I finished my Bamboo socks for myself recently. They were my second socks ever, and I felt like the pattern was challenging for a newbie, but still easy enough to figure out. I learned how to read charts (I didn’t come to think that you read them as you would knit – from right to left, bottom to top) and I learned to do the Dutch heel.

The yarn I used is Estonian Aade Lõng Artistic 8/2; I got it as a gift from Obiskus about a year ago. The hank was huge and I barely used about 20% of the ball! The color doesn’t change very often, as you can see: the first sock has pink and dark purple, while the second begins with the dark purple and continues in light purple. Those are the three colors of the yarn. Beautiful, and I like the asymmetry in the socks, as they still have one color in common. But if I wanted something not-so-funny, I would probably use this yarn for a scarf, perhaps.

I also learned that the sock should feel tight at first, if you want it to fit perfectly over time. I thought mine fit perfectly, but they’re already looser, and for some reason the pink ankle is much looser than the other ankle. Go figure. But since I usually wear at least two pairs of woolly socks in the winter on top of each other, mostly three pairs, I need to have socks in all sizes. Fitting underneath and bigger on the top. Now I just have to knit some prettier, bigger socks to be worn on the top, so I can ditch my old, ugly socks!

Chapter 2. Arranging the stash

Yesterday I felt energetic enough to clean my apartment, and while I was in full swing, I assembled two cardboard boxes that I’d got from my mum and put all my yarn in them. The boxes are quite pretty:

But I didn’t want to hide all my yarn, so I put the prettiest ones on display in the wicker basket that was also from my mum. Some yarn is also hidden inside the white leather stool – I love the idea! It’s actually also from mum, she bought it specially for putting my yarn in it. She has really nice ideas for storing things. Now I feel good about rummaging through my yarn, because the bags were quite of unwieldy.

Chapter 3. New projects ahoy

I had a momentary panic when I finished my Bamboo socks. I had finished all my knits for xmas and hadn’t planned new projects in the hurry. It feels terrible to have no project to knit! Thankfully I got some ideas to knit more for mum and UncleEnsio and my cousin Satu (she has absolutely no internet presence whatsoever, believe it or not!).

Here are Petäjä socks for Ensio, I’m still knitting the first sock:

The pattern is ridiculously easy after the Bamboo socks, so I knitted a French heel this time. It’s supposed to be rounder than the Dutch heel, and maybe it is. The yarn is Novita 7 Veljestä Jättiraita and the needles are 2mm, so the sock feels very stiff and sturdy, just like Ensio wanted.

Since I gave the Heelhead scarf in Novita 7 Veljestä Jättiraita for mum for xmas, I suggested I make her mittens too from the same yarn, since there was still some left. I’m still knitting the first one:

Mum really liked her scarf and the yarn colors and she’s gotten compliments for it. It’s great, because I’m never exactly sure of her taste.

Since I had two skeins of Novita Puro Revontulet, I thought I would make matching mittens for my Northern Lights scarf:

The dye lot isn’t the same, but that’s fine. This yarn is lovely to knit and the colors are beautiful, but they pool so that it’s really difficult to knit something that truly matches the yarn’s potential.

Chapter 4. New yarn!

Moreover, I got some new yarn on xmas. Here they are:

4 humongous hanks in 4 colors of Tekstiiliteollisuus Huopalanka, it’s DK yarn meant for felting.

And 3 skeins of Sublime Luxurious Woolly Merino in 3 colors:

And 3 skeins of Schoeller + Stahl Elfin color in 2 colors, a mohair yarn:

And 4 skeins of Sandnesgarn Fritidsgarn in 2 colors:

I also bought some yarn myself. Ensio got excited about the orange Fritidsgarn and thought that an orange pullover would be cool. But the problem is, Fritidsgarn is quite bulky and coarse and meant for felting. I wanted a thinner yarn so the sweater wouldn’t be too warm, and it would have to be soft on the skin, and wear well. I bought one skein of Gjestal Maija in dark orange but didn’t like it, then I bought Cascade Yarns 220 wool:

But it’s actually in coral, not orange, so that didn’t work either. I’m going to make socks for myself from this yarn because it’s a lovely color and could show some interesting pattern very well.

