Something homemade

When I'm invited to any kind of celebration - birthday, wedding, christening.... I always try to come up with a gift I can make myself. Today wad no exception. We celebrated my youngest nephews, the twins. And they seemed to appreciate my gift. A book for kids with recipes and an apron. Homemade, of course. Well, not the books...


This was the first time for me sewing aprons. I used a bought apron in kid size as a template for the body part. Bias binding around all edges, but under the arms I made it wider and as a canal for the ribbon. I let the ribbon around the neck continue through the canals and out on the sides to be tied in the back. This way, if you pull the ends the neck ribbon gets shorter to fit a smaller child. Most of you have probably seen it before.


And a big pocket in front. Used for candy at the party, since the aprons were tried on. And kept on! That warms auntie's heart! ♡

Old lamp, new look

I have told you about not having enough inspiration or energy to create. Well, I guess the tide has turned! Suddenly I wanted to be creative again, and found that I had both time and energy. 

When my daughter was ill, we also tried out this tip I found on Pinterest. To mix glue and foid colouring, and paint jars with it. I intend to show you the result, but today I want to share a special creation. I had this old lamp in glass that I wanted to alter. I really wish I had taken a picture of it before... Anyway... The original idea was to crochet a cover for it, but I never got to it. So when we played with colour and glass, I remembered this lamp, and was really excited to get started. I mixed blue colour in the glue, and started painting. The result was much better than with the jars we had painted.

It looks almost turqoise. And suddenly I knew exactly what to try for the lamp shade that was stripped to bare wire. I dug out some turqoise, white and grey effect yarns waiting for the perfect project.

I cut off a piece of yarn, tied it to the wire and started wrapping. Round and round... The edges was tricky to start with, but I found a strategy that looked good and kept the yarn in place. The finished shades gives a soft light. I used a bulb that uses very few watts, to keep it cool. So cool actually, that I can hold the lamp in my hand even when it has been lit for some time. Since some of the yarns were a little fluffy, I was afraid that it might melt or catch fire if the bulb got to hot.

At first, I didn't know where to put this strongly coloured creation, but my daughter really liked it and was thrilled when adked if she wanted it in her window. So that is where it stands, in all its glory. Keeping here company during dark nights.

Playing with beads

I have tried to make this post once before, but the pictures didn't work with me so I trashed it. This time I accidently deleted one of the pictures, but nothing will stop me now! :) I use my tablet with touch screen, and some of the tools simply aren't touchable! Annoying, but since the blogger app isn't any better, I guess I'm stuck with it. But I'm telling you, it would be much more fun blogging if it went smoothly. Anyway...

Some weeks ago, I went to a blogg called pysselbacken to check it out. I found that she had made a fun and very colourful little bowl from melted hama beads. I had never heard about this before, and started looking around to see what was possible. As my daughter was ill a few days later, this seemed like the perfect thing to do together. The picture I deleted showed single beads placed on a baking sheet just like the flowers below. In the oven they went for six minutes in 200 degrees Celsius.The beads just flattened out, to beads perfect for bracelets.

To make the flowers, we simply put five beads close to a yellow bead. Put one on a hair clip, or where ever you need some happy flowers.

We also made bowls. Use a bowl that stands the heat of the oven. Grease the inside of the bowl, I used some cooking oil. It keeps the beads from melting onto the bowl forever, and it also keeps them in place during the process of placing them evenly in the bowl. The beads should cover the bottom, only one layer of beads. I put the beads with the hole up in my bowl. Very time consuming.

My daughter simply spread the beads out evenly, no matter what side was facing up. Much faster and it created a more interesting surface. I can really recommend this, if you want to craft with kids. Even fairly young children can spread out beads in a bowl. Give it a try, it's really fun! And since these beads are made to be melted together with an iron, there are no toxic fumes when they melt.

Glittering mitts?

I am thinking. Can you hear the wheels turning? I don't know about you, but I love to use what is already in my stack when I create. Mostly because I want to get started right away, I mean who has the patience to wait until you've had a chance to go shopping? Not me! And also, using scraps is both better for the economy and the environment, I think.

