Knitted bunny

Just in time for Spring (and Easter weekend).

A while back, Paxlet’s daycare provider showed me a knitted bunny she had made. It was cute, simple and made by knitting a square and then sewing it up. I thought I could do that! And so I did!

I think I’ll leave this bunny faceless for now. My attempt at eyes was pretty pathetic and I actually like the all white bunny.

I Googled “knitted square bunny” and found this nice tutorial from Jo So & Sew (among many other possibilities). If you’re quicker than I am, you can get this done in a very short time.

#MicroblogMonday – My MIL is awesome

 

I can’t believe I forgot about #MicroblogMonday last week! This week, I am prepared!

My MIL made these for me for xmas. That in itself is pretty cool, well actually warm. What is really sweet and caring is that the blue yarn was some of my mom’s yarn, which I gave to my MIL a few years ago because it is her favorite color. Instead, my MIL knitted me something with it, because it was my mom’s.

Every time I wear these mittens I feel loved and happy.

For more microposts, go visit Mel’s post at Stirrup Queens.

It’s a start

Fall/Autumn is here. The leaves have started to change. The mornings are chilly and afternoons warm, at least in the sun. The air has a perpetual autumn-chill to it no matter what. This means that winter will be on its way next. I hope it doesn’t come too early, we’re not ready yet!

Paxlet doesn’t have a winter suit that fits. Nor winter boots for that matter. He does have plenty of hats; knitted by my mom, given as gifts and that that I have bought. He also has some mittens, some dickies and woolly socks. He even has a couple of scarves, but he doesn’t seem to want to wear them. They are just so cute on little kids! He did, however, enjoy wearing one of my scarves the other day, so I thought I’d try to knit him a scarf and see if he’d wear it.

As I dug through my yarn stash the other day I came across this red ball that Paxlet just kept wanting to play with. At first, I told him I’d make him a washcloth out of it, but then I got to thinking and wondered if I made him a scarf from it, would he wear it? I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?!

I started this last night, ripped it out and started again getting most of the cast-on row down. I then knitted the rest of what you see this morning. As I was doing so, I got to think about my mom. She taught me how to knit. It was after I had moved to Finland and I was back home visiting in the early years of my moving here. It was also one of the first times that the two of us sat down together and taught/learned from each other something where we didn’t lose our cool or get frustrated with one another. My mom was right handed and so I learned to knit right handed. It was awkward at first, I was very clumsy. (That’s an understatement.) I remember that I would hold one needle in my left hand and work my stuff on to the right needle, which I would support against my stomach and do the work on it. All the while, “throwing” my yarn away after each stitch, which meant I had to pick it up each time I did another stitch. (My mom didn’t throw her yarn.) I was painfully slow at knitting. Some time later, back in Finland, I asked my MIL to show me how she knitted (continental style, versus my mom’s English style), especially as she is left handed also. It was much easier and I became faster at knitting. However, it took me several times of asking her to show me how to purl, because it was quite different than what I was used to, but again, I found it much easier! So, here I am, in the bus thinking about my mom and my MIL and so very thankful that I have something from them both with which to give my little boy.

Friday 5: Out of place

This week’s Friday 5 intrigued me and I think it’ll be fun. It also reminded me of the Sesame Street song “One of these things is not like the others”. Anyone remember that?

1. What non-food items are in your refrigerator or freezer?
In the fridge we I have progesterone supositories and in the freezer we have a cold pack for sprains and injuries.

2. What non-book items are on your bookshelves?
Some knitting needles and yarn in a basket and some craft supplies.

3. What song or album in your music collection doesn’t fit in with your usual tastes?

I listen to quite a range of music and don’t generally limit myself to one type of music. If the lyrics, tune or feeling of a song grab me, then I like it even if I don’t like the rest of the songs in an album or by an artist. But, I think the stuff that surprises most people about me is the industrial rock or heavy metal music I listen to and love. I remember the time I told a couple of guys at school that I really loved Machines of Loving Grace. Their eyes just about bugged out of their heads. Tee hee!! The song, Butterfly Wings is probably my all time favorite! The tune and especially lyrics just get me.
I also have a few albums of Kotiteollisuus. They are a Finnish heavy metal band, but I really like a few of their songs, such as Minä Olen (I Am) and Kevät (Spring).

