Twistbread

Pretending it is summer

Mermaid sleeve 1 finito

Hyacinth

Mermaid sleeve

Greenhouse

I cleaned the greenhouse today which is something I hate, mainly due to the content of the irrigation system -6 months old water. I usually find a lot of slugs in there -absolutely disgusting, I detest them. This year there was no slugs, but a dead mouse. Sickening!! I actually did take a picture to prove it, but figured I would look like a complete maniac if I posted a picture of a drowned, halfway dissolved mouse! And the picture of the elephant size spider I will keep to myself aswell......

Before & after

That was .... different. Now back to something safe....flowers...again....they....keep....blooming....

A bit of Mermaid

I am finally able to show some progress on the Mermaid, though my arm is not that happy about it. However, I almost have made half of it. Ta daa...

Snowball

No more flowers today -I promise!

Photoshop fooling around

I have moved on -or maybe I should say back- to photoshop and mixed it with kits from http://www.shabbyprincess.com/downloads.asp

Flowers....

more flowers

I have discovered http://www.scrapbookflair.com/

April vegetable garden

Mermaid sleeve

The very first bit of a mermiad sleeve. Not much, but this is what my arm was able to handle -in two weeks! Sigh!

Small plants

I just love when the seeds start to sprout!! Here you see the Whirlybird Cherry rose

And this is how it hopefully ends up
This is the Cinnamon basil

And the (soon to be) final result.

Today I planted parsley and Brussels sprouts in the garden -bought small plant. Didn't have time to take pictures though.

Tunisian crochet

My wonderful Secret Pal send me a strange hook in her last parcel. I thought it was a tunisian hook but it is actually a double pointed hook. I havn't quite figures out the difference apart from the obvious -you can use both ends!

yesterday I gave it a try and today even more as my pal send me some great links.

http://www.anniesattic.com/crochet/content.html?cat_id=336&type_id=S

http://www.anniesattic.com/crochet/content.html?cat_id=330&type_id=S

http://www.anniesattic.com/crochet/content.html?cat_id=334&type_id=S

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/tunisian_crochet.php

It is a strange combination of knitting and crochet. Depending on how you do it looks woven or knitted, but is less elastic. It will be fun to experiment with -once my arm gets better (just realised I mention that arm a lot all of a sudden. I did too much knitting during the easter break and ended up with some kind of tenniselbow)

Newspaper pots

I found a forum with illustrations on how to make your own pots using newspaper. Made my own little photosession as you have to be a member of the forum to see them.

Tear a page into four pieces

Fold it 3/4

roll around a small glass

fold down the end

fold in the bottom

pull the pot a little bit off the glass, app 1 cm, a squeeze around the egde

Ready for seeding

Surprise -a square!!

My arm seem to handle crochet better than knitting. So here we go, square no 27.

GI tract

What can I say!!!!

A little bit of knitting

I did a tiny little bit of knitting today, just 4 rows. But at least it gives me a chance to show a picture of my mohair lace sweater :-)

Birds and seeds

Spring has definately arrived when I start to bye seeds! As you can see I got a sudden urge for red flowers!! No carrots this year! And I found a cinnamon-basil!!??

Here you see the bird feeder just outside my window too. I have blue tits (i'm talking about birds right!!), bullfinch, great tits (*LOL* sorry, I am using a dictionary as I go along), sparrows and blackbirds that come to eat less than 1½ meter from me.
(who said zoology wasn't fun)

And a few more flowers...

SP10 #2

3 days ago my Secret Pal dropped a hint that something was on its way....

Nothing arrived yesterday and I honestly thought there was no package delivery during the weekend which made the surprice even bigger when I returned from shopping and found a huge parcel waiting for me.

And I was aaaall by myself. No curious boy wanting to ripe it all apart this time. I spend 1½ hour(!!!!!) opening, unpacking, taking tests and pictures. 1½! hour!!! And I enjoyed every single second of it.

Prepare for a lot of pictures 'cos I am about to show all the goodies my wonderfull Secret Pal sent me!

get ready!

Love cats!

Look at this pile of presents!

A hook for tunesian crochet and a book with patterns. It looked so interesting that I stopped unwrapping for at least 5 minutes! I have never tried tunesian crochet and look very much forward to try it out. I am sure a close friend of mine will find it very interesting too, can't wait to show her!

Yes! Hundretwasser sock yarn. This is the last thing to finally make me knit my first pair of socks (once my arm feel better and mermaid is done) Or maybe I should make a hat...or a pair of mittens or.... I love it!

And a 2,5 mm bamboo hook. I don't have that size!!

Some of the presents were put in the cutest gift bags!

Mmmm. Chocolates (already tried them), needles and a local treat (what is it? :-D)

*lol* funny buttons, perfect for a garden and cooking freak like me. And dried ginger and peppercorns- great!

Another fantastic Colinette yarn. 100% Merino wool. I had to take app. 30 picture to get the colours right (and use a bit of Photoshop magic). She has managed to turn me into a turquoise/bluish/greenish/petrol monster by know!!! (Parcel#1 colinette mohair, silk see below)

One more bag which kept me busy for a long time :-) A SP10 yarn quiz (as promised)

I spend AGES fondelign and caressing all the yarn and admirering the colours and texture. And taking the test!! I think I did quite well though I didn't get them all right. I partly blame it on my unfamiliarity with the english weight terms (nice excuse eh?)

Most exotic: I have to admit I voted for the silks, but the cashmere is probably more expensive. I just loved the silks (which I put in the softest group aswell), especially the turquoise-blue one (no 10). I am not sure what I would make of it if I had more...maybe just keep it to admire and fondle!! But it deffinately make me realise I have to make SOMETHING with silk!

I have a lot of black boucle myself -that was the easy one. I can't figure out what to do with it though!!!

Best for felting: the scratchy wool is probably great :-) but I think the Blue faced leicester (no 8) in various blue and purple colours will look beautiful when felted.

I just realised I had to show close ups of the skeins. Aren't they cute? I have to try to make skeins like that myself. It really brings out the best of the yarn.

1: Suri Alpaca (100% Alpaca) Laceweight (Cherry Tree Hill)

2: 100% Merino Laceweight (Touch Yarn NZ)

3: Silk 100% Aran weight (Hipknits)

4:Merino 100%) Laceweight (Cherry Tree Hill)

5: Celestial merino 50% / Mohair 50% Lace weight

6:50% wool / 50% Mohair Boucle (Texere)

7: Merino 100% Laceweight (Mergareth Stove)

8: Blue faced leicester 100% wool Aran weight (Straid wool)

9: Shetland wool 100% Cobweb weight (Texere)

10: Silk 100% Sock yarn (Hipknits)

11: Cashmere 100% Sock yarn (Hipknits)

12: Wool 100% Aran weight Irish Bainin (Kerry woolen mills)

13: merino 70% / Silk 30% Sock wool (Farmers merket)

14: Mohair / Merinoblend Laceweight (Touch Yarn NZ)

15: Wool 100% Sock weight (Colinette) "Jitterbug"

And finally 2 huge posters for my children. They love them -Maries loves prehistoric creatures and is better at astronomy than I !! I know excatly where to put them!

What can I say!!!

Thank you my Secret Pal!

I enjoyed every single bit of it !!