Twice a year?

It seems that I only make it here twice a year. Once again, time for a autumn/fall report.

This summer was really hot, so knitting bamboo/cotton felt like a good idea. I combined some stash bamboo and some LYS bargain cotton with a charity knitting blankets (and other stuff) for prematures at our local hospital.

This one was knit in Novita bamboo yarn from my stash, size a bit less than 50*50cm... for someone really small, that is. Pattern is the same one I used to knit a blanket for my own babies more than 9 years ago.

That was a quick knit, but took me a long time to block and weave in ends...

Next I decided to try out a really interesting pattern with my bargain cotton. This blanket is bigger, maybe 70*70cm. A really simple knit, with a really interesting result. I don’t think I could have made more than 9 squares, though. Gets a bit heavy, and a bit boring.

Looks really cool, though. Especially on picture. Not flawless, but I do not think anyone will notice. Crocheted border to keep it square. (1 row sc and one row backward sc if I remember the crochet terminology correctly.)

Also, I finally weaved in the last loose ends in my DD’s new mittens. Winter is coming.

Spring report

Still not much time to document what I've been up to, but let's make a try. What have I been up to this spring, well, mainly socks it seems. So hold on, here comes the "Socks for pre-school teachers 2018 edition":

Now, let's start with the Fluffy Unicorn Socks for the head teacher of DS's class this year. They're a bit different from what I normally would knit, as the yarn is a lot thicker than usual (Novita 7 veljestä?). But thenagain, they do spend a lot of time outdoors with the kids at our pre-school, so I think they may even be useful even though I prefer thinner socks myself. The pattern comes from Pirjo Iivonen's wonderful book Unelmien silmukat . Haaveista sukiksi. I've knit many of the patterns in this book, and still have some must-knits left.

 This pattern I just had to knit to find out how-to-get-the-cables-do-what-they-do. And as the light snowy feeling I first got from this pattern felt perfect for this teacher, off I was knitting.

The final name was developed by DS, who was having sleepy unicorn thoughts at bed-time some weeks ago. When I started to think of it - yes - those were the words I had been looking for to define this teacher - she is a Fluffy Unicorn! Soft, & sweet.
Beads from DD's bead stash. Sometimes it's very practical to have an 8-year-old in the house!

Next I have a pair for a dear stand-in teacher. She has been there as a safe extra resource for my kids all these years. I am so happy that our kindergarten and pre-school have decided to have these extra resources around on an every-day basis. Whenever one of the teachers is ill or something, they do not have to call in unknown, unfamiliar people, but they have these wonderful people on stand-by, that know our children so well, so that the children probably not even realise that they are having a substitute teacher this day. 

Another one of my DS's teachers this year apparently likes roses a lot - her sandals have a rose pattern, her other clothes too. I did not succeed completely in finding the correct pattern for her socks, so I ended up concentrating on a color that would remind of the colors on her sandals. These socks, and the blue ones above, I knit so long ago that I do not remember what patterns I used - will add credits if I recall them. Yarns in both yellow and purple socks was Drops Fabel anyway.

 Now, the fourth teacher getting socks this year comes originally from "the town of  Birch Trees" So knitting one of my favv sock designer's Niina Laitinen's pattern "Koivun alla" (Under the Birch) was pretty obvious. Had some Rowan sock yarn in my stash with the perfect color too. Wonderful soft yarn to knit; I wonder how it will last, though.

So, I have knit all pre-school teacher socks, and it's only May 5th. That's pretty unusual, but then again, I did start well before Christmas this year.

Just in case, and because I had time, I also knit a pair of socks for my DD's school teacher, as we are not yet sure wether she will be around next year or not. If she can stay, I'll just have to put these away until another year.

These "Seitsemän palmikon sukat" by Jorma Saarinen from a Finnish magazine "Rakas Villasukka are knit in Alize Superwash. Not as soft as the Rowan - quite a huge difference - so probably will hold a lot better.

Sporty, looking simple but with a lot of twists. And a bit unpractically white, but they are superwash... I hope she will like them!

I know I would:

Autumn / Fall report

I just logged in (May 5th 2018) and noted that I have not done anything around here for almost a year! Not quite true, though - found this draft unpublished. I must have got interrupted and forgot to publish! That was some great fun I had back then!