4. What item in your wardrobe really doesn’t match anything else?
I recently took a bunch of stuff to the thrift store, so most of what didn’t match is now gone and the rest of it is costume clothes (they match anything!). Maybe it would be the silky-stretchy-skin-tight white shirt that is way too short with black dragons on it. I have maybe worn it once about 15 years ago, but I just can’t seem to part with it. It has recently made its way into my sewing box to be up-cycled into something else.

5. What scar on your body did you receive in the unlikeliest of ways?
I think this is a tie between two scars: the bump on my inner right wrist and the scar on the top of my left foot just behind my middle toe.
The bump on my wrist happened one evening at Taekwon-do practice a year or so ago. I was holding the mitsi (er, the kicking/punch pad) for my partner to kick and she kicked to far over the thing and her big toe hit my wrist. It must have broke the blood vessel as it started turning color and itching immediately! I had a beautiful bruise for a week or so and then a bump.
The scar on top of my left foot happened many years ago. I must have been 18 or 19 at the time. My ex and I were heading out to the sand dunes where there is a fresh water lake. On our way there, I stepped on a stick with my right foot and kicked my left foot into the end of the stick, causing said stick to protrude out of my foot. It hurt so freaking bad that I started laughing. And each time my ex’s hand came anywhere near my food, I panicked and laughed more. Yes, I laugh under stress and pain. I finally pulled the stick and bits out on my own because I couldn’t handle the thought of him touching it.

Not everything was bad during our trip

Today has definitely been a much better day than yesterday.

Our recent trip to the US for my mom’s memorial wasn’t all bad. We did have some laughs and I did get to do a very tiny bit of shopping. We got to eat crab! Plus my DH packed our suitcases so well, I didn’t have to leave much stuff behind (for a future trip).

The bit of shopping I did was for folic acid (much cheaper), an almost 3lb mix bag of Reese’s pieces, cups, sticks & fast breaks, Tom’s of Maine Wintermint toothpaste, some chapstick (Vanilla Lip Smacker) and Smarties (US kind, not Canadian kind). As I said, I only did an itty bit of shopping, but it was enough. DH did buy himself some books to bring back.

Another important part of visiting my family is food. Almost every (every?) trip we go out in the bay or ocean with my dad to get clams, crab and/or fish. This time there was only crab and muscle (clams) runs. My dad took people out two times for crab while we were there! (I’m sort of kicking myself at the moment, because I probably should have gone with him at least one of the times. Such is life.)  In addition, I have to eat at Taco Bell at least once when I’m in the US. Bean burritos just bring back great memories and I really do love them. But what I love even more is the Taco Bell sauce packets (mild is my favorite). I’m very lucky that my family is so supportive of my Taco Bell Sauce addiction. Whenever they go to TB, they take extra packets and save them for me. We were able to bring back another TB bag full of them with us!

In addition to those few things I bought, I wanted to bring back many of my mom’s knitted items (hats, scarves, socks, bags, baby booties, etc), yarn, some of her knitting books (14 in total) and just books (about the same amount) in general along with some other miscellaneous stuffs. And because my DH loves me so much, we went and bought one more (used) suitcase to carry more stuff back with us. We came back home with 3 suitcases jam packed with stuff. Our total weight was almost 150 pounds of stuff! I know how much my DH hates packing our suitcases at the end of a stay, only because I find so much stuff to drag home with us. But I love him dearly for it each and every time. Although, I do like to think I’ve gotten a bit better about it over the years.

So while our trip was a difficult one, it wasn’t all bad. I was able to stock up on some of my dear US products. *big grin* I also got to spend time with family.