I have been buying new materials in order to try new things out. These two big cones of rug wool are the gems of my stash. I love the thickness and weight (over two kilos) but can´t make up my mind how to use them well enough.
A little stash of little bit thinner yarn but also my all time favourite because of the colour palette and quality. R´s grandmother keeps on bringing me knotted discounted skeins of this yarn in colours I would never find myself picking up without her assistance.
I have been recycling old sheets by tearing them into shreds and sewing them together one after another. For future rag rugs.
I keep wool for mittens in a cupboard at hand and because it looks so beautiful. I try not to hide yarns because they would be left untouched that way for ages and it can turn into a habit. I´d love to have a huge stash but can´t afford to have one. No endless possibilities but less cluttered home instead.
These piles can be found around the house though. Textile industry leftovers I re-use in rugs. Genious material and very affordable.
I collect the odds and ends in this basket. Not sure why but it seems important.
Well, good weekend for all of you! I´ll be staying home all by myself, today watching Woody Allen theme night on the tv and warping for something new tomorrow. Looking forward!
Finally some daylight. It feels like I haven´t seen the clear sky in weeks. And it´s been very cold as well, -30 celcius degrees a couple of days ago. What a difference a few rays of sunlight can do! I feel so much more energetic.
There´s a “himmeli” hanging from the ceiling in my room, it´s a traditional christmas decoration made of stray.
Here´s the first sock I am knitting with 
Here´s my loom getting dressed slowly by lifting the warp before picking the threads through the heddles.
It appears that I have started to use yarn also an adornment around the house. Now that I realize it, everywhere I look I see yarn. There´s even some hiding behind the herbs.
New yarn for the mitts.
I bought these mugs a while ago and I think they´re the greatest I have ever had. So beautiful, although a little inconvenient because of the walnut wrapping. But nevertheless the greatest. They´re from my town from a company called Tonfisk (ie. tuna).
One mitten lying on top of some books: Bronte´s poems, Woody Allen´s interviews and craft books. But lately I have been reading about weaving mostly.
Love that candy you can pick yourself. But it´s a rare treat.
Weeds.
This is how old insulation looks like. And I live on the second floor.
Love the name of that printing house.
My room´s floor before paint. Looks beautiful but it is quite dirty.
First coat of paint in the sunset. The shade is much smokier gray.
My mon gave me flowers again. Blues are not my favourite but I liked them a lot because they were so light and airy.
I have been reading a little about William Morris again. Such a fascinating character. I heard he´s written an utopic novel and it´s even been translated to Finnish so it´s a must read for me.
One morning I woke up to music. I looked out the kitchen window and saw a street crowded by people. It´s was an yearly neighbourhood fest.
This peculiar church is right around the corner. Taken also from kitchen window.
Swatching for rugs with these cardboard thingies.
Newspapers from underneath all those plastic carpets covering up our floor. They were from year 1925.
Tulips on my way to the riverside.
Another kitten stencil around the neighbourhood. 
In the first one my neighbours´ lovely rugs. I wish they would take them out more often.
And below our street. I was waiting for R to come home from one his walks but I guessed his path wrong and I only got this shot.
I don´t know what to make out of the sign at the moment. Is it really so or the other way around?
We painted the first coat of the ceiling weeks ago and plan to finish it today with another coat.
Here´s the ceiling at the moment. Looks pretty from this angle…
But clearly needs one more coat when seen from this angle.
Sanding the walls multiple times took a lot of time but it´s all behind now.
The walls are also painted. All done in that department. A huge relief.
During renovation new ideas came to mind as we went. Peeling this brick wall wasn´t planned but I knew I would like it because I had one in my old apartment.
There´s still lot to do. We happened to find an almost untouched wooden floor underneath. But there´s patches that need to be fixed and even changed to new planks. Will be looking into that during weekend.
It´s very difficult to understand how one would want to cover that floor with all that plastic year after another. But it´s a good thing because now we have a fresh floor. We plan to paint the floor because at the moment we don´t have the means to sand and polish it. I have never painted a floor and don´t know whether I will like it. We´ll see!
I noticed I have been piling up with food photos. Perhaps it´s because taking pictures is easier because finally here´s enough light. Here´s a weekend breakfast with a cappuccino.
Summer and salads go together so well. This one has eggs and tuna.
Our next-door grocery store has the best and tiniest selection of beers. I love the fact that I don´t have to spend much time in grocery store and still enjoy good food.
My generic breakfast includes coffee in a green mug with a broken handle and then some sandwiches.
Taking a coffee break from renovating.
My season´s favourite: halloumi salad with couscous.
Yet another breakfast.
I have rediscovered pears.
Pasta with zucchini, kidney beans and onion.
During Easter, yes that long ago, we rented tools and made a wooden ceiling to my so-called-craft-room. First I had to take Claude Cahun´s (claimed) self-portrait off the wall.
That ceiling is no way the ugliest but the diagonal tiling really messed up the room. Here´s a pretty odd lighting fixture but it´s already covered.
Our house (our apartment) is from the 1910´s and this room´s been piling up with most peculiar fixtures to cover up it´s bones. That chimney had been covered with horrible chipboard-thing and our wardrobe had been put there to cover the hideous wall with shelf mountings. Here´s me thinking how to make them pretty.
It´s fascinating to find old stuff underneath. Here´s a fragment of old wallpaper. It´s propably the first wallpaper used here because it´s pattern and colour remind very much of this house and it´s art nouveau/jugend contemporaries.
We decided to use wood in the celing because that´s the way they were done around the time this house was built. It was only in the 40´s they put up those cardboard panels. Also, I think the wooden ceiling makes the room more stuctured and reflects the light more intensily. Here´s a sample of the ceiling material and it´s apparent the walls will be renovated too because that fibre-glass wallpaper just isn´t for us. I can´t believe who´d want to use fibre glass at home…
The challenge was the height. We had to rent stands in order to reach the ceiling. I was surprised how much more difficult everything becomes above the regular 2,5 meters.
For 20+ square meters I had to shoot approximately 1300 nails.
We progressed little by little, amazed we could actually do that.
The easter went pretty quickly but we managed to finish the ceiling, even paint it and marvel the results. Even though is was just a ceiling it was the biggest renovation project I had ever had the courage to do. And we pulled it through. From what I have learned here again is that courage is the key to many things, even the unfamiliar. Learning by doing takes are of the rest. Next on – the walls!
