Pictures from February

Remember my photo project for 2011? I’m taking pictures every day and one is chosen to go in a picture book I will print.

Here are some pictures from my February:

February 3rd, 2011 – My cat JumJum up close

February 7th, 2011 – The crocheted budgie I made for a retiring colleague (you can read more about it here)

February 13th, 2011 – Frozen cheesecake in front of the TV

February 14th, 2011 – Looking at a Valentine-sky walking to work

February 15th, 2011 – Chocolate from my favorite chocolate shop in Malmö: Cacaofoni

February 17th, 2011 – Meeting friends for a “fika” and some knitting. The chocolate fudge cake was extremely lovely!

February 20th, 2011 – Taking a walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon

February 24th, 2011 – Sunset walking home from work

February 26th, 2011 – Clouds looking like cotton sweeping over the sky

My photo project for 2011

On January 1st, I told you that I started two different projects that day. And that I’d be back to tell you more about it.

Well, it’s been a month and I still haven’t said anything, have I? Guess I just wanted to see how comfortable I felt about the projects and to figure out how much I wanted to keep to myself and how much I wanted to share.

Anyways, I thought I’d tell you about my photo project. It’s nothing new. You’ve heard of it before. And I’m sure you know someone who’s doing it already.

I’ve challenged myself to take pictures every day. And to pick one photo every day to put in a photo book that I will have printed. At the end of this year I will have a real photo diary I can flip through with pictures from my every day life in 2011.

I’ve chosen not to do regular postings about it here on the blog as I don’t want to censor my own shots. I want a diary with people in it and I want to be able to recognize my surroundings. But I’ve decided to share some pictures with you. Occassionally. Randomly.

Here goes with some pictures from January.

January 2nd, 2011 – A sponge cake with cardamom in our kitchen

January 4th, 2011 – Walking to work at 8am

January 17th, 2011 – Watching Denmark play handball against Serbia in 2011 World Championships (the guy sitting down to stretch is the team’s goalie Niklas Landin)

January 22nd, 2011 – Candle lights at friends’ house

January 24th, 2011 – Skorpan’s nose and whiskers
(This is my favourite pictures from January. My boyfriend thinks it creepy.)

January 26th, 2011 – Shadow on the whiteboard in my office

Photographic accident

I just love this picture of a blurry Skorpan having a drink after his evening meal. It’s funny how much I try to get the right thing in focus when I take pictures, and then a picture like this comes up on the computer screen and I simply love it.

Interesting.

Knitting, Sewing and Crocheting

This lump of a knitting project is going to be a Print O’ The Wave stole (pattern by Eunny Jang). The yarn is Fino from Alpaca with a Twist and it was gifted to me by GeekKnitter a couple of years ago.

I decided to rip the stippling quilting I had attempted and started quilting my Butterfly Quilt with straight lines instead. I’m making progress!

The back of my Butterfly Quilt as it looks now.

I picked up a crochet hook the other day and made a toy for my cats. Basically I crocheted a square and then folded it. I filled it with cotton pads and dried cat nip before crocheting around it to close it up. The cats love it!

Skorpan up close…

WIP – A Sunday with my butterfly quilt

Back taped to the floor

Getting the batting in place

Why being anywhere else?

Safety pins in place all over the quilt

Skorpan on watch on the quilt prepared for quilting

WIP – Cardigan with crocheted front

Crocheted granny squares

I’m crocheting granny squares. I’ve done 39 so far and have another 17 to go… I’m using three different kinds of yarn and they produce three different looks to the granny squares. The more teal-coloured yarn is called Lin 1.0 and consists of 100% linen. The greener yarn is Chunky Chiq, which is a merino and alpaca blend. The yarn that looks almost yellow in the picture is Amoretto, a mix of cotton, alpaca and nylon. All yarns are from Tedman&Kvist.

My hands are cramping from the crocheting that I’m not used to do. And I’m getting sick of making granny squares. Sewing them together isn’t that bad though and it goes fairly quickly. I produce a ton of ends even though I try to weave them in as I go.

Granny squares and my cat Skorpan

Help! Cat pee on my Sylvi!

In October last year I finished my Sylvi by Mari Muinonen. Most of the knitting zoomed by, but sewing those petals down and assemble the parts together to start the hood, broke me to tears. More than once. I fought trying to get the petals to lie down neatly and I had knitted more rows on some of the parts up by the neck…

But I was determined to finish the project. I was determined to be able to wear Sylvi. And I did. Sylvi was worn quite a lot last winter.

A couple of weeks ago I realized that one of my cats has peed on my Sylvi. Yep, he’s peed on my Sylvi. On one of the sleeves. I can’t really see the stain, but I can smell it. And so would everyone else if I was to wear her in the state she’s in now.

So, what am I supposed to do? Sylvi is knit with 100% pure wool which means I can’t throw Sylvi in the washer (unless I’d like her to transform into a thick coat suitable for a baby) and I don’t want to ruin her in any way.

I asked some women in my knitting group yesterday and they suggested trying bile soap or vinegar/acetum on it. Anyone else approve of those suggestions? Or have others?

Help appreciated!