After the trip

With incredible determination I finished the lopi lace sweater during the weekend. I had been postponing it for a while because I’m not the biggest enthusiast about sewing, as I’ve mentioned before. But having unfinished business bothers me so I met the challenge. That was a good thing because I learned the coolest thing in my Vogue Knitting book. Since this is my first knitted item that needs sewing I wanted to check out whether there are any special rules on which types of stitches you should use for sleeves. Then I encountered the slip stitch crochet and man did that make me happy! Although I have never crocheted anything except borders on lopi sweaters, I truly love it, it’s one of the most fun things I can think of. Being able to crochet the sleeves onto the body thus made me one happy girl. Suddenly, knitting in pieces doesn’t sound like an alltogether unreasonable thing to do.

I am however a bit ambivalent about the actual sweater. I find it a bit too big for me. It’s not that I’m not on gauge, the smallest size obviously just isn’t small enough. I do not have the bust size to pull off this deep V neck as you can clearly see

I had somehow imagined it to be a very tight fitting number, but what I didn’t realize is that in order for that to happen it would be wise to knit it quite a bit smaller than ones actual bust size. The sleeves also bother me a bit. I have done some (machine) sewing in the past, I even learned how to draw up patterns, so I know how sleeves are shaped. This one here has almost no shaping at all, which means that the shoulder part reaches down the upper arm and it somehow exaggerates the width of my shoulders. This does not look good on me, as my womanly shaping is not all that pronounced and wide shoulders make me look even less like a woman, or girl as I like to call myself.

Oh well, there are always birthdays and christmas.

This is what there’s left of the yarn, now what can I make of it?

During the trip

I took some knitting with me to Germany but then there was the yarn shop in Aachen and the old yarn didn’t seem that fancy anymore. I bought some thick and soft merino/polyacryl blend, a merino superwash (for socks) and three skeins of Regia Africa color in different colorways. I proved yet again that I am going through a blue phase

So I had this idea after a day in the youth hostel that I’d quickly knit some warm socks because I didn’t bring any, and the floors were darn cold. That’s what the blue chunky yarn was bought for. Excited as hell I started and it went so beautifully fast (what with all the *cough* boring *cough* lectures turning into great knitting time). Soon there was one

You see it there resting with its lone brother the green lopi sock and there’s a good reason for that. Once finished, it just didn’t seem that exciting anymore and I dunno, there was this big ugly hole where the gusset meets the instep and the color felt a bit dull and OH I just discovered that I don’t have a belt for one of the trousers I brought with me. Up came the Regia and happily I knitted until I had with a warm feeling in my heart watched the different colors pass by in one color repeat. I did not quit no, but happily I did not knit anymore. It was so freaking boring, but as I really needed the belt it did get finished and I could wear the trousers with the worlds strangest and probably most useless belt.

Then I though oh no, I’ve got to have something to keep me awake during lectures so a sock was started in another one of those Regia yarns. This one I love, both the yarn and the sock. I love it so much that I’m seriously considering making it my sockapaloooza sock. After all green is my pals favorite color.

Ok ok, I know people say you shouldn’t use busy yarns with busy patterns but I don’t care, I like it all the same. By the way there is a cable there in case you don’t see it. The pattern is the crooked cable sock from the sockbug and it’s great.

Home sweet home

I came back to Helsinki on friday evening after a really good trip. Really good trips are such that afterwards it feels really good to come back home and man, did it apply this time. After having to wake up at 7 every morning, sit through 48 hours of lectures, drinking bad coffee for two weeks (and alot of it to keep awake during the 48 hours of lectures), sharing a room at a youth hostel with three girls (which were very nice), sharing a few showers with the entire floor and staying up late sharing some beers with fellow physicists, it felt so amazingly good to get home, fall in my own bed, wake up the next morning, take a loooong shower and drink the long awaited double espresso from my lovely espresso machine that I love so much. And be alone. Aaaah.

But it was a good trip. I heard some interesting stuff during the lectures and got to know very nice people from near and far. Thanks to Cassie and her google skills I found a yarn shop in Aachen. The selection was very good, but I didn’t buy all that much. It’s difficult for me to buy yarn if I don’t have a specific project in mind. Some sock yarn got a new home though, along with bamboo needles. I figured that if I wanted to knit during lectures it would be a good idea to avoid clicky metal needles so people wouldn’t give me angry looks. And knitting got done, but I’ll save the details to tomorrow.

Today I’ve been hanging at home. Alone. I finished the second sleeve of the lopi lace sweater, wound some yarn into balls, tried to read up on a gazillion blog entries I’ve missed and was really happy when I updated my knitting related podcasts and saw that I have enough to last me for very long.

The other day I thought I had learned how to do a short row heel. Turns out I was completely wrong, I was just knitting a heel flap and picking up stitches for the gusset. I saw tonight a picture of a real short row heel and ooooo, must. try. soon.

