Showing posts with label presents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label presents. Show all posts

Friday, July 20, 2012

Half-Birthday Surprise / Sorpresa de cumpleaños y medio

One evening last week I was getting ready to have dinner with a friend when the doorbell rang. We were not expecting anybody so I had no clue about who this could be... To my surprise it was the postman coming with a box for me!!

Una tarde durante la semana pasada, me estaba peparando para empezar a cenar con una amiga cuando sonó el timbre. No estábamos esperando a nadie así que en realidad no tenía idea de quién podría ser... ¡Para mi gran sorpresa era el cartero que traía una caja para mí!

Now, the story behind the box is very cute. My dear, dear friend Judi wanted to send me a birthday present but, as some of you may know, my birthday is in December... difficult month for most of us, everybody is getting ready for Christmas, students finishing the semester, kids going on winter/summer vacations as so on... so she decided to delay my birthday for May... in the mean time she started to collect some little treasures for me... treasures that I want to share with you today :)

Ahora, la historia detrás de la caja es que mi querida, querida amiga Judi quería enviarme un regalo de cumpleaños, pero como algunos ya saben mi cumple es en diciembre... un mes bastante complicado para la mayoría: todos preparándose para Navidad, Año Nuevo, los estudiantes terminando sus exámenes, los niños saliendo de vacaciones de invierno/verano, etc. Por esto fue que Judi decidió que mi cumple lo celebraría en mayo. Mientras tanto, desde diciembre hasta la fecha, ella comenzó a juntar pequeños grandes tesoros para mí... tesoros que hoy quiero compartir con ustedes :)

I am going to start with a delicious treasure! She knows how much I love pecans so she sent me lots of them in ways that I had never seen before!! This was a real treat since I started to work out and take more care about my physical condition I almost cut out all candy and chocolate... so this was the perfect excuse to eat some chocolate and sugar! ha! To bad that most of this is already gone by now! hehe.

Comienzo con un tesoro delicioso. Judi sabe cuánto me gustan las nueces pecanas por lo que me envió un montón de dulces hechos con ellas. Esto fue un verdadero festín, especialmente considerando que desde que empecé a practicar deporte en forma regular y a cuidar lo que como hace ya nueve meses había prácticamente cortado el azúcar (entre otras cosas)... así que esta fue la oportunidad perfecta para darse un pequeño banquete! (y sin culpa, jeje). La pena es ya casi todo se ha acabado :(

Since she knows that I am starting to explore the "crochet world" she sent me this interesting book about seamless crochet.

Como ella sabe que estoy empezando a explorar el "mundo del ganchillo", me envió un libro bien interesante con modelos tejidos en piezas y cómo unirlos en el camino para no tener que coser ni rematar cabos.

And also Vogueknitting Crochet... how fancy is this?! There are a few very nice models in this one (as well as some horrendous ones, I must say, hehe).

La revista de Vogueknitting dedicada al ganchillo... qué lujo ¿no? Hay algunos modelos que están bien chulos (también como otros que son BASTANTE feos, jeje)

A super cute magazine with traditional knitting and some good stories.

Una revista muy mona con patrones de tejido tradicional y algunas historias bien interesantes.

Because of this maganize now I want to try Bosnian Crochet! When you start to believe you have seen it quite a lot there is always something new coming your way!

Por culpa de esta revista ahora quiero probar el ganchillo bosnio. Cuando uno empieza a creer que ya ha visto bastantes técnicas por aquí o  allí ¡SIEMPRE aparece algo nuevo que se cruza en tu camino!

Inside the big box there was a little white box that contained these three WONDERFUL tatting shuttles and they are not only wonderful because they are beautiful (not like the plastic clover one that have, hehe) but also because they all belonged to her grandmother! I still get goose bumps when I think about it!! And if you see carefully one of the shuttles has still thread on it. I just have no words to describe what I feel about this huge sign of generosity from Judi!!

