What I'm up to

I misread an announcement. I thought that my after-sixth-term exam on everything is a month later than it really is, meaning that I have plenty of time to write my seminar papers (which I've been procrastinating for up to three years) and to pass a few exams and to do some paperwork that requires catching the responsible persons. Just plenty of time.
As I found out today, the notice read that I should apply until February 5, not from February 5.
Since it's January 30, I'm in deep shit, because the next date for this exam is in May,after my expected finals and graduation and stuff.
Yes, at this point you're totally right, dear reader. I'm an irresponsible chaotic idiot.
I admit it. I even admit that the energy I spend on solving problems I caused myself could replace a nuclear power plant.... but, it just happened.
So now the plan is:
1] lots of coffee
2] a paper on medieval stuff so that I can submit it tomorrow to the head of the department. That's the paper I owe for three years. The notes for it are in my stolen comp, for that matter, so I wasn't totally lazying around but who cares now. The head of department owes me a favor or two so and he's pretty chaotic himself so I guess he might be understanding and helpful (he was helpful enough when I still didn't have my papers after returning from Italy and needed some credits so that I wouldn't get kicked from school) and give me a credential for the dean's office to permit me to apply for the damn exam on behalf of all things done by now, not the things required only - I did stuff that wasn't required for the first three years of study so I'm not a total lazyass and I can prove it.
3] seminar paper on st. Birgitta. This seminar is run by my thesis consultant,no problem, only to find her and make her sign my papers. Owes me a favor, too. Nice and helpful person.
4]possibly morning coffee and off to the uni.

If you know something about Bridget Riley, let me know. I need a seminar paper on her. I left my library card at parents', for that matter. Deep shit comes, dear reader, in large amounts.

Yes, some nice yarn arrived today.

Temporary post

I just want to show this to my forum buddies.
Norwegian wool that just arrived from the U.S.


And the fox sweater as advanced by now. The camera stubbornly refuses to take all the greens at least a bit realistic, they're much deeper and more varied.

A few more stupidities.

Where's the stash? The big box full of yarn, the well known background of my pics and surrounding vessels full of yarn? Has it all shrunk in the cake box (thinking of it, I should check Tesco for discounted pannetone, I love it.... there was one in the box, you know).
If you're now mailing me to share the magic formula how to hide yarn from inquisitive eyes... well, it's not magic. The box is behind the armchair, some cushions are resting on it. What couldn't be squeezed in the box was either placed to the guest room in its paper bags or in the cupboard in the hallway nested in the cartons and bags which used to be erupting here, making this place full of wool fumes.
Why all this fuss? Dad came (for like five minutes) and I wanted to avoid comments. And wanted, mainly, to avoid comments back at home, he might have mentioned it to Mom (one is never sure about guys' perception of things they're not interested in) and Mom would have comments. I plan to make her a coat. Or a very bulky sweater. I have to get rid of that wool (and dye it... sigh).
Next entry is going to be about lasagna, wine, dance, art and something like that. No yarn.
I'm off to the kitchen.

Work in progress: I managed to do something.

And it's not exams or school papers. I made a few more rows for the fox sweater. The colours are somehow bleak.. but you can see the progress. I have certain doubts whether it isn't going to be too long,whether I don't run out of yarn... or something. I made careful counts on where to place the patterns and the like.. but I don't have the slightest idea how to make the shoulders.... I'll see.
And on Thursday I finished my sweater... intended to keep me against the cold after I screwed the one with the reindeer. The colours are again somehow bleak... but the carpet managed to appear filthy which it is not (apart form the everpresent cat hair)
The socks to try the yarn suck. I in fact don't like knitting socks.
There's the sweater for Hannu but now it's in a phase of indescribable bundle. When it becomes apparent that it's an upper part of a garment, I'll supply you with a pic, too.
Off to lunch and study. I have exams, children.

