Poor dog!

This is a good remind about it that when you are up to animals you should always bring something sharp with you. We were skiing in the woods. Yes, we still have that much snow. Poor Nuka was hit by a branch to her nose, it hurt a lot, she spooked up, jumped to a side, tried to see what was it and backed off in her sled dog harness. The result was, despite it all was still on, it was tied around her nose so tight that only my little finger fit under. There was no other option than cut it off.

I am so proud of her training... and the fact that she trust in me so much. In the middle of the panic I told her "stay" and "hold on". She frozen like a statue, it was so tight that she could not even open her eyes. There she stood, listened to me speaking to her and coming closer to help her.

This is Nuka's sled dog X-back harness. I actually made these years ago for our another dog. They have served well and are still like new despite of the use. I need to fix them now.

Zing

I started to knit something for myself. I wanted to do it by 15 cm knitting needles instead of the ordinary 20 cm needles. Last winter I seek short knitting needles for my mother-in-law. I didn't know what she exactly wanted so I bought few and she picked up the ones she needed. Pack of KnitPro Zing was left for me. I started to test them.

I fell in love with them. Despite they are not wooden or bamboo they are not slippery or heavy at all. Sometimes wooden / bamboo ones get old sooner or later and knitting fluffy yarns are not very practical because the fibers get stuck into the knitting needles' tiny sticks that pop out.

I couldn't find Zing knitting needles at the super market so I ordered them on internet... And short cable knitting needles too.

I like to knit both socks, mittens, hand warmers or anything in pairs... both pieces at the same time. I usually design it on my head, have nothing on the paper, so it is just easiest to knit both at the same time... Later on we'll see what I am knitting for myself for the next winter.

I have also KnitPro's Symfonie knitting needles. I have used them quite much and can still recommend them.

Puzzling

COVID-19 has at least one good influence: people have found puzzles again. Making puzzles is cheap hobby you can do at home. You can swap puzzles with your friends by leaving the puzzle behind the doorstep. 

Puzzles are perfect for family time sessions. They also create mindfulness moments. Both are good for the mental health and well being, at crisis time especially.

At the moment we are using old school desk board as a base to make the puzzle. It is easy to carry from a room, floor or table to another. PuzzleMat is more practical if you can't let the big puzzle hang around all the time or don't have much room to have it around. I have made PuzzleMat-tutorial so you can easily make your own. It is low budget and beginner level to do. 

Puzzles has been our family hobby for a long time. I have loved puzzles since I was a tiny toddler. I did it at my teens too. My kids have inherit that love into puzzles. When the oldest started the high school it was time to leave the puzzles behind and make them only at summer holidays. 

Since MrW moved out we have not made any in this house. Last Christmas SantaClaus brought this puzzle for me and YoungLady. We did this on skiing holiday on the week 10 in March. YoungLady fell in love with puzzles again and we had so much fun when doing it.

That's why we investigated the house and see what MrW left behind. We found few puzzles and decided to do also this on sking holiday. This is very old and I remember how extraordinary it was with the fluorescent effect. If i remember it right, this was bought from Lidl. Lidl was one of the shops that literally brought the miracles of the big world to our grocery shop selections! They still say Finns love to do scene and "familiar building" puzzles. I claim it is because Finnish shops never sell anything but those!!! Sometimes it is very hard to find anything else but something from scene or architecture collection.

By Easter we did this. This one is also very old and one of the rare different ones we managed to find. I usually hunted these special puzzles for the whole year to get one for Christmas!

After the wolf and Easter we decided to start this one. Also it is old and special for us. This is one of the challenging ones I show you here at this blog post.

My intention is to be educative -as usual- for those who are not experienced with puzzles yet. Compare the pics above. This is a very difficult but also that's why it is very time consuming (if you need such puzzle). Look at the snow at front. That's challenging. Look at the sky. That's extremely difficult. So, when you pick up a puzzle, if you need challenging or difficult one this type is a good choice. It has easy parts but also very difficult ones. BUT you need to have good nerves and patience with this one. We, I and YoungLady, did the sky for days and at some point even considered to have a hammer to force the pieces to fit!

Happy Easter

With these cards, I designed and made from recycled materials, I wish you all Happy Easter!

BlanketNo9

I designed and crocheted one more blanket...

I used Schachenmayr's KidLight yarn (38% nylon, 32% polyacryl and 30% mohair) (100g = 600m) with blanc white and natural white shades.

For the base I used the same method as you use with GrannySquares. Then I created a beautiful framing for it by each edge of the blanket.

It is very fluffy, soft and light.

It is PolarBearBlanket!

Yarn on Saturday

Traditionally Holy Saturday is called in Finnish as "lankalauantai". It consists of two words: "lanka" and "lauantai". "Lanka" means yarn and "lauantai" means Saturday. Traditionally they have done all the rest of the wool works that has been left from the past winter. In Finland it still is not time to shear the sheep but it is time to sort out, spin and dye the remaining wool.

We did a great job to wind up 25 skeins of different kind of yarns for the further use. Now I have many balls waiting to be knit and crocheted away!

Bluetits and poppies

This is Coats Crafts UK design. It was originally designed for Anchor threads. I converted them to DMC threads which are better available around here and that's why I have a proper stash of them. You can find the design in Cross Stitcher magazine (July 2004, pages 64-68). I stitched the the project on 9 count Aida. Later on you'll see what this will turn out.