Challenge: 11 questions

PäiviH from the blog Tanssivat puikot had been challenged to answer to 11 questions about her handicrafter habits and instead of challenging new people decided to just leave the challenge open for anyone interested to take and answer the questions too. As I've thought this is one of the more interesting challenges circling blogistan at the moment, I decided to join in! So here are the 11 questions and my answers to them.


1. What is your most ambitious handicraft project you are dreaming of?
I'd say that out of my current dreams, the most ambitious is probably a fair isle cardigan. I would really love to make one but am also very scared of the project at the same time. An other ambitious dream I have is a quilted bedspread.

2. What has been the most ambitious handicraft you have actually made?
Probably the historical ballgown (vanhojentanssipuku) I made for my friend back when I was studying to be a seamstress for a traditional school dance. I made few other nice dresses back in the day.
Outside that world of professional sewing the most ambitious handigraft I've made has definitely been the double knitted Protu 20 scarf, of which I'm super proud of.

The Protu 20 scarf was a custom order I made in few weeks with great exitement.
It was a lot of work but I was super proud of it when it was finished.

3. Are you ever unable to choose and thus do not start a handicraft project when it's time for you to start a new project?
Nope, I don't think this has ever happened to me. Also, I always seem to have several projects I'm working on at the same time (see this post for an example) so quite often when I'm finished with one project I just move on to an other one I'm already working on. New projects tend to come along there in between when ever I come up with a new one.

This box in our livingroom contains most of my unfinished knitting  and crocheting projects and tools too.

4. What type of handicrafts do you most like to do?
At the moment my handicraft of choice is definitely knitting. I'm very much enjoying the versatility of the craft. But I do enjoy many other things too and will probably push myself more back towards sewing when I'll get a proper space where to work with bigger projects.

5. Is your job in any way related to handicrafts?
No, or not more than public library work is related to any other field of life. No special emphasis on handicrafts. But before becoming a librarian I used to work as a seamstress and have to say that I'm rather happy that isn't my day job anymore.

6. Is it a complete chaos or clean and organized at your workstation (or where ever you store tools)?
My crafting supplies and tools are actually rather organized, which is somewhat untypical for me. That's how ever more a result of not having a proper space for crafting and all my materials and tools need to be stored in one cabinet and few boxes all the time. It wouldn't work it it all was super chaotic.

This is my kinda packed handicraft closet.

7. What material do you have in store but have never used for anything? How long have you had it?
Ok, this is not a material but a tool, but I have a textile printing screen that I got from a friend seven or eight years ago and have never used. In general I try not to store things I'm not using for anything too long.


8. What kind of mood are you in when you make handicrafts? Are you working as fast as you can to finish the project of do you work calmly and enjoy the process?

I'm pretty laid back with my projects and mostly do them because I want and need to do something with my hands, not because I would want to finish things as fast as I can. I can be ambitious too, but some years ago I chose to not make handicrafts my job so I won't be working on them like they would be.


9. Have you ever come up with an idea, structure of method in your handicraft projects that you have thought has been something new and different than what has already existed?

I'm fairly certain that I have never come up with anything that someone else wouldn't have come up too, but there definitely are few things I've figured out on my own without ever seeing any kind of instructions or patterns for making them before doing them myself for the first time. 

I'm sure someone else somewhere has also done double knitting with different pattern on each side, but this is one of the things I figured out on my own without seeing anyone elses project or any instructions.

10. Which school grade would you give yourself about your handicraft skills?

On a scale from 4-10 (this is the scale they used when I was in elementary school) I'd say 9. I mean, I'm pretty good in many things but the more I learn about handicrafts the more I feel like I need to learn more and better. So good but not perfect.

11. Which is the handigraft project someone else has made that you love the most?

The fox hat Inari made for me as an unbirthday gift some years ago. It's very dear to me in many ways and tends to serve as a thinking cap sometimes too.

Well this was fun. I'm not gonna challenge anyone else as I wasn't officially challenged either, but if someone else wants to answer these questions I'd definitely recommend it and you can consider yourself challenged.

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Päätin tarttua Tanssivat puikot -blogin PäiviH:n avoimeen haasteeseen vastata 11 käsityöaiheiseen kysymykseen. Näihin oli hurjan hauska vastailla ja samalla pohdiskella omaa käsillätekemistä. Jätän itsekin haasteen avoimeksi, koska minua ei virallisesti tähän haastettu, joten kuka tahansa, jonka tekee mieli vastailla näihin kysymyksiin on tervetullut mukaan!

