Aluajala's Cockroaches

I'm alive and knitting.

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 10:54:00 +0000

Ok that's it I must make a post here. I'm alive. How many times have I posted it here? *sigh* I'm knitting. A lot. I've participated in 2 KALs @ Google Plus, became a tester of 2 patterns (of designers also from Google Plus) and made several 1st time projects. Here they are:

Bashful butterflies shawlette is my 1st KAL, 1st attempt to make a shawl and historically 1st KAL @ G+ awesome knitting community.

A closer look to the pattern. It was a bit hard to figure out for the 1st-timer, but I got so much help both from other KALers and designer herself that it turned out to be pure joy. Here's a Pinterest board with photos of shawls made by other participants. All of them are spectacular.

Sade hat and Sade mittens are what was G+ second KAL. Unfortunately this time it wasn't as big wow omgosh 1st time KAL and I didn't see many ppl who completed their items. But I did mine and I'm glad I did. I'm not so glad about my yarn+needles choice though. The mock cables don't pop out the way I wanted them too but I can live with it. The size of mittens frightens me though. They turned out HUGE. Humongous. And I can easily wear a pair of mittens and then wear these mittens too. I think I'll be more then glad when we'll have -20C here ))

And these Berry Berry mitts are the 1st pattern I volunteered to test. Funny thing is all the above patterns are of the same designer, Julia Temisevä. As you see she makes very sophisticated patterns that are interesting to knit and pretty to wear.

This is an ear-warmer and the second pattern I tested. It's free and available at Ravelry here.I'm not sure whether I made it for myself or DH and haven't chosen a button yet but I liked knitting it. The instructions were so simple I made it in one evening. Such a wonder still that I encountered so many crafty people in one place: designers, professional and amateur knitters, ppl from yarn industry etc. I maybe talk too much about G+ but it's really the first social network that I really really enjoy using.

Now let me quickly show you what else I made.

Haruni shawl. My 1st big shawl made of a single 400m sock yarn skein in 15 days.

My 1st hat I made for myself but it's my Hubby who wears it - he liked it from the 1st sight.

Wavy Lace Toe Up Socks. The pattern look sooo different from what my socks turned out to be because mine are one-colored and designer used melange yarn. My fav socks so far.

Peace socks. Why designer named them so? I have no idea. The lace pattern btw is the same as center of Haruni shawl.

Countryside socks. Just a plain pair of socks, one-skein project.

There are several more FOs that I haven't photographed yet and now on my needles are..

More socks :) Will hopefully, post more soon. Hopefully.

Zolotoe runo lottery

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:17:00 +0000

One of my fav crafty shops "Zolotoe runo" (Golden fleece) has created 2 blogs here on blogspot and on livejournal and makes a lottery! Winner can choose between a x-stitch set and set of acrylic circular needles (def my choice).
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"Золотое руно" открыло 2 блога (в ЖЖ и на Блоггере) и разыгрывает "конфетку" для подписчиков - набор для вышивки или набор акриловых спиц). Розыгрыш тут. Подведение итогов 1 декабря. Спешите участвовать!

Last weekend: birdwatching

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:54:00 +0000

I love taking photos and blogging but I h-a-t-e post processing. It literally eats my time and mood to resize each photo then play with contrast/levels in GIMP then add a copyright so that I finally post it. So the other weekend is coming up and I'm still writing the post about how I chased ducks and other birds last weekend. What a pain! Ok ranting mode off. I've got to show you what I did last weekend.

And all I did was birdwatching and duck chasing. I simply can't get enough of ducks even if they're just simple mallards or any other birds.

Though this weekend there weren't only mallards but this darkey puffy roundish diving ducks. If someone knows how they're called - please tell me.

They almost always looked sleepy with their heads turned backwards. Then they would wake up and dive and stay underwater for about half a minute. Then they would appear on the water again and.. fall asleep. Or so it looked. Look at those feet btw )))

Did I say I can't get enough of ducks?

But there were other birds too. In the park someone has hung a feeder made of a huge plastic bottle. The bottle was empty when we found it but hubby put some sunflower seeds in. And voila a sparrow immediately came to forage. Look close at its beak!!! The feeder btw is so provoking I imagined that I could actually capture a bird if I just closed both exits with my palms. I didn't do that of course but the idea.