Dentro de la caja había otra cajita, blanca y chiquita, que contenía estas tres MARAVILLOSAS lanzaderas para frivolité y no son sólo maravillosas porque son bonitas (no como las plásticas de Clover que me compré aquí, hehe) sino que ¡¡las tres pertenecieron a su abuela!! ¡Se me paran los pelos con sólo pensar en ello! Si miran cuidadosamente una de las lanzaderas tiene todavía el hilo que probablente su abuela puso en ella. Me cuesta encontrar las palabras para describir lo que siento ante tan generoso regalo!
A set of very colorful crochet hooks (that come in very odd numbers, like 3.25, 3.75, 4.25... number that I would have probably never bought but that make the perfect complement for the ones I already have!! So thoughtful of Judi!!)

Un set de ganchillos bien coloridos (que vienen en medidas bien raras, como 3.25, 3.75, 4.25... medidas que yo probablemente nunca habría comprado, pero que en realidad son el complemento perfecto para los ganchillos que ya tengo... ¡¡Judi piensa en todo!!)
One skein of a really nice blend of wool and some tatting thread :)

Una madeja de lana muy chula e hilo para frivolité-
A super cute sock blocker key ring kit :)

Un kit para tejer un mini calcetín y ponerlo en el bloqueador (¿¡Cómo se llama esto en castellano!?)



A super tiny cute pair of scissors... puppy scissors! This came at the precise moment! A few weeks ago, during a trip through the south coast of Iceland I lost my scissors so I had been using the huge paper scissors that we have at home... but not anymore!

Un par de tijeras súper monas... tijeras de cachorro (por la forma que tiene). Estas tijeras han llegado en el momento preciso. Hace unas semaas, en un viaje a lo largo de la costa sur de la isla perdí mis tijeras, así que desde entonces he estado usando las tijeras gigantes para cortar papel... muy poco prácticas, ¡pero ya no más!
Darning needles with a really useful case (and the puppy scissors)

Agujas de lana que vienen con un frasquito muy práctico para guardarlas (y las tijeras).
Tags (I didn't take a picture of the back of them but there it is possible to write to whom the knitted thing is, materials used and care instructions).

Etiquetas (No le tomé una foto al reverso, pero allí es posible escribir para quién es el regalo, qué lana se usó  e instrucciones de cuidado).
A box (full of candy made with pecans!) (and it is possible to see the needles that Judi sent me a year ago, which also belonged to her grandmother!)

Una caja (llena de dulces de nueces de pecana) (y las agujas enmarcadas que Judi me regaló el año pasado, que también pertenecieron a su abuela!
A mug (which is great, because I couple of months ago I had a little accident in the kitchen while I was trying to arrange the mugs in the cabinet after I washed them and I managed to break five, YES, FIVE of them!!)

Un tazón (que al igual que las tijeras me sienta muy bien porque hace un par de meses tuve un pequeño accidente en la cocina mientras estaba ordenando los tazones después de haberlos lavado... al parecer no los ordené muy bien y cuando fui a abrir el mueble para sacear un tazón se me vinieron todos encima y cinco de ellos se cayeron y quebraron. SÍ... rompí CINCO tazones de una vez!
This one really made me smile... a little geography lesson :)

Esto me hizo sonreír... una pequeña lección de geografía.

A puffin!

¡Un frailecillo!
A (late) birthday card, postcards and a pen.

Una tarjeta de cumpleaños (atrasado), postales y un lápiz.

And finally... Judi made this for me!! Yes! She took the time to sew a blanket for me. It is so perfectly well done! And the colors are so all so earthy... it even scares me to see how much she seems to know me! hehe. The blanket is pretty big, in the picture it is folded in half... it was the only way I found to take a good picture of it being alone. Isn't it beautiful?!

Y finalmente... ¡¡Judi hiz esto para mí!! Se tomó el tiempo para coser una manta para mí. Está hecha a la perfección. Los colores me han fascinado. La manta es bastante grande, en la foto está doblada por la mitad. ¿No les parece hermosa?
The blanket a little closer.

