Last night I got flowers for Jen and Charles's wedding. I started with the boutineer and am very pleased with how it turned out. I followed this boutonniere toutorial. I am hoping the roses open up more today, while sitting on the counter under the skylight. I am going to be a witness at their courthouse wedding this afternoon and then tonight we'll party at the Big Picture. I still have to assemble Jen's bouquet, but I think I am ready to go! So glad to have this bouquet toutorial to follow.

The stole is coming along, I am on the second skein of 8 and need to keep it up so I get it done with plenty of time.

5 months until our wedding! That sounds much closer than 6 did. But summer feels so far away still.

This winter I splurged and bought plants online for the backyard. Specifically, plants that can take low light. I can't wait to see them in a few days!

POPPY MIX ORIENTAL
LUPINES
FERNS
COLORFUL SHADE GARDEN
ANEMONES POPPY
FUCHSIA HARDY

I'm looking forward to putting in a flagstone walkway in the backyard that leads from the deck to the sauna. For reference, here is how to do it. I imagine, this might not happen until June or October, but it's fun to think about anyway.

I saw this cute cartwheels quilt and the tutorial. I think this might be the next baby gift I'll make. I know someone due in May I'd like to do a baby quilt for.

What to wear in my hair... for my wedding? I am leaning toward this feathery hair piece, but I think 6"x6" is a bit big. I think I'll sit on the idea for a while. I've collected hairdo photos I like. It's basically a bun at the base of my head. The ornament would be on the side.
I went to a bridal store after work and the similar pieces in store were around $100+. OY! Now this one I found online is looking more doable. The other option is to tie a live orchid flower to a pin and put that in my hair.

But now, I'm looking online at the brand they had in the store and the price is good. I like this one too. Maybe better? What do you think?

I broke down and bought four more skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze last night. After completing 72 rows and 1 skein, I calculated that indeed, I will need 8 skeins to complete the stole. Yes, it's going to be huge. It will be a keepsake though.

I also started another Pirate Hat in Black and White. I am through 1 repeat. It's nice to have another easy project going to take a break from the stole. I'm also looking forward to travel knitting for my vacation to Cancun in early April.

Tuesday was my birthday. Compared to the excitement of turning 30 last year, I let this one slide by, no big deal.

Jesper's away in Munich visiting his sister and I'm going along with my normal routine of busy after work activities, Jazzercise, Swing dance lesson, knitting group, more knitting, Swedish class. He called me last night; I was on my way to bed and he was on his way to go skiing in Austria!

Stella ran out of food so this morning she got kitty treats for breakfast to tide her over.

Big news at our house...

Stella let herself out of the cat door outside without any prompting! She got up from her nap and went out the cat door. Horray!

A sweet story for Valentine's day.

Russian couple reunited after 60 years apart

I started my wedding stole. I think the pattern I chose is going to make a larger stole than I intended, but I am going to go with the flow since I like the pattern so much. It's coming along quickly, I already have 6 rows. I just need to order more yarn soon so I get the same dye lot.

We worked a lot on the sauna building this weekend. I nailed on 40% of the siding and today we got the roofing shingles on. Just in time for the rain to start again.

Stella hasn't voluntarily left the house out of her cat door yet, but at least she comes back in through it when we get her to go through it. I am confident that when the sun comes back, she'll be more interested in going outside, and in the end using the yard as her "cat box."

I finished my crewel stitching kit last week and put it in a frame.

Here's a photo of our green wall in the basement. Behr, Asparagus paint. Someday we'll paint the wood trim to white, but the paint actually made the trim look pretty good, so I think we'll leave it for a while. I also want to get curtains, but that will probably be delayed until next winter. We tore down the vertical blinds and they met the dumpster.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and I had a chance to make some recipes I wanted to for a long time. The Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup was so delicious. I also made Coconut bread and it was also so incredibly delicious.

The point of the meal was to serve Marlin tacos. We still have a lot of Marlin left in the freezer, I think the tacos are the best way to go. I baked the Marlin steak slices in the oven with melted butter and garlic poured over them.

For dessert we had raspberry-blueberry pie. Yum!

I picked out a pattern for my wedding stole. I ordered Kid Silk Haze, in Cream from Ebay and am ready to cast on!

I ordered a different one last week and did a test swatch; the middle has too many repeats of a lace I wan't interested in memorizing after a while.

I picked out my "back-up" shoes for the wedding at DSW. They are white leather ballet flats. In general, I don't like the way this shoe fashion looks, but these seemed just right and were on clearance.