New and Lost Crafts & We Have a New Friend

Since I started making a granny square a day in May I have not stopped crocheting. I made 80 granny squares (and may make some more), I crocheted washcloths and potholders. I keep buying yarns, because they don't count in my fabric diet. This is my newest potholder; the other side is in the darker pink. I found the pattern through the potholder swap I have been following on Candace's and Terri's blogs.



Last weekend my daughter Kaija was in London, and she found this book for me:

Lost Crafts. Now I can learn about making rope, laying hedges, making corn dollies, milling grain, fishing with creels, brewing beer, making clogs, weaving, building with wattle and daub, thatching and wheelwrighting, just to mention some. I took some lovely pictures, but blogger wanted to show them all the wrong way round, so you can only see the cover. Melanie seems to know about all these things, but soon I will have some knowledge of my own! The back cover says this book is perfect for browsing, daydreaming, inspiration or action, and I think it is just that.

And now to our new friend. You can see him in the next picture, in the middle area. Click the picture to see better!

A fearless blackbird has made friends with Mr. Kotkarankki first, and today he accepted me as well. Mr. K has been working on an expanding project to create us a nice place for afternoon coffee/tea in the garden.

The old place was here but the trellis was taken down long ago, the Clematis didn't survive there, and it is not nice to sit there so close to the street without some kind of fence around us. This will be the new place, too, but with lots of changes. I will show you later how far we get this summer.

During the last days Mr. K has been taking down the bushes and weeds from this impossible-to-maintain-nice slope, and the blackbird is ready to take the delicious worms. When Mr. K has filled the wheelbarrow, the bird changes places with him so he can take his dirt or bushes away.
The bird has never before had such easy access to nourishing food!

We know it is not the right season to move around bushes and bulbs, but now is the only time he can work on this project. If the plants survive, they will be planted again in their new places when the landscaping project is so far, and if not, we need to buy new plants. I re-planted over 300 narcissus bulbs today in boxes to wait for September, when they can be planted in their new places. They have experienced this some years ago, too, so I believe many of them if not all will make it to the next year.