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.

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!).

All hallows eve 2008

It may not be a surprise, to those who have read my earlier posts, that I love Halloween. I have already decided what to go as this year. I want to go as Joan of Arc, I think I might be reacting to the fact that I was a little uncomfortable in my 'sexy costume' last year (the skirt was way too short... which is why no photos of the entire ensemble were ever put up, here is an early sketch of the costume though, if you are curious!) and now I want something that covers everything :-)

This is a sketch of what it will look like, I'm going to use this vintage knitting pattern (it's a pdf-file) as inspiration for my chain mail shirt. I'll probably buy a toy sword from punanaamio.fi.


















I also have an idea for an alternative costume, using the same vintage pattern. Namely a Robin Hood costume, but I'm not as interested in going as Robin Hood as I am in going as Joan of Arc. Anyone else is more than welcome to use the idea though, it's hardly a very novel idea!

My drawing ability has definitely improved since last year, though last year's sketch was a very, very rough sketch, so maybe they can't really be compared :-)

First I don't write anything in 3 months and the I write two posts in one day... strange!

Edited because I can't spell this late at night!

Oh dear...

How did this happen? One minute it's Christmas and the next it's March!?! What have I been doing, you might ask. I've moved all of my things from my student flat into my old room at my dad's (where did all that stuff come from???) and then moved myself and 23kg of my favorite things to Diemen, which is just outside Amsterdam. I'm currently studying Fashion and Management at Amsterdam Fashion Institute. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun... there's nothing quite like the Erasmus lifestyle :-)

Here is a cavalcade of my FO's, in no particular order. I'm sorry for the lack of descriptions, I hate putting together posts with many photos. It took all I have to just arrange them and the text in some semblance of aesthetic order.

Jaywalkers for my flatmate Sanna

Jaywalker cellphone cozy for me

Doll clothes for a school project, my own 'design.'

Ursus arm warmers for Sonja (then my brother's girlfriend, now his fiance!)

Cabled dress for myself

Tiny mittens for flatmate

No news is good news?

Good news is I'm not dead, I got a summer job and I'm living with my dad, so no internet connection. I'm currently in Helsinki visiting Susku, who does have an internet connection.






Here's what I've been working on lately, a cardigan and yet another fat bottom bag! I've been very lucky lately when it comes to yarn, I found the yarn for both projects at a flea market. I got 10 skeins of the yellow yarn for 6 euro and 8 skeins of the pink yarn for 6.50 euro. Yay for cheap yarn! I also found a really cheap bag with the perfect handles for the FBB, only 4 euro. I'm thinking of giving the FBB to my aunt as a late birthday present when/if she visits us this summer (I'm not sure it's 'fashionable' enough for her...)

Been lazy

I finished my Tubey the other day, it's not as itchy as I thought it would be... the only place it really itches a lot is at the back of my neck (and it's kind of driving me crazy!) Lord I hate that photo, but alas it was the best I could do!

I finished the Greenery hat for the KAL ages ago, but I'm only now getting around to posting photos of it.

I sent out two Panta's to my partner panic_paizlee in the Panta swap over at Craftster, I'll post photos of them once she receives.

Internet withdrawl :(

I've spent the last few days first at my dad's and then at my mother's, helping her move into her new place. I hate moving, I've told her that she isn't allowed to move for another 10 years... at least ;=)

I've almost finished my green hat for the Green Hat-along at Get Stitchy, I used fisherman's wool that I dyed with green and yellow Koolaid. It looks awesome, the pattern is called the Greenery Hat which I don't have a link to because I'm sitting at my mother's cousin's computer. I can't finish the hat until I go home because I didn't bring any dpns... I feel so stupid!

On other news, I've only got another ~15cm left of the body of my Tubey (and it's soooo boring to knit it!)

No photos, sorry. Left the cable thing at home.

