Ties, I has them

Now, only the blocking and finishing remain. And seaming. Mustn't forget seaming.



Approx. 1 metre long, x 2. Natch.

Actually, these have been done for weeks, but I had - literally - 5 minutes to spare, so here they are.

Rip 'n stitch

Lots of stuff done... I've actually finished both sleeves of Ivy, and spun a good deal. Then I also kitchenered and ripped the bottom of the back piece - because no way was I going to re-do it. I've already ripped and re-knit one front piece (left) and parts of every single piece, some several times. Enough is enough. And now I only have the ties left! The pattern calls for a whopping 130 cm a piece, far too long. I'm going to knit ca. 1 metre and then measure. We'll see. But now, on to pictures:

Grafting the bottom to the finished back:



Ripping off the old and too small bottom part:



Too tired now to do the spinning pics. Maybe later, in another post.

Home improvement and passport woes

I got up today at 7:00 am and headed straight to the railway station... only to find out that the photo booth was not the right kind, and the earliest photographer would open at 8:30. Why, you may wonder?

Nousin tänään ylös seitsemältä ja kiiruhdin rautatieasemalle, vain huomatakseni että ainakaan Tampereella siellä ei ole oikeanlaista valokuva-automaattia.

The explanation is pretty simple: I'm going to London on a holiday for a few days, and when last night I checked my passport - I found out it had been invalid for four months. It was, of course, my first passport, valid for 10 years, and I'd completely forgotten that it could be invalidated, ever.

Oikeanlaista passikuvia varten, siis. Huomasin eilen passini vanhentuneen neljä kuukautta sitten. Onneksi lento lähtee vasta kolmen jälkeen, muuten olisi oikeasti iskenyt paniikki.

Things to note: the Finnish police office ladies are very nice and helpful, and there is an automatic photo booth for those who don't want to spend extra money for a real photographer. Also, if you are there at 8:45 am, there's hardly a line. It cost me 80 euros to get that temporary passport, but still, it was cheaper than buying a new flight. Sigh.

Poliisiasemalle kannattaa mennä ajoissa, koska jonoa ei aamukahdeksalta oikeastaan ole. Ja käteistä tai pankkikortti myös mukaan - väliaikainen passi maksaa 80 euroa (vähemmän kuin uusi lento!) - kannattaa ottaa tarpeeksi myös pysyvää passihakemusta varten jos on siivonnut ylimääräiset kortit matkan takia lompakosta. Muuten poliisin neidit (tädit? rouvat?) olivat mukavia, ja huomasinpa myös valokuva-automaatin (edelleen, Tampereen) poliisiaseman aulan nurkassa, joten turhaan odottelin valokuvaliikkeen aukeamista. Helsinki-Vantaalta lähtevä saattaisi oikeankin passin saada pikana. Lisää tietoa poliisin sivuilta.

One reason for my forgetfulness may have been that I painted my cupboards (with the permission of my landlady, who also paid for the supplies). Pictures to be added after vacation. Maybe.

Olisivatko maalinhuurut sekoittaneet pään - maalasin nimittäin vaatekaapit sisältä, vuokraemännän luvalla ja rahoilla tottakai. Kuvia (ehkä) loman jälkeen.

edit / muokkaus:

Kaapit ennen



Kaapit jälkeen

The Spinning Post

Did I mention something about spinning? Well...

Postin aiheesta johtuen riskeeraan ylipitkän sepustuksen ja kirjoitan myös suomeksi.

Last year I decided to learn how to spin. I'd seen lovely pictures of people spinning and yummy wool on Craftster and elsewhere, and then one day, I decided to try. I found some felting wool - figuring that it was already carded, so why not give it a go - put together a spindle out of a cardboard-cutout circle, a hair stick and some yarn and got to it. The proto-spindle was very, very light and very wobbly (hairsticks are not designed for a smooth spin) and the yarn was, predictably, lumpy. If I did manage to create a tolerable single, it fluffed out while plying and I couldn't figure out why!

Viime vuonna päätin opetella kehräämään. Kun kerran olin idean päähäni saanut, pakko oli yrittää vaikka sitten Tiimarin huovutusvillalla ja nutturapiikistä ja riisipaketin kyljestä leikatusta pahviympyrästä kyhätyllä "värttinällä". Tulos oli äärimmäisen kevyt, mutta kyllä sillä jonkinlaista langantapaista aikaan sai...



