VK & IK Holiday

This time they both have couple of things that I'd like to knit. I really like IK's Trellis Shell by Laurie Gonyea [ravelry link]- but there is nothing in my stash that would be suitable for it...

Also VK had a cool hat or two that I could see myself wearing..

Posti toi vihdoin UKsta pari lehteä - ja löytyihän sieltä taas muutama neule jotka tekis mieli tekaista. (tosi yllättävää...) Pari kivaa myssyä ja IK'ssa on ihanan simppeli silkkineule Laurie Goneyalta... Kun olisikin jotain sopivaa lankaa varastossa, mutta kun ei - niin ei. Pitää nimittäin vähän rajoittaa lankahamstrausta, kun tässä ollaan hulppean kotihoidontuen varassa vielä yli puoli vuotta.

Colour therapy - Väriterapiaa

I'm having so much fun knitting this! Colour is so vibrant (although not really "me") and EZ's pattern is just plain clever. Enjoying every moment of it.

Mahtavan kirkkaat värit ja nerokas Elizabeth Zimmermannin malli = Totaalisen rentouttava ja nautittava neuletyö. Kohta tosin valimis, sillä enää jonkin matkaa reunusta neulomatta...

Snow! - Ensilumi

Finally snow! Kids were over the moon when they noticed that it had snowed during the night. It is pretty. Although there is only little bit of snow, and it is likely to melt away but still - Snow!!!

Ensilumi satoi viime yönä. Aivan ihaanaa - muksut hihkuivat onnesta kun huomasivat aamulla lumen. "voiko tehdä lumienkeleitä?"

Lessons learned - aina sitä oppii

I learned some valuable things yesterday.
1. Friends are invaluable.
2. Sometimes the only (reasonable) thing to do is quit. And Frog. no use being a damn fool.
3. House is right. Everybody lies.

Välillä sitä herää huomamaan asioita:
1. Hyvät ystävät ovat kullanarvoisia.
2. Joskus ainoa fiksu keino pelastaa neule on purkaa se.
3. House on oikeassa.

Here's a photo of #2.
Can you see the amazing leaf pattern? nope. Neither can I. Yarn completely camouflages it. Could be a plain stockinette sock and most people could not tell the difference. And that is no good - so I frogged...
Tässä kuva tosi upeasta Spring Thaw (ravelry linkki) sukasta, jossa hienoja lehtiä... siis eihän niitä lehtiä näy kun lanka on näin... jostain! Ihan yhtä hyvin kuva voisi olla tavallisesta villasukasta - mutta lehtiä siihen olen neulonut. Muutenkin langan väri kasautuu tosi rumasti, joten oikea ainoa ratkaisu oli purkaa tämäkin sukkaparka. Teen tämän mallin myöhemmin yksivärisestä langasta.

Secret Pal 13 Q&A

This is the first time I participate to any swap so should be interesting. Here are my answers to Secret Pal 13 questionnaire:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love alpaca and all natural fibres, especially hemp, linen, silk, merino and those still quite new fibres such as soy & sea silk, corn etc. I do not like acryl. Hate it. Any yarn I knit with should have at least 50% of natural fibres in it (although I do consider viscose as a natural fibre... even though it is not).

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I'm still very unorganised in that department. (after all - I've "only" been knitting for over 25 years so why hurry?;-) I have a big basket where I put everything. So it is a big mess. And takes a long time to find anything...

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting forever. I cannot remeber how I learned. Maybe from my mom(?) but I wasn't even at school yet. I would call myself Fearless Advanced - meaning that I know quite a lot, and then I know that there are lots of tricks that I do not know - but I'm willing to fearlessly attack on any challenge and learn more as I go...

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Nope

5. What's your favorite scent?
I like orange & my perfume is pure Amber scent from l'Occitane. (I don't like lavender, vanilla or white flowers)

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Oh yes. Nothing beats good dark chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I don't know how to spin. Would like to learn though. I sew clothes and home furnishings. I know how to crochet but very seldomly do it.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes my laptop can handle MP3s. I used to be a huge industrial fan (Skinny Puppy, Young Gods, Fear Factory etc..) but I have mellowed down somewhat and broaden my taste in music - I listen to Tori Amos, Depeche Mode, NIN, Faithless, Danko Jones, Infected Mushroom...

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Warm autumnal shades are all very "me" (warm greens, rust, orange, gold, brown, petrol blue) I do not like cold colours. no pinks, greys or blues for me!

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married to a wonderful man and we have 3 small daughters. No pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes to first three (it gets cold here during winter months) but not ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
It depends on my mood. Socks, hats, lace, sweaters, knits for children &babies, accessories. Like to knit them all.

13. What are you knitting right now?
Currently on needles: Pi shawl, "couple" of accessories for xmas presents, Iceland top, Baby cables ...-sweater, Perugino throw

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I always use either circulars or dpns. (wooden/bamboo & addi circulars and bamboo/wooden dpns)

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Over two years. A damned pair of socks that I might never finish.

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?
I like Joulu (xmas ) - without the religious content. It's all about leaving the darkness behind as days are getting longer again and having good time with family, eating well - and giving & receiving gifts.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Not really - if you don't count knitting related books & yarn;-)

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I'd love to have Norah Gaughan booklets and those fab Japanese lace pattern books. Oh - and Elizabeth Zimmermanns "opinionated knitter".
I subscribe to IK & buy every issue of VK

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
All of them as soon as I hear about them!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes I am. my foot is quite narrow (European) size 38-39. (23,5cm)

23. When is your birthday?
April 2nd.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes. I'm A-L on Ravelry.

Stupid!

