Gothic Spire

And I knitted yet another Cookie A. creation. This time, it's Gothic Spire socks. I really like these! The pattern is really interesting and different, and they fit perfectly. I've never had to modify any of her patterns.

The yarn is Rowan 4-ply soft. Not the most obvious choice for a sock yarn, but it's absolutely perfect! No splitting, no fuzz, just a nice and smooth surface. And it's much more affordable than "real" solid sock yarn.

I'm going on holiday in a few days, and I won't be updating the blog for a while. I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of you for visiting. Did you see that you've been here over 6000 times already?! So, thank you! :)

I'll spend my vacation knitting and possibly also designing a bit. I'll give you a few snippets of my work once in a while when I can. Have a great summer!!!

New sock

You didn't think I could go without a sock on the needles, did you? This is my new sock project.



Can you guess what I'm working on?

So spoiled!

My Secret Pal is the best!! Look what I got in the mail today. A really nice card. A blueberry muffin bath fizzer. Some white yarn for dyeing, and Kool-Aid to dye it with. Aaand, the pattern for Swallowtail shawl! Yay! Thank you so much Secret Pal. And no, I haven't figured out who you are yet... I'm soooo curious!

I've started knitting a new sock (oooh, surprise!). This time, Eunny Jang's Bayerische socks caught my eye. I was browsing around to see if there was a KAL for these, and the only one I could find is a Finnish one! Apparently, I'm not the only finn with an obsession for knitting intricate socks!

This is how far I've got in two days.

Three whole pattern repeats. I almost gave up while I was knitting the first repeat, because it felt like these would take foreeeever. But after the second repeat, it started moving along nicely. The yarn is Sandnes "Lanett". Not the most obvious choice for a sock yarn, but it works!

Twisted Flower continued...

First Twisted Flower sock finished. This pattern really is something else! Cookie A., I humbly bow to you. I really like the way the pattern stands out in the white yarn.

(Again, white is impossible to photograph!)

Twisted Flower in progress

I just started the heel on my first Twisted Flower sock by Cookie A., and I really like knitting it! Too bad I get blisters on my fingers because I'm so focused that I almost break the needles! And white yarn is almost impossible to get a good photo of...

Manly lace socks

I finally finished the manly lace socks for my dad. I was planning to finish these during the Easter holidays, but a lot of ripping and yarn issues got in the way.

The pattern is my own. The paired leaves lace pattern runs from the front of the cuff all the way down to the toe. On the back of the cuff, there's a pattern with twisted and purl stitches.

Up close the leaves look like this.

The whole idea for a pair of "manly" lace socks was born when I started thinking about why socks for men always have to be so boring. Ribbed cuff, stockinette, and if you're lucky, some stripes in different colors. There are some bold socks for men out there, but not that many where lace patterns are used. So here you have it, a manly lace sock. Why should men not be allowed to prance around in fancy socks? Warm their feet with something that is both beautiful and functional? No reason, I say!

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug, "Copper Beach".

Beautiful Pomatomi

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A. for Knitty
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, "Bittersweet"

These really turned out great! I was a bit suspicious of the yarn choice, and expected a lot of weird pooling, but it striped really nicely and only pooled a little on the foot. Cookie A. is a genious! I can't wait to knit some of her new patterns! I'm planning to start Twisted Flower real soon. Just have to find the perfect yarn first.

Fibre and yarn, and more yarn, and some socks...

Mister postman has been soo kind to me lately! It seems like every other day, something interesting has magically appeared in my mailbox. Really, I have no idea how this happens. Suddenly, all this fibre and yarn arrives at my doorstep, and I can't seem to make myself remember that I actually ordered and paid for this... ;)

This is merino superwash wool from Crown Mountain Farms

And this is my extremely pathetic first attempt at spinning it. Spinning is a lot of fun, and relaxing, but the result... not so much fun. It's lumpy and much too thin at the same time, and kind of looks like the dog ate it and spat it out again.

Moving on to nicer things. I've been trying to find the perfect shawl yarn for a long time, and whadda ya know, I found it right here in Finland! I don't really know how to describe it, because I couldn't possibly do it justice. But it's soft, smooth, the perfect thickness (or thinness), and it's cheap! It's Wetterhoff Silvia

Some Colinette Jitterbug has also appeared here, somehow. The colors are Copper Beach and Lapis, from Cucumberpatch

Unfortunately, there was a sale at Cucumberpatch, and they made me get this too! Rowanspun 4-ply. Dirt cheap!

And finally, some Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock, colors Sand Ridge and Aslan. These will be manly socks when they grow up. I found these at Garnkorgen

I also participated in Socktopia's Knit Off madness this weekend. It was a lot of fun, but I'm still bummed about the time difference. You see, we were divided into two teams and the team with the most finished socks (pairs) after about 2 days of knitting won. There was also an award for fastest knitter, i.e. the knitter who first finished a pair. And this is where the bummedness comes in. The contest started at 6.45 pm finnish time. I was knitting like a madwoman and finished my first sock in record time. But then, night time got in the way of knitting and I had to go to sleep. That's reasonable, you might think, but that meant that the knitters that live in the western US, for example, still had many hours of knitting left while I was sleeping. So the conclusion is that I had no chance of winning the fastest knitter award, which was what I was really aiming for with this competition. Well, no, the conclusion is actually this: I'm a really bad loser!!! :) But, anyway, here are my Knit Off socks. The pattern was made especially for the Knit Off by Momma-Monkey (our ring leader), and it's called Eleanor. I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

Things to be happy about...

I have many things to be happy about today. First of all, the sun is shining like crazy and it's spring! At least here in the south of Finland. There are also a few knitting related happy things.