Now here he is peeking out of the feeder. I find house sparrows pretty handsome. When you don't have many different species around but only sparrows you hopelessly start watching them out and they turn out into a great birding adventure. In fact if you look closely to smth you used to take for granted (like sparrows!) you find many interesting things in its behavior.

This is.. was.. well somewhere is a young fieldfare. I've not much to say except that this photo is totally in Birds from behind mood.

A robin chick. It was such a cute encounter in the end of our walk. He just landed on a fallen tree a couple of meters before me. Adult birds are so scared away easily but this chick sit there so close I managed to get my camera and take a couple of shots. He then flew a couple of meters away. The day was ending and I was afraid my photos will turn out blurry (they did). I tried to capture him again and again he let me come closer and take a few shots before it finally disappeared behind the leaves.

In the morning we've noticed a nightshade. It grows at the same place for several years already. I don't know its proper name only that it's from Solanceae family. These are its flowers.

And these are the berries. They're not edible. I've tried them once and they have a light sore taste. I didn't find the courage to try and taste the particulars.

This is another...ugh berry tree. I have no idea what it is. This blog is in fact a collection of photos of unknown fascinating plants, bugs and birds :)

And a mushroom. Guess what? I don't know how it is called too. This photo is a little bit blurry and looking at the mushroom gives me that strange hallucinogenic effect. Like it's velvet soft and glowing.

And that's all I saw last weekend. I just so hope post processing didn't take so much time. I have so many photos from this spring and summer I'd love to post but don't have courage and inspiration to even open my photo folders.

Have you tried Google Plus?

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:44:00 +0000

Yep that's me :) I've started experimenting with Google Plus recently and found myself completely in love with it. Well maybe not that completely because I'm a picky and critical user but still I found it cool.

Everyone keeps saying it's another Facebook but I think it has several core differences that make it unique. Main thing is there are no 'friends' or 'groups' you're accustomed to but circles that are both groups and friends. You can define privacy levels by sharing things only with ppl you want to and you can keep a single account for both personal and business contacts. All in one place - convenient, huh?

Even more convenient if you write in different languages and don't want people read moonspeak. You simply share your posts with people who will understand you.

And since G+ is new to everyone and everybody's exploring it, people are more helpful and friendly then on other services I know. And this makes it a great place for socialization. Since I live in Russia but write in English and most of my contacts are bloggers and crafty ppl from all over the world it is important that I have a chance to socialize and make new contacts easily.

Speaking of crafty things: there are some crafty communities too! A knitting database and a general crafty database. Any user can complete a form and get visible to all other friendly knitters and quilters and other ppl.

The complete list of communities is here. It is small but growing.

So if you're already using G+ or plan to try it - feel free to add me to your circles! Oh and in case you get lost - here's the awesomest Google Plus start-up guide for new users. C u :)

More Sox and a new tote

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:20:00 +0000

I know a secret of how to update your blog more often - it's creating more stuff. I make things - I want to show them - I write more often. Magic!

I knitted another pair of socks. Finally found some self-striping yarn (can you believe one can hardly find self striping sock yarn here??), bought 2 skeins and made socks right away out of 1 skein. I thought how to use the second skein and decided to make a twin pair of socks. Does it mean I'm getting to become a sock maniac? LOL

By the way, like I said I used the same skein for this pair and the stripey pattern turned to be almost identical for both socks. I expected they'll look different and so glad they're almost the same.

I continue exploring my sewing machine too. Last Sunday I made this Scrooge tote. So I don't have to buy any plastic bags when I go to the supermarket anymore! Well not until I run out of all that huge heap of them. You see when we go to the supermarket my husband uses a backpack and if we bought a lot of food we also get a couple of plastic bags. When we get home we don't throw them away, but use as trash bags.Recently though I found out we don't have THAT much trash to use all the bags we have. So I'm going to use this funny tote and slowly get rid of all the plastic bags one by one.

When I was going to make the a.m. tote I spent an hour of distress: I don't have enough fabric! Almost no patchwork fabric, no plain cotton fabric just some leftovers, fake fur for toys and some curtain lace. Ahh and those fabrics that I do have don't match each other. At all. So yesterday I went to a local fabric store and bought some fabrics that sure do match each other perfectly. If you enlarge this photo you'll understand what I mean :) I'm not lazy I'm just a newbie. And I'm anxious to find some nice pattern to use them.

Sox, zipper and POM POMs!

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:35:00 +0000

Funny thing I though I've made a lot of stuff recently but when I look around I don't see many items. Maybe that's because I've been knitting socks. And though I don't have a second sock syndrome, it always feels like I made two items when in fact it's just one pair of socks.

