dear human, your granny square shoes are awesome

Remember the fabulastic granny square boots? Even if I may not wear them as much as one might think I love them lots. And so do the cats. Obviously. Because surely it can't simply be a case of lens louseness?

the amigurumi donut

and it's finished! complete with frosting, sprinkles and snoopervisors.

i'm pretty pleased about the end result, hopefully the conference speaker who'll be on the receiving end on friday will be too. it's a quirky wink at the research she does so it'll certainly be a different gift i'm sure.

i love my job.

through the eye of the amigurumi donut to be

currently i have such a lovely array of assignments. each creative in different ways.

and yes, one involves the crocheting of amigurumi donuts. now, how fun is that?!

almost finished, just the assembling and decoration left. snoopervised by the seemingly omnipresent little miss blueeyes.

i'm such a lucky, lucky gal. for all sorts of reasons.

the amigurumi owls in progress

My crocheting and knitting in rota is going well so far. Much better than the rota reading, since I'm basically concentrating on one book alone at the moment. It's fascinating and thought-provoking and I can't get enough. Which is of course a good thing really.



Now I should concentrate on assembling the sweater, because it would after all be so lovely to actually wear it this winter. And I'm pretty certain it will not be such a fiasco as last winter's sweater project...



But instead I've been concentrating on finishing the mittens and tiny amigurumi owls' eyes' embroidery. The latter takes forever. And I'm sure the assembling of 12 tiny owls with 12 tiny beaks and 24 tiny eyes will take even longer.



This is the current status of the owls. All the colours make me happy! Someone said the project looked like a study of the Pantone colours and funnily enough I agree. Though it wasn't my intention. I'm just a colour nerd and this is how we do it.

knitting by rota

If you can read by rota you can certainly knit and crochet by it. Like I also do, but just like with the reading less structured. And well, it's difficult to be structured about it since it's not very easy to "chapterize" the knitting and crocheting. But like with the reading I keep different projects going for different situations Things easy to knit or crochet watching TV or movies and more complicated projects while being able to focus on the project only.

So old assembling-only projects aside - and seriously I'm not the only one who's notoriously bad at completely finishing yarn projects am I? - these are my four major projects right now.



From one purrfect quality inspector to another - the sweet sweater is finished! I'm now in the process of figuring out how exactly to assemble it correctly. And that is certainly no mean feat. It has been quite a process understanding the pattern, which turned out to be bit faulty, and now the actual assembling is more difficult than one would expect. The sweater is made in two parts only, back and front and the back is both back, part of the front as well as sleeves. Yes really. It would be very nice to be able to grasp the assembling instructions and just finish it and being able to wear it asap. Hopefully that will be a reality soon.



Since I took this picture of my amigurumi owls to be I have crocheted 12 of them, stuffed their bodies, crocheted 12 tiny beaks and 24 tiny eyes. I'm now in the process of embroidering those 24 tiny eyes. After that I'll have to sew 36 tiny pieces on 12 owl bodies and then I will attach them to a mobile. It's not complicated work just very time consuming and pretty hard on the hands.



And this, this is a glimpse of a pretty awesome pair of mittens to be. From a lovely pattern inspired by a classic Swedish pastry. Care to guess which one? I'm very excited to finish this project because the adorableness of the finished product knows no boundaries. I've been wanting to knit this for well over a year, but I only finally got the yarn and pattern before Christmas. And now I'm well on my way to one mitten being finished, hooray!

And then there's the top picture of a pretty amazing yarn. What will that become then? The correct answer is: a verrry furry vest. I saw the vest in a yarn shop in Sigtuna before Christmas, found it amazing and now I've finally bought the yarn to make it myself. The vest in the shop was winter white but that yarn colour was discontinued so I went for greyish instead. The pattern is very simple, but in size small only, obviously that needs tweaking and I will make it a proper open vest instead of the slipover that was in the shop.

And that's my knitting/crocheting rota for now. How about yours?

randy the pig

This is a story of a little pet pig who wants to go home, but isn't allowed to due to a case of a bad bad animal shelter behaviour. Instead of me writing about the sad case of little Randy and his unfortunate current situation I will just implore you to read his story at this link (where you will also find additional information and a petition to sign).

