Kainuun lapaset

The mittens are finished! I've also worn them a couple of times and they are so perfect for my hands. The other mittens I finished for myself earlier, Vega, don't fit my hands well at all, they are always sliding down, not staying put. But these do, and they are extremely warm, too, as they are sport weight and stranded. I couldn't be more pleased!

If you want to make your own, the pattern is available for free here. It's in Finnish but there's a chart. Get your nine colors ready and knit!

Mittens and Socks

I have been quite afraid of stranded colorwork. Before, it has been really difficult for me to get correct gauge and not have the floats either too long or too short. After I learned to knit inside out while working on the Jesse socks (see the post below) I find colorwork not so frightening after all! (Of course I've yet to conquer intarsia and many other things but those will have their time and place later). For now, I am really happy to be able to knit colorwork mittens and socks without being so afraid of messing up and ending with something I wouldn't be happy with! Here are a few of my recent projects:

First, here are a pair of mittens I knit for my mum's friend. She lives half the year in northern Finland and I used to visit her many summers when I was younger. Now, for the first time in many years, I finally went there again! These mittens ended up pretty big, but they still look really nice. The bigger the mittens, the warmer the hands, I guess. The pattern is free but only in Finnish.

I also knit a pair for myself, and with these I am extremely happy! The pattern is Vega by Clara Falk. I found her mitten book in my local library and really like quite a few of her patterns. This was my first time knitting from a Swedish pattern, of course, I mostly looked at the charts. I used Gjestal Maija which is definitely my go-to yarn when it comes to mittens.

I've also finished two pairs of socks, but these are real finishes, that is, one pair was started earlier this year and the other in 2011! SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous) on Ravelry always hosts a "finishing month" in August when the objective is to finish as many pairs of socks as you can - and they all need to be started before the beginning of July so no casting on any new pairs!

The pair above I started in April this year, it's the Chrysanthemum Frutescens Socks by Hunter Hammersen. The yarn is dyed by me, it's the yellow onion skin after-bath.

The other pair I've finished is a pair of knee socks that's been on the needles since September 2011. I am so happy to have then done finally! I ran out of yarn at one point which is the main reason they have been sitting for so long. The pattern is from Novita Winter 2010 magazine, only available in print and in Finnish.

Jesse & Oslo Walk Shawl

It's a real summer now and I guess thanks to all my complaining about the cold June, July has been scorching!

However, I still managed to knit a pair of socks, one my boyfriend told me would be suited for a ski cabin, not our hot living room. The pattern is Jesse by Rachel Coopey from her book A Knitted Sock Society which I plan to knit through just like I did her other sock book, Coop Knit Socks. I used Rowan Fine Art which is beautiful and expensive and Colinette Jitterbug of which I had a half a skein bought at a bargain price.

I also finished a lace shawl I am very pleased with. The pattern is Oslo Walk Shawl by Susanna IC, published in Interweave Knits Winter 2010. I love that Interweave is always having some sale or other so you can get their patterns real cheap if you just keep your head up. And the fact that they have so much digital content (all the magazines and many patterns on their own) is really convenient for someone outside the U.S. The yarn I used is Manos del Uruguay Lace which I didn't like at all at first! It's 70 % alpaca, 25 %  silk and 5 % cashmere and the color is just lovely. However, when I tried to knit Swallowtail shawl with it, it broke into little pieces.All the nupps were just too much for this laceweight, I guess. Still, I'd paid good money for it so I refused to not use it. I used the Russian join (I don't like video instructions) to mend all the bits and pieces into usable yarn again. Luckily it worked beautifully and I was able to knit this great shawl in which the beautiful colors really work for their advantage. I love it through and through but I am still not buying any more of this yarn.

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.

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

                                 

My Autumn Skirt

Finished with my striped skirt I was writing about before! I really like it, it's quite warm and very beautiful, the colours really are awesome. Of course I also had to buy brown stockings to go with it, and the yellow shoes I bought from Beijing. Don't they all just look darling together? ^^

Tomorrow I am going to see a friend who is going to China for a year, and she is leaving in a few short weeks. I'm really gonna miss her, but I'm sure we can still keep in touch. I was knitting her these mittens but I couldn't finish them on time. Now I'll just have to send them to her for Christmas or something!