I'm in a lazy mood. It takes me forever to get going in the mornings and apart from household chores just about nothing gets done.

I blame the snow and cold.Not sure why precisely but it's making me lazy. Maybe it's because it slows down regular life so much -even walking goes slow- that it's making me think that I've got all the time in the world. And we all know that is rather relative... for heaven's sake, the year is almost finished and it only just started like a second ago. In any case the day is over before I can blink and all on my to-do-list is still there. 

All except this. I did manage to finish this pillow.

But that's as far as productivity went this week. I also blame the pillow. The colors remind me of Mongolia. To be more precise the yurts on the highlands of Mongolia and the colorful pompons in the hair of the little girls living in those yurts in Mongolia. And then Mongolia reminds me of the cold and snow both in Mongolia and my garden. And that makes me slow down and think I've got an endless supply of time in the day... making me ever so lazy.

I swear, all this cold has frozen my brain. 

Yes, my wavering mind keeps coming up with distractions in a desperate attempt that push the backside of that blanket back into oblivion. It succeeded more or less yesterday evening. Row number two is still not done but scarf number three is. I justify all this by telling myself "well it may not be a blanket but it's crochet too". 

Behold:

An ingenious scarf -Japanese pattern of course...- with a collar! So never again will the back of your neck get frostbitten in winter. Above the collar is put up. 

Here it just sits as a flat collar.

It has been crocheted in Malabrigo sock yarn Eggplant color. Boy that is soft yarn. I've used about one skein and a bit (around 125 grams I estimate). It's worked in a 2,5mm crochet hook and the bulk of it is worked in double trebles. 

So now that the first snow has fallen, I can be spotted outdoors with scarf number three.

Off I am to play in the snow cause I can hear row number two of that blanket calling out for me...

A really tedious but necessary job. 

This blanket looks so inviting but that's just on the surface. Turn it around and you'll see a sea of loose ends waiting to be woven in.

Could I not have crocheted the loose ends in as I went along? Well yes, but that makes the ends more visible and flexible than when you weave them in afterwards. As I intend to use this blanket intensively -and I'm sure my home posse will do the same- I went for the tedious option. 

One row down, only fifteen more to go... help!

So what did become of that sleepy girl? Well, this...

She became a part of a small band of patchwork on a big bag.

It's in fact a large drawstring bag made to house a pillow.

Indeed! It's that Russian pillow. Well, Russian... it just keeps reminding me of the tundra and permafrost. A 40 by 40 cm square of soft cashmere and merino permafrost. And when it's not supporting your weary head on the sofa it can rest snuggly in it's very own drawstring bag.

Here's another example of what to do with those fabric baskets. You take one and fill it up with some goodness to end up with a perfect gift.

This particular basket has the cute bird pattern by Gennine on it embroidered in two strands of DMC embroidery floss -if I'm not mistaken I used n°831-. 

This embroidery pattern is a slow going process to get just right -it's a bit fiddly at times- but it's worth taking your time for.

Then I filled up the basket with some body lotions, a set of towels and some lavender sachets.

The lavender sachets have some felt decorations on them and I filled them up entirely with dried lavender. The smell that comes of them makes you think you own your own private French lavender field, right there in your drawer. 

The small towel is embellished with a crocheted edging in charcoal grey cotton on both edges to give it some needed swung.

Now all that is left is to figure out who to give it to. Any suggestions perhaps?

For the past week I've been blessed with sick offspring again. It's a repeat of events from a couple of weeks ago. Back then my oldest caught a nasty stomach bug ad was out of action for a couple of days. A week later the youngest gave a pretty good imitation. High spiking fever was the keyword then.

I was my oldest again who started this current round of illness. No high fevers fortunately, just a whole lot of stomach ache. As she made it back to the land of the live and kicking her little sister decided it was her turn. Vomit and diarrhea, the two things all parents come to love... in huge amounts. By now the medication is kicking in somewhat and we're on the road to recovery. 

But my point is that my schedule was rather turned upside down this past week. Everything on the to-do list is still there. That's life and luckily parents' instincts made me take rather large margins on the due dates of all that's on this to-do list. But as recovery is lurking around the corner I've been able to do some odd bits and pieces in between the toilet emergencies...

I got to embroider this sleepy lady. She will be integrated in a drawstring bag that I intend to make for the cushion cover she's resting on for now. The cushion cover is crocheted in a yarn that's a mix of cashmere and merino wool making it really soft without being prickly. Each side consists of 16 granny squares in a color palette that for some reason reminds me of the permafrost in Russia. Perhaps it's the mossy and mustard colors coupled with the pale ice blue... I don't know, but it calls out "get your fur hat on" to me. 

