LunaKnit

Istanbul Mittens Pattern: Marrakech Mittens Yarn: Granstudio DROPS Cotton Merino shades #04 Lilac and #21 Heather So we are back from our holiday. The trip didn't go quite as planned because I got sick on our 4th night. It started as a bit of a flu and got gradually worse over the days. The flight home on Wednesday was the last nail in the coffin and now I'm bedridden with otitis, sinusitis and bronchitis.  But let me show you the mittens I made during the trip while trying to rest by the pool. I'm calling them Istanbul mittens instead of the original name of Marrakech, because of the destination where I knitted them.  I caught a small mistake in my chart, there's one stitch extra for some reason. I will fix it as soon as possible, but at the moment I don't think my brain functions well enough for such thinking... A bit of unusual clothing while modelling for mittens ;)

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. "That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed. "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.”  Here you can also see what I'm knitting at the moment. This is the Dune scarf  and I'm using one of the yarns I hand-dyed myself.  I don't usually read books about war. They

Just wanted to say hi, and tell you all that we are leaving for 10 days long holiday to Greece and Turkey tomorrow. I'm taking my iPad with me so I might be able to update this blog, but I'm not sure about the Wi-Fis in the hotels we are staying. I'll be back sooner than you know! P.S. The photo above is from Corfu a few years back.

Cumulus Humilis is the Latin name for the small candy floss -like clouds you see on a clear and sunny summer day, the so called "fair weather cumulus" clouds. The idea and inspiration for these mittens came to me one late July afternoon when I was relaxing in the park reading a book and looking at the sky. I wanted to create something to remember these lovely summer days when it's cold and grey outside.  The light blue color of this yarn is the perfect shade to reflect the summer sky. I thought the light DK weight yarn with the holes from yarn-overs would be too thin to use in the winter time so I added a lining. I used a left-over skein of off-white Garnstudio Drops Baby-Alpaca Silk for the lining, and it feels lovely, smooth and soft against the skin. It also makes the mittens feel lighter and the pattern more cloud-like as you can see some white through the yo 's. The mittens should most definitely be blocked! I must admit I don't always b

Pippi Pattern: Pippi by Kirsten Kapur Yarns: Garnstudio Drops Alpaca (100% alpaca) #9020 light pearl grey Novita Wool (100% wool) #727 lilac Garnstudio Drops Baby Merino (100% merino wool) #19 grey Needles: 4.0 mm The Pippi Scarf is now ready. It turned out really pretty! I used same yarns for this scarf as for the second pair of my Horizon mittens so they will pair up nicely when the weather starts to get colder. I seem to have calculated the yarn requirements quite well: I only have half a skein left of the baby merino, everything else is used up. I ran out of the alpaca yarn a bit too early having to skip the last two repeats of the edging, but it really doesn't matter now that the scarf's all done. I also used all my Novita Wool except for the last few meters. It will go to my little box of scrap yarns, to be used for a provisional cast on or something similar. The scarf is quite easy to knit but can get a bit monotonous be

OK, I know. I said I wouldn't buy yarn. I relapsed. But let me just show you first what I bought and then I can make excuses for buying it. Now that you have seen the pretty skein, I guess no more excuses are needed, right? I'm sure you understand why I had to buy it. And I only bought one skein instead of many, even though I liked many of the colors. I only bought the one I loved absolutely the most. The real excuse, or not even excuse, the reason I bought the yarn is that I want to support small enterprises and local business owners. We have been visiting many fairs and artisans' markets during the summer and I've been complaining about the lack of people selling hand-dyed yarn, so it would have been a bit phony not to buy yarn when there for once was someone selling their own assortment.  I also like buying yarn from the places I visit; it's a kind of souvenir-thing for me. I like how the yarn reminds me of the place and the trip when I kni

This was an extempore project: one that I had not planned to knit, but I wanted to make something for our friends' baby girl since we didn't want to go for a visit empty handed. I thought I picked an easy and quick knit (only garter stitch) but it turned out to be a much more complicated and arduous project than anticipated. I have knitted a lot of Drops design patterns, so I'm used to the way they write their instructions: short and concise without anything extra. But these instructions were very undetailed and cursory, and in some places downright inconsistent, even contradictory. First of all: construction. You start knitting at the bottom of front piece on the right hand side increasing for the sleeve as you go. Then you make the left side similarly, put those two pieces together and knit the back from neck down. By the time you have reached the ribbing on the bottom edge of the back, the piece starts to feel quite big on your lap and the yarns get tan

I have once again started too many projects. It's like my brain started to go on overdrive after I went through my stash and planned a project for most of the yarns. I just can't concentrate on any one thing and would like to knit everything at the same time. I can't seem to decide what I want to knit first and what I will leave for later.  At the moment I have one pair of mittens, a scarf and a sweater in progress. I'm also knitting a baby cardigan for our friends' little daughter Amanda, and am still working on my two blanket projects, of which one is the "square of the month" blanket and another one the chevron blanket (which has not progressed even one row after I last time showed it to you, it's way too hot to knit blankets at the moment). I have one mitten ready, and just started with the second one. They seem to take a long time, because I'm designing them myself and have done a lot of unraveling and re-knitting to make them

Exactly one year ago. I love him more and more every day.