Welcome 2014!

 

 A new year, a new book. A new day, a new page. Welcome 2014, and may you be a good one.

(The book above is a small compilation of my Instagram pictures from 2012, printed at Blurb. Highly recommended!)

I've been away for a while, as you may have noticed. Real life and all that. Priorities must be made, but I have found myself missing this space a bit lately. So while I cannot promise five posts a week, I can at least say that there will be some activity here now and then. How's that for commitment? :) :)

While I write some words about some of the stuff I've made that never made it to the blog in 2013, you can take a look at some Instagram pictures showing what I've done instead of blogging the last six months. There should really be a photo of my TV in there. Really, there should be.

Anyway, I'm off to watch the new episode of Sherlock. Again. :) Here's the slide show:

 I've taken a few walks in the awesomeness of nature, not always on the safest paths...

 ...seen evidence that life may survive in rough places if it adapts to its surroundings...

 ...made my favourite summer desserts a few too many times...

 ...picked wild blueberries (the real thing!)...

 ...grown my own radishes, with somewhat varying results...

 ...taken my first flight in far too many years...

 ...had a proper staredown with a lioness...

 ...watched the days turn shorter and shorter...

...changed to brand new studded tires that so far have seen snow only on a single morning...

...played and relaxed with family...

...and last, but certainly not least, had more than a few geocaching adventures! I could have shown you so many pictures relating to this sport/adventure/game/mystery solving/treasure hunt, but settled for this one, which is one of my favourite shots from last year.

There will be some posts coming soon. Some cards, and a few knitting projects. If you're curious, there's always my Ravelry page and Instagram to keep you occupied while you wait.

See you soon!

Felted robins tutorial

Tweet tweet! I'm not tweeting electronically just yet, but here are some of the felted variety. Robins are gorgeous birds! Their round red bellies are so easily recognisable and a lovely touch of colour during the relatively monochromatic winter months.
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These felted robins have become something of a winter tradition of mine. I love them! Since they feel more like a winter decoration than a christmas themed one, I bring them out of hiding some time in October/November, and keep them up until all the snow has come and gone, long into the new year.

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Several robins have flown away to my family members as little gifts the last two years. Even my brother spontaneously declared that he loved them and would like a little flock of robins for his appartment. Well, I couldn't deny him his wish, could I? ;) Away they went, all of them, and I started gathering a new flock for myself.
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This time I thought I'd make a little tutorial for you. I originally made mine from a material set from Panduro Hobby, but all the nescessary materials are available in hobby stores. Needle felting is incredibly easy, just hold the wool and stab repeatedly with the felting needle. The needle has notches that pull the wool fibers in and when you pull it back out they leave the wool fibres behind. Just one thing though. Be very very careful with your fingers, that needle is incredibly sharp!! Go on, ask me how I know. ;)

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ETA: I've been asked for more details on how the technique works. To start the robin you hold the red wool on top of the styrofoam ball. Stab the felting needle through the wool into the ball - this will bring wool fibres into the ball and make the wool stick to it. Keep poking the needle through the wool and into the ball until all the wool is well entangled around the whole styrofoam ball, and starts to resemble regular felt. You'll see the transformation from fluffy wool fibres to the dense red layer happen right before your eyes. No glue is needed! The wool sticks to both the styrofoam and itself. In fact, the styrofoam ball isn't actually necessary because the wool felts to itself, but it gives you a shape to start with, and therefor saves a LOT of time and wool. It probably takes a couple of hundred stabs on this first step, so have a little patience. When I got the routine in, it didn't take me more than fifteen minutes or so to complete the entire bird.

When you get to step 3, you simply gather some gray wool and hold it over the now red ball and repeat the process. Stab through the gray wool into the red wool and styrofoam ball and watch the gray wool entangle itself. Use the needle to guide it into the desired shape. After a while you'll actually see an effect from each stab. To make the tail you use the felting needle on just the grey wool for a while, poking through it into thin air, and it will entangle into itself forming a firm clump of wool protruding out from the body.

I hope this clarifies the process!