But on a second visit to Lankaliike Aili Jokinen, a very old LYS in Tampere, they had gotten new yarn and Step Classic by Austermann in orange turned out to be the perfect color.

Moreover, it has 25% Nylon and Jojoba oil, so it should be very soft to wear. The sales lady also noticed my beanie made from Teetee Pallas and showed it to the owner. Good service. She also suggested I have to make mittens from the same yarn, but I didn’t cave in. I have to knit my existing stash first. Well, some of it at least.

I also thought I would use my Novita Isoveli Colori skein for making socks for my cousin for next xmas. Yes, I’m already thinking of knitting presents for next xmas, because I didn’t like being in a hurry the last time. I also consider knitting her a scarf from King Cole’s Mirage.

Chapter 5. Afterword

OMG I’m so excited about my new yarn, new projects and new project ideas!

Firstly, I’ve been knitting a Karius scarf (Ravelry link) for a long time in Novita’s Nalle Marjaretki Lakka and finally finished it some weeks ago:

Here you can see close up how the striping goes.. I am in love with this yarn and the colors. I love orange. And here it is, finished and being blocked:

I probably didn’t let it dry flat for long enough, because it’s curling again. I have to make another try at blocking because it’s a bit clumsy to use as a roll. It’s like a snake or something.

And then there is of course the hooded coat (Ravelry link), minus the hood, for Turpo the dog!

It’s obvious she likes wearing it. Look how comfortable and appreciative she is.

Yes, she’s certainly a fan of the coat! I removed the hood because it wouldn’t have worked with a leash coming from the back of the neck. It’s a cute idea, though. The color is actually hot pink, but my camera didn’t want to show that. The coat fits quite well, considering that Turpo is slightly on the heavy side for her breed. It’s loose around her belly, but very snug around her chest and front legs.

I definitely want to knit more dog coats now! I don’t care if they will ever be really used, I just like knitting something for a dog. And having her try them on! She’s such a sport and obviously loves the process just as much as I do.

And then there’s the basic garter rib cap that I wanted for the autumn – not too warm, but fends off the wind. (Ravelry link)

The pattern was very simple, but even so, I had some trouble understanding garter rib. And I made one tiny mistake of making one knitted stitch where there should have been a purl stitch … and the whole row got messed up. You can see it in the middle. I had gone so far after that that I decided it’s not worth unravelling, because the cap is black and nobody can see it in the winter darkness. I put this cap on when I don’t want eyes on me as I go to and back from the gym and krav maga, without make-up and sweaty…

And last but not least: my first socks! Ever! Yes, that’s right. I’m Finnish and I have never knitted socks before! Most girls learn to knit socks, mittens, scarves and stuff at school in Finland, but not me, since I rather took up wooden handicraft when given a choice. So I learned to really knit only last year, and not when I was a pre-teen like most Finns.

The instructions emphasized the importance of making the slipped stitches in the heel very tight, or you will get holes in your socks. Now I see just how important it would be. I complained about it to Amoena, and she said she has trouble making hole-free socks too, even though she’s much more experienced as a knitter. So I don’t feel so bad – I can sew them in.

I didn’t have a particular pattern for them. I started with the ribbed ankle part, then knitted the short row heel according to instructions in Ulla (link to website), then continued in stockinette stitch and ended by following instructions again from Ulla for how to make the toe part (link).

(Behold the holes)

I still like this colorway too. I already knitted a hooded scarf for mum with it and wanted to make socks too. I still have some yarn left and I will probably make mittens next.

But before that, I have new projects for Christmas: I want to knit helmet liners for both my brothers and my dad. My little bro will get the same color as my beef, my big brother will get  a black one, and my dad will get a blue helmet liner. My dad is like the least color-challenged of them, so I wanted to choose the least male-friendly color for him.

