Turku in wintertime

I love Turku in summer, but it can be pretty darn beautiful in winter too, once the snow arrives and the temperature goes below -10°C. Here are a few pics Mr. Morrgan took on his way home from work yesterday.









<3

Happy New Year! And a SALE!

Hello hello and a very happy new year to anyone who might still be reading this blog. Perhaps I should make a resolution to blog more regularly this year. We shall see how that goes. For now though...

At Morrgan's Creatures, the year 2012 begins with a sale!

I am renewing the shop's selection and all fingerless gloves and arm warmers must go! Everything in that section of the Morrgan's Creatures shop is 40% off.

I'll be listing more gloves I have in store over the next few days, so do come back later if you don't see the perfect pair for you right now!

Tiny Dragons - The 11th Batch

Hello and welcome to Morrgan's blog about dragons. :P Yeah, lots of dragons lately, I've been on a dragon-knitting spree. There's more going on around here than dragons though, I'll just have to try to write about those other things too. In the mean time, here's yet one more batch for your enjoyment.

I'm quite happy with the colours in this batch, so colourful and pretty! Here they are, the 11th batch, from left to right:

#51. Rufus - light blue and cobalt blue
#52. Felix - light green and bright green
#53. Amelia - saffron yellow and rusty orange
#54. Iris - pink and purple
#55. Murray - cobalt blue and brown

Here's how it works: Every now and then I make a batch of 5 dragons. Each dragon has a unique set of colours and they get a signed hatching certificate with their name, number and date.

When they're ready to list, I post an introduction on this blog like the one above. During the following few days, I'll list them in numerical order in my Etsy shop. Should you happen to spot one you must have, let me know and I can reserve it for you.

Tiny Dragons - The 10th Batch

Lo and behold, it's another batch of dragons! Here's the 10th batch, from left to right:

#46. Lilith - red and dark purple
#47. Brody - light green and variegated green
#48. Basil - mint and steel blue
#49. Brick - rusty orange and brown
#50. Ashley - pale beige and moss green

Here's how it works: Every now and then I make a batch of 5 dragons. Each dragon has a unique set of colours and they get a signed hatching certificate with their name, number and date.

When they're ready to list, I post an introduction on this blog like the one above. During the following few days, I'll list them in numerical order in my Etsy shop. Should you happen to spot one you must have, let me know and I can reserve it for you.

Tiny Dragons - The 9th Batch

The 9th batch of tiny dragons is ready for introductions! It's definitely been a dragon-intensive autumn/summer so far. From left to right:

#41. Jonathan - red and black (reserved!)
#42. Jade - moss green and variegated green
#43. Joseph - beige and dark brown
#44. Josie - teal and dark green
#45. Jasmine - cream white and pale beige

Here's how it works: Every now and then I make a batch of 5 dragons. Each dragon has a unique set of colours and they get a signed hatching certificate with their name, number and date.

When they're ready to list, I post an introduction on this blog like the one above. During the following few days, I'll list them in numerical order in my Etsy shop. Should you happen to spot one you must have, let me know and I can reserve it for you.

Reds in the Garden

Just a few quick shots from the balcony garden, showing off some of the red hues this time.

As soon as I saw this dahlia, I just had to get it. I've never seen one like this before!

Lots of flowers throughout the summer, it's been gorgeous.

The pelargonia has been another gorgeous one, full of flowers. It's the first time I've tried one in the balcony and it seems to be a perfect fit for the conditions.

The indian cress turned out just as I wanted for the first time, after a couple of years of semi-failed attempts. This year it finally does a good job of covering one end of the balcony. It also does a good job of luring the pests away from my edible plants, both pretty and practical!

Tiny Dragons - The 8th Batch

Hot on the heels of the previous group, here's the 8th batch of tiny dragons. From the left to the right:

#36. Lime - yellow and bright green (reserved!)
#37. Choco - brown and dark brown
#38. Spearmint - light green and teal
#39. Flame - orange and red
#40. Plum - purple and dark purple

Here's how it works: Every now and then I make a batch of 5 dragons. Each dragon has a unique set of colours and they get a signed hatching certificate with their name, number and date.

When they're ready to list, I post an introduction on this blog like the one above. During the following few days, I'll list them in numerical order in my Etsy shop. Should you happen to spot one you must have, let me know and I can reserve it for you.

