Odds and ends

My plans for the weekend went down the drain...or should I say they evaporated due to the intense heat wave. On Saturday it was just impossible to do anything but stay absolutely still and take cold showers every now and then (it was about 34 centigrades / 93 Fahrenheit). Today, on Sunday I had planned to tour a local castle where you could join a tour presenting the life of H.C. Andersen. Not that I'm that interested in fairy tales, but the tour path is marked with 100+ pairs of red shoes. The temperature was moderate, my car was ready, its tank full of petrol and I was eager to get on the road. Drove about 200 metres and realised that the main roads were barred due to a major sports event, the 20 kilometres´ run around Brussels. Oh.. my... word. Didn't get anywhere, returned home. Why oh why didn't I go there yesterday? (well, because I couldn't stand the thought of parking my car somewhere with the windows closed and then having to enter it.) The Andersen exhibition will end in a couple of days, so I missed that chance. Should you be as interested in red shoes and fairy tales, please get your hands on this book. It will keep you occupied for a while.

Want something else to read? Crafts related? The new Ulla (Finnish online knitting magazine) is out. My favourite is the Linux scarf. Go and have a look.

Linux and Linus T. are also mentioned here. The Washington Post is doing an extensive presentation of Finland. Quite impressive I must say.

Although nothing much happened during this weekend, I managed to arrange some meetings without any special effort. Does this ever happen to you? Before you know it, your social calender is full. Three new entries just today: a house-warming party, a trip to Paris (as if I'd say no to that) and a knitting meeting during my summer holiday, in the small village where my summer cottage is situated. Lovely! Now I just need to start fighting for my summer holiday and book flights as well.

The Paris trip might be art related this time, we'll see. I, like millions of others, have read the Da Vinci code and might want to join one of those special sight seeing tours they're arranging these days. Or I wanted to join one until I saw the price: 100 euros! And while we're on the subject, here's a picture from the crafts fair in Cologne earlier this year (of which I still haven't shown you any pictures - I'm such a bad person). Fancy a cross stitch project? Anyone? Marjut?


Two more things I realised I've never shown you. The parcel from my third secret Nordic friend contained some green "Frisé" yarn from Garnstudio. Thank you, I know exactly what to make of it.




And finally, I've been exchanging e-mails with someone who asked me about my odds and ends. You're right, there are dozens of different yarns, sometimes in very small quantities. Well, don't throw them away, make a throw instead (ha-ha). These are made of cotton yarns. I'd love to show you more photos but these spreads are in Finland at the moment. I might return to the subject in July.

Scrap yarn


and then some