LunaKnit

The year 2015 has been filled with lots of love, tears (both of happiness as well as pain and tiredness), personal growth and leaving working life for the time being to be a mother. This year has been mostly about the baby, first expecting him and then getting to know him and growing to love him more than anything in this world.  There were also sad moments: we had to say good-bye to one of our family members by rehoming our cat Milla and receiving news about our eldest cat Otto's incurable dementia. This year we have faced the hard times of the life with a new-born baby: the constant tiredness, sleepless  nights, a few visits to the children's hospital and the hopelessness you feel when you have absolutely no idea what to do when your baby is sick. But looking back, the good times totally out-weight the bad times, and 2015 will definitely be a year that will stay in my memories. I haven't had much time for knitting after Theo's birth, mostly I've b

I hope all of you have had a peaceful and happy Christmas holiday! We have been enjoying time with our families with way too much chocolate and lots of laughter. Now that everyone has opened their Christmas gifts so I can finally show what I knitted! I didn't have time to make anything for my parents but I promised to knit them socks anyway, they'll get them when I have time to finish them. (I'm using the Rye sock pattern by Tincanknits, it's such a great pattern and I love how they fit!) I knitted hats for my sisters, the younger one got a white and beige Laurus hat (pattern by Dianna Walla and it is freely available via Fringe hat along) and for the big sis I knitted a Bror hat ( pattern by Hege Klaseie ). I used Drops Nepal for both hats, and for the contrasting sections I used the last remaining leftover pieces of Novita Alpaca Wool. (Both photos are posed by me before giving the hats away.) And for my one-year old godson I knitted a hat

Another giant project is finally off my needles!  I started this sweater in July when I was still pregnant and it has taken me forever to finish! Even though it's such a simple and understated garment knitted mostly in Stockinette stitch, the loose fit means there's quite a lot of fabric to knit. Also the needle size is quite small (3.5mm) so that makes the number of stitches to knit uncountable. I'm extremely happy about the result so it was definitely worth the effort! I knitted mine using two lace weight yarns (one white, one black) held together to get a nice marled effect. The result reminds me of the noise TV screens used to get when I was a child. In Finland we called it "snowfall". The only change I made was to knit the pullover in a round. The math behind calculating the side details and increases when knitting in round was really easy. I don't think that the lack of side seams makes any difference.  Now I just need to wait for warmer

Like I've written earlier (many times) this was one giant project and had I known how much work it would be before I started, I probably would have picked something else for Magnus's birthday present. Even the pattern states in its introductory text that " this is a long-haul project, so knit it for someone who's good company over the miles ". Magnus is, so I guess the pullover is a perfect fit. This was my third year in a row making him a sweater for his birthday, and it's something I'd very much like to make into a tradition. I started to make him a pullover the first year we started dating, but apparently the Swedish speaking Finns believe in a " sweater curse " which means that if a girl knits her boyfriend a sweater before they are married the relationship is doomed for sure. Magnus's mother and sister were dead set on not allowing me to finish the pullover, and Magnus had to wait another 7 years for his first me-made sweater.

(Drum roll....) I'll write more about it soon, just wanted to show it to you since I'm so happy and proud of it!

You who follow me on Instagram already know this but I have actually finished Magnus's birthday pullover, hooray! It was probably one of the most time consuming and ambitious knitting projects I've ever done, and I already told Magnus that next year he will get something that was knitted with big needles and heavy yarn. Or maybe a hat. But it's done and it looks really great! And the non-birthday boy was really happy and pleased with it. Even though his birthday was 92 days ago... so I was horribly late with my gift. I already joked that I should probably cast on for  his next present immediately so that I might be finished on time for his next b-day...  This is such a nice pullover. And incase you forgot, the pattern is from Brooklyn Tweed's BTMen Volume 2 collection and it's the Jackdaw by Norah Gaughan . I used medium gray Drops Baby Merino for it. I'll show you more photos as soon as I get Magnus to model it for me (hopefully this weekend; the da

I have been feeling totally swamped by the monstrous sized knitting projects I have on my needles, (Relax pullover and Jackdaw pullover) that seem to just drag on and on and on and never ending so I needed something small and quick on my needles for balance and to get the high you get from binding off that last stitch and wearing what you have created. So I went back to my favourite source of inspiration, namely the wonderful BT Fall 14 collection (I want to knit every single piece in that collection, and I've already knitted 5 out of the 16 patterns - Hawser , Docklight , Hutchin , Ondawa (that had the little accident ) and now Skiff). This is another great hat pattern by Brooklyn Tweed. I love the cables and the doubled brim! I used Drops Merino Extrafine for it and it such a pleasant yarn to wear, so smooth and soft and not at all itchy!  Because I've noticed that my head is smaller than the "norm" (most of the hat patterns always turn out to be t

