Candyfloss - Hattaraa

Delicious - isn't it?
Herkullista! - eikö?
just kidding.
This wonderful fluff is a Merino-Tencel blend in "Barbie" (?) from The Natural Dye Studio's Fibre Club (June, ´09) Wonderful stuff. And it spins like a dream as well.

Vitsi vitsinä. Mutta hattara tästä ekana tuli mieleen. Kyseessä siis oikeasti The Natural Dye studion Fibre-clubin kesäkuun '09 kuitu - Merino-tencel ja värinä sokerinen "Barbie". Makeaa mahan täydeltä. Ja tämä tuntuu kehräytyvän värttinällä lähes itsestään.

Flea-market find - Kirpparilöytö

Look what I found!

Ihana löytö - olen tästä ihan innoissani!

Busy, busy - Kiire

It's been a busy few days - our 6yr-old started pre-school. Which for her means taxi rides every morning at 8am. 4yr-old is slowly restarting day-care and smallest one is getting used to day-care place (we visit there several times before she actually starts there next Tuesday)

On top of that I have a table at the local indoor flea-market for this week and a "few" visits to dentist etc for the girls... so much so that I haven't really knitted that much. But here's something I finished a couple of weeks ago, when it was still +23 celsius outside... A bit weird to knit something this bulky in the heat of the summer.
Pattern: Snowcap hat by Wenlan Chia from Twinkle's weekend knits (ravelry)
Yarn: almost 200g of Wendy Pampas mega chunky in petrol
Needles: 12mm

I guess I'm ready for the autumn breeze in this hat...

Finishing touches - Viimeistelyä

I'm almost finished with my Ether and have decided not to knit sleeves for it. Only those important finishing touches left to do: Crochet waist ties, knitted little leaves --and blocking. so Pretty.Ether on lähes valmis - vain viimeistelyt puuttuvat - virkkailen tässä vyötärölle kiinnitysnauhoja ja vielä on lehdykät neulomatta ja tietysti blockaus puuttuu - mutta sitten onkin jo valmista. Päätin jättää hihat kokonaan neulomatta - jotenkin koesovituksessa tuli sellainen fiilis että tämä on parempi näin -- ilman hihoja.

Noooooo! - Eiiiiii!

This is what happens when you let your lovely daughter (1year8months)to play with your 12mm addi turbos. Yep. In less than 2 minutes she managed to take it apart.

Voi syyttää vain itseään kun antaa näppärän pikkuneidin (1v8kk) leikkiä Addi Turboillaan. Alle kahdessa minuutissa toinen pää oli irti. Tuhotut 12mm Turbot.

Hidden Kai-Mei

I knitted these socks in Denmark, Sweden, Åland and finished them at home. This is a great pattern. True Cookie A. quality.

Nämä sukat on neulottu reissun aikana Tanskassa, Ruotsissa, Ahvenanmaalla ja valmistuivat vihdoin kotisuomeen palattua. Todella makee ohje. Taattua Cookie A. laatua.
Pattern: Kai-Mei by Cookie A. from Sock Innovation (ravelry link)
Yarn: Cewec California Salida
Needles: 2.25mm Harmony dpns
I like the way the lace panel runs diagonally across the foot. And knitting these was absolutely a Joy. Such a fun and fast design to knit! And I am totally aware that this yarn is NOT the best possible choice for Kai-Mei, but it doesn't look too bad. I like to think this is hidden Kai-Mei. It is there but not many people can see it. But I did have so much fun knitting them that I just don't care. (and yes - I am Definitely going to whip up another pair in solid colour)
(My DH said these look like metro - or urban - camouflage socks. Guess he is right this time;-)
Tykkään todella tavasta, jolla tuo pitsineule-paneeli kulkee vinosti koko jalkaterän yli. Näiden neulominen oli todella kivaa. Ja nopeata. Hieno ohje! En kuitenkaan ole sokea, joten tajuan kyllä ettei tämä ole ehkä paras lankavalinta kyseiseen malliin, mutta ei ne kyllä pahaltakaan näytä. JA kun neulominen oli niin mukavaa, ei haittaa lainkaan vaikkei kukaan muu tajuaisikaan että näissä edes olisi mitään erityistä mallia. Metro-sukathan siinä. (kuten mies totesi - näyttää aivan metrohousukuosilta)
Pitää varmaan neuloa toinen pari yksivärisestä langasta jotta upea malli todella pääsee oikeuksiinsa.

