"No Mamma"

What to do when the "Terrible Two's" really kick in???? This week Pixie has been feeling very much better and is completely recovered. BUT........... her favorite word right now is "NO" to everything!!! She is testing out her limits it seems and very much showing her will - and it is very strong indeed! "It will pass soon - you are your child's first teacher - be calm" I say to myself as I take a deep breath and try to distract her attention on to something new to avoid a full blown tantrum....... Life is 'interesting' right now for sure! ;)
So in the spirit of distraction and all things woolly I made a few new little needle felted creatures to add to Pixies menagerie. Piggy Wiggy - Brown Mouse - Three Sheep - (of which her imagination turned into goats and has been playing 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' with over the little red bridge) - Yellow Hen - Big Pippi Bird - (of course all Pippi birds have little flowers instead of wings!!!) ;)
(photo is not the best as cooperation to pose for the camera this week was no on Pixies schedule!)

I have been beavering away at my "February Lady" Cardigan in the evenings and she is nearly done! YES!!! I just love knitting the whole body in one piece, it just zips along. I am just about to finish with the garter stitch hem and then on to the sleeves. I might even get to wear her on chilly evenings this summer. I am really happy with the gull lace and the repeats are easy to remember without reference to the pattern all the time. I bought some gorgeous vintage Art Nouveau circa 1910 - 1930 buttons for her too. They are in brass inlay with twirling vines. From this shop on Etsy. GreenRayProd. Jodi finds the most wonderful vintage buttons to sell in her store and is a keen knitter too.

Darling Buds of May!

Our little Pixie has had the virus "hand foot & mouth" - (not
related to the animal virus of the same name) it is going around all the
neighborhood children at the moment. Hence the lack of blogging this last few weeks! It is rather like a bad flu with
pin prick spots mainly on the face and mouth and hands and feet! She
got it last year too!! The virus mutates all the time we are told so it
is something that is very infectious for around 2 weeks. Poor baby she
has been very poorly and of course grumpy with it all. Thank goodness she is much better now and up and about and more herself again.

Yesterday we ventured down to the lake for the first time in a week and she made a new friend!

It truly feels like summer here now and the trees in the garden are coming into full bloom. Our flowering cherry tree is just glorious this year. This weekend Pappa will cut the lawn for the first time this year. The tree pollen is wickedly bad right now too and I am suffering as usual - runny eyes and nasty sore throat, the works!!!

This was the view from the porch windows last night of our cherry tree. I sat drinking my evening tea just basking in the last rays of warmth from the sun and thinking "nature is amazing". (that was before I realized that two miserable big bites were looming into red blotches on my leg.... Mossssssssssssssies!! A mosquito had bitten me! Grrrrrrrrrrr - the first bites this year!! ) Sweden I think must have the most loathsome mosquitoes on the planet. :( Those little pests must be Mother natures joke on humanity!

I have been playing around with needles and wool and trying to muster up a fun little abode for Pixies growing band of tomten, gnomes & faries.
So I introduce you to "Tomten Hus & Grandpa Tomte"
I combined basic knitting & crochet and needle felting. I added a back window too! ;)

I gave the duo to Pixie this morning and she was instantly in a world of her own and went off to get all her little 2inch wooden gnomes and tomte and princess etc to show them and then she spent over an hour lost in 'fairy wonderland' that is a child's imagination. A real joy to see and worth the effort to make such cutie little folly's!

Building & Miserable Weekend!

NEW ALTAN BUILD


This last week has just been hectic with trying to fit our regular daily life around building our new deck. It is going well now the weather is good. Pappa is exhusted though as he is mainly doing this himself. Pixie can not wait to get out and run around on it! (me too!) It is going to wrap around our cottage in a L shape including our little half porch which is being saved and restored. Or if you want to be 'posh' 'our morning sun porch' ;)


I HATE DENTIST VISITS!

This weekend - Friday evening during supper the worst happened and I lost a filling and broke my tooth in half! What a truly mean start to the weekend. What to do? Find emergency dentist, or hang on and go see my regular one on Monday morning? Seeing that I truly hate the dentist visit at the best of times I decided to tough it out and wait. Oh the joys of horrible sharp nerve pain every time I took a sip of anything and of course eating that gorgeous redcurrant cheesecake the I made as a weekend treat was out of the question! Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Thank goodness I managed to get an AM appointment yesterday and my lovely dentist saved my tooth with a restoration filling and all is well!


Vacuum Vacancy Filled!

