Haruni

 No more about Christmas cards as they are all sent to their new owners! It was a little difficult to determine who would get which but it doesn't really matter that much, does it? I hope everyone likes my cards :)

This time I am going to post about my newest (probably?) finished project, the Haruni lace shawl. As I wrote before, it is a free pattern by Emily Ross, and one I thought was quite easy to follow and the main pattern before the edge leaves was easy enough to memorise, too. I used green multicolour yarn, teetee Aurea, in colour 102. I used total of four skeins with just a little bit left over. The yarn is a very soft blend of 50/50 silk and alpaca. But I don't know, I think I still prefer 100% wool, I guess I'm just weird that way. But enough facts, it's picture time!

Before blocking a funky looking crumbly thing

A wet bundle ready to be blocked

All pinned down in blocking

Out in the snow

From behind

Happily wearing a new shawl!

Christmas Card Frenzy, part 3

Made a few new snowflakes yesterday and new cards this morning! They have to be sent next week so it's good I'm pretty much done. It's really starting to feel quite Christmas-y, with it snowing almost everyday and all. There's already so much snow, it's hard to believe there was none like ten days ago! I'm pretty happy with these three new cards, the flakes were a little smaller but I think they look  nice on the cards.

I also made some parfait yesterday, I'm calling it Christmas parfait as it had crunched gingerbread in it, and plum marmalade. The recipe can be found here (only in Finnish). It was quite a symphony of tastes as there were the honey-baked peanuts which were both salty and sweet and the lovely, tart lingonberry topping. Sorry for the poor quality picture, but I though you might still like to see them.

On not Christmas-related news, I have continued to knit the Haruni shawl, I'm almost done with it. I can't wait to get it blocked and in use! It's going to be so soft and comfy :)

Winter is Here

It has finally snowed for real, and it's gonna get pretty cold, too, if you believe the forecasts. I honour of that, here are some snowy pictures of my new mittens, that are made from my grandmother's book printed in 1946. The book is called "Kirjokintaita ja muita kansanomaisia neuletöitä" that is "stranded mittens and other traditional knitting patterns". I think my grandma knit almost all the mittens in the book (there are a hundred or so) and some many times over. These are my first ones, so I have some catching up to do!

One day I was on the bus and saw a woman with mittens knitted in similar colours and liked them so much that I decided to conquer my fear or suspicion towards knitting stranded mittens, especially traditional Finnish ones. It's not that I don't like them, I love so many patterns from the book but stranded knitting it not really my strong suit, and given how good my grandmother used to be, I have had kind of unrealistic aspirations when it comes to stranded knitting, i.e. that everything must be perfect, like hers were. But now I think I'm over this "problem" of mine. The mittens I knit aren't perfect, there's a visible mistake in the middle of the left mitten, but I am not letting that upset me, I am not going to do anything about it. And it's actually quite liberating. I already have plans to knit at least two other patterns from the same book, but at the meantime I have these to enjoy. I knit from Gjestal Maija, in colours 204 and 237. I used 2.25 needles and I really like the result. The fabric is thick and warm, and it keeps the wind out surprisingly well.

Now I am partaking in my knitting circle's charity project, we are knitting Mother Theresa quilts for the Red Cross. At the moment I've knit 15 18cmx18cm squares, one blanket uses 30. My goal is to get one blanket done by myself, I plan to crochet the squares together, too. I'm knitting garter stitch, from corner to corner. It's very easy, and I get to use some of my stash I have no other use for. And at the same time I get to help someone in need. I really feel it's very important that out knitting circle does charity work. Here are my finished squares so far:

The one colour dark gray and dark red  plus the light gray are Gjestal Raggegarn, the dark gray multicolour is Novita 7 Veljestä Nostalgia and the pink-gray multicolour yarn is Novita 7 Veljestä Raita.

Christmas Card Frenzy, part 2

Here they are! Or, here some of them are, since I am going to make more. But I am really happy with the cards, I used a lot of glitterglue but that's fine for Christmas, right? :)

I have finished one more snowflake, it's really pretty, too.

I haven't finished any more since I started knitting Emily Ross' Haruni, a lovely shawl that I am knitting from teetee Aurea, a lovely soft blend of alpaca and silk. You can see the colour in the picture below, but as all you knitters know, lace really doesn't look like much before blocking!

