akaslompolo

The village of Akaslompolo is located about 55 km from Kittila, and a short bus ride from the Yllas ski resort.

We rented our lovely cabin from Destination Lapland, and were quite satisfied with their service.
The cabin we stayed at was located about 1 km from the main road and shops, which was just about OK for our daily walks, especially with -30 C outside.

The cabin itself was impeccably furnished, the heated floor and fireplace were very comfortable (sometimes even too hot) as well as the small private sauna. There's only one huge supermarket in the village, but it has everything you can think of (food-wise, obviously, but they also sold everything else from Novita yarn to Moomin bed covers). Prices were way cheaper than Portugal, which was quite unexpected. The tiny shopping mall nearby mainly stocks souvenirs, but it has a small Marimekko shop where I just *had* to get a couple of yards of my favorite fabric.

We usually had dinner at home, but we decided to try the local restaurants a couple of times. We really enjoyed our meal at Poro, and then our last dinner at Julli's (portions tend to be huge, especially at Julli's and other pubs).

:: our cabin




:: road to Kittila


:: snowmobile excursions shop


:: coming from the supermarket (the sledges were very useful for transporting our purchases)




:: dinner at Poro




:: snowshoeeing at the frozen lake

tallinn in winter

Before flying out to Kittila we decided to go a day early and spend it in Tallinn. We enjoyed it so much last September, and it seemed like the kind of place that would be amazing in winter.

We weren't wrong about that, the city looked like a winter fairytale, covered in white. We wandered about Old Town, went up to Toompea to photograph the views, revisited all the craft shops and lovely cafés that we remembered from last time (Pierre Chocolaterie and Kehrwieder are even cozier in winter), strolled down to the harbor and walked around the gardens outside the city walls.

Food-wise it was even better. We had dinner (once more) at Olde Hansa, and since this time we had friends with us, we were able to order one of their feasts (way too much food, I have to say). Kaerajaan, right on the main square, was a very nice surprise, we loved the atmosphere and the food.

More photos here

:: view from Toompea hill


:: on Viru street




:: main square


:: yeah, I guess it was cold ...


:: from Toompea




:: snow white gardens outside the city walls


:: Olde Hansa


:: souvenir shop


:: the crafts stalls at Muurivahe


:: Kehrwieder café






:: having dinner at Olde Hansa






:: Town Hall (main square)










:: Katarina Käik


:: Kaerajaan

greetings from lapland !

So a couple of weeks ago we went to spend Carnival in Finnish Lapland. It was cold and beautiful, as you can see from the photos. From Helsinki we flew to Kittila, and we stayed near the ski resort of Yllas, in the village of Akaslompolo. Despite the freezing cold (most days it was around -25/-30C) it was sunny and the scenery breathtaking, and we loved the experience. We skied for a few days, then went snowshoeing and snowmobiling the rest of the week. We didn't catch the northern lights unfortunately (although we were told later they did appear during one night at 3 am) so I guess we'll just have to return another time ...

More detailed posts coming up next.
All photos here

a set of softies

Hello there :) A new set of softies that were actually made as Christmas gifts, and although two of them are already in their new homes, I only remembered to post about them till I came across the photos again during the weekend.

I had forgotten how I love to make these softies, and it was nice to have the time to make them leisurely for a change.



(I've named them after their intended recipients, so from left to right: #42 Diogo, #43 Natalia and #44 Catarina)

happy 2010 !

Liberty, view from Oxford St.

It seems incredible that I haven't posted for almost two months, but December was just so busy and the start of January even more. Christmas and New Year were wonderful but passed too quickly. We finally had our last Christmas lunch a couple of weekends ago, put away all our decorations and dismantled the tree, much to the dismay of our cats who really enjoyed hiding under it ...

There was a lot of craftiness going on, mainly involving a dozen or so wool + tweed scarves that I decided to make for friends this year (and couple for myself). Also some new softies (for friends' babies) and my first beret which turned out quite nice. For myself, I finished a new dress, a skirt, a Gretel, and am almost done with my red Vivian.

And so last weekend I went away for a few days to London with some friends. It was a girls' trip, no sightseeing at all but basically lots of shopping :)
A friend of ours moved there recently, another one joined us from Brussels, and we had a blast. We hit all the main shops (brief stops at Liberty, Anthropologie, Orla Kiely and Cath Kidston, of course), saw and enjoyed the "We will rock you" musical and wandered our way through several markets. All in all a great way to start the new year :)

Here's a brief photo summary (more here):

::at the Camden markets






:: around Liverpool St. Station


:: Brick Lane






:: Cath Kidston .. I bought way too much stuff in here


:: around Spitafields market


:: Petticoat Lane


:: tea at Yumchaa (Camden market)


:: dinner at Comptoir Libanais (London Street, next to Paddington Station)