giving away a one-day-leap

This is a extra special extra day !

When you are born on this date you don't age as quickly

as áll the other people.

You might be a teenager of 15

and not look a bit like the 60 years they say you are ...

When I was very young ,

the boy next-door, my brother's friend,

had his birthday on the 29 th of February,

and I didn't understand why they said he was only three years old ...

A special leap year day calls for something special

I made a mandala for those who have only one birthday

every four years

(the paper is a bit darker blue than on this photo)

I started with the bright part on the top,

then came the dark part with the moon

Then the owl, the rabbit and the cat got their place in the other hearts.

So :

 if you think that you (or someone you like) deserve this special day

giveaway

please send me a comment why you think so

and you might be the lucky one !

( ... it doesn't have to be your birthday ... )

Happy birthday !

The fun of blogland is making friends.

Most of the time those friends live fáááár away,

but being on the net, brings them quite close to you.

I happen to know that my dear friend Sus

has her birthday today

Well, I knów: you can find special e-cards on the net,

but for this friend I thought it was more appropriate

to make one myself

HAPPY  BIRTHDAY   SUS

( a bit of you and a bit of me blended together )

I wish you on this Sunday a lot of sun and warmth

 on your still rather cold island

( and all the best for at least 40 years more ! )

*

 On the knitting front all goes well with my little squares

it is really fun to do:

never more than 27 stitches on the needle

and decreasing 2 (in the midle) every second needle

up till only one stitch is left.

Then, I can choose another "second" colour

Fun !

 

*

 

And some days ago Sus gave me the

 

"Liebster Blog" award

 

( ofcourse I don't know how to tranfer the logo to here

but that doesn't matter )

I'm honoured other people think it's fun to visit me here,

like I'm inspired too by a lot of people in "Blogland"

is a dragon blue or red ....

The year of the dragon is already a bit on it's way

but a good week ago

I found the dragon to go with it.

( I had bought two of them earlier, but both became a present )

I very much love the bright colours !

And he goes so well with the dragon

( or winged snake Naga )

I bought almost 20 years ago on Bali !!!

*

The warm colours of Naga will be mirrored

in the knitting I started this week.

The two skeins of the Araucania wool were in a drawer

for some time, and all the other reds that I wanted to use together with it.

( the colours look a bit more pink then they really are )

I will knit a little vest in the "Horst Schulz" way :  module knitting.

This technique was explained in the 5/1993 and 2/1994 issue

of the Dutch needle craft magazine "Handwerken zonder Grenzen"

And this is what the vest will look like, only in a different colour

( this one I gave to my dear friend M, it fitted her better than me ... )

.....

So ....  there are a LOT more little squares to be knit !

busy busy

I've been busy doing all kind of things

though nót on the craft front,

but buying "Lundia" shelves and doors 

for a new cupboard at daughter's place,

and lots of stuff at IKEA

(and getting it up to her flat on the third floor)

*

Today would be a felting day together with daughter's Stitch'nBitch friend

but unfortunately she got ill, so daughter felted on her own.

She started on a hat more than a week ago

(didn't I say : Darth Vader ??? .... but that nose ..... ?)

It looked quite silly in the beginning, I agree,

but after a lot of work today ...

this came out in the end :

(still wet but finished)

She is very proud

(and so am I)

Thanks a lot : Annette Quentin-Stoll !

We had a wonderful workshop with Annette almost three years ago,

her lovely book "Filz Experiment" was a great help.

12 Februari 12

Today the weather is slowly changing :

we had very cold freezing days for over a week.

( unfortunately for a lot of people the "monster - tour"

will not be held because the ice wasn't the required 15 cm

over the whole length of the 200 km ... )

But lots of people had fun on the ice !

Smaller tours were held in all parts of Holland

and lots of people were taking part.

(doesn't this remind a bit of the old 17th century paintings ...)

*

At home other things were done :

( a bit commission bag, and daughter's new hat ...

yes : all hats look somewhat like Darth Vader, sorry ) 

and a finished little vest

winter ... and alpacas

At last :

WINTER decided not to move on unnoticed ! 

It's freezing up to minus 20 C

and we had a few centimetres of snow yesterday.

But ... we aren't used to that !

So that kind of weather brings on a lot of trouble in our small country :

lots of people got stuck in their cars in endless traffic jams ...

busses and trains that didn't go on time

( or at all ) ...

central heating that failed ...

in one word : "chaos"

But also this kind of weather starts another frenzy :

ice skating !

Holland has so much water in ditches, little canals and lakes

that, when all thát freezes over,

everyone, young or old, wants to be on the ice !!!

Many people are even having high hopes for the "monster-race"

of 200 km in the North of the country, in Friesland ...

This morning the white frost and a clear blue sky

gave us the most wonderful "fairy" world to look at and enjoy !

(this spider wasn't home anyway ...)

MAGIC  !

*

For our "normal" Stitch'nBitch outing daughter and I go to Rotterdam,

but this time we went to a new place in the next village

an ALPACA farm !

The friendly hostess (owner of the Alpacas)

had a cosy room (and yarn shop) in the cellar of a little house

where we met some new knitting and spinning friends !

They come together every first Saturday of the month.

It was fun :

we'll be back, that's for sure !

(We didn't séé the alpacas, but next time, we'll take a closer look !

and ..... alpacas have loooooovely soft wool !!!)

another hat

I didn't think it would be like that,

but after I finished my first ever hat

and it passed the test of wearing

(we had nice cold weather)

I started a new one this week !

 I wanted to try out something 

 I also used on my commission bag.

(yes, that's finished too, but only after it's with the new owner I will show you)

I started with the dots, but forgot to take a picture

so in fact, it was made inside out.

First I had to make some pieces of pre-felt before I could start.

This blue is the "holy blue" so the hat will match my "holy blue" bag

Late at night the hat was finished !

Don't know yet if I leave the brim like that ...

it's still rather wet and then "corrections" can easily be made

*

There was also some knitting done this week :

the second sock of a pair finished ...

and ... I stitched together the two back parts of a tiny vest

someone is knitting right now ...

The "Mini Mochi" yarn works so well in this pattern !

(I will show it when finished !)