I know this charming little girl with a newly discovered syndrome, that makes her hands hurt (among other things). So I was asked to make her a pair of fingerless mitts for some warmth and hopefully some pain relief. And she would like the mitts to glisten, I was told. Of course! :)

Now, I have this yarn with the sequins, from the sparkling hat. The problem is really that it would be very uncomfortable to use it for the entire mitt. The sequins can be a little sharp, and to have them in the palm when you grip something... nah... So, I would love to use it forthe back of the hand only. How to do that when you knit in the round? I have no idea. So my current plan is to knit it in plain yarn, and then add the sequin yarn afterwards. Stitching it onto the mitt to make it look like it was knitted there from the beginning.

Does it sound like a good plan to you? Well, I guess I am about to find out. I was hoping to get started tonight, but it will have to wait. My hands are freezing cold for some reason, and that is not optimal when knitting.

Lazy days

Hi there! How are you? Me? Well, I am having happy, lazy days. Really not doing much at all, and loving it. I love having my family around me at home. Especially these days, when the house is decorated and cosy, when we have a lot of good things to eat, and the kids are in a state of joy and harmony over new toys and stuff. My body has been giving me a pretty hard time lately, so it has been perfect to be able to just cuddle up somewhere. 

In spite of hurting limbs, I have managed a little knitting and crochet. This blue mohair scarf has been lying in the basket for a while, blocked and ready for an edging. The pattern had a suggested edging, but it looked weird in the yarn I used so I went through my books and found one I liked better. I was surprised that it turned out so cuddly, I had expected it to be at least a little itchy.

I was also able to finish this owl hat. It's for a baby girl, and I was asked to do it. No pattern, so I tried to keep it simple. A square hat with ear flaps (that I picked up stitches to make when the hat was done). I hope it will fit the girl... That is the hardest part when you improvise a design, that it has to fit too... :)

Now, I have a crying daughter on the floor, who wants my help to make earrings. So I better go! :)

Mother's joy

Dear friends, I am proud to present to you a new little knitter. My sweet daughter Elsa, almost eight. She asked me the other day how one knits, and I showed hee. She then declared that we would have a knitting lesson for her the next day (as in yesterday). So we did, and it didn't take many tries for her to get it right. So proud of her!

She is really committed to it, this is her this morning before school. She usually takes her time in the morning, but today she rushed things to get time to knit. :)

She had not knitted many stitches before she declared that she needed a knitting basker. Now, where on earth could she be getting such ideas from? Luckily, she found a little basket in her room that suited her work perfectly.

This might bexome an expensive story, though. I got her the kiddy needles to start with. I think they actually belong to her brother (who is more into crochet by the way). But as soon as she had her basket, she told me she needed to ger her own needles. She just couldn't borrow someone else's all the time! :) Maybe I should bring her on my next yarn hunt. Or maybe not... Either way, she is already more interested in using circular needles than regulars. She is her mother's girl! 

Slippers

I am up late tonight. Trying to get tired wnough to aleep well, in spite of the ache. There is snow in the air, and it hurts. No use to try to fall asleep then... So sincee I am getting pretty bored from lying on the couch doing nothing useful, I thought I could show you what I have been up to this week.

My daughter reealized that she had no slippers, they were all too small. She didn't seem too  keen on letting me knit her a pair, and not crochwt either. So I thought maybe I could sew her a pair or two. So I did.

The first pair (or really the second pair I made) ismade in felted wool. They used to be a cardigan that actually used to fit me a long time ago. It didn't anymore, so I threw it in the washer and felted it, and kept it for the right project. Since black and grey is not what young girls dream about, I tried to spice them up a bit by stitching them with sparkling silver yarn and adding some sequins. I think I succeeded, since she even agreed tomake them her school slippers. (As you might know,kids in swedish schools do not wear shoes inside, but it does get rather cold and wet on the floors this time of the year.)

The first pair I made was also made from clothes. A fleece sweater my daughter used to wear. And I am happy to say that I only had to use the arms, so I have most of it left. These are a lot softer than the thick, sturdy felt slippers above, but I think they are perfect for lazy days under a blanket on the couch, or after an evening shower before bedtime. 