Roadtrip part 3: Denmark-Sweden-Åland

Next stop on our roadtrip was Denmark. We visited the unbelievably pretty town of Ribe that is said to be Denmark's oldest town.
After that we headed to the western coast of Denmark to Vejers-Strand.

(Girls riding their new pink Laufrads = bikes with no pedals)

(Vejers-Strand on North Sea coast, Denmark)

We would have wanted to stay longer but prices to stay at camping grounds in Denmark are phenomenally high and the weather fairies turned their back at us and it rained. And rained. So we drove through whole Denmark in 1 day all the way to Ystad, Sweden. (via magnificent bridges that cross the big-Belt and Copenhagen-Malmö)
And because of the weather I felt like knitting socks, also in shades of grey (and black):

( Old burial site in Kivik, Sweden)

We stayed 5 nights in Sweden and travelled along the coast of Baltic sea. So beautiful. Sweden tends to be country to drive through for us. (If you want to go anywhere in Europe, Sweden is on the way, and normally it is just fast as possible drive through the country so this time it was great to actually stay and enjoy the scenery over there) I like Sweden a lot. It is much like Finland but everything is a bit bigger. (and neater) And there's more of everything. People, cities, corn fields (we don't have those at all - but they do in Skåne), immigrants. (and Volvos! On one camping I counted 8 out of 11 cars were Volvos - unbelievable...)

(Fishing boat & nets in gorgeous colours, Grisslehamn, Sweden)

After almost 3 weeks we decided to go back home and travel via Åland. This seemed like a good idea, until we were in Marienhamn and tried to get tickets to little connection ferries to the mainland and found out that we could get to the other islands but everything to mainland Finland was fully booked. Fortunately we got tickets to big Silja Europa and once again changed our plan and travelled with that to Turku, Finland.

(It is hard to stay still when you are 4 and full of energy... Amanda jumping on the deck of Silja Europa)

Great trip. I truly recommend this sort of travelling with kids.

Roadtrip part 2: Germany (North coast)

On week 2 of our roadtrip we crossed the border to west of Poland and entered Germany. The first stop was on Insel Usedom (Ückeritz) and we stayed on camping that was 4km long(!) . Our camping spot was just a few dozen meters from a naturist beach. (I've never seen one before - not so that it would be a problem, but I admit it felt a bit weird at first - especially when later in Germany - in Ruegen- I saw women taking shower in a public bathroom with all their underwear on.. I mean - on the other hand you have nudist beaches and then you cannot take a shower without clothes?? )

(Me & Amanda looking for beautiful stones on a beach in Waabs-Ludwigsburg)

We also visited Wismar, that is on UNESCO list of World heritage sites.

(Sunset in Zierow)

Germany was neat and everything functioned well (as always it seems) - the only problem being awful traffic jams on the island of Ruegen. We spent 4 hours trying to get the hell out of there and managed to make 40km during that time... Only plus side being that I managed to knit myself a one cool scarf.

I call it a roadtrip scarf. Whipped out during that not-so-pleasant traffic jam, it has a garter stitch base with elongated stitches & some dropped stitches. And I really - really like it.
All it took was a one skein of Araucania Patagonia & 6mm needles. Will definitely make more of these later...