I finished these.

"Hey, hey we're the Monkies!" One of them is much tighter than the other one, but I don't care! Most of it evened out after blocking anyway. The color is a little too cutie-sweetie for my taste, but I really like them!

The second thing is this beauty.

Eunny Jangs "Print O' the Wave Stole". I cast on yesterday and look how far I got already! I'm so pleased with this one! I can't wait to see how it looks when it's finished and blocked. I'm a little bit unsure about the yarn, though. It's a cotton crochet yarn, but I think it looks like it's going to work... I really wanted this to be a summer shawl, and have a really light feel to it, so that's why I didn't chose wool or mohair...

The third thing to be happy about is something that came in the mail today.

I flipped through them a bit, and these will keep me occupied for a while! Lovely!

Chucks Cabled Socks, oh dear!

This is what I've been working on lately...



And It's taking up all of my knitting time. Chucks Cabled Socks by Eunny Jang. The pattern is really fascinating, but soo time consuming. Moving the two yarns around, trying not to get them tangled around each other or the needles, is what's taking the longest. I know there should be some way to do this faster, but I'm still knitting with one yarn at a time around my finger and the other one hanging down. I think I've read about a way to have both yarns wrapped around your finger(s) at the same time while you're knitting... I haven't really figured that out yet, so I'm stuck with this system.

Really love the socks though! It's nice to have a challenge once in a while. But I suspect and fear that these will suffer from second-sock-syndrome... I guess I'll have to cast on the second sock immediately after I finish the first one, just to be on the safe side, so I don't end up with just one Chuckie...

Finished Lainesukat

Yay, I finished my Lainesukat in a record breaking 3 days! Don't know how that happened. I guess it's because I really liked knitting them or something... I did have some difficulties with the pattern, especially after the heel, when the pattern only runs on top of the foot. But still, the pattern was great fun! And I didn't really like the color of the yarn at first, because I thought it was too... well boring, but it really grew on me and now I love the color!

New socks and lace scarf

I've started a new pair of socks for Socktopia. The pattern is Lainesukat from the Finnish knitting magazine Ulla, and the Yarn is Fleece Artist Merino Sock, color "Lily Pond". I'm not too excited about this color... It's kind of... blah. But still makes me think of spring. I'll probably knit another pair of these socks, but in a solid color.




I have also made some progress on my lace scarf. The pattern is called Michaela and the yarn is Schaefer Laurel. I really like this yarn. It's so easy to knit, and the colors are beautiful. The pattern demands full attention, so no tv knitting here.




Last, but not least, I did my first Kool Aid dyeing experiment the other day, and this is the result.



Beautiful pink, green and blue. This will turn into a pair of Monkey socks.

Long stockings

I finished these socks yesterday, and I couldn't be happier! They are so warm, and I love the way the stripes don't match. Plus they were a piece of cake to knit. A perfect TV knitting project. It's a basic toe up sock with k2p2 ribbing. The yarn is Noro Kureyon, and I could go on and on about how great it is for socks when it's around -10 C outside.




While I was at it, I also made a pair for my significant other.




I feel so rebellious knitting mismatching stripes! :)

I have also cast on a lace scarf, but it's not really in "photo condition" yet...

Socktopia socks and more yarn

I finally finished my heart socks for Socktopia.





The themes for february were:


Life is like a box of chocolates...
Forever in my heart
Bed of roses
Short and sweet
Laissez les bon temps rouler!


I think these socks have a little bit of all the themes in them. They were really fun to knit. The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug, a very easy yarn to knit with. The white fluffy yarn is Novita Teddy. I have a lot of it left, so it will probably be knitted into something nice and warm sometime in the future.


I have also somehow managed to order more yarn online. I just can't figure out how that happens! For some mysterious reason, I keep finding myself on yarn websites, looking at all the beautiful colors and textures, and more and more yarn keeps dropping into my shopping basket. What is going on!!?? I do have something to say in my defense. This yarn will actually become a dog sweater for my friend's dog Viggo. So there, I'm not completely insane!






Zitron Unikat, again. I soo love this yarn!

Finished object, UFO's and Noro

I've been knitting a lot lately, but I can't seem to finish much. I knit half a sock, or 10 rows of a shawl, and then I frog it. If it doesn't feel right, I can't make myself continue. In spite of all the traumatic frogging experiences, I did finish one object yesterday. This scarf. It goes really well with the beautiful mittens and I can't wait to wear it.



I've also been working on some ankle socks for Socktopia. I don't want to reveal too much about them before they're finished, but the process has involved a lot of frogging (again!) and a really sore pinkie... The yarn I've finally decided on is Colinette Jitterbug in the color Fire. I love this yarn. It's perfect for socks with small details and lace patterns.

I also received some more yarn in the mail today. Superfast delivery! I ordered on Monday, and it arrived on Wednesday! Thank you Priima. It's the oh so wonderful Noro Kureyon. I test-knitted a sock with one skein, just to see how the yarn would work with the pattern, and I really liked the effect. So I just had to order more of it for another sock for me and a pair for my significant other. Let's hope the cold weather continues for a while so we can cuddle up on the couch with our matching socks!

Finished Baudelaire

I finally finished my Baudelaire socks! The details are sooo beautiful! The pattern can be found here.

The horror of faulty knitting

Crap! I had to rip my green sock and start all over again! It was far to wide for my foot. Oh well, it looks so much better now. I hate ripping! It disturbs my inner peace.

Baudelaire socks

1 1/2 Baudelaire done, 1/2 to go. This is what they look like. I really love the pattern!