Handu & Veera

        Stripe Study Shawl by Veera Välimäki, yarn hand-dyed by Ilu from Handu... LOVELY!!!!

Snails

Minerva has always loved playing with snails... ever since was little she would organize slides and things on the terrace, she would name them and follow them and then let them loose (in our neighbours garden)... this morning the first snails of the season were out... she played for a while, named them but then said that growing up has made her feel that they are a bit icky... =)

  

Spring!

The first flowers are always yellow... and the garden is a jungle.

I think Oliver's tomb will be surrounded by beautiful stones...

must start gathering them...

It's been a month sweet Prince Oliver... We miss you!

Another Cowl

This is wonderful BFL yarn dyed by Ilu from Handu, and I had trouble deciding what it wanted to become... I ripped three times before it found it's final form ,but it was worth it!!

The pattern is Boomslang, from Ravelry, and I LOVE IT!!!

PS. The daughter is pretty cute too... she finally got rid of her braces and actually smiles now!!

More Rain...

                                           Our front gate

IT'S WET WET WET...

Ravelry Exchange!!!!

I took part in an exchange among finnish Ravelers and received a beautiful red package in the mail yesterday from Thuja!

The box was red, and this was what I found as I opened it:

RED!!! The best milk chocolate, salty licorice and a lovely little box from Marimekko...

             A skein of sockyarn from The Sanguine Gryphon,

                                    Spinning fibre from Skein,

     A lovely red pouch with a rooster embroidered in cross stitch,

             And a card with Jan Van Eyck's 'Man with a Turban'

This is the photo of everything together!

A lovely package, thank you Thuja!!

Alternative to Sunday lunch: Hospital!

My kid's have had almost sixty stitches, four casts, scratched corneas, even an ablation of an extra beat in my son's heart... the last time in hospital, until today, was last weeks Monday when the caveman accompanied my son to have his cast removed...

We're pretty used to going to the Emergency Rooms, we know which hospital to choose depending on what has happened...


But today I was taken    

by surprise when my daughter came running in from outside saying that Dad had fallen!

It's been raning three days and there are stairs that are really slippery and they attacked the cave-man!!!


His glasses cut the corner of his eye, but that didn't worry me... 5 stitsches are nothing in this family, but the bump that grew on the side of his head had me worried until they checked him in hospital...
And to think that this morning I thought to myself: Thank heavens this month is over!... I spoke too soon!

Oliver's First Year With Us!

KNITTING!

There has been knitting, but mostly the brainless kind...

This is all I knit during the vacation, and I didn't even finish it because the braid was a bit too much... so I finished it in those first days back in Italy.

The pattern is Molly (on Ravelry)
and the yarn is Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend.


































This is a fun neckwarmer/turtleneck thingy... very warm... Ihmepötkylä on Ravelry, yarn is Colinette Jitterbug in colourway Velvet.

This blanket is actually still in progress... have to finish the I cord around two sides still... Ten Stitch Blanket in Noro Silk Garden...  This one is for the Cave-man...

 Then I made this cowl, more or less like the Gap-tastic Cowl on Ravelry, from Noro Silk Garden and I absolutely LOVE it... it's warm and soft and comfortable...

And now that my brain is slowly coming back and I can concentrate again, I managed to finish my mother's Semele shawl in Rowan Felted Tweed which I has started in January... I love this yarn and this shawl  pattern by Åsa                                                                                 

A Pet's Prayer

A Pets Prayer
If it should be, that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then, you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle, can't be won.
Don't let your grief stay your hand,
For this day more than the rest,
Your love and friendship stand the test.
We've had so many years,
What is to come can hold no fear.
You'd not want me to suffer, so
When the time comes, please let me go.
Take me where my needs they'll tend,
Only, stay with me to the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you'll see it is a kindness you do for me
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I've been saved.
Don't grieve it should be you who this thing decides to do.
We've been so close, we two, these years,
Don't let your heart hold tears.
SMILE, FOR WE WALKED TOGETHER FOR AWHILE.