March and my Journal - days 11-18

So... I kinda failed the "post new pages every five days" rythm I was supposed to keep up. Ooops. But I had a good reason! I went for an impromptu mini vacation to Tallinn last weekend to see my brother so I just didn't have time to make a post on Friday or during the weekend. But now you'll get all eight pages I've done since you've last seen me around!

You can find the first five pages I made here and pages 6-10 here.


Day 11: What did you eat today?

Marjarahka (Berry curd)
Hapankorppu (Rye crisps)
Valkosipulivoipatonki (Garlic butter baguette)
Lohisalaatti (A sallad with salmon)

Just pen on paper with, obviously, rather a lot of planning. I felt like doing something rather graphical today and ended up spending really long time working on this one.


Day 12: A quote that you like.

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
- Groucho Marx

This genuinly is one of my favorite quotes there is. It still manages to make me giggle a bit, especially when I'm tired. The dog picture is just something I found online, printed to some old brown paper I have and then cut along the line.


Day 13: Design yourself a badge of honour or a medal for something you deserve it from.

Ahkera askartelija (hard-working crafter)

I really didn't know what to give a medal for myself for so I just ended up giving me one for working so hard on this journal. Unfortunately you can't quite tell how three dimentional this medal is with the yarn.


Day 14: What are your favourite things today?

My favorite things today
were the chips I ate
 were the snowflakes
 was the pie I made

I just simply love this pic of the man sitting on the tiniest of tiny islands in the middle of a huge lake or a sea. It's cutout from some magazine or something. The text is printed on reused squared paper and then I just made some lines and dots to make it look more fancy.

Day 15: Collect shopping lists here (yours or ones you found)

Things I will need when I move to my new home
TV, sohva (sofa), työpöytä (writing desk), uusi kirjahylly (new bookshelf), lamppuja (lamps)

This is the buzzy friday edition and as I had no shopping list to collect, I just decided to write one for myself. I'm actually moving to a new place in the beginning of the summer and these things are genuingly things I will need to get for the new place sooner rather than later.

Day 16: A confession or revelation about yourself

I may be 26 years old woman
but I don't know hot to use makeup
 and don't really care to learn either.

As I was in Tallinn Saturday and didn't want to carry the big notebook (and all the suplies) with me, I made this one a day late. Once again a nice clipping from a magazine and a true statement about myself. I've decided that if ever there comes an occation when I want and/or need to put on some makeup, I'll just pay for someone to make it for me.

Day 17: List the pros and cons for an optional topic

LIVING WITH A KITTY CAT
+ so very cute & fluffy
+ super funny sleeping positions
+ the PURR
+ softer than soft furr
+ someone comes greet you when you come home
+ looks always good in photos
+ fun to play with
- the crazy hour in the evening
- "no door shall be closed" policy in the house
- scratch marks all over your skin
- eating all the plants!
- dropping all the stuff (especially books from the bookshelf)

To make it clear, I don't have a cat but my roommate does. Also, I had the inspiration close when I made this. THe picture is a page from an old broken picture book which pages I have for crafting purposes.

Day 18: Add a magazine clipping of a subject important to you

A very short news piece about Benedict Cumberbatch telling that he and Martin Friman have agreed with BBC about the fourth season of Sherlock.

Meaningless in the grand skeme of things, but for me and other people who have been Sherlocked, this was such wonderful news. Never mind that they haven't yet shot the third series either! The background is just a printout from Word to odl blue paper.

* * *

Hups, venähti vähän sivujen postausväli, kun lähdin hetken mielijohteesta minilomalle Tallinnaan. Varsin hyvin olen kuitenkin pysynyt tahdissa mukana (ainoastaan sivu 16 piti tehdä reissun takia päivä myöhässä) ja kaikki on tullut tehtyä, joten tässä nyt muistikirjan kahdeksan viimeisintä sivua.

March and my journal - days 6-10

Here come the next five days of the journaling challenge. See the first five pages here.


Day 6: If money and space wouldn't limit you, what would you collect?

If time & money were not an issue ....
... I would collect all the places.

