Finished and started

Rho, that's true that there is nothing to beat some good old horseradish, especially with a homemade pate (pasztet) or smoked ham (my father made some himself this year). And the cheesecake is a must - the very traditional version, a thin layer of a shortcake topped with cheese with raisins, yummy (not the raisins, I don't like them and I always leave them out! ^^).

Over the weekend I finished the "Burgundian Dance" tapestry and I'm sending it to Helene tomorrow. ^^
The pattern comes from an old issue of "Anna" craft magazine, the technique is a cross stitch, I used cotton mouline on cotton fabric and the size of the finished picture is 37 cm x 62 cm (plus some fabric for mounting).

What's next? The anklets from the leftover yarn I used for my Opal socks - they are almost ready, I've knitted past the heel on one sock and I'll knit the heel on the other today, and then there will be several rows above the heel to fish them. I decided that in order to avoid the 'second sock syndrome' it's easier for me to work on both socks almost simultaneously, and not knit one completely and then start another one. ^^

And I'll be starting soon a very serious commission - my friend asked me to knit for him a pair of knee-high socks based on the medieval Muslim socks. It will be a challenge for me because I once started to knit these for myself (I have the pattern in Nancy Bush's Folk Socks), but I didn't get much far past the heel in the first sock - the size was too small for my ankles, so I frogged some of it, felted it and turned it into a nice cellphone cozy! *^v^*
But this time I'm going to approach this pattern again and it'll be a real challenge because my friend is a man with big feet and wide calves, so I'll have some serious stitches calculating to do. I'm buying yarn tomorrow. ^^

Green Minded Witch
Inspired by many wonderful blogs about eco-friendly, frugal living I decided to keep adding some "green" tips, ideas and links from time to time in the posts under the label of the Green Minded Witch. (Living in a big city, I'm not very eco-friendly, but I'm trying to be.) I don't intend to preach but to give some hints from my own experience which can be useful to some of you, as they turned out useful for me. ^^
I'm going to start today with something simple and obvious, or is it really?
Laundry detergent.
I used to buy bottles of it and use it in "splash" quantities. By this I mean I just opened my washing machine, splashed some of the washing liquid into one drawer, splashed some of the softener into the other drawer, closed it and turned it on.
Of course in this way I used much too much of it, especially when I had those concentrated detergents, and I had to buy more of them quickly.
Then one day I applied the famous RTFM rule* - I turned the bottle and checked the amount of the liquid that was suggested for a 5 kilo washing - and it was a surprisingly small amount! Much smaller than my "splash"! Now I know what the caps on those bottles are for - these are the measuring devices! ^^ (okay, I knew it before, but just didn't pay attention to them...)
It's really worth to overcome our laziness and have a look at the manufacturer's dosage suggestions, because:
- you use exactly the amount needed for a single washing, so the bottle lasts longer,
- the bottle lasts longer so you buy another one only when you really need it,
ergo
- you save money, because you spend it less often
- in general you use less detergent (less of it goes down the pipes and into the environment)
Isn't it a nice result? *^v^*

And some green minded links for you:
Stop the Ride by Stephanie, very inspiring blog about frugal life
Sew Green, a blog by several green-minded artists,
Another Woman's Treasure by Celeste
10 Commandments for a Simpler Way of life

BTW, if you want to take part in my bloggiversary giveaway there is still time to leave the comment on the giveaway post - I'll be drawing the winner on 12th April and the prize pool grew from just a cross-stiched sheep to some additional surprises! *^v^*

* RTFM - Read The F(ascinating) Manual, as my hubby says! *^v^*