Roadtrip part 1: Poland (& Lindsay- socks)

(Life's a beach in Hel, Poland)

We began our roadtrip by taking a ship from Helsinki to Gdynia, Poland. Without any travel plans what-so-ever (ok, we only knew that we needed to be back in Finland before August 1st because of my DH's work) we set to travel short distances every day towards West and then up North. When we saw the awesome beaches Poland had to offer throughout the coast of Baltic sea, we decided to drive along the coast... and stop whenever it looked like worth stopping etc. Good plan!
Lähdimme reissuun laivalla Helsingistä Gdyniaan, Puolaan - ja sieltä eteenpäin ilman sen kummempaa matkasuunnitelmaa. Ainoa rajoittava tekiä oli aika - Suomessa oli oltava takaisin elokuun ensimmäisenä päivänä. Puolassa upeat itämeren rannat saivat luomaan karkean plänin - ajettaisiin pitkin itämeren rantaa ensin länteen, ja sitten pohjoiseen päin. Päivämatkat pidettäisiin lasten takia lyhyinä ja pysähdyttäisiin aina kun siltä tuntuisi. Ja sehän toimi hienosti juuri näin!
Overall, we were very pleasantly surprised by our 1 week stint in Poland. Very clean, no rubbish on the streets. No drunken people to be seen. Very nice country to travel with kids. And cheap- by Finnish standards. (Everything was at least half price, food even cheaper than that.) And what kind of beaches!! No one ever talks about them - but there are far better beaches in Poland than in Canary Islands or in France. Our girls were thrilled, as it was basically a week long beach holiday. (also interesting was a complete lack of foreign tourists. we saw only some Germans when we came closer to German border - but before that - only Polish people...)

(Yet another gorgeous beach in Dziwnòw, Poland)

Puola yllätti meidät positiivisesti. Todella siistiä ja roskatonta. Ei juopuneita ihmisiä örisemässä. Oikein miellyttävä maa reissata kolmen alle kouluikäisen lapsen kanssa. Ja hintataso oli kohdallaan. Noin puolet siitä mitä Suomessa, ja ruoka vielä sitäkin halvempaa. Ja ne rannat! Miksei Puolan rannoista puhuta?? Aivan mahtavan hienohiekkaisia rantoja koko Itämeren rannikko täynnä. Eikä ulkomaalaisia turisteja missään... Puolalaisia kyllä sitäkin enemmän.

Oh yes I managed to knit as well. These socks were mostly knitted in Poland while travelling by car. They are wonderful.
Niin - ja tietysti neuloin ajomatkojen ajan. Puolassa valmistuivat nämä ihanaiset.
Pattern: Lindsay by Cookie A. (ravelry link)
Yarn: Araucania Ranco Multi
Needles: 2.25mm dpns

Lindsay was a very enjoyable pattern to knit once I realised that I don't need to knit 4together, but I can do: "knit 1, slip stitch back on the left needle and lift next 3 stitches over the knitted stitch"- instead. So much nicer that way. I like the garter stitch cuffs, heels and toes. A bit different than usually.
A very nice pair of socks indeed.

Lidsay oli tosi mukava malli neuloa sen jälkeen kun tajusin ettei ole pakko neuloa kirjaimellisesti 4 oikein yhteen vaan helpommalla pääsee kun tekee "neulo 1oikein, nosta takaisin vasemmalle puikolle ja nosta seuraavat kolme silmukkaa neulotun silmukan yli, palauta neulottu silmukka oikealle puikolle". Ja nuo aina-oikein kantapäät ja varpaat on kivat. Tykkään kovasti. (miksei tämä malli ole suositumpi??)
And in my next post we'll move on to Germany & Denmark;-) and some scarf knitting...

Back Home - Takaisin kotona

Greetings from holiday and a roadtrip to Northern Europe. We had a fantastic time living in& out of our "camper van" (really a Mercedes Sprinter;-) for a bit over 3 weeks. More about the trip and some FO's later this week. It is good to be back:-)
Terveisiä lomamatkalta Pohjois Eurooppaan (Itämeren kierrokselta). Reilut kolme viikkoa meni kuin siivillä samalla kun liikuimme ja asuimme "asuntoautossamme" (kuvassa). Mahtava reissu - josta lisää myöhemmin tällä viikolla.
Onpa ihanaa olla taas kotona!