progress

Knitting is such a wonderful skill to have. The process of making something wearable from essentially a bit of string always amazes me. I’ve been eyeing handknit sweaters and cardigans wistfully for years and I’ve finally jumped in with the Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan. You can find my Ravelry project page here (after years of lying dormant I’m finally starting to actually use my Ravelry account).

So far I’m loving this pattern. I could follow the instructions with hardly a problem and incredibly have not made a mistake yet (I think). I’m also making progress pretty fast. J and I have started watching Game of Thrones in the evenings and that has definitely been a good thing for this cardigan.
As always I’m now wondering why I waited so long to start a cardigan. The Shapely Boyfriend is an enjoyable knit even though the concept of constantly counting and keeping track of rows is novel for me. With socks and scarves I would just make it up as I went along, it’s so easy to try them on in between.

Is it weird I’m still itching to cast on another pair of socks? I firmly believe sock knitting is as addictive as coffee or chocolate. I’m trying to keep myself far away from my yarn stash in order to finish one thing at a time.
Not sure if it’s an artist thing or if I’m just weird but the feeling of handling yarn and the smooth bamboo needles against it is such a joy. For me that is what handmade means…the sensual process of making things by hand is so satisfying and fulfilling.

In other random inspirations:

• On my photo blog I started a new series of documenting little pieces of beauty. This first post explains it all and there will be mostly peeks at nature’s beauty around us to come.
• Ten scientifically proven ways to become a happier person. No surprises there but I think we can all use a reminder.
• We could start by stopping to complain and seeing where that takes us.
• Who doesn’t love shopping? Practising mindfulness in our consuming habits.
• I love vocab tests! I’m such a language nerd and over here you can test your English vocab. Can I take this moment to boast of my english vocab of 20.500 words? That’s english as a second language for me so I’m tickled pink at my result.

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knit red baby vest

More baby gifts! You might recall this post on my Easter holiday where I mentioned we were all knitting like crazy and I had made a baby vest for my then newly pregnant friend. Fast forward nearly six months, the finished vest has been delivered to its tiny recipient and is ready to be shown off here.

It’s knit from a german pattern magazine which one of us bought so I can’t even point you to the pattern. I didn’t have the required yarn anyway but got some lovely icelandic Lopi wool from one of the other knitters (check out the Lopi website, it has free patterns!). The Lopi wool was much thicker, so I guessimated the amount of stitches needed and generally not kept to the pattern very much. To be honest, I am completely surprised it came out looking like it should!

Yummy thick yarn!

I am secretely so very much in love with these cute elephant buttons.


Here’s hoping this keeps one tiny baby P very warm this winter!

craft fair finds

Here the weekend has arrived again already! It doesn’t feel like the past week happened at all, at least I didn’t really register it between being home sick and then trying frantically to catch up at work. But I am getting better every day thankfully, though that cold really was very nasty!
Time to show off my purchases at last week’s craft fair, yarn and buttons and kitchen stuff!

This pan which was actually pretty hard to photograph, is a handmade from black iron / carbon steel / black steel, whatever you call it. I actually googled the material quite a while to find out its name. Anyhow, this is the material vintage pans were made of, it’s nonstick and needs to be treated like cast iron (but contrary to cast iron it’s very light), meaning seasoning it, not using any dishwashing liquid on it and keeping it dry. I still need to “burn it in” and then we will use it for pizzas and pies.

This is gorgeous handspun Wensleydale yarn. I bought two skeins and I am still deciding what to make with it. I’m thinking a triangular shawl like Amber’s beautiful one or another cowl (never seem to get tired of those!). Or maybe a nice 1930’s beret.

And, of course, new sock yarn! It’s a wool / bamboo mix and handdyed in lovely shades of steel blue with a hint of green and dark gray thrown in. It’s already on the needles 🙂

And last but not least six of these handpainted buttons went home with me as well. I have no idea what I’ll use them for yet, but no doubt I’ll think of something!

Quite a successful trip I should say!

alpaca cowl

The last cold weather knitting project for this spring is finished (if you don’t count socks, but I wear those all year round anyway): a cowl of the softest alpaca yarn in a deep golden brown.

I mentioned it in this post already, the yarn came from a family farm in Canada where I worked for 2 weeks in 2009. It took me this long to use up the lovely yarn from the alpacas I fed every morning.

I love how versatile cowls are and this colour especially can be worn with just about everything. For those interested in all things clothes: the boots are Lepi (a high quality italian brand my dad has been selling for decades), the shirt is from my dressmaking ventures last year (I never blogged it but it’s similar to this one) and the cardigan and jeans are both H&M (my go-to for basics, though I try to work towards buying less and instead more high quality and natural fibers).

