Dishcloths, African Flowers and UFO finishes

After all my sock knitting I needed a fun little project to knit and decided to make some dishcloths to use up the bamboo cotton yarns I have bought many years ago.

With this one I tried i cord edging and bind off. It was not difficult but would look better with a simple pattern without a frame.

The red was a smallish rest ball and I didn't know how far it would go, so I started in a corner adding stitches in the middle, so my knitting would be a square from the beginning. The green was knitted in the same size just to make them a pair.

In the same box with the yarns were 23 African Flowers I had crocheted with the tiny rests when I knitted the first dishcloths. Now I figured out how to make half hexagons, and joined them all to this little blanket for my dolls.

Another UFO were these chenille pieces. They only needed the binding which I made with extra wide bias tape from my stash. They can be pot coasters or something like that.

Finally, the baby hats I knitted with the soft baby merino wool I swapped on the KIP day. They will be donated for newborn babies. Same patterns as before.

Our Flammentanz rose is soon in full bloom, there seem to be dozens of buds waiting to open. This is a rose we both had at home in our mother's garden, so it is nice to have one of our own now.

The Swallows and a Midsummer treat

Hi everyone,

this is another post from Titty and the other Swallows, just a little bit of sewing related. The next post will be about knitting again.

Midsummer and Summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year. You really notice the difference up here in the North. The Finns have their white and blue flag up all night only for this night, so we took our Swallow flag out too.

Auntie has a new young English friend who will soon take care of Dick and Dot Callum, so she made them a Coot Club flag.

The boys were testing it before Auntie Ulla sent it to England.

This family has a tradition of eating pancakes with strawberry jam and whipped cream for a Midsummer treat. Auntie helped us make our portion in our size. This would be a perfect meal to prepare on a campfire, but as there has been no rain for a long time, campfires are not allowed! They could start forest fires, so there is a warning on the radio and TV weather forecasts. Anyway, Susan will know how to make them now. Well, how does this look:

And afterwards, the boys had eaten their bellies so full that they could hardly sit up! Roger wanted to lick the plate so no cream and jam would be wasted. He thought he could save washing the plate by doing so!

In the garden most of the roses are pink or red, but this yellow one is my favorite!

We stayed up so late last night, waiting for the darkness that never came, so I think I will join the others and have a little nap. We will wake up when Auntie makes afternoon tea.

Your friend

Titty

I'm a Kipper?

Yesterday was the World Wide Knit in Public Day, KIP. I was organizing it at the Villa Cooper like last year and the year before. So, does it make me a kipper? I do like to eat fish, but smoked herrings are not a favourite.
Anyway we were knitting in the lovely garden on Villa Cooper, and this year seemed to be a success. The famous knitting café and yarn shop Lentävä Lapanen you might remember by its translation Flying Mitten was with us and brought loads of their delicious yarns for sale.

We placed the tables in the shadow, but soon they were in full sunshine. These ladies found a great place in the shadow:

The weather was beautiful, but almost too hot in the sun. Luckily we had a pop up café inside the Villa Cooper, with coffee, tea and cold refreshments to go with the delicious treats baked by two of the club members. The balcony on the garden side of the house was a perfect place for a cuppa, and the lawn in the garden could have offered excellent places for picnic if there had been even more visitors.

Skeins of yarn need to be wound into balls so helping hands make the job easy.

We had an exchange point (on the left) for materials no longer needed. I brought some fine crocheting yarns I  knew I'm not going to use ever, and found two almost untouched balls of baby wool I will use for knitting baby hats or booties for charity.

On this little table in the center was my  (Villa) Cooper's Test point. Ladies who took the test had to show their ability to read knitting instructions and show the basic skills by knitting a 14 stitches by 14 rows sample with knits, purls, yo's and k2tog's. Timing was voluntary but everyone wanted to time their performance. The majority of the test group (which was only 7 persons) finished the test in an amazing time of less than 12 minutes, a result never achieved in the official Cooper's Test that requires running. My ladies managed this in hot weather and sitting down! Isn't that lovely! They received the result card with their name and time, and a shiny heart sticker of their choice.

I have been knitting in my spare time too. In the middle is the pair I showed you earlier when it was half done, on the right a pair with the rest of that hand dyed yarn in broken seeds stitch with a dark purple yarn rest, and of the left a simple pair of cotton mix socks in a self striping yarn in lemon and lime colours from the Flying Mitten.

Rosa pimpinellifolia or the Finnish Midsummer rose was already opening its buds in the garden of Villa Cooper, two weeks before Midsummer.