Revealed secrets

In March the our local knitting café Lentävä Lapanen, the Flying Mitten, hosted their first secret swap. Of course I participated, and now I can reveal my gifts. This is what I made for my secret friend for her small knitting supplies:

 

The zippered pocket is for stitch markers like the ones here made with old Lego blocks. Under the scissors is another pocket, the knitting needle gauge goes there. As my first gift to her I made her two holders for her double pointed knitting needles, using the same red floral.

 

And this was my main gift, a pair of wool socks in her size and her favourite colour.

 

We all gave some information about ourselves, like favourite colour, yarn and needles, and shoe size (for obvious reasons!).  Having no idea of the friend's age, other hobbies or other details, it was easiest to think about the knitting hobby we all share.

 

I also challenged my secret friend to knit a pair of Train Socks for the new babies in town using the pattern and yarn I sent her, and was very glad to hear she took the challenge and has almost finished her pair.

 

The secret friend who sent me her gifts was not the same lady who received my mail. Here is what I got. First a crocheted flower with some heart chocolates. Yummy! I'm thinking of yarn bombing the town with this flower too. And by the way, it was noon when I left the red flowers shown in my last post, so the boot polish would have made me look very suspicious! Also, the darkness lasts only little over an hour these days, so no hope for real darkness until August. People were not paying any attention, or just smiling, because I look quite harmless even with tiny scissors in my hand.

 

The next month brought me this grass green yarn, hand dyed in Finland, and a bag full of useful stitch markers. The yarn will be used for a pair of socks for someone special.

 

 

The last parcel from her contained some useful kitchen items. The grey dishcloth and scrubber are knitted in linen (at least it feels like it), and the factory made sponge dishcloth has a funny text. The red pouch could be used  for toiletry or for a small work in process. The handmade lime soap with a built-in sponge adds a nice touch of luxury. Thank you, Secret friend!

 

 

Everyone sent photos of their gifts received to the Flying Mitten and they were published on their website without names to keep it all hush hush until the end of May. At the beginning of June the Flying Mitten invited us all to the café to meet each other. Unfortunately I was unable to participate, but I believe the meeting was a great success. The lady who received my gifts even left a gift for me at the meeting in the knitting café, some delicious home-made rhubarb jam and nice hand cream. Kiitos, Karita!

 

The weather has been odd this Summer: yesterday we had +2C/35F, and sleet and hails:

 

 

Today I met with an old friend from the time we were students together, and I gave her a couple of washcloths in my favourite patterns:

 

 

The Raindrop is from here, and the Bee Stitch is from here. I knitted both a little larger than the pattern and used pearl stitch in the borders of the Raindrop. Bamboo yarn is just lovely for these, so soft and it has antibacterial qualities and can be washed in the machine.

 

Spring or not

The weather has been changing from unusually warm to normal for this time of the year.

 

Just over a week ago we had some new snow and properly cold nights, but the snowdrops keep raising their heads to the sun.

 

Now the snow is all gone again , and I have seen little pale shoots of crocuses and daffodils in our garden.

 

When I took the Happy Scrappy Spring quilt to Villa Cooper, I took some pictures of the shop's spring look. Here is a potholder tree.

 

Easter colours on the old stove.

 

The exhibition closet is showing dolls handmade by one of the members..

 

I'm participating in a secret swap hosted by the Flying Mitten. I'm sure my secret friend is not reading my blog so I can tell about the swap here safely. I have sent her a holder for double ended knitting needles and a ball of baby yarn with a challenge to knit a pair of the Train Socks for the new babies in her town. Here are my newest versions, one more pair with the yarn I used for the to-be-baby-twins across the street (socks on the left), and one pair in a spring green yarn that was lighter so these socks will be for a very tiny baby:

 

 

 

 Yesterday I knitted some little dishcloths in bamboo yarn.

 

 

 

Spring or not - I think we can call it Spring as the first migrating birds have arrived. On Friday I saw the first robin, and since Saturday there have been finches in our garden too.

 

 

Fly Fishing Friends

Earlier this year I found a blogger with whom I had lots in common, like age, hobbies (quilting)and husband's hobbies (flyfishing). We have been e-mailing, and it lead to mailing things. Around Easter we received this lovely mail from Candace and Mr. Squash:


There were several fly fishing magazines for Mr. Kotkarankki, a sweet little fabric basket and a wool appliqué project and a needle threader for me, as well as Peeps yellow Easter chick sweets for Mr. K. So generous of Candace and Mr. S. Thank you again!

It took us a long time to put together our package for them, but this week it arrived on the other side of the world. This is what Mr. K tied for his fellow flyfishermen. The greenish fly is SL-pupa, a larvae imitation for Candace, and the furry one is Nalle Puh (like Winnie the Pooh) for fast waters, for Mr. S. The hooks are barbless so the fish can be released without damage.

I made a messenger bag using a fishing fly print fabric for their shopping or fishing gear, and added an embroidery needle threader for Candace (like I said, we are about the same age!) and some healthy dark chocolate. There were also some Finnish fly fishing magazines for them, so they can at least look at the pictures.

Sometimes I hear people speak about the virtual world and virtual friends you can make in it, but I'm sure I have found some real friends through blogging. You know who you are. It would be so nice to be able to meet for a cup of tea and a chat. Then you would notice how slow my English is, but I can listen quite fluently!