The brown cheese chronicles

Let's Go Fishing Hat

2011-12-29T13:17:00.002+02:00

I got some crafting books for Christmas - one of which is Sewing for Boys. I saw this book a bit ago on a blog somewhere and thought it looked interesting - for both boys and girls who have tom-boy tendencies. Now I can look inside the book I'm not disappointed and can see a few projects that I would like to make for both Rory and Frances.

We're off to Gran Canaria in a couple of weeks time to get some winter sun. Rory has already outgrown any sunhats we had so I made one yesterday from the Sewing for Boys book. I made it using an old T-shirt I had from the Knoxville Brewer's Jam back in 2002. Rory's now ready for his trip and maybe to do a bit of fishing with Gramps too.

Finished

2011-12-21T13:16:00.003+02:00

For about the first time since I started this sporadic blog I have a backlog of finished projects!

In no particular order:

PJs for Frances. Pattern from Making Children's clothes by Emma Hardy Fabric has been reused from old sewing projects.

Ladybird outfit. Pattern from cute and easy costumes for kids by Emma Hardy. Fabric again reused from old sewing projects.

Waffle socks for Rory.

Chair for Rory. Pattern McCall's 9665. This is the same as the one I previously made for Frances, and again using fabric languishing in my stash.

Socks for Frances

It's nice to feel that I'm being productive.

Artwork

2011-10-23T12:35:00.002+03:00

We're starting to get quite a lot of artwork being drawn by Frances - I find it quite fascinating to watch her draw and listen to her narrative as to what she is doing: what colours she is choosing, what she is drawing, when she is adding the eyes etc etc

This is one of my particular favourites at the moment. If I remember correctly it is Totoro or probably a number of Totoros (usely described as Daddy Totoro and Baby Totoro), Mei and Satsuki are probably in there too. Totoro features heavily in her artwork and in her imaginative play (She is Mei, I am Satsuki, David is Daddy Totoro and Rory is Baby Totoro - she has many other characters from various films, TV programmes, books, people she knows etc that we all are - it's often pretty hard to keep up!).

Back

2011-08-03T12:55:00.003+03:00

For the first time in over a year I've actually picked my knitting up. I'm quite surprised with myself. While I haven't been knitting I've been busy - first moving (again), and then making one of these:

This is Rory Aloysius, born July 9th. I seem to be the only knitter I know that doesn't go into full on baby knitting mode when pregnant.

So, we're all doing fine. Let's see if the blog keeps going or if it languishes.

Frances' chair

2010-08-05T11:38:00.004+03:00

This week I have managed to finish a sewing project which I have had on the go for a few months - a chair for Frances.

It's made from leftovers (thanks Quinn for the denim), including the pillow forms and about half of the stuffing. Frances helped with the final stuffing of the pillow forms and knew that it was for her and exactly what to do with it once it was assembled. 11 months old yesterday - she's getting closer and closer to being a little girl.

Sun hat

2010-07-24T14:03:00.004+03:00

I think one of the things that bores me about this blog is the knitting - I like knitting, but I get frustrated, especially at the moment, with how little knitting - or crafting in general I am getting done. I think the blog just emphasises for me how unproductive craft-wise I am being. I'm being productive in other ways.

I have knit Frances a sun hat - sometimes she will wear it, but a lot of the time it's immediately snatched from her head (if it even gets that far!)

27/07/10 ETA link to ravelry so that Kristin can see which yarn I used!

Baby saag

2010-07-16T17:43:00.009+03:00

Apart from being busy looking after Frances, working, meeting up with people, visiting places, trying to do a bit of gardening, a bit of crafting and generally living life, I think one of the reasons the blogging stopped is because this blog bores me.

I'm not sure what to do about it - do I abandon the blog? Or take it in a different direction - not sure which direction that would be? Or something else as yet un-thought of? Who knows?

While I figure that out I thought I'd post about baby food. If you've read David's blog (also stalled) you'll know that we do a bit of cooking, so it will come as no surprise that we've primarily been cooking our own baby food for Frances.

There are times when jars are great - especially when travelling - but I do wonder what's in the food to allow them to have an unrefrigerated jarred shelf life. I also think, of the ones I've tasted, that the savoury offerings are very bland, and the sweet offerings very sweet.

So, back to cooking baby food - we have one baby cook book. "New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner" by Annabel Karmel. I've found this a very good guide through the weaning process - there's contradictory advice out there about what to give babies at certain ages, particularly concerning eggs and dairy, but I've been quite happy to follow her advice. Frances hasn't had any allergies (so far!) so I'm quite happy to continue following it.

The one recipe that I feel is missing is a baby curry. So this afternoon I've been rectifying that. I adapted a recipe out of another cook book that we have (and we have plenty!) called "Curries without worries" by Sudha Koul.

So, what I did:
1. Defrosted about 300g of frozen spinach
2. Chopped an onion, couple of cloves of garlic and a couple of cm's of garlic in the food mixer. Then added about 5 cloves that I'd pounded in the pestle and mortar.
3. Fried onion mix, then a chicken breast that I chopped finely in the food mixer.
4. Once everything was looking well on the way to being browned I added two chopped tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and cardamom (all pounded in the pestle and mortar if they were whole), and about 100g creme fraiche.
5. Added the spinach, reduced the heat, covered and let cook for a bit until it looked right.

This made about 5 jars of the 8 month old size when I filled the jars about half and half, rice and curry.

I was going to take a photo of it, but Frances ate it so quickly that I didn't manage!

Sweet socks

2010-03-31T13:15:00.004+03:00

After posting a picture with my kitkat machine on it last time, in case you feared that my other sweet foodie passion - Lyle's Golden Syrup - had been forgotten - fear not...

Another finished knitting project:

The Golden Syrup inspired stripey socks are finished.

I really like them and can see the possibility of knitting some more stripey socks using leftovers in the future. But, I think the next socks I knit will be pirate themed.

And in case you're wondering - the Golden Syrup cans behind the socks have been made into a standard lamp.

Hat

2010-03-27T13:01:00.003+02:00

My blog's been quiet again for a little while. It's not as if there haven't been things going on - with a nearly 7 month old baby how could this be possible? I just haven't felt like writing about anything.

So, to break the silence and hopefully get back into the swing of blogging, here is a hat I knit for David while we were on holiday for a week in Spain visiting David's parents.

A little while ago my Mum knit David a scarf and there was enough yarn left over that she knit him a hat as well - the scarf has found great favour, but the hat was a bit floppy and baggy because of the soft, fine quality of the yarn (Tynn alpakka) and so didn't really get warn. This seemed a shame, so just before we went away I found the leftover yarn and frogged the hat and started again, this time with the yarn held double to hopefully give a denser fabric.

