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.