Two strong hearts

Others are spending halloween, but for us today is 2 years from that happy day.

Love you honey!

If you wonder, the song is by John Farnham (very famous Aussi singer back in the good old days) and it's one of the songs that we love and sing. Our song.

Chevron scarf with instructions!

My inner knitting cycle is totally wacked out. When it started getting cooler here in last May I found myself thinking Christmas presents and knitting ideas, because that's what I've always done when the temperatures start decresing. Now it's getting warmer but I feel like knitting again, because I've started to see Christmas pictures around. 

This is what I made, and I can't give it to anyone here for Christmas because it's too hot and it would be pure madness. So most likely someone back home will get this soft package.

Oh I am so excited. Isn't it awesome. It's my first time I've written knitting instructions so be nice, but do ask if there's something you don't understand. 

What I really wanted to make was blanket with this patern, but I wasn't sure how it would work out, so I thought I'd knit something smaller first, hence the scarf. There's a lot of people who've crochet chevron blankets but I wanted to try knitting the patern. I've written the instructions in English and Finnish so take your pick and go for it. It's easy!

Chevron scarf

Materials:

I used 8 ply, Needles quality knitting yarn, 100% acrylic. You could definitely use something with wool in it, I just used what I could get in this little town and that’s not much.

Amount:

1 ball (100g) of grey and 1 ball (100g) of white

Gauge:

25 stitches = 10cm

Needles:

4mm/ 6 (US)

Dimensions:

10,5cm x 2,25m 

4" x 89"

Instructions:

Cast on 27 stitches with grey. Repeat rows 1 and 2. Change colours after every 4 rows.

Row 1: k1, sl1, k1, psso (slip1, knit1, pass the slipped stitch over), k3, M1, k1, M1, k5, sl2, k1, psso, k5, M1, k1, M1, k3, k2tog, k1

Row 2: Knit normally, knit stitches through the back loop where you have added stitches to avoid holes.

 

Chevron kaulaliina

Lanka:

Käytin 8ply Needles, Quality Knitting Yarn, 100% acrylic lankaa, mutta yhtä hyvin voisi käyttää villaista lankaa, esim. seitsemää veljestä.

Langan menekki:

100g harmaata ja 100g valkoista.

Neuletiheys:

25 s ainaoikein-neuletta = 10cm

Puikot:

4 tai käsialan mukaan

Koko:

10,5cm x 2,25m

Ohje:  

Luo harmaalla 27 silmukkaa. Toista 1. ja 2. kerrosta. Vaihda väriä aina neljän kerroksen jälkeen.

1krs: neulo 1 s, nosta 1 s neulomatta, neulo 1 s ja vedä nostettu s neulotun yli. Neulo 3 s, lisää 1 s tekemällä langankierto puikolle, neulo 1 s, lisää 1 s tekemällä langankierto puikolle. Neulo 5 s. Nosta 2 s neulomatta, neulo 1 s ja vedä nostetut s:t neulotun yli. Neulo 5 s. Lisää 1 s tekemällä langankierto puikolle, neulo 1 s ja lisää 1 s langankierrolla. Neulo 3 s ja neulo 2 s oikein yhteen, neulo 1 s.

2krs: neulo kaikki oikein. Neulo langankierrot silmukan takareunasta, jotta lisäysten kohdalle ei synny reikää.

Mulberry, so good...

Last week I introduced you with mulberry, remember? Since then I've tried a couple of things with them, besides eating.

Jam... So good! I recommended it on toast for my hubby and as a result he updated his facebook status, and he did it before he went to work (that's big, just so you know. He doesn't update his status too often and definately not in the morning). I think that proves how good it was.

Next of I made a pie. Again, so good! The picture below, the one where the is no pie anymore, is so blurry because I had to hurry to get the picture before it was all scraped away. We did have some guests around, so no, we didn't finish it all on our own.