I also finished my Regina hat and it turned out great! I still haven't taken pictures as it's been so dark even during the day... My boyfriend says my I look like a giant strawberry wearing it. But that's okay, strawberries are good!

Snowflakes

I'm so happy with my snowflakes that I want to share some of my favourites:

Royal Crown Snowflake by Sandi Marshall, pattern

Chain Loop Snowflake, pattern

Vintage Snowflake from 1952, pattern

Aren't they lovely? I have also finished some cards already but I haven't yet taken any pictures. If there only was enough light to take good pictures but this time of year those days are rare...

I finished my Bobble Topper and the slipover for my boyfriend, now I'm knitting another hat for myself with the leftovers from Bobble Topper and the cable hat I knit for my boyfriend. This one is called Regina, it's a free pattern by Carina Spencer with a vintage 20's style twist. I bought a new winter coat and now I'm having trouble with finding matching accessories since it's plum-coloured and I'm not sure if anything I have matches is very well. What a lovely excuse to knit something new...? I saw this great soft orange scarf but a graphic cable on it. Orange is not a colour I usually go for but in that soft tone it was quite beautiful and I think it would be quite smashing with the plum... Well, here's my Bobble Topper anyways!

Christmas Card Frenzy, part 1

It's that time of the year again when the already crowded grocery stores fill their few spaces with Christmas chocolates, when advent calendars fill the counters and holiday songs steadily gain more and more playtime each week. It's also time to start thinking about Christmas cards, at least if you plan to make them yourself! I have made Christmas cards myself every now and then, making cards really is a lot of fun but it also takes time. That's why I haven't really send holiday greetings to that many people. Last Christmas I made these kind of yarn rugs as cards, they looked like this:

Yarn-rug cards

I got the idea from Moda 6/2011. They were really easy to make: I just cut short lengths of all reds and green I could find plus some yellow and white to have all the Christmas-y colours present. Then I sowed them on green cardboard and applied a little glue to keep the strands in order. Voila! 

The year before that I put in a little more effort and made cross-stitch cards. That's pretty hardcore, and I couldn't make more than six but the ones I made I was really happy with and think that their receivers were, too. I really like doing cross-stitch but it really takes a while and it's not as easy to do while watching TV as knitting is. And I really go crazy with all the little leftover yarn pieces that are too expensive to throw away but too much trouble to sort through!

Cross-stitch cards

And now we come to this year! Just today I went shopping for supplies as I started on the cards yesterday. This year, I will crochet snowflakes! I already crocheted three, and they are the cutest, am I right? :)

Snowflakes

I'm also going to have all kinds of background material for them, I have so many things to choose from. I think these cards are going to be the best yet. Whee, card-making is such fun!

Other card-making supplies waiting to be used

And in Recent Knitting News

I finally took a photo of the finished 50's lace gloves! I am very happy with them, the yarn really is as soft as can be and the colour is just breathtaking. Before knitting these, I have only once before knit gloves and they didn't come out very well. So I was quite surprised now to find out that knitting gloves really isn't even that difficult! I think I'm going to be wearing them a lot but maybe not right now as gloves aren't really as warm as mittens and we just got our first snow of the season.

I have also bee knitting the Rhombus socks, I have finished the first one, now in 2.25 needles (earlier I knit in 2.0 and that was way too tight). In these small needles, even the .25 makes a huge difference! The yarn is Hjerte Garn's Sock 4 and so far I am totally in love with pretty much all of its colourways. The Rhombus socks are from 2499 and I love how it's dyed so that there are only very short lengths in one colour so that it doesn't stripe nor does it form colourpatches the same way the 2099 in which the Twisted Flower socks are knit in. However, that's lovely, too, and fits that pattern perfectly. I have also in my stash the beautiful blue 2599 and I don't think I'll stop there! Next time I go yarn shopping I'm bound to have bought more of this awesome (and quite cheap) sock yarn...

Most recently (read: on Wednesday) I started knitting a slipover for my boyfriend. It's something I have been talking for a while of doing and now I finally got around. The pattern is from Novita's Fall magazine, the same one my Autumn striped skirt was in, and it uses two very different yarns, one is basically a sock yarn (Novita Nalle) and the other is a very soft 100% yarn that felts if washed in the machine (Novita Puro). I know, that doesn't sound like the greatest choice for a slipover, especilly since the front is in that yarn and the back in the sock yarn, but the colours are really just so beautiful. It's self-striping and the colourway I'm using has red, green and gray. The back is going to be dark gray. I think it's going to be very nice, and he liked the colours as well. And really, Novita Puro isn't even that bad, I knit scarves from it for both myself and him a year ago and they are both still very nice-looking. I just have to make sure that he doesn't accidentally put it in the washing machine!