Getting tired of the Tubey

I was really sick and tired af my Tubey this weekend and I really didn't do much towards finishing it. I tried my hand at the February sock instead, we're all supposed to use the Universal toe-up sock formula from Knitty and ofcourse I couldn't figure it out so I cheated... a little, I found a Finnish toe-up pattern and modified it a bit to fit the yarn I'd chosen (hideous baby yarn I bought in a moment of weakness). I have to say I'm not loving this toe-up method all that much, might just knit one and blame second sock syndrome...

Almost free

I've got an almost two week long holiday coming up, all I have to do is to study for a test and write a report over the weekend, take the test on Monday, go to a lecture on Tuesday and then I'll have 12 days of knitting to look forward to!

I've finished the first sleeve of my Tubey and I've knit about 10cm (4 inches) of the second one *yay* Not bad considering I started it about 7 days ago, huh? No pictures at this point though, couldn't get a good one of the whole thing so I gave up (for now).

Did you know that Finns use the most yarn in the world? Apparently we Finnish knitters buy enough to give every person in the country (give or take 5 million) 200g!

Also, I only just realized that Blogger has a spellchecking feature...

Tubey update

I'm about halfway done on the first sleeve, looking pretty good if I do say so myself! This isn't the most up to date photo of it but I was offered a free dinner today and I'm as big as a house now... so no photos :)

I have to do a presentation tomorrow... guess who forgot all about it until now? Good thing the topic is free so I'm going to tell my classmates about the intresting world of internet knitters and knitting blogs. And show them all of my "cool" knitting books and magazines. If I get really desperate I'll show them some UFO's and FO's. The teacher will probably find tons of faults in my presentation though :( She's been picking on me since the day she realized, that my primary education has been in swedish and not finnish like everyone else in my class.

Late night knitting

I was inspired yesterday and started knitting my Tubey, I've got 14 cm done so far! I'm obviously using the same yarn as I used for the Calorimetry and I think I'll go for a solid red one instead of a stripy one.

I found this blog entry through craftster and now I have a nifty progress bar on my blog!

Calorimetry 3.0

I knit myself a third calorimetry, since I gave the blue one to a friend (blue isn't really my colour.) So technically it's my second one :)
It's Novita 7 veljestä and my ears are nice and toasty... which is not something I can say for the rest of me, it's really cold both in my flat and outdoors. I'm wearing 3 sweaters, jeans, long johns and two pairs of socks! I'm thinking of putting on a pair of gloves, but it'd make knitting and typing difficult! The other photo is of my friend Susku wearing her new Calorimetry, she seemed very happy with it, which in turn made me happy!




I've decided to join the Green Hat-along at Get Stitchy, I'm about 85% sure of the pattern I want to use. Another thing I've decided is that I'm going to get over the "sweater fear" and knit myself a tubey with black and red stripes.








Let me tell you the story of my first (and so far, only) handknit sweater. It was knit out of quite bulky, mostly acrylic yarn that felt a bit scratchy against my hands as I was knitting it (not a good sign), it was lavender a colour I have since grown to loathe with a passion. The pattern was boring, all stockinette all the time. It was in Finnish so my Swedish speaking teacher was of no help (did I mention I was 13?) what so ever. No one told me I needed to check my gauge before starting it, but since I'd finished the back, front and one of the sleves by that time (after about 4 months of dull knitting) I decided I didn't f*cking care. I knit all the pieces but never got around to seaming the tiny, hideous mess, which then spent about a year in the back of my closet until it was passed on to my grandmother for some reason. Since no one in the family could fit into it by this point, it was forgotten by all. Or atleast me. I have no idea what happened to it after this, I hope she frogged it and used it for some other project (it really would be wrong to throw away free yarn!)

Knitting adventurer

I took a quiz today called What kind of knitter are you? Apparently I am an knitting adventurer, which I think it describes me pretty well, I love trying new things. Today I decided that I should learn entrelac and I saw this really cute stitch pattern called "feather and fan," that I might just have to make a scarf out of. I would have posted the result of the quiz but blogger wouldn't let me (sometimes I hate HTML!)

I've finished two items since I last posted, the socks for my friend and a Calorimetry out of the leftover yarn.










Sorry about the expression, I'd just gotten home from an 11h school day... (need I say more?)