And as you could tell from to beginning of this post, I did cast on some stitches in order to make a cardigan for the local children. By popular demand, it will be a Gilet Granville but worked in double alpaca so it will shape up rather differently I think. I hope. I guess. I'll see. 

And then there was a heat wave early this summer.

I had not anticipated this when I bought some soyeuse -a mix of merino wool and silk- at Julija's just before. There was a great Japanese crochet pattern lounging on my work table and my hands were just itching to give it a go. Anyhow, temperatures of 35°C plus -which is unseen over here- were sure to ruin my plan of action I thought in slight despair when the heat set in a few days later. But how wrong was I! Stubborn as I am, I gave it a go anyway and I was pleasantly surprised.

The fact that this yarn is partly silk made it in fact rather cool to work with. And so it came about that I ended up crocheting a winter scarf amidst a summer heat spell while my feet were dangling in the children's swimming pool for some much needed coolness. 

But it worked like magic. And now the time has come to pull it from my wardrobe and wear it with joy.

The silk in this yarn gives it a light shimmer making it all look rather fancy. Using about 250 gr of soyeuse 'vieux rose' enabled me to crochet a long scarf that will easily wrap around the neck twice.

Here's a upclose detail of the pattern of the midsection of the scarf...

This one will be in my personal top 3 this winter for sure!

The weatherman just let me in on a secret... an autumn storm is brewing and heading our way. Everyone will be wet and cold he warned.

Except for me that is. Because I just finished a cozy warm blanket to wrap myself in. And combined with a good solid roof on the house, I'll be warm nor wet this week!

The blanket is crocheted in squares which have been joined together as I crocheted along. I preferred this method of working to the traditional sewing together of pieces for two reasons. One, it's more satisfying to have an entire blanket ready for use dangling on your needle as you take the last few stitches. And two, this technique lines the edges of the squares with a pretty eyelet motive. Pure wool has been used for this blanket and I tried to combine different colors in order to give it a bit of a retro and vintage feel. And finally I hooked a lovely and simple picot trim all along the edges of the blanket.

It's soft, it's warm and oh so cool.

- And if you'd like to warm yourself in a blanket like this, there's one up for adoption in the lovable goods section.-

As I sat and put the finishing touches on this new companion of our sofa, my oldest offspring put the finishing touches on herself...

"Look mum, I have the same colors on me that are in our new blanket!" There's no accounting for good taste, is there?

One may argue that having a passion for crafting is wonderful, or therapeutic,energizing, soothing and so on and so on. But without any doubt it's also productive.

You craft, therefore you make and therefore you own... some new lovable goods.

But when you stumble upon something exciting to make, you usually make more than one. Especially if the result is rather catchy to the eye.

And so you craft some more and therefore you make some more and therefore you own... even more lovable goods.

And then comes the point when you need to decide: will you extend your house or will you find some new loving homes for the lovable creations you've made?

Here at Himiko no Sekkai we've gone for the latter and we're proud to present our new rehoming scheme. If you feel you could offer these lovable goods a loving home then feel free to contact us for more practical info -prices, payments, shipping and all that infinitely interesting stuff- on how to become their proud owner.

So, off you go to check out our gallery!

And then I decided to have a go at making a proper felted hat. I came across this hat pattern and I figured it would be a great thing to try. The pattern says 'should fit most men' so it was a safe bet that it would fit me.

You see, I have a rather large head. Not as obvious as to make people stare and point in the street but still 'one size fits all' often doesn't fit at all. It's a bit of a bother as most hat patterns out there are designed for women with more reasonable head sizes than me. And it seems this family gene has not skipped the next generation... my girls also have quite round and large heads. That kind of explained why they got stuck at birth but now I'm regressing...

A hat! So I got out the giant crochet needle that the pattern called for -it really resembles a plumbers' tool more than a crochet needle but one must have faith in these patterns- and I set to work.

I made this monster:

Then I went ahead and stuck it in the washing machine for a nice hot cycle (95°C) after which it had shrunk to more reasonable proportions. Still, it was a bit oversized and the original stitches were still too obvious so it needed more heat. I first tried to boil it.

This should  have worked if only my pan wasn't too small. The upside of doing it this way is that you can keep an eye on the amount of shrinking that is taking place and you can cut the process short once you arrive at the right size. But as I said... pan... too small...

So another cycle in the washing machine.

And luck was upon me cause the machine left me with this:

A properly felted hat. I like it and it fits me. The husband likes it too and it fits him too... well it is a pattern for a man's hat after all. But still it fits me snugly. So, let the fight over the ownership begin.