The Socks on Fire - Finished!

Finished with them socks! I am really happy with them, the yarn is pretty, the pattern is beautiful. Or what do you think?

I also finally got a picture of the vintage turban I worked on for a while. Like I said previously, it's okay but far from perfect. Maybe if it was easier to put on, but I definitely always will need a mirror to do that. However, when I manage to put it on, it looks kind of nice. And I think turbans are kind of in right now, at least all the Fall knitting magazines I've read have had turban patterns in them.

The pic really isn't the greatest, but it's starting to be really difficult to get good pictures as there is a definite shortage of daylight here! But such is life in Finland... Not that I'm complaining -much.

Yesterday I made five pompoms and I need six more: I am making a necklace out of them. That might sound weird but maybe this helps a bit: the yarn felts in wash, so the pompoms should turn into little woolly balls. And suddenly the idea of a necklace doesn't sound so ridiculous. I think it'll be very pretty, I'll also have some wooden beads, maybe every other wood, every other wool.

I am also thinking of starting up knitting the Rhombus socks again. I had to frog them as they were too small. If I started them now again, I could still do it. I'm afraid the longer I wait the less likely I am to start knitting them ever. Well, maybe not ever, since I already have the perfect yarn... My fingers are also really itching to get started on a lovely shawl pattern, Haruni by Emily Ross. I have yarn for that as well, I got a beautiful green-white multicolour yarn last Christmas from a friend, it's a silk-alpaca mix and almost too fine to knit with. But the Haruni pattern will do justice to it, or so I hope.

I also am salivating over a long cardigan with bunnies from Novita's new winter collection. I have wanted to knit something with cute animals on it, and I have also thought that a long cardigan could still fit really well in my wardrobe (which is already quite full with knitted objects...) Gorgeous isn't it?

Long Time No Blog

It's been a while since I last blogged, first for being busy and then for being sick. I'm back now though, to share some pictures of projects I have recently finished. First, here's the hat I knit for my boyfriend. The picture is not the best, but the hat is nice and looks great on him. The colour is just perfect as it fits nicely with a scarf I knit him earlier. The pattern is from Raverly, naturally, a free pattern by Shana Kreikemeier, published in her blog. You can find the pattern on Raverly here.

Then there are a couple things I made for presents, first a Lady Jessica cowl you can find under that name on Raverly, a lovely Victorian style pretty frilly thing and then a brooch I made from a crocheted lily of the valley made earlier from Lesley Stanfield's pattern. I was pretty happy with them both so it felt good to give them out.

Since finishing these presents, I have been working on my Kasha cardigan which is coming along nicely, I have finished left front, back and one sleeve.

I have also knit yet another pair of socks from Cookie A.'s Knit.Sock.Love, this time a sweet pair called Twisted Flower. Or as I call my pair, the Socks on Fire. They are named thus because the yarn I'm using resembles flames with its dark red, purple, burning hot orange and flickers of blue. I am also pretty hooked with the Hunger Games trilogy so I named the socks in honour of the girl that was on fire. I'll post pictures of the socks later as well as of my Kasha as soon as I knit further on. I really adore the socks, I was a little afraid that the complex cable pattern wouldn't look nice with the strong-coloured yarn but as it turns out, they were a perfect match. But now whenever I put the socks on, I'll always feel a little like Katniss when they first ignited her cape in the first book: anticipating the pain of the flame burning my skin. ^^ Well, maybe that is a bit of an overstatement but still, it brings a smile to my lips.

I really don't have much more to report at the moment. Other than that Joss Whedon's fans rated 12th on Vulture's list on most devoted fan bases. That was pretty fun, although I do not know if the list is really very reliable. Yet, it's fun to read, and some of the info on each fan base is quite funny.