Two map pages together and some rubber stamping and then some fixing with a pen. Somewhere in between it all looked rather horrible, but in the end it turned out quite nicely.


Day 7: What did you do a year ago in March?

In March 2012 I finished my thesis
(In the chart you have the main classes of the Finnish Public library classification system and how many books are classified to each class in the library collection I worked with in my thesis. You can check the PLC here.)

I actually had to check Facebook to see what I did a year ago. I honestly didn't remember that I finished my thesis already in the end of March and not in the beginning of April. This pie chart is from my thesis, I found it from my reusable paper pile. The Doghill Farm stickers (from books by Mauri Kunnas) I got at some bookfair few years back.


Day 8: Collect five random sentences from blogs you read today

Leikkaan ja värjään omat hiukseni. (I cut and die my own hair.)
Niistä syntyi sitten tällainen sekametelisoppa. (This mess came out of it.)
Jo kaukaa näkee kannattako tulla kyselemään ... (You can see from far away if it's worth to come and ask ...)
Neljässä kuukaudessa sentin siilistä tähän, ei huono.  (Four months from one centimeter hair to this, not bad.)
Katsokaa miten aurinko hiipii ikkunoista sisään! (See how the sun crawls in from the windows!)

Just washi tapes and random lines (picked from the blogs listed below) printed on squared paper. I tried to pick lines that in a way get a new meaning when combined with each other.
No home without you
Kirsikkapuiston blogi
Ihan kaikki kotona
Hupsistarallaa
Matka maailmankaikkeuteen


Day 9: Add a recipe you would like to try, or a recipe you've been looking for.

Hasselback Potatoes

A stripy paperbag, the recipe printed out (after I made it look nice in Word) and some stamped text. This recipe is something I have had pinned in Pinterest for some time now and really need to get around to try it out!


Day 10: Make a top 10 list of any subject.

TOP 10 Finnish names that begin with the letter R*
Reko, Ruusa, Reetta, Ronja, Roope, Reija, Robert, Ruut, Rauha, Rasmus
*Not including mine, because it is the best name anyways.

Just cutouts from magazines again. I am fond of lists, but am not particularly good in just listing random things. I ended up listing the names because of a random loose letter R hanging on a top of a pile of magazines.

* * *
Tässä tulevat seuraavat viisi päivää Muistikirjamaaliskuu-haasteeseen. Taso alkaa selvästi tasoittua, sillä näistä pidän kaikista suhteellsen paljon. Tehtävänannot löytyvät suomenkielisinä Terhin Hupsistarallaa-blogista.

March and my Journal - days 1-5

Yay, first real update on the March my Journal journaling challenge! Here I have gathered the first five days/pages of my journal. I think I'll try and make one of these page posts in about every five days or so, so less than a week to go before the next one.

But before we get to the pages, let me introduce you to my notebooks. It is....

...this old black thing. I think this is actually meant to be photo album of a sort and I bought it years ago for another project, but I never managed to get that thing rolling so now I decided to give it a new task. There isn't enough pages in this book so I could journal just on one side of each page so I'm using both sides of them, but it doesn't seem to be any problem as the pages are really thick and sturdy. The pages are also rather large which I like because it's nice to challenge myself to do something bigger than a moleskine page.

Ok, of we go to see the actual pages.

Day 1: First page - the title of your journal

MAALIS
The only joy in the world is to begin. - Cesare Pavese

I don't know if this can really be called a tittle, but I found this very nice quote about beginning and wanted to use that. The background is a page from a magazine I had cut out ages ago for crafting and the file card something I rescued from a previous work place when a bunch of these would have been thrown away. (Oh and for those who don't speak Finnish: Maalis is short for maaliskuu which is March in Finnish.)

Day 2: Introduce yourself

I am miss Fox. They also call me Riikka. I am a knitting 26 years old nerd librarian.

From the pile of magazine cutouts I found a bunch of fox photos and as miss Fox is my nickname sometimes, it was easy to continue from there. The tape is a new one I just bought that day.


Day 3: How do you feel waiting for spring?

Eniten odotan keväältä valoa valoa valoa. (What I wait most from springtime is light light light.)

This is the first thing that came in my mind when thinking of spring so I ran with it. Background again a magazine cutout, the circles are from an old paint color chart I had.