Apparently it’s time for a half year report, I haven’t really been around much, have I? Working, mommying and trying to squeeze in some knitting, so not much news, really.

Had a couple of weeks actually finishing some projects now,

and I went to the Finnish Parliament to air my Kalevala blanket:

I think we were about 40-50 crocheters there, with blankets from this popular CAL to honor Finland’s 100th birthday. Pls google Kalevala CAL for more info, it’s late and I’m tired. Mine is the blue blanket in the middle :)

Crocheting after a long break was fun (but weaving in all those loose ends was tough), and it felt good to update my crochet skills from the 80’s with some more modern stitches and methods!

Today I weaved in the last ends on my Valentine’s Day mittens. Yes I know, I started almost a year ago. And yes, those have been taking up space in my bookshelf for a long time now, only lacking thumbs. Ended up knitting thumbs on bigger needle as my kn itting was really tight compared to last spring... But now I have matching mittens to the socks! (For patterns and stuff check out Niina Laitinen designs and Taimitarha eg. on Ravelry, she’s quite productive!)

Socks for kindergarten teachers #2-4

As I wrote earlier, upgrading kid to pre-school is ahead. And I wanted to knit socks for all the personnell that we leave behind. Well, I blew it. One of them left two weeks ago, and I only learned about it the same afternoon she left.

 

But now, with one week to go, I finally have the last pair blocking (minus one).

These are for the sweet, kind-hearted one, that has been around all 3 years. She was awsome the first months when DS was so little and really needed her warm heart.

 

 

These are for the one, who held him in his lap two years ago when I came to pick him up, when he had developed chicken pox.

 

 

And these for the one, who has been there all three years, In charge of my kids' group, always on-the-spot when it comes to my children's development and needs. Need I say that she is kind of a goth. Yes, they exist, goth kindergarten teachers, and I am so happy that we got to be in her group all these years.

 

 

Thank you to all of you! It's been a blast!

 

(And fortunately most of you will still be there next year, we just won't be in your group. But we'll still see each other almost every day.)

Knee-high socks in a week?

So, is it possible to knit a pair of knee-high socks in just one week. Apparently it is. Another question is why you would want to do that. Well, having kids sure introduces you to all kind of new challenges. We just learned (last week), that one of the personnell at DS's daycare was having her last work week at hand. Combine that with my decision to knit socks for all personnell in this group this spring as "thank you and good bye", as it will be time for upgrade to pre-school next fall. The girl quitting now was actually the first one I knew what kind of socks I was going to knit to, and I had already bought the yarn (months ago), but I really thought I'd have three more months to do this (and four other pairs...) I had a week. So I started right away when I heard the news. I combined this with DS having the flu coughing all nights, two eye infections of myself and one for DH, and as DS started feeling better DD went down with the same flu and I got diagnosed with a bad sinus infection to accompany the renewing eye infection. Oh, and DH went abroad on a business trip. All together, quite a busy week, when I've been working on distance, looking after 1-2 sick kids and knitting in between on my non-existent spare time. I confess I feel a bit... insufficient. Hyper-efficient yes, sufficient not so much. Well, tomorrow is her last day, I rolled up the socks for DS to give her. No time for blocking as it's almost midnight, but at least they look neat when worn.

Pattern from Novita, winter 2016 I think, Heart socks.

Socks for babies born in Finland 2017

 

Since last summer, there's been a project going on to knit baby socks for all babies born in Finland during 2017, our 100th year of independence. There are lots of projects going on, more info on (all?) the official ones can be found here. As a knitter, a person who loves blue, but with not too much spare time, it was easy to choose this project. Also, I picked up a pair of red socks myself some years ago when my firstborn turned up (Finnish Martha organisation had an anniversary that year) and have always wanted to pass that favour along to other mothers too. I've been knitting on these small socks every now and then, often on the bus when commuting to work, as they're small and easy to carry around. At last, I have made it as far as to actually add the washing instructions and add them to the huge masses of socks that others have already brought around. I have 1 1/2 pair waiting, so maybe I will add them to my contribution later, but the speed with which people knit right now is unbelievable, so I'm afraid the project will end and I'll have to find some charity to take the rest of my socks. Win-win whatever happens.   And as the middle pair needs some extra explanation:

KAL socks

Ok, so what's up. Socks, socks and socks... Last spring Niina Laitinen (pages in Finnish) arranged a flower sock KAL on FB, that I happened to stumble upon. As a beginner, I only knit one sock during the KAL, and was to finish the second sock when the KAL was over. Well, that KAL sure is over now, about a year later. I still have the 1.000.000 loose ends to take care of, but I finally got this far:

The true motivation to get the second sock off the needles was Niina's newest KAL, Valentine's Day socks that started three days ago.  As I learned from the flower socks, I will need to knit both socks simultaneously this time, so I really needed the 3mm needles used for these socks. That should save me from knitting half of sock #2 before noting, that I was knitting it in the wrong size. Which in turn should save me from a lot of frogging and bad temper this time. Other things I learned during this sock project was, that they would have been even nicer had I chosen more similar colors. These colors were what I happened to find around the house, and it does not show that clearly in the pic, but there are two really dark flower colors, and two much brighter, also the leaves are pretty bright. Some more similarity would have been better, but I still like them of course. Very much. Back to the reason for freeing the needles: 

 

I knit with the wooden needles, and keep stitches on hold with the metal ones.

A bit late

I did not quite make it with these socks this year. Finished this evening, Christmas Day, and as Santa travels through Finland on Christmas Eve, he could not deliver these, I had to give them to my MIL in person. Actually, they started out as a present for a goth friend, but the more I knit the more they started to look more like my MIL and less like goth friend. Yarn Novita 7 veljestä, needles 4mm and 3,75mm (could not find free 3,5mm's), pattern from Novita Sukkalehti 2014. Too thick yarn for me, but I wanted to try the pattern. 

Yarn for nothing

 ... and mitt's for free. Or well, not entirely for free, but this yarn was a bargain.  The first two colors I bought turned into a pair of mittens for DD. A long time since I did anything fair isle, but they turned out good enough I think.

Pattern from Drops/Garnstudio, Novita Nalle and dpn's 3.00 mm that is.

Wrist warmers

So, my male wrist warmer prototype is ready. This started out as a quick knit-10cm-ribbings to warm up the wrists of a cold colleague, but then again, it was very quick to knit, so I made them a bit longer, and while at it, I decided to add thumbholes as well in case he wants to use them as fingerless mitts too.  Yarn Novita Isoveli, stash color, 50 grams (48 grams just might be enough, but I do not promise). Needles 4,0 mm. Size small (male) hand. I cast on 44 sts, and knitted ribbing (k1tbl p1) for about 34 rows (13.5 cm). Then I made an optional hole for the thumb binding off 8 sts with Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off, and then cast on the same amount of new sts on the next row. Kept knitting the same ribbing for another 9 rows (3.5 cm), then binding off all sts using the same stretchty bind-off. Total length 14 cm and with 7.5 cm (not stretched).  Tomorrow I will give them to my test user and see if he comes up with ideas of improvement. Pic model on my own hand, these are a bit too bif for me, but not much.

 

Sauna romance

Ok, so I've been away for a while. Life, as usual, interfering with my personal life. Time now for a bit more extensive update, I hope. So, what have I been up to on the knitting front the past few months. Well, I ran into an interesting book, Unelmien silmukat, by Pirjo Iivonen, and as it was out-of-stock wherever I looked online, I ended up buying it in a local book store. Not the cheapest way, I must say, but, well, I got what I wanted. There are some really fascinating socks in that book, many technique must-do's. So far, I've knitted two, and I think the book would have needed a little bit more proof-reading/knitting but as Finnish sock instructions traditionally tend to be of type "knit cuff desired length, then heel, after that knit foot until long enough and finish sock the usual way", well this book has come pretty far from that tradition! I started out making these for myself!

The yarn used is Hot Socks Neon, which I got from my secret knitting friend LeenaS last spring. Did end up struggling a bit over the pattern / made my own solutions. Love the result.   When I showed the book to my Mom, she immediately spotted what was to be my second project from this book. A pair of Romanssi i.e. Romance, for one of her friends. I took the sock pictures in the sauna by the way, hence the title of this post. These look fantastic on the foot, but as my foot is too small for these, no pics of that :-(.

