Year 2014 in pictures

Last year was a challenging one.  I eventually managed to finish a lot of stuff compared to all the hardships I faced. Here is a collage of everything done in 2014.

For Marmot

Thumbless mittens from Drops Alpaca

Baby socks from Drops Alpaca

A set of a hat, thumbless mittens and booties from Drops Eskimo

Aviatrix hat from Drops Alaska

A tiger toy from Novita 7 veljestä scraps

A baby blanket from Drops Alaska. This was my absolutely favourite finished piece in year 2014!

For myself

Covers for my maternity card from Novita 7 veljestä scrap yarns

A hat from Schoppel-Wolle Reggae Solid. The picture is quite horrible, in nature the colours are a lot brighter.

Socks from Drops Fabel. These were started in june 2013, so it was about time to finish these.

For others

Wedding gift scarfs from Drops Delight. I really didn’t like knitting this yarn. However these have gone to good use so at least the receivers are happy. Finally finished these in September, even though the wedding was in January.

A hat for Frangipani Guernsey for my ex. This was also started in June 2013. I however remade this 3 times and was quite bored with this in the end. He said it was good, so Ill be happy with that. :D

TARDIS for my stepson.

Things for home

Crocheted strings wrapped around a store bought litchen wreath from Novita 7 veljestä scraps.

A felted potholder from Drops Eskimo

Ready – Steady – Snow!

It’s allready September and it’s time to get ready for winter. Baby Marmot needed a set for cold weathers. Here in Finland is a custom to let the baby sleep outside (I’ll use our balcony and Marmots baby strollers) inside a sleeping bag or similar even if it’s below zero celsius. That’s why there was a need for really thick winter gear.

For the hat and the booties I used Drops’ patterns, the mittens were just a simple personal mitten pattern. All are made from Drops Eskimo, a super-bulky 100% wool yarn which is really warm and quick to knit. I really like these and they go very well with Marmots black winter jumpsuit. :)

For Old Times Sake

I’ve written about this hat on June 2013 and NOW it’s finally finished. I have to say this has been a long and troublesome journey with such a simple hat.

I started with one pattern, then with another. Both looked horrible. The first one was sort of small but still too big and the third one could have been good for a pumpkin. On the third time I decided to forget all patterns, knit a test piece, calculate the stitches from there and begin from the edge, not from the top. It was the rigth way to go.

Very basic, very simple. The yarn was Frangipani 5-Ply Guernsey and I used it doubled with 4mm needles. The end result was quite good, it’s very thick and sort of hard which is what the orderer wanted. I have to say I’m a bit ashamed it took me this long to finish this, but in my defense, I knitted this hat 3 times before it was good enough.

 

 

Baby Booties

It’s getting colder and my little “Marmot” needs some wool on. I started with some socks.

The pattern is from Drops Desings and the yarn is Drops Alpaca. I chose the smallest size, but it’s still quite big for Marmot. Luckily he’ll grow into them eventually.

The original design does not have stripes, but as I started it hit on me, that the greenish grey will run out too soon, so I had to fade it out. Not the prettiest socks ever made, but cutest maybe? At least in my eyes :)

For the Happy Couple

My friend got married and asked if I could knit matching scarfs for the bride and the groom. I usually knit only for myself since I’m such a slow knitter, but really, who can say no to a happy couple?

The yarn was chosen by the bride. She likes sliding colors and wanted the scarfs to be airy, so Drops Delight it was. Since this kind of yarn needs a simple pattern, I chose one of Drops’s own design called Adam. Its very easy, just garter stitch all the way. The only twist is that it’s worked on the long side, so the stripes go horizontal. The colors were left for me to decide. For the groom I chose a greenish beige mix. For the colourful bride it had to be pink. This will match a winter jacket of hers right on the spot :)  

TARDIS!

My stepson is a huge fan of the british sci-fi series Dr. Who. In the series The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords and travels through time and space saving the universe from many dangers. A key element in the series is his vehicle; a phone booth called TARDIS. Since the TARDIS is such an important part of Dr. Who, why not knit one for the little fan?

There are lots of patterns for the TARDIS in Ravelry, for example toys, socks, sweaters, scarfs… I chose a toy since clothes become small and maybe he would not want to wear them.

