Talking about presents: Cross stitch, Tintin and cozy candles.

First of all I wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful comments on the bride's pictures... and not only the comments about the shawl but also the good wishes for the newly married couple!

Today I won't talk about knitting... again.

Last month a friend of mine had his birthday. This is a very special friend. I have never met anyone that likes Tintin as much as he does... which surprises me because Tintin was actually almost unknown for me before moving to Iceland (is it just me or is it that in South America, or even in Spain, Tintin is not as know as in other places? The same happened with Mummins... I HAD NEVER seen Mummins before! They are so popular here! It is possible to find EVERYTHING with Mummins around here: mugs, bed sheets, towels, clocks, watches, napkins, books, T-shirts, etc.)

So, having in mind that he likes Tintin I needed to find something related to make a birthday present. Of course the easy way would have been to buy something already made... but that is EXTREMELY boring. So, looking in the internet I found a great idea: Cross stitch.

I learnt a little bit of cross stitch shortly after I moved to Iceland (as well as knitting). Moving to Iceland really opened my eyes to handcrafts that were somehow "forbidden" for men according to genre rules that are applied in my homeland. Here, this is totally different. Everybody learns everything. Kids are not put into a drawer with a tag saying but exactly the opposite. They are given the chance to try everything... and that is AWESOME!

My experience with cross stitch is not very big. I have done little things here and there but nothing like what I was planning to do now.

So, here it is:

Almost finished.

What I like about cross stitch is how simple it is and the idea of being drawing with a needle.

After I finished it, I ironed it to make it look flat and nice. And framed it:

A present NEEDS a nice package. In this case I found this idea in an amazing blog I found while looking around a few weeks ago. There is a tutorial that shows how to make the knot. It is extremely simple and it looks GREAT!

I used just some rope that I found at home which worked really well.

In my experience, I have come to realized how easy it is to bring some happiness to the people you really care about. It is not necessary to make complicated things or spend huge amounts of money. Something as simple as some fabric, thread, a needle and little bit of time can do the whole thing. My friend was deeply touched by this unexpected present. It is hard to explain the satisfaction that brings to see a friend happy... just to see the shine in the eyes while opening the package has no price!

And well, talking about friends and presents now that I am posting this pictures I see in the corner of one of them a present that my friend Kristín Hrund gave me and that I had not shared here with you!

We met one evening at my place for dinner, talking and knitting of course. And she came with the cutest thing ever! She made a crochet candle cozy using some of the yarns that she dyes using natural resources. The light if gives if so cozy and calm!

It is so cozy that we even took it with us to our last trip to a summerhouse!

And to finish, something funny. A few weeks ago Litlaskvis, Linda Björk, an Icelandic knitter that I haven't had the chance to meet personally yet, asked me if I could answer a few questions for a column that she writes on a web magazine that is called Prjónari/Heklari vikunnar (The knitted/Crocheter of the Week).

Of course I said yes! It is possible to read the column here. It is in icelandic but google translate makes a fairly decent job :)

Have a great week!