Homespun - Kotikutoista

When I began spinning some three years ago with a spinning wheel, my first yarn was this very uneven indigo-dyed thingy. It was very thick and thin. Overtwisted at some parts but still somewhat charming. Then, in some point, during the last three years I learned to ply yarn navajo-style and spun some 200g of natural coloured BFL. It became a bit ropish but still ok. Well, I've finally knitted something out of those yarns! I made a new jacket for my little man. And it looks very homespun (which it is) indeed.

I had no pattern, just took the measurements and then knitted top-down with yoke increases and some stripes.  Simple.

Kolmisen vuotta sitten opettelin kehräämään rukilla ja ensimmäinen tuotos oli todella epätasainen, indigovärjätty merinolanka. Jotain kaunista siinäkin langassa oli ja päätin käyttää sen johonkin myöhemmin... kun vain ensin keksisin mihin. Sitten jossain vaiheessa viime vuosien aikana opettelin ketjukertaamaan rukilla kehräämääni säiettä ja syntyi 200g luonnonruskeaa BFL kuidusta kehrättyä lankaa. Se oli hieman narumaista, koska kierrettä tuppasi kerratessa syntymään "riittävästi". 

 Nyt sitten, vihdoin, neuloin noista langoista jotain. Pikkumies sai uuden neuletakin, joka näyttää varsin kotikutoiselta.  Siltikin, kun tarvittiin isompi neuletakki, niin tähän langat riittivät juuri ja juuri. Malli on omasta päästä, vähän lyhennettyjä kerroksia niskassa korkeutta tuomaan ja sen jälkeen ylhäältä alas neulottu kaarrokelisäyksillä. Ei mitään kommervenkkejä. Vain lämpöä lapselle.

 

Pretty in Pink

Knee-length lace socks for the eldest daughter. Just because.

Pitsineuleiset polvisukat vanhimmalle tyttärelle. Ihan vaan siksi, että saapassukat saa olla vaihteeksi tällaiset. 

Pattern: My own. (have written it down and might publish it later) / Oma (kirjoitettukin jopa. Tulossa ajankohtana x saataville) 
Yarn: Novita Nalle
Needles: 3mm

Punos hat - Punos pipo

Whew - what a week it has been! I only wish this week is better. (spent one day in the hospital last week as I managed to loose my balance on the frozen slippery ground and fell, fortunately survived with a scare alone - and the baby is fine as am I - then I caught a cold - and I'm still coughing my lungs out)

Yesterday we had this exceptional phenomena - saw the sun for the first time in maybe 2 weeks! So had to benefit from the rare case of having enough light to take photos. Also the kids were thrilled to play with the ice outside etc.
Here's a hat I made for my youngest daughter some couple of weeks ago. I call it a Punos hat (punos= weave) as the stitch pattern looks more like a weaved fabric than knitted one.
Pattern: Punos hat/ Punos pipo (my own design, can write the pattern down if someone wants to knit it/ voin kirjoittaa mallin ylös jos jotakuta kiinnostaa neuloa tällainen)
Yarn: Colinette Art in Autumn leaves
Needles: 6mm/5mm

Truth to be told - at first had thought to knit this for myself, but it came out so small that it is perfect for my soon to be 4-year old:-)
The fit is surprisingly good. Mariella loves the hat ("soft and warm" has been the verdict so far).

Dodii - olipa taas viikko! Onneksi ollaan uuden viikon alussa - ja toivottavasti tämä on viime viikkoa mukavampi. (onnistuin viime ke liukastumaan ja kaatumaan kunnolla matkalla bussipysäkille sillä seuraksella että loppupäivä meni äitiyspolin päivystyksessä ultrattavana ja sydänkäyrässä... onneksi selvittiin säikähdyksellä. Tosin opin, että 7.kuulla ei enää kiirehditä ehdoin tahdoin mihinkään, sen verran pelästytti tuo kokemus. Ja kun siitä oli selvitty, niin iski lentsu päälle. Yskä on vieläkin luokkaa" keuhkot lentää pihalle" eli ei hyvä sekään.... no josko tästä olisi suunta ylöspäin?)