Day 4: Things you need and things you want

Today I don't feel like needing anything
BUT
Day 4: Things you need and things you want
Voisin haluta (I could want)
Syödä vielä yhden kuppikakun (eat one more cupcake)
Rakentaa papapeliä (build a puzzle)

I dunno, not my most inspired work this page. I just didn't turn out very well this time. Also, I didn't feel that I needed or wanted that much this particular day. And I used two languages in the same sentence, 'cos, my journal my rules. Oh well, new day, new challenge. All the pieces of paper are from an old German book I  have mostly used for something else. Oh, and those are real puzzle pieces from a puzzle that had lost too many pieces to be any good to try and build again.


Day 5: Write a message with letter clipped out of magazines

Joskus on vaikea löytää oikeita sanoja. (Sometimes it is hard to find the right words.)

Had to think a while what I wanted to write here (the subject was so open), but I'm very happy of the words that have so may meanings. Also, I think this might even be my personal favorite of all the pages I've made this far. It is just beautiful.

There you go. I'm still feeling very exited about this challenge so I can't wait to see what Inari and Terhi have planned for the rest of the month!

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Muistikirjamaaliskuu on päässyt hyvään vauhtiin ja ainakin minulla piisaa intoa sivujen tekemiseen. Muistikirjana minulla on ilmeisesti valokuva-albumiksi tarkoitettu kirjanen, jossa on isot,  paksut ja tukevat sivut. Ensimäiset viisi päivää ovat olleet enimmäkseen onnistuneita ja aika paljon on tullut käytettyä lehtileikkeitä näitä tehdessä. Suosikkini näistä ensimmäisista sivuista on ollut viimeisin eli viidennen päivän sivu, joka on omasta mielestäni erityisen kaunis. Jännityksellä jään odottamaan seuraavia haasteita!

DIY map box (The Pinterest Challenge)

I had thought of doing something else as my Pinterest Challenge project but got sick during the weekend so I had to leave that project for now and pick a project that would be less thinking and time requiring. I'll return to it for sure, especially as I've already done most of the planning work.

So what I ended up doing was something inspired by this pin. I have for a while had all my maps in a old shoe box which, handy as it is, is not the most beautiful storage unit. So what would make more sense than to decorate it with old and unused maps?

I didn't have a map big enough to use as one piece as the decoration and none of them really were so beautiful I felt they would do as big pieces so I decided to do it this way, with strips of maps. I'm very happy how it turned out. I also decided I want try and make a small tutorial of how to decorate a box this way. It's not the worlds most complicated project, but you have to start somewhere with tutorials too, right?

Map box tutorial

Can you tell  this is the first tutorial I'm making:
I forgot half of the things you need to have in this project from this photo. :D

Materials:

• a shoe box
• old maps
• a glue stick
• paper glue
• some water

Tools:

• a paintbrush (something you don't mind mixing to glue)
• a small bowl
• scissors or a paper cutter 

Instructions:

1. Cut the non-map parts of your maps away. Cut the maps into as long strips as you can. (I made my strips varying width to make it more fun, but they can also all be the same width if you like it more.) I cut 6 or 7 cheep tourist maps for this project, just to get some variety on the stripes, but I think you can get enough material for this project from 3 maps.
2. Glue the strips of maps on the box with the glue stick. It's good to cut the strips bit longer than the side you are gluing it on so you can turn the strips over the side or corner to make the box look more finished.  Also figure out before starting, which way you would like the strips to go so you can figure out the best order to glue them on. That way you can hide the ends of the strips going over the corner with stripes going the other way.
3. When you have glued the stripes on the box, take a bowl and mis a small amount of water and paper glue together in a bowl. I can't give you any exact mixing ratio but I think about half and half works fine. Take the brush and spread an even coat on top of the stripes. This layer will both help the strips to stick on the box better and protect the surface.
4. Let the box dry. Remember to make sure that the cover does not glue stuck on the box. I put pens between the lid and the box to keep them separate. When the surface has dried, your box is ready!

So yeah, here is my little map box and the first tutorial I've made. I hope you enjoyed it! :)

Edit 27.2.13: Check out all the cool projects other people have done and linked to Young House Love!