Cast off

Phew, I cast off the green monster lopapeysa. Not that it’s a monster at all, green monster just sounds good. I decided to reknit the ribs on the sleeves and body, since I wanted them longer. I have something against it when sleeves end at the wrist, I want them to reach to the thumb. It might be a suppressed complex, since for my small size, I have abnormally large hands and they look a bit like I’ve been working in a factory all my life, or handwashing a lot of stuff. The body was also too short in my opinion, even though I added 5cm to what the pattern gave. Anyways, it’s looking good, I tried it on and it fits – hooray! Now it’s just the weaving in of thousands of ends.

The weekend was beautiful. The weather was perfect, a bit cold, blue sky, white snow. I also finished some stuff. I had some extra Smart yarn in colors which pretty much can only be used for kidswear. So I knit a hat for Liisa (my supervisors daughter):

There is a bit of a story. In the autumn I knitted a beautiful lopapeysa for Liisa, but as luck would have it, it was too small. That’s a nice thing, giving too small clothes to people, ha? I’ve been feeling a bit bad about it, hence the hat.

I also finished (finally) the lopi coat and I love it immensely, it’s so warm and cozy! Instead of buttons I used beads as buttons. After wearing the coat a few times it isn’t working all that well out, so I’m still thinking how I should solve this problem. The thing is that now that I’ve decided not to use conventional buttons, I really don’t want to do it. Yes, I’m a stubborn Icelandic sheep.

On sunday, Frank and I exchanged favors. I cut his hair, and afterwards we went down to Merihaka and took some pictures of the coat. Jeez, the weather was nice. Here’s me and the lovely power plant in the background:

and here’s me again with an innocent, downwards gaze, otherwise known as “the sunlight and it’s reflection off the snow are blinding me and I need to look at the gray pavement in order to keep my eyes open”.

Now I’m getting all excited starting some new projects.

I’m a sheep

I was reading an article about the Icelandic sheep written by someone who seems to love it, and I discovered a funny thing. It seems that Icelanders have inherited their national characteristics from too close contact for too many centuries with our beloved sheep:

The Icelandic breed is not a docile breed. They are alert and fast on their feet. Most of them are very individualistic and flocking instinct is poor. They tend to spread out which makes them good users of sparse pasture. [...] It has been reported they are aggressive toward other sheep and will usually dominate in those situations. [...] Some are nervous but when they get to know their shepherd they get quite friendly.

Updated: I didn’t notice the article was hidden in a frame (gawd those are annoying!). Here’s a link to the actual article.

oh no..

…Sonja tagged me.

Four jobs I have had in my life

1. Cleaning and packing fish in Grandi Fish Factory.
2. Cleaning lady at hotels in Copenhagen.
3. Research assistant at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
4. PhD student.

Four Movies I could Watch Over and Over Again

Hmmmm…. very few. In fact, I really dislike watching movies a second time.

1. Aki Kaurismäki’s Man Without a Past. Actually I could watch any of Aki’s movies again.
2. Mifunes sidste sang (Mifunes last song).
3. Sódóma Reykjavík.
4. Sorry, can’t think of any others.

Four Places I have Lived

1. Reykjavík, Iceland.
2. Helsinki, Finland.
3. Copenhagen, Denmark.
4. Sorry, only three!

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch

1. Twin Peaks.
2. Alias.
3. Sex and the City.
4. One Tree Hill.

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation

1. Ukraine.
2. Russia.
3. Estonia.
4. Latvia.

Four Websites I visit Daily

1. Google.
2. Kristján’s selection of Fólk í boði rss.molar.is.
3. The Yarn Harlot.
4. Ruokalistat (lunch menus in Otaniemi, where I work).

Four of My Favorite Foods

1. (Icelandic) lamb tenderloin.
2. Beef tenderloin.
3. Indian.
4. Uunimakkara with mashed potatoes (“oven sausages”).

Even I surprise myself with item nr. 4, these are sausages containing less than 10% meat, and they’re sprinkled with cheese and baked in an oven. Yummi!

Four Albums I can’t Live Without

1. My photo albums.
2. X&Y by Coldplay.
3. The Best of Haukur Morthens (Icelandic singer from … the 50’s?).
4. Suuret suomalaiset tangot (Finnish tango music).

Honestly, I could easily live without these (except the photo albums).

Four Places I’d Rather Be

1. In bed.
2. Someplace skiing.
3. In a hot pool.
4. In sauna at a mökki (Finnish summer cottage).

Four Bloggers I Am Tagging

1. Sigurlaug.
2. Kristján.
3. Arna.
4. Bryndís.

Phew. That took a while!

Knitting Olympics

As many others, I decided to join the 2006 Knitting Olympics, a really cool idea in my opinion! I decided I’ll make loop-d-loop’s lace leaf sweater:

However, since I am used to knitting in the round, I seriously oppose garments which are knitted in parts, and sewn together afterwards. Seriously. So I am going to adapt it to round-knitting hopefully without changing it too much from the original. In the weekend I went and bought yarn for it. I found this really soft “Eskimo” wool from Garnstudio in a nice blue color (but damn expensive!) and now I’m getting really excited to begin knitting!

(The color is much nicer in reality).