Both pairs have leather soles, made from a bag of scrap leather I bought on a market a few years ago. The pattern is from marthastewart.com, but I will tell you more once I sit down by the computer for a while. Have some pictures from when I made the first pair.

It is getting seriously late now, so I think I better get to bed now. Hopefully to get a good nights sleep. I hope you will too, once it is your bedtime! :) Good night!

Testing, testing

Hi there! Yes, I am testing. I have been telling you about the trouble I have had, trying to blog on the mobile. The app is not so great, but since I do all other computer stuff onthe mobile, this blog has been neglected. But hopefully not anymore. 

Today is my birthday, andmy darling husband gave me anamazing gift, a surf pad. Or is it called a tablet? Either way, I am loving it already. It is easier to blog from, and way better when I search new patterns on Ravelry. I don't have to use that stupid blogger app anymore, even though itseems I will have to e-mail the pictures to the blog since I cannot get the uploader to work. But I can live with that. This will hopefully make me able and willing to post more often.

This was not my only gift. My daughter gave a lovely pair of ear rings formed like roses. And my son made me this amazing creation:

Is he creative or what? :) It says "congratulations" in Swedish, and then my age. I adore it! And I am so very happy about this day spent with friends and family, and the loving gifts I have received. I am a very happy 36-year-old in deed! 

Tomorrow is work day, so I better get myself and the kids in bed. See you!

Never ending scarf

Wow, it's been a week already? Time flies...

I wanted to show you the scarf I made for my daughter's friend. The one in the basket a few posts ago. Well, it was finished last weekend and handed over to its new owner on the school bus on Monday. Didn't get too many chances to snap a picture of it, since my girl put it in her school bag as soon as all the ends were fastened, but she did agree to pose a little for me. :)

I made it very simple. Three stripes, blue, yellow and green. First I thought I would knit it in the round, but since I don't like purling I decided to knit rows instead, but still on my circular needles. I was a good girl this time, knitting a little sample to see how many stitches I would need. I like making these scarfs about 140 cm wide (or long, you know what I mean). Since this was made in garter stitch, it didn't curl up at all. Yay! :D When it was all done, I stitched the two ends together. Done in just about three TV nights.

The new owner loved it, and when I picked my girl up in school the other day, I was met by the third friend with a shy smile on her face. :) My girl asked me kindly if I could make a scarf for her too... Lol! Of course I can, and I will as soon as I have finished a few other projects I have to get out of my hands first. Black and purple this time. I wonder if this will be the last one, or if I will end up knitting scarfs for the entire school? :-S Then this never ending scarf will be a never ending story... But I do love how my girl is so willing to share with her friends, and not just try to keep everything I make for her self. Love her!

Happiness

The sun is setting, and I take a walk in our garden. We have been busy gardening, painting our garden furniture, shopping plants and... well, we've been busy! :) But busy in a good way, because we want to do all this for ourselves. We love to be in our garden, and I think both me and my husband has a special thing for our kitchen garden. All the plants of course, inviting us to make something tasty. But also cooking outdoors. Today, my husband made the "kitchen" in the left, from an old sink. There we can prepare food or work with our plants...

But I'm sad to say we have to spend much time indoors, because of the mosquitoes. An aggressive kind has invaded the area around the bird lake we live close too, making it impossible to stay outside. Some days are worse than others, but today we managed to stay outside. Lots of mosquito repellent and some candles they don't like the smell of helped a lot. This is where I spent most of the day, tired because of an upset belly. I hate all the trouble and pain it's causing me (it happens quite frequently), but the overall feeling today was happiness. I love our garden, that we put so much work into lately. I love how the furniture turned out after a much needed paint, and with new pads. I love the view from our backyard, watching the farmers bringing in the hay. I love seeing my husband so enthusiastic over his projects. Happy!

We had my parents over for a few days, spending time together. Lovely! I truly enjoy sharing my gardening enthusiasm with my mum. And I also want to share my little miracle. I don't know much about hollyhocks. But I do know that the plant I received from my husband years ago had the same color as the closest flower below. That's just one plant, that has spread along the wall of our shed. And now, I have flowers in three different colors! The two in the picture and a lighter pink. Isn't that strange? The dark pink one even has a different shape than the other two. But I'm happy, I really wanted hollyhocks in more colors than just one, and now I do!