And we seem to have success. The pattern I used was Turn a Square by booklyntweed, although using a similar stitch to the original scarf (of course we didn't think to take the scarf with us to Spain - so it's similar, but not the same) rather than the stockinette stitch of the original pattern.

I think David had just started to suck a sweet when I announced I was going to take his photo, which is why he has a slightly funny look on his face.

While I'm here - here's a photo of Frances playing with her Dad.

Fidgit knickers

2010-03-01T19:50:00.002+02:00

A little while ago I did a post about nappies and how I was getting on with them. I mentioned that I was amazed at how well the wool outers were working. I acquired some small ones from a friend in the beginning, and my Mum has knit a few pairs. Now, I have finally got around to knitting a pair for Frances. These have taken me far longer to make than they should have done (like most things at the moment). I knit them using the Curly Purly Soaker Pattern and roving that we bought at the eco shop here in Turku produced by Jutta. They produce the roving in lots of fun colours. They wouldn't have taken me quite so long if I'd actually managed to read the pattern and not joined the crotch seam before I'd knit the full length of the front, and also if I hadn't originally cast off the legs too tightly. They're quite big on her at the moment, although look pretty neat and slim under clothes. If she needs any more I'll most likely use this pattern again as it doesn't require any seaming.

In other knitting news, I've finished the 1st module of the City and Guilds course, it has been assessed and is currently in the post on its way back here. I've had some positive feedback and only have some minor bits to look at and add to or change. In the package that should arrive any day now are also the instructions for Module 2. I've read that this second module is all about colour, which should be interesting.

I've also been knitting socks again. I've been wanting to knit some stripey socks with each colour being a single row wide for quite some time now - I think since I read about helical stripes on this blog. I had an odd ball of dark green and of white sock weight yarn and decided to add a couple of other colours and knit a stripey sock inspired by the colours of a golden syrup tin. As always with socks I'm finding them very satisfying to knit.

Seascape

2010-01-27T16:08:00.004+02:00

There has been knitting going on here between nappy changes, feeding, washing and general mischief and merriment.

This is seascape stole from knitty summer 2008 I started it back in July 2008 but it came a cropper to knitting things that didn't take as much concentration... I never managed to memorize the chart..., hibernating, and general life. It's not as airy as the version in the pattern, but I like it, and it makes for a bit of a different type of scarf for me.

The other knitting project that I've been working on is my city and guilds - that, like seascape, stalled last year but I've been making some good headway and am hoping to have the first module done by the time my parents come in a couple of weeks time. I'm excited about keeping going with it and getting some momentum going.

monochromatic

2010-01-15T20:49:00.006+02:00

The weather here recently has been very stable - cold and dry. We haven't really had any serious snow for a few weeks now, but because of the temperatures it's stuck around. We've also had a lot of hoar frost.

I was thinking the other day when I was walking around how monochromatic everything was looking, I'm seeing the outside world in greyscale. I thought I'd take a few photos, these are all taken in our neighbourhood.

It really accentuates the shapes of all the trees. It's very pretty although I think I'm ready now for a bit of colour - I can't wait to see the first shoots of green on the trees. (the person in blue is David pushing Frances by the way).

Nappy summary

2009-12-16T19:47:00.003+02:00

I thought I'd do a bit of a nappy summary - more for myself than anything else....

The nappies I made: so far I haven't used them at all - at the beginning they were way too big, I tried one on Frances the other day and they gape a lot around the leg, so I can't imagine the containment would be very good.... and as we all know, it's all about the containment.

Disposable: slim, easy, reliable... but.... I don't really want my daughter walking around as an environmental disaster. I've read about disposable nappies not even starting to decompose until she's an old lady, which just feels wrong to me. So, we have some as backup and sometimes to use for convenience - ie if we're going out and aren't sure of the changing facilities etc.

Imse Vimse reusable nappies as supplied by Kela: I've tried to use these, but every time they just haven't contained anything and we've ended up in a soggy mess. I've heard that these only start working once the inners are washed a few times - I guess they must mean a few thousand times.

Muslins: Old fashioned muslin squares with knitted wool pants on the outside. These have been what we use the majority of the time. It's quite a game to "pin" (using nappi nippas) them around her while she's wriggling, but no more difficult than trying to get her into a disposable nappy while wriggling with her legs in the air. I'm curious to know how these will hold up as she gets bigger - maybe I'll have to double them up? I'm still a bit shocked that the wool pants work - I wash and retreat them with lanolin if they get soiled, other than that they just get aired.

Mothercare Smart Nappy: We used these when she was first born and are now using the medium size at night. They're pretty convenient although we do occasionally get leakage at her lower back, and even though the outers don't need to be washed every time they're used, they soon start to smell a bit pee-y.

First day of advent

2009-12-01T15:14:00.003+02:00

Another project that came to light when my Mum was helping me organise last spring was a half made advent calendar. We think this was something my Nanna had found half finished in a charity shop she had been working in and brought home and given to me to finish off. I apparently hadn't finished it, but once again my Mum volunteered and it appeared in a parcel along with a few presents to fill the pockets. I added some more bits so there's one for each day of advent.

The pockets aren't that big, so I thought the best thing to do was to get some sweets to put in each pocket and then attach some wool to join each sweet to a present....

Today's present were some reindeer socks for Frances...

...not quite sure what is in the socks but despite all the kicking she hasn't managed to dislodge them yet.

When "stuff" stashed becomes useful

2009-11-29T09:32:00.005+02:00

Last August, in what seems like an age ago now, I decided to make a concerted effort to use some "stuff" that was in my stash to make something useful, rather than just continue to carry it about.

One of the things in my stash was some red heart acrylic yarn that I'd bought while I was living in the US and had been having a small foray into the world of knitting. I'd bought it as I liked the colour and thought it would be good to make a cabled jumper out of - I still like the colour, but I now know better than to knit something like a cabled jumper out of cheap acrylic yarn. The surplus yarn has been sitting in my stash ever since and the jumper not worn.

A plan formulated itself to knit/sew some sort of picnic blanket, using the red heart yarn, some fleece that was also taking up space in the stash and some waterproof material that I'd acquired at some point along the way.

I cut out the fleece and started knitting the squares, then became pregnant and started to hibernate.

Enter Mum, who came to visit me while I was hibernating and helped me organise my crafting stuff into a newly acquired IKEA shelf unit. She saw this (and a couple of other) half started project and volunteered to knit more squares. We frogged the jumper and she was sent away with the yarn and needles.

