I began Everlasting Bagstopper yesterday. Since I substituted yarn and used smaller needles, I had to make some changes to stitch counts and row counts. I cast on 60 stitches instead 44 and knit 14 garter ridges instead of 18. It still will be smaller than the original, but it will be the size that I want.
At the moment the bag looks like a blob on needles.
This is the bottom and side smoothed out.
Got nothing to do? Got something to do, but don't want to? Want to kill time? Check these sites out.
Written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, at times hilarious, at times just funny strip comic of adventures of 31st Century mercenaries.
As they so succintly describle themselves: "I Can Has Cheezburger is a site that gathers, organizes, tags, and captions what we hope is the most funny and slightly weird pictures of lolcats and lol* (other animals) from the Internet." I can guarantee some pictures will steal your heart and some will make you LOL.
Oodles of pictures of cute, adorable and funny animals.
The Perception Laboratory's Face Transformer
Upload your photo and play around to see how you'd look if you were a different race or painted by a famous painter.
Here is my portrait as if painted by Mucha.
We were at R's cousins wedding today. Ther ceremony took place at Hagaparken and the reception afterwards at their apartment house social area. It was a lovely wedding of a lovely couple on a lovely day.
This is the sunset at the end of the day.
Another Friday, another Friday's Feast.
Appetizer
Describe a toy you remember from your childhood.
I remember quite a few, but there is one that was very special. Her name is Aime and she is a small baby doll.
I used to carry her to school until one day she was stolen and I was devastated. Couple weeks later she re-appeared on my desk. Oh the joy! I never took her to school again, but kept her around even during my teenage years. To avoid further damage I had to put her to a drawer when Kurri was teething and used her legs as a chew toy. Currently she is in a memory box I took with me to Sweden, waiting to be repaired. I have a leg donor that my Mum found some years ago, but I haven't dared to perform the operation.
Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how observant are you?
Umm... that depends on if I'm paying attention or not. Walking on the street, thinking up a new knitting design, I'm practically oblivious to what's happening. I pay attention to cars and crowd navigation, but that's about it. I guess I'd give myself a 3.
Salad
Where would you rather be at this very moment?
At home, having a vacation, knitting.
Main Course
When was the last time you learned something new?
Today. I'm constantly learning new things in this new job.
Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have ____________ but I haven’t ____________.
I have seriously considered ordering from Ekolådan but I haven't dared to do so yet because I am wary of giving my address and the house door code on the web. I saw one of their boxes in our apartment house stairway, so I might give them a try after all.
In my opinion, ecologcal / organic / green produce simply tastes better. Another difference between Ireland and Sweden is that green veggies and fruits were clearly labeled and widely available in Dublin. The grocery stores in our area in Stockholm haven't got a single green label on anything fresh. There probably are stores that sell green produce, but if they are not accessible without a car, or are a long bus ride away, Ekolådan is the way to go.
My friend E came to visit Stockholm this week, she and her husband moved to northern Sweden recently. They are still moving things so they came to fetch some stuff. I used the opportunity to invite her to a lunch and yarn shopping for the baby.
We went to Nysta first and then tried out a Vietnamese restaurant close by. Both experiences were excellent — Nysta has some fabulous yarns and the restaurant had fantastic food. The best part is that they both are 15 minutes walk from where I work. I suspect Nysta folks will be seeing me quite often and I will definitely have lunch at that restaurant again.
Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in brown for a baby raglan, Cotton DK for a cap and booties. I haven't yet decided which colour to use for what. I am lucky to have a friend who does not want to colour-code her baby. I like strong colours and so does she. Woot!
Eco-friendly hand dyed cotton yarn for Everlasting Bagstopper. I have used two drawstring bags my brother gave me in 2004 for shopping and their time is nearing to an end. I've been contemplating knitting a grocery bag that does not take much room in the purse, but haven't got farther than that. Knitty's pattern came at a perfect time and I found beautiful yarn for it.
I'm not entirely sure the colourway will work with the lace pattern, but if it doesn't, there was some stunning linen yarn in Nysta that would definitely work for the bag.
I take quite a few pictures on cats, but most of them not useable. (Insert my previous complaint about my photography skills.) Some of them fortunately are clear enough to not just present a blurry cat-shape.
Find a bag? Sit on it.
Find a pillow? Hide behind it.
These two photos are very characteristic of the cats. Mao will explore and investigate new things as soon as he can. Ursus will hide first and investigate when he's sure that it's safe.