In addition, I want to try Amoena’s pattern for stripy arm warmers. I’m thinking I’ll make them in white and blue and give them to my cousin, who gets easily cold and likes blue (yes, such people exist apparently). Amoena and my cousin both have very slender arms, so I am not going to stretch them by trying them on my own arms…

There is also still the Travelling woman scarf that never took off from the very start. Back when I started it, I didn’t understand how to pick up stitches along the side and knit them. This is how “far” I got:

Now I do, however, know how to pick up and knit stitches along the side, thanks to the helmet liner! So I will take up that project again once my Christmas business is over and done with. And don’t you just love the colorway on this yarn?

And some final piece of knitting news: I did a yarnventory and re-arranged my yarn stash. That was a good idea, since I’d forgotten some of the yarn I had. Now I only wish I could put them on display somehow, for me to admire the lovely colors. Some kind of a yarn shelf with glass doors would be ideal.

One must have aspirations in life. And knitting.

I have knitted:

• a helmet liner for my handsome ninja-wannabe beef
• TWO heelhead scarves!

My first heelhead scarf, which I affectionately like to call the Steelhead scarf (because that’s how I read the name of the pattern every time I had a look), has been on my needles for a long time – since last year in fact. I finished it some time ago, but was too lazy to take a photo and upload it and blog about it. Besides, I lost my camera battery charger that I hadn’t even used once and had to order a new one. Of course the cheapest option was from a web store whose owner won’t send your stuff until you start getting really mad. It took about 2 months!

Anyway. The black heelhead scarf was for myself. I liked knitting it eventually, after having had plenty of trouble with it. So I knitted another one for my mum in colourful stripes, because she’s a colour fan as myself. The difference between us is that I won’t wear just anything colorful, but she will. She has more confidence for dressing up like a clown… just kidding, I think she has a great taste and really can pull off a colourful style.

So here they are, me wearing the black scarf and Turpo sporting the fancy splash of colour:

(Turpo looks like an artist!)

(Modelling knitwear is FUN!)

(Click to enlarge)

And moving on to the helmet liner: why did I want to knit it? I can only remember wanting to knit a hat for myself (which I did), and while I was at it I noticed a pattern for a marine helmet liner (opens a pdf file). It’s a pattern perfectly suited for US marine troops, knitters can knit them and send them in for real use!

I really liked that idea, except I wasn’t going to send my own helmet liner anywhere. I was going to knit it no matter what, even if I couldn’t find anyone to give it to. But then I got blessed with my own Finnish ex-navy tough guy who could use it. Perfect!  He really seems to like it and says he’s going to use it, even though the yarn is a bit itchy. It’s not even 100% wool, which btw would be unacceptable for US troops who’d rather not have their face melt together with their helmet liner in the case of fire…

I had my troubles with the helmet liner, too. For the first time I was using two circular needles, with the other one acting as a stitch holder while knitting the cap portion; and I also learned to add stitches with the cabled cast-on method. There was some unraveling involved at some points, but I persevered and pulled through. Moreover I think my knitting is starting to get quite even and nice-looking. It’s almost as if I wasn’t a beginner knitter still.

(Beautiful eyes, huh?)

All in all, even though it took me a long time to finish these and publish them here, I’m very pleased with the results. Gods I like knitting so much. And I get huge kicks from learning new knitting tricks.

(Turpo is a HUGE fan of cuddling! See how she’s enjoying it!)

Next up is my still unfinished object, a Karius scarf, and sewing together my hobbit sweater. I can’t wait to have Turpo model it. I’m also planning to knit matching mittens for the colourful heelhead scarf for mum, since there is some yarn left still.

And now I can take another month’s break from blogging again. Or not. I have some ideas for new portraits again and will get down to it tomorrow…

Anyway. I got tagged by a Twitter knitter, Cheekytart (you can follow her here). So I’m basically obligated to blog, but I don’t feel forced at all. I needed something like this: My desire (more sharp than filed steel) did spur me forth,* when given a chance. The tag entails answering to a slew of questions about my personal life, which is fine.

