Ugly ducklings?

No way, they are the sweetest cygnets ever! Two or three days old here. I stayed far from them so it was difficult to catch them all in the same photo.

There they are, all seven babies. One of the parents is half diving in the muddy water for food. In a few days they will all walk together to the bigger pond in the middle of the village, where the water is clearer and where there is more food, and more space to learn takeoff and landing at the end of the summer when the parents have grown new feathers and the cygnets some muscles.

On the knitting front I have finished a new pair of bed socks for myself. The pattern doesn't look much like the original. Too late I realized that I should have used smaller needles, but the loose knit is OK for bed socks.

Seen this, tried it, now I can forget about the pattern. Maybe I finally understood that patterns requiring an extra cable needle are not for me!

Earlier this year our grandson was here and wanted to learn sewing. I thought stitching with a blunt needle on waffle cloth would be a perfect start for someone who has just turned 6.

Every single stitch is his own, on both sides of the pouch. I just sewed the sides, lining and the zipper. I still don't understand how some people can make the zipper corners so neat! This will do for the young man for now. If the inspiration comes back, he can add more rows to his stitching.

I forgot to show this scarf I have knitted using yarn from my daughter. She had knitted a biggish square in stockinette and given up before the project was finished. I took it apart, washed the skeins and knitted in this 3D pattern as far as her yarn reached.

The colour is not right here but you can see the simple pattern of knit and purl stitches. I think I will sew the ends together to make an infinity cowl for next winter.

 

Old project gets a new life

Many years ago I fancied a sweet little cardigan, bought the expensive Rowan Felted Tweed yarns and started crocheting the squares. Four color combinations, three different squares, each using three or four colors. It was such fun, so I just kept crocheting and left the yarn ends for later. Which turned out to be much, much later. I buried the squares and the pattern and the yarns and the hook in a plastic box.

Then Villa Cooper decided to exhibit Granny squares and other crocheted squares for this summer, and I gave the cardigan a serious thought. So serious that I understood that I don't really wear a cardigan very often, and one with 3D flower squares here and there would not be very practical. Quick rethink, and I found a perfect solution:

I would make a shawl/throw/blanket instead! Perfect for the winter on my lap when I watch TV and knit. I used the 4 balls of grey wool meant for the sides and collar of the cardigan to join my squares.16 rows of 8 squares was how far that yarn reached and I had some squares left over.

The joining of the squares was easy once I had the setting arranged. Only the beginning and end of each ball of yarn to weave in. Google gave several tutorials for Continuous joining as you go for Granny Squares, just pick your favorite.

I have been working on a Unicef doll again. When embroidering the face on this one, I hurt my finger on the needle.

Luckily the stain on the fabric was outside my sewing line!

The blood stain was like an omen, as this doll is a nurse.

Here without her surgical mask and hat.

She is going to the Villa Cooper tomorrow, and I hope she will get a home in a nurse family.

P.S. The yarn ends of the crocheted squares are almost all still there on the reverse, but they will not show when the shawl is on display.

New doll for Unicef

When I made the two dolls in February, I prepared three more to be finished later. I think he needs a T-shirt for the Summer! The two other new dolls have some difficulties with their hair, so they will come later.

We have had some unusually warm days this week, and beautiful weather, so we have been taking walks and bird watching. Almost every day we have seen the swan couple with one of them hatching (that would be the white plastic bag in the bushes) and the other one having breakfast in some other pond where the water looks more fresh.

Gagea lutea (käenrieska), a beautiful little wild spring flower.

Maple trees are in full bloom here now. When we moved in, all trees were bare of their leaves so I don't really know what some of them will look like when they get their leaves. Most of them are recognizable the year round, but especially young trees may all look the same when they have no leaves.

 

Bird watching and knitting tiny sweaters

Once again I have a couple of Unicef dolls coming. This is the first one almost finished, a little boy doll for a little boy.

I knitted  this sweater to use up some yarn that was not so nice for socks or mittens. It is waiting for a girl doll to get some hair and the rest of her clothes.

On nice days we have been bird watching and met some new birds. This is a male Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula (telkkä). We met in April for the first time. 

The other end of his pond was still covered with ice.

On today's walk we met some punk birds I had never met before. They had like brown hair standing upright on top of their head.

According to our books and the internet, they are Horned grebes, Podiceps auritus (mustakurkku-uikku), and there was another couple on the same pond. 

And finally another bird we didn't see near our old home, an Eurasian wigeon, Mareca penelope (haapana).

If you missed our local swans, here they are from an earlier walk. One is hiding behind the other.

Today they were having lunch near their nest so I didn't want to disturb them by taking photos.

 

Swans on Ice ...

... and some new socks on the floor. Grey socks for my bare-ankle daughter, a simplified version of my Aino'S sock pattern,

and some giant socks, large socks and smaller socks knitted just to use up rests of yarns.

We have gone on walks again when the weather has been nice. Pollen is nearly ready to spread from the grey alders.

The swans have returned. Yes, they are in my photo, the two white lumps on white ice, about in the center of the photo.

I took the photos on my phone, and the sun was so bright that I just couldn't see how to zoom on the swans. 

By this date we have identified 25 species of birds this year, and hope to see many newcomers once the migrating birds arrive. Common gulls and black-headed gulls have arrived, and lapwings, but the small insect eating garden birds are still on their way from the South.

Patching the patchwork

Sometimes a quilt faces heavier use than the materials are designed for. This was the case with this Stained quilt from 2012.

 Recycled shirt fabric is not very durable under the paws of a mid-size dog as you can see:

For some reason especially the brown thin striped fabric was attacked. Luckily I had not binned the remaining fabrics from this and another project using my son's business shirts.

This meant that I could replace each patch with the same fabric it was originally made.

Only the grey sashing is now a shade darker than the original, but this could mean that the original has faded over the years and from frequent washing.

I have sewn some patches by hand and machine stitched some, and I added a piece of new wadding in the block that was worst. Machine stitching went surprisingly well and I only needed to redo one bit where the backing was puckered.

Encouraged by this modest success I have added several other unlucky quilts on my list of patching my patchwork.

The Flying doll and his cousin

 

Who is that, flying through the air? He looks like SuperM!

And so he is! Hello, M!

- Hi R! Are you coming from the sauna in your bathrobe, standing in the snow? What does you Mum say, or our Auntie?

- I’m not cold, I’m a Finn, and Mum doesn’t know I’m here. Besides, this is no bathrobe. It is my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu uniform, with a black belt now.  But why are you wearing your underpants on top, and what do your Mum and our Auntie say to that?

- They don’t say anything because they know I think this looks cool. And when I wear them and the cape, I can fly like you saw. Your black belt must mean something too?

- Yes, it means I’m cool too and more experienced at my sport than those who have yellow belts, or green or blue.

- Great. Now I must spread my cape and fly home. I have a little party on Sunday. Take care!

- You too and have a nice birthday!

- Likewise, dear cousin!

- J*******a, my pants again!

Happy birthday dear little nephews!