And you know what... This is what our mulberry bush looks now

 So plenty of berries still coming. What should I try next?

Some things about snails

This weeks inspiration comes from the blog, lilla a. Most of you probably have visited this blog, but if you haven't, hurry up and have a look. It's all about making things with kids, and I love that. I can't do much with my little miss yet. She puts everything in her mouth so activities that involve eating are pretty much all we can do (just joking, I'm not feeding my child all day long even though she is a bit chubby).

But sometimes I get to have my friends kids around. And boy are they fun. They get excited about anything, like cleaning and snails. They make me use my brain to come up with different activities. Latest was when I got to look after the youngest of that lot. She loves all things gross, which is so not me by the way, so I remembered an activity that was in lilla a.

 
Turns out snails have over taken the front of our house. I quickly took the watercolours and some paper, this would be a perfect activity. Oh it didn't work. I later went to check it and realised that they used food colour. So instead of showing you snail art, I'll show you what we learned about snails.

Warning, do not look at the pictures if you have a snail phobia.

Boring, most of them just stayed still. After a little while we realised that they had started eating the paper! Not so boring after all.. Clever little things. In the end our papers were full of holes.

But what happens when one snail desides to move and another snail gets on it's way...

We thought it was funny and super exciting.

Then there was another one who decided to move. We named him Hubsy. My goodness was it interesting to see where Hubsy was going. At first he went towards the steps, then he did a dramatic turn.

Yes it went towards the water. No wonder all the snails come out when it's rain, they really must love it (that was our conclusion).

Oh I didn't know snails and 4 year old put together could be so fascinating.

Have a happy Monday!

Just because...

Do you sometimes give gifts to people just because. Just because they are special to you. Just because you want to make someone happy. Just because it's nice to get a little surprise, it brightens anyones day. Just because.

This week I decided to do few bookmarks (that I saw on pinterest) to people just because. I'll tell you the stories for two of them.

This first bookmark is for Lillian, the lady who does rhyme time at the library. Emma adores her. Last week Emma ran to her and spent most of the rhyme time on her lap instead of being with me. Lillian has made us feel so welcome and it means the world to us that she has taken the time to get to know us.

Then she told us that she will be moving and this week is going to be her last rhyme time with us. I nearly cried (I'm a bit emotional like that over silly things). So I wanted to make something little for her to say thank you and that we are going to miss her. And what gift would be more suited than a bookmark.

Lillian, if you ever read this, we love you! You are amazing!

This one is for my dear friends daughter, Holly. She is 11 and going through some rough time at the moment. It's not always easy to be the first of four kids, people expect you to help and count on you with many things.

I saw this text somewhere and I thought of Holly immediately. But different to the other bookmark, I'm not planning on her finding out who it is from. I just want her to get this and know that someone is thinking of her. Plus it might be nice to know that you have a secret friend. All I can do is hope that it will cheer her up, just because.

Have you ever given something just because?

hm hm hm the MULBRERRY BUSH, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush ... so early in the morning

Have you ever heard of that song? I know the tune and I know it says mulberry bush, but I never knew what mulberry is. So happy to tell you (if you don't know either) it's this:

 

Oh yes we have a MULBERRY bush and it is full of fruit at the moment. I am so excited that I can't even describe with words how excited I am. 

Excited? YES! Why? (some of you might ask) Well because in Finland we have so many different berries; blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, lingonberries, gooseberries, cloudberries, blackcurrant, redcurrant and my dad told me he's picked up loads of crowberries. And I really love berries.

Then here you have nothing. Well you can buy starwberries, blueberries and raspberries with high price in the shop. But now ladies and gentlemen I have MULBERRIES! From my very own mulberry bush. 

Now I just don't know what to do with them, because I've never even seen one, not to mention tasted one. I'm thinking jam or juice or syrup or ... I'll get back to you. But we started with tasting.

Oh YUMMO how tasty. Some for the baby, some for the mummy, some for the hair and some for the tummy.