When she came to visit just after Frances was born, she came armed with the squares she'd knitted and the yarn that was left. We started to put it all together and she knitted a border for it too. Over the following weeks I've slowly been sewing it together and yesterday, while Frances was napping, managed to finally complete it:

It's not the time of year for picnics, but it's finished and can be used inside as another blanket for Frances to wriggle on. It has a lot of texture in each square as they're all knitted using a different pattern, and also the contrast between the knitted and fleece squares which will hopefully be interesting for little fingers. It's also washable and has a waterproof backing, so perfect for sitting on under the apple trees next year.

It's also very pleasing and satisfying that some "stuff" has been used from the stash.

Retro knitting

2009-11-22T15:34:00.003+02:00

A little while ago I ended up with quite a few old knitting patterns - I quite like the idea of making some of them despite how cheesy and old fashioned the patterns themselves might seem.

My first foray into retro knitting has been a hat for Frances - the bottom left of the following:

Made from just over one ball of Garnstudio DROPS Merino Extra Fine yarn and without the pom pom. It's a bit big for her yet, so probably won't be worn by her until next Autumn. In the meantime polar bear has been wearing it on his adventures.

It's about time I blogged something...

2009-11-16T16:12:00.004+02:00

Life is good.

Our move to Turku went very well.

We've had both sets of our parents come to visit already and are due my sister-in-law in December.

Frances is doing very well, she's what could undoubtedly be called a happy, contented baby (without being on a strict Gina Ford regime).

We've decided not to put too many pictures of her up on the internet.

The usual focus of this blog is craftiness - there hasn't been a huge amount of crafting going on since Frances has been born, but I'm sure that will increase as time goes on.

Frances

2009-09-12T11:56:00.002+03:00

This is Frances Lorelei, I suspect she will hinder my knitting and blogging for a little while!

Born 4th September, 3.5kg. Mother and baby doing well - Father worn out!

Race update - and the winner is....

2009-09-03T13:33:00.003+03:00

A pretty close run thing, but Andrew's jumper has won. Last ends woven in today and after a little bit of a light blocking I declare it the winner.

We had our friend Mina to visit last week along with her son Theodor, who's about 8 months old. She asked if I could help her develop her rudimentary knitting skills - I'm not sure if I was that much help, but she went home with some yarn and needles that she was encouraged to buy and a pattern for a baby hat that she practice cast on for while she was visiting. She's since set up a ravelry account, so hopefully she'll keep going. I cast on for the same baby hat and have nearly finished it - it just needs some i-cord making for ties.

Now we just need the baby.

Race progress

2009-08-06T17:05:00.003+03:00

The jumper vs baby race is really hotting up:

Baby is at about 8 months.

And as far as the jumper is concerned, the sleeves are done and I'm onto the yoke. Another inch or so and I can start doing some decreases. I'm looking forward to the decreases as it's an awful long way around at the moment.

So, the race is hotting up and it's all to play for.

Mr Smiley Tree

2009-08-01T17:17:00.003+03:00

I've been meaning to blog about Mr Smiley Tree for ages. Someone at some point has done something to this tree that means that after there has been rain a smiley face appear on the bark.

We had a thunder storm yesterday evening and then some more rain during the night, so he was all smiley this morning. It's nice to be able to look out of the kitchen window and see his happy smiling face.

Resurrected quilt - finished

2009-07-28T11:51:00.004+03:00

I knew it wouldn't be long before the pink lily opened and yesterday it did just that - very pretty. It's a shame it doesn't have a heady lily perfume, but I certainly won't complain as the flower is beautiful.

Yesterday was a productive day as far as crafting is concerned as I finished the quilt that I resurrected. A very satisfying feeling that a long languishing project has been progressed and finished and will be of use in the not too distant future.

It's also satisfying to know that I only had to buy the batting in order to finish it off, everything else... the sashing, binding, backing etc came from my stash.

Here's the back - I did put the three leftover squares there.

I machine quilted it as I knew if I started down the route of hand quilting I'd never finish it. I also kept the quilting very simple and just did a border around each of the blocks, which I think highlights them quite nicely. It won't win any WI prizes as it's quite puckered, but I'm not going to enter it any competitions, so that's OK. It'll be fine to be lay on, crawled on, played on and eventually slept under.

flower update

2009-07-25T12:48:00.003+03:00

I thought it was about time to have an update on the flowers that I've been growing this year - we've had a bit of a mixed success as a few things that I either planted this year, or which should have survived the winter, didn't.

The sweet peas are doing well - I'm sure they were meant to be a mix of colours, but have ended up being mostly on the purple side. I love the smell of sweet peas, I'm sure these ones won't stay outside for much longer, but will be cut and put into a vase.

I planted a few more lillies this year, which have started to flower (excuse all the weeds) - I can't remember what variety they are, but they're a really vibrant red/orange. The pink lilies from last year and a little bit behind, but their buds are starting to colour up, so it won't be long before they're flowering too.

And last, but not least the dahlia that I grew last year has survived its hibernation in our dining room cupboard and is putting on a show again - it poured with rain last night, so the older of the flowers is a little damaged, but it's still doing well, and there's at least one more bud coming.

I tried growing some dahlia's from seed this year, I was under the impression that they should flower in the same year as germination, but I'm not holding my breath (they're in the pot behind the flowering dahlia in the picture above and are only a couple of inches high, if that).

This week I feel like I'm turning a corner on Andrew's jumper: sleeve number 1 is done. Progress is definitely being made.

Resurrected quilt

2009-07-12T11:32:00.006+03:00

While David has been at work this weekend I decided to have a bit of change of craft project. When my Mum came to visit back in March one of the things we did was organise my sewing supplies - in the organising, one of the things we came across was a languishing quilting project. I've been trying to figure out when I must have started it, and think it must have been sometime in the late 80's! I seem to have a habit with quilting and patchwork of starting with a very manageable sized project and extending it into something that stalls because it's too big/complicated.

It started out being this:

First change was to not want to do any applique, so these blocks were changed - so far so good, and then I think I must have gone on a family holiday somewhere in Scotland and came back inspired to try to piece together a border composed of Celtic knot work - this is obviously when it got out of hand.

We found about 4 blocks of knot work and 15 blocks of normal patchwork. My Mum's suggestion was to go back to the original plan and make the quilt up as per the book using the blocks I had as it would turn out about the right size for a cot quilt.

I've listened to this sane suggestion and have produced the quilt front:

I've still got 3 blocks leftover, which I might put on on the back just so they have somewhere to go, and the Celtic knot work, which I think might languish a bit longer!

Still growing

2009-07-05T09:55:00.002+03:00

Nothing much new to report going on here - just continued progress on ongoing projects.

