I'm back and a great time was had by all!

Two weeks went by way too fast and we are now back home. During that time we celebrated a great wedding and a nearly equally great midsummer, while I ate about 18 liters of icecream and got addicted to weeding my parents' garden. Who knew weeding could be so much fun? More to the point, who knew I would find weeding so much fun?

Due to the previously mentioned activities and a few more besides, I didn't get much knitting done. I did make a jacket out of the pile of yarn I showed previously in this blog, which turned out to be just the right thing to wear. Not too hot during the sunny day, but still warm enough for the somewhat chilly night. However, I decided to do the top later, as my mother miraculoucly made both a skirt and a top out of a piece of fabric that was meant to be too small for even the skirt, according to the pattern specifications.

Anyway, it turns out the only fairly decent photo of me in the jacket is this one, sans my head as I can be shy at times.


Finally, I have to show this sunset photo, taken from the car at about 4 am as we were driving back home after the wedding. Sadly it doesn't quite show in the photo, but it was a beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day.

He really loves me!

I received a package a few days ago - a birthday present my husband had ordered. This is what it contained:


Both are 100% wonderfully soft merino wool in delicious colours. The variegated green one is hand-dyed and it makes me envision a cabled pair of gloves and a matching neat hat. The other one is both handspun and -dyed, and for the moment I'm content with just stroking it and enjoying the softness while I await inspiration.

If you like the look of these yarns, take a peek at the Etsy shop that sold them, appropriately named HandSpunandDyedToo.etsy.com.

Thank you hubby! :D

Over the hills and far away...

Where am I going?
To visit my parents.

How long for?
A whole two weeks.

What will I be doing?
Going to a wedding and catching up with old friends, but mostly just lie on the grass while eating icecream and watching the strawberries grow. Hopefully they'll grow big enough during my visit that they can disappear into my tummy.


I'm one of those strange people who feel that vacations are for doing absolutely nothing. Or perhaps more correctly, what other people might consider 'nothing': lie on the beach or in the garden while reading, knitting, eating icecream... Aaaaaahhhh.

Planning and going on trips to foreign lands, thinking up all sorts of stuff one 'must' do now while there's free time and setting up schedules for when to do them - all that's wayyyy too stressy. I do enjoy doing those things from time to time, it's just not what I consider proper for relaxing and charging my batteries during a Real Vacation.

These two weeks will be my Real Vacation. Joy. :D So, I only have one single major event planned: attending a wedding. I have my outfit all planned, now all that's needed is making it. (This part is fun and is thus not considered at odds with the concept of a Real Vacation.) I have about one week to turn this...



...into a fancy top and fancy little jacket with lace and cables. Fortunately I chose bulky yarn and fortunately the train ride to my parents is about 5 hours long.

Wish me luck, boys and girls.

I came to a realization...

Magenta is really an excellent colour. Seriously.

No, I'm not talking about the horrible magenta that makes your eyes bleed when you stumble across it among the wide webs of the internet. (Especially when combined with yellow or turquoise. *shudder*)

I'm talking about the deep, rich, delicious magenta I'm using to knit a shawl. I've had this slightly shiny cotton yarn for ages, not knowing what to do with it. I'm not even sure how I got it in the first place. There it has sat and waited for years, until a week ago, I had a terrible need to knit a shawl.

Yes, that's right. I needed to knit a shawl. One can get addicted to anything, it seems.

So anyway, I started knitting this shawl in my own design. For such a bold colour, I chose to use bold lines. This thing will be awesome. Just you wait and see. Until then, here's a preview:


Excellent, I tell you.

EXCELLENT