It went everywhere but oh well. Now we get to see if this berry's properties are like blueberry's that it won't come off. But oh so yummy for our tummy.

Head head headbands!

Oh I am so excited about this weeks tutorial that I tried. Jessica from Happy Together has made so many amazing tutorials and I've used her tutorials before too. But this week I really klicked with her patern for so cute headbands.

Here's what mine look like:

It's the same headbands in both of the pictures, I've just turned them around. So in one headband you actually get two! I love how easy and quick these are to make and they actually look so good on! I've already given two away as a birthday present and I think I will be sending most of these away too. But I want to make more!

I'm in love with that grey vintage one that you can barely see in the first picture. It's a keeper. Mine. And I'm also liking the blue butterfly one. Might keep that as well.

So now that you want to make some for yourself, go and get the patern and tutorial here. I need to go to the shop to get more material so I can make more different ones.

Have a great Monday!

New family members

We practised so hard to say what they say so that we could talk to them, and Emma was doing really great. Then they arrived and she froze. Turns out it's much easier to talk to a picture than a real thing.

There's five of them. Two were somewhere outside when we went to say hello this morning. And now we're trying to think names. One of them already has a name; the one on the right in the first picture, she's Helga.

They lived in a cage before so now they are experiencing new dimensions, the outdoor, air and such. To be honest I think they are a bit freaked out, but I think they'll learn to love living with space. We are happy, there's now a chick power in this house hold. Poor hubby.

All name suggestions are welcome! Can't promise we'll choose them but if they're really good, we will.

Happy weekend to everyone!

Ture story

My husband is an amazing man, but sometimes when he gets his head into something it's all about that. I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all, but I do admit that I get a bit frustrated with this quality of his quite often. So about 3 weeks ago (really I don't know, he would if I would ask) he got a letter that he was accepeted to the Police Academy.

I am really happy for him because it's something he's been striving for for a long time and I honestly think he's going to make a wonderful policeman. He then got a list of things that he's going to need with him and the next day his bag was packed. Yeah proves the point that he really gets into it when he puts his mind to it. Determined, that's the word!

I think he felt like the start of the school year when you go to the shop and buy nice pencils and notebooks and look at bags and other cool things that you might need at school. Oh my little student. The only thing he didn't buy was a pencil case because I promised to make one for him.

So after the bag was packed the reminding started. "Oh oh, I'm ready to start, bag is packed. The ONLY thing missing anymore is the pencil case", is what he would say. So now I'm happy to say that it's finally made and he really is ready to go start school.

There it is and he's very happy. The stencils are from here.

Yay I did something for myself too while I was at it. Now I'm happy happy!

Wiggle time

My oh my what a weekend we had. Emma got tickets to The Wiggles -concert on her birthday from her cousin. It was the first daddy date for both of them. And this weekend was finally the long waited concert weekend. Us mums were going to do shopping and have a baby free morning. Sounds good doesn't it.

Then the night before, both of the dads were in the hospital (for different reasons and nothing too dramatic). Our trip was in danger of being canceled. But as the morning came both of the dads were ready to go. And then I fell, in our bathroom, just as we were ready to go. Got a little fracture on my pinky toe and I wasn't able walk.

We went anyway and the two little girls with their dads had wonderful time. Us mums, the fun shopping trip was ruined, but the pinky looks a lot better already!

Of course the two little Wiggles groupies had to have their fan gear on, so I made them both WIGGLE TIME -shirts. Suits them both very well on other days too as these two have energy and lots of wiggle in them.

Oh how tired she was after the concert.

You'd think that this story is over, wouldn't you? But just to prove how much of a wiggle she is, this is her after we got home:

She went and got my bathers and put them on the best she could. She wanted to go swimming. (No we didn't go.)

Lets make an ART exhibition!