Andrew's cobblestone now has 5 balls of felted tweed on it and is about 21" long - so probably one more ball and then I can get on with the sleeves.

The weather here has been nice over the last little while, and the veg garden is growing with varying success. We harvested our first broad beans during the week and after a few hints to the chef that these needed to be showcased in something, he made a nice risotto. We also have one surviving sweetcorn plant, some florence fennel, leeks and brocolli plants doing their thing, so hopefully they'll continue to make progress. Our soft fruit is also doing well. We have a few blackcurrents and gooseberries and also some strawberries - the field fares have been eyeing them up, but despite some attacks on the netting they haven't managed to get in there yet.

My bump is also growing - I'm about 7 months now.

I'm starting to feel a bit as if there's a race between Andrew's cobblestone and the baby - I would really like Andrew's jumper to win as I'm sure knitting will take a bit of a hiatus once the baby gets here.

Under the gooseberry bush

2009-06-25T19:08:00.004+03:00

Well, not quite under the gooseberry bush time yet, but we went and picked up my maternity package today, which I get from Kela as part of the maternity benefit. I think this is a fantastic idea - I think it might be the only social security system in the world that gives a box of goodies to prospective parents. The link shows what's in it - basically baby clothes and bits and bobs like blanket, bedding, hairbrush, picture book etc. Even the box it comes in has a little mattress in the bottom and can be used as a crib. I need to look at the contents a bit more, but from what I've read everything it contains is ecological and there aren't any disposable nappies, which I think is good - just washable ones.

I didn't manage 11" of knitting while I was away, by the way, am not really surprised. Too many other things to do - oh well, I'll buckle down to it now (promise!).

The rain will do the garden good

2009-06-12T20:50:00.004+03:00

Anyone would think we were back in winter again with the darkness of the photos I'm posting - in fact it looks like it's about to rain, big heavy laden sky. We have had some good sunshine and hot weather recently, so the phrase, "The rain will do the garden good" is more true than annoying. Hopefully it'll help to swell the gooseberries and encourage the rhubarb to put up a few more stalks for us to harvest, and maybe encourage the strawberries to fruit (the field fares are certainly keeping their beady little eyes on the plants despite them being securely caged - the strawberries, not the birds).

So, back to the photos - just a couple of progress shots again. The first is another shot of Andrew's cobblestone sweater. One more ball of yarn down and it's definitely getting longer - I think I've got about 11" to go before I get to the armpits (I had thought I only had 4" to do, but my maths isn't very good at the moment so when I checked I found it was more). We're off to the UK next week so I'll take it with me to try to get those 11" done while sitting in the garden relaxing and while David's off walking with my Dad. I still like knitting with felted tweed, there's something about it that pleases me - not sure if it's the tweediness, or the soft but not fluffy soft texture, or how even it knits up - or maybe all three and some other reasons that haven't been verbalised right now.

The other progress shot is the pile of nappies that I'm making.

I had a bit of a slow start as I decided I didn't like how they looked when I overlocked the edges, and I was having some problems with the soaker pad bunching when I washed them. But after taking a couple of the first ones apart and putting them back together so that they're sewn and then turned and with a better constructed soaker pad, I'm starting to make progress. These are going to be too big for a newborn, but I'm hoping will be a good average size that the baby will be able to get some good use out of. I think we're going to try these nappies from mothercare for when the baby's very little.

Rhubarb cheesecake experiment

2009-05-25T18:24:00.004+03:00

I thought I should update on the rhubarb cheesecake experiment. I didn't manage to get a shot of the whole cheesecake before we made a dent, but we did manage to stop before we ate it all.

I used the New York cheesecake recipe out of Sue Lawrence's Book of Baking as a starting point. The changes I made to the recipe, apart from downsizing it, were to use ginger nuts for the base instead of digestives and to add some stewed rhubarb stirred into the cream cheese mix. I used three stewed stalks and a little bit of extra unstewed, just to see if stewing was necessary. I didn't add any vanilla essence or lemon juice/zest.

It turned out to be a successful experiment, the rhubarb gave a fresh taste to the cheesecake that contrasted well with the creaminess of the cream cheese. I found that there was no need to have stewed the rhubarb before stirring it in, and I could have definitely put in more to make it even zingy-er.

So, definitely an experiment that will be tried again. Grow rhubarb, grow.

Count down

2009-05-22T18:34:00.003+03:00

Some things I seem to be doing at the moment involve counting down - here are three of them:

Firstly, and probably needing the least amount of counting down is our rhubarb. This has come back nicely after the winter. I'll probably cut the first stalks this weekend. The plan is to make a rhubarb baked cheesecake - I don't really have a recipe to follow, but will adapt and experiment with my usual baked cheesecake recipe and see what happens.

Secondly, Andrew's jumper is still making progress. I've now knit 3 balls and I think I'm nearly half way to the arm pits. The felted tweed is knitting up nicely (as ever). I hope it fits him when it's finished.

And thirdly, the counting down of the bump... this is the progress at 25 weeks. It looks like a baby bump rather than a pie bump now.

Cobblestone progress

2009-04-23T17:54:00.002+03:00

We're off to Riga tomorrow for a long weekend to explore another of the Baltic cities. The weather's meant to be good, and hopefully it'll be a good weekend all round.

I promised myself that I would finish two balls of yarn on Andrew's cobblestone sweater before I went to Riga and before I blogged about it - so here it is:

Progress so far. Progress is slow, but it's progress nevertheless.

spring at last?

2009-04-10T12:09:00.002+03:00

Finally, the first snowdrops have been spotted in our garden:

Breaking the silence

2009-03-12T15:30:00.006+02:00

It's time to break blogging silence... I haven't been feeling particularly energetic recently and the crafting has been suffering. (Sorry Andrew, your jumper is only 2" further along). I think I'm getting a bit more energy now and so thought it was time to break the silence.

I couldn't ignore, and had to share, the display Mr Amaryllis is giving this year. I've pretty much ignored him all year and only occasionally given him a drop of water and he's rewarded my neglect with this beautiful bloom. I've spotted a second bud coming from the same bulb, which is very exciting.

My Mum came to visit last week and helped me plant a few veg seeds.... it didn't take long, but a few have already germinated. The line of seedlings closest are broccoli, there's also some leeks that have germinated and one sweet corn plant (so far). It all bodes well for this years vegetable garden, we just need things to warm up and the snow to go and then we can really get things going.

I have started (again with the help of my Mum, and Dylan as model) a new crafty project. I've decided to make nappies. Dylan claims he doesn't need a nappy, but I'm not so sure! The plan is to make 20 before the beginning of September.

finished

2009-01-15T18:27:00.004+02:00

I seem to be getting behind with my blogging.