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Tarkoitukseni oli osallistua Pinterest haasteeseen eräällä haastavammalla projektilla, mutta koska sairastuin viikonlopun aikana, piti siitä projektista luopua toistaiseksi ja tarttua johonkin helpompaan ja nopeampaan. Päädyin siis koristelemaan kenkälaatikon, jossa säilytän sekalaisia karttojani vanhoilla/turhilla kartoilla. Samalla päätin harjoitella vähän tutoriaalien tekoa ja tehdä tästä projektista pienen tutoriaalin. Yllä siis on ohjeet oman karttalaatikon tekoon!

Journaling challenge... accepted!

Two of my favorite bloggers Inari from Ikomi blog and Terhi from the blog Hupsistarallaa are starting something interesting together. They have decided to set up their own month long journaling challenge called  March and my journal.

The challenge is for the month of March (as you might have guessed) during which Inari and Terhi will give a subject for one page of a journal each day. They are not creating a new blog or anything like that for this challenge, but have instead decided to keep the challenge in their both blogs. Inari will be publishing the subjects each day in English and Terhi in Finnish, each in the language they tend to do their journaling too.

You could say I'm interested! I like journals and keep buying them even tough I'm not very good with doing anything to/with them. So a challenge like this is a welcome assistance on that front. And I think this challenge is even better than most other journaling challenges as I already read both of their blogs very often so I won't easily forget to check what I should be journaling about each day.

So... Go me! Now I just have to pick which journal I'm going to use for this, get everything set for Mach 1st and then just keep at it through the 31 days called the month of March. And I want to challenge all of you reading this who might have any interest towards journaling to join in to the fun with us. I'd love to see a ton of cool journal pages all around. (Let me know in the comments if you are doing this too.) 


* * *
Kaksi lemppariblogaajaani, Ikomi-blogin Inari ja Hupsistarallaa-blogin Terhi ovat lyöneet luovat päänsä yhteen ja päättäneet esittää kanssablogaajille journal- eli muistikirjailuhaasteen. Muistikirjamaaliskuu toteutetaan nimensä mukaisesti maaliskuussa, jolloin nämä ihanat naiset antavat joka ikiselle päivälle oman aiheen, jonka mukaan osallistujien on tarkoitus täyttää yksi sivu muistikirjastaan. Terhi julkaisee aiheet blogissaan suomeksi ja Inari omassaan englanniksi.


Minä olen osallistumassa tähän hauskaan haasteeseen, koska haluan vähän potkia itseäni oikeasti käyttämään omistamiani muistikirjoja ja koska haaste kuulostaa niin kovin hauskalta. Samalla haluan haastaa kaikki, joita muistikirjailu kiinnostaa edes pienessä määrin mukaan muistikirjamaaliskuuhun, sillä olisihan se hauskaa, jos pääsisi näkemään monia erilaisia tulkintoja aiheista! (Kertokaa ihmeessä myös kommenteissa, jos osallistutte, niin voin seurata aikaansaannoksianne.)

Lets go creating (The Pinterest Challenge)

Eliza, who writes the blog If & Any made a post about a challenge she is going to do and as it sounded like a lot of fun so I decided I try to do it too. The challenge she wrote about is The Pinterest Challenge - winter edition which is hosted by Young House Love and some other blogs too.

The simple idea in this challenge is to go look your Pinterst boards and actually create something inspired by something you have pinned. Time you'll have for this: this weekend. The official deadline is Wednesday 27th of February, when links to the finished projects should be submitted.

I don't yet know what I'll be doing, but I have few ideas I could work on...

A wreath
The ones I have pinned are include these more traditional ones (1, 2 and 3) and also this one that is little bit more out there. I have a styrofoam base for a wreath in my crafting supplies but then again it's kinda the wrong season for making one as a wreath is a Christmas ornament for me.

Cards
These cards are adorable, I just need to start sending cards so I can used them for something.

Jewerly
The style of the beads used in this project is way of but I'd love to try this kind of technique for a piece of jewelry.

Lampshades for fairylights
I have my lovely fairylights and it could be fun to have some kind of lampshades (1, 2 and 3) on them, just for a change. Then again this is also a project that would be better suited for autumn.

Holders for hooks and needles
I have a reasonable storage solution for my needles and hooks right now, but I wouldn't mind having individual holders like these for my needles.

Some unique pillows
I have three decorative pillows with no covers so it might not be a bad idea to make some beautiful covers for them (1 and 2).