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So here it goes!

1: Grab your styrofoam ball, mine are ca 3 cm in diameter.

2: Cover styrofoam ball with red carded wool and felt with felting needle.

3: Cover half of the red ball with grey carded wool and felt. Be sure to let some of the felt protrude from the body to make a tail.

4: Make a ball of black carded wool and felt to body in the opposite end from tail.

5: Felt a tiny amount of grey carded wool to both sides of head, to make eyes.

6: Cut a small square of orange felt and attatch to head along the diagonal with felting needle. Attatch black sewing thread to back of head. Done!

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I'm linking up to the Strut Your Stuff link party.

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ETA: I've been featured on Five on Friday at Singing with Birds! Thank you for my 15minutes of fame. :) And thanks to all of you lovely ladies - and gents - leaving comments! I read and enjoy every single one! :D

Also, if you have any questions, just leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as possible right there in the comment section.

Happy easter!

Happy easter everyone! Hopefully you're all away with your families enjoying yourselves. That's what I'm doing right now! :) At least, let's hope we're enjoying ourselves and not struggling with the effects of cabin fever. ;) This is a sceduled post, as our cabin doesn't have an internet connection (yet?) and we're relying on other ways to have fun. Personally, I think it's a good thing - I could probably use a little internet detox time... :P
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I fully intend to make a batch of these yellow crackled eggs this year too, but you'll have to settle for last year's pictures I'm afraid, as I don't have enough food colouring for an extra batch (for shooting). I'm thinking they'll look great served whole in a bowl on the easter table!

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If your're curious on how to make these eggs for yourself, the process is deceptivly simple: Hard boil your eggs, roll gently on hard surface to crack shell (do not remove shell), let sit in bowl of water with (lots of) yellow food colouring in fridge overnight, carefully peel away shell next morning to reveal beautiful surface. Or check out this tutorial, which is where I got the idea.

Feeling the love!

I recently gathered up some courage and added a hit counter to my blog. I must admit, I've been hesitant to do so... Quite simply, I was afraid to be disappointed, feeling that I write all this stuff just for my close friends and a few more. So, having no idea of how many people who actually comes to visit my tiny little space here on the www, I found myself astonished to see the number reach 1000 in a week! Needless to say, my jaw dropped to the floor and my heart sang a little song right there. ;) Honestly, if I had 50 hits a week I'd be pleased as punch, but one thousand?? Wow... Thank you so much, each and every one who visit!
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And so for my first award! It came to me from Sarah at the After Craft blog, where I stumbled upon some very nice kanzashi flowers by the way. Thank you Sarah!
-I have a thing about privacy, especially on the internet. Once something is out there, you can never take it back! That's the reason why I always watermark my photos and don't really share personal details or photos. So I'm skipping the parts of the award instructions about "seven secrets", and quite simply say thank you so much!

I'll be leaving for a little easter vacation soon, but I'm currently working on a couple of scheduled posts for those of you who still find yourselves in a place with an internet connection. Personally, I'll treasure the abcence of it for a few days... :)

Sneak peek

Here's a little sneak peek into one of the reasons why this little blog has had a bit of a down-period lately. I've gone mad (blame it on the fever) and started a project I hope to share throughout December. *ahem* Let me clarify: I hope to share it throughout this December. Knowing myself and considering the scope of this project, there is a real chance it will rather be next December... Wish me luck.

Imagination

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Imagination

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is more important than knowledge,

for while knowledge defines all we currently

know and understand,

imagination leads us to all we might yet

discover and create.

A list, a messy desk and a short-distance relationship

Not really in the mood to make anything these days, sorry guys. I'll get there eventually.
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Made a list of things to to in my home instead. It quickly grew to 21 tasks, large and small. I completed seven of them today and am very pleased with that.


Tidying -Organizing -Clearing my desk is on the list, but not a task I feel up to just yet. Maybe tomorrow.
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In the mean time, I want to share the most amazing video with you! Take the time to watch it. It's just over 10 minutes long, but definitely worth your while. It put a smile on my face.