I finished the deep V argyle vest - as I've said before I was meant to be knitting this along with Quinn, but the knitting gods were against her and so she ended up taking it back to the US with her to finish.

I'm pleased with how mine turned out. I made some alterations in the upper part to accommodate my row gauge, basically by shortening the pattern - the alterations have worked out and it fits pretty well. The scary steeking part was scary as predicted, but the good directions kept me on course and it worked fine.

I also finished the arch shaped socks I started on my trip back to the UK before Christmas. Despite my gusset/decrease numbers not working out they came out fine. They're comfortable and a bit different.

Next project started is the cobblestone pullover for my friend Andrew - I'm about 2" in. Man-sized sweater's are pretty big.

looking forward

2009-01-02T10:58:00.003+02:00

2008 has been a good year, with lots of positive things happening, but I prefer to look forward to 2009 than back at a summary of 2008. I've been thinking about 2009 and things that I would like to achieve this year - not really resolutions - but more goals and aims. David and I have been thinking about places we'd like to visit and experiences we would like to have, but I thought it was worth having a think on a more personal level. Some of these are craft related, so I thought I'd write them down here (in no particular order):

Learn to knit continental style - I did teach myself to do it last year, but I would like to actually knit something this way around so that the method sticks properly in my head.
Continue with my City and Guilds (which seems to be paused at the moment).
Make a really concerted effort with my quilt.
Continue using stuff I already have, and generally reducing the amount of "stuff" I have.
Sew more clothes.
Design something myself.

Some of these will overlap and hopefully lead into each other, which gives me a nice feeling of continuity.

Deep breath

2008-12-27T18:24:00.003+02:00

I cut the steeks on the deep V vest today. They didn't immediately unravel, which is a good sign, although I'll be happier once it's all finished and the facing edges secured down.

are the days getting longer?

2008-12-22T10:35:00.004+02:00

Since I last blogged about the snow etc all that snow has melted, there's been a little bit since, but nothing really to talk about. It's made it seem pretty dark and grimy as the days have continued to shorten. We've reached the turning point now though. Hoorah.

I've been busy/pre-occupied over the last month with some changes to my work, which included a quick trip back to the UK. Apart from the work-related stuff I had a good time visiting Jo and Andrew, who were kind enough to put me up at short notice. They were very good hosts and made sure I had the opportunity to drink proper beer, do some shopping, post Christmas cards, buy some really interesting cheese and eat some very good food including a treacle sponge. I didn't get the opportunity to visit any yarn shops, but I did come home with some more felted tweed - Andrew has asked me to knit him a jumper as he's tired of not finding what he wants that fits in the shops - he's decided on the cobblestone pullover by Jared Flood and managed to get the yarn in time for me to bring it back with me.

I have one project that I want to get finished before I cast on Andrew's cobblestone. And that is the deep V Argyle Vest that I've been working on. Knitting this along with Quinn hasn't happened as she's had some real problems with gauge and sizing etc so she's giving her version a time out. I've finished the knitting of the body and am now preparing myself mentally for doing the crochet steeks and cutting the arms and neck openings. I'm feeling pretty positive about it, but I'm sure it'll be pretty nerve racking.

And finally in knitting news I started a sock at Helsinki airport last weekend on my way to UK. I risked taking knitting needles in my hand luggage and was very surprised, especially on the return leg out of Heathrow, to have no problems at all. I'm sure it's very hit or miss and am not sure I'd risk trying to take larger needles or a project that would be a real disaster to restart if the needles were confiscated - I guess that's where life lines come in.

So, anyway the sock is the arch-shaped sock by Jen Showalter, although I'm trying to do them in 3 x 2 rib as I've seen others on ravely do them. My numbers/gusset decreases haven't worked out quite right, but I'm keeping going to see what happens.

snow

2008-11-24T09:17:00.003+02:00

I thought I should give a quick update - the predicted snow did come. I think we had about 15cm, although it's difficult to tell as the storm was quite windy as well (and thundery in some parts of Espoo). Some of the snow had fallen before David got home with the tarps, but he battled the snow, wind and dark to better cover the piles before the rest of it fell.

So that's a good start - our neighbour tells us it's too soft for skiing, but if we have a bit of rain and then some more snow it should be good. At least it looks more like what we expect Finland to look like this time of year, and it's so much brighter outside now which is much better.

wood

2008-11-23T11:06:00.006+02:00

The changing seasons see us using our outside space in different ways. Where we'd previously had tomato plants is now being used to store fire wood.

This isn't our only wood pile - after 3 cubic meters was delivered yesterday we've now hopefully got enough wood to keep us going this winter.

We haven't had a lot of snow yet, but it's definitely colder than this time last year and there is snow forecast for later today (hopefully after David comes back from work with more tarps and we get the piles properly covered).

I have my fingers crossed for the Finnish winter experience we missed out on last year with it being too warm. Items at the top of my list include seeing the sea freeze over and the ice breakers in use. I'd also like to have a proper white Christmas - an occurrence which so far has been lacking from my life due to the southerly or temperate climates I've lived in, or from sheer climatic bad luck (in the case of our time in Norway).

Tampere handicraft fair

2008-11-16T16:37:00.006+02:00

Yesterday I took a trip to Tampere - not that I saw Tampere, but went to visit a handicraft fair there. I went with Cecilie and a few from the knitting group (Midori, Satu and Niina) on the train. The fair was pretty big and absolutely packed. I made a few yarn purchases - although on the whole I was pretty restrained.

My first purchase was some merino lux from toika, it's a 50/50 merino and tencel mix, 4ply weight yarn and I bought enough to hopefully make a jumper at some stage. There isn't really enough light in Finland at the moment to show the colour properly - it's a bit more blue-grey than shows in this photo and has a lovely sheen.

The second I purchased was some sock yarn called Arwetta, according to the label it's 100% super merino wool AND 20% nylon, no doubt these will become socks at some point. I got it from the titityy stand.

And that's all I got... I said I was restrained!

back north

2008-11-09T14:14:00.003+02:00

We had a great week in Barcelona last week - a very interesting city to wander around and explore. We took loads of photos, which David is currently weeding through and will no doubt be uploaded to flickr at some point.

Now we're back to Finland, which is pretty grey and dreary at the moment. The fire has been kicked into action, so we're nice and cozy despite the weather. Unfortunately the car's still giving us problems no doubt another trip to the car doctor will sort it out and make us poorer - still hopefully cheaper than buying a new one.

I did a little knitting while I was away, but not that much and we visited the three yarn stores I could find addresses for although I was good and didn't buy anything. Depending on how much work I find to do next week I'm going to make a concerted effort at getting some more of my City and Guilds course progressed.