I got a pic of the book too. Not in the sauna, though...  

 

Yarn used Drops Fabel, one of the few decent ways to find a uni-color (in this case close-to unicolor) sock yarn at my local yarn store. Size 40+, needed a bit more than one skein.

 

But now the socks will have to take a short break, right now DD's hands are too big for last year's mittens, so I'm giving these a try:

 

As she's not around this weekend I don't know about the size, I sure hope I got it right! Love the yarn colors anyway. Bought these when Stockmann apparently once again stopped selling yarns, bright-colored Novita Nalle was all that was left. Prize tag says €1.40 but I got my skeins for €0.70. I think the sales person made a mistake there, the sign said 50% but the tags already had the discount prize on them... I did not want to draw attention to this, but yes, I wish I had gone back and bought them all...

 

Also, as I found yet another colleague of the freezing type, I'm knitting a pair of simple, discrete wrist warmers. Would have chosen an even darker gray had I had one, but this will do. 

My family will be heading this way any hour now, putting an end to my weekend of silent rest (not that silent as the cough that made me stay behind has gotten pretty loud at times). I think I should put my last hour into the mittens, as they require a certain amount of concentration that is not always possible to achieve with the family in the house...   

Kesäkuun SNY-paketti

No, niin, se oli siinä. SNY kevät 2016 kesäkuun paketti saapui. Salattavaa ei enää ole. Kevättäni on ilahduttanut LeenaS.
Juhannusreissun jälkeen pääsin siis vasta tänään pakettia noutamaan. Viimeisestä paketista löytyi taas jotain minulle ja jotain lapsille (kiitos!). Oma kohta-5v käveli kanssani asiamiespostiimme, ja sitten jännitettiin kotimatkan verran, että onkohan siinä jotain muuta kuin lankaa...? Ja olihan siinä, lapsille omat huulirasvapuikot (StarWars- ja Frozen). Neidin mukaan kimalteleva kynsilakka oli meille kaikille, joten käsivoiteen nappasin ihan itselleni :-). Lanka oli Schachenmayerin Fashion Batiko Sun, ja sain vielä elämäni toiseksi paksuimmat puikot, 12-milliset. Huivi siitä pitäisi tulla; jos tulee lämmin kesä, niin tämä tuonee sopivasti taukoa villalangoista.
Parasta oli ehkä kuitenkin kangaskassi - farkkukuosi jossa värikkäitä perhosia. Käytän tällaisia kangaskasseja miltei päivittäin (ehkä käsilaukkuni on turhan pieni) ja on kivaa vaihdella kasseja, tämä tulee luultavasti jo huomenna käyttöön. Ompelutaitoinen SNY - tekee mieli ommella jotain itsekin, piiitkän tauon jälkeen! Olin jotenkin ehtinyt unohtaa ompelemisen ilot viime vuosina, mutta nyt tosiaan hieman tekisi mieli...Hauskinta SNY:ssä on ehkä koota ystävälleen paketteja, toiseksi hauskinta on tietenkin saada yllättäviä paketteja arkea piristämään, mutta kolmantena juttuna täytyy kyllä mainita inspiroituminen!

Itse lähetin muuten tänä keväänä nuoremmalle versiolle itsestäni, Suville.

Paulalle Paulat

Huhtukuun SNY-paketin taikapallo pääsi käyttöön. Kuten jo silloin kerroin, Paulalle pitänee tehdä Paulat (paketissa oli Niina Laitisen Paulat-sukkaohje). Nämä siis tein erittäin tehokkaalle, pirtsakkaalle ihanalle entiselle työkaverille - toivottavasti kohtaamme vielä myös työn merkeissä, mutta nyt on ainakin hyvä syy lounastreffeille tai terrassitreffeille tänä kesänä!

Ja tuo lanka oli aivan loistava tähän tarkoitukseen. Värikäs yhdistelmä josta löysin sekä Brasiliaa että lappalaista revontulta. En olisi parempaa löytänyt millään.

Eskariprojekti #2

No niin, eilen vielä puuttuva sukkapari on tässä:

Ja koko kuvakavalkaadi tulee tässä:

Aika tyytyväinen olen. Kieltämättä.