Cook something
I have so many yummy looking recipes stored in Pinterest it wouldn't hurt if I tried out something from there for a change.


So here are my options, we'll see what I end up creating in the next few days! How about you will you also join in and create something new?

* * *
Young House Love -blogi haastaa ihmisiä luomaan uutta Pinterestiin keräämiensä asioiden inspiroimana. Aikaa ensiviikon keskiviikkoon. Haaste kuulosti niin hauskalta, että pitäähän sitä lähteä mukaan. Yltä löytyy muutama ajatus siitä, mitä kenties voisin väkertää ensi viikonloppuna. Lähteekö joku muu mukaan tähän haasteeseen?

Challenge: Strange habits

The blog Silmukan saalistus challenged me to list five strange habits I have. So here we go, my strange habits:

1. I have a habit of taking random things I own, hanging them somewhere and then to just let them hang there for ever before actually placing them somewhere logical. For example I have a reflector hanging from my rooms door handle and a Chinese decoration thing in a hook that happens to be in the middle of my rooms doorway - very inconvenient if you as the people who are taller than me. :D
2. I like to walk around while I'm brushing my teeth. While growing up I used to pace back and forth in the bath room, nowadays I tend to wonder around the flat or at least between my room and the toilet. To be kind to my roommate I do try to avoid going to rooms where she is as she doesn't particularly like to listen me brushing my teeth.
3. I like putting lemon pepper on top of my rye bread sandwiches so I do it almost always I have one.
4. I read books while walking. Not always but sometimes.
5. I sleep with socks on my feet. (I need to note that I don't think this is strange but quite many people around me have told me it is.)

It is surprisingly hard to come up with 5 things to list here. Especially so when I personally think very few things are truly strange. But these are things that I do and think are different from the "normal".

Part of this challenge was also to challenge 15 other blogs. I'm not going to do that mainly because I feel like 15 is a ridiculous number and frankly I'm not very good in choosing blogs I'd like to challenge. I kinda don't want to bother people... So I think that even if I receive these challenges/prizes also in future, I probably won't challenge people every time. Just occasionally or when there is a particularly interesting/new challenge I want to spread out.

The blogs I like and want to share with my readers are listed in the "Who I read" section of the blog anyway and I keep adding stuff there. So, you know, it's a good section to check occasionally. :)

How ever, if any of you lovely people reading this feel like listing some strange habits you have in your blog, you should feel challenged to do so, as this (and any future challenges I don't specifically challenge anyone to do next) will be open challenges to all my readers!

Oh, I also got the New Blog Love prize from Inari! Thank you so much about that, I appreciate it a lot, but like the strange habits challenge, I won't be giving it out to anyone right now.

(Edit. You can now also follow this blog in Bloglovin or in Blogilista if you feel like it.)

* * *
"Kerro viisi omituisinta tapaa itsestäsi ja jakaa palkinto 15 muulle inspiroivalle blogille." Tällaisen haasteen minulle antoi Silmukan saalistus -blogi. Yllä jaoin omituisuuksiani, mutten en suoraan haasta ketään, vaan jätän haasteen avoimeksi kaikille lukijoille.

Lisäksi sain Inarilta New Blog Love -tunnustuksen.

(Edit. Blogiani voi nyt seurata myös Bloglovin- tai Blogilista-sivustojen kautta.)

Challenge: Liebster

I got the Liebster prize (or should I say honorable mention) from Sanna (or snna k) who writes the excellent blog called Neuloo ja purkautuu (Knits and unravels). It made me very happy that someone felt my newish blog is so good it deserves to be mentioned, so I think I need to say a big thank you to  Sanna. THANK YOU! :)

As goes, there are some rules attached to to this prize so here they are translated from Finnish to English.

This is the Liebster prize which is ment to be given to blogs with under 200 followers. Liebster means dear or loved but it can also be translated as favorite.

Rules:

1. Thank and link the blog that gave you the prize.
2. Choose five blogs (that have under 200 readers) as next receivers or the prize and leave comment on each of those blogs telling them about that.
3. Answer to the question attached below.
4. Wish that the people to whom you gave the prize also give it forward to five of their favorite blogs.

Challenge: Those wonderful small things

 I got challenged by my friend Inari (who writes a wonderful blog called Ikomi) a while back (way before Christmas) to make a list of ten things that are my favorites at the moment. I made the list back then but just never got around posting it (wanted to add more pictures), but even tough might list some other things right now, I'll keep the old one just because it's a good list. I'll just few time references so it won't be super confusing. 