Nightmare

2008-10-23T07:41:00.005+03:00

Ever since I was young I've had intermittent nightmares. They've decreased in frequency since I've got older, but are still there and are usually pretty vivid. David has learnt to cope with them - usually he doesn't wake me when the shouting starts, but calms me and I go back to sleep. Sometimes I don't remember them, sometimes I have a vague recollection that something's happened and other times I remember them distinctly in the morning.

Last night was a nightmare night. I dreamt that someone was in the room and lay down on the bed on the opposite side of me to David. The confusion and shouting started and I got out of bed, I think to try to switch on the light to prove what I knew in my head was happening. Of course I couldn't find the light switch (I always expect it to be by the bedroom door, but it's been put next to the walk-in wardrobe door) and when David switched the light on (as it was obvious that saying soothing words wasn't going to get me to just go back to sleep) there of course wasn't anyone there. With the turning on of the light and the realisation that the extra person in the bed was a figment of my imagination I woke up properly and was completely confused about what was going on and the emotions I was feeling. My heart also started racing - in fact I don't think I've ever felt it race so fast or so hard.

These nightmare episodes are very strange and I wonder why I get them. Why do I "wake up" in the night shouting and David doesn't (he just gets woken up by me)? What makes my brain convince itself that something is happening that isn't?

quilt update

2008-10-17T11:59:00.004+03:00

This week has been a quiet week work-wise so I set myself the goal of making some progress with my quilt. It's been quite some time since I've blogged about it, as it's been languishing a little.

I've added another section to it and removed a lot of the paper backing, which was a pain (including a few paper cuts under my nails), but makes it a lot easier to manoeuvre now. Still some way to go but hopefully it'll remain my 10 year project rather than expanding to 15.

Deep V

2008-10-11T09:37:00.005+03:00

So, now that the Cyd vest is finished I've cast on for the Deep V argyle vest. It took a few gauge swatches before I figured out which size and needles to do/use, I also changed colours during the swatching stage as initially I was going to use a lighter grey, which didn't end up having any contrast with the green. And then a couple of re-starts while I did the usual messing up and miss-counting, and then another restart to switch to smaller needles for the rib. I'm now away from the starting gates and am pleased with the decisions I've made about size, needles etc.

My gauge isn't spot on, but is close. I think width-wise will be fine, especially once it's blocked, but I need to have a think about length-wise and decide if I need to make any minor changes while I'm doing the armhole shaping. I'm at the end of my first skein of green and nearly at the end of chart A, so I guess now is a good time to figure that out.

Cyd

2008-10-07T15:37:00.004+03:00

I sat down on Saturday and finished Cyd. I'm really pleased with how it's come out. It fits well, I love the colour combination and the drops alpaca used double makes a really nice squooshy fabric.

And it matches my hat (I'm not hiding - honest!)

As you can see from the photo our mud month weather hasn't continued, in fact we have a big blue sky and sunshine at the moment (long may it last).

October

2008-10-04T07:37:00.006+03:00

I've been trying to learn the months of the year in Finnish. I was trying to do this while I was walking the other day with my Finnish neighbour, Saari. She was helpful enough to tell me what some of them mean.

For example: January is tammikuu (oak month), February is helmikuu (pearl month). Not all of them have such succinct translations, but I did learn that October is lokakuu (mud month).

We were having this conversation on the last day of September, it was a beautiful evening - sunny, clear blue sky and beautiful autumnal foliage.

So far October has been living up to its Finnish name. It hasn't stopped raining - we even had thunder last night and the rain was so hard during the night that it woke me up (I woke David up and told him he should probably not cycle to work today, before going back to sleep) and I was surprised when I got up today that the whole area hadn't been washed away, but not surprised that it's still raining!

So, stuck in the house is perfect for knitting. I intend to weave in the ends of my Cyd sweater, which is on the brink of being finnished and Quinn is coming over later as we're in the starting throes of both casting on for the Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny Yang - that's if we both don't get too bogged down with gauge.

Darn

2008-09-23T16:51:00.003+03:00

So, in one of my previous posts I mentioned that I had a problem with my Vinnland socks.

After wearing them only three times they got a hole in both heels. Not good. I guess this is proof that if you're going to make and wear hand knit socks in shoes you really need to make sure there's some nylon or equivalent in the yarn, although I didn't think it would be quite so quick. Maybe my shoes have extra friction heels or something?

I make a point of not mending socks. A certain person I know manages to go through socks at a tremendous rate, and if I said I was going to darn his socks that's probably all I would ever do! So no, I don't mend socks. Apart from if they're hand knit and have only been warn three times!

That said, I do have an inherited darning mushroom which I put to good use. I didn't use darning wool, but decided to use normal sock yarn with nylon in it. I've seen prettier, but hopefully that'll work.

teach a young dog new tricks

2008-09-14T19:57:00.004+03:00

One thing that I've been plugging away at and not blogged about, is the City and Guilds course in hand knit textiles that I've started.

I'm about half way through the first module - so far it's been a lot of swatches of "building blocks" for knitting - so different cast ons, cast offs, stitches, ribs, tension, gauge swatches, blocking etc etc.

Here are a few of the mounted swatches I've made so far - I've got an envelope of others that still need mounting and labelling. Soon I start doing stuff which is hopefully going to help develop the inspiration to design process. I'm really looking forward to that part.

One good thing about all the swatches that I've been making is that it's helping use up some of the not so nice yarn I seem to have in my stash, yarn that I wouldn't buy now, but that I have aquired through one way or another over the years.

The course is run from the UK - so far I haven't been able to attend any of the get-togethers of other students that happen, but maybe at some point one will coincide with a visit back to the UK.

Finished

2008-09-01T15:59:00.004+03:00

It's a rare occasion when I get to post a finished project, and even rarer when I get to post about two (ignore the fact that my posting isn't exactly regular or frequent!)

First we have the Cable and Rib jacket by Debbie Bliss. I've been knitting this for what seems like ages (since February 2008) using wool from a herd of Jacob sheep kept at High Head Castle near Carlisle. They separate the wool into the three colours of natural wool found on a Jacob sheep, and this is the darkest. I have some more of this left and also some in the medium colour, so no doubt there will be more knitting of this wool to come. I think it's a really nice wool - I love that it's not dyed, but still has such a strong colour. I think it shows good stitch definition in the cables and ribs. I like the pattern, I found its formatting a bit of a problem during the cables, but a bit of copy, paste into word soon made that problem go away. I've heard people complain on blogs about putting zips in, and that they're difficult etc etc - I didn't have any problem. I guess my sewing skills come in handy.