The Socks for Kindergarten Teachers -project can now be closed. It was a tough race against the clock, I lost, but that's ok 'cause the teachers will be around at least another two weeks. Satisfied with the result, although the socks are not exactly flawless, but you need to be a good knitter & examine them from the wrong side to find the mistakes :-).

Eskariprojekti

läheltä piti, että olisin ehtinyt saada eskariohjaajien sukat valmiiksi jo kevätjuhliin, mutta sitten en kuitenkaan ihan jaksanut valvoa sitä tarvittavaa tuntia. Raskas viikko, ensin yh-päiviä muutama (mies työmatkalla) ja sitten vielä eskarin kevätjuhlien jälkeen kahtena iltana ulos juhlimaan - ensin työkavereitten kanssa kahden läksiäiset (meni vähän överiksi ollakseen torstai-ilta mutta kivaa oli) ja hiljaisen perjantaityöpäivän jälkeen entisiä naapureita tapailemaan.

Mutta tänään viimeistelin viimeistä sukkaparia (ei kuvaa, saunassa kuivumassa) ja sain kolme ekaa kuvattua. Katsotaan saisinko ne kuvat tähän, kuvalataukset ei oikein tahdo toimia tällä hetkellä...

No niin, tässä eka pari. Schachenmayer Regia Fluormania Color käytin kolmessa sukkaparissa neljästä. Tämä eka kerä oli lempparini.

Miesohjaajalle Fabelista "ASecond Chance for Mr. Rushworth Socks jostain Jane Austen Knits -lehdestä. Tarkoitus oli tehdä toiset sukat samasta lehdestä mutta niistä tuli jotenkin isot/ oudot. Onneksi, koska nämä ovat varmaan kauneimmat sukat mitä olen ikinä tehnyt. Olen todella tyytyväinen!

Ja kolmantena sukkaparina taas Fluormania-lankaa. Huomenna kun neljäs pari on kuivunut pitänee paketoida.

Seuraavaksi neulon sitten jotain aivan muuta. Eikun. Sukat edelleen puikoilla.

Toukokuun SNY-paketti ja lahja itselleni

Tänään menimme kävelylle ja haettiin toukokuun paketti:

"Värikästä lankaa" totesi neiti kun minun avuliaat paketti-assistentit repivät paketin auki. Ja oikeassa oli tietenkin, kaunista Drops Delightia monta kerää! Paketissa oli pari huivilanka-ohjettakin - en ole moneen vuoteen huivia neulonut, mutta tämä lanka kyllä huutaa suoraan, että tahtoo huiviksi... Sävy-sävyyn servettejä kevätpiknikille, virkkuukoukku ja parit hassut pallot lapsille (käärme- ja kilpikonnapomppupallot) löytyivät myös paketista. On jo  korkea aika opettaa neidille muuten virkkausta... ja kangastarroja esim. vaatteiden nimikoimiseen tai muuhun askarteluun.

Pitää vielä vähän hehkuttaa siitäkin, kun ostin itselleni tällä viikolla lahjan:

Olen aivan mielettömän innostunut, kaunis kirja joka yhdistää pari minun kiinnostuksen aihetta - neulominen ja lastenkirjat! Ohjeista en välttämättä aio toteuttaa mitään, mutta on tuo kirja vaan niin kaunis ja hyvä !

Got the May package from my secret friend today, love that yarn, will need to knit myself yet another shawl! And I bought myself a present, that arrived this week. Just gorgeous this book! If you love yarn, knitting and children's books: learn Swedish or wish for a translation!