I got inspired! I have a friend in Finland who is a wonderful mother of 6 and so full of ideas. Her photography is amazing and her art astounishing. She knits and sews and you can visit her blog here.

Lately she's made some art to an art café and I was inspired by all the bear art she did. Check it out here. So I thought to try the same method as she did. Now you need to know something about me and art; I love it but I can't make it. And guess what! It was so much fun (though I acknowledge the fact that they are no where near as cool as the bears)! So then I thought you all should try it! And we'll make it into our own little art exhibition here online!

This is how you'll do it:

 

 

 

 
I don't have the proper watercolours here so I just used kids ones that I found in the cupboard. I don't have proper paper either so I just used what I had. So you don't have to have the fancy stuff to do this and you certainly don't have to know how to paint either. And trust me it's fun.

It doesn't matter if you do it with your child or by yourself. I have given you time till the 7th of November to do it and send a picture to me. I will then make it into an awesome art exhibition that will have it's grand opening on 11.11.11 here at H.E.L.M.I handmade. Sound good??

To enter:
1. Take a picture of your art piece and send it to me at helmihandmade(at)gmail.com
2. Optional: name the art piece
3. Optional: your name and blog address (if you want people to go to your blog)
Note: you don't have to have a blog to participate!!

If you want to invite others to join please feel free to do so. You are allowed to use the picture at the top on your blog.

Can't wait to see what sort of art pieces we'll have!

Butterflies in t-towels

Emma's great gran (I told a little bit about her here) turned years. I wanted to make something quick and easy yet something nice that she would actually use. This was the result:

Yeah it's t-towels, the once you can buy from ikea. I just handstamped the butterflies. Easy, quick and very suited for a spring kitchen. I really like the way they turned out.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Sometimes I lose

Before she was born I was thinking what kind of parent I would be. I was determined that I would stick to certain things like not sharing my glass, not giving goodies, not letting her watch tv every day, brushing her teeth (when there would be some) every morning and evening, I could continue this list forever.

Some of the things I have been able to stick to and some of the things I feel like I've lost the battle. I don't always remember to brush her teeth in the morning, I have shared my glass with her because I've been too lazy to go and get her own. But I think the strongest I feel about her eating junk. I don't want her to eat chips (yes she has tasted already), I don't want her to eat lollies (yes she has already, when she found some in my bag) and I don't want her to be eating cakes.

There you have the story of how I lost that cake battle too. So I admit it, I haven't been as strong-willed as I thought I would be. Now I just try to limit these things so that they are not everyday things, but only special occations.

I think sometimes as mothers we put too high expectations on ourselves and then I (at least) get frustrated at myself when things don't go the way I've planned. But I've learned that it's not the end of the world when I lose these small battles. And the look and Emma's face when she got that cupcake was priceless. I've learned a lot in this last year and I know for a fact that I will learn much more as my little girl keeps educating me.

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on the posts before. They have really made my day!!!

Free printable - Excuse this house

I'm not the most clean freak person in the world, my husband (and my close friends too) can tell you that. And now after Emma's started to move around the house faster than I can keep up, she's learned a new game. It's called Empty everything -game. Every day I have to put her clothes back where they belong about 3 times, collect the shoes around the house about 5 times, clean the kitchen floor about 4 times and put her books back on the shelf about 10 times. And to be honest, sometimes I can't be botherd, so then my husband comes home and cleans (because he is a clean freak).

Those days I think about this poem that I shared with you couple of weeks ago. I wanted to give it to one of my good friends too to let her know what an awesome mother she is.

Then I thought that why not share it around. So I made three different versions of it. You can choose which one you like and print it to yourself or a friend. It doesn't have the author in there because I don't know who's done it. But it's from the book I hope you know how much I love you by John Bytheway. And if you would like it in different colour let me know and I'll try to make it happen.

To download the grey-white one press here.

To download the grey-pink one press here.

To download the grey-turquoise one press here.

This is for all the mothers out there. Hoping you're having an excellent day.