I'm in! Woohoo! I applied too late to be admitted to the first year of Hogwarts Sock Swap TWO straight away. I was put on the waiting list and I got in today. Yay! The reason to be so exited about a swap is that I've missed the community and a common theme/goal of swaps. I'm in! Woo!
Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire
1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?
Ravenclaw
2. Shoe size?
European 38, UK 5, US 7½
3. Foot Length?
24cm / 9½"
4. Foot Circumference?
21cm / 8 ¼"
5. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.
a. Addi 3.25mm 20cm / 8";
b. Inox 2.25mm 20cm / 8";
c. there is no third favourite.
6. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?
Yes, I would like to try new brands and sizes. I haven't had a chance to try anything else but Addi, Inox and Pony. I have no brand or size preference, I like long needles (20cm and longer).
7. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?
I like the movie colours, they are truer to heraldic tradition. Yes, I have a strong preference.
8. Allergies? Do you have any? Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals?
I have no allergies, we don't smoke, but we have two cats. The socks will be exposed to them.
9. Are you an international participant (outside US)? Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?
Yes, and yes.
I wish there were recycling bins in our apartment house. Right now there is only a garbage shoot and a paper bin.
I wish I spoke better swedish. I am speaking it every day at work, read newspapers and watch TV sometimes. I feel that it's not enough and I want to take a course in swedish.
I wish I was not overweight. I should to go to gym and learn to eat less to lose weight. The gyms are on summer break, but I've been checking out fall schedules already. Eating less is an everyday struggle, a struggle which I sometimes lose.
I wish my fabrics were here. I have an idea for a light summer German Lansknecht type dress and fabrics for it. The fabrics are still in Ireland and won't be here before October.
I wish my yarns were here. So many ideas to use up what I have and I have to wait until S leaves Ireland. I couldn't take the yarn or fabrics with me when I moved back to Sweden and S has very kindly offered to take them with her when she moves back home in October.
I wish so many things, but the thing that I wish most at the moment is that R's health would improve. He is undergoing testing to see how serious it is and what exactly can be done. I just wish he was well.
I have taken Dorothea's challenge and will try to blog every day next week.
Another random image from my camera's memory: gloves I began in February, during the first job interview trip this year. Then it got warm and I lost interest. Right now they are still in Ireland, waiting to be shipped with the rest of the yarn and fabric I had to leave behind.
This weeks Friday's Feast is interesting, so I decided to take part.
Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?
One. I like watching Formula 1, but that's the only sport I do watch on TV.
Soup
If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?
Now that's tough. I like so many books and movies, it is very difficult to choose... Though, nothing beats the classics. If I could, I would memorise everything JRR Tolkien ever wrote about Middle Earth.
Salad
What is your favorite breakfast food?
My current favourite is Greek yoghurt layered with honey and toasted oat flakes. Yum!
Main Course
Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.
Read or listen to a book.
Dessert
How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?
For ever, it seems. I usually hover a long time between sleep and wakefulness. Sometimes it is really difficult to switch my brain off, very rarely I fall asleep quickly.
I emptied my camera and phone. There weren't many pictures that are interesting or not blurry. Disappointing, really. I must find a good book on digital photography to learn how to take better pictures.
There were two that are interesting and not too blurry.
This is taken with my phone camera on a sunny June day. The subject is River Liffey in Dublin. I have never seen any river as dirty as this. Any body of water, actually.
This is a scarf that I just had to knit, the colors are so beautiful. Unfortunately I have lost the ballband and have forgotten the name of the yarn.
Update:
I found out what yarn it is: Rowan Tapestry 171 Rainbow. All this surfing to identify the mystery yarn has made me want to buy lots of yarn and begin bazillion projects. Only 1% of them would ever be finished, but it is so much fun to plan, design and begin new things! Finishing them all is not half as fun.
For a while now I've wanted to change the look of the blog and do something about the mile-long archive list. I was planning to design a new template myself at first, but when I was reserarching options to shorten the archive list I found this layout on Free BlogSpot Templates. I like paper and having a paper look to my virtual journal is oddly appealing.
I modified the template to include the blogrings, knitlinks, photo albums and drop-down menu archive, eliminated the post titles and modified the post footer. All those changes are minor, the look and feel of the design is intact.
One of the options to organise the archive links better, would have been to convert the blog to new Blogger format. Those templates are XML instead of HTML and there is a hierarchical archive menu among other cool widgets. However, that would have meant that I would have had to move the blog back to BlogSpot because those features are not available if I publish via FTP.
I decided not to move because this is supposed to be the permanent address of the blog and I'd hate to redirect you yet again. I also decided not to convert the blog to TypePad or WordPress right now due to lack of time. Lack of time is also one of the reasons I chose to use a free template instead of building my own.