But there's something to be proud of especially if that's the first toe-up pair of socks I made on 1 circulars. They're not perfect - I made the smallest size of the pattern but they still turned out to be bigger then I need. I also tried bamboo yarn which turned out quite heavy. In the end when I finished the tops I used a usual bind off which made the top not as stretchy as it should be. But never mind I can always wear them at home.

Another pair of striped sox for my husband. I'm starting to hate this ancient yarn already as well as constantly changing colors and all 4 DPNs threatening to pock my eyes. But the result is an awesome pair of socks my Hubby loves so much. So what can you do but keep knitting?

Ok I finally made it. I sewed a simple zipper pouch. No patchwork no fancy stuff just yer ol pouch. One hour craft. Yeah. Right. I tried to remake it over and over again before it occurred to me how to properly sew a zipper so that the whole thing is neat and straight. Why no single bloody tutorial said anything about not sewing the zipper close to the side seams??

But don't get me wrong - I'm really happy with it. I already put my everyday makeup set in it and keep it in my bag.

Lastly I bought a... pom pom making set! For a year I searched for it in every craft shop to no luck. I almost forgot about it when I saw Suz's post about the fun of PP making. And then suddenly the set appeared in my favorite craft shop. Yeaaaaay! I've got a slightly different PP gadget but it is simple and fun too! And now when I have this PP urge I'm anxious to find some.. any way to use pom poms. Any ideas?

What I did this summer

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:01:00 +0000

My previous post was about spring and now almost 1/3 is gone! Where's my precious spring I wonder and.. is it going to snow soon?? Noway!

So.. what I did this summer? Mostly worked - had lots of interesting things to do. And then on weekends I spent days observing nature and meeting friends, watching movies, playing Silent hill and crafting. I'll post about nature today and about my crafts in the next post.

Surprisingly I didn't see as much wild flowers as I did last summer. But instead I enjoyed watching birds and insects. This rhino beetle is one of my best finds. Beetles are in facvt my favorites among all insects. They're like small robots: tough, armored and determined.

Heteropterae or flower bugs, mating. There's not much to say except that each time I see these bugs they're most probably mating.

A couple of weekends ago I did some duckwatching in the park by the Moskva river. There were some mallards with chicks and this couple of er.. different looking ducks. I knew how they're called but I forgot and wikisearch gave me nothing. The river was so dirty with lots of trash drifting on its surface that it made impossible to make any photos without capturing empty bottles, empty snack packs and other stuff. *sigh*

Last weekend we went to a park nearby and visited a usual seagull place. There are at least 2 or 3 seagulls hunting on the pond. I'm a mess when it come to photographing flying objects (if there's a UFO freezing in the sky I'll be the last to capture it properly for proof) so nice sitting birds are my best friends. Like this one. And not it does not have a vicious look.

Now lookie who's here! A cute little puffball, the one from a huge family of seed devourers we've raised this winter. They multiplied as you see and that's another reason to dread winter.

There are lots of wagtails here this year. Why is it any better here then in Turkey or wherever they come from - I don't know but I'm glad they're here.

Cute, huh?

And finally this is the biggest bumblebee I've ever seen in my life. Just compare the size with the grass. My husband gently took the creature on his hand and it looked bigger then first phalanx of his thumb! It immediately started crawling up his arm. It moved so fast btw that most photos I took turned out blurry. So Hubby placed it back to the grass before the creature crawled under his collar.

And this is it for now. Because I always take photos in a hurry it tskes me lots of time to post-process them. And that's annoying and one of the reasons why I don't post often. But I'll try to write about what I made too besides idle birdwatching and beetle chasing.

Spring has sprung. Finally.

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Fri, 06 May 2011 08:27:00 +0000

Just a short post to say how glad I am that spring has finally arrived here! Thanks everyone who sent it on our way :)

2000 pcs puzzle in 3 days

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:51:00 +0000

Haven't posted for a while. Guess what I've been doing? Social networking, working and solving a 2000pcs puzzle. The latter one is a story. In fact I didn't do a lot of solving and more sorting pieces and building piles while it was my Hubby who really solved it.

Click on the picture to see details - they're worth it!