Secondly we have Vinnland socks by Becca Compton. These were a bit of a technique experiment as these are the first pair of socks I've knit toe up, two at once, magic loop. Technique fine, although as I mentioned in the last posting I've got a bit of a ladder thing going on. I found the pattern a bit of a drag to knit, and not getting tangled up in either end of the same ball of yarn was a chore, but I really like the pattern now it's done, and the colour of the yarn is very me. I have a little bit of a problem with them, but I'll blog about that some other time once I've solved it.

The next project that I've cast on is Cyd by Martin Storey in Jaeger Handknits JB31. I'm using garnstudio's drops alpaca, which is lovely and soft and really nice to work with so far. It's a thinner yarn than the pattern calls for, so I've changed needles and the size pattern I'm knitting. I'm not convinced yet though that I'm going to continue as I'm getting quite a limp fabric. I'm thinking about re-swatching with a double thickness of yarn.

Red

2008-08-22T16:53:00.002+03:00

What I think will be last new flower has emerged in the garden - I thought they were just going to produce leaves this year, but I've been pleasantly surprised by this: It's Crocosmia Lucifer. I love the way the individual flowers start at one end and progress towards the tip. And as red is my favourite colour I'm very happy with how red these are.

Talking of red - the first of our tomatoes are starting to ripen. I've been reading blogs about people having loads and loads of tomatoes and looking at our plants and thinking that we'd have lots of little green toms, but these ones have decided to ripen. These are on the couple of tomato plants (along with a couple of chili plants) that I brought indoors as it's starting to feel a bit autumnal here (there are still some outside along with some peppers). Unfortunately we don't have a south facing window to put them in - so they can either be constant temp but not so bright, or at the mercy of the weather but with more light.

These are tumbling toms.

And of course there's some knitting progress (sorry about the weird photos of my feet against the wall).

These are the vinnland socks I've been knitting two at once from the toe up using magic loop and one ball of wool (taken from each end). So far so good....

knitting and flowers

2008-07-31T11:40:00.005+03:00

I've just spent a very enjoyable and satisfying morning seaming together my Jacob wool cardigan. I just need to get a zip and then finish off the collar and it can be done. It's about time this was finished as I started it in February 2008.

I've recently cast on two new projects: The first is the seascape stole from the summer issue of knitty. I'm knitting it using some of the mountain of yarn that Cecilie brought back from China.

And the second is Vinnland socks. I wasn't intending to start a second project until I'd finished the Jacob cardigan, but Cecilie wanted a toe up starting session - so I think I confused both her and Quinn in the ways of Judy's magic cast on . I think we may need another session, but I still believe this is one of the best ways to start toe up socks - I'm not so keen on the provisional cast on way. Anyway, again I'm using some Chinese yarn (this will be a theme for a little while!). As you can see I'm trying two at once using magic loop - the longest 2.5mm circular needle I have is 80cm, but I think I'm going to invest in a longer one as it's all a bit squashed.

We were away last weekend in the UK, we met up with friends and family, we also took a visit to the original Monkey House.... I must say it's looking decidedly like a rental property now, which is a shame. I was hoping to take a trip to get knitted but I was too busy catching up with friends and ran out of time. Never mind, it was not as if I needed any yarn anyway. I didn't take any knitting with me as we travelled with hand luggage only and it's not worth the risk of trying to take knitting needles through security in the UK.

When we got back our garden was properly blooming:

from top left, clockwise: Dahlia (Arabian Knight), Calendula, Bergamot, Lily (Samur)

Buds and flowers

2008-07-20T12:21:00.004+03:00

Earlier in the week I meant to blog about the lilies I planted, but I got sidetracked by other things so didn't.

I planted the lilies a few months ago as sprouting bulbs bought at one of our local garden centres. They're the variety Samur.

They've been growing well since then and have had green buds for a few weeks, the buds of the lily that gets the most sun each day were showing signs of pink earlier this week.

And now the same lily has started to flower.

They're a really girly pink, but if you're going to have something as flouncy as lilies, why not? I have more of them spotted around the garden, so hopefully over the next few weeks we'll get splashes of pink around the place.

Our garden isn't the most colourful, but this is a start.

Jacob cardigan update

2008-07-11T11:30:00.004+03:00

Felicity Anne and I have been having a bit of a try on of the Jacob wool cardigan I've been knitting. I've been having a real push at this since the beginning of July and have managed to finish the second cabled front section and one sleeve. I thought it was worth pinning it together and seeing what it looks like.

Felicity Anne and I both like it. It has a lot of texture to it, with the cabled panels on the front and the twisted rib covering the rest of it. It's not a loose sloppy cardigan, but nicely fitted and flattering. The red and yellow bulldog clips on the front holding it together are where there will be a double ended zip (hopefully if I can find one).

What's left to do: second sleeve (cast on this morning), collar, blocking, seaming and finding and sewing in the zip.

victorious

2008-07-07T11:27:00.004+03:00

These four strawberries represent our victory against the fieldfares:

Attack of the killer strawberries

2008-07-04T16:39:00.003+03:00

As I'm sure I've said before - I'm trying to grow some fruit and veg to help support the monkey house kitchen. I'm a great believer in fresh and seasonal food and would much prefer to eat some fresh veg grown in the garden than some super duper organic product that's been shipped half way around the world. I like to stand back and get a little perspective on these things, and not be blinded by the organic = best mantra. That said, I've used a bit of fertiliser, but no bug sprays, or anything. I believe if there are bugs, there's always a predator that will come along eventually and eat them (hopefully before they've devoured my crop!).
Talking of crop devouring I had to ask David to make the strawberries a cage - not because they're vicious and were attacking the other plants, but because the fieldfare were attacking them.

David made a less sturdy version at first, but after a couple of days of looking at it, consulting the blue prints and waiting for a couple of strawberries to ripen, the fieldfare carried out an organised attack, found their way in and ate them. And so this cage was built. So far it's kept them out. We've only got two plants, and I want to be able to eat at least a couple of strawberries from them.

more finished socks

2008-06-30T13:58:00.006+03:00

I've finished the other pair of socks that I was working on... they are the embossed leaves from the interweaves book of favourite socks. I was so close to finishing the second sock when I ran out of yarn. Luckily the yarn shop had another skein in the same colour, and even the same dye lot, so it wasn't the end of the world - just a shame to be so close. I weighed the remains of the new ball after I'd finished - it was bought as a 100g skein, and according to my "not so precise" scales it still weighs 100g.

I think this is a really nice stitch pattern, not too girly but interesting. I'm tempted to make a pair for my Mum too.

