Friday, January 20, 2006

Cold Distraction

The cold front has made its way uphere and is stable. The weather is supposed to stay this way during the weekend. The temperature in the morning was -35 C and little Tina has moved inside the house. She was sick last night, I don't know what was the problem but her tail was not curling happily and she looked very stressed.
But this morning she seems to be fine. This picture I took after I fed her with rye bread slices covered with liver paste. She seems to be smiling again...
I have been smiling lately too but not because of the rye bread, which by the way is very good...

I received a treasure box yesterday. Thank you Susanna!

Weather this cold is frightening but the timing for wool is perfect.

This Merino(my new love)/Kid Mohair 20% was also included.

Had to give it a test run... and it seems perfect to spin.

Besides burying myself in the wool I can plan future projects like

Pacific Northwest Shawl with Jaggerspun Zephyr, which is half Merino(again!) and half Tussah Silk in colorway Blueberry.

(I'm not sure from where all these items are but I'm certain that Jaggerspun Zephyr is from Acorn Street Shop.)

Or I can pick a project from here.

In this book are lovely socks that are on my to-do list in the near future.

The cold keeping me inside and kids at school I have had extra time at the computer. I know, this would be a perfect time to get into serious spring cleaning (closets and cabinets), the sun is going to bring out into the open all the dust and stains but instead of following the vacuum cleaner I followed other tracks and found this KAL. Love good old classics and am always on the lookout for inspiration. I thought this was for me...

The Olympics heat is building up! Have to be careful now so that the peak performance is reached the right time, so that there is no need to explain after the games how I did not reach my best behavior nor that I over did it. I'm told that mental training is extremely important. So at least once a day I'll take 15 minutes to picture myself putting the last stitch on the 16th of February and then triumphantly weave in the ends right on time. Does enyone know if I should already start taking extra carbohydrates? It doesn't include chocolate am afraid? Maybe I can use up all the calories collected during Christmas holidays. Does anyone know how much calories are burnt while speed knitting, not ordinary knitting?

I wonder if I'll throw myself to ground after reaching the finish line having given the last bit of everything of my body and soul or if I wave and bow in good health. I hope you can't find me sobbing and ripping...

And do I have a happy family in the background and with sincere heart can I thank them for helping and supporting me the whole way?

All my animals are females so far. I have been careful not shaking the world of the women by bringing a male into the crowd, but I think now might be the right time...

Jaywalkers are doing fine. I'll show them next time.

PS. I try to work on the pronunciation but I have to warn you: I'm not a real Finnish teacher.

PS. If you want to put me into the map, my location is a little bit north of Rovaniemi, which is a little town right at the Arctic Circle.

PS. (I don't seem to be able to quit today...) Thank you for all the comments. I have enjoyed them. And am happy about the ones that are in my native language... Maybe you could hide in the comments some Finnish words I have taught so that those learning this beautiful language could see them used...just a though...

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous14:49

    How can people endure to live where there is no winter? Today we have 45 cm brand new tammikuusnow, minus o,6. The world is beautiful, the trees are beautiful, even my villapusero is beautiful, white, sininen, punainen, yellow and pink, a pattern from a museumpiece in our local museum to be found i "Perler på pulsen"....

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  2. onnellinen aamu Lene!

    minä onnellinen sinä liittyä 'knit the classics'! sinä täytyä miten se moni.
    toukokuu minä strikketøy the sininen ja punainen koira villapusero aikana my strikketøy Olympics project?

    Did I totally mess that up?

    P.S. I love all the sininen villa sinä spinning!

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  3. I can't even imagine cold like that. We get snow here, but, again, not like that. I love all the photos of outside.

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  4. I've done the Pacific Northwest Shawl. It's easy and fun, and the finished work is lovely. I think you'll enjoy it.

    -35 is COLD. I complain about the cold in Boston, but I've never felt anything like that!

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  5. Anonymous22:47

    Leena,

    You need to go and look at Ryan's blog, today's (Jan 20) entry. You can find it here
    http://www.nwkniterati.com/movabletype/MossyCottage/

    I've been swearing under my breadth about the darn hats I've been making lately. Swearing now? Not so much...

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  6. Anonymous23:44

    I have never experienced -35 temperatures but I shiver just to think about it and you are right to surround yourself with wool !
    I don't know about chocolates to prepair yourself for the Olympics, but make sure you have NO distractions for 16 days... (definitely no spring cleaning then...)

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  7. I'm glad your puppy is feeling better, she does look very happy!What cute pictures.

    I'm seriously considering joining the Olympics too. It ends on my birthday so what a great birthday gift to myself if I actually finish my project! I'm thinking of knitting a rectangular lace shawl in Kid Silk Haze. I've never worked with KSH yet so I think that will be a real challenge for me.

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  8. Anonymous00:42

    Glad that your lovely Koira is feeling better and that you are onnellinen about your new villa :)

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  9. Anonymous02:05

    Eeek! -35C!? I shouldn't be complaining about the cold at all! I'm interested to see what you end up knitting with that merino/mohair you are spinning... or are you spinning it just for the sake of creating homespun?

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  10. Anonymous03:33

    you're an accomplished spinner, please post some pictures showing how you do. and if you have a while, please tell us how is the daily life in your country when the weather is so cold : how do you drive a car ? how can children go to school ? how cautious are you and what do you check ? what about water pipes ? Do you find these particular days are very hard ?

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  11. Wow! It sure is cold where you are. Make sure your koira has villapusero!

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  12. Anonymous20:55

    The shades of sininen (blue) in the surprise package you received are so beautiful, what a lovely gift. I'm so glad Tina is feeling better.

    While you are so cold we are having unusually warm days for January. Yesterday was in the 50'sºF again. Today I hope to get outside and trim back rose canes and the mums that grew in my garden in the fall. The snow has left and I can see all the leaves we did not get raked up from the fall, but those will remail for another day.

    My blanket is nearly large enough now. I have 26 more rows of stitches and the last strip will be complete. Then I attach it to the others which lie on the floor patiently waiting. When it is done I will check all the seams and add a binding stitch all around the perimeter to make it more durable.

    Then the doll sweater will begin. I found a free pattern on the internet for barbie sweaters. I chose the only one for which I understood all the directions!! There is so much I still don't understand. We shall see how I do. I may make the barbie sweater first for practice, then enlarge the pattern to fit to my daughter's doll.

    Marie N.

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  13. Anonymous03:19

    Your Rogue turned out lovely! Everything in your blog is so beautiful. You have a peaceful aura around you. Perhaps it is the solitude, the animals, the knitting, the forest, the lake, and the snow. I love all the blue also--even the snow appears blue. Please tell us more, especially how you cope with such frigid temperatures, and how you knit those lovely creatures.
    Sharon

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  14. Hey! Acorn Street is one of my local yarn shops. Whoa. How neat is it that you have something from Seattle in your stash? :D

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