The Fox hoodie is ready...

Actually it has been ready for couple of weeks already, but my official photographer - known also as my boyfriend - couldn't help me to take the pictures until now. But here are finally some:

Yarn: La Cusqueñita ( 45% acryllic, 40% alpaca, 15 % wool)

Needles: 4 mm
Pattern: mine

I'm quite happy with the result, even though I should have made the hoodie longer and the sleeves shorter. I shouldn't have taken the measures from existing hoodie. Well, you always learn something, don't you? Next time I'll just measure myself.

The yarn is a bit itchy (the blue Cusqueñita that I used for boyfriends hoodie for some reason tickles less). It helped a bit to wash it with softener, but that also made the sleeves even longer (and no, I didn't hang it). But I think I will use it a lot any way, because I just love the colour.

Oh, and I just had to start a new project, too. I think I'm getting really addicted to knitting (boyfriend thinks that too: "You just can't put your needles down, can you?"). I wanted to make a tunic, but as the yarn I bought (Emilia, Mexican yarn that is 100% cotton) seems to be quite heavy and not very nice to knit, I'll make just a top. It will probably stretch a bit anyway... The flower pattern is from Garnstudio's dress.

But these coming weeks I'll probably be concentrating more on yarn paintings (and studies, of course...) than on knitting. I finally got some chipboard and showed yesterday to boyfriend that I can actually use a saw without problems. Today I also got a custom order for totem animal yarn painting in Etsy. I so excited! I'm sure it will be just so much fun to make!

My perfect bag and Easter holidays

It's here! Yesterday the mail man brought me a lovely messenger bag. It's a custom order made by Katherine of happykatbags and I just totally love it! It just the right size - I'm a kind of girl that carries everything with her, just in case.... The colours are beautiful and I love all the details Katherine has put into it. There was even a cute extra pouch inside the bag, which was a very nice surprise. What can I say - my bag is perfect! And it shipped much quicker than I expected (usually things tend to take time in the Mexican post). I'm so happy!

The Easter holidays passed nicely and peacefully. I planned to study, but finally I just spend time with some friends and with boyfriend's family. Weeeellll, one needs vacations sometimes, right?

It's curious that in Finland there seems to be a lot more Easter traditions than here in Mexico, even though Mexico is much more religious country. Well, there are religious processions and masses, but not much else. And you can actually shop all Easter, it seems - we went to buy shoes on Saturday, and shops were also open on Friday and Sunday, too. That was certainly a bit strange for me - in Finland, you can't basically do much anything on Good Friday, because everything is closed and on the TV there are only movies on the life of Jesus.

No virpominen on Palm Sunday, nor rairuoho (quickly growing grass used to decorate home during the Easter time) here, but I wanted to honor at least some Finnish traditions. So on Easter Sunday I made a traditional meal to my boyfriend and his mom. Well, the traditional part actually was only the roast mutton (which was delicious, by the way!), but the avocados filled with schrimps and the cheese cake with peaches were very good too. Here are some photos (I wanted to take more, but the battery of the camera was low):

How to survive the Inmigration procedures in Mexico

When you need visa in Mexico, you'll have to go to the Inmigration office. To survive the experience, you'll need:
- looooots of patience. You can't have too much of it.
- to go there as early as possible. At nine o'clock, when the offices open, is the best time; there aren't so many people there. With luck, you might get out by lunch time.
- lots of time. Even if you go early, it can take hours.
- something to read. Sleeping while you stand is a good way to spend you waiting time too, but might cost you your place in the line.
- good shoes. You will be standing in different lines for hours, so don't even think to put on your high heels.
- to be prepared to go back many times, because something in your original application was wrong.

You'll also need to understand that you're always wrong. No one told you you need a certain document? That's your own fault. It maybe isn't in the list of the documents, but you should have guessed. The inmigration officer has a bad day? That definitively is your fault. Stupid immigrant! They lost one of your documents? That must be your fault too. So just accept it, take a deep breath, keep smiling and be very polite and someone might help you after all.