Eilen koimme täällä Sipoossa ihmeellisen sääilmiön: AURINKO näyttäytyi! Piti sitten hyödyntää epätavallinen valoilmiö ja nyt on kuulkaas taas kuvia neuleista, mitä esitellä täälläkin.Ekana vuorossa Punospipo, jonka neuloin pari viikkoa sitten nuorimmaiselle. (ok, siitä piti alunperin tulla itselleni pipa - mutta koko muodostui sellaiseksi että sopii perfecto tuolle lähes 4-vuotiaalle) On kuulemma pehmeä ja lämmin, ja neiti haluaa sen joka päivä päähänsä laittaa-> eli onnistunut päähine, ilmiselvästikin. En ihan ekana olisi tuota väriä pikkulapselle valinnut, jos olisin suoraan neidille lähtenyt neulomaan, mutta kuulemma väritkin on kivat... Summa summarum: loppu hyvin , kaikki hyvin.

ps. Kahelien aakkoshaasteen A-osuuskin on jo pulkassa. Kuvia siitä seuraavalla kerralla...

Silk garden sock cardigan - Noro neuletakki

Mainly photos today. A cardigan for Bella. It's not too thick, and I love those colours on Bella. Suit her complexion nicely. The cardigan itself turned out pretty much the way I envisioned it. Had a bit of a struggle with the neckline, but got it sorted out in the end.
Tänään vuorossa kuvia Bellan uudesta neuletakista. Tästä tuli sellainen, kuin olin ajatellutkin ja lopputulos sopii kantajalleen kuin nenä päähän. Silk garden sock on mukavan ohut, mutta silti lämmin lanka tällaiseen sisällä pidettävään neuleeseen. Kaikinpuolin onnistunut neulomus. (tosin pääntein reunus aiheutti muutaman harmaan hiuksen lisää - jouduin purkamaan sen kolmesti ennenkuin löysin oikean balanssin kuinka paljon niitä silmukoita pitääkään kaventaa tokavikalla kerroksella, jottei reuna löpsötä. No sitkeys onneksi palkitaan....)
Pattern: this is my own design/ ihan omasta päästä
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock
Needles: 3,75mm

Flipflop socks - Varvastossusukat

When it's winter or generally cold outside I'm always wearing wool socks. I even wear them in my boots to work (and sometimes with high heels as well). Love them. But when the temperature rises and summer comes I throw my socks off completely and am either barefoot or in my flip flops.

I like being comfortable and flip flops are just the ultimate summer shoes. However - it sometimes gets chilly in the evenings (or like now - when it is slowly beginning to chill outside but I still cannot be parted from my beloved flip flops.... ) and I have made flip flop socks years ago (but they got all holy so had to throw them away) - so I decided to make another pair.
Talvella, tai yleensäkin kun lämpötila putoaa viileän puolelle, siirryn käyttämään villasukkia. Itseneulottuja ohuita villasukkia. Pidän niitä joka päivä - aina ja kaikkialla . (töissäkin mulla on talvisaappaissa villasukat - ja joskus korkkareissakin.)

Mutta kesällä pukeutumismoodi on hiukan erilainen. Kesä = paljaat varpaat. Ja ne ainoat oikeat kengät kesällä on tietysti varvastossut. Välillä kuitenkin meinaa ruveta varpaita paleltamaan varvastossuissa ja silloin tarvitaan tietysti varvastossuvillikset! (Neuloin jo lähes 10 vuotta sitten itselleni ensimmäiset villasukat joissa oli oma paikkansa isovarpaalle - ja nyt tuli taas tarvetta uudelle parille, kun edellinen pari oli ahkerasta parsimisesta huolimatta taas reikäinen. )
Pattern: None - mine. Socks are knitted in broken rib with a simple eyelet cable running down the back of the leg.
Yarn: Cewec sock yarn in emerald green.
Needles: 2.25mm dpns

These are very simple& quite thin socks but still warm enough. Very snug - as I like these kind of socks to be.
Tosi yksinkertaiset ohuet sukat , jotka on kuitenkin tarpeeksi lämpimät jalassa. Malli on tarkoituksella todella ihonmyötäinen - sopii hyvin varvatossuihin, eikä jää ylimääräistä neulosta ryttyyn mihinkään.