Later I got my hands on more wool (again, felting wool) and with my Dad's help, made a real spindle out of a plywood circle and a wooden stick. It comes apart, because it isn't glued, but I convinced myself that this is actually a feature as it makes traveling easier. Never mind that before you have spun a fair amount of yarn, the whorl tends to move around, which makes it harder to spin.

Löysin sitten lisää villaa, virolaista huovutusvillaa tämäkin. Isän avulla kasasin vaneriympyrästä ja puutikusta toisen värttinän, joka pysyy koossa alkulangan avulla. Seitsemän veljestä näyttää sopivan tähänkin tehtävään hyvin!



Then, I went to Belgium for 5 months and despite taking my travel-ready spindle along, I didn't do anything with it. Instead, I bought yarn and needles and knit - but that's another story. After I had got back and settled down, I dug my wool out again...

Olin sitten ulkomailla, ja kehruu jäi vähäksi aikaa, mutta kotiin tultuani aloitin taas...



And then, after almost a year of practicing, I finally learned to ply. (Who would've guessed that you need that much twist?!) Isn't the blue colour wonderful?

Vuosi siinä meni, mutta viimein opin myös kertaamaan. Kierrettä pitää olla enemmän kuin arvaisikaan!



The next step was (of course) finding a wheel. My both grandmothers had spinning wheels, of the Finnish traditional type. The wheel that belonged to my late gran on the dad's side was lovely and very old, and after much examination and cleaning I realised that it would need to be taken apart and put together again before it could be used, because it has spent the last 30 years in a barn. However, it is pretty! (I experimentally spun some rough flax fibre - you can't really use the pedal, and the string keeps popping off the wheel, but it almost works.)

Seuraavaksi ei kun kyselemään suvun perintörukkien perään. Kummallakin mummolla sellainen oli - isänäidin rukki on kaunis ja vanha, mutta niin heikossa kunnossa 30-vuotisen riihessä oleskelun jälkeen että se tarvitsisi perusteellisen entistyksen. Siitä huolimatta onnistui silläkin tappuroiden kehruu kädellä pyörittäen.



My gran on the mom's side also had a wheel, which she borrowed/gave to me. It's factory-made in the 1940s, and had a prolonged stay in the cold attic, which means that the paint was flaking and all parts that could rust, had.

Äidinäidin sodanaikuinen ja tehdastekoinen rukki oli jo paremmassa kunnossa, mutta siinäkin rukin lyhdyn koukut tarvitsivat viilan ja Pata-patan apua ruosteesta päästäkseen. Huonolaatuinen maali oli myös kärsinyt kylmällä ullakolla oleilusta. Viimeksi sitä oli käytetty kangaspuilla kudottaessa tarvittavien lankarullien kiertämiseen, ja siinä apuna ollut tikku oli katkennut ja juuttunut torven sisään.



I cleaned it, scrubbed the rust off, replaced the leader string and tested it... and it works! Later Granny told me that they used to use 2-ply for woolly trousers and sweaters, and 3-ply for socks. The thread was wound on balls for plying.

Puhdistin rukin, poistin ruosteen, vaihdoin nyörin ja kaivoin kepinpätkän torvesta ulos... ja sehän toimi! Myöhemmin kuulin mummolta, että ennen 2-säikeistä lankaa käytettiin villahousuihin ja villapaitoihin, mutta 3-säikeistä sukkiin. Kertaamista varten lanka kierrettiin kerille.



Unfortunately, I can only use the wheel when I'm at my parents' house, so meanwhile I'm relying on my traveling spindle. I've since found a batch of lovely baby-blue/white mohair edit: merino! top, and it's so smooth. So it's a fair guess that this won't be the last time I'll be talking about spinning.

Koska rukki ei ihan yksiööni mahdu, se saa asua vanhempieni luona. Käytän vieläkin useimmiten värttinää. Löysin Taito-shopista ihanaa vaaleansini-valkoista mohair edit: merinohahtuvaa, joka kehräytyy kuin unelma, joten lisääkin asiaa kehräämisestä saattaa vielä tulla kirjotettua.

OMG! It's a sleeve!

So, there's this one project that I haven't written about in a while. And the reason was that it was languishing in a heap.

Why?

Well, because when I'd finished the back, I had some reservations about the XS size bottom. Now, I do not have an XS size bottom. I do, however, have an XS size top. Combining these two facts has proved to be difficult, especially when the result of the equation should be a wrap cardi.

The end result of all this is that I think I need to re-knit at least the bottom parts of both back and left front. Yes, I actually finished these two pieces, I have proof of my bad estimation skills - the front would actually be okay for a zipped cardi!