New things

I have a laptop. Cool thingie.... small, convenient, working.. although it has no parallel port so it cannot communicate with my printer (which doesn't work anyway, I need to get it fixed, someday),I cannot find how to download the stupid old winamp interface.
I have a new chair that has its inhabitant....












...and in fact the laptop has one, too.

Good people exist somewhere out there.

My place was robbed sometime ago. It was mentioned here, there and elsewhere some time ago so I consider it a widely known fact. I found a noticeboard for stolen photographic equipment so I left the description of my missing toys, serial names included. Nothing happened.
Then the police arrested some guys among whose things my necklace was (and it's still at the police, I'll get it only when no-one else claims it or what....). And nothing more happened. Occasionally a letter comes informing me on some progress or lack of it.... but yesterday a guy called.
"Is it Ms. .....?"
"Yeah, in person, how can I help you?"
"Am I calling the right place?"
"depends on what you need...."
"You see, I went to [the best secondhand photographic stuff store in the city. With particularly good reputation] and I saw a shift lens there.... and then I went to check some technical parameters and found your notice on the stolen one... and you know, the numbers match so I just wanted to tell you that it's there."
"Blah?"
The rest of the conversation can be omitted.I created a few thanks, promised some chocolate to the guy and went to find the number of the local police station who is investigating the robbery. after trying the online phonebook (useless as usual) I found some letter form them, called them.... The police guy wasn't really getting how come that a total stranger knew about my stolen lens, I had to explain it like three times. And, as the conversation proceeded, the cop told me that they don't have internet at the office so I looked up the address of the abovementioned shop, its opening hours, I told him where and how to find the stolen noticeboard and it was hilarious and sad at the same time. He scribbled it all down and promised to call back.
After half an hour he called. He asked about the noticeboard again, how it works and that it's a cool thingie indeed, then he wanted the phone number of that fair guy (who could have happily got the lens cheaply, it costs like 1600 euros when new......), and wanted me to explain once more how come that this guy just called me. Maybe after serving at the police for a few years he only couldn't believe that there are people like that and needed to hear the story once more... dunno.
However, he promised to call back again later on to let me know how things are. Later in the evening the police caled again telling me that their colleagues from the police station downtown went to confiscate my poor innocent lens, that it's at the police in a drawer and that I'll get it back after the necessary paperwork.
I made a rough guess that with this speed I'll get my Dior eye paint in April 2009 and at around 2035 my thesis could be found.
It felt nice. It it always nice to know that the world isn't full only of selfish morons and that some sort of solidarity works.... The shift lens, for that matter, isn't a thing one gives to an auntie so that she could take pics of her dogs, it's a professional equipment and that's why it's rare to find it used. Pros hardly ever sell their toys. And normal people don't buy shift lenses. Should I find it secondhand, I would check as well, for that matter. So, some solidarity apparently worked, you're photographer, I'm a photographer, we're buddies and buddies don't do bad things to each other.

And since my blonde brain logic tells me Where is the lens, there will be the camera, I'll go check today. Just in case.