1- What’s your staple meal (ie. what meal do you cook most often when you can’t be bothered to be adventurous) ?

I like to make a chicken wok with vegetables, basmati rice and various spices. I just throw in some courgettes, sweet pepper, black olives, mushrooms, sometimes carrot, and add different curry spices like turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom, ginger, chili, cinnamon and clove. You can make endless variations by wokking and you don’t have to consult any recipes, and I love that. It’s hard to go wrong because I’m not so choosy when it comes to tastes in food. The food has to be quite terrible for me not to eat it.

2- What do you want to be when you grow up?

I wonder how you know you are actually all grown up. Right now I would love to find work which involved using my language skills. Translation, proofreading, data entry, developing language-related apps, anything involving writing…

One of my ambitions is to write a dissertation, since I see it as something I have to do or I’ll always wonder what I could have accomplished with it, what I would find out if me and not anybody else looked at the data I am planning to use. I don’t see myself as a researcher for life because I don’t take criticism very well. I prefer an easier life to an ambitious one, since the former seems to entail far less agony and anguish.

Work is important to me because I haven’t had much of it so far in my life and to me it’s one way of defining myself as a person. I just want to feel useful and earn my living myself instead of living off everybody else.

3- What book are you reading at the moment (if any)

Larry Niven’s Ringworld. Someone over at the Mass Effect Social Forums said it was similar to the Mass Effect universe so I gave it a try. I’m almost finished and it is not a bad book. Before that, I read Allen Steele’s Coyote series, a gorgeous, realistic long series on colonizing an exoplanet, and Jack McDevitt‘s Ancient shores, a softer approach to scifi.

4- How do you relax?

I relax by exercising a lot and then eating something tasty with tea, watching tv and knitting, sometimes playing Mass Effect. Exercise is vital to my sanity and to my body’s functionality. Everything else is a plus.

5- What color are the interior walls of your home?

I live in a rental apartment with fugly old wallpapers, they are kind of white but not really, with weird yellowish and bluish stains and some texture. I try not to pay attention to it and I imagine it’s all white.

6- What is your guiltiest pleasure?

I don’t feel guilt over pleasures usually. Because I’m so worth it.

7- What time is bedtime and getting up time?

I like to tuck myself in around 11 pm so I have time to read a bit before sleep. Since I’m not working, I usually get up at 8.30 am unless, well, the circumstances are unusual.

8- How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?

I don’t read blogs on a daily basis, but I probably read one or two every week. I have spent so little time by the laptop lately, excepting Tweetdeck and email, that I simply haven’t had the time to read anything extra. Besides, my favorites have been taking a hiatus from blogging too, and nothing has been interesting enough to compel me into reading. I barely browse teh internets at all these days unless I’m using dictionaries or some other useful services.

–

There, I’ve blogged! This just might have been the longest hiatus I’ve had with blogging so far. I just moved my blog to a new host, Downtownhost, which I so far recommend.

I would like to tag:

Ukkoite, because he probably isn’t man enough to blog about a blog meme, let alone one that asks very personal questions — really, he’s such a sissy he will not dare ;)

SetAsEssential, a Swedish lady whose portrait I’d like to paint one day as soon as she sends me a decent photo of herself. ;)

Baltarstar, because she’s such a sweetheart and writes so well.

*From Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 3, line by Antonio (see here).

Hmm, maybe we could make it a tradition to exchange xmas presents in March or April, since it’s such a long time until my birthday and next Christmas… Anyway, in exchange for lol-slippers, Deniselle gave me fridge magnet poetry!

It’s a collection of words and punctuation marks in the form of fridge magnets that I can use to compose sentences, poetry in particular, by arranging them around on my fridge. I tried to group them according to word class, but soon discovered that my powers of classifying Finnish are less than perfect.

But let’s move on to the slippers! The pattern is from here, the Ravelry link is here. They are called Peter Pan’s slippers, but since mine always turn out too big, I call them lol-slippers.