 Oh, and not only the grown-ups are filling their days with outdoor projects. The kids have opened a flee market in our (not in use) outdoor toilet. :) And when dad made an outdoor kitchen, the son thought we should really use the waste water for something. So he made water cleansers, so that he and his sister can filter that waste and use it when they play, instead of spending clean water for playing around with. :) Environmentally educated kids these days!

I hope you all are having a lovely time, and that you are all able to enjoy your own beautiful surroundings. We are having some warm, sunny days after a pretty cold and rainy summer, so we are enjoying it all very much. Now, I'm wanted elsewhere... Take care!

Girly-fying

My kids are really growing like weed right now, both of them. So the pile of outgrown clothes is growing steadily... Sometimes my girl take over something her brother used to have, but more often his clothes are too boyish for her. Or rather, not girly enough... Two pairs of short pants were obviously too dull for her taste, so I promised to make them a little more girly.

Bored as I was the other day, I thought I would try to make some embroidery. I wasn't sure that my hands would find it such a splendid idea, but they surprised me. It worked just fine, and today I fastened the last strand.

I chose to focus on the pockets, since the threads on the back could impossibly itch that way. 

Nothing more fancy than a few simple flowers on each pocket. I tend to overdo things, guess I don't know when to stop... So I tried hard to make it just enough.

I used some left over thread from old embroidery kits, you know, with fabric, pattern and pre-cut thread. I love the idea of using what I have at hand, and left overs are perfect!

I tried a new thing I saw in a book. You can see the red flowers below, kind of looking like tulips. The stitch used is blanket stitch (langettsöm). Instead of making a straight line, you make a quarter of a circle, I think I made 3-4 stitches. 

Well, it was fun making all these little flowers, and now the pants are accepted by my almost eight year old. So everybody's happy, and one less item to go shopping for! And one more pair to go... :)

Seaside pictures

 I promised you more pictures, and here they come. I have been working the last two days and didn't get the time to sit down by the computer until today. It's always exciting to download the pictures from camera and mobile, since I never really remember exactly what I pointed that lens at. :) I kind of rediscover them, and the memories they represent.

The first day by the sea was windy and rainy, but we just had to get down to the water anyway. It's a bit of a walk from the camp site to the beach, but it's quite a lovely walk. The trees are marked by the wind, and you almost get the feeling of being abroad, everything looks so different from what we're used to. Windy and rainy it was, and the waves came crashing in. Dramatic and beautiful! The kids wanted to try out there new water canons, and so they did. And despite the wellingtons, they got wet because of the waves surprising them. :)

Instead they started playing by a creek leading out into the sea, throwing sand in the wind and trying to make sea shells float as far as possible. There's always something to do by the water. I walked around and admired pretty sea shells and sand formations. Don't want to drown you in pictures though, so I picked out a few.

The next day was sunny and warm, and almost no wind at all. Definitely no rain, so we had saw a few smiles when people looked at our kids, looking like this. But there was a reason (beside the wet pants and socks from yesterday). 

Time to shoot around with the water canons! :)

While mummy played around with sea shells...

And followed the birds footsteps. I love how they disappear around the bend... Watching the kids playing by the water, walking around on the beach and on the sand dunes, talking with my darling husband. Love the mood the beach gets us all in. Pure happiness, I would call it!

This seemed to be a busy place for some reason... I love the different sizes on the footprints.

And here we have other markings in the sand. While we watched sea shells, driftwood and dunes, someone had made himself a country with cities and roads. And funny names for the cities too. I admire the creativity!

Someone else had turned into a sea monster, muddy and with scary teeth. :) This monster sometimes makes very funny noises when it's saying "s", it's quite tricky when you're missing your two front teeth!

We stayed for two more days, but no more walks to the beach this time. But we're going back again later this summer, and I'm pretty certain I'll bring the camera that time too... ;)

Weekend outdoors

Look, look what I did! :) I actually sat down and made a few rows of crochet last night. It felt good, I have to say. First aching hands, and now when they feel a little better, I haven't really had the time or energy to sit down with any needlework at all. I fall asleep early every night, not used to all this "go to work"-business yet, and the weekends are stuffed with activity too. And that's really what I wanted to talk about today.