Äitienpäivä

"Onneksi äitienpäivä on vain kaksi kertaa vuodessa" totesin maanantaina, kun toistamiseen piti livahtaa töistä hurjan aikaisin ehditäkseni päiväkodin äitienpäivätilaisuuteen - eskarin vastaava tapahtuma kun oli eri päivänä, niin omatunto töissä kärsii... No, en koe olevani heille tällä hetkellä kauheasti velkaa tietyistä syistä, omatunto olisi kyllä ollut hyvin paljon enemmän koetuksella jos en olisi päässyt molempien lasten äitienpäiväviettoon!
Mutta tulipa juhlittu kunnolla! Jo keskiviikkona eskarin tilaisuus ja lahja. Lauantaina ruusuja. Sunnuntaina perinteinen äitienpäivälounas - nykyään lapset antavat jopa istua rauhassa syömässä, eli alkaa olla ihan oikeasti kiva tapahtuma. Sunnuntaina myös päiväkotilapsen lahja, maanantaina kuten mainitsin päiväkodin äitienpäivätarjoilu, ja vielä illalla, kotiin tultuamme postia salaiselta neuleystävältä! Värikäs kortti ja ratkaisu siihen, mitä kukkapenkin tyhjään tilaan istutetaan:

 

Aivan loistavaa! Kiitos!

Hauskaa vappua!

Salainen neuleystäväni todella tietää, mitä lapsiperhe tarvitsee, ja sopivasti ennen vappumatkalle lähtöä saapui taas välimuistaminen:

Oikein metallihohtoisetkin! Tulossa käyttöön tänään.

Ja kun kerran täällä käy, niin näytänpäs vielä tämäkin, eli mitä on tällä hetkellä työn alla:

Puikot ovat muuten salaisen ystäväni maaliskuun paketista. Ihanaa neuloa näillä, muuten, kyllä puisetkin kelpaa! Tumman langan kanssa saattaa olla hankalaa, mutta näin vaalean langan kanssa juuri sopivat! Lanka on Fabel, ja ohje A second chance for Mr. Rushworth, jostain Jane Austen knits-lehdestä. Aivan ihana malli! Eikä edes ollut mahdoton oppia ulkoa, vaikka alussa siltä tuntui. Kuuluu projektisarjaan sukat-eskarihenkilökunnalle, katsotaan miten käy, noin puolet sukista tehtynä...

Tämä sukka lukeutuu muuten myös joukkoon "neuletyöt joista saa kommentteja tuntemattomilta". Siinä ryhmässä on ennestään vain revontuli-huivini, eihän suomalaiset turhaan kommentoi ventovieraiden juttuja. Tätä sukkaa olen neulonut paljon bussissa, ja tällä viikolla eräänä aamuna kun jäin bussista pois, niin yksi nainen tosiaan huomautti, että onpas kaunis sukka! Aah, tällaisena keväänä kun huolia on riittänyt, niin näitä ihania ihmisiä todella tarvitaan!

Got some balloons from my secret knitting friend for the festivities. And finished the first Mr Rushworth sock for one of DD's pre-school teachers. Love this pattern! (And love the knew dpn's I got from my secret friend in the March package too!)

Jännitystä elämään

Kuten mainitsin, SNY on osittain kidutusta. Odotusta, jännitystä. Kun vihdoinkin pääsin postiin hakemaan pakettini, avustajat saapuivat välittömästi auttamaan.

---kuva auttajista, jos saan joskus kuvansiirto kännykästä toimimaan---

Paketin sisältä paljastui ihana huhtikuun taikapallo, joten jännitys ei tuohon loppunut.

Taidekortti jälleen, kolme Niina Laitisen sukkaohjetta ja taikapallo, jossa kauniit KnitPicksin puikot. Kuten SNY:ni kirjoittaa, tuo lanka on hieman paksumpi kuin mitä yleensä käytän, mutta pitäähän välillä käydä mukavuusalueen ulkopuolella. Eikä tuo Hot Socks Samba sentään ole kuin 6-säkeinen. Sopivasti puikkojen paksuus onkin 3,5.

Lapset eivät tienneet, että taikapallo voi sisältää lisää yllätyksä, joten pallo avattiin vasta seuraavana päivänä.

Ja kaikenlaista kivaa sieltä löytyikin. Neulatyyny, karkkeja, nappeja, sekä pari silityspaikkaa. Ja

kiva Hand knitted-nauhaa! SNY:lläni on tosiaan kivoja pieniä juttuja!

Ihaninta oli kuitenkin, että yhden sukka-ohjeen nimi oli Paulat. Työkaverini Paula kun joutui yt:ssä muutama viikko sitten lähtemään, niin miten SNY:ni tiesi... ;-). Pitäisi varmaan tehdä Paulalle Paulat! Kiitos SNY!