Ok time for the details. Since I work at home and use a web-camera to talk to my clients I need a neat background behind my back. Sadly all I used to have was an old and quite horrible looking green wallpaper. We're still into remaking a room and this wall is in the long waiting list. My idea was to hang some neat poster but this sounds too boring,doesn't it? So I decided to instead buy a 2000 pcs puzzle, solve it then glue it and hang it on a wall. So I saw this medieval map and it won my heart. There were 3 similar pictures that consisted of 500, 1000 and 2000 pieces. I've never ever tried to solve even 100pcs puzzle but whaaat? thought I that's just a puzzle and if I sort the pieces rightly It'll take me a month or so to complete a picture.

And I sorted the pieces into piles and more piles and found all the borders and when I solved the borders I found out the picture is somewhat bigger then I expected. In fact it was huge and as I tried to solve it piece by piece I understood that it might take me more then just a month to solve it. The next morning when I was working my husband accidentally shook off several pieces I've already solved and tried to restore the order. By the time I checked what's going on I found out that not only had he restored the pieces but also added new ones to the picture. Quite many new ones!

He sat there the whole day and the next day. I tried to participate but one can't sit and solved the puzzle the whole day can he?? On the third evening the puzzle was solved. WHAT? Yep. 3 days. I couldn't believe my eyes and didn't know what to say at first. I wondered and thought that one must have an impossible patience to sit 3 days solving such a huge puzzle but then again considering the fact he spent days cross-stitching that huge picture then there's no wonder where did he get all the patience. And here it is the solved puzzle and all it waits is glue and its place on the wall.

By the way if someone's interested. This picture itself is a prototype of a map made by Petrus Plancius in 1594. He was the first cartographer who invented this design where allegorical themes and people are depicted together with maps of the earth and the sky. And he created this fashion for the next 200 years. But since his maps were famous by their design and not astronomical accuracy or maybe because he didn't have as much influence as other cartographers used to have, his name was almost forgotten but not his design which I think is awesome.

Crazy winter visitors

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:15:00 +0000

1/3 of my spring calendar is almost over. And what do I see out of my window? Snow! Snow and lots of snow again. It's still cold, dark and wintery here. I haven't held my hands on a camera for quite a while. There was just nothing to shoot except for snow. But it was too cold to go outside and I hate cold. The only things my camera 'saw' so far are some of my FOs and also hubby's things - he decided to photograph some stuff of his. And then he showed me some of the stuff and crazy stuff it was indeed! Guess what? Crazy birds decided it's spring already and flew back here. Stupid stupid crazy birds.

Waxwings! I've never seen them here before. Didn't really know they visit us. And here they are fat cristate waxwings. I wonder what could they ever find here to eat and stay warm.

Fieldfares. In winter they fly away to warmer countries and return here when it's warm. The photo is a bit blury because it was made through the window but see that white background? It's snow. It's cold outside. And you know what? They didn't fly away, they stayed here for all winter. I saw them in February eating up what was left of ashberries and wondered how will the stupid birds survive winter.I still have no idea why they decided to stay here in the first place.

Starlings. Just like fieldfares they fly away and return when it gets warm here. An interesting fact: usually male starlings are to fly first and then here fly females. I can't take one from another but if this is the first wave then these guys are crazy. And they don't look like making nests like they're supposed to. All they do is foraging. Hmm maybe it's a sexist conspiracy?..

And here they are again. Waxwings look like fluffy balls - I like them very much and wish I could see them more often. Yet I still wonder what would drive the birds here so early. Except for madness.

New sewing machine and FOs

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Last month I bought myself a sewing machine! Oh gosh I still can't think about it and stay calm! You see I used to have only a hand-operated machine which is almost twice older then I am and could only make a bawsic straight seam. And now I have a modern electrical beauty with all the operations I need!

It took me some time to choose it. I decided to get Bernina Bernette E56.

And the first thing I made with it is a bag. I customized Ayumills' Lunch bag tutorial and made my bag bigger and with no cover inside so that it can be more like a tote or just a bag to carry thingies at summer.

Or go for a walk with a penguin! :)

As to the yarny news I finally finished my cardi. It took me quite long to make it. There were both joyful and painful moments. But finally it's here. Can't say I'm 100% happy with it but I like it. I more like the way it looks then the quality of some of its parts like seams. I also forgot to make the buttonholes but I don't really care - it looks more like a bolero then a cardi anyway and I like it this way!