BTW. they should mark the Beekeepers quilt in ravelry with some kind of warning sign! Saw the pattern-> rummaged through my sock yarn stash and began knitting... Addictive as can be!!! Now all I can think is that quilt. well almost anyways.... Maybe it is good distraction from everything else? (my other longer term "project" will still take a few months...)

Muuten: olen vakaasti sitä mieltä, että mehiläistenhoitajanpeiton ohjeen kohdalla pitäisi olla joku kunnon varoitusmerkki ("Erittäin koukuttava - klikkaa äkkiä pois sivulta jos et halua neuloa tätä!") sillä törmäsin ohjeeseen ja ennen kuin tajusin olin ostanut ohjeen -> printannut sen-> ja penkonut sukkalankavarastot läpi. Nyt pari päivää myöhemmin kennoja valmistuu iltaisin telkkarin ääressä ja olen aivan koukussa. Toisaalta - ehkä hyväkin saada välillä joku näin innostava projekti työn alle - kun toista "pitkänajan projektin" valmistumista saa odotella vielä jonkun kuukauden...

Importance of planning

...and I mean really planning - not just doing and seeing where it gets you. (which mostly is my methodology when it comes to knitting without a pattern. "I can do this - I don't need a pattern. This is easy." ...Right)

Some weeks ago I showed some knitting projects that I had on my needles. There was this "I'm going to be a big& cozy jacket" - thingy as well. I should have known better than to just knit on and on. It's not that I didn't do any progress. I managed to knit the back&fronts&sleeves & pockets (it's a top-down raglan - so the knitting part went well) and I was just about to begin the cable panel that I could envision running along the front edges and around my neck - and would be some 12-15cm wide and it would look so good... (see how big the gap between the left& right front is? That's for the panel...pockets look good though)
So far so good. Except - when I was happily casting on for the cable panel I noticed that I only had a skein and some yarn left for the panel. Right. Not good. (I totally thought of having 9 balls of Rowan Polar - but was obviously wrong - I only had 8 to begin with)
How can I make such a mistake? the panel with cables will take approx 2 balls of yarn (that's my rough estimate) I'm screwed. Really cannot figure what to do next. I rather not use a different yarn to the panel - and I cannot see it in two different yarns either (one of which would be the Polar) Damn!!

3/3

To complete my knitted set of hat, mitts & scarf - here's the part III.
Pattern: none/Mine Double leaf snood
Yarn: OnLine Linie Move, used double throughout approx
Needles: 10mm(!)

Didn't want a regular scarf this time (and I have quite a few of them already) plus that I noticed how often I wear my other snood/scarf that I knitted in September, so I made another one.

I wanted it to be Big and soft & warm so I used 10mm needles & doubled the yarn. I placed the double leaf motif in the middle and then just some very basic netting/lave on both sides of it ' neat garter stitch edges. Easy. And made really fast! (just love using big needles every now and then. Not all the time you know - but sometimes it is all that I need to balance all my lace & sock knitting with thin yarn etc... )
So - this scarf can be worn as a one big loop like a scarf - or like a very lacy and unpractical hood
- or like I wear it the most often - twice around my neck , when it becomes seriously warm neck warmer.
(Funny to watch these photos now a couple of weeks after they were taken. We have almost a half a meter of snow now - but on the moment of photo shoot there was hardly any of it... everything changes so fast:-)

Now I have to figure out how to knit socks for my 7yr-old. She was very precise ("socks that are pink and blue or purple and they have zigzag stripes. Need to be good length, not too short or long - right here *points her calf* can you make those to me mom?") Oh yes. so I'm trying some Jaywalker-ish chevron patterns to see which one would work in a sock well enough. ( Fortunately(!?) I happen to have just right yarns in my stash;-)

Double leaf fingerless mittens

Part 2/3 of the set I've knitted.
Pattern: None/Mine
Yarn: OnLine Linie Move
Needles: 4mm dpns

