Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas or Hyvää Joulua as we say here in Finland. It's been a frrrrreeezing -28 C (or -18 F). RIDICULOUSLY COLD! Today warmed up a bit and it's sick when you go outside with the dogs in a rush in the morning and think, "Man, I'm wearing half the clothing I wore yesterday, I bet it's pretty warm out" ...only to go back in, check out the temperature and see it's STILL a cold -12 C (10 F). That's what happens I guess when you live close to the North Pole. Lol!

Christmas has been quiet this year, it's just the three of us: my dad, my fiance and myself. Oh yes, and FOUR dogs! =D I decided not to stress out about anything being perfect, because I didn't want to be responsible for Christmas prep on my own. I also figured they wouldn't notice if Christmas was a little less Christmas-y (and I was quite right). Therefore, I skipped all baking. All decorating. We had half the choices of food and have still managed to feel bursting at the seams with delicious ham, traditional casseroles etc. So it all worked out.

I am not in love with how the tree looks, but it's festive and it really does make Christmas Christmas. We weren't going to put it up, but at the last minute (Tuesday) my fiance decided he couldn't do Christmas without a tree...so up to the attic he went and got ALL the boxes and my mom's white tree down. And then he put it up with a little help from me. Thank goodness he did! =)

We have been busy all week in general here at my folk's place because we managed to talk my dad into rearranging! Seems like all the hints we've been dropping about how we are going to transform the place when he leaves have sunk in so he finally gave in and saw the point we were making all along...the space has so much potential, take advantage of it! Hallelujah, it's a Christmas miracle, LOL! So yes, the transformation has begun. I'm THRILLED! We also managed to sand and stain as well as upholster the chairs my mom has been going on about for almost 20 years! =) =) =)

sanded

stained

Finito (minus the layers of shellac we have to add)

Oh, and I made out like a bandit this Christmas as well... Sweaters, tank tops, socks, thermals, beanie, Iittala glass and YARN!!! Tons of it, each skein is HUGE and every color seems to be represented...All thanks to the mom-in-law! She knows her stuff that lady. =) She also sent me a couple of crochet books. I'm stoked and so excited to try it all out.

Hope everyone out there in blogland had a lovely Christmas or whatever you celebrate this time of the year and I wish each and all a very happy new year filled with tons of inspiration and happy moments crafting and creating!!! 

My Christmas gifts

Here are the pictures I promised of my christmas gifts. Enjoy!

A flower wreath for my Godmother:

The pattern can be found on the Attic24 blog linked here. She uses her own little picot flower pattern, I used her crochet flowers and leaves pattern. The bow I made up myself by just making a long chain, turning and double chaining all the way back. Then I had a "ribbon" of sorts and I just played with it until I got something that looked like a bow. Haha, this is how I craft... I added a bit of yarn to the back so that it created a hook to hang it up with. I hope she loves it as much as I do!

Snowflakes for my sister-in-law:

I read the pattern wrong when I made my first snowflake sometime ago and used US dc instead of UK dc as instructed in the pattern (also Attic24, link here). They turned out bigger and I thought they were cute so I ran with it. I love the way they turned out in purples, my sister-in-law's favorite color. I hope she can find use for these on their Christmas tree or something.

My step-niece's cat:

 

It turned out really cute and I was easy to make but sheesh, the button eyes I put on are obviously wonky. Oh well. And the ears. Double oh well. I could make another one of these, it was a quite pleasant pattern. The link for this cat can be found here

Nephew #1's shark:

I'm almost too embarrassed to post this picture. It was a good try but this shark was a disaster from start to finish. Especially the finish. The fins all look stupid, not to mention I was so tired of this monster to even bother with the side fins. The teeth were a really sad joke and last minute attempt at something like teeth. I feel bad that lovely little nephew #1 got scheisted out of a nice present. I will have to make it up to him. Good thing this isn't the only present under the tree! The link for those brave enough to try this is here. I think something may have been lost in translation between me and this pattern. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nephew #2's owl

I've already posted about this sweetie owl. But here he is again! The link for him can be found here

 And what's this?! This is the owlish blue bird for nephew #3!

Smaller yarn --> smaller bird. He looks a little silly but he's cute in his own way. This is a pattern that started out the same as the owl above but I lost count and ended up winging the rest. (No pun intended, haha)

My sister's gifts:

I made her a pear, pattern found here and the same Attic 24 snowflakes, only as you can see, in blue. I love these too! 