Not the best picture to show a FO I know. I'm going to wait till summer and take some outdoor photos. Notice my new haircut and color btw )) And the view behind me. It's still winter here grrr! I hate winter. But I'll be patient. I'm going to wait for the sunshine and warm weather. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Valentine swap!

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:09:00 +0000

A couple of days after I received my gift, Jessy my swap partner received mine too. Which means I can now post photos :)

I designed the wabbit pattern some time ago but never really made a single rabbit because my room is already teeming with various toys. A gift however is another story so I decided to try my pattern and make a real bunny. I also used a Pop heart free pattern for the heart.

And since it was winter here I gave wabbit a warm scarf so that he doesn't catch cold while being shipped to Australia :)

Despite my illness in the beginning of February and stuff I enjoyed the swap very much. Thanks Becky for organizing it!

Received my Valentine craft swap gift!

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:07:00 +0000

Today I was soo thrilled. I received a notification from the post office and immediately went to check what I received. I turned out to be a beautiful parcel from Australia - a gift from my Valentine craft swap partner Jessy.

The parcel was so beautiful! Full of hearts and cute little beetles! And a koala :) This is the most beautiful thing I've ever received! As I was opening it I loved every bit of the package and felt so happy.

What an awesome and very girly box full of sweet little things. Dear Jessy, thank you so much! The felted heart with pompoms is so soft and delicate and all those tiny hearts and a heart magnet are so sweet! I've never ever received anything so beautiful.

Rising Sun CAL Doily is finished!

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:48:00 +0000

It's done! Took me about a month to finish this doily and I really like the way it looks. Thanks again Glor from Crochet Galor for the pattern and for hosting this awesome Crochet-a-long. I wouldn't dare to start making such a big (for a newbie like me) doily.

This is my second doily and one of my first attempts at thread crochet. I chose cotton/nylon thread (not sure its contents really - it came to me as a gift with no label whatsoever. If you have any idea how to find out what it might be made of - I'll be glad if you could tell me. A friend told me I should try to burn a piece of a thread and see if it has some horrible smell (then it's nylon) or it hasn't (it's cotton then). I haven't tried that yet - I'm quite cautious with matches since I burned a huge hole in kitchen curtains when I was a kid.

Anyway I enjoyed making this doily from the beginning to the end and I like the result too. I placed it under my monitor to make my working place more comfy but maybe I'll find a better place for it.

p.s. Just a quick thought: The doily is called Rising sun but in my case it's rather a zenith :)

"Not good enough" syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 08:40:00 +0000

Those who follow my blog know that in the past two years I've immersed myself in crocheting and knitting. And recently a darn annoying thought started haunting me: what if my best isn't good enough?

You see - I've learned all the basic stitches and some of the tricks too. I've made at least a couple of the following: toys, wearables, socks, doilies, grannies. I'm posting my progress @ Ravelry so that I myself know what I've been doing a month or a year ago. I already think that maybe I'm ready to show my work with other people - friends and fellow crafsters. And here's when I get butterflies. I always try my best to make as good-looking thing as possible. However when I look at other people's works I want to say "Wow!" and wonder if people who'll see things I made will think they look amateur, childish, not good enough. *sigh*

I don't think it's perfectionism but rather a newbie-who-already-learned-some syndrome. And it gets solved by practice-practice-practice. And keep trying, right?

Rising Sun Doily CAL

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:29:00 +0000

This month I decided to participate in my 1st crochet-a-long! And also to learn how to crochet doilies. Not that I have a great need for doilies but I was fascinated by their fractalish look :))

This CAL is hosted by Glor @ Crochet Galore who makes amazingly beautiful doilies.

I'm finishing ROW 14 so far but I made this photo at 13th:

In fact this is my second doily. The first one also made from Glor's pattern - Holiday Doily - Doily of The Month (Dec.) It didn't come out the way it should, but I quite like it anyway.

I'm not sure why but the edging kind of went waving. Maybe that's because I started with smaller hook and then having finished the center part I changed it to the bigger one. Yet don't know why the middle part is ok and waves only became visible at the end of the work.

While I was writing the ponies decided to inhabit my doily-in-process. Gotta go and try to convince them it needs to get finished.

Ponies and wabbits and.. New Year?

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 12:55:00 +0000

Ok it's 2011 already and new adventures are waiting. I haven't posted any year reviews like I did in 2010. To make a story short - the year was manifold. Like in 2010 I'm a still a married crocheter, knitter and birdwatcher. I also started doing yoga and got promoted from an operator to a sales manager. But you know that already. And among things that you don't - besides miniature war games I also started collecting My Little Pony toys:

Pony Power!

