Weekendtrip to Helsinki and the handicrafts fair

Last weekend I visited a friend who lives in Helsinki. The weather was pretty good on Saturday and we spent the day shopping at thrift-stores. I found a nice jacket at 50% at one of the UFF shops we visited, it looks brand new yet I only paid 12,50e for it! After the shopping we went to Virgin Oil and haf the Menu Americano, the service was fairly quick and the food was pretty good. We asked for medium rare steaks and got what I would call rare, but it was still good (I was wavering on whether I wanted the steak rare or medium rare anyway). Dessert was really good, but took an awfully long time to get to the table. After dinner we were going to see Gravity in 3D, but came to the conclusion that 15e was just too much money to spend on seeing a movie no matter how good it might be. We ended up renting Don Jon instead, which was a very interesting movie. I just wish it had been a little bit longer.

On Sunday we went to Helsingin Kädentaitomessut (Helsinki Handicrafts fair). Oh, there was so much to see! There were people selling handmade items and all sorts of crafting supplies. We were of course mostly interested in the booths which had something to do with yarn but we did peruse the scrap booking stuff and jewelry making stuff too.

I bought some yarn (Hjertegarn Blend Bamboo) for my mom to knit a hitchhiker scarf out of and a copy of the Winter 2013 edition of pompom quarterly for myself from the Titityy booth. I was sorely tempted to buy some yellow silk and wool blend lace, but since I don't have a lot of time to knit I decided not to buy anything that would just end up sitting in my stash for months on end. I also bought two shawl pins from the Pitsi& palmikko booth. One for me and the other for my mom. My friend also bought a shawlpin but I think it was a different design. I wish I had bought some of the Puffala yarn they had at that booth... I bought a book with no pages inside of it and some gold coloured buttons and some blue closures from a booth that was selling thrifted items. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the book cover, but it was just so pretty I had to have it! I suppose I could try to glue in some pages and use it as a notebook.

The main reason I bought the copy of pompom was because it had a rather nice pattern for a crocheted cardigan in it called Anzen. It has a interesting yoke and it looks like a great piece for a crochet noob to start with. I've long since come to the conclusion that granny squares are not my thing (I just can't get them to look right), but I think this is simple enough that I won't screw it up too badly.

Merry Xmas!

Finally time for the Christmas holiday, I've had so much to do the last couple of weeks I kind of feel like just sleeping through the next week! But I've got 2 weeks off and I intend to enjoy them by knitting and reading as much as I can.

And yes, I have some knitting to share. Unfortunately, I only have one photo of what I've knit... namely another star! This time out of some really bulky Novita (Hile?) and the same blue star as last time (I added the button detail, I'm not 100% sure about it...) I also knitted two crowns out of the same yarn (A Very Regal Crown by Kayleigh Will on Ravelry) for my niece and nephew. I really like the crown pattern, it's a great last minute gift :)

Remember to take it easy this Christmas, don't worry if you haven't finished all your knitted gifts!

Stars in our eyes pattern

I've got a three day holiday coming up, yay! To celebrate here is my pattern for a star/Christmas tree ornament.

The white star was knit out of Hjertegarn Ribboo (Sport weight) with 3mm needles (US 2.5)  and the blue one was knit out of Hjertegarn Woolcott (DK weight) with 2,5mm needles (US 1.5). The blue star took about 12 m (13.125 yards)  of yarn and is 10.5 cm (4.1 inches) tall.

You can use any yarn you like, thinner yarn will make a smaller star and thicker yarn will make a larger one. Use smaller needles than the yarn calls for though, otherwise the stuffing will show through! You can also easily make the star bigger (or smaller) by changing the size of the initial pentagon.

Abbreviations
kfbf              knit into front, then back and front of stitch (making 3 out of 1 stitch)
kfb               knit into front and back of stitch
w&t              wrap and turn
sl2k1psso     slip two stitches together (as if to knit), knit 1, pass slipped stitches over
**                 repeat
sts                stitches

Cast on 5 sts using crochet (or provisional) cast on and join in the round. Divide sts on 5 dpns.

Increase section/Initial pentagon:
Round 1: Kfbf five times (15 sts)
Round 2: Knit all sts
Round 3: *kfb,k1,kfb* five times (25 sts)
Round 4: Knit all sts
Round 5: *kfb, k3, kfb* five times (35 sts)
Round 6: Knit all sts
Round 7: *kfb, k5, kfb* five times (45 sts)
Round 8: Knit all sts
Round 9: *kfb, k7, kfb* (55 sts)
Round 10: Knit all sts

Shaping section/Peak:
Round 1: Knit 10 sts, w&t
Round 2: Purl 9 sts , w&t
Round 3: Knit 8 sts, w&t
Round 4: Purl 7 sts, w&t
Round 5: Knit 6 sts, w&t
Round 6: Purl 5 sts, w&t
Round 7: Knit 4 sts, w&t
Round 8: Purl 3 sts, w&t
Round 9: Knit 2 sts, w&t
Round 10: Purl 1 sts, w&t
Round 11: Knit 1 sts, w&t
Round 12: Purl 1 sts, w&t
Round 13: Knit 2 sts, w&t
Round 14: Purl 3 sts,w&t
Round 15: Knit 4 sts,w&t
Round 16: Purl 5 sts,w&t
Round 17: Knit 6 sts,w&t
Round 18: Purl 7 sts,w&t
Round 19: Knit 8 sts,w&t
Round 20: Purl 9 sts,w&t
Round 21: Knit 10 sts,w&t
Round 22: Purl 11 sts, turn
Round 23: k11
repeat this section 4 more times