As you guessed, I had to go the Inmigration today. But I have to say, I'm really getting better at it, even though it took me about 4 hours standing in different lines. I was mentally prepared to go again tomorrow for some missing documents, but it seems I don't have to go back until I get the decision in couple of weeks. Hurray! The best thing is that I didn't get desperate or angry as on my earlier visits there. I guess I'm reaching some kind of zen state of mind...

Some progress with the fox hoodie

I have now almost finished the front parts of my red and white fox hoodie. It's lovely to knit something so fast! Boyfriend's hoodie took a lot more time to knit, as he's tall and wanted it to be quite loose-fitting. I'm still not sure about the fox though, it might be a bit too big. Any comments?

And now that I remember, I have joined Ravelry too, and you can find me also there with the name "colibridreams".

Some people just don't get it?

The title could refer to many, many things, but this time I'm talking about the director of my thesis.

Have you ever been in a situation that you talk with somebody, and in theory you are talking about the same thing, but in practice there is no point of understanding? (I'm sure you have, as this could happen with many topics, like religion or ethical beliefs.) Well, talking about my research with my tutor is just like that. It's just too obvious that either she doesn't understand my research theme or she never really read my research project - or both. The worst thing is that she doesn't even undesrtand that she doesn't understand.

My tutor thinks she knows everything about everything, and besides, she wants to civilize me (yes, she was using that exact word). And I'm apparently stuck with her - in my university you can't change the director of your thesis without his/her consent. And she has made very clear she doesn't let me go. Oh great.

Next time I promise to post something about my crafts here.

A grey day...

Today the weather is very grey... in that yellowish way the sky sometimes gets before a thunderstorm. I'm also a bit sick, I really shouldn't have eaten in one of those little kiosks at the university (I never learn I guess). The most irritating part of being sick now is that I have a fridge full of good food - I invited couple of friends to my house yesterday and there are still lots of delicious leftovers... Besides, we were invited to two parties today and to eat Colombian food tomorrow. Why did I have to get this stupid stomach acke right now!

I had to brighten up the day a little and knit. I started this new project last Tuesday, when I finally got some new yarns:

The yarn is the same that I used for my boyfriend's hoodie, as I had some of the white one left and was too lazy to try to find any new woollen yarns, which isn't too easy here. The color is a bit more raspberry reddish than in the picture.

This one will be a hoodie too, but for myself. I realized I haven't knitted anything for myself (except a sweater I started in high school that never got finished), my projects have always been gifts for friends or boyfriend. So this one is for me! Boyfriend wanted me to knit something for him too with this color, but no way, he'll just have to wait this time!

About Marimekko and other things from Finland

On Tuesday I went to the opening of the Marimekko exposition. Very nice, I have always liked Marimekko designs and there were lots of textiles I had seen last time as a kid. So nostalgic! It was also good the see the real stuff for once - there are lots of fakes here. And no, no one really knows Marimekko is a Finnish company.

We got an example of Mexican logic in the opening, too. There was wine and vodka, but the staff just didn't want to give us glasses to drink from. The logic was this: there are always people who come to the openings only for the drinks and aren't interested in the exposition. So, they decided to discourage this practice - by not serving to the people who didn't have a glass already. The ones who had managed to get a glass earlier, were still served plenty of alcohol. Basically, one half of the public was drunk and the other half angry. And of course the ones who got the glass were the ones who only came for the booze and not to see the expo. It took quite a while to convince the staff that there might be something wrong with their logic. Oh well...

There so many people here who really don't want to think for themselves, which is quite irritating sometimes. I guess there are everywhere, but still... Can it be that difficult?

The Finnish stuff in the photo is gift from my friend after her trip to Finland. A bit of salmiakki, strong salty liquorice, that almost everyone who is not a Finn finds disgusting. I love it! Yam! And waxpaper for baking. You can find it here, too, but it isn't good for anything. Even if you put tons of butter on it, everything gets stuck to it.

Unfortunately my friend couln't bring me all the things I miss from Finland, like chocolate (believe it or not, Mexican chocolate isn't very good), cheese, rahka (a special Finnish dairy product), rye bread, Carelian pasties... The list goes on! And oh, I woulnd't mind someone bringing me a sauna here, too! ;-)