Un poquita más cerca.
And of course the blanket didn't come alone.. Judi also made a really cool photo album with all the process of making the blanket!! I thought this was simply fantastic!!

Y claro... la manta no venía sola... Judi hizo un álbum con fotos de todo el proceso mientras hacía la manta. ¡¡Fantástico!!
All I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH Judi!  

This has been the most AMAZING "birthday and a half" that I have ever had! :)

Lo único que puedo decir es ¡¡¡MUCHAS GRACIAS Judi!!! 

¡¡¡Este ha sido el "cumpleaños y medio" más INCREÍBLE que te tenido!!!


And now that I am talking about the mail... A couple of weeks ago I was invited to take part on a postcards exchange that was organized by CariñoMalo. So, everybody who was interested left a message on the post and then Macarena matched the couples...

Aprovechando que he estado hablando sobre el correo... hace un par de semanas fui invitado a participar en un intercambio de postales organizado por CariñoMalo. Sólo bastaba con dejar un comentario en la entrada correspondiente y Macarena luego se encargó de asignar las parejas...



My envelope left last Monday... it is traveling a looong way so hopefully it should arrive sometime around the beginning of next week.

Mi sobre emprendió el vuelo el lunes pasado... esta viajando a un lugar muuuuy lejano!!! Debiera llegar a comienzos de la próxima semana :)

To finish.. a picture of a super cute Icelandic lamb!!

Para terminar... ¡¡una foto de un corderito islandés súper mono!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

Woolly Presents for One Lucky Guy :)

During December and January I was so lucky to get some really precious presents from dear friends, most of them knitting-related (plus some amazing candies and other sweet, sweet details).

I would like to share with you what I got... all of them are very special and I need to find something that as special to make with them. I already have some ideas floating around inside of my head...

Sunsunteje surprised me with a beautiful skein of wool that she spun herself. It is a mixture of merino and silk.. it is amazingly soft and has a very nice shine. The colors are AMAZING as well... it is pretty difficult to describe them! There is some purple, beige and white in it... all beautifully combined.



Hiro, who I had the luck to meet last year on my trip to Asturias (and we managed not to take a SINGLE good picture of us together!) sent me some beautiful wool along with LOTS of candies (and I mean LOTS, so much that I still even have some!) and some other sweet details. She surprised me with a wonderful skein of Lace Silk in a very bright red-fuchsia color (I am really bad naming colors... but it must be something near those two) and one skein of Lace Merino in natural color (light gray). Both from Greta and The Fibers.


My dear friend Svanhvít Lilja, who moved to Sweden with her boyfriend last Autumn, came on Christmas Holidays to visit Iceland. She gave me as a birthday present two skeins of wool that she got in Umeå, the town where she is living. The skeins have no tags so I don't know what the composition is but it feels great to touch, it is both firm and soft at the same time. I think I have knitted anything with red wool... actually I think I don't even own anything to wear that is red... so this is the perfect opportunity to get some red into my wardrobe. I was thinking about a pair of mittens and a neckwarmer, maybe?  :)




Paolo, my italian colleague that was working with me last year surprised me with a very unexpected birthday present. I thought it was so thoughtful of him! He came with this really beautiful icelandic design "roll-case" made out of a woollen tweed fabric with a really pretty cross stitch design on one of its borders. It is REALLY pretty but unfortunately I haven't found a good use for it yet. The pockets seem to be too big and too deep (and they are definitely not enough to put all my needles). 




I have been trying to find something to use it for but nothing has been clicking in my brain! Ideas? They are ALL MORE THAN WELCOME! :)




Mike, my friend from California, that I finally got to know in person last October after having been Flickr friends for quite a while when he came to Iceland (along with Franklin and Stephen). 


He really did surprise me!! He gave me my first Elizabeth Zimmermann's book! "Knit One Knit All". A book devoted to the most simple of all stitches: Garter Stitch. There are some really cool designs that I want to try! And I must admit that this book was somehow and eye-opener for me. I think I had always somehow underestimated garter stitch... now I see it definitely with other eyes. 