21cm is not 26cm - right? So how on earth have I knitted a neckline of 21cm instead of 26cm width stated in the pattern??? I'm talking about my pitch black Iceland that seems to have a bad karma. First of all, knitting that "thing" was supposed to be fast. After all it is knitted with 7mm needles and there is no shaping what-so-ever in the main body, just straight forward knitting.


Well, the yarn is a campaign yarn from Novita and I should know by now that words "campaign" and the fact that it was dirt cheap should have told me not to expect very much from quality... Although it will probably be ok when worn as an actual garment Polaris is not a pleasure to knit. It splits badly and as I chose black to this project I need a lot of light to be able to see stitches at all. Add to that the quality variation from skein to skein (Couple of skeins have been constant in yarn width while another two are very "thick-and-thin"- versions of this yarn etc... of course they are all same manufacturing/colouring batch so I have no clue why yarn is so different between the few skeins that I've bought...) And then I managed to screw the top up by somehow misreading the pattern. So I frogged 1/3 of the already finished main body with a little help from our youngest and now I'm picking up stitches again to reknit... How stupid can one be???


Onkohan minulla piilevä lukihäiriö - vai enkö taas ole malttanut lukea ohjetta kunnolla? siis ohjeessahan selkeästi sanotaan, että neulotaan pääntietä varten 26cm... niin enköhän ole jotenkin onnistunut neulomaan vain 21cm. Ilmankos Iceland näytti vähän oudolta!!! Mutta tietysti neuloin koko kappaleen valmiiksi ja olen nyt sitten purkanut oikein urakalla 1/3 kappaleesta, jotta pääsen neulomaan tuon tekeleen niinkuin alkujaan piti. Onneksi ( ???) sain purkuapua. Ainakin jollain oli kivaa. (ei minulla)



Muutenkaan tuon projektin kanssa ei ole mennyt aivan putkeen - lanka (Novita Polaris) on kaikkea muuta kuin laadukasta - mutta mitä muutakaan voi odottaa näiltä ns. "kampanjalangoilta" . Eli osa keristä on ollut ihan tasaista lankaa, mutta sitten mulla on pari kerää, joissa lanka on todella vaihtelevan paksuista läpi koko kerän. Tuotanto & värjäyserän ollessa saman, en voi ymmärtää miten noin voi olla? Onkohan tälle langalle ollut mitään
laatutarkastuksia? No jok.tap. valmis neulepinta itsessään näyttää yllättävänkin kivalta joten en anna tuon haitata liikoja.


Silmukat ovat takaisin puikoilla joten ei kun taas neulomaan, josko nyt onnistuisi?

Yummy Yarn - Ihanaa lankaa

It's rainy and stormy. It gets dark around 4pm. During the day it's so dim that lights need to be on inside so that I see what I'm doing. This is NOT my favourite time of the year. Really depressing...

Aina vaan sataa ja tuulee. Miten voikin olla näin pimeetä koko ajan? Todella masentavaa.

(Photo taken at 15.30 / 3.30PM yesterday. Gloomy - eh???)

Which is why this really made my day - lovely yarn that I ordered a week ago. Wonderful!!!

Onneksi postissa tuli vihdoin tilaamani ihanat langat. Eikös ole kauniita???

So soft, light and warm - Jotain pehmeää, kevyttä ja lämmintä

I have a black mohair sweater that I've been wearing for over 7 years now. (almost non-stop during cold months - so it's been a very good sweater) but I wanted some change. Something with a bit more colour maybe? So I bought some orange-red Kiddy Print (lovely yarn with 80% kid mohair) and knitted a simple top-down raglan sweater with it. Very plain - with a bit of 80's feel to it - thanks to a long ribbing on the sleeves and hem.

Omistan mustan mohairneuleen jota käytän melkein aina, kun en muutakaan keksi. Eli olen pitänyt sitä varmaan lähes joka viikko, ainakin 7 vuoden ajan... Lemppari, mikä lemppari. Jo pitkään on mieleni tehnyt samankaltaista paitaa, muun värisenä kuin mustana - joten kun löysin alesta Laines du Nordin Kiddy Printiä oranssinkukertavana, tiesin heti mitä siitä tekisin. Ylhäältä alas neulottu raglan-pusero korkealla kauluksella ja pitkähköillä 80-lukulaisilla resoreilla. Oikein simppeli. Ehkä jopa liian simppeli, joten päätin erittäin epätyypillisesti lisätä siihen vähän vihreetä samettinauhaa ja pari nappia ja johan alkoi homma pelittää...

But then I decided to embellish it a bit.
Added some moss green velvet ribbon and brown buttons and voilà -

Pattern: my own

Yarn: little over 200g (its very light!) Laines du Nord Kiddy Print in colour 50

Needles: 4mm, 5mm & 6mm

Changes - Muutosten marraskuu

November will bring some changes to my blog. Biggest probably being, that I attempt to blog also in Finnish (which - after all - is my mother tongue). English has always been easier for me to type, which is why I began blogging in English (having written all my dissertations/thesis etc in English while studying in the UK and having always worked in companies that use English as their corporate language I have come accustomed typing in English. But as said, being a Finn means I should really also be able to write in Finnish...)

Eli muutosten marraskuu -

tämä blogi muuttuu nyt kaksikieliseksi. Jatkossa siis tarinaa jo tutuksi tulleella englannilla sekä kova yritys kirjoittaa edes jokseenkin sujuvaa suomea (ja vanhoille äidinkielen opettajille terveiset: kielioppi ei vieläkään ole elämäni keskipiste, kuten varmasti tulette huomaamaan)