Yarn shopping

We went yarn shopping today with my boyfriend and found a perfect colour for his hat and also some perfect yarn for me to knit a hat from, more specifically Susan Crawford's Bobble topper, from the same vintage knitting book as Kasha. I love that pattern so much and the yarn I got is just the perfect shade. I have also noticed that after completing so many of my unfinished projects I am all of sudden swarmed with new ones and thus right back where I started. Oh well, such is a knitter's life, I guess :) The yarn shop I went to is called Villavyyhti, Finnish for 'wool skein'. I thought it was just too cute to have the brown paper bag with the name stamped on it and two wool skeins looking out :) So ye yarn I bought was indeed Cascade Yarn's Cascade 220 as I wrote yesterday. The colourway I got for him is 9428 and for me 8415.

We already made a little ball out of the green skein so I can start knitting today. I really should be studying for an exam I have next week but writing this and knitting is just so much more fun! Even reading Crime and Punishment which I'm halfway though would be so much more interesting than studying...

I am also eagerly waiting for the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Monckingjay, which I'm getting from the library in a few weeks. It's so popular that I have to wait for it but I think it's still better than having to buy it. Especially since I would only read it once, most probably. I haven't read the first one at all, I only saw the movie. The second one I borrowed from a friend and read it in one night. I don't really like the writing style too much, it's way too teen novel-y and while it is a novel for young people, it's still sticks out too much for me. But the story is pretty good and quite

compelling so I really must find out what happens before the movies come out. Also, I am not even really sure if the style really is the way I accused it  of being or if it's only the translation as I read  the second book in Finnish. The third book I am now getting in English so that uncertainty will be cured quite soon. ^^ 

I really liked the first Hunger Games movie. It is quite interesting that the actors are my age - or even younger. Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) and Liam Hemsworth (Gale) have born in the same year as me, 1990, and Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) in 1992! The latter, I think, is a clear sign that I am not in the movie's target audience since how could I ever drool after I guy who is two years younger than me ;) But still, can't say I didn't like the film... It's just interesting that Hollywood has actually started to employ actors that are actually pretty close to the age they are to portray, that 30-year-olds are no longer (necessarily) hired to play teenagers. And that I think is great. And this is perfect transition to start talking about Buffy again! Did you know that when the show started in 1997, Sarah Michelle Gellar was quite young, only 19, while Nicholas Brendon was 25 and David Boreanaz 27. But that's okay, I mean he does play a 240+ old vampire :D But 25 is pretty old to play a highschooler even if they say that men mature late ^^

And My Knitting Goes on

Today my boyfriend told me that he needs to buy a new hat. I stared at him for a while and then I told him that I can just knit him a hat. "Darling, do you really think you need to buy a hat when you have a girlfriend that knits? And not only knits but does it all the time and even if there is no real need for new stuff." So now I am knitting him a hat, after a pattern he chose after a little push in the right direction... But I don't suitable yarn, yet, even if my stash is quite largish. He is such a sucker for quality, even if you wouldn't believe it at first glance. If I would knit him something that wasn't from top-notch 100-percent wool, he would definitely complain that it itches. So I am going to use Cascade 220 which should fit his standards and which has beautiful colours for him to choose from. This might just be the first time he walks into a yarn store of his free will ^^

Also my Kasha has proceeded quite nicely, I got more yarn yesterday, and I was still able to get some from the same dye lot. Now I definitely have enough, probably too much, but with that I can deal. I still haven't found the perfect buttons, I went to one store yesterday but couldn't find anything I liked. I do still have time to search for them, though, as I am not even through with the back. I just really like having the buttons waiting so I don't have to only start looking for them after I'm done with everything else.

On other news, we went to see David Cronenberg's new film, Cosmopolis, yesterday. It was quite interesting... Truth be told, at times I thought it was quite boring, and hoped we'd went to see Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom instead. But it really was interesting in the good meaning of the word as well, and I think it's fun to see different kinds of films in a cinema, as usually we just see the blockbusters there and everything else later on DVD. The audience there was pretty fun, too, as whenever there was an action scene, which I admit were scarce and quite bloody when they came, there were some people who would cry out in terror. I, too, was pretty shocked at one point, although the scenes didn't really match the iconic head explosion of Scanners. But I really got to thinking of the choice for the lead, Robert Pattinson. As he is known from the Twilight Saga and has some serious haters due to that, I really think it was quite bold to choose him for this part: even if Cosmopolis really doesn't have anything to do with the Twilight thing, Robert Pattinson does define the film and not necessarily in a good way. Even one of our friends asked us how come we went to see a Robert Pattinson film (and just to clarify, we have seen all the Twilight Saga films as well, and I have even read the books) and I just had to tell him that it was, in fact, a David Cronenberg film.