I believe the story to be true, but you of course have to decide for yourself after reading his story from people who know him. From my own experience as a breeder of British Shorthair cats I know I'd be heartbroken if this happened to any of the kittens I'd sold. And a wee pig is most likely a more delicate creature than an often more resourceful cat.

So if you too want to bring Randy the pig home, you can also view his Facebook page and tweet about him with the hashtag #bringrandythepighome

happy new year 2015 ~

Even if 2014 has been an overall good year too, I am not able to write such an upbeat and happy New Year's post like last year. Simply because I've felt that 2014 has been a more uphill kind of year. Great in learning, growing, meetings and experiences but sadly not at all as serendipitous and beautiful as 2013. On the other hand I've been quite absorbed with work all autumn, it's been a more serious year and it has perhaps left me less open to the magic that surrounds us.

My deepest, truest, maddest wish for me, myself and Prosit in 2015 is that there will be a plethora of work, play and love. That there will finally be the right time, favourable stars aligned, for new freelance projects, inspiring collaborations with likeminded people, creative assignments with me in a new, professional role in a place that makes my heart sing and makes the world a better place for many.

And for the world I deeply wish for a more compassionate, kinder, peaceful, intelligent, unselfish, greener and happier year.

May you have a fantastic, joyous, vegan food filled, colourful and inspiring 2015 and may your dreams come true -

Happy New Year, one and all!

the christmas yarn projects

Oh the delightfulness of all the yarny projects now! A blend of treats for myself and gifts to me and to be.

The above wool yarn is called Heaven's Hand and the skeins are to become Prinsesstårtevantar (Princess cake mittens, the classic Swedish cream cake turned into mittens. I've done amigurumi ones before, knitting mittens is quite exciting actually) and owl wristwarmers.

This wool yarn will become adorable Tomtebovantar (fly agaric mittens inspired by the classic fairytale by Swedish author Elsa Beskow), a Christmas gift for my mum.

Organic Alba cotton yarn for cute amigurumi owls in different shapes. Isn't the logo of the yarn shop Litet Nystan (Tiny Hank), sweet?

And a quick little wool/alpaca project - a beanie. Because you can't have too many handmade caps in happy colours.

Happy winter knitting and crocheting everybuddy!

the little yarn shop cat

In the adorable yarn shop Garnboden Ulligt & Gulligt (The Yarn shop Wolly & Cuddlesome) - neighbour in Enköping with one of my favourite cafes - with oh so many droolworthy yarns and a very enthusiastic, helpful and sweet proprietor there is also a feline helper.

It's not until recently I've met him, but I do love any business that have furry helpers. And it's somehow kind of obvious that such a cute shop filled with addictive candy for yarn-aholics should also have the purrfect helper.

The help consists of sleeping in an armchair behind the counter. But I'm certain his mere presence, like any cat's or dog's or fine being's, oozes extra magic over the shop and its yarns.

My Lovikka mittens to be and the sweet sweater to be will be even more splendid for it, I'm sure.

Do you have a favourite shop or 
other establishment with a perfect furry helper?

the magic granny square cardigan to be

Looking forward to finally see these 72 granny squares turned into a cardigan. Can't say I'm looking forward to the tying the loose ends and sewing them together though. 

At least it's a Sisyphean task with and end. If there ever was one. 

It will certainly be a cardigan of many colours. A magic one. I'm sure.

colourful bird clothespins

It's a well-known fact that Sisyphean tasks are much easier to perform with fun tools and great products involved. In the case of doing laundry I'm now well chuffed to report that I have a bunch of very sweet bird clothespins from fabulous, colourful Danish interior design and accessories company Rice to spice the laundry thing up. I've been oogling them for years but never gotten around to the purchasing. Now I obviously have. At last. And they make me smile. Like colours and sweet things always do.

Which is all the more important when you have to face those routine there's-no-escape Sisyphean challenges.

green alpaca lace shawl

Behold the finished result of the eternity shawl! Or scarf. The thing that annoys me - no matter how pleased I am about the end result - is that it was supposed to be a triangular shawl, a supersized one. In order to get that I measured and counted, measured and counted and then some, I thought it would take 9 hanks to get there.



After 3-4 hanks I realised something was wrong and yes I had completely miscalculated both the size and amount of yarn to get there... And as it was getting heavier and heavier by each row crocheted I also realised it would be impossible to get it finished as a triangular shawl if I ever wanted to be able to actually wear it.