The original instructions where in Finnish (I've copied them to the end of this post), but I'll translate them for you:

1.  Make a list of ten (10) things that are your favorite things right now.
2. Tag at least five (5) blogs you like to the challenge and let them know they are tagged.
3. (Then there is a part about wanting to take part in a shop installation in Moko shop in Helsinki, but it's long so I don't bother to translate it now.)

My favorite things  (in no particular order)

Photo by George Mathew (CC, source)

Color yellow
I've had a strong yellow period for a while now and it doesn't seem to be fading out any time soon.

Book Puluboin ja Ponin kirja by Veera Salmi
The funniest childrens book I've had the pleasure to read in a while and still it manages to be touching and deep at the same time.

Poems by Tuomas Timonen
I don't read a lot of poems but I love the writing of Tuomas Timonen. And as I do not own his books, I keep borrowing them from the library at least once a year. And now is that time of year again.

 

Rachel Wiley
Speaking of poetry, Rachel Wiley is my newly found favorite poet. Such powerful words.

Photo by Myra Khawar (Source)

Sequins
I bought a skirt with sequins in the hem a while back and the comment I got from the roommate was "That doesn't look like you at all". Well, I don't care and I'm still very fond of it. And I made a beanie from a yarn that has sequins in it. So maybe it's the new me. 

Textile art
This is an artform that has been intriquing me more and more lately. The combination of techniques and materials can result into beautiful things. I even bought the book in the picture few weeks ago as an inspiration.

Rico Design Essentials Merino DK yarn
I bought this yarn a little while ago and what an excellent yarn it is! A 100 % merino wool that actually feels like soft cotton. This is something even my easily irritated skin can handle with no problem.

Christmas lights

I'm usually not a huge decorator at Christmas time, but I during the darkest time of the year, any light is a good thing. I especially love my own Christmas star. This year I'm also planning to get some kind of lights for my bedroom window, just to make it feel big more festive.

DIY Chirstmas balls
Notice how I said usually not in the previous one? Well for some reason I've been very intrigued about alk kinds of home made Christmas balls this year. Time will tell if this interest will result into any actual balls tough...

Photo by Nauska. (source)

Janne Westerlund

Last autumn I hadn't heard of this wonderful Finnish musician but in October I saw him live and am pretty much hooked.


I'm not going to challenge anyone because I am so late with posting this and because most of the blogs I read have already had this. But if anyone reading this feels like joining in, you can consider yourself challenged. :)

* * *
Inari haastoi minut mukaan listaamaan pieniä ihania asioita.

Oheet/säännöt:
Tässä ohjeet haasteeseen osallistumiseen: 

1. Listaa tämän hetken kymmenen (10) lempiasiaasi (voit halutessasi kopioida haastepostaukseen yllä olevan blogihaastekuvan ja/tai käyttää omia kuviasi)


2. Jaa haaste vähintään viidelle (5) tykkäämällesi blogille ja ilmoita siitä heille


3. Voit halutessasi myös osallistua Mokon myymäläinstallaatioprojektiin sekä Mokon lahjakortin arvontaan lähettämällä oman lempiasiat -listasi osoitteeseen mokomarket@moko.fi otsikolla: Minun lempiasiani. Ilmoitathan meilissä yhteystietosi. Kaikista lähetyistä lempiasioista valitaan osa ja nämä valitut aiheet tulevat olemaan osa Moko Marketissa järjestettyä esillepanoinstallaatiota, jota päivitetään viikottain teidän lähettämillä lempiasioilla. Jokaisen esiteltävän lempiasian yhteydessä mainitaan lempiasian kertojan nimi ja paikkakunta. Voit seurata myymälän installaatioita Facebook-sivuilta. Kaikkien osallistujien kesken arvotaan 3 kpl 50€ lahjakortteja Moko Markettiin (arvo yht. 150€). Teidän lempiasioiden mukaan elävä Lempiasioita -näyttely rakennetaan viikolla 41 ja arvontaan voi osallistua 3.10- 2.11.2012. Moko Oy pidättää oikeuden muutoksiin.


4. Muista nauttia listaamistasi lempiasioista mahdollisimman usein!