welcome 2010

New year, new decade. May it be woolen and full of happiness!

We've had some wonderful time over the holidays, with friends and family. We've enjoyed the snow and the great winter here - oh so white and oh so cold. And a little knitting, surely.

That little knitting is mostly my new favourite cardigan. (Hmmm... I think I say that about every finished piece.) But this is so cosy, so warm, so funny and so snugly. Love, love , love it.


Knitted with the yarn I got from my father (the best gift ever). The yarn was spun specially for them many years ago. Too bad they don't have sheep anymore, the yarn is beautiful. It was was natural white, but I decided to dye it. Bold move, but it paid off this time (I do remember some horrifying dye-experiments in the past...) The yellow is perfect!

Pattern: my own
Yarn: bulky weight wool
Needles: 5 mm


I can't stop with the pics, I love this so, so much. The collar is so wonderfully versatile (I'm so happy it worked like a dream!) and I'm constantly playing with it. What a great start for a new year of knitting!

more christmas cables

Here we go. I couldn't resist.
I had two skeins left over from my Christmas cables cardi and they turned into this matchy matchy hat. Fun and nice and warm. Now I think I have it all for perfect Christmas, it might be time to think others for a while!


Pattern: my own
Yarn: Hjertegarn Lima
Needles: 5 mm

christmas cables

Oh, it's December. Christmas is coming and it shows everywhere. Cheery Christmas carols, all the lights, all the waiting. Boys have been playing Santa and his little elf for some time now, and I've had the honour to be the reindeer occasionally.

We've not done much for Christmas, some gingerbread has been baked and that sort of things. But the best thing is my new cardigan. It's so perfect for this time of year - warm, layering and festive with honeycomb cables. And the color grey - I seriously have a thing for grey at the moment. A big thing.


Pattern: my own, and I think I will write up the pattern.
Yarn: Hjertegarn Lima
Needles: 5 mm

kerrera

Oh, it's December already. Finally I have something to show you, something new. New and oh so great! It's Kerrera-hoodie, by the talented designer Gudrun Johnston.

This was a test knit, but I was one really bad test knitter - we had a nasty flu in our family most of the test knitting period. I wasn't much help for Gudrun. I loved knitting it and the pattern is
really clear and well written.


Pattern: Kerrera by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Gjestal Janne
Needles: 5 mm and 5,5 mm

The grey color is perfect but otherwise I'm not happy with my yarn choice - though I liked it after swatching. Even the gauge was spot-on in my swatch. But somehow I managed to get the row gauge wrong in actual knitting and the feeling was a lot different.

Finished hoodie is wonderful, it fits perfectly and it sure will be my winter favorite this year! (It still needs two more buttons to completely finished...)

the second

We have snow - well more water than snow, but you can still see some white spots here and there. Little O was astonished in the morning: Look mommy, there's crumbs in the air. This might be the perfect time to show you my second design - Modern Garden.

Quickly knitted with super bulky yarn, it's great for winter. Thick, but still flattering. Almost all shaping is done with the leaf motifs and I'm so happy it worked! The pattern is charted, but the carts are so basic that every knitter can knit this.


Happy knitting to all! I hope you enjoy my patterns.

slowly

Look, there's something new on the sidebar.

It has taken me one whole year to design, knit, write, edit and design a layout for my first pattern. Slowly the good things come, I hope. I loved every single phase in this process. The actual writing was unexpectedly hard for me - finding the right conventions, using the right words, making it clear and getting all the numbers right. But I loved it so much.

What's even better is seeing the finished test knitting pieces. From my pattern. My design. Oh, the feeling when I saw the first. It was hard to believe my eyes, the pullover was gorgeous! All the work really has been worth it.

Thank you dear test knitters for making this possible!

I hope you enjoy the pattern.

against wind

Winter is coming as we reach the end of October. Trees are bare, the breeze is crisp and the days are getting darker day by day. Daylight is a hidden treasure. And the colors fade. It's beautiful to sense this moment, when all the colors are almost diluted to brown and grey and black.


I've made some preparations for winter, against cold and wind and darkness. I've been thinking about new caps and matching cowl for both little men for a while now, but finally I got the perfect idea. Nothing too complicated, garter stitch because I love it and thick yarn. The color is kind of crazy cold (why on earth have I bought yarn in this color?), but I hope it gives winter the same freeze treatment as it gives to us! And keeps little A warm and happy.

Patterns: my own
Yarn: Pirtin Kehräämön Hahtuva - unspun
Needles: 6 mm


Oh, the best thing in the cap is how the garter stitch pulls the front panel slightly upward and makes the cap fit just perfectly!