LunaKnit

This is only the second KAL (knitalong) ever I'm participating in. As the hashtag in the topic line suggests, the purpose of this KAL is to knit garments for yourself so that by the end of the year you can cover yourself in handknits from head to toe. There are going to be 9 garments in total, and 11 months to get it all completed. Simple enough. The KAL is hosted by a Finnish yarn store called Lankakauppa Kerä . The first garment we knitted was a hat. I chose the Roku hat by olgajazzy and used some leftover Rowan Tweed from my stash. The colorway is called pendle . It's a simple ribbed hat that goes with everything and I've been using it a lot ever since it came off my needles. The second garment was a scarf or a cowl, and I knitted the Tenchi cowl, also by olgajazzy. I used Brooklyn Tweed shelter for this one. It was my first time knitting with Brooklyn Tweed yarns since they are really hard to come by here in Finland (at the moment we have only one yar...

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...

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...

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...

After investing a lot both money- and time-wise to the Harper pattern I felt it would have been an enormous waste only to use it once. I do love the design - I wouldn't have purchased it in the first place had I not - despite the shortcomings of the Brooklyn Tweed pattern. And I do love my Harper hat: I think my first Harper was such a success despite all the extra effort that went into knitting it. Knitted with DK weight yarn it makes a perfect springtime hat: it's lightweight and soft but still just warm enough. I've used it a lot ever since I got it off my needles. I started the second hat last Monday when I had a doctor's appointment and some tests taken (such as glucose tolerance test which alone took over 2 hours) due to the pregnancy. I knew it would mean a lot of sitting in the waiting room and I wanted something simple on my needles to pass the time. Something that I could just drop and put into my bag the second I heard my name called. The test...

Not wanting to spread unnecessary negativity I'm first going to briefly write a happy-joy version about this hat, giving you the option of skipping all the annoyance and foul mood this pattern caused me later on in this text. I really like how this hat (eventually) turned out. It is exactly what I was looking for: minimalistic, light-weight and impossibly soft (thanks to the Lamana Cusco which feels like hugging a kitten). It's certainly not thick enough to brave the winter chills, but I'm embracing the capsule wardrobe ideology and knitting for the season at hand, and the hat is perfect for this time of the year: when you can almost pretend it's summer in a sunny and windless spot, but around the corner the cold can still take you by surprise. Before I started to focus more on my wardrobe and concentrating on knitting things that I really love to wear, all my hats were of bright colors so it's now nice to have a simple and neutral colored cap to go with ...

While waiting for the spring weather to get back on track I've been embracing the change of seasons by knitting a couple of light-weight hats. My quest for a - I dare not say perfect but - more functional, wearable and easily mix-and-matched wardrobe has made me take a whole new approach to my knitting. Previously I only had one ( my Hutchin ) light hat suitable for transitional seasons, like late spring or early autumn, and everything else is thick and woolen and way too warm. This year I've been trying to concentrate on the so called "wardrobe basics" and staple knits, to really focus on what I need to have in a functional wardrobe rather than what I find just fun to knit or quirky. I've already finished my first "essential" piece: my Exeter cardigan and casted on for another similar one but in a lighter shade of grey. The first hat is a dark grey lace hat with striped inside which makes it reversible and very multifunctional,...

I had knitted the hat already once before and it's one of my favorite and best fitting hats so I wanted to make another one. I have noticed over the years that I have a smaller head than what seems to be the norm according to the hat sizings so I have learned to go down a needle size. Instead of 4.5 mm needles I used 4.0 mms and it worked out great. I used an odd leftover skein and a half of mustard yellow Drops Karisma and made the pompom with some unknown light brown wool yarn from my stash. For the cowl I used dark green Retrosaria Beiroa that I bought from my trip to Amsterdam last November. I'm not sure if I liked this yarn; I didn't expect it to be this rough and stiff. It wasn't very easy to knit - it seemed to get stuck, like there was a lot of friction between the stitches and the working yarn. It also has a slight gasoline-like odor that irritated me a bit and a lot of pieces of small and sharp sticks and straws that I had to keep pulling out...