Petal earrings

I'm actually still not allowed to do any handicrafts until my wrists are fine again, but since it's summer and I was bored, I just couldn't help myself. Inspired by this blog, I made these crochet earrings:

Hook: 3

Yarn: Novita Tennessee

Pattern: my own

Since they were really easy to make, I decided I might as well share the instructions here in case someone else would like to have a pair of these.

Row 1: 27 dc around the earring.

Row 2: *Ch 4, skip one dc. Insert hook in next dc and fasten the chain with a dc. Dc in next dc* Repeat from * to * 'till the end of the row. Fasten and weave in ends.

During the weekend I went horseback riding with some friends. This was the second time for me, so I was actually a little bit nervous at first, but it went fine. We even went for a small walk following the road. Fortunately all the horses were really kind. They just kept following the leader so all I had to do was sitting there and enjoying the ride. And it was fun! I could have taken a longer ride.

The place where we stayed was very pretty and idyllic, so I also got inspired to photograph. Here's a few of the photos I took during the weekend:

One of the horses at the stable had a foal that was only 3 days old <3

A beautiful oak tree

Rhubarb!

What's summer without rhubarb? I'd say: not much. At least for me it's an essential part of this time of year. I simply love rhubarb. I like it in pies, in ice cream and in fool. And yeasterday I tried out a new recipe with rhubarb. It was a recipe I found already last summer, but I didn't have time to try it out back then. But yesterday, when it was really warm, I decided it was time for some rhubarb lemonade!

Here's how I made it:

1 kg rhubarb

1 dl sugar

2 dl water

1/2 lemon (the juice of it)

1 vanilla pod

First, mix all the other ingredients except the rhubarb and bring it to boil. Then add the rhubarb (peeled and sliced) and let it come to the boil too. Then take it off the hot plate and let it cool in the fridge. When it's cool, strain and serve with crushed ice. The taste was quite strong but perfectly sour. Really refreshing in the heat. With the left over rhubarb (after the straining) I also made a pie. Mmm, delicious!

Since it's finally summer, I've taken my camera with my outside and photographed a few things. Here's some of the pictures I've taken:

 

And finally, a sneak peak of a project I've been working on lately. More of that later on in this blog! Meanwhile, enjoy the summer!

WIP

Finally I feel free! I had my last lesson already over a week ago and therefore I am now a qualified  history teacher. Since then I've just been lazing around, watching TV, reading books and... dreamt about knitting. Unfortunately I've managed to overstrain my wrists and now I have to use these stupid wrist supports. I've had them for two weeks already and still have two more weeks to go before they SHOULD be cured. And the physiotherapist specifically forbid me to knit. Darn. So, typically, once I'd have the time to finally get something done, I can't. I have at least five unfinished projects including one sweater that would be perfect for this weather. Then I also have a half-finished thing for our little godson that I'd like to finish for his birthday this weekend. But I guess he'll have to get it a bit late. Feels quite annoying, actually. I even tried crocheting since the hand-movement is a bit different there, but naa, no good either. So, as a result, one more "Work In Progress":

It was actually quite fun to crochet. I've been mostly knitting lately, so it was rather refreshing to work with a hook in stead of with neddles. Maybe I should start crocheting more. I'd e.g. like to make a Babette blanket someday, but for now, I think it's a bit too big of a project for me.

Last but not least, I had a chance to try my dad's camera and may therefore now end this post with some Easter flowers:

Baby socks

Our godson is just learning to walk on his own, so soon he'll probably be outside jumping in small puddles of water in his rubber boots. And for that, he of course needed a new pair of socks since the old ones already got too small. Since my bigger knitting projects really haven't progressed much, it was nice to get an excuse to do something quick and small in stead. One sock I finished during a couple of not that exciting lessons at the university, the other sock was even quicker. I didn't find any pattern I liked, so I decided to - for the first time ever - make the socks entirely on my own. I simply made them up on the way, improvising and inspired by a pair of socks a friend once knitted for another baby boy. Here's the result:

Pattern: my own

Needles: 3 mm

Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä

They looked really big when I made them and I thought about starting all over again and making them smaller. But since almost everything I've knitted for our godson so far has been a bit too small, I didn't start over with these. And that was a good descision because apparently they turned out quite the right size after all. It's incredible how fast that boy grows!

Two cats arrived here today. They're spending their time at my place while the owners are on vacation. Can't show you any photos yet, though, since I haven't seen them that much. Right now they're hiding under the bed... Hope they'll come out when they're hungry or when they need to pee.

Chicken pasta

A very long time and no see. Sorry about that. I've just been so incredibly busy that even the thought of updating my blog while I had some spare time made me even more tired. And all my crafting projects have had zero progress... But now when I can actually see the end of this semester in my calendar, it has started to feel a little better. Only six weeks till the summer holidays start.