I hope you like the new duds.
It is intriguing how ethnic quisine in different countries is different. For example Indian food in Ireland is not the same as Indian food in Sweden.
Let's take Thai Green Curry. One would assume that it is the same all over the world, but that is not the case. In Dublin it has a rating of three chilies (very hot) and it's too hot for me. In Stockholm it has two chilies (very hot) and I was surprised how mild it was.
It seems that Stockholm two chili rating = Dublin one chili rating. Lucky for me, because now I can try foods that I could not in Dublin. A shame on the other hand because two chilies is as hot as I've found here so far and occasionally I'd like even more fiery food.
I suspect that the Irish version is closer to the authentic Thai one, but I can't really tell since I've never been to Thailand. One day, perhaps I can travel to all these different places to try the original versions of Thai curries, Indian biryanis, Chinese dim sum and all the rest of the ethnic foods I've enjoyed.
I went to lunch with a friend today and we had a discussion about ethnic food in different countries. Her partner has visited China quite a few times and has remarked that Chinese food in Sweden is different from Chinese food in China. I can tell from my experience that Chinese food in Ireland and Estonia also differ from Chinese food in Sweden.
It would be very interesting to do a study on differences between the same ethnic food in different countries. What makes it different? How much the raw ingredients contribute? How has local food culture influenced the ethnic one? How do the ethnic cooks percieve the local palate? Fascinating!
The furniture has been unpacked and assembled. There is some getting used to the new layout, but the idea of a cozy TV nook has worked out very well. It was rigorously tested (four episodes of CSI) yesterday and has gotten highest marks from all of us.
The sofa is surprisingly roomy for a two-seater and comfortable. We only need to add a couple of pillows for little more snuggle comfort. The back and armrests met with kitty approval too. It seems they are perfect for slouching and clawing. We are trying to discourage the latter, but without much success.
The "office" has not been thoroughly tested, but so far it seems to work well. We still have a problem with glare, although not as bad as before. At least the computer screens are not directly opposite the window anymore. We are thinking about some kind of blinds to take care of that problem.
The remaining furniture has been rearranged and is waiting to be replaced.
Our apartment is tiny, there is one room, bathroom, kitchen and entry area. Right now everything is cramped and cluttered with books. All the furniture is second hand (except two heirloom antiques) and in bad condition. The lamps need replacing and walls repainting. The floor... I'm not even going to go there. In short, the apartment "needs some work".
R had had the apartment for some years before I moved in and the furniture he chose was chosen out of necessity, irregardless of style. When I first moved in, we couldn't do anything else, but move a few things around and try to find place for my stuff too. Even IKEA was beyond our means. Now, however, things are different. We both have an income and want to make our place nice, cozy and comfortable; a place we both enjoy.
We began this process by first choosing things we liked on IKEA website. Yesterday we went to see how they really look and to buy the first batch if we liked the lot. We decided that replacing the computer table and chairs is the most urgently needed change. The current setup is causing me back pain and he doesn't have quite enough space for his legs.
We also decided that we are going to change the layout of the room, shift things around so we can have a cozy TV watching nook and a place for bigger table to roleplay comfortably.
That means that we will swap the position of the couch and the computer table. Since the computer table is built in under the loft bed and is not freestanding we bought two small compact tables yesterday, new chairs and a small drawer unit to complete the "office".
The current sofa is too long to fit under the bed so we bought a new one yesterday. It not only fits perfectly, but also has changeable covers. In a household with cats this is a major plus — whenever the old cover becomes too ratty, we can change it.
We also bought a new ceiling lamp. It was the only thing we changed yesterday because the rest will be delivered today. Depending on delivery time, the room might look completely different, or be piled with boxes. I cant wait to go home!
These past two weeks have been some of most socially active I've ever had — something happens almost every day. I've got to start using my day planner again, because I've started to forgot what I've planned to do already.
That, unfortunately, means that I can't go to Gino's today either. We are invited to a dinner at friends' place tonight and I forgot that Stockholm knitters meet at Gino's on Tuesdays, otherwise I'd have suggested another date. Fortunately these dinners are more "Wanna come over for chow?" not "You are cordially invited..." type so we can always negotiate when they take place.
The food is no simple chow, though. With these people I know that I'll be having something fabulous and inspired. They also firmly believe that good ingredients are essential for making good food. They may not cook 10-course dinners, but some of the dishes I've had have been better than fancy restaurant dishes. I am looking forward to tonight's dinner with great eagerness.