In the box  there was also a DVD called "A Knitting Glossary" by E. Zimmermann and M. Swansen. This is truly a BIBLE! It is a DVD full of techniques that are taught by Elizabeth and Meg in a very comfortable format sitting on the sofa of their home. It is a perfect reference to refresh and learn some techniques. 


And last but not least... In one of our last trips to the Álafoss Factory Gummi found a new yarn that has been recently put for sale in the shop. It is called Bolivia, 100% wool (from Bolivia, I guess?). When he saw it he thought he could make THE PERFECT scarf for me! And HE DID! How sweet is that? 




He made this HUGELY LONG (I think it must be over 3 meters long!) scarf that I can wrap around several times around the neck. The colors are definitely MY KIND OF COLORS. It is EXTREMELY cozy and warm! 




What else can I say? Except that I am an INCREDIBLY LUCKY GUY!


Thank you all so much!


And to finish... Yesterday the weather was wonderful... Not a little bit of wind and even not so cloudy. From my home it is possible to see a glacier that is at the very end of a peninsula. The glacier is called Snæfellsjökull (for many of you that will sound familiar because of Jules Verne's novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth"in which an entrance to a passage that leads to the center of the earth is found in this mountain). 


It had been AGES since the last time the glacier was visible mostly because it had been mostly cloudy and not clear enough to let it be seen. Yesterday... I saw this from home:





Friday, September 23, 2011

Thank you / Merci MademoiselleAlex!!

A few weeks ago I was visiting Alex's blog (mademoisellealex). She is a chilean girl that lives in Paris and has this wonderful blog about handcrafts, especially knitting and crochet, and her devotion to her supercute dog, Ruckiette, who models most of her creations (and she is a great model!).

Please take yourself a little time to check it out... you won't be disappointed!!

ICELAND - IRELAND (and well, it also happens sometimes
with Finland!)
In one of her posts she was showing some of wook she had in her stash and I commented about this beautiful, BEAUTIFUL green yarn made of merino and silk. After I wrote the comment I got a message from her telling me that she was not going to use it because it was not going to be enough for what she wanted to knit so if I wanted it she offered me to send it to me... OF COURSE I coulnd't say no! (You will see a picture of the yarn if you keep reading and will totally understand me!, hehe).

Well, she sent me a package and she warned me that there were a few other things in the package aling with the wool... some things that would remind me of my childhood... uhhh... mystery!

The package had a small detour from its way from France... yes. Something really silly happened. Silly but not uncommon, at all. 

We were starting to get ready a little worried because it had been almost three weeks since Alex sent the package and I was not getting anything! She checked online to trace the package and according to it the package had arrived. I called to the post office here and nothing! She finally called to the post office in Paris and guess what!?

The package was sent to IRELAND instead of ICELAND!  Even though Alex wrote CLEARLY in the package that the destination was Iceland!

This is the evidence that the package was sent to Ireland! Poor package... it was all wrinkled and broken but fortunetely all the contents were in perfect conditions!


Fortunetely the package was sent straight to Iceland from Ireland... so after two or three days the postman was ringing the bell to bring mee this!

Milo... it has been YEARS since the last time I drank milk with Milo! I think that all kids in Chile had breakfast either with Milo or Colacao! Jelly... nam nam and hand cream.

This is the wonderful yarn that I commented on. Posh Yarn 50%merino 50%silk. A total luxury!!


The color is just from out of this world!! In the picture it looks a little bit flat but it has some different shades of green and tiny bit of blue. I will have to find a super special thing to knit with it!! It is beautiful, isn´t it?!
The green yarn didn't come alone... it had very good company. One skein of Holstgarn in a beautiful brown (honey) color.

I also feel like eating it!!

And even more yarn! Opal sock yarn.

Also eatable and "petable" hehe.


