Sunday 15 April 2012

Wintery crafts and migrating birds, or waiting for the Spring

The Spring is taking its time to arrive in our nick of the world. On Saturday we had some new snow again, you may see the white lines of wet snowflakes in this picture. As you can see, there is not very much snow left from the winter between the trees.


This kind of weather suits well for wintery crafts, so I knitted a pair of mittens after a traditional pattern from Northern Finland. I wanted to try this pattern, but in natural wool colours and not in the suggested bright colours you can see on the magazine's picture of their modernised mittens. The yarn is thick so the mittens were knitted in no time on 5 mm needles.


I have also been working on Scandinavian Christmas block 3. The cross stitch frame is finished, and most of the embroidery. The blanket stitching around the appliqué is on my list now. Mr. K said the other night that there is quite a lot of work in that piece of fabric, and I couldn't agree more!



We have had some sunny days too, and the yellow daffodils I bought for Easter can stay out in the night too, as the night temperatures are keeping around freezing point, not too much under. 

 

New birds keep arriving these days. This dove came to taste our sunflower seeds. There seems to be a lot to eat on the ground under the bird feeder, when the bigger birds like jays mess around and look for peanuts on the tray and drop what they don't like!

 

A flock of finches has been there too. They are mainly insect eaters and really need the energy they can get from the seeds, as it is far too cold for almost any insects yet.

 

Every day there is a little less snow, maybe a new green point of a future daffodil to be seen. The snowdrops I showed in my previous post, and at the moment in my header, are still in bloom. Meanwhile the also looked like this


when they came out again after we had some 15 cm or 6 inches of snow at Easter. I could do without the snow by now. Really. Then I could start sewing other than woolly and christmassy projects too.

8 comments:

  1. All that "old" snow reminds me of my hometown. We have used the same mitten type here, but typically in off white colour with those decorative threads at the top in red and yellow. Lovely!

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  2. Beautiful mittens! they must really keep your hands warm.
    So much happening in your garden these days. I love it when the birds are around. And look at those snowdrops.

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  3. What snuggly looking mittens. Laura is feeling the cold up here so has been wearing the Nordic tunic I made, on the colder days. It is going to be cold and rainy here for the rest of the week. Well done with your SC3 progress. I will blog SC2 today.

    Sending you warm thoughts as sunny as your daffodils.

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  4. Mr. K is very observant. Your block is beautiful and so are your new mittens. Our Spring came 3 weeks earlier than normal so lots of things are already in bloom. Our dogwood trees are gorgeous right now. Wishing you melted snow and lots of Spring flowers.

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  5. Nice with block 3! Feels good to see the Spring is around the corner for you as well,pretty start. Lovely mittens:-)

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  6. I love your block - Mr. K is so right about how much work is involved! The mittens look so warm and cozy - I still wear a light pair when walking in the mornings here. I'm glad you have the daffodils and birds to give you a little cheer until the snow finally melts!
    Cheers!

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  7. You certainly have to wait for Spring, so tantalising. Lovely daffodils, funnily my jonquils are starting to flower already, in Autumn!
    I like the mittens and that cuff, they look traditional to my eyes.

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  8. Auch hier gibt es in den Bergen immer wieder ein paar Schneeflocken und es ist kalt, grau und nass. Der "richtige" Frühling lässt auf sich warten. Ich nutze die Zeit zum Nähen, wenn es warm wird draussen mag ich nicht mehr oft an der Nähmaschine sitzen. Deine Fäustlinge sind sehr hübsch. Der Abschluss ist ja meisterhaft! Leider kann ich nicht mehr so gut sticken, wie ich gerne möchte. Meine Fingergelenke machen mir einen Strich durch die Rechnunge. Dein Block gefällt mir auch gut!
    Wünsche dir in der neuen Woche ein paar Frühlingssonnenstrahlen,
    Barbara

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