But now, to finish off with a picture but having nothing new to show, and older pic of a knit carnation from Lesley Stanfield's lovely book, 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet.

Kasha Preview

This week has been, well, interesting, with people I hardly know and who definitely don't know me undermining my abilities to write half a page of text or pretty much to do anything. But, thanks to my grandmother and mother, I will always have knitting and I'm pretty sure those people know next to nothing about that. I have been knitting the beautiful vintage cardigan Kasha and also started, out of a whim, to knit fairisle mittens with a Swedish/Scandinavian wooden horse, dala horse, after this pattern on Raverly. But I am not very far along with those, as I am still very excited about the cardigan. I have knit a sleeve and started the back, but I am sad to tell you that my original idea of having 40's buttons on a 40's cardigan didn't work out as the cardi needs at least seven buttons and I only have four of the old gold ones I had thought of putting on it. But not to worry, I am sure I will find the perfect buttons when I just have the time to go look for them in a button store. Ah, buttons stores are just what a troubled soul needs, aren't they?

Here on the first picture you can see the lace pattern for the cardigan and the second picture features the finished sleeve which you can see hasn't be blocked yet. I used tubular cast-on, which is a technique I first really hated but now am in love with. I guess it's just that having to learn a new technique is a little intimidating, I am afraid of not learning it well enough. But learning the tubular cast-on is really worth it as the result is a beautiful stretchy edge and it really isn't even that hard!

I am really happy with my yarn choice, although to get the correct gauge I have to use 2.5 needles although the original pattern uses 3.25. But I feel no revulsion towards knitting with smaller needles so it really doesn't matter. But I do have a problem: I calculated the yardage based on the original but as the yarn is so different, my calculations are just really, really wrong and I need a lot more yarn! I should go to the store without hesitation to get more while they still have some from the same dye lot but here I am, writing to my blog about it...

+1 Finished Project

In the previous post I already wrote about the cowl but I forgot to post a picture of it! And as it is really painful to add pictures to posts if you want them to go just the way you want, I am not going to fiddle with the post below but add a picture of the cowl here. Enjoy!

Recently Finished Projects

As I recently wrote, I have been working to finish projects I have been working on for a long time. I have also been quite successful in this, and to prove that I wanted to share some pictures with you.

Maya

Here is Maya, after Martin

Storey's pattern. I quite like

it, and the pompoms are a

nice addition, and they make

excellent stress toys, you

can fiddle with them :)

Here is me playing with them: -->

Next I want to turn your

attention to the Cthulhu

mittens I knit for my

boyfriend. They are actually

pretty much my first fairisle

project so I am quite happy

with them, although

they are far from perfect.

Cthulhu mittens

Most recently I finished an easy peasy cowl from special effects yarn, Novita Silmu. I had already knit a similar one from different colour yarn, red/brown that time, but I couldn't resist the beautiful blue/turquoise when I saw it in the store so now I have two cowls to be worn with matching outfits, I guess. But I do like them, they are quite practical as they are soft and nice, and not too hot. I actually wore the blue one today as I have been a little sick so it was nice to have something wrapped on although it wasn't that cold.

And last but not least, here is my new green cardigan which is actually quite professional-looking, maybe not in colour but in shape definitely. I really like it, though, even if it's not exactly something I would wear everyday. After all, it is knit so how professional can it be! I used buttons I found at my grandparent's, like I wrote previously. I put them on other way than on the older picture, the correct way that is. At that point I thought they looked better that way but on the finished garment they did look better the right way so I had to abandon my "radical" thinking. The pictures are pretty good, too, aren't they? My boyfriend has really become a master knitting-photographer. The on-coming storm gave our little photoshoot a definite boost as well!