These Fingerless mittens have a double leaf lace on top and the inside of cuff is twisted rib - as well as the edges. Palm is plain stockinette.
I was a bit surprised how beautiful they came out. And the fit is for once snug enough for my rather small hands. They are just perfect for me. (and they've proven to provide the much needed extra warmth for my hands when I work on my laptop... as my fingers and wrists tend to freeze inside the office as well as outside:-)
In the meantime - we have even more snow now. It's been snowing all day again...
As for the projects on my needles - I've managed to knit one sock for myself and am halfway through the other one. (that's my telly-watching project - plain vanilla socks. No need to look at my knitting at all. - although this also leads to situations like the other day, when I suddenly realized that I had knitted the foot long enough to fit a rabbit.. I ended up ripping back some 6-7cm...well - it just happens sometimes... )

Noro Sekku shawl

It's -15 celsius outside. And it's still snowing.
I've been making some progress on my several knitting projects (lacy cardi, highly texturized cardi, gray jacket, a pair of socks & a couple of scarves... and I really think I'm still going to cast on for another pair of socks today..)

So still lots of knitting going on here - maybe it is time to show my Noro Sekku shawl that I knitted some time ago.
Pattern: none/mine - just sort of knitted and the thing just formed by itself.
Yarn: Noro Sekku, #5 - 1 skein exactly (I had maybe a 1 meter of yarn left after bind off)
Needles: 4mm
Basically I used the PI -shaping and increased with K1, YO rows. Also included some K2tog, YO rows in between the increase rows - to keep the shawl a bit more lacy & airy.
The hem is just simple feather & fan lace.
The colours in Sekku are incredible. So bright and saturated. And the feel of the yarn is something completely different to any other yarn I've ever knitted with. I enjoyed knitting this - but now when it is finished it looks like almost too much colour put into one shawl. Makes me think of the rainbow...Or the native american textiles.

Vest with cabled yoke/ Palmikkokaarrokeliivi

I should have probably invented some sort of catchy name for this vest, but I just cannot be bothered with it right now. So it is a vest with cabled yoke. I made the pattern up as I was knitting it having never before knitted yoke with short rows etc. It came out better than I could have imagined. Really pleased with the result!

Pitäis varmaan keksiä tälle joku raflaavampi nimi, mutta olkoon pelkkä palmikkokaarrokeliivi, koska en todellakaan jaksa miettiä nimipolitiikkaa tällä hetkellä. Neule syntyi ihan vain siinä neuloessa, lähtötilanteessa minulla oli mielikuva jonkunlaisesta näyttävästä vaakaan neulotusta palmikosta... Kaarroke sai muotonsa mutu-henkisillä lyhennetyillä kerroksilla ja alaosa on helmineuletta. Vielä vanhat nahkanapit ja avot - valmista tuli. Olen ihan mielettömän tyytyväinen lopputulokseen!!
Pattern: My own /omasta päästä
Yarn: just short of 400g of Naturgarn no.1 by Asa Gjestal Spinneri in 753
Needles: 8mm

Lankahamsterit: tosiaan valmis neule painaa 390g. (ne alkaa kohta ihmetellä tossa lähikaupassa mun hedelmävaa'an erikoista käyttöä...;-)

Frost

Last night temperature sank below 0 degrees and it was so beautiful when I went to my usual morning stroll... I had to take some photos.

So that this post wouldn't be completely without knitting content-
I began a new project. Or I should say I got this idea to knit something for my youngest daughter (10months) to be worn on top of the dress in a wedding party (not mine - I've been married for 6 years) that is in less than 2 weeks time. I have some Novita Florica and RYC Cashsoft 4ply in my stash and I was thinking something in lines of a short cardi, with some cabling & maybe basketweave, knitted top-down... I have no idea if it is going to work but I did swatch yesterday and that looked encouraging enough for me to begin knitting it. Only time will tell...
As for my dress for that wedding... I'm still working on it. All fabric has been cut out and I've managed to do a part of sewing but it still needs a lot of work before it is a dress...

Bling-bling Skull scarf

Here's something fun I whipped up. Chenille scarf with sequin-skull. Inspiration came when my two oldest daughters were stringing beads for bracelets. I got an urge to make something with beads and sequins as well and ended up using part of my skein of Araucania Quellón to knit a little soft scarf. Then embroidered it with sequins and beads. Had so much fun as I haven't been sewing beads since I made my wedding gown over 6 years ago... What a laugh!

The end result is fun and really camp. Just makes me smile.