To add insult to injury, this weekend my very old faithful vacuum cleaner gave up the ghost on me for good and died in a puff of dust and spluttering! RIP!
Looking to buy a new cleaner was a minefield of UGLY machines.... then I came across this retro looking beauty by Bosch! She is all mine now and I must say is doing a great job of our rugs and wood floors.




DEAR DEER!




This morning while having breakfast Pixie sat right up in her little chair and pointed "Titta Mamma" (Look Mamma) and there was a little group of deer in the rear garden that backs on to our little bit of forest. So tranquil, they looked at us and just carried on with their own morning snack. So glad we netted off the new holly trees last Autumn as I would not like to loose those to over enthusiastic 'deer pruning'!!

Bunny Buddy Comforter

This little 'Bunny Buddy' or as they are known here 'Snuttefilt' was given today to our good friends little boy. He is just 3 years old and is having horrible trouble sleeping and walking up with night terrors. The imagination takes a big leap forward around this age! He loved his new little bedtime friend right away and gave him a big cuddle.
His favorite colour is purple so perhaps that helped. ;)

Now Pixie wants one of her very own too! Glad I have plenty of yarn left over!

He is made out of 65% Bamboo/35% Cotton yarn - very fun to knit with, but very slippery on the needles! This yarn had been in my stash for ages and I have lost the brand label! His head is stuffed sheep's wool roving - very soft and gives a nice natural feel and weight and warmth. Worked in one piece. (always a good thing!) Gauge is not important for this project so any yarn will work though the Head should be worked tightly enough to hold the stuffing. He is made from a free pattern that I found at Lion Brand Yarns. You can download the pattern Here. (Note: You have to register to access the free patterns section on the Lion Brand Yarn website) If you hate to register and you still want the pattern email me: crimsoncottage@gmail.com
and I will forward you the PDF ( I assume this is ok as it is a free pattern)

Spring?

Has Spring really come to Sweden?
OR
Did I just imagine it in a cruel dream?

Outside temperature at around 10pm Friday night!!!

I went to bed thinking that I would have to get Winter jackets out again!
But to my delight when we woke the sun was shinning and it was a glorious morning!
"O ye of little faith....." I hear my inner voice saying.

As you see from the picture, Pixie is bathed in morning sunlight! She loves to look out of our back windows at the birds in the mornings while I make our morning brew and busy myself with making breakfast. Bless her, she sat there so contented singing "The sun has got his hat on - Hip hip hip hip hooray.....the sun has got his hat on and he's coming out to play ....... over and over very cute, as long as you are not nursing a headache! :)

No Winter coats - Saturday it was to be!

So we drove out to our local village/town Mariefred and strolled around and had a coffee and did some grocery shopping and a little window shopping!
Then we stopped by the lake and to feed the ducks.
Pappa helped hold the crackers and crumbs bag that we save especially for the ducks! There were a few gulls around too.
(a sure sign that Spring is back again and as you can see from the lake it is all thawed!)
The castle was looking really pretty across the water and we saw the swans.
Amazing birds.
So elegant gliding across the water as if they owe the whole world!

Tea Party - Fika!

Your Invited to a Tea Party (Fika)!

What better thing to do with your days then have a Tea Party for your favorite toys!
Special invited guests are: Connie Bunny - Chloé - Sukie - Monsieur Kat.

On the Tea Table............. Little fancy cakes of course!

Iced Biscuits
Mini Swiss Roll
Viennese Finger
Swiss Roll Slice.

What would a 'real' Tea Party be without Sandwiches........
Open Swedish style & closed dainty English style. :)

Egg & Kavier smörgås cracker
Cheese & Bell Pepper smörgås cracker
Cheese & Tomato sandwich.

These were such fun to make from scraps of wool left overs from other projects. Amazing what you can do with a little imagination and plain old garter knit stitch!

When Pappa got home yesterday of course he was 'invited' and Bless him - he 'played' The King of the castle at the princess tea party and ate up all his smörgås very 'enthusiastically! ;)

Easter Hare!

Yesterday Pixie woke bright and early and Very Excited!

"Had the Easter Hare had been visiting our garden?" She could not wait to get outside to see...............

Such a lovely morning too with bright Spring sunshine and just a little light breeze in the air.

I made her a felted bag made from Drops Garnstudio Eskimo yarn (8mm needles) - YES - nice and quick!! using pattern 112-46. The pattern is free you can find it Here It is great fun to make, and even more fun to see our little Pixie very pleased with it! She is a real little explorer and I can see this little bag come to good use to collect all her little treasures from nature she finds when we are out walking. :)

As you can see from the photos below the Easter Hare did indeed visit our humble abode!!

A little Pixie with a mission!

Counting the 'discoveries'

'Please Mamma can I eat some now?'