I have only two now - Sweetie Belle (the unicorn) and Cheerilee - but plan to have more different ponies. They're sooo sweet! Each has a tiny hairbrush so that I can brush their manes and tails.

I also saw a rabbit yesterday. A neighbor from upstairs asked if I could feed it when she was away. I did and also made a couple of shots:

A silent phlegmatic creature it was chewing and chewing and chewing again while I was dreaming about its wool )) I wonder if one can have a rabbit and comb it often to gather a skein of fine angora?

I also saw a bullfinch yesterday. Sorry - no photo. The bird was quick to hide in the bushes. Last time I saw bullfinches I was a kid of 5 or so. That was awesome to spot it again. Hope it visits again!

And I bought myself a yo-yo toy. It proved to be tricky but adventurous to learn how to deal with it. I've already learned some simple tricks.

Ok that's all for now and I wish everyone a prosperous, joyful and adventurous new year!

We've had a freezing rain!

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:49:00 +0000

When I woke up a couple of days ago and looked out of the window I saw a beautiful morning:

Trees were covered with snow but not just snow but extra big fat snow!

Like these big. It was awesome to watch such glittering fluffy crystals.
On the next night it was raining but the surface temperature was below freezing and so when raindrops touched the trees and power lines and internet wires they slowly formed a glaze ice

which caused some trees to fall or loose some of the branches

and some users to lose internet because the ice was so heavy that it overloaded the wires too.

And this is how the branches looked like after that and how the snowflakes transformed into the ice crystals.

Not as awesome view as true ice rain but pretty rare here. In fact I don't remember seeing anything similar in the past. Two days have passed but the glaze ice is still here until the possible warming.

Mushroom in my moss terrarium

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:07:00 +0000

I check my moss terrariums about a couple times a week to water them and see that there are no weeds growing. Last time I checked it I saw some strange thingie appeared in one of the containers and decided not to touch it and see if it evolves. And it evolved.. into a mushroom.

I don't yet know what species it is and how big will it be but I find it pretty awesome. That's what happens when you get moss from outside - chances are you get smth unpredictable too. I was afraid of insects/worms eggs coming to my home with moss but what I got is a mushroom. Which is an interesting variant.

It is this small. As you can also see some of the moss in this container dried and it is not as even as it was a couple of months before. In the second container moss grew up a bit and became somewhat curly. No mushrooms or other life so far. Gotta wait and see what happens next!

My 1st Kundalini yoga class

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:46:00 +0000

I thought I came too early cause there was none waiting for Kundalini yoga class but me. But it turned out that yesterday I was the only one to come and it was my 1st full Kundalini yoga class (or second if I count Kundalini for women class I participated in last Saturday).

The instructor came in and asked if I ever tried Kundalini before. I said I haven't but used to exercise Hatha yoga at home and now looking for something intensive thought I'm a newbie. Instructor told me that in fact Kundalini yoga is usually blamed for being too intensive.

And that's how it began:

The class started with mantras. I guess there's a lot of contradiction here especially among religious people so the instructors usually say smth like there's nothing religious about singing mantras. As I wrote in my blogspot post - I'm both bad at singing and relaxing in foreign environment. However I'm not religious at all (not even an atheist either cause Atheism is a religion too from some viewpoint) so I tried to relax and sing together with the instructor.

Then the exercises began. And they were intensive just like I wanted. The exercises included both movement and intensive breathing. In fact the breathing was so hard I felt my face and muscles shiver as if connected to electricity and my head went rounds and I felt so dizzy that I thought I'm going to fall down in the right minute I open my eyes (most exercises are done with closed eyes btw). However each time I opened my eyes nothing bad happened.

Another trick is sometimes as I did the exercises it was obvious which muscles are being worked at the moment. Yet when I finished some exercise I felt some very different muscles feel heavy. I don't yet know what's the trick - gonna find it out because it's really curious.

So I exercised and relaxed and meditated. Sometimes it was sweaty, sometimes dizzy but all in all I enjoyed it very much. In fact I liked it that my 1st attempt with Kundalini yoga was face-to-face with the instructor. I didn't look aside to what others are doing but was concentrated on doing things myself. What troubled me a bit in the beginning is that compared to Hatha, Kundalini yoga (or this particular class) is not really about stretching and static asanas (poses) but whirling and doing things fast. Good thing the instructor mentioned in the beginning that ppl who get to Kundalini after practicing Hatha feel it quite different. I decided not to compare then but to exercise it as a different practice and see what it can give me.