Belated Christmas gifts

There was one waiting for me at parents' since it was sent to my address there. I actually asked for a diary. For a BIG diary. I got a nice one indeed.... However, underneath is my 2006 diary, of the type I prefer. It seems that I'll have to learn to make my scriblings small and concise. The small nice thingie demonstrates something about Finnish mentality, though. It starts with October 2006. There's a space on every page for 'most important task of the week' (hmmm, to buy some tomatoes? clean the sandbox? No... well, my things tend to be continuous, I guess. Maybe a task of the year could do: graduate:D...). I'll have to get a heap of Post-it. Or get diary, volume II? Sigh. By the way, a bar of chocolate arrived with it. As a true ungrateful bastart I must say that the donor knows that I'm on a diet. But... chocolate always comes handy.
This beauty is my new laptop. I'm talking about the grayish thing, not about the Renaissance book, featuring a portrait by Sandro Boticelli. Should you wonder what the little book which always appear on the stil lifes of my table is, let it be known, it's a Finnish-English dictionary. What do I need it for? To support my heavy books on art.
I'm not sure whether the stuff that arrived yesterday counts as Christmas gifts. One is a book on decorating gingerbread (it will be a nice gift for some homestuck idiot who indulges in making gingerbread Christmas cards, gingerbread jewellery boxes and gingerbread idunnowhat - at around page 20 I lost my patience. Maybe I should make friends with some housewife...) and I got it for an article to some half-trashy server (I was writing on the Christmas when dad had malaria), the other thing is some hair shampoo I got for some other article for the same place. It reads More volume for fine hair. I have two hair shampoos now, one very expensive for my skin problems and one that says Färgad hår eller slingor on the bottle. You know, I had a foreign flatmate and she left some useful stuff here... and since you, dear readers already know the level of my stinginess, the result is obvious. And I have färgad hår, after all.
My dad will come to collect my current computer on Thursday. I have to pack it to its crate and Tähti will lose her toy house... but it serves her right. And I'll have to put my yarns somewhere, I don't want to hear comments. By the way, I sold something on ebay. Well, two skeins so the house is not much less dense.... but it's a good start.
I started taking more ballet classes. This course seems to be pretty cool, although the teacher evidently doesn't share the opinion to which I was subject elsewhere: If you have problems with equilibrium, do everything en pointe (in human language, on tiptoes), equilibrium will come. The guy evidently loves things which make me knock over my own feet, though. I'll have to activate long-forgotten pieces of my brain... however, good for me.

And so on

Yesterday I sold my first stuff on etsy and today there was a new order in the mail. Almost like fresh bread. I'll be happy when the sock yarns earn enough for the yarn I'm getting to knit for myself. Meaning myself and gifts to the people around. I'm afraid I'm becoming somehow popular. As soon as I finish the sweater for me, I'll make another for my Paris friend... and.....
Yesterday it seemed to me that my stash, arranged as a huge yarn just in front of me, doesn't have any visual appeal. So I started digging in the big box and accompanying boxes and bags. I put every project in progress in its separate paper bag or similar container, same with the yarns for projects not yet started which reduced the heap considerably.. and I also fished thru the bag of vintage yarn and discovered what somehow slipped from my mind... that there are three huge skeins of olive green. And that they are just a shade darker than the green mohair bouclé yarn which I somehow planned to combine and I didn't like the combination. So:
I divided the yarns for green-brown (and oh so ugly) potential sweater to make a green sweater and a black, white and golden-brown one. Looks much better.
Now I have another problem (and I don't mean the unfinished thesis, bank problems, other bank problems, being broke because of banks screwing everything they do), I took the vintage white skein, it seemed yellowish to me and although I guessed that the original color was off-white or ivory, I dipped it in water. In the morning it wasn't any whiter although it let out some dirt indeed.. but when it was wet, the smell of attic, sweet, intriguing but with a touch of something I'm not sure I like. Wet attic, dry rot or something like that. Since I have an alpaca sweater that smells chemical waste when wet, silk yarn that smells silk yarn when wet... I don't feel like having sweater that smells of old storehouse. Maybe lavender oil will help.
And hot new news, mailman brought a small but heavy pack of long expected yarn. But for two skeins of acrylics it's all really nice cotton. Beware ye mortals, i'll knit something of unsurpassed coolness. On the way back I checked tha mailbox and another is waiting at the post office. Cool.

Actualized:
This is what I picked in the post office. Not that I wouldn't know that it's three and half kilos (the green balls are 350 grams each) but somehow I just took a normal size shopping bag. When the lady handed me the huge crate, I nearly fainted. I showed her the bag, we had a good laugh and she told me that i can take the stuff out and leave the carton there... well, there are my toes so you can guess the size. And, there will be a lot of dyeing. The highlighter pink is ghastly, it looked much less wild on the picture in the auction.. the bigger balls are pure wool so it'll dye nicely to shades of red and purple, the smaller ones are wool and cotton and something so no problem either. Those which look apricot are.. well, orange and white thread and it reminds me of a carrot puke. But again, cotton, linen, viscose => nice summer top in warm shades. ive sweaters and a top... not bad.

