Comeback attempt

After a looong absence from blogland, I've decided to try this blogging thing again. I probably don't have many readers left out there anymore, but I'm hoping at least a few of you will find your way back here.

There wasn't that much knitting going on here during the fall, but I'm making up for that now. There's definitely a theme to my knitting at the moment. You can probably guess what we've been doing instead of knitting by looking at the pictures... ;)

Quilt (Square Counterpane with Leaves)

Yarn: Novita Tennessee

I only knit the leaves part of the square and used a much thicker yarn than the pattern called for. The squares are crocheted together, and I also added a matching crocheted border. I'm really pleased with the result.

 

Top Down Bonnet

Yarn: Madame Tricote Almina

The ears are too cute!

 

Handle and Baby Booties

Yarn: Regia Crazy Color 6-ply

 

 

Another pair of Baby Booties to match the blanket above.

 

Modular Tomten Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann. From Knitting Without Tears.

Yarn: The green is Araucania Ranco Solid, and I used Sandnes Garn Lanett for the buttonband and cuffs. It still needs buttons.

I do have a few non-baby projects on the needles, but I'm saving those for another post. If you're allergic to baby knitting blogs (I know I was before), you'll probably need to avoid this blog until June. These little projects will be popping up in between bigger ones from time to time. Let's just hope I can keep going with this blogging thing. The laziness has been overwhelming lately!

A whole lot of knitting going on

Just because I haven't been blogging in a while, that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting. But I guess I don't need to tell you knitters that...

Anyway... The garter stitch jacket I've been working on for a while is almost finished.

It just needs a button band, some buttons, and one more of these:

I've also been working on some seeeecret knitting... Shhhh!

Check these out on Ravelry if you're there.

And what else... Oh, that's right. I've been thinking about hemp yarn for a long time, and I finally got around to ordering some from Titityy. It knits up really nicely, not as strawy as I expected. And it absorbs water really well.

Kitchen towel with stripes in two-color linen stitch. (Sorry about the unevenness... I really couldn't be bothered to iron it!)

Here's a close-up of the stripes. Linen stitch in two colors creates a really nice effect.

Nothing else this time. I do have a million plans for coming knitting projects. But I should really make a serious effort to finish something first! Oh well... Let's see...

Quick update

Finished this.

 

Face cloth in old shale pattern. Yummy organic soap from here.

Working on this.

 

Druid Mittens by Jared Flood, Vogue Knitting fall 2008. I'm knitting with two colors. The purl stitches on the cuff were a bit tricky. I had to tweak them a little to make it look less messy. Other than that, fun project.

Project Spectrum - Water

The theme for Project Spectrum 3 in August/September is WATER. Before I pulled out my blue/black/purple skeins, I thought: "Meeeh, not really my colors. I probably don't have that many skeins in my stash." Well...

I guess this proves that my stash denial is pretty severe. To be fair, a large part of my blue stash consists of those Jaeger Extra Fine Merino that are already on the needles becoming a sweater for my Significant Other. The rest is mainly sock yarn. But still, I had no idea! Again!

What about purple and black then? I knew there COULD NOT be that much purple in my stash, since it's one of those colors I just don't use (like yellow). And this time, it turns out I was right.

Oh gee, who would have guessed there would be some more Rowanspun in my stash?! What the heck am I supposed to do with those bright purple skeins? They look almost lilac in this picture, but they're actually really bright. Sigh... On the plus side, there is some Noro Silk Garden, and that single skein almost makes up for the purple Rowanspun-craziness. I looove me some Noro!

Vacation knitting

This blog has been hibernating long enough, don't you think? Now that I'm back from my vacation, and I have regular Internet access, there is no excuse for not blogging. I have been knitting, after all...

My first project for the summer was a merging of two beautiful things. I've had this blue/brown/natural Evilla yarn in my stash for quite a while, not knowing what to do with it. I just couldn't find a project that was worthy of its gorgeousness. I finally decided that it needs something spectacular to show it off. To me, that means fair isle. And the most beautiful fair isle pattern I've found to date is Eunny Jang's Venezia.

It turned out to be a perfect match! Just add some white and the magic happens. I can't wait to finish this. I'm going to make quite a few modifications. I've decided to completely eliminate steeks, and to use raglan decreases instead. Let's see how that turns out...

Brown and natural colors seem to be the theme for this summer. I've been swimming in a sea of cotton.

And lately, there's also been some green waves.

This green garter stitch bonanza is being knitted especially for someone, and so far it's progressing at an amazing rate. I haven't really knit a large project in garter stitch before, and I can't believe how fast it is!

This isn't all of my vacation knitting, but some projects still haven't been unpacked, and it's too hot to do that now!

Zero blogspiration

Helloooo, is anyone still there? My blog has been feeling very neglected lately. I've had absolutely no inspiration to blog. It's been too hot to bring out the yarns for Project Spectrum's AIR theme, it's been too hot to photograph other projects, and it's almost been too hot to knit (not really! but you get the idea). Today, I finally decided it was time to kick myself off the couch and do some blogging.

Is there any better way to come back after a long absence than a little stash-flash? The colors for the PS AIR theme are gray, white and yellow. I couldn't find even the shortest thread of yellow in my stash, which was to be expected since it's a color I never ever use. I did have some gray though.

I was really surprised that it wasn't more than this. I have some Rowanspun of course, 10 skeins of 4 ply at the top and 3 skeins of DK at the bottom. I was also pleasantly surprised by the fact that a big part of my gray stash is "natural" yarns. Those are to the left in this picture. I have a skein of Kainuunharmas, two skeins of the wonderful Riihivilla yarn, one skein of an unidentified finnwool yarn, and a skein of Silkeskaninens garn. I also have two skeins of a wool yarn that I got in an exchange, and three skeins of Novita 7 Veljestä. No crazy acrylic yarn or any other "difficult" yarn.

My white stash wasn't that terrifying either. But it wasn't as nice as the gray one.

There are only two yarns that I really like here, and surprise surprise, those belong to the "natural" category. There is some Silkeskaninens garn, and a skein of 100% finnwool. The rest is blaaah yarn, and there's even a squeaky skein of horrid acrylic in the bottom left corner. Why oh why did I ever buy that?

I also have some AIR projects on the needles. One that I'll finish, and one that will be frogged. This one will survive.

Scarf with edging 21 and insertion 25 from The Knitted Lace Pattern Book, Thompson Bros., Kilmarnock, Scotland 1850 from Victorian Lace Today. Couldn't they come up with a longer name for that one? The yarn is an unidentified Novita cotton yarn. I really like this pattern. I've modified it a little and made it more narrow. The goal is to finish it by Christmas, preferably Christmas this year.

This project will be fed to the frogs.

Travelling Roses Scarf. The yarn (100% finnwool that I got at Turku Christmas Market) and pattern just don't match, and I'm getting a little bit bored. I think this yarn would be better for something more lacy and airy.

I still have a million other projects on the needles, both new ones and ooooold ones. I'll do my best to blog about those soon. The weather is supposed to get colder next week, so maybe that will make it easier to use my brain for other things than work and sleep.

Ruffled Jacket

It's finally finished!

I couldn't be happier with it! Everything turned out just the way I wanted it to.

I can wear it with a pin (or a knitting needle if no pin is available...).

Or I can be really classy and wear it with a belt.

Ruffled Jacket, James Coviello

Vogue Knitting, Fall 2007, #44

Yarn: Rowanspun Aran

Modifications: A million (sleeves in the round, knitted on borders, ruffles instead of "bells", modified size/needle size, etc.)