And that's why I'm now knitting the sleeve. That at least seems to be fitting reasonably well, and I'm still in love with the yarn. It's soft, light, knits well, and quickly!



For the next time, I think it'll be spinning. Yes, spinning, wheels, spindles...

Yes, I still knit (FO extravaganza!)

I've always wanted to use that word somewhere.

Now, a project I've been wearing for months and months, but hadn't uploaded the pictures yet... ta-dah!

The Red Socks



Wunnerful, innit? The lovely object in the background is my gran's spinning wheel. Certainly antique, and she may have got it from her gran - we're not sure. About that wheel, and my other gran's not-so-antique but much more functioning wheel, more later (maybe). As for the socks, I'm really happy how they turned out. The colourwork is done and mostly even, the pattern looks good, and I love, love, love the red colour. Just thinking about it makes my feet warmer.

Soleil

Back

Front




Finally finished, in time for a graduation party. I really can't decide how I feel about this one now that it's finished. Mostly it's the yarn, which is already starting to pill (cotton-acrylic mix, I'm just saying...), and is so drapey that the edging started to curl back up the same day I finished blocking it. And I do mean blocking it - I soaked the thing in hot water and let it dry for a day and a half, pinned in place. Concerning pattern mods, I made it a little bit longer than the pattern, but probably should've made it at least 5 cm longer yet. This is a pattern for short-waisted ladies (of which I am not one). Another thing was to do the 2nd round of crochet (well, I did it twice, first try was much too twisty and big, due to my inability to read the instructions) in crab (or backwards) instead of normal single crochet stitch.

As for the UFOs? Well, I think that's a tale for another post. Actually, I do have one almost-FO... but like I said, that's for later.

And now, for something completely different...

I've been meaning to do a link list of my favourite webcomics for a long, long time. I thought I'd start here and then in the future when I have more time for coding, go on...

First, comics that update Monday-Wednesday-Friday:
(these are really good!)














Dailies:





Starslip Crisis
Sluggy Freelance
Laugh-Out-Loud Cats on Flickr or the blog
Skin Horse



Monday and Thursday updates:











Comics that update on Tuesdays and Thursdays:











(also on Saturdays)



Updates mostly weekly without warning:






Monday updates:





Tuesday updates:





Wednesday updates:





Friday updates:





Comics that update sometimes:





















Finished good ones:














Banner pics may be added after I figure out the coding (and bother to do this).

Something started and UFO sightings

Well, I finally started Ivy from Knitty's 2006 fall issue. The yarn is Novita Wool and I'm using 80 cm 3,5 mm circs, which gives me the exact gauge specified in the instructions (24 sts/32 rows = 10 cm).

Well, it almost does. I noticed that the ribbing is a little tight, and the stockinette immediately after is a few stitches off by 10 cm to the tighter side, but I guess (hope!) that it'll do. As a precaution, however, I'll be knitting the ribbing for the front pieces in size S instead of XS, which is what I started the back piece with. It's coming along gratifyingly quickly, and I find I like doing stockinette. Ah, so soothing...

Here's where I've come so far:



Then another progress report, this time on the Red Socks. I managed to get through the first sock and the colourwork, and now I find I'm stuck at the second sock:



I hope I can get them done tomorrow. Seriously, it's not that much work, and I'm thinking that I'm finally getting a hang of the colourwork. Tension is a problem, as always, but practice makes perfect, right?

And about those UFO:s... The I do shrug is still missing the final touches (i.e. The Right Bead, which I haven't found yet), as is the Soleil top. I know everybody says they hate seaming, and usually I don't mind (it's the weaving of the ends that gets me), and there are only two short seams to Kitchener (count'em! Two!), but the top still languishes in its bag on my sofa. It must be the winter - or that's what I keep telling myself. Well, maybe I'll get them done by May 1st.

Loads of progress (or, I'm a masochist)

So, the "Leaves falling on Snow" socks are done, just in time for Christmas.

I've knit cute baby mitts:


The Soleil top is almost done:


And I've started Red socks:


I'm insane. This isn't because of Soleil, or the baby mitts (as cute as they are) - it's the Reds' fault. I'm doing Fair Isle, again. I can't help myself. It's like I think socks, and where other people would happily think lace, I think colourwork.

I must like pain.

On another front, I'm playing with the idea of starting Knitty's Ivy. It's a lovely pattern, and I know of a nice 100% wool yarn I can get the right gauge with. But the colour! Pea-green or off-white? We'll see. Something bright at least.