait to add to my blanket! I have also made another craft related unofficial new year's resolution which includes getting rid of as much of my stash wool and fabrics as possible and to finish most of my WIPs (Work In Progress). Let's see how we go. I will try to add a WIP list on the blog as well soon just to keep myself up-to-date on all I have to do!

FMS Photo a day 1/365 - LUNCH

A new year and new energy for new projects... So I thought I'd see how long I can keep up with this photo a day challenge. There is a theme for each day which can be seen on Fat Mum Slim's challenge page. I came across this challenge only today so I will have to play catch up for the one lost day :)

Here is the first picture for this year. Today's lunch; a green smoothie with some mango. This would qualify for photo 2/365 as well as the theme for that is Begins with G. But I won't, I will take another picture for that! 

Christmas pouches - Joulupussukoita

I went through my fabric stash the other day and found different christmas fabrics from a few years back. I decided to set up a conveyor belt type of production line and turn these fabrics into cute little pouches. The first batch consists of six pouches of two sizes.

Tässä yksi päivä kävin läpi kangasvarastoani ja löysin sieltä erilaisia jouluisia kankaita muutaman vuoden takaa. Päätin tehdä niistä liukuhihnatyönä pikkuisia pussukoita ja niitä syntyikin yhteensä kuusi kappaletta ja kahta eri kokoa.

These pouches are brilliant to use where ever! I use them both to keep similar items together in my handbag and to store items at home. In my handbag they might contain make-up, jewellery, snacks for the little man and sometimes I use the pouch itself as a "handbag" since my phone, keys and money fit well into one. At home I use these pouches to store mainly items related to craft; buttons, thread, bobbins, crochet hooks and similar small items stay neatly arranged in the beautiful little pouches.

Nämä pussukat on loistavia vaikka minkälaiseen käyttöön! Itse käytän niitä sekä käsilaukussa erilaisten pientavaroiden yhdessäpitamiseen sekä kotona tavaroiden säilytykseen. Käsilaukusta näiden sisältä löytyy muun muassa meikkejä, koruja, pikkuherran välipalakeksejä ja joskus käytän itse pussukkaa "käsilaukkuna" ja kannan mukana puhelimen, avaimet ja rahaa. Kotona pussukat on käytössä pääasiassa ompelutarvikkeiden säilömisessä; napit, ompelulankarullat, ompelukoneen puolat, virkkuukoukut ynnä muut pikkuiset tavarat pysyy hyvin tallessa omissa kauniissa pussukoissaan. 

There is a problem with these pouches, similar to handbags, you can never have too many ;) I'm lucky they don't take long to make and beautiful fabrics are aplenty in my stash and the shops! I think these might find their way into Santa's sack...

Näiden kanssa on vähän sama ongelma kuin laukkujenkin, niitä ei koskaan voi olla liikaa ;) Onneksi pussukoita on mukava ja nopea tehdä ja kauniita kankaita on varastot ja kaupat pullollaan! Luulen, että nämä saattavat löytää tiensä joulupukin säkkiin...

Penguins in +30°C!

It was a warm day again today, the temperature rose to well over 30 degrees. We stayed home, away from the midday heat, most of the day which allowed me to finish my third little penguin. These small cuties seem to be happy inspite of  the temperature! I made the two penguins with more subtle colors earlier. I could not resist the urge to start sewing once I saw them in Scandihome and made two at once. The more colorful fellow was made after I got a request from a friend and will move to his new home tonight. Instructions to make your own penguin can be found here.

Tänään oli taas lämmin päivä ja lämpötila nousi reilusti yli 30 asteeseen. Me pysyttelimme suurimman osan keskipäivän kuumimmasta ajasta sisällä, minkä ansiosta sainkin koottua kolmannen pikku-pingviinin valmiiksi. Nämä pienet veijarit näyttävät olevan ihan tyytyväisiä lämpötilasta huolimatta! Kaksi hillitymmän väristä kaveria, Pentti ja Petteri, valmistuivat jo aiemmin. En voinut vastustaa kiusausta nähtyäni nämä Scandihomen Marian blogissa, vaan ryhdyin heti toimeen ja tein kaksi kerralla. Tämä värikkäämpi kaveri on tehty tilaustyönä ja muuttaa uuden omistajansa luo tänä iltana. Pingviinien helppo ja hyvä ohje löytyy täältä.

The little man was taking it easy during the day and watched some tv clearly enjoying himself and giggling away. When the day started to turn into evening we headed out for a little walk along the beach and a play in the playground. The air was still warm and a gentle wind made sure that we stayed nice and comfortable even when walking up the hills around here. Finski was happy playing in the sand and with his beach toys, although at times I think the stairs might have been the most fun. I treated myself with a rare ice cream instead of a Friday drink.

Pikkumies otti päivän rennosti ja lökötteli tyynyllä katsoen lastenohjelmia tv:stä. Ohjelma vaikutti olevan hauska hihittelystä päätellen! Illansuussa lähdimme kävelylle rantaan kuluttamaan vähän energiaa leikkipuistossa. Ilma oli vielä mahtavan lämmin ja lempeä tuuli piti huolen, että edes mäkisessä maastossa ei tullut liian kuuma. Finski oli onnessaan hiekasta ja rantaleluista, vaikka välillä tuntui, että rappuset veivät voiton. Minä hemmottelin itseäni perjantaidrinksun sijaan harvinaisella herkkujätskillä.

While walking home we got to admire a beautiful orange and pink sunset as well as a bright full moon! The moon was high up in the sky in the east and the sun was setting into the ocean in the west. A special occasion that you don't see every day.

Kotiin kävellessämme saimme ihailla kaunista oranssia ja vaaleanpunaista auringonlaskua, mutta myös kirkasta täysikuuta! Kuu möllötti idässä samalla kun aurinko laski mereen lännessä. Erikoinen sattuma, jota ei ihan joka päivä näe.

Update

Oh wow! It certainly has been a while since the last post... I haven't forgotten about sewing and crocheting completely though but it seems like I haven't really been able to finish much - or just forgot to take pics and post. Oops! Well here is a quick update just to keep this blog rolling at least a bit. It is inexcusable to leave it idle for this long!!

First a sample of a tea cup cosy I crocheted; I actually made two and gave them to my Mother-in-Law. She can now enjoy her morning cuppa with hands warm in the freezing south west :) I also started experimenting with some cute little baby booties. These ones have already been put in the post for someone special.

In the next picture I have the same baby booties with some dummy holders. They are a nice quick project and can be turned into mitten holders as well. Two of these have left the nest already, one is reserved for Popeye.

And last but not least a blanket I started to crochet for Popeye. I think at the moment it is about three times the size of what it is in the picture. I got so excited when I started making this that I crocheted until I had RSI in my right wrist! That meant a compulsory crocheting pause and it took me a while before I started with these African Flower Hexagons again. The blanket has been with us to Monkey Mia and a part of it has been crocheted sitting on a blanket with emus walking around us while we were spotting dolphins in the ocean. Nice memories :)

I will update you more on Popeye's blanket once I get more done and a new picture taken. I also have a cross stitch project half way done, will have to show you that as well! Unfortunately I don't have any of the project patterns linked here yet, I will do that later on once I have the details at hand.

Hopefully it will not take this long until the next post. I will have to get some things done before Popeye decides to come into this world, no time for extra curricular activities after that I guess!! Oh and I have to show you the baby quilt I have started to sew him as well.

Until then!