Well, since my knitting projects look the same as in the end of february, I though I'd in stead share one of my recipes with you. It's a recipe for a chicken pasta that I have come up with myself, although inspired by some other recipes. Over the past few years this has become one of my favourite dishes. But since I've never written down the recipe, it tend to turn out a little bit different each time. So what I write down here are only approximate amounts of everyting.

Chicken pasta

500 g pasta

400 g chicken

1 big onion

1-2 red bell peppers

1 can of mushrooms

200 g sun-dried tomato Crème Bonjour

4 dl milk

1-2 tablespoon butter or margarine

1-2 tbsp of flour

3 teaspoons of red pesto

grated cheese

salt

pepper

(chicken spice)

If you use "normal" pasta, you need to cook it a little bit first, but for example last time I bought some Barilla whole-wheat Piccolo Lasagnette pasta and but them in the casserole just like that.

For the chicken I usually use honey-marinated chicken slices. Fry them on a pan adding some onion, the mushrooms and the pepper. Flavor it with some salt, pepper and chicken spice if needed.

The sauce: let the butter melt in a saucepan before mixing it with the flour. Then, when the pan is hot, add a little bit of the milk at a time, beating it at the same time to avoid lumps. When the sauce is ready, add the Crème bonjour (unripened cheese) and let it melt into the sauce. Flavor it with some red pesto.

Mix the pasta and the chicken (with the veggies) in a big casserole. Pour the sauce on top of it, add some cheese and mix a bit more. Add some more cheese evenly on the top and gratinate it in the oven in 200 ° for about 30-45 min (depending on what pasta you use, but at least until the surface turnes brown). It is now ready to be served.

Of coure you can make a smaller amount of it if you want, I just usually put some of the food in the freezer to take with me for lunch to work.

Bon appetit!

Out on the ice

I know some people already complain about that the winter never seem to end, but I haven't actually grown sick of the snow just yet. Nor the cold weather. For some reason I've actually starting enjoying the blistering cold. It's nice to put on a lot of warm, soft and woolen clothes. The only thing that's actually bothering me, is that my skin turnes so dry during the winter. Right now both my face and my hands feel like sandpaper.

The nature is really the best part during the winter, especially now that the spring is coming and the sun is shining more and more. Unfortunately I usually don't have that much time to go outside and enjoy it. That's probably part of the reason I feel so tired all the time. But I'm not complaining about that now. In stead I wanted to post some wintery photos I took already a few weeks back.

It was in the middle of the day, but the sun was still only this high. Although I think the sunshine itself is actually prettier when the sun isn't as high up in the sky as during the summer. The light is somewhat softer.

Kids ice-skating.

Next we went out for a walk on the ice, i.e. the sea outside Helsinki. This is on the way to Seurasaari. I love the way the wind had formed some figures on the snow and how a single rock had forced the ice the burst around it. Like someone who want to be free.

A small animal had been there before us :) I think you were almost able to hear the quiet, small steps it had taken. We were the only ones out there too. Everything was so quiet. You couldn't even hear the sound of the traffic. And even though it was cold, you were still able to feel the sun warming your nosetip.

Lace and cables

I finally had time to finish, photograph and post my new socks for my winter boots. They've been ready for almost a month already, but I've just been too busy to do something about it. But here they are:

Pattern: Palmikkosukat by Novita

Yarn: Gjestal Janne

Needles: 3 mm

I have to say I really love these new socks. I especially like how the cable turns out much more beautiful when it's a little bit stretched out. And the lace pattern is pretty too, even though it's so simple. The whole pair of socks would have been a really fast knit had I only had the time to really sit down and work on it. Actually, the only think I'm angry about, is that my gauge was a bit different when knitting the second sock, so it turned out much tighter than the first one. I don't think you can see it that well, but I feel it very clearly when I wear them. I just hope the other sock will stretch once I've used it a bit more.

I think the past two weeks have been the most stressfull weeks of my life so far. I've just been running from one place to another, following a tight schedule and counting minutes. The good thing is that I have lessons again, which actually gives me a chance to sit down and relax. I've brought a knitting project with me almost every time and I've noticed that it's much easier to concentrate on what the lecturer is saying when I at the same time have something to do with my hands. If I only sit, doing nothing at all, my thoughts just start wandering and thinking about all the things I should do. I don't know what the lecturer thinks about people knitting during his class, though. I don't know if he understands that I am in fact listening and not just killing time. However, I'm actually not the only one knitting. There's always one other girl who's kniting too. But while I've been struggling with my 2 mm needles, I've jealously been watching how her sweater keeps progessing so fast with her 6 mm needles. Oh, I miss working with thick yarn. With thick yarn and big needles you actually notice you're doing something. But with this thin yarn I have now, my progess was only some 5 cm during three lessons... if even that much. Sigh.

But hey, you know what? Spring is almost here! Even though it's - 17 °C outside right now, the sun has still be shining and I've been able to feel the warmth from it. Only two weeks till March!

