LunaKnit

Whoa, way to lose your interest in knitting something after only 4 rows! I'm knitting the Pippi scarf by Kirsten Kapur, and the instructions tell you to start the scarf by knitting the lace edging. There are instructions for 4 rows of lace and then the next piece of instruction they give you is "knit the last 4 rows for 143 more times". And I'm like what! Nice way to kill off my enthusiasm about a new knitting project!  Like a trooper I continued knitting, because I really really like the scarf, but for some weird reason I have a constant need of counting my pattern repeats after every completed 4 rows, even though I know that last time I counted I had 14 repeats, so there's no way I could be done with all 144 already. The edging is not even monotonous TV-time knitting, because you really have to keep track of all the yo's and k2togs, so it remains to be seen how long I'm working on this edging, let alone the whole scarf... I just hope the re

Peacoat Sweater Designed by me Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Cotton Merino,  shade #08 Navy Needles: 3.0 mm and 4.0 mm I really love this yarn. I have previously only used it once, for the Honey cap , but after this project it has become a new favourite (or one of them). It looks like cotton, but has the stretchiness and softness of merino wool. The stitch definition is really good. This is a yarn I will most definitely use again, because the knitted fabric is very wearable and looks expensive. The Peacoat sweater started with my desire to have a navy-blue sweater and to knit cables. The sweater I had imagined I would knit in the beginning was something else that you now see in these photos. After a while I started to get different kind of ideas, and as I knitted on the ideas evolved to this sweater. I'm really happy about the result, even though I have always hated navy-themed clothing, especially buttons with anchors on them. Somehow they look good w

Here is the pattern for the berets I've knitted. The name for the beret is from the t-shirt I was wearing when I took the project photos of the first beret for Ravelry. I thought the name suited the beret, since it's quite classical take on the hat that has become the icon of everything French. Happy knitting! Salut Chéri! You need:  yarn: 105-125 m (114 - 137 yards) worsted weight yarn. The sample was knitted with Novita Joki ( 104 m or 114 yard per 50g) needles : 3.5 mm and 4.0 mm (US size 4 and 6) circular needles (40 cm or 16 inches) size 4.0 mm (US size 6) DPNs 6 stitch markers , one of a different color to indicate the beginning of the round Gauge : 10 sts and 16 rounds = 5 cm (2 inches) in straight Stockinette stitch with 4.0 mm needles Cast on 88 sts on 3.5mm circular needle. Join in round, careful not to twist the stitches. Place a marker to indicate the beginning of the round. Knit in straight Stockinette stitch (knit all

Koi No Yokan Designed by me Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Lace #6790 Blue Needles: 4.0 mm

I guess the first step of getting rid of your stash is to go through it and see what you actually have. I tried organising everything when we moved to this apartment in December, but since then I've been lazy and the whole system I had created has gone in total disorder.  So I took everything out and started bagging the yarns into Minigrip bags. Same sort or similar yarns together; lightweight yarns into one box, dk to worsted into another and bulky yarns to a third one. There are two more boxes for yarns that are for the projects on my to-knit-list: the yarns I am planning on using on specific projects went into bags of their own, so that it would be easy to find which yarns were intended for which project. I printed out pictures of the intended projects and put the photos into the bags with the yarns. The yarns I'm currently using or I'm going to use next went to the top drawer of my dresser, so that they are easily available.   I also started a

The things I love about knitting lace: Obiviously: Lace is beautiful. Lace looks much more complicated than it is, so people don’t constantly ask whether you made it yourself, more likely they will ask where you bought it. They are usually really surprised and amazed by the amount of skill you possess if you tell them you knitted the scarf/shawl yourself. Very forgiving: it doesn’t really matter if you make a few mistakes, like purl when you should have knit or ssk when it was supposed to be k2tog; the mistakes rarely show after you have finished the piece. Usually knits up fairly fast because you are using quite big needles (at least in comparison to the yarn weight). Wearable and multifunctional: you can wear a lace shawl to give a little elegance to a casual t-shirt-and-jeans look and easily use the same shawl with a dress to a party. How many other pieces of clothing can actually be worn either as a part of an everyday outfit or with an evening dress - without feeling o