 

 

 

 

Here are the ornaments for the mother-in-law:

 

The tree pattern can be found here

The snowman had his button eyes and nose hot glue gunned on but he turned out kinda cute in his own way... The pattern for him can be found here on the Bernat website (membership required).

 The white snowflakes are also the same as above.

Lastly, the one and only brother's gift:

Mario mushroom to remind him of the hours we spent as kids playing nintendo with each other. The pattern can be found here. Love it!

That's it for today, so happy to see all my projects again and hope you did too!

Puppy breath and big paws!

What a week this has been!!! 

WE GOT A PUPPY! We had been looking for about a year and finally the right litter at the right time caught our attention, we went to see him at 4 weeks and now at 8 weeks, he is in our home terrorizing our other animal children and being a big PITA but he's so cute and so sweet, it's hard to stay mad at him. We named him Koda since he'll probably be as big as a bear. Lol! He is St. Bernard, Rottweiler and Bull Mastiff.

Those are some big paws to grow into, eh... Well, my week has been trying to teach him the rules of the house and show him I'm the boss here. Not so easy, he is SO STUBBORN! We have been following the training methods of Jan Fennell, she's written a really great book called "The Dog Listener" (link here to her website). It's all about learning to "speak" to the dog through the dog's own language, mainly body language. It's a really great method because there is no violence involved. However, being consistent is super important for it to work -- and it takes time. We're pulling our hair out a bit with this puppy. He's just so spirited... and loud! Our neighbors surely hate us by now. Oh well, he'll be such an awesome dog once we get some manners into his head! =)

I'm sure it comes as no surprise when I say that my next project that I started a couple of days ago is.... A DOG SWEATER! Lol! I'm trying to make a masculine one with the yarns I have in abundance. Therefore, it's a green, navy blue and brown striped sweater. I've been trying to figure out how I can rig it to be different sizes, as I am sure that it will not fit him for long seeing as I am making it according to his current measurements. We'll see what I end up doing with it. If I decide to just make it the size he is now, I can always send it to the sister-in-law who has two small boy dogs. 

This is the top part of the sweater. I am going to do another brown and another green stripe, thinner ones though. By then I should have the needed 14 inches in length. 

My Tuesday was consumed with taking Koda on the bus for the first time (it went surprisingly well) and going to my parents' house where he met my their dogs for the first time. It was my mom's last day before her trip to the states. She'll be gone for 3 whole months. I am gonna miss having her around sooooo much but I know my brother and sister and their boys will be so happy to have her. Anywho, I ended up finally having to finish all my projects and my oh my, it took me all day. I soooooo hate finishing projects. I hate hand stitching all the bits together and them going on crooked or uneven. It's so annoying to spend hours crocheting beautifully and counting rows etc to just make it look very unusual with your sewing. Grr!!! Oh well, the main point is that everyone got something handmade by me with love. I hope they like their gifts! I took pictures with my dad's camera when they were all done but the pictures are still on my dad's camera. I'll try to post the pictures when I go there on Sunday or Monday. Stay tuned!

I still have yet to share my Thanksgiving pictures! Here they are! Hope you don't get too hungry looking at them, hahaha! 

Our table setting created by the lovely hubby-to-be! I love our Iittala glassware. It's so precious to me, it's all been handed down from my mom. 

 

 

 

 

 

On the left is the apple-cornbread stuffing and the right is of course green bean casserole. They were both big hits!

The sweet potatoes that were meant to be baked but ended up becoming boiled because time was of the essence. They were good anyway. 

My green chicken, lol! It was really tender but not the most appetizing to look at. It tasted delicious and the seasoning was spot on. I marinaded chicken breast with onion, garlic and oil and lemon juice. Then I "dusted" them with a herb seasoning containing just about every herb known to man plus garlic. At the end of baking, I added cream to the dish and let it bake a few minutes longer. I think I will make this again sometime when we have company over. I think next time though I'll put a little more effort into presentation, lol!

I

Last but certainly not least, was my first gluten-free pumpkin pie. It was scrumptious! I am going to make another one for Finland's Independence day which is December 6th, Monday. I still have half of the pie crust in the freezer so it's probably best to use it up sooner rather than later. There wasn't much of the pie left the next day, so we ate the leftovers for breakfast with our coffee. Gotta love the holidays! 

That's all I have for today, I'll try to get a chance to post the pictures of all my projects along with the links to make them on Sunday or Monday. We'll see what happens! Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!