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!