This is where I spent most of last weekend. We were hiking as we call it, although we don't walk that far into the little grove where we usually spend our Thursday evenings with a bunch of kids every spring and autumn. We are called Royal Rangers, and this is an activity for kids that our church has. So "our" nine kids and us grown-ups came here Saturday morning and left Sunday noon. (I have to admit that some of us spent the night in our own beds, but the others slept soundly in our shelter. 

Welcome to our kitchen! :) Everything is cooked over open fire. The yellow box/kitchen counter is our only cupboard, it contains a few drawers with beaters, spatulas, a few bowls and things like that.

One of our stoves. We build up a fire under the gratings, and cook on it. I think it's cool  that you can actually build a stove with wood, string and dirt. :)

But when we baked potatoes, we used a fire pit on the ground instead. Let the fire burn out, and put them on the bed of embers. 

Fire is most fascinating, don't you think? I love the late nights out there, when I sit by the fire as the kids are getting ready for bed. It's dark and pretty quiet, and I sit there under a wool blanket, staring into the flames and embers. They almost look alive!

I didn't show you the kids, since I'm not sure their parents would approve of that, but I can tell you we all had a great time. Building kites (that didn't fly), playing games, sending off flying paper lanterns, eating (everything you cook and eat outdoors tastes so much better than anything else) and laughing. But you're pretty tired once you get back home... :)

It's a bolero!

 I am so, so very grateful! I've been able to knit and crochet a little again, and I love it! My arms do get tired and a little achy, so I will be careful not to do too much, but I can do it! :)

So yesterday I sat down with Elsa's bolero, since she's been asking about it. Every time I've lifted it up from the basket, she's been asking "is it done?" with great expectations in her voice... And now it is done. And she seems to like it, wouldn't you say? It's made in a very soft cotton, so I kind of understand her.

I think it's really pretty, with those leaves on the back. And yet so very simple to make.

 It could be done with any pattern on the back, of course. If I ever make another one, I'm thinking about hearts. But we'll see... I believe it's rather easy to find this leaf pattern, I have it in two of my books. I'm afraid I don't have a pattern for the whole bolero, since I found it in a Swedish magazine...

But the basic design is really simple. It's a huge rectangle with ribbing in both ends. Then you pick up some stitches for the arms on each side and knit some more ribbing. To be specific, this bolero is approximately 60 cm wide and 54 cm high (without stretching it), the ribbing up and down is 11 cm (k2, p2). The arms are 23 cm wide and 4 cm long. It's a little big for my girl of seven, but not much.

 When you've come this far, you only fold it double and stitch it together. Both my husband and my daughter asked, "where's the hole?"... :)

Here it is! Do you get the design? So simple to make, and yet it looks really good on.

 I'm so happy I made this. The yarn was bought on sale, and I used up almost five balls (50 g each), which was all I had... Perfect project, I have to say! Very, very pleased with it! :)

Crochet pots

It turned out to be a good thing, that I forgot to take this picture yesterday. Or I wouldn't have had anything to show you today... The planting business was a bit too intense, I guess, 'cause my poor body didn't want to hear about it today. So no planting, just a hot, foamy bath and looking through the seed catalog, trying to decide what to buy. Not so bad after all, hey? :) It took some effort to really appreciate it (since I truly was in mood for some planting), but then I honestly felt grateful for simple things as bath foam and garden dreams. It's been a good day this far!

This is what I forgot to show you yesterday. Recognize the tins covered in crochet? They really brighten up the window sill with all their colorful stripes. They even look better than I thought they would. I love when that happens!

Maybe I'll still get a few plants in new soil and pots today, as the kids wanted to join in when they realized what I had been up to. So I'll help them out when they get home from school, trying not to overdo it. I tend to get carried away, but my body needs a break every now and then. And sometimes it's so hard to listen when it tells me to stop what I'm doing! When I'm in the mood for something, I want to do it now! :) Well, my son is just like me, so I better put some plants on the kitchen table before he arrives... See ya!