I only cast on 100sts and it came out the perfect size!

Socks for susku (or second January socks)

I found some blue yarn in my stash this week, that I bought ages ago and I decided to knit a pair of socks for my friend Susku out of it. They have to be finished by the 26th when I'll be visiting her in Helsinki (wish me luck.)

Piggle is done!

I suprised myself by actually finishing it, I thought it would look really awful! But it doesen't, I'm actually kind of glad that the top bit isn't the same shape as in the original. Bad news is that my mystery yarn is a bit itchy, but it's so pretty I can surely live with it!

Finished socks

I finished the socks for my grandmother a few days back but I forgot to post photos of them. I still have some yarn left, no idea what to do with it or any of the other left over yarn that is currently floating around my room ;)

I started doing the decreases on Piggle yesterday and I must say I've messed up in more ways than I thought possible, but since I'm too stubborn to frog it I'll just have to live with the fact that it looks a bit wonky... I'm beani-challanged apparently, when ever I try to make one it just ends up looking awful.


PS: let's pretend you can't see my long johns, ok?

Piggle

More knitting? Yes! I work very well when ignoring, other more important things (such as schoolwork and cleaning). I cast on Piggle very late friday evening and this is as far as I've come so far, one more row of the lace pattern and it'll be time for the decreases. I'm only doing one hole though, I'm far too old to walk around with pigtails.

Sorry about the crappy photo, it's difficult to take a good photo of anything knit that is black :(

Everyone else is doing it...

knitting Calorimetries, that is! Here is mine, I love it! It's warm, pretty and functional, what more could a gal ask for?








Please excuse my silly facial expression and the mess in the background :) It only took about 3½h to knit, there is a yarn sale at Citymarket (think Walmart, but probably smaller) so I'll probably go see if there is any suitable yarn to make another of these babies!

Sock-along 2007

I'm going to take part in the 2007 Sock-along at Craftster! We're going to knit one pair of socks a month, yay!

I'm currently knitting a pair of socks I started 'round Christmas and then lost interest in... I don't know I should consider them my January socks or not :) They are the first pair of socks I've ever knit without a pattern and the yarn is the most expensive I've ever bought, I think it cost about 11e. It's got Aloe vera and Jojoba oils in it, which I think is kind of cool. I hope my grandmother will like them (and not too annoyed with how long it took me to knit them.) I think I shouldn't start every sentence with the word "I" ;-)

Christmas crafts

I took the opportunity to do quite a lot of crafting over the holidays, but I didn't have any internet access so I'm posting it all in one.

This is the ginger bread house my friend Susanna and I made, it ended up a bit wonky so we had to improvise... a lot. It's sort of unintentionally "Nightmare before Christmas"-themed.

These socks were a Christmas gift for my mother, the pattern is from the latest issue of knitty and is called monkey.

This is my sister's dog Wagner and he is wearing a Santa outfit I made for him. It was supposed to be a jacket but since I'm an idiot I messed up and ended up having to make a cape instead. Click here to see a video of him wearing it.

This is my first try using the shrinky dinks I got ages ago in the MCDHT6 swap. I glued them onto magnets with erikeeper, managed to lose them though :( The sewing machine in the background used to be my grandmother's, pretty isn't it? No one uses it at my dad's, which is a bit of a shame since it works perfectly.

I knit this bag out of the yarn I got from Superhooker, which I dyed with koolaid. I probably didn't use enough colour because the yarn came out quite pale but I still like it. It's basically the same as the other garnstudio bag I knitted but it's slightly smaller and the handle is different. The handle is just two icords, I considered adding a third but then I got the idea to crochet myself a headband thingy out of the left over yarn.

There are still four projects that I haven't posted, two are UFOs and one is going to be sent to Superhooker and she might still lurk around and get a look at it... wouldn't want that now would we? I thought her package had gotten lost in the mail so I started a new one and then she received her package. But I had allready finished one item, so I have decided to send it since they're too small for me and I don't know anyone else who'd appriciate them.

Comments? Questions?