Marilinda & Pavilion

So I noticed I had completely not blogged about two pairs of socks I knit! What a catastrophe.

The first pair is Marilinda by Cookie A. I used a self-striping, Zitron Trekking (XXL). I am not usually in love with self-striping yarns but the colors in this one spoke to me. And I think they fit the pattern well, too, even if it really isn't written for stripey yarn. I had to shorten the leg by doing only 1 ½ repeats on the leg and not two as suggested in the pattern. I would have run out of yarn if I hadn't! And the Trekking skein is pretty generous, too, so I wonder if anyone has been able to get by with only 100 g if following the pattern to the letter. Anyway, here they are and pretty cute in my opinion :)

The other pair I've finished was a mystery pattern by Rachel Coopey, Pavilion. I only bought it after I had seen the finished socks, I just like my mystery revealed! The yarn I used for these was Schoeller+stahl Fortissima socka mit bambou and I just have to say I was impressed! The yarn has 60% wool, 25 % bamboo and 15% nylon and I think it must have been the bamboo that did the trick. The socks feature many twisted stitches that I find often fuzz up the yarn so that the result is not quite perfect. But not with this yarn! All the stitches remain crisp and beautiful, I am so happy! But also a little sad for not buying any more, as I got this yarn in a store I'll be unlikely to visit ever again :( At least I'll have these beautiful socks to enjoy!

Dyeing Yarn

I have been dyeing some yarn again, with my beloved Kool-aid. It's just so fun and easy and the colors you can get when mixing are just incredible. Of course, it's pretty expensive here in Finland, as only a few stores carry it. When I finally get to the States on holiday, I wonder what my luggage will be full of when I come back...

Here is Hyacinth Blooms, dyed with Mixed Berry and Grape Kool-aid, mixed in different ways:

Then we have Watermelon sans the seeds, dyed with Watermelon (2 packets) , Cherry Limeade (2) and Black Cherry (1) Kool-aids:

In this one the yarn was originally light green. I wanted to do something with it but wasn't quite sure what. I went into the wrong direction first and was actually pretty sad and thought I might have ruined it forever. But finally with the correct ratio of Mixed Berry and Lemon-Lime I was happy with the result. There are still some purple undertones showing from my "failure" but I think they will blend nicely when knit up.

Seaweed:

Then we have two dyes I couldn't have done without Ghoul aid, the Halloween flavor of Kool-aid which seems to be somewhat difficult to find for even those living in the States sometimes. The first one is  dyed with two packets Orange Kool-aid, ½ packet Peach Mango and ½ Ghoul aid. Ghoul aid is pretty much gray and when you put in the water, you see all different color spots before it fully dissolves. It makes other colors less bright (as Kool-aid is pretty candy-colored) and gives them a kind of deepness that you might not otherwise get.

Saffron:

Okay, this one is my real love. I first dyed it with turmeric (months ago) but was a little unhappy with it. I don't know, yellow just isn't my thing. So it was previously like this:

But I overdyed it with two packets Lemon-Lime, ½ packet orange and 3/4 packets Kool-aid to this beautiful color I call Undergrowth:

Now that is some yarn right there!

Alexandrite Tank

We have been suffering from terribly cold and rainy weather here in Finland! Nevertheless, I just finished a lovely summer top in hopes of things brightening up. It's the Alexandrite Tank from Knitcene Spring 2014 and I knit it with the lovely Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino as mentioned in the previous post. I only needed a few meters of the second skein so I have plenty left to knit other wonderful things with!

Now if it only would get warmer so I could actually wear it! I needed a woolly cardi to wrap myself in after the photo session.

Yesterday I started a shawl adventure, that is, Follow Your Arrow by Ysolda Teague. The pattern is split into five clues (it was originally a mystery KAL) and each clue has two options. With these choices you can actually knit 32 different shawls - with just one pattern! Ravelry already has 3 478 projects made from this pattern and I spent at least an hour yesterday going over them and trying to decide which "path" my shawl would take. Below is partial clue 1A. Fun, fun, fun!

'Tis the Season

I made Christmas cards! Yeah I know, Christmas is about as far away as it ever gets but I can make what I want when I want, right? I got the patterns from CrossStitcher Magazine December 2013. They are just so cute! And the bells and satin bows really give them that special touch :)

I've also knit a pair of socks, Lissajous by Cookie A.

Now I'm finally knitting Alexandrite tank, something I have been eyeing since January from Knitscene Spring 2014. I'm knitting it with a beautiful merino silk blend Sundara yarns fingering silky merino which is heaven to work with and such a luxury yarn I would never buy it for the regular price. However, someone advertised on Ravelry to be stashing down and held a beautiful yarn market at her house yesterday. I made some real finds! Here's the yarn and my swatch:

It's going to be gorgeous!

Owlie Bag

Summer is officially here! Only Wednesday I was up north and it was sleeting all day long and only +4 C. But now it's warm and sunny and green!

I finished my owl from Storyland Cross Stitch and made it into a canvas bag I am so so happy with! I lined and backed it with fuchsia fabric sporting white little flowers to add some color:

I can't believe how many things there are I want to knit - it seems never-ending! Right now there are at least five pairs of socks, three shawls and two tops I'd like to be knitting! And some people say they only knit when it's cold outside!

Fire Opal Tee

I finished something other than socks! The pattern is Fire Opal Tee by Allyson Dykhuizen (try saying that three times fast) and it can be found in Knitscene Spring 2014. Apparently this was the last issue I was able to get through the library Zinio account for free which kind of sucks but at least I have lots to knit from the back issues I already have.

I used Hjertegarn Blend Bamboo which is 70% bamboo and 30% cotton. I really like the smooth feel of it although it was very splitty and thus not so nice to work with. I feel like I always have this problem whenever I am not working with wool yarn. However, the color is vibrant and the finished top lovely. If I look a little frozen in the photos try not to mind  -  it actually snowed a little earlier today!

Cross-stitching

I have been cross-stitching again, and it's fun! Late last year I bought myself a cross-stitch book, Storyland Cross Stitch by Sophie Simpson, aka Delilah. You can find her work here. I am totally in love with the book! My first project is, of course, probably the most demanding one in the whole thing. I am going to make this handsome owl into a canvas bag. I am stitching it on bed sheet fabric and not all my stitches are perfectly the same size. However, I love it and I think this pattern allows itself perfectly to not being perfect!

Wise Owl