on valentine's day

As mention the other day, I'm rather the antivalentinist, but there might, there just might be inauguration of this heart iron tonight, there may be small heart shaped pancakes for dinner. Plättar (plur., plätt sing.) in Swedish. Since the heart shape I adore, any time of the year, just not particularly for this day, February 14th.

And since today is also the day of what hopefully will be the first step towards a future I want, celebration should be called for, it really should (no, not any comfort-food-thinking after a day of barely surviving here, oh no). Heart shaped pancakes it is. Make love for dinner. With whipped cream and raspberry jam on top. Only food on a plate of course. Nothing more, nothing less.

Have a lovely day,
have a grand week,
however you chose to spend it ~

two stripey dresses

For similar reasons as I'm no fan of IKEA I'm not much of a fan of Swedish clothes designer Gudrun Sjödén. Although her prices are not of the super-cheap kind, it is very much a feeling of mass-production, the quality and homogeneity of sizing often do leave a lot to be desired. And many of the designs are not of my taste, a bit too... artistic, cultural funky 60+ ladies one might say.

But she's good with colours, really good. And when the quality and design is decent, it is really nice. The specific eco-labels I most often enjoy (but I really wonder about the reasons for the limited collection of such).

Oh, I could go into this a lot, the pros and cons, the devastating impact the textile industry in general has on the environment. Fairtrade and globalization, I know. We all know. And every time I go shopping I think about it. I do. Sometimes I just walk away, sometimes I deliberate with myself for a long time, sometimes I say no, sometimes I say yes, sometimes I go for it, wallet permitting.

But for now, it'll just be a post about the fact that I struck gold as far as bargains go yesterday. If the prices I paid for two awesome stripey dresses had been the original prices there were no way the person in the beginning of the production chain would have gotten paid a decent salary. But this time it was a left over price at Gudrun Sjödén HQ outlet - which was a really nice place to stroll, I'll give the brand that, the shops are always lovely decorated. Yesterday was my first visit, there may be more - I think these dresses sold for original price two years ago.

Knitted, cotton blend, both quite striking in different ways. I'm not comfortable to wear them simply as they are, but with a thin sweater, linen, shirt underneath, possibly trousers they do look great. The original sale price in itself was a steal, it turned out that was reduced with a further 30%. Since the black-white one lacked its belt I got it for a 50% reduction. Which meant a most reasonable price of 100 sek and 75 sek respectively. That is, ~15 usd and ~10 usd. It would have been a crime not to have bought them, right? Right.

They are lovely, both, wouldn't you agree?

princess cakes galore

The classic Swedish cake "prinsesstårta", princess cake (cream cake with topping, green one with pink rose being the original) amigurumi style. I have to say I am quite quite pleased with end result. They're all super sweet, in many flavours, in many colours.

I mean, for the love of colours,
why have only green ones (though pretty as they are)
when one can have...

a mandarin princess cake with a reversed-twin or...

go all the way pink, reversed-twins

(yes I totally adore the notion of that),

lavender and rose twins -

if one didn't think Valentine's Day is a complete

commercial hullabaloo than anything authentic

it would be a perfect li'l thing, I suppose -

and last, but not least, of course the classic green one
should have a reversed-twin.

Next I'm thinking it would be nice with a blueberry cake, a lemon cake (which of course would become a really Swedish cake). And chocolate/mocha cakes (like the semla).

The more, the merrier, at least when it comes to (show bread) cakes. I'm thinking Alice in Wonderland-ish tea-partyesque. These were such a treat to make, such a treat to look at. True happy cakes. From start to finish. Heart.

Edit: they are now listed in Etsy-shop,

just for the fun of it
they're just too much work
for me being able to offer them
for those often incredibly
low Etsy-prices...

love peace planet

Just a simple question today. Has anyone tried this haircare range, the Love Peace Planet from Tigi? I have been perusing this shelf for a long, long time now, sniffing the wonderful scent of cherries and such, I like the eco ingredients list, it's probably just a matter of time before I take the final buy-leap. Possibly. With this price range (in Sweden) I kind of would appreciate to know if someone has tried it and liked it. So...?

winter pelle

~ Maybe this venturing outdoors wasn't such a good idea because

A) I didn't realize it was this cold outside

B) This yapping, herding loaf under table is utterly annoying

Can I please go back inside again?

the king's speech

We hadn't been to the cinema for ages -

not a lot of new movies that interests me these days, these years, going to the cinema is pricey, watching a movie while quite possibly enduring other peoples' bad habits, well, not so much fun and you can't knit while watching, nor have a pee- or tea-break without missing parts of the film -

so the other day it was time for not only the first cinema visit of 2011, but also the first in a long, long time. We saw "The King's Speech" and it was lovely. Multi-layered, brimming with all those excellent British actors one adore (like Dumbledore, Ivanhoe, Claudius, Elizabeth Bennet and such). Made in that quality and uttermost care for details way only (almost) British movies and TV-series are. And not only because Colin Firth played the main character. Scenography exquisite, every scene like a memorable-moment-in-life-postcard.

How many Oscars will it win, that is the question.

the little red darning bag

At Pia K Stockholm HQ we're not (that) afraid of venturing into the land of fabrics. It doesn't happen often, granted, but with all the fabrics the lady in charge keeps bringing home (and now we're not talking yarn, that we're already drowning in, safety officer, hallo), something's gotta be sewn.

Latest little thing, some leftover pieces from another project (yet to be completed), some of granny's old lace, some thrifted doilies, a ribbon - hey presto, here's a little red darning bag. Given to someone who's been a particularly good sock customer. Simply containing a darning needle and mini yarn-balls for every sock colour ordered.

Because magic socks (extralong or not) deserve a good darning and a long life.

no dairy, perhaps

In my effort to eat less dairy (and hopefully, possibly exclude it completely one day...) I've been trying the vegan version of sour milk and yogurt, oatgurt and soygurt. Can't say I'm completely won over. The taste of the plain ones is so-so (I have a blueberry version in fridge that I haven't tried yet). And even if too much dairy doesn't agree with my stomach, I have to say, neither do these. Not too pleased about all the additives in them. Like rapeseed oil in dairy-substitutes, seems quite out of place to me. Surely all food, vegan or not would benefit from fewer additives, being less processed?

And then there's the palm oil issue. I'm really, really not okay with it in food (or beauty) products, vegan or not.

grey mouse little

What is this, what is this?

One good and accurate guess in the amugurumi semla post as to what the explosion study showed, a wee mouse of course!

A rather snazzy little fella in his apple green scarf I think.

And courageous too, fending off a malicious looking cat.

He's now keeping Evert company with Little Heart Bunny with the fly agaric moving to his new home. Since that has most definitely brought sadness amongst the little yarn guys, I'm thinking there'll be another bunny (that will never move away) made soon-ish...

not a sporty animal

Many years ago I spotted this postcard. And it spoke to me. A catlike animal saying "how fortunate I am to not having become a sporty animal" - how spot on for me!

Because oh yes, I'm quite possibly the least bit sporty animal on this earth (to exercise in moderation and be active for health reason is not equal with being sporty), in fact I do truly loath sports. Such a brainless waste of energy, time and money. IMHO, personally I think and all that.

Postcard by quirky Swedish artist and silversmith Lisa Tofft, whose little animalistic feel-good book with high recognition factor "Jag är faktiskt väldigt mjuk på magen" (I am actually very soft on my tummy. 'said the hedgehog') is a little gem. She has her studio in Kivik, in the vicinity of Kiviks musteri and not too far from Friden gårdskrog. Such surrounding do inspire good thoughts. I just knew it.