the mini-me with carrot

Feeling somewhat stressed right now - for various reasons, both good and bad I suppose - so today will nearly be a Wordless Wednesday in blog. Behold my Mini-Me, or the Bunny-Me, the lover of carrots. And yes, Mini-Me likes pink too. My perfect Mini-Me was spotted in that great bag of fabrics. Since then I've felt the wee fellow deserved a mini post of his/her own.

lacy pearly wrist warmers

Today was the first day I really felt that yes most certainly Autumn is here, such a chill in the air in the afternoon. So to look at it from the positive side, at least now is the time to finally inaugurate some neat autumnal things that one has either made oneself or bought on, most probably, Etsy.

Now is the time for wearing these grey-pink crocheted beauties lacy wrist warmers. I found them by accident on in the hypericumfragile shop on Etsy and as they are quite irresistible I grabbed them immediately.

And what's even more amazing, they are even more beautiful in real life. The delicate, romantic work is just perfect - myself I just not have the patience for such uttermost perfection, I'm in awe of people who have that patience - the thin cotton yarn has a pearly lustre that is matched with the three tiny buttons that one fasts the wrist warmer/cuffs with. Oh I'm positive they'll make any autumn jacket or sweater outfit ooze that extra special adorableness.

And I can safely say that the packaging and wrapping in which the pretty pair arrived is quite possibly the so far loveliest I've received from an Etsy seller.

More of her talented work you'll find in the shop ~

rainy monday

Heavy rains here today, more has been promised for the rest of the week (not that I trust weatherwo/men, they are as trustworthy as the average politician...). Rainy weather is far from always a bad thing in my world, but still, it can put a damper on mood, pushing it towards melancholy, feeling blue.

So now I hope for a week of rosy content, if not the colour of the thing falling from above, or at least only the very prettiest of blues. Have a sweet week ~

pia's got a brand new toaster

And it's red. Very red. Quite quite lovely. But with reservations;

* I prefer my toaster to be of four slices and not two, but I'm sure that's just a silly notion since in case one wants another two slices it's better to get them warm and crisp.

* It's not like I didn't need a new toaster, my other one is probably over 15 years old and its even-roasting-features somewhat out of whack. Still I kinda like to chose my own kitchen utensils and gadgets...

* Things that are really cheap, where there is no obvious reason given quality and such, really gets me going in a non-positive way.

Because it's so very obvious that the person in the beginning of the manufacturing process hasn't been paid a reasonable amount of money for his/her work. I wish more people could realise that for every cheap T-shirt, every cheap furniture, every cheap gadget, there most probably is someone who has paid the price in the other end of the production line with an unfair salary or unhealthy working conditions.

And when one has paid a silly low price for something like that, in our part of the world, one really has no reasonable right to act all surprised and upset when the next working-conditions-in-the-third-world-scandal is revealed. Because that right has been revoked with the low price.

Paying a fair price on the other hand does give one a right as a consumer to make demands on both product and the way in which it has been manufactured.

M is like most people, he does not care the least bit about this (and he probably thinks that I'm naive, too much of an annoying, passionate, analyzing thinker that likes to think too much and make a fuss) and love to find bargains. I do too, but not on someone else's expense (in case they don't deserve it, but that's another story than the one about a red toaster).

Let it also be known that I by no means always live smug like I talk, write and preach, I don't alas. But I'm always aware of the issue, I do strive to be better and better at it. To not be a part of the problem but of the solution.

Anyhow, this Bosch toaster apparently was just that unreasonably cheap, some recent special offer at an electric device chain store. When I got all upset - and not as only happy with a red gift - he brought up the idea that perhaps actually the store reduced the price, made a loss on devices they weren't able to sell instead of keeping a lot of unsold (no matter how cute and convenient) red toasters in stock. Well, so okay then, that could perhaps make somewhat sense. Maybe. Thus for now I will try and be reasonably pleased with my new red toaster (but every time I look at it I will be remembered about the too cheap to be good notion, yes I will).

Conclusion; sometimes a red new toaster is so much more than just its red new toastery. It's political.

september saturday ~

For today we're planning a really lovely road day trip with friends, which will alas be the last toy car outing for this year. The revisiting of places, the seeing of new things - one of which I'm unexpectedly excited about and which I'm sure you'll find both surprising and highly interesting once it finds its way to blog - I'm hoping the weather deities while see it fit to grant us good weather.

Happy weekending all well-deserving souls ~

doing the malte walk

This suburb of mine is really the best of both world's green and rural, but still within reasonable - when the train works - access to Stockholm city.

Admittedly and sadly, like in most cities and suburbs, the politicians with the planning and building offices keep on making crappy, badly thought through and devastating decisions thus there have been some really horrible changes with new and changed residential as well as office-areas since I moved here (1991). Which includes a massive amount of deforesting in order to build Poltergeist-styled blocks of houses that mar the eye and give the creeps.