Tiny Dragons - The 7th Batch

It's been a while since the last time, but now the 7th batch of five tiny dragons is ready for introductions. From the left to the right:

#31. Harley - orange and black (reserved!)
#32. Alex - bright teal and brown
#33. Mildred - pale lavender and dark reddish purple
#34. Sunny - yellow and orange
#35. Steele - bright blue and dark blue

Here's how it works: Every now and then I make a batch of 5 dragons. Each dragon has a unique set of colours and they get a signed hatching certificate with their name, number and date.

When they're ready to list, I post an introduction on this blog like the one above. During the following few days, I'll list them in numerical order in my Etsy shop. Should you happen to spot one you must have, let me know and I can reserve it for you.

The Balcony Garden: Time for Yellow

Yikes, it's already August?? Where did the summer go. ._.

On the positive side, August is when the balcony looks its best, if everything's gone well. We were away from home quite a lot in July and the plants would have wanted more water than they got because of this, but the balcony is still looking better than last year.

One recent development is that the yellow flowers have finally opened! Here's the first sunflower:



This one is called Black-Eyed Susan, a pretty vine that climbs among my woodbine.


I like to have the colour scheme change a bit as the seasons change, so the timing of these is perfect. Nevertheless, the overall impression of my little green corner is still red/orange and green:

Very pleased with how it's turned out this year. =)

There's still 3 more sunflowers that haven't started flowering yet and the Black-Eyed Susan has only just gotten started, so it'll be interesting to see how the view changes this month.

A Teetering Tower of Yarn

Q: What does a Morrgan do when she receives a tall CD-tower?

A: She fills it up with yarn, of course!



Alas, I must admit it's not the most practical form of storage. Even a tower this tall will only hold a fraction of my yarns. Sure, I was able to empty a whole box of yarn into this, but there's another 8 boxes of yarn in the storage room.



It does look rather pretty though, doesn't it? =) Some colour is just what that empty white space needed.

The Balcony Garden Grows

It occurred to me that I haven't posted anything about this summer's balcony plants yet. Oh noes! Time to fix this!

I'll start by showing the main flower box and how it's evolved over the past 3 months. This year I'm going for red and white, with a bit of yellow here and there. This box has red Petunias and a red Pelargonium (sorry, not sure what the English name for them is), together with white Lobelias (one of my faves).

May

June

July

Very pleased with how it's turned out, both colourwise and in shape. =)

I also got tomatoes this year too, since they were such a success last year. This time I have one bushy one like last year, and one new kind, a tall climby one. (Great scientific terms, eh? ;) The tall one shown below is almost as tall as me!

It may beat the tiny bushy one in size, but the little one was the first to produce a ripe tomato - spotted the first one today!

A Birthday in Scotland, part 2

Here's the 2nd batch of Scotland photos! These are mostly from our day trip to Loch Lomond, with various stops at places along the way and back.

Our first stop was at the Forth (Rail) Bridge, crossing the Firth of Forth. It's old (finished in 1890) but still in use today, about 2,5 km long and absolutely massive.

Our second stop was in the city of Stirling, by its castle. We figured the 1,5 hrs stop wouldn't be enough to explore the castle properly, so instead we took in the scenery of the city itself while enjoying an icecream. Scenery including, as seen above, the graveyard around the Church of the Holy Rude.

Fun fact: Holy Rude actually means Holy Cross, like the differently spelled Holyrood in Edinburgh that came up in my previous Scotland post. (To be honest though, this wasn't as fun a fact as the mental image the words "Holy Rude" first conjured up in my mind.)

Outside Stirling Castle stands this statue, with the William Wallace Monument (seen Braveheart?) far in the background. In an interesting turn of events, I found out after the trip that the man this statue portrays is meant to be my greatgreat*insert-lots-of-greats-here* grandfather. (Genealogy is fun!)

The name is hard to see in the photo, so I'll give a hint: his name begins with Robert. Ends with Bruce.

Onwards we went and soon came to Loch Lomond, where we had a lovely lunch and wandered along the shores.

The views were delightful. We could happily have spent a whole afternoon here, but sadly only had another 1,5 hrs.

On the way back to Edinburgh we stopped at Scotland's southernmost Highland distillery Glengoyne, where we enjoyed a tour and whisky tasting. Mr Morrgan, who is the true whisky appreciator of us two, took a liking to their 17 year old and brought a bottle of it back home.

The next day it weas time to head back home to Finland, but on the way to the airport I had the chance to do one more thing I'd wanted to since I was a kid - ride on the top of a double-decker bus!