When the instructor asked in the end how I liked the class I told him that "I liked it" which I'm afraid didn't sound convincing. In fact I had several questions in my head that I was anxious to ask and at the same time I also felt my head empty as it usually feels after the meditation. So I tried to gather my thoughts and asked some questions that came to my mind.

Today when I woke up I felt that pleasant heaviness in my spine and back muscles (it is one of my dreams in fact to have a strong back). I also woke up cheerful and almost ready to work. I had my breakfast (which I haven't had for weeks) and sat beside my monitor to work. It's 12:20PM so I guess I better start already :)

Open day in yoga center

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:36:00 +0000

Yesterday our local yoga center had an open day with all the classes for free! This time I tried Kundalini yoga for women. The class was interesting and I liked the instructor very much although for me it was not as intensive as I'd love to. But the best thing is I finally opened a membership there. I'm planning to try a Hatha yoga class with the same instructor and also Kundalini yoga with a different instructor. Hopefully I'll find what suits me the best. And I'm already soooo excited!

The most curious thing about doing yoga in a gym is to try to relax in a new environment with other people around - to meditate and to sing short mantras with everyone else. Normally I can only meditate in the night with low light and as little sounds as possible. And I'm horrible at singing. I like to be watched when I'm doing the exercises though especially when I'm good at it. Surprisingly it was ok to relax too though probably not as fine as to some woman who fell asleep during the relaxation pose. My! I almost envy such openness. But all in all I was as relaxed as I can in such a place.

The gym is lovely btw. It's Furnished with IKEA stuff (you guess one of the reasons why I liked it LOL) and the walls are painted in nice blue and light green colors. Despite the winter it is so warm inside I can walk barefoot with no prob at all.

The best thing I found about yoga is how it feels. Certain asanas make me feel all my muscles stretching and others make me count seconds till I can barely stand them but they give an awesome feeling afterward. And then my body becomes so stretchy and light and yet energized that I can't wait till the next class. So many things to find out and to experience! Ain't it terrific!

Miniature adventures with a happy ending

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:05:00 +0000

As far as you, my dear readers, may guess I'm a person who loves games of all sorts and so does my Hubby. Our numerous passions include toy soldiers, war games and board games. We love to play games and to create our own too. We never run out of supplies for here in Russia there are several major producers of toy soldiers. Our favorite one is "Tehnolog" company that produces a wide variety of armies with different flavors - historical, fantasy, sci-fi - you name it. Their soldiers are a little bit bigger then usual tiny figures and are very detailed.

Now let me tell you a recent pre-x-mas story we've had recently.

This is about half of our collection. We haven't yet tried our hands on painting them.

Usually when we need some new mini's we go to the toy shop and get some. Or vice versa - we go to the toy shop see some awesome new products and realize we want and need them. Now everything has been fine until recently. We bought several boxes in a couple of shops, opened them and saw that some toys were broken. Such a disappointment! This was very unfortunate and we didn't even know what happened - whether the toys themselves were of poor quality or were they broken during the shipment from the factory to the shops. I decided to write to the producer (who's located in a different town) and ask if they could help us.

Same soldiers and military equipment close-up. The cannons can actually shoot!

I got an answer from the company in a couple of days. It was very detailed and covered all the questions I have asked. It was very nice to find out that the company really cares about customers and the director himself took his time to write me trying to help as best as he could. But that's not all. In my email I asked if they could probably send me the broken parts of the toys so that I could fix them. To tell the truth I didn't hope the producer will bother to send something to another town when I didn't have any proof that the toys didn't get broken because of my doings.