So now I will spend a few days trying to make a dent in the Jacob cardigan I seem to have been knitting for ages - I think this has stalled as I don't seem to be able to do the cabling in company. I've cast on the first sleeve, so should be able to concentrate on the cabling at home and still be able to work on it in company.

Once that's a bit further on I'll allow myself to cast on some more socks - we met up with Cecilie yesterday and she brought me bounty that she'd bought in China - it's mostly sock weight yarn, although there are a couple of balls of even finer. She chose some very "Deborah" colours - greens, browns, blues and a bit of red - lots of mulling over and plotting are in order.

Enough yarn?

2008-06-26T11:30:00.003+03:00

I'm making good progress on the embossed leaves socks that I'm knitting - the picture below is the second sock, and as you can hopefully see I'm on the homeward straight now that I'm onto the foot. I'm a little concerned that I'm going to run out of yarn though as the small ball in the photo is all I have left. I think it's going to be close.

And yes, the area behind the bench is our lawn - it looks a bit pitiful at the moment, but it's currently undergoing some re-seeding.

Things are growing in the garden, this is a picture of our tomato, pepper and chili plants. There's flowers on both the toms and the chilies (or maybe they're on the peppers, I can't remember which pot is which!), but they seem to be quite liking their sheltered spot. I'll be interested to see if we get much fruit, or if next years will have to be grown inside.

I found a recipe yesterday that we had for dinner, it was very tasty, so I thought I would share. We had sweet potato ravioli with toasted pine nuts, sage and rocket. The recipe can be found here. Typically we didn't have all the ingredients, so replaced the fresh sage with dried sage and the rocket with some chard from the garden. I did plant some rocket seeds the other day to give us a few more leaves to pick, but they're not up yet. And I will get a sage plant. So no doubt we will try the recipe again with the full set of ingredients to hand. You really can't beat freshly made pasta - it's so easy to make.

stagnating socks

2008-06-23T13:31:00.005+03:00

I've been plugging away at trying to get some of my knitting projects that stagnated while we were away moving and done - first I now have a pair of socks knit from Trekking pro natura using the sailors stitch from More Sensational Knitted Socks. I've gone off self striping yarn, but this one is subtle enough to be fine, they're also relatively thin for a hand knit sock and I'm hoping the mix of bamboo in with the wool will make them a little cooler to wear during the summer. Although with the rain that's currently falling I don't think I'm going to have a problem with hot feet.

I especially like the continuation of the pattern down the heel flap, this isn't something I've done before, but I'll definitely do it again.

Before I cast on something new, I have the second sock of the embossed leaves socks to finish and am also part way through making the cable and rib jacket from the Jacob Wool.

We've received the official photos from the photographer and have sent on the link to them on the Internet to friends and family (Kristin, I sent them on to you after you commented, did you get them OK?). We're pleased with the photos, and now need to sit down and choose which photos to have put in our album.

We've also been sent a few "unofficial" photos... here's me beforehand... showing the dress and wrap that I made:

And here's us afterwards..

I don't think we scrub up too bad! Most people knew about David's socks being hand made, but I haven't seen a photo of them yet.

post wedding

2008-06-18T08:01:00.004+03:00

I don't really know where to start. How about:

We're back;
We're married;
We had a great time;
It was great to see all the friends and family that we did.

We did a weeks walking in the Lakes before the wedding and a weeks walking afterwards, and then a weeks camp and explore once we got back to Finland. It was really nice to be amongst the hills of the Lakes

and I realised how much I miss beech trees.

There are a huge number of trees in Finland (as was proved to us during our week of explore), but there's just something about beech trees that I love.

I don't have any wedding photos yet, but once I do I'll post an odd one.

As for knitting and crafty activities - I hemmed my wedding dress, did a bit of my sailor sock and managed to acquire some patterns and yarn, but I wasn't nearly as productive as I'd imagined.

pre wedding update

2008-05-21T13:57:00.005+03:00

I haven't been very good at blogging recently. I've been in more of a do mood than a talk about doing of having done mood - and so the blog has suffered. There's been lots to do recently with wedding stuff and knitting etc to keep me busy. We fly back to the UK tomorrow so there won't be any blogging until we're back at the beginning of the 2nd week of June, so I thought I'd better have a quick update of the ikke ferdig progress...

here we have the sailor sock with the heel turned

And here we have the first embossed leaf sock finished.

I knit to the heel turn on both of these and then had them around in case Cecilie needed visual aid while she turned her first heel. Her heel passed by without incident and so I can now get on and get both of these finished. I'll take them both with me to the UK and hopefully get some knitting done between enjoying real ale in real pubs and walking.

And then we have the first little bit of the second front of the Jacob cardigan - kind of a token cast on.

So, a bit of sock knitting in the UK and maybe a look in the rowan shop (which sounds dangerous).

I'm sure I'll blog more when we get back....

Greening

2008-05-07T09:04:00.009+03:00

First of all I wanted to show you the difference 10 days makes. The first of these two pictures was taken on April 27th, and the second this morning on May 7th.

Shame I didn't take them both from the same spot, but I think you can see that things are definitely greening up nicely. Those bushes at the far side of our garden are lilacs, and in the gap that shows the neigbouring house I've planted some fruit bushes, a rhubarb and also a little philadelphus cutting. They're all only little so will take some time to make a difference.

I seem to have three knitting projects on the go at the moment. All are making progress:

Firstly we have my jacob cardigan, I'm getting through the cables on the left front at the moment. I was a little worried it was going to be too small, but I did a bit of comparison with another zipped cardigan I have and I think it's going to be OK - not super baggy or anything, but OK.

Secondly we have my sailor stitch sock from more sensational knitted socks - these are paused at the moment so that I can knit the heel at the same time as Cecilie knits the first heel of her first sock. I'm really liking the subtle colour changes on the Trekking Pro Natura and the wool/bamboo mix is really light and fine - I'm hoping these might be a less warm socks that can be worn all year round.

And while I'm waiting for then I've cast on a second pair of socks, these are going to be the embossed leaves sock by Mona Schmidt from Favorite Socks. The leaves are just starting to show. I'm using some Finish wool called Veto. The colour hasn't come out very well on this photo, it's more a soft green/blue. The Veto is a wool/nylon blend and seems very thick in comparison to the trekking.

I would imagine both of the sock projects will go with me to the UK when we go to get married - two weeks tomorrow we fly.

Sunny weather knitting

2008-04-28T08:58:00.004+03:00

David's boyfriend socks are finished... just in time as he won't be my boyfriend for much longer - just over a month to go now!

The weather here in Helsinki has been really good for the last couple of weeks, and from the forecasts I've seen