Decrease section/Second pentagon:
Round 1: Knit all sts
Round 2: Move 2 sts from the end of the round to the beginning, then: *sl2k1psso, k8* five times (45 sts)
Round 3: Knit all sts
Round 4: Move 2 sts from the end of the round to the beginning, then: *sl2k1psso, k6* five times (35 sts)
Round 5: Knit all sts
Round 6: Move 2 sts from the end of the round to the beginning, then: *sl2k1psso, k4* five times (25 sts, this is a good time to stuff the star!)
Round 7: Knit all sts
Round 8: Move 2 sts from the end of the round to the beginning, then: *sl2k1psso, k2* five times (15 sts)
Round 9: Knit all sts
Round 10 : *sl2k1psso* five times (5 sts)
Cut the yarn and slip the end through the remaining sts and tighten. Remove crochet cast on, weave in the ends and you are done!

This pattern has not been knitted by anyone but me, so please comment here or send me a message on Ravelry if you have any trouble (you'll find me under the name Trillian)

Christmas knitting '13

I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't done any Christmas knitting this year and with a full course load I probably won't have time to knit anything big/personalized for anyone. So I dug some leftover yarn from my stash and tried out a 'design' that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. It's a star shaped Christmas ornament knitted in the round and shaped with increases/decreases and short rows. This is the first draft, I still need to work out some kinks. The photo is of the 'decrease side', I didn't think to take a photo of the 'increase side.'

I'll post the pattern once I've worked out all the kinks (basically just need to figure out which decrease and increase to use). I think this'll make a good (last minute) present because it only takes a few hours to knit and it can be made from leftover yarn (my budget doesn't really allow for any new yarn right now). I might knit a pillow-sized one for my sister's birthday next year, she loves stars!

So it's been a while.

I started a new blog last week about my most recent studies (it's in Finnish, but feel free to head over if you wish) and thought it could be fun to update this one too. I mean it's only been 5 years since I last posted something! I managed to mess up the layout completely in the process though, so I had to fix pretty much every post because the photo placement was all over the place. Yeah, fun times. Good thing I was never a very productive blogger.

So, what have I been up to since I last posted? I graduated, got a rubbish job, got sick of the rubbish job but couldn't find a better one and went back to school. I 'm now studying Bio and food technology at SeAmk (Seinäjoki University of applied sciences), it's really cool and I might write a post about it later if anyone is interested. I'm an aunt these days, both my sister and my brother have kids so there will be a fair amount of knits for kids in my future.

I'll leave you with a photo of my latest FO, which unfortunately is too small for the intended recipient and will either languish until I find a new recipient or be donated to some charity or other. The pattern is "b-1427 Jacket and trousers in Alpaca" by DROPS and the yarn is Novita Nalle and Novita Nalle Taika. Click: here to see the project on Ravelry (you need to be a member to see it though).

It's knit sideways using two colors, the original is not knit in stockinette but I think it looks better this way. I added a garter border to the sleeves and the lower edge of the body.

Back again

I'm back from a long absence (again), to tell you that I've been very busy with school. Haven't knit a thing, except a bit of the SWIII socks which I ended up having to frog because I messed up the pattern and then couldn't get gauge. I didn't get to kill anyone in this war, which is a shame but I got a pair of lovely socks from my assasin (in tofutsies!). Don't ask me who won or who gets the 60 skeins of Tofutsies, because I have no idea. Our fearless leader called for an early end to the war, but some people are still continuing... so who knows?

I am going back to Finland in about a day, which freaks me out a bit because I've gotten used to living in the Netherlands! But it'll be fun to go back home, I haven't been back even once. I've had fun but all good things must come to and end, I guess. There is a vest in the fall issue of Knitscene called 'Nederland vest', which is really pretty and that I might just have to knit to commemorate my time in A'dam!

I've found a new obsession btw: plurk! There are a lot of knitters there chattering away at the moment, why don't you join us?

This and that

The school induced madness is finally over and I am, once again the mistress of my own schedule! For this weekend anyway, the next block is starting on monday. Some days I'm ready to call it quits and go home (summer holidays start there next week...) and other days I never want to leave Amsterdam! My dad is coming over next friday though, so I'm in a good mood about that! My mum will visit me in 2.5 weeks, yay!

I'm done with the knitting part of my raglan hoodie version of Sesame. I'm in mad, mad love with it! I'll weave in the ends, eventually. Since it's a little bigger than it should be (my gauge changed...) so I'll probably put in a zipper insted of th button band. I might still frog the top part of the hood, inorder to make it bigger. I'll definitely knit another raglan Sesame at some point, a single colour one! I hate, hate, hate weaving in ends! I'd link to the pattern but I'm not sure where it can be found at this time, since Magknits is no more. It's a shame, I really liked a lot of the patterns. I hope the editor is ok, all that drama can easily get to you!

I used the left over yarn to knit a Purl beret and I've started a Mr.Dangly, but its on hold until I figure out what to stuff it with! I don't know why my right eye is squinting like that, I seem to do that in all the photos I'm in. Its so unfair that some people photograph well and some... don't. I once had a really strange conversation at a party, with a guy about that (the conversation started with "I saw a photo of you, you looked really drunk" I wasn't drunk!).

There is a group on Ravelry called "10 lousy bucks", which is holding Ravelraiser '08. If you donate 10 dollars to Ravelry, you can win all sort of cool stuff. Go, donate! I think it's definitely worth it, I'm on Ravelry pretty much every damn day (don't tell me you're not!).