I like to wear it loosely but it’s also wonderfully warm to wear bunched up around the neck…perfect for spring I’d say!

yarn love

I have been knitting since I was about 12 and though I never really ventured into complicated patterns or making sweaters (though that is something I really want to learn sometime!) knitting in winter is second nature to me. I am always on the lookout for pretty, high quality yarns from natural fibers. Apart from buying some wonderful rustic local yarn (which knit up into this), Etsy is great for yarn shopping and I love how I can get pretty, handdyed yarn from all over the world shipped to my little home.

I am absolutely, madly in love with this yarn from Etsy seller atreehuggerswife. It’s the charcoal colorway and wonderfully soft. She was so kind to wind it into a ball for me at no extra charge, which is great, because winding yarn into a ball by hand is so not my favourite activity. This yarn is on the needles right now to become a nice pair of socks.

Also on the needles and another “bus project” (yes, I knit on the bus on my way to work. I am old enough not to care what people think and I wouldn’t want to waste a whole hour of knitting time a day). It’s beautiful and incredibly soft alpaca yarn from the alpacas of the farm I stayed on in Canada for a few weeks in 2009. I am making a cowl with it and hope to finish it in a couple of weeks. I would my projects would finish as quickly as new ideas tumble into my head 🙂

Another beautiful Etsy yarn, from seller onefatslug in Australia. Have I mentioned how much I love getting packages from all over the world? This year alone I have been getting packages from NY, Knoxville, Alaska and Australia, all from independent little businesses.

This sweet ice-blue knitting basket was found on a thrift store hunt and I love love love it. It is big enough to hold all of my current projects (in addition to the ones shown above there is always the odd other sock project and dishcloth on the needles).

And finally, cleaning out my yarn stuff from all the years I came across these wrist warmers. These were the first thing I ever knitted, at age 12 or 13, when my dad’s girlfriend taught me to knit. I don’t remember having had such style as a teenager but I love them and they still fit and now that I found them again I have been wearing them constantly. I remember knitting them like socks on 4 double pointed needles. A super quick project and they really keep you warm in winter and can be worn with just about anything.

socks, socks, socks

I firmly believe that knitting is therapeutic.

There is something very calming about sitting down quietly and comfortably to knit socks (or scarves, or hats).

And the great thing is that you’ll end up with something wearable and unique eventually.

For my german-speaking readers, I’ve just discovered the most amazing youtube tutorial series for knitting socks and especially heels here (here for the heel part only). She also teaches crocheting, so I’ll be learning that next!

some more knitting

One more cowl was in order and this Lana Grossa Baby Alpaca yarn is heavenly soft and wonderful to knit with:

Excuse the cheesy flower photo, but they were the last of my birthday flowers.
Not that I’m done with seed stitch though! I have a lovely teal scarf in the works right now.

I could knit all day in fall…if I didn’t have to go to work and if I didn’t fall asleep as soon as I come home. I have been getting up at 5.20am all of last week with the intention of getting house work done in the mornings, so I don’t have a big pile of washing and folding and ironing and cleaning to do at the weekend. So far, the only result of getting up early has been more blog reading though…

But back to knitting! I love love love these gorgeous socks that Jenny from wikstenmade knit. I think I need to go buy sock yarn (not that I don’t have sock yarn, but nothing I like enough colourwise to get me through a pair…you wouldn’t believe how many single knit socks I have).

And just yesterday these beautiful mittens arrived in the mail from Anniki of woolmint from Estonia:

This is her photo, it’s still dark here so I couldn’t yet take photos myself. I got them for my birthday and they are gorgeous and fit perfectly! I can’t wait for colder weather so I can wear them with my new light gray winter coat (no, I’m not fashion crazy, why do you ask?).

The only drawback of fall is that it gets dark so early…soon I won’t be able to take photos during the week because by the time I leave work it will already be dark. How will I get through whole weeks with taking photos only at the weekends? Maybe I should take the jump and become a full time photographer after all…if only there were the security that I could actually live on that 😉

more mittens

Some more mittens made with my lovely alpaca yarn from Canada! These turned out better than the last pair and are so comfy and warm that I have been wearing them constantly. I won’t even take them off indoors (I like to think I’m making a fashion statement but really it’s probably just silly) ;). I really love the vintagey red buttons with them.
I have enough yarn left for a nice big cowl to go with them, so that will be my next knitting project (and I’ll hopefully get it finished before winter’s over!).