So, those were some of the highlights from the Scotland birthday trip. And for those who might have been wondering, yes I did eat haggis and black pudding (and even a deep-fried Mars bar) and liked it very much. ;)

A Birthday in Scotland, part 1

As the title says, I have indeed been to Scotland to celebrate my 30th birthday. It was about time, considering I was about 10 when I started saving up my weekly allowance for a trip to see Loch Ness and the monster. (I was a great big dino fan back then.)

I never did save enough of my allowance when I was 10, but maybe that just made this birthday trip to Edinburgh 20 years later all the more exciting. =)

It really was an excellent holiday, and as is the custom here at the Morrgan's Creatures blog, I shall prove it with photos!

On my birthday, Mr Morrgan and I visited Edinburgh Castle.
Fun fact: the castle is built on an ancient, extinct volcano.

As it happens, it was also the birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh, which was celebrated at the castle. It was fun seeing a birthday gun salute on my birthday, even though it was intended for the Duke. ;)

The castle had some very pretty interiors. Sadly my poor old camera isn't up to taking indoors photos anymore, so this is all you'll get to see.

It seemed every other corner in Edinburgh had something major happen at one time or another. Fortunately there were plenty of commemorative plaques to educate us on the details of past important events.

The city was also littered with monuments. This is the Scott Monument in the Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. It's open to the public and we thought it'd be fun to climb up and take a look at the view.

It wasn't. It was possibly the most terrifying thing I have ever done. Not because of the heights, but because the 287 steps up to the top are INCREDIBLY narrow, at worst about 40 cm wide. The real "fun" is when you're going one way and meet people trying to go the other way and you then have to pass one another on these cramped stairs. As I said, terrifying.

The views from the monument were delightful though, so it is worth the climb if you don't mind those moments of terror.

The weather was quite variable during the trip, so when the sun was (mostly) out one morning we took the chance to head out to the hills of Holyrood Park.

They were very pretty hills.

You get quite the views of Edinburgh from up here, so if you don't mind a longer walk, you might prefer this to the scary Scott Monument.

Just don't get too close to the edge - one of the paths was closed by the police while a forensics team was investigating an accident that had taken place the night before.

There's no lack of spots for lovely city views in Edinburgh, so no worries if neither of the above were to your tastes. I think our favourite was Calton Hill, which includes the Nelson Monument above.

The views from Calton Hill were breathtaking.

That's it for now! I'll post a second batch of photos later this week, showing more of what's outside Edinburgh. Hope you enjoyed these and stay tuned!

Carrot soup with a touch of chili

Let me start by saying this is the best soup I've ever made. Ever. Words cannot describe how pleased I am with this soup. The combination of coconut and sweet chili is just my thing.

(Note: I do mean the best soup I've made, not necessarily the best soup ever. I'm afraid this doesn't beat the absolutely fantastic pumpkin soup I had in New Zealand some years ago. It comes close, though.)

Carrot soup with a touch of chili (2 portions)

3 sliced carrots
1/2 chopped onion
5 dl (2 cups) water
1 1/2 tbsp (or one cube) chicken or vegetable stock
2 dl (1 1/4 cups) coconut milk
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
about 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (or other herb of your liking)

Boil carrot slices and chopped onion in water with chicken or vegetable stock until soft (about 20 mins). Puree the vegetables (a stick/hand blender comes in handy). Add coconut milk and sweet chili sauce, bring to a boil. Sprinkle the fresh basil on top just before serving.

Also works well served with a bit of chopped and fried bacon on top. I imagine a dollop of crème fraiche would be lovely too. =) Enjoy!

Tuesday Finds: Playful Things

Who says only kids can have fun, playful things?

Orwell Clutch - Teal Alligator Purse by
tsurubride.etsy.com

Duck Feet Bowl by
TwoTreesBelgium.etsy.com

King of Hearts Journal Sketchbook Album by
somavenus.etsy.com

Geek Chic Toy Brick Cuff Links by
glamasaurus.etsy.com

My Creative Space: Houston the Dragon

Say hello to Houston the Dragon!

Houston is knitted and crocheted using my Primrose the Dragon pattern (available via Etsy and Ravelry). I made the pieces a while ago, but only managed to sew the pieces together this week. He's a bit of a troublemaker, constantly getting himself tangled up in my yarn as I was putting him together. Tsk. ;)

I used needles size 3.5 mm/US 4, so he ended up a little smaller than Primrose, about 25 cm (10") long.

Want to see the creative spaces of others? Head on over to Our Creative Spaces for a look!