Here are Deniselle’s slippers:

Deniselle really, really liked them! I guessed her taste in colors quite well – I don’t like blue much myself, but I don’t have a problem making something for someone else in colors that I don’t like. She thought they look absolutely hilarious with the pointy toes, which fits her endearingly silly personality very well indeed.

And here are mum’s slippers:

Mum commented that the pointy toes seem to want her to keep turning to the left all the time. They twist like that because I wasn’t careful enough with lining up the sides properly when I sewed them together.

Just like my dad’s slippers, these are huge. The cat in the photo is about the size of a real cat! The weird thing is, they are 12 rows and too big for mum, but at the same time the 10-row slipper she crocheted herself turned out too small for a friend of hers who has big feet for a woman. And when I asked Amoena about the size, she recalled she may have made only 8 rows in slippers she gave to a male friend of hers! Strange.

In any case, mum was thrilled with the colors and she decided she wants to try to make her own to give out as presents. She used to crochet, knit and sew her own clothes when she was young, because back then she was too poor to buy her clothes ready-made. She used to have a decent skill at it at least, so no reason why she couldn’t re-learn it.

So I urged her to buy  a crochet hook (her old ones were so short that they felt difficult to use) and some yarn, so I could teach her some basics before I have a 3 week break before my next Irish dance classes. She obeyed and I translated and printed out Finnish instructions for the slippers. As soon as she made her first double crochet, she immediately exclaimed “ooohh this is fun!”. Hooked from the first stitch! I had to draw a detailed series of pictures as a reminder of how to make the first slipknot and the first stitches in a magic ring, but otherwise she got the hang of the different stitches very quickly.

So the next time I’ll show her how to make hexagons (see on the sidebar in my projects – oh dear, I’ve completely neglected to blog about my hexagon blanket that I also gave to mum?!), since the slippers are quite fast to make and can get boring really quick. I can’t wait. It’s fun to spread the joy of handicraft.

Pichu, on the right, is definitely cuter than Chuckychu! I think I’m getting better at making amigurumis already, on my second try! I’m a little miffed that I can’t seem to find black safety eyes with light spots. There are hundreds of variations of eyes with a white, brown, green or any other color background, except black! And none with a light spot. And black eyes with light spots are essential to pokémons!

Oh well. I just have to be extra careful in cutting the eyes from felt. As with painting, the shape of the eye is a delicate matter. A tiny bit too small, big, oval, anything, and it won’t look quite right. Pikachu on the left there is a prime example.

Next up will be Eevee. Crocheting adorable creatures is a really nice change. They’re so fast to make and they’ll do a great job at establishing my reputation as a creep. Or more specifically, engraving that reputation on stone.

EDIT: I completely forgot to give props to the person whose pattern I used. It is of course Wolfdreamer, whose blog has many cute Pokemon patterns! I will probably make most of them before soon.

It feels like I worked on this beanie for an eternity, hence the ingenious name The Eternity Beanie (TEB for short). In actual fact, however, I started it before Christmas, went on until about 90% and then stopped. I got hit hard by the Terror of Finishing a Work and Realizing the Yarn Will Run Out (or TFWRYWRO for short; a devastating, mind-affecting condition documented in various medical publications).

So in the end, I probably worked on it only for a month at best, since I finished it in like two hours. I was ecstatic when I realized I won’t even run out of yarn – there is still at least one meter left. I’m truly pleased with this beanie, as I’ve always wanted this kind of slouchy beanie. I couldn’t find a good one in stores, so I had to make one.

The pattern is called the Sockhead Hat by Bohoknits. It only requires 100g of sock yarn, so I thought my two skeins of 50g Teetee Pallas yarn would be perfect. I fell in love with this beautiful variegated yarn and I think it suits the beanie perfectly. The pattern was very easy for a beginner knitter such as myself, so I strongly encourage any other beginners out there to start with this pattern. I only dropped one stitch and my decreases didn’t go all wonky. Yay me.