A day of crafty fun (and arty, and antique-y, and so on)

Yes, I still live! I've just been busy with, oh, lots of stuff. All sorts of stuff. *sigh* Mostly my day job, though, which is a bit tricky to combine with my knitting shops. *another sigh* But I'm not complaining, really, as I do like both. There's just not much time for anything else at times. ;)

I did manage to get some happy happy fun time in this weekend, with a visit to a big handicrafts fair here in Turku. It was combined with other themes as well, such as art, antiques and old toys. Mr Morrgan came along and his favourite bit was, surprisingly, the handicrafts part, although he also enjoyed the electric trains, which were set up and buzzing around on a big table, and a few neat veteran cars that were on display.

My main goal was of course yarn. However, I didn't bring a single ball of yarn home. I'm not sure how this happened. Something must have malfunctioned in my brain.

Mr Morrgan and I did find several neat things though, such as the ones shown in this photo here. The bath sponge ladybug is handmade, as is the lovely orange flower which is actually a felted ring. I'm not sure about the candies, but I understand it is a small company that makes them and at least the liquorice is organic. The other two flavours we got are ginger and sea-buckthorn. Both are really yummy, yummier perhaps than one might expect from the name alone, and the liquorice is just awesome!

As luck would have it, we also found the exact same jumbo coffee cups as the one I broke the day before from one of the antiques tables. Very lucky, as these are no longer available in stores but are too recent to be found in antiques shops very often. So now I can enjoy my half a liter of coffee every morning again and Mr Morrgan is no longer grumpy at me about the broken cup. We're a couple of lucky ducks, oh yes.

I'd like to say I'll be posting more often from now on, but really, I can't promise that'll happen. In addition to the work-related stuff, we're now looking at buying a place to live, so free time will be in short supply. Exciting times, though!

Dinos are cool. So there.

Look at what I received in the mail yesterday! A fun origami dino t-shirt from Interrobang! It's the little 'roar' that made me have to get this. I feel like I'm a 12-year-old huge dino fan again, ridiculously excited about my latest dino-themed find. I shall wear this t-shirt proudly, whenever and wherever I can.

The dinosaurigami t-shirt is on sale and there's only a few of them left, so go get one while you still can!

Needful Things

So I was about to start weaving in all the loose ends on some fingertipless gloves last night, when I heard a snapping sound and found myself holding half an embroidery needle. Oops. Annoying, as I was hoping to finish those pairs last night already. Oh well, instead I got to work on knitting yet another pair of gloves.

On the bright side that needle really sucked and I now had a really good reason to get a new one. (Well, the suckiness alone would have been reason enough, but I just kept forgetting while it wasn't a pressing issue.) After a quick shopping round this morning, I came home with these babies. Half a dozen sturdy tapestry needles, and it wasn't until I came home that I noticed they're half golden. How shiny!

(By the way, the needle case in the photo is a lovely lovely sewing book by Jenn Maruska Designs. Great work by a great lady, I highly recommend her shop!)

Armed with my fancy new tools I was able to finish up three whole pairs of finger(tip)less gloves. This time it was actually quite fun, who knew new shiny toys could make such a difference. Ah, it's all about the simple pleasures in life.

Have a look at some more yarn

Long time no see! I'm back from my two-week vacation. It was great to have some relaxation, but it's good to be back with charged batteries too. :) Which are needed, as it turns out, for I have a couple of busy weeks ahead of me. I don't have the time to show off all the new knitted stuff immediately, but they'll trickle into this blog as I find a few moments here and there.

But first, here's what was waiting for me when I got back! A yarn package from Twisted Fibers with a whole three skeins - one a thick-and-thin cotton yarn in black, white, beige, blue and gray, and two soft cotton blends. I'm especially happy with the blue-brown one on the right, I love that combo.


I have plans for two of them already, but have trouble deciding what to do with the one in various brown shades on the left. Then again, right now I'm a bit too busy to get started with any of these, so I have time to plan. Oh well, these make a nice treat to look forward to once I've gotten everything done. =)

Dinos! On a bike!

Today I have more fun things to show that the postman brought to me. It's dino buttons! Dinos on bikes!

As soon as I laid eyes on the cute little dino on Narchi's blog, I was in love. You may have guessed that I'm a dinosaur fan from previous dino posts on this blog, not to mention the amount of dinos in my shop. And really, can a dino get any cuter than this? So, you can imagine I got all giddy about a week ago when she told me I'd won three of these pins in her blog contest!

I have good news, for you too can get one (or several) of these fun pinback buttons for yourself from Narchi's Etsy shop. There are other dino-themed items available, such as stuffed dinosaurs for a good cause, but also many other designs. Go take a look, you won't be disappointed!

Raven stickers!

Look at what the postman brought today!


Yup, it's my very own stickers! Designed by my husband and made by the friendly and helpful BitsyCreations. Go visit her shop now, she's awesome!

Then go buy something from me so I can put these to good use, i.e. plaster them all over packages. ;)

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

Yum Yum, Yarn!

Monday morning gave a nice surprise, for here's what I received in the mail yesterday:


100 % natural silvery-black alpaca. Sooo soft, it was a real pleasure winding the skeins into balls. =) This lovely stuff can be found at Stick Chick Designs on Etsy, a shop full of all kinds of natural, undyed fibers. Go take a look!

The big question is, how do I decide what to make with this? Whatever it'll be, it'll be alllll mine!