But amongst all these bad bad decisions there have been really fine ones, that offers new and lovely walking paths, viewpoints and relaxation areas.

One of them being the wooden path that meanders right beside the nearby lake. Built a couple of years ago, I didn't happen to walk it until earlier this year. (In the way one tend to walk the same old paths that one uses to...). But I did love it from the start. So if you care to tag along, let's go, with one loaf dog extraordinaire as the distinguished guide...

'hurry up now'

'you really are terribly slow, you know'

'to the right there is water'

'slightly uphill here'

'pretty, yes?'

'water break'

'bath break'

'coffee break'

A rather nice pit stop on such a wooden walk path-walk is at another of our local water-holes (shop and café, which will get a post of its own soon) a place that, despite its nearness to both road and railroad tracks

also offers a rather lovely views on the sitting-outdoors-part of the year.

If you don't return on the wooden walk path you can one can either chose walking through one of the Poltergeistish areas or cut through the woods. Needless to say, we do prefer the latter.

what will become of the granny squares

Hopefully these granny squares - which needless to say is a very very addictive way to practise yarn and hook skills - will not fall into category of (half) forgotten half finished projects of mine. Because as a season draws to an end, my drive to finish any seasonal projects tends to evaporate. Thus I may not finish this project - which most probably spells s-c-a-r-f. Yup another addiction of mine which must be very obvious too by know - until spring comes.

The yarn was bought over a year ago - the same small Swedish company that created the purple - green yarn of recent purchase, which is my current in-front-of-telly-yarn-project alongside another nearly finished one. And if you've guessed the outcome of them both to be scarves too, well then you've guessed right... - with the then intention of taking up the art of macrame again.

Which obviously didn't happen. I took the hanks with me on summer holiday and began making the ol' faithful (surprise) granny square. I have an idea on how the scarf will look, but as the summer season alas is no more here, wearing of these kind of scarves will be a non-issue in the months to come, merging of these pink, blue, white squares will probably wait until next year. Perhaps.

Besides now is soon the time of magic socks again (and ahem, half finished woolly scarf and shawl projects...). And as if last season's sock posts weren't enough, oh do I have some delightful new ones to blog-show, tell and put the last finishing touches to...

In the track of summer yarns come the winter ones and all the possibilities that hold, for that I am grateful. Both from a creative, therapeutically and relaxation point of view, since a ball of yarn nearby is a must in my life.

As is a kitty inspector extraordinaire.

If you missed the blogoversary give away of yesterday, feel free to hope over there and enter ~

happy 5th blogoversary ~

Today it's been five years since the first tentative post in this blog - where did the time go? - so thank you for these years blog, I couldn't have done it without you. And well, just so you don't get all hoity-toity with self-importance, sweetie, you wouldn't have been without me.

In celebration I feel it appropriate to have a little give away, much like the latest one;

a set of 3 postcards and 1 bookmark (similar to the ones for sale in the Prosit shop on Etsy). Add to that something extra little to beat the possible Autumn blues.

This will be sent to 5 recipients that leave a comment in this blog post and tell what kind of posts you enjoy the most here (be it Stockholm, cats, travels, dogs, Sweden, books, skin care, crafts, etc etc and so forth).

Please leave comment no later than September 22nd CET and you'll participate in the draw.

Now, do enjoy a cup of tea and pink strawberry delight in celebration of this fine blogoversary day ~

sun travels

There's a contest going on at the Swedish travel agency Solresor 's website. Anyone with a laptop, digital camera and a blog can be a travel reporter and document the ongoing travel. Such a nifty idea for a contest! Admittedly I'm rarely lucky in such contests but as my birthday is coming up thus it should be my extra lucky time of the year I ought to try that luck anyway, don't you think?

Of the different destinations Solresor have I would love an opportunity to Fly&Drive explore Mallorca by car for a week. I think car holidays is just about the perfect way to get past the regular tourist tracks and get to see just a little bit more of another culture and way of life in your own pace. And Mallorca as destination would of course be a good excuse to brush up on that lost but not forgotten Spanish too.

So may the sun and the fortune be with me, here's my blog post entry ~

morfar ginko

There's a popular bar in Stockholm called Morfar Ginko - looks rather fab, but I've never visited. Not yet - (Grandpa Ginko) named after a character in a radio show in the 1950ies.

Last weekend, at the car boot sale I found the original book from 1954 about Grandpa and Grandma Ginko. Quite entertaining, especially the part where Santa Claus gives Grandpa some yarn and a needle so he can mend his own socks instead of taking for granted Grandma would do it.

It seems though, from the book cover, that it's a translation from English and that the original writer is someone named A. Roy Alexander. Still curious about the story behind the book/character, I've googled the writer's name in vain. Does anybody know the original story, the writer, the book?