Conclusion; it is a lovely piece, which took quite a lot of time to finish. It's not exactly what I aimed at, but good in its own way. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a forever project but finished in a reasonable amount of time. You can follow its progress in these posts - January 12, January 17 and March 23.

16 hanks in three different pastel green hues to get there (not the calculated 9...) and I decided it was a finished shawl/scarf. To be inaugurated next winter. But before it was sent to summer hibernation it got its few minutes of fame udner the magic pink light of the cherry blossom trees 2014. They went really well together, wouldn't you agree?

sunday reflections

Sometimes the heart and mind are so full of ideas, thoughts, feelings that it's quite a labour to simply sort them out and see the goals. When that happens (as it often does) I believe it's a good idea to take a step back or at least stop and reflect for a while. Before you write down the next steps and move on.



It is also a good idea to bake. While sorting your thoughts out. Today I made a coconut cake with chocolate truffle. Which was quite a feast. For both the eye and palate. I've decided to only use the kind eggs for baked goodies alone, cooking with eggs isn't my cup of tea anyway. I'm looking forward to filling the freezer with delicious things.

I do not take those eggs for granted and I have no idea when I will be able to get some again, so I think it's important to make really lovely and memorable things with them (and I'll try my very best not to bake for the birds again).

Three selected good things that happened this weekend;

* I finished the eternity shawl - anti-climactic of sorts, not really sure what project to continue with now. Perhaps simply finish that tulip sweater, hrm, yes it's been three years since I blogged about it...

* Saturday was a gloriously sunny day - one thing I've really come to treasure, actually realizing it only these past few years, with living on these latitudes is the way people start acting so very differently when spring arrives. A certain buzz in the air comes with the sun and higher temperatures, of easygoingness, friendliness and harmless flirtation. And perhaps gratitude for being able to put the long darks months behind us finally.

* I lost a mitten at a seminar I attended a month ago. It was a really good mitten. For various reasons I haven't been able to go look for it until now. And now it is back in my possession. The pink mittens have been reunited and they seem utterly grateful for it. As am I.

Do you have three selected good things
that happened during your weekend?
If so, care to share?

happy carrot day!

Despite carrots being my favourite vegetable and me *suffering* from the carrot defect I didn't know April 4th is Carrot Day! I will from now on treasure April 4th even more.

Sadly I haven't had the opportunity to feast on carrots galore, but I've had a couple of glasses with freshly made juice - carrots, pears and oranges.

And I have an awesome carrot soap.

Hope your Carrot Day has been lovely
and filled with carrot delight!

spring feelings

It's been a rather quiet weekend. Given the hectic and productive last week it was probably a good thing. I've spent it enjoying the sun - the lawn is covered in scillas soon in tiny, perfect bloom, everything comes so quickly once it has begun, the thing called spring! The seasonal inspection of the lilacs has taken place too -



cleaning - it's been well, well overdue, the feng shui-ing of the bedroom, I've probably done 2/3 of it now. It feels lovely and spacious and I've vowed to never keep clothes on rails and piles in there again. A fresh, clutter free bedroom is the new me -



cooking from things available in fridge and freezer - decluttering the fridge one might say - and baking sunshine cookies.



Having had a distinguished pug visit.



Continuing the work on the eternetity shawl - I'm adamant to finish it soon. Only two hanks left. Keep focusing, Pia. It will be a lovely thing to inaugurate come winter 2014-15 - under due inspection.



Now I'm finishing some work in order to be ready for the week to come. Looking forward to it. It's actually the last one of March. Another month that just said swoosh and went by. But it has been an overall good one. So far. Let's keep it that way and finish it with a fabulous bang!

I hope your weekend has been of a joyous kind.
Have a good week, one and all!

on a winter friday

~ i marvelled over how pretty the winter wonderland is. every snowflake is a tiny piece of art

~ i had a lovely soy latte and i still adore the winter design cups at espresso house

~ i had a very interesting and productive meeting, which means i will, for various reasons, spend a lot of time working this weekend. which is actually one of the things i love about running my own business - i decide how my weeks look, if i want to work on a saturday i can have a tuesday off and noone minds

~ i continue to work on the eternity shawl. i'm sure i will be very proud of myself when it's finished (at this rate, in about 10 years or so). only 178 rows to go, piece of cake

all and all a heart friday.

happy weekend one and all!