It's been a bit quiet here on the blog for a while, and I'm sorry about it. My mind has been a bit elsewhere lately and the short time I've had for myself has been dedicated to some seriously needed relaxation - on some nights I've even been too tired to knit if you can believe it! After all, I always say knitting is my meditation! First baby-Theo was sick. We still don't know what was wrong with him but he was just screaming without any apparent reason. We even had to spend one night at the hospital because they wanted to have him monitored to find out the cause. The doctors think that he might have had a bad reaction to some vaccinations he got earlier in the week, or maybe his little tummy ached, we don't know for sure. It's so hard when they are so little that they are not yet able to tell you where it hurts... He's fine now, so don't worry about him. After that Magnus was away for a business trip for several days and me and Theo wer

These are the projects I've been working on this past week. Quite a boringly gray palette, maybe the cloudy November weather has had some impact on my mood...  I've picked up my Relax pullover again after a few weeks break. It's something I started back in July (when I was still pregnant) and sometimes I wonder if I ever get it done. The loose fit means a-lot-larger-than-your-normal-sweater dimensions and lots and lots of stitches to be knitted. I'm using Drops Lace in black and white to get a nice marled effect.  Another monster project of mine is the Jackdaw pullover I'm still working on for Magnus. I've finished the front now, so I've made some progress since last week. I've also already seamed the shoulders but still have the sides left. (I hate seaming!) So only the sleeves and the collar to be done, and maybe I will actually finish this one fine day! I'm thinking about knitting the sleeves in a round and two-at-a-time, but haven

I've mostly been working on the Jackdaw pullover. I've actually made some progress even though it seems to take forever. I made an "end of the year resolution" today to finish it by the end of the year, which seems totally achievable if I don't spend my time knitting everything else but. I'm just a few cm short of separating the front for neck shaping (I've knitted see more after taking the photo below.) I'm also knitting the Skiff hat from BT Fall 15 collection. I still think it's my favourite Brooklyn Tweed collection, but then again, I'm a sucker for cables and fisherman style pullovers. I'm making the hat version with the longer rim and I'm about half way through with the ribbing.  But wait, I've actually also finished something: the test knit I was knitting for Arohaknits, remember the Tapatoru Cowl ? I had it for a test run today and it's just about the perfect thing to slip under your coat on a windy autumn day

My Socktober socks are ready. All three pairs of them. I used tincanknits' Rye Sock pattern for them, and made a pair for each member of our little family. I would really like to recommend this sock pattern: the fit is great (Magnus thinks these are the best fitting woolen socks he has ever had), they were quite easy and fast to knit, and they look really good. And the pattern is freely available for download via Ravelry. A while back I posted a question asking your help for knitting heels. I had problems with picking the stitches from the sides of the heel flaps because I thought they were loose and little holes appeared at the sides of the gussets because of it. I had tried to pull the stitches at the beginning of each heel flap row really tight and then knit the picked stitches through the back loop (twisting them) to make them even tighter but it didn't give me a satisfactory result. You guys had many great tips and I already tried some of them.  First th

As I've often mentioned on this blog, I never really learned to knit as a child (I did finish the mandatory socks and mittens we were all expected to knit in elementary school, but I hated it and decided never to touch yarn or needles again) and only taught myself to knit after I turned 20. So there are a lot of things I've had to figure out for myself as I've had no one to show me the ropes or help me when I was stuck.  I've made so many mistakes, but (hopefully) learned from every one of them. Some mistakes I had to repeat more than once before figuring out what I was doing wrong. Still I wish I could now go back and tell the beginner version of me a few things I've learned during the past few years - especially after I found Ravelry and a whole new world of knitting. I'm sharing them with you, because some of you might still be in the beginner state and I'm hoping to spare you from the same mistakes I've made. 12 THINGS I WISH I KNEW

Just a quick update to show you what I'm working on at the moment. I already mentioned that I'm participating in a test knit for a maori inspired cowl, a project I'm really excited about. Here's how far I've gotten with it: Fair-isle knitting always looks ugly and a bit wonky before blocking but I'm sure it will look much better when it's all smooth and neat and off the needles. I'm really digging the yarn though, it's super soft and not at all itchy like alpaca yarns usually tend to be.  I'm also still working on the Jackdaw pullover for Magnus. I feel like it's taking forever and I don't see any progress even though I've put hours into it. If it was something for me, I'd put it on hold for a while but since it's a present and already horribly late, I feel like I should be working on it and feel slightly guilty every time I knit something else... One more thing I've been knitting is a onesie for the baby.