The armies are ready for the fight! Or at least for some shooting from me and my camera :)

Imagine my delight when they told me they can actually send me the full sets of toys to replace those where I found broken parts!! Sounds like an X-mas miracle doesn't it? And that's not the end either. They also offered me some dyes and a brush to paint the toys. And that's sooo exciting! That offer came to me right when we were thinking on where to start painting all that horde you can see on the photos. I still don't believe my eyes. I'm forever grateful to the company and they really gained my trust and respect. As far as I know they import some of the toys to the US. So if you ever get upon their name - you may be absolutely sure of their trustworthiness. As to me - I'll look forward to receive all the promised goodies and maybe will show you some of the painted miniatures too! Till then - I'm back from wargames to sockknitting )

The Little Fox's Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:53:00 +0000

Did I say I love IKEA? Those who have that blessed place nearby knows that it's not only about furniture and stuff but also toys. And books about toys too. Yesterday we've bought one - "The Little Fox's Adventures" by Ulf Stark, Swedish writer famous for his books for children and young adults (like us :) )

Here it is.This book features IKEA's barnslig series toys - a little fox, a wolf, a moose and a snake. The description says: "The little fox can do anything. Or so she thinks. This book teaches us that help can come from unexpected places. That we can even miss things that annoy us and that no one- not even the little fox - can do everything".

The book is very cute and colorful. The pictures are very bright and funny and each animal is such a character! We enjoyed every bit of it.

I particularly loved the sleepy snake with a sleeping mask and a scarf.

And there are also tiny friends that follow the little fox from one page to another making a snowman, cooking hot dogs and getting busy in various other ways.

It was a delight to turn over the pages about the little fox's snowy adventures yesterday winter evening in a warm room with a tealight lit in a red lantern. Such a fairytale! This book became one of the most pleasant discoveries recently.

Knitted FO's show off

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:12:00 +0000

As you know last year my crafty self got some inspiration to start crocheting. Since summer however I'm sooo into knitting too. I've heard a lot of prejudice about knitting vs crocheting - I enjoy both although I believe (for you it might be different) that knitting is better for making wearables while crocheting is for toys, acessories and lacy things. I prefer continental style so knitting is almost as fast as crocheting to me. So:

Remember I said I knitted a vest? I forgot and only when I looked thorugh my older posts I found I haven't said a word about the fact I finished it in June (strange thing I forgot to post about it for it was a real event - first 'serious' knitted vearable!) Here is how we look like - me and the vest.

And that's a closer look to the pattern:

In June I made sox for my dearest husband:

And a couple weeks ago I also made him a matching pair of gloves.

Fun fact: I spent lots of time searching for an adequate free pattern for newbies or a tutorial on how to make male gloves and the best of all was vintage pattern by American Red Cross dated 1942! And I made the project look modern by adding stripes and bright colors to it.

In both cases - sox and gloves I used some old 100% wool 2ply yarn which I have in horrible amounts here. Despite the fact yarn is thin it's quite warm and easy to work with.

And then I found yarn leftovers from my vest and being ~~housewifely~~ thrifty decided to put them into a good use. And also the vest pattern includes mock cable rib and I wanted to try real cables.

So I made mitts:

And today I finished a scarf:

which was soooo long to make I thought I'll never finish it. But I made it nonetheless.

And the last thing I haven't show you is another pair of sox but not just usual sox but Big Huge Sox for my hubby too. Now that's quite a story.

November 2009: hubby said he wants big and warm socks to wear at home in winter. Though I've never ever knitted socks I thought it was a brilliant idea to make them till New Year. So I went to my favorite yarn store and bought a couple of Mondial Merino Maxi skeins - Super Bulky (5-6 wpi) 50% Acrylic / 50% Merino - one red and one white. And you guess what - I made 1 sock and needed more yarn. I went to the same shop again and there was no single skein for sale and they didn't intend to import more and moreover this is the only store that sold this yarn here. As I despaired to ever find the same yarn here in Russia I asked for help in Italian Ravelry group and oh joy one of the users offered to send me some from Italy. She did but in winter we had both customs and postal problems in Russia and I never received that yarn ;( The Italian lady was so kind to send me the yarn again and this time - August 2010 I was able to finish the pair. My yarn choice soon proved to be not too good for acryllic yarn is not strong enough for socks but they're still alive and what's most important hubby luvs them very much!

That's it and I hope you're still awake ))

The Versatile Blogger award

noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Cohen) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:05:00 +0000

Debi has kindly given me "The Versatile Blogger" award about a month ago and I'm glad I finally have a chance to post it ) It requires 7 random facts about myself so here I go:

1. I live in Russia and I'm very proud to have taught myself English
2. It was my Dear Husband who inspired me to start crocheting and knitting which are my main hobbies now
3. I don't watch TV (except for Formula 1 and Battlestar Galactica)
4. Reading is my favorite passtime
5. French fries are my favorite comfort food as well as chocolate
6. I'm afraid of grasshoppers. I mean I like them but their look gives me shivers
7. My favorite videogame is Silent Hill series