I solemnly swear I will not buy more yarn until my stash has diminished significantly. I have way too much yarn. All of them were bought with a specific project in mind, but I seem to be adding more and more knitting projects to my to-do-list before I finish (or even start) the things I had on it previously. So the skeins keep on stacking and I'm starting to run out of place to stash them. Yesterday I added even more yarn to the already overflowing stash, 18 skeins to be exact, and realized I don't have a place to keep them. (The skeins are the ones in the photo above.) Even the cashier looked at me weirdly and wondered out loud how big a sweater I'm planning on knitting with 18 skeins of yarn. OK, to my defense: firstly they were on sale (2 € per skein of 100 % wool is cheap in my opinion) and secondly I'm going to try natural dyeing this weekend, (that's why all the skeins are white). I don't see the point of preparing everything for the dyeing only t

Literally, not figuratively speaking. For some reason all my wip s at the moment are blue. And I've always quite disliked blue. Or not disliked , but preferred other colours more. I have a sister who is a year and a half older than me. She liked blue and that was the main colour of her garderobe. As the younger sister I got her clothes when she outgrew them, and every time I was wearing something blue I knew it was passed down to me and not something I had wanted. If I got to choose clothes they were red, pink or green; anything but blue. My school uniform (when we were living abroad; there are no school uniforms in Finland) was also blue: a pale blue shirt and a navy skirt. I remember hating it. Even in my adult years I've only had a couple of blue clothes. Blue jeans are OK, but other than that, I only have two blue sweaters, a navy cardigan and a t-shirt, and one bright blue t-shirt, which I love because there is a Star Wars print on it. So I was quite surprised to n

A couple of our friends called yesterday evening and said they would be visiting Vasa today and asked if they could come over. It's nice to see them, because they live in another city and we don't get to see each other as often as I would like. I thought I would bake something good to serve with coffee, but we didn't really have any flour at home, because I had been baking bread last week end and used up everything we have.  Our nearby little grocery store does not have any of the gluten and wheat free flours that I like to use so I had to come up with a plan B and make do with whatever I found in the cupboards. And for once, my little adventure in the kitchen paid off! Because this cake was really good: something I will definitely make again. It was juicy, fresh and summery.  I'm sorry about the poor quality of the photos: I had to snap them really quickly before serving and we ate the whole cake, so I can't take any more photos... Maybe next time

Last Saturday was my name day. I'm not quite sure if celebrating one's name day is solely a Scandinavian tradition, or if it is popular in other countries as well. I've never heard that it would be as big a thing anywhere else as it's over here. All the commonly used names have their own day in the Finnish and Swedish calenders, and the daily newspapers always tell you who's name day it is on that specific day, so you can congratulate them (if you know people by that name, that is). Every Finn can tell you when their name day is if you ask them. So mine was on Saturday, along with the other names belonging to the family of names formed from Sarah. When I was a child we had a tradition that mum would bake a strawberry cake on my name day, and I would get a small present, something like a chocolate bar or a bag of candy. Magnus is used to a different kind of name day celebration: he's convinced that the person whose name day it is should be the one baki

Olive Beret Yarn Novita Joki, shade 327 Needles 3.5 mm and 4.0 mm I fell so completely in love with the beret I knitted last week so I just had to make another one. I almost wish it was colder already so I could use them. (Just kidding, I'm loving the summer heat wave we have at the moment). These berets are really quick to knit: I started and finished this second one on Saturday in just a couple of hours while chilling in the park with my friend and her dog. I've always preferred berets to caps and slouchy hats, ever since I was a child actually. I don't know why I love berets (especially those classic felted ones), maybe because I have always fancied myself somewhat artistic and wanted to look the part. Or to appear intellectual and elegant, like the French mademoiselles. Haha, don't take the last two sentences too literally. I'm not sure about the color of the yarn: I know it is beautiful but I'm not sure what color it is. Does that even m

      Autumn Foliage Beret Yarn: Novita Joki #871 (100% wool) Needles: 3.5mm and 4.0 mm I wasn't going to knit a beret. I wasn't going to buy more yarn. I have too many projects on my needles and my head is filled with ideas for the next 100 projects or so. I have way too many skeins of yarn (if it is possible to ever have too many?) and I'm starting to run out of cupboard and drawer space to stash them.  A small note: I can't leave skeins of yarn lying around, or any wip s either for that matter, because our cat Milla is totally infatuated with yarn. She steals everything woolen she can get her claws on, and carries them around like a mother cat carries kittens. She licks them and you know how a cat's tongue is all rough? You can just guess how fuzzy wool yarn gets when a cat licks it. If Milla has one of her crazy moments, she might even play with the yarn and mess the whole skein up. She also eats the yarn, which is the foremost reason I don&