I was to the bank.....

A few days ago an article about the atrocities banks commit on people appeared here. I was a bit nervous about mine, I was expecting a payment which was to come to me a week ago but... nothing. No need to note that my own bills were due. So I asked how long a transfer between two banks might take and was assured that usually it's not more than a week. The damn freaks want me to cough up when I grab the door handle and say Hello and then a simple transfer takes a week... how come that the internet thingies work in real time?
I was to find out that even the internet thingies work only as the banks who run the bank accounts allow. I had some problems with Paypal, as it showed later, caused by my incopetence to understand instructions properly. On the other hand, when I was asking the clerk who nodded Yes, I know everything under the Sun and accompanying sky about internet banking, she could tell me. I got my bank statements printed and to my horror I discovered that the payments done two weeks ago.... were not. I asked how is that possible and I was told with uttermost grace that sometimes it takes even two weeks before the internet payments get cleared. So should those who expect payments read this, please, wait a bit. When my personal bank advisor is available, I'll do some yelling.
On my way to further business I was reading thru the statements and discovered that they charge me enormous sums for obvious services, incoming payments are charged as well. I have to pay the bank that it takes my money! They charge me for a letter to me! Not for the New Year's card, surprisingly.... but it might appear on the January statement and then I'll close my accounts and get a jar to store my money in.
Sigh. Back to work.

Yes I'm good

Another picture of my mess. I got a Monet calendar today (thanks, Sandy), I"m trying to translate the book whose name is not visible and the really visible thing si the sweater which will keep me warm, one stripe of Gedifra Opulenz, another in different colour and the big ball in the bag is my own silk handpaint and it's knitted with a dark purple carryalong with sequins. What I expected with a bit of doubts - will the handpaint and the sequined thingie match the other yarns? The green and yellow should be moreless the same as in the greener Gedifra yarn but it got much brighter and I wasn't sure whether it would match. And it does.

New yarns

Well, they'll be added gradually.
It's the night inspired collection, teh first one is already at www.liska.etsy.com, my readers have the unique possibility to see what will be on sale the following days, such as:
After sunset in black and purple. Dark purple, it shows much lighter on the pictures and the daylight is so poor that it doesn't work.












And even better, Starlit winter.




Or:

Congratulations... to me

Yesterday a pack of yarn arrived, some delicacies I got as a total bargain on ebay. First layer, mostly some tape yarns whose destination for a project is unknown yet, second layer, some furry stuff and a heap of Opulenz by Gedifra, really expensive stuff which would cost at least twice that much than what I paid on ebay, postage included.
And the congrats reason is that I just finished the reindeers sweater. Isn't it absolutely beautiful? I didn't run out of yarn although there's not much left. The sleeves are a bit narrow for my preferences and the sweater is a size smaller than I am but I need to lose weight anyway. The pic of me wearing this garment will be shown sometime later. I tried it on and I looked... well, the reindeers are just across my breasts. Feel free to imagine how it looks like but don't blame me for your nightmares. Not posting a pic of it on me should be warning enough.



As a bonus I'm adding this pic: how to prevent the stitches escaping. Some hair elastic will do the trick. Hair things are useful in knitting in general.

Some more idiotic pics

I don't feel like writing and this comp doesn't have the English keyboard installed and I cannot do it. So.... progress with the reindeers sweater. The stubbs will be the sleeves. Detail of the reindeer pattern. (Note another of my Nescafe cups. I have a collection of them, you see)
And the sock. I love the colours.

I finished the Christmas sweater today. It doesn't look bad unless I put it on myself. It will look pretty bad on my mother, she thinks that she's damn lot thinner than I but she is not.
I'm going on a diet. Now. Apart from the undeniable fact that the sweater indeed is bulky and I could look better if I made a nicer face, I'm simply fat.