I’ve worked a bit on my lopapeysa (lopi sweater) and now I’m really close to finishing the yoke. I’m quite happy with it, I mixed elements from 3 different yoke patterns and I think it comes out nicely. Frank on the other hand hates the green color. He has strong opinions on many things! I’ve shown the sweater to a few people, who all exclaimed “Jeez it looks so small!”. My brother even asked if I was making it for a child. Of course the lopi sweaters are usually quite bulky, but that’s rather unfashionable these days. I keep answering that the sweater is small yes, but really, it’s supposed to be small. I even start making excuses that there’ll come a border for a zipper, and the zipper itself so it’ll add, like, 4cm to the width! People: It really is supposed to be small!

In the background you can see the lopi coat which I made in the autumn. It’s still missing buttons, although I finally managed to sew the second pocket down during the weekend.

Yesterday my lopi samples arrived by post. Yay! They look so beautiful.

In a way it’s sad that lopi is such a scratchy wool. I would not use it for a normal, “daily-wear” sweater due to that, but I just love the color selection so much. The colors are somehow so natural, not like the yarns which have this too perfect homogeneous color. I like a bit of variation.

At the moment I suddenly have many small projects started. This is not usual for me. I’m a bit worried that I’ll just work a bit here and there, lose interest and never finish anything. Let’s see. The wrist warmers are for example stuck. I wanted to put some beads on them, but I just cannot find beads with big enough holes so that I can use a big enough needle so that I can actually thread the yarn through the eye of the needle. It’s an annoying situation.

But soon the Olympics start, better get prepared!

Handy wool hat

This morning the thermometer read -21°C (-5.8°F) so I happily wore my new wool hat and was actually I a bit disappointed that I only have to walk about 300m to the metro, and then 300m from the bus to my office! But oh how warm my face felt ;-). The scratchiness of the wool didn’t bother me too much, so perhaps I’ll skip the fleece lining.

Recent knitting activities

I recently discovered a big and lively community of knitters on the world wide web. It seems that knitters enjoy blogging and posting pictures of their current knitting projects. Since I really enjoy reading those, I decided to start my very own knitting blog. Here’s what I’ve been doing lately.

When Áslaug Edda, the daughter of my friends Kristján and Stella, was born, I started thinking about what I could knit for her. Since I’ve mostly been knitting Icelandic wool sweaters (lopapeysa), it seemed most natural to make a tiny little one of those for her. After discussing the matter with my supervisor Ari, I changed my mind and decided to make a completely different type of sweater. Ari (who has a 3 year old daughter) told me that the best thing to get for kids are very stretchable sweaters that can “grow with” the baby. At the time I had recently learnt brioche stitch, which is really cool since it’s both stretchable and “invertible”, and if you make it in two colors, the inside and outside are slightly different. So I decided to try to make a brioche sweater in two colors, which would be buttoned, since Ari also told me that it’s annoying to dress babies in whole sweaters. So, I bought yarn, started knitting, didn’t like the colors I had chosen, bought new yarn, started knitting again, almost finished the body, noticed a mistake in the middle, did whatever it is called in english when you have to “rewind”, knitted correctly until finishing the body and started with the sleeves. Then it turned out to be really difficult to increase in brioche stitch, without it being visible on either side (since the sweater should be invertible). When I had done the half of one sleeve I lost my temper and gave up. Icelandic wool sweaters are much easier, and I would probably already have finished it in the time it took me to get fed up with this stinking sweater.

So I began the tiny lopapeysa, and as it turned out, it was a really good decision. When I finally gave it to Áslaug, her parents told me they had really wanted to buy one of these for her, but it’s pretty much impossible to get them in such small sizes. I made the sweater using measurements for childrens sizes that Ari found online for me. The yoke pattern is quite simple, since it’s difficult to fit anything complex into such a small area. I did a few mistakes, such as assuming that like with grown-ups, kids arms are much longer than their body. Apparently it is not so! The sleeves are therefore a bit too long. Next time I also have to remember to do a longer body and bigger hood. Here’s Áslaug wearing the sweater:

On the last day of the year I finished a hat which I knitted with Icelandic wool. Since the wool is quite “scratchy” I’m thinking about sewing some fleece on the inside. It should come in handy now that the winter has really hit Finland.

During christmas I began knitting a wool sweater for myself. This picture is a bit old, I’ve now joined the sleeves and body, and started the pattern on the yoke.

In the new year I decided to expand my horizon. Up until now I’ve mostly been knitting “warm” garments from thick wool, such as sweaters, gloves, leg warmers etc. After discovering the knitting blogs and loads of cool patterns I felt like trying to knit something cute and girly from thin yarn and perhaps even variegated. I’ve started Jaywalker socks

but I think that it will take me years to finish them. When you’re used to knitting with 6mm needles, 2mm ones seem, well, awfully small. Since I’m an impatient person it’s a slightly frustrating project! But they just look so cool I have to finish them.

I also started something which should have become wrist warmers. They were a bit bigger than intended so I decided that they’d just end up as leg warmers or even fancy socks. But then I got the idea that they could remain wrist warmers if I’d change to smaller needles for the wrist area. Then they’ll cover half of the lower arm and I like that.

In addition to this I have ideas for at least three sweaters, so I’m cursing the fact that I actually have to work during the daytime ;-)

Knitting blog?

How about it!