 

The pattern in question was to be knit in intarsia which is a technique I don’t particularly like so I decided to knit this in round and in colorwork. It worked out fine. Casted on 152 stitches, 38 per side. 37 stitches for each side and 1 purl stitch to mark the corner between sides. For the white parts I thought it would be faster if I would do them double stiched as in the pattern and not colorwork. This however was a bad idea. It was slow, the white parts look bad and do not strech at all. I found out that last part when I was stuffing my TARDIS and I’m not pleased with the end result at all. Looks quite good in the pictures but in real life only one of the sides is truly ok.

The yarn, Järbo Garn Saga was chose solely because of the color and needles based on the yarn. With this yarn and needles the final measurements are 46cm x 25 cm, which is, well, quite large. The stuffing was and old foam matress cut in to shaped pieces, and truly the most difficult part of this project.

Originally it was supposed to be a christmas present, but due to my pregnancy it was delayed until now. However, the Dr. Who-ist has his birthday around this time, so it was a perfect present for that. He seemed to be pleased: he has been found sleeping wrapped around the TARDIS more than once now :)

Work in progress

It’s been so silent in my blog, since I haven’t finished one thing after October! I’ve been doing a lot, so here are my current WIP’s. Hope to get something done before the end of the year :)

 

This is going to be a crocheted basket, but it’s painfully slow despite the 10mm hook.

This one is TARDIS stuffed toy. TARDIS is the machine used to travel in time and dimensions in the British tv-series Dr. Who and it’s going to be a christmas present for my stepson who is a HUGE Dr. Who fan.

 

These Fjord Rose socks have been under construction for quite a while. Both legs are done, but I started on the heel. The I undid it. And then again. Now their hibernating cause I hate knitting heels.

I have my hopes up to finish all these and a few smaller projects before end of the year, since the TARDIS is coming on really nicely at this moment and for the rest I have a lot of time scheduled during my luxurious week and half long holiday around Christmas :)

 

Amazing, amazing

My Amazing Seed Stitch Wrap is finally finished and totally worth the work! And the timing was perfect since the temperature is going to drop any day now. The final measurements are 180cm x 60cm. It really is HUGE! The pattern is from Purl Bee, and my previous blog posts can be found here, here and here.

A lot of yarn went through my hands in this, a total of 1554m / 1740 yards. Don’t mind the yarnends hanging, I had to dash outside to go and take some pictures in natural light before sunset.

The colors are just lovely, I’m so happy this is ready!

Decisions

In Ravelry there is a Finnish group that concentrates in knitting down the stash. While my stash is quite small compared to many (about 5-6 kg or 10-12 pounds), it has been on the growing side for some time now. I’m moving in a few weeks and when packing it was a bit of a shock to see how much space my yarns actually take even if they don’t weight that much. Somehow I got the feeling that I’m on the verge of my stash getting out of control and that this is the final point where I can stop the development. Then and there I decided it was time for me to join the flock of knitters who try to keep at least some sense in their yarn stash.

First the most important decision: I’m not going to buy anymore yarn this year. Quite obvious, but still hard. I have one loophole though: I can buy yarns for Veera Välimäki’s Happy Street, but no more until January 2014.

The start of Fjord Rose

Then the second decision is to knit down my stash. This one is also quite obvious, but sometimes it feels there is no nice yarns at all, or they don’t “speak” to you at that particular moment. I rummaged over my stash and found there is a lot nice yarns that are for some reason been left in peace. After going through my queue I  made up a list on what to start, knit or finish by the end of the year.

1. Finish Amazing Seed Stitch Wrap
2. Finish For old times sake # hat for a friend and Fjord Rose socks for me from my KYH-knitting challenge WIP’s.
3. Start Huldan takki ( Hulda’s coat)
4. Start Still Light Tunic
5. Make rest of my Drops Eskimo’s into felted hot pads
6. Crochet big baskets out of carpet rags
7. Start Winter Mystery Shawl

I’ve nerver been so organized about my knitting, so it’s interesting to see if this helps to keep up with my goals. Or will I be knitting like crazy on New Year’s Eve? We’ll see, we’ll see.

Arm knitting, test 1 – 2 -3

I was searching for some knitting videos from Youtube and found this:

I just had to test this! I decided to use some leftover yarns; pink, grey, dark grey, dark blue and brown and started to knit a scarf or shawl. About an hour later it was ready. It looks nice despite an oddity in the beginning. It’s really warm, so it will have to wait for colder weathers.

A few tips however: do whatever needs to be done before starting, because the work is literally in your hands and quite difficult to put anywhere if the need to use the bathroom should arise… Another tip is, you need enough yarn, because this takes up LOADS.

I do recommend to test this, it’s quick, it’s easy and quite fun actually :)