Two things

First, I cannot deny you the pic of Tähti watching tv. I don't have such crap at home so it was her first experience and she seemed to enjoy it. Especially cats... and ski jumping, she was hunting the ski jumpers. The tv was on when she was staring at it but the camera didn't catch the pic....
Second, a chat friend of mine came to Prague. I needed a break from family matters, I needed to pick some books from the National Libbrary and just... anyway so their stay was really welcomed. I told parents that it's some sort of friend who studied in Florence with me and then moved to Rome ... you know, my Mom has her views...
Anyway, it started snowing on December 28 one hour or so before Alessandra and Paola arrived and it looked nice for a while... and nothing remained till the next morning. They didn't take credit cards at the hotel so we went out to find some exchange place since the girls took some euros from their cards back in Rome. Banks were already closed and the exchange offices were offering such rates that they should be arrested for theft on the spot, some weird looking guy offered us to exhange money (I wonder, if I started to negotiate, whether he'd try to sell me something not anymore valid and Ukrainian for that matter) and I just sent him to the right places and wasn't polite... Prague sucks and its people suck most. However, I gathered all the money I had, overdrew (as I discovered much later) my account and cursed all the time. It is widely known that I hate Prague and now I got another valid reason. Then we hung around, I showed them the bakery, the pub and agreed to show them around the next day. The bakery is the most important lunch institution for my faculty after the cafe at the rectorate which was closed during the winter holidays, though. The pub, place named Indigo, is just the pub. International cuisine would sound too posh, I'd describe it as what the personnel's grandmas made, what the personnel encountered elsewhere and some other food ideas combined. And yummy, cheap and nutritious, regarding that it's between the National Library and Arts Faculty, it has to be. The canteen at the National Library has its specific charm, it's not the 60's style, it's pure 60's... but one has to be trained for it.
The next day Ale and Paola showed interest in glass so I showed them the factory outlet of some good glassmakers, I showed them where to get the crystal jewellery (Swarowski guys came from the North Bohemian region where all such stuff is produced until today, after all. And the North Bohemian things are much cheaper since they don't spend heaps of money on showing up), see Ale's neck. We ended up in Louvre. They boast enough on their website but it's true that the service and meals are perfect, the place has atmosphere, when you sit there with a coffee, they aren't bothersome (but the lack of bothersomelessness of Tynska which will get its own blog entry one day is unsurpassed) and I just like it.. although I go there usually only when invited. It's not that expensive, though, and you can stuff yourself with bread if you're a hungry student... which is counted as service charge of neglectable amount. Then I left for Olomouc. I think I even didn't have anything to knit with me.
Ale and Paola brought me Italian sweets undescribable to those who don't know them and a book on medieval gardens which I really appreciate because I needed it all. I miss Italy so damn much..... No news from Guggenheims, either they threw my application because it arrived after deadline (well possible with Italian Post) or they took me in consideration and will let me know later, the date to inform the refused ones is past at the moment of writing (i.e. Jan 15, this is a retrospective entry for which I left some place before).
That's it.

on christmas

We solemnly kept the traditions of Christmas arguing.
I got what I either asked for or bought myself with the exception of a laptop... well,thinking of it, Dad had been asking something along the lines - Mom had told him that I actually hate laptops so he had wanted to make sure (I told Mom that as for me, I don't need a laptop, that any decent computer does and as far as I know, with the same performace laptops are twice that expensive so I'd rather stick with the big thing. She translated it that I hate laptops. It was Dad who had sighed) that I don't throw it on his head. I didn't. I was pretty happy, this borrowed comp is passable but crappy.
I didn't finish the sweater for Mom. I wanted to hide upstairs many times but I simply had to be around in case she dropped something and needed to pick it... or just to look busy with housework. She will get it for birthday which is in the beginning of January... no problem.
I decided to knit a Selbu sweater during the Christmas idling.