Kotitiikeri

Here they are, my first project from the lovely knitting book I got: Neulekirja by Ilona Korhonen & Jenni Österman. I actually saw one version of these socks on Napit puuttuu at first, and since they looked so lovely, I had to look up the book itself searching for the pattern. Then the book turned out so lovely too with a lot of patterns I'd like to knit, so I just had to add it to my bookshelf.

Pattern: Kotitiikeri and kulkukissa

Needles: 2 mm

Yarn: Hot socks Marrakesch by Four Seasons Gründl

As always, I changed the pattern just a little bit. In stead of making five small holes for buttons, I made three bigger ones for these beautiful wooden buttons I found on (believe it or not) Stockmann. The 2 mm needles were killing me, though... It's so SLOW! I'm actually working on another project too, using 2 mm needles there as well. Who knows when that one will be finished...

Anyway, these socks turned out to be perfect for work since the "official colour" of the museum is almost the exact same shade of red as the yarn I used. So I guess they can't kick me out since I match their interior so perfectly ;)

Yesterday I went to the library to get (hopefully) the last theory books for my master's thesis. "Introduction to social psychology", "Introduction to psychology", "History and social theory", "What is cultural history?", an article about analyzing letters, some book about socialization within a society... Ugh... These books do interest me on some level, but the other part of me would just rather enjoy some fiction. But I guess it's the same for everyone: as soon as you're forced to read something, it starts feeling boring even though it was something you had chosen to study in the beginning. Sigh.

Well, back to work now.

Presents to me!

Time to show some of the many, many lovely presents I or we got for Christmas this year. Better late than never, right? ;)

First some knitting and crafting related presents:

My aunt gave me this box full of linen yarn designed by Gianni Versace! Forgive me if I now show my total ignorance, but I actually didn't know fashion designers also design yarns. I didn't find this yarn on Ravelry, though. I think it's quite old and not in production anymore. It would be interesting to know how my aunt came across it... Although, she has a diploma in crafts and design, so she probably knows a hell of a lot more of this stuff than I do.

Then I also got two wonderful books:

The bigger one is Martha Stewarts' Encyclopedia of Crafts and it has more than 200 project of totally different kinds. Then the smaller one is the new finnish knitting book I already talked about earlier: Neulekirja by Ilona Korhonen and Jenni Österman, and I will actually very soon show you my first project from that book. Maybe already in my next post, if I have time to finish it.

I just wish I'd graduate from the university soon, because for some reason I imagine that once I don't have essays after essays to write and exams after exams to study for, I'll suddenly have lots of free time to do all sorts of handicrafts. Still I know that once you start working full time, you become a slave of "nine to five" in stead. But the evenings and weekends will still be free, right? If not, please don't crush my hope, because that's what gets me going right now. I haven't done almost anything else for the past two weeks than writing on my masters' thesis. And it actually goes better than I thought it would. I'm already on page 51, so only some 20-30 pages to go! Plus all the corrections. Plus all the extra reading. But still. I can already see the end. Yay! :)

And from these happier thoughts, let's move on to me showing off two of my collections:

This year two cups were added to my collection of Moomin cups. And now they are 21. But believe me, I don't have all of them yet. The two new ones this year was the two cups on the lower shelf on the left: the Muddler (Hosuli) and the Skiing Competition (seasonal special 2010). I think my favourite cup (at least at the moment) is Mymble, the pink one, because it's just so sweet and girly.

Then my other collection:

Disney cartoons! Now you must think I'm crazy, but I actually have 37 Disney movies (some are Disney-Pixar, though), almost all of them on DVD. So the shelf in the picture is only 1/4 of the movies I have. And this years' new ones: Robin Hood and the Beauty and the Beast <3 So if you have kids that needs a babysitter, bring them to me! At least here there will always be something to watch ;)

Snowflake mittens

This is the last Christmas present I had time to finish this year. Hopefully I'll have more time next year.

I promised already over a year ago that I would knit a pair of mittens for my friend, that would match her winter sharf (which is somewhat orange-pink-ish). And since this winter has been sooo cold, I decided that now it was really time to get it done. So here is the result:

Pattern: a mix of several ones

Yarn: Marks & Kattens Carolina Tweed

Needles: 3 mm

I call them snowflake mittens since I happened to stumble over those big white buttons and thought they looked just like snowflakes. Not more complicated than that :)

The other day I noticed that I had way too much milk, so I decided to bake a little.

This is only 1/5 of all the buns I made, all with cinnamon and sugar, because those are my favourites! Yummy.

The same day I had also been to the supermarket and picked up the newest Pirkka Ruoka -magazine (it's a small magazine filled with different recipes) and I decided to try out a recipe for bread that I found in there, just because it was made out of milk, too. But as I am horrible in following recipes, I had to make some small changes. I chose caraway in stead of fennel and mixed in some rye flour too to make it a bit darker. And I have to say it turned out delicious! Probably because I like caraway-bread so much :)