I had seen these yarns only in Ravelry. I haven't seen any of them in Iceland until now... that makes them even MORE special! I think I will look at them everyday and pet them until I find something that will make these yarns look amazing!

Now, it wasn't only yarn what I found in the package... there was more! Some beautiful threads to make lace!!

Wonderful linen! 
Silk! 
Purple and gray silk. So shiny and soft!

Egyptian cotton. 

And this beautiful mysterious box (from top)

And bottom.


And... this is what I found inside of the box!!!!!!! These are the most beautiful threads I have ever seen!! Look at those colors!! What a treasure! Super-extremely cute!!

Well... after all this I think that all I have left to say is THANK YOU SO MUCH ALEX!

ERES UN SOL: CÁLIDA Y GENEROSA!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Thank you Judi!!

On monday I was at home having tea with my dear friend Svanhvít (who, by the way, today moved to Sweden for two years. I will really, really miss her a lot!) when the bell rang: It was from the post office! 

Judi, dear Judi, sent me a message on Ravelry on day telling me that something had come to her possession that she thought I might enjoy so she wanted to send it to me along with other small things. No more information was given to me... besides a teaser while the mysterious things were flying to Iceland: "Lizbeth"that comes in very nice colors including variegated. Humm. 

Well, as I said before monday was the BIG DAY! I received a box at the door of my place. My first impression was: Wow! This box is huge! Judi kept on asking me not to have too high expectations about what she was sending me... how could have I possibly done that! Impossible! I was sure that what ever was inside the box I was going to love it!

So, I don't let you wait more... These are the treasures I found inside this lovely box:

When I was opening the box Gummi and Svanhvít were there. It must have been so funny to take a picture of us then as the three of us were open-mouthed (¿boquiabiertos?) while I was taking all things out of the box. So many things!
 Now, the details:

A wonderful book about lace. I didn't know this one. It is really cool because it gives an overview of different lace traditions around the world with examples. It also contains a lot of technical points. Love it!

This little box just killed me! It is so cute!! And the contents... Uuh La la!

Cotton threads! Different kinds, different colors, things that I would have never found here! Come on! Egyptian Cotton?! Highlighter take... brilliant! To follow the lace charts... simply wonderful!


Stitch markers. These are the cutest stitch markers I have ever had! Love the colors and the fact that they are monkey knots! And please notice the case to keep them!
The monkey knot stitch markers neatly kept in its beautiful case : )

Some more cotton and a beautiful ball of baby alpaca in different tones of green.

This is one of the things that make me (us really) drool. This is a pair circular needles with a 11" (28cm) cable (something I had NEVER seen) that belonged to Judi's grandmother! I love the package and the fact that it still even has the price on it: 23 cents!! This is a JEWEL. I think that I will most probably frame it and hand it in a nice corner of my place. This is very, very, very special.

A film camera! Yes! From the beginning of the 90s. It looks brand new and it even comes with the manual and warranty and the remote control! I have been using it this week... soon we will see how it works when I finish the roll! :)

Pecans! Amazing nuts! (They will probably not last too long, hehe)

A n article about bobbin lace and sweet winter card.
What can I say? I think that the images tell it all. 

I think I just can say THANK YOU SO MUCH Judi for this beautiful surprise that you have given me! Thank you for being such a KIND and GENEROUS person! And thank you somuch for your wonderful comments on my posts here... I always enjoy them a lot and it is always a pleasure to reply them to you!

Oh, oh, oh! And All my best wishes for you in this very special day...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

For now, I can to share these pictures of a very special little corner of Iceland (one of my favourite spots for sure!) with you to celebrate your birthday.:

Jökulsárlón
Jökulsárlón. A glacier lagoon that is next to the biggest glacier in Iceland (Vatnajökull) from where all the icebergs come from.  


Breiðamerkursandur
Breiðamerkursandur. The lagoon runs to the sea and big pieces of ice end up stranded in a black sand beach. 


Breiðamerkursandur
It is amazing to see the waves break on these ice pieces. 


Breiðamerkursandur
Millenary ice.