See the wind machine (or just wind actually ^^) at                    work

                                 

Vintage Knitting Surge

I bought yarn for Kasha today: light yellow pure wool, nice and soft. And only 13 euros, too! I was supposed to swatch before buying as I had a little of the same yarn already, but I made the mistake of going into the store to "look at" and "finger through" the yarn so no hope for me. But I am pretty sure the yarn is going to be good for the project so I just have to hope for best. I think I also have the buttons ready as well, they are old gold in colour, and actually old as they are part of the treasure I took back home from my grandparents'. So I am making a 40's sweater with buttons that may very well be from the actual 40's. My boyfriend told me that I've gone crazy wanting to make a yellow sweater with gold buttons or maybe it was just the way I said it, I was almost singing about gold buttons and yellow yarn on our way from the store, that's just how happy I was. Anyhow, he really is not the person to take any advise from when it comes to colour-schemes. I think old gold and light yellow are perfect together, how about you? Below is my yarn, I'll post pictures of the buttons a bit later, when I finish my swatch because only after I see the pattern knitted out will I be sure if the buttons are good. They have some kind of pattern on them so I have to see if the lacy structure will go with them or will it be too much.

Kasha-to-be ^^

However, I will not be able to start knitting Kasha until I finish my beautiful 50's gloves I started yesterday. They are going to be so adorable, and so lady-like. I'm knitting them from bright but not dark blue, and they are just so beautiful, don't you agree? I am so in love with the pattern, it's difficult to stop knitting them.

50's lace gloves

I just have to take this opportunity to advertise for this website. It has so many free(!) vintage knitting patterns that I am almost losing my mind over it! There is also one for free vintage crochet patterns, here. Just lovely to have so many free vintage patterns, and so many of which are absolutely worth knitting/crocheting, so lovely. The pattern for the gloves is there, under women's lace gloves. If you are into vintage knitting, that is definitely a site worth checking out!

Future (knitting) plans

I am real into adding something that usually wouldn't be associated with knitting into my garments. I want to knit something from really soft yarn, like mohair or something, and then add leather and/or metallic zippers into it. It just still needs to look neat, I mean I am not really a rock/glam girl normally... But I have seen lots of stuff like that, and I'm very excited about them. What do you think?

I have been a little sick for a few days now so I haven't been knitting my Rhombus socks but a much more straightforward and less focus-requiring ribbed shirt. I have really proceeded with it, too, although some might say that knitting maybe isn't the number one thing you should do when sick. But I haven't been that sick, sitting around doing nothing would make me even sicker. That's my story and I'll stick to it.

I have also been leafing through Susan Crawford's A Stitch In Time, vol. 2 and trying to decide which pattern to knit next. I really like Kasha but starting it up is pretty intimidating as the gauge needs to be just right which really isn't my strong suite. But it really is lovely and quite different from anything I have knit before.

In other news, I am going to London with my boyfriend for a five-day holiday in January. I know, it's far away, but you have to book now to get real cheap flights. I'm pretty excited :)

Rhombus

Willow-colourway

Yesterday I started knitting another Cookie A. sock, this time one called Rhombus. [pattern] The yarn I'm using I also got yesterday, while I visited a yarn store when I should have been at uni, oops... I had been surfing the Buffy group on raverly, and was so taken by people's self-dyed yarn that they had used the show as an inspiration for. I told my boyfriend that I would love to dye yarn myself as well, and he told me that I should just go to a store and buy yarn that in my opinion could be inspired by the characters. So then, what else could I have done other than what he proposed? Here are the results: I am knitting my Rhombus socks from a beautiful purple that I think kind of represents Willow:

I also have a colourway that in my opinion is a total Buffy, although I am sure people will disagree. But that's not really the point, it's Buffy for me and it is so beautiful as well. Also, I have a dark blue that I had difficulty attributing to anyone in particular. Maybe season 1 Angel, but not really Angel of the entire show, I don't know it's weird... But this I know: Xander would be brown with dark yellow highlights, kind of like Novita Puro's new colourway, Retro: here, Giles would also be brown but without the yellow, Riley would be dark green, Spike red and black and blonde. 

Buffy-colourway

Angel?- colourway

I also got my Buffy season 9, Freefall but I haven't read it yet. Looks promising, though :) And you know, I am now not only rewatching Buffy, but Firefly as well. And as I started rewatching that, I started knitting a tam, a River Tam. [pattern] (that is only funny if you know the show, it has a character called River Tam) But now I am so into my Rhombus socks that I am not going to knit that for a while. They are really quite demanding, but I love it! I'm knitting them on 2mm bamboo needles and they bend so vigorously all the time that I am afraid they're gonna break. But then I remember that bamboo is used for everything in China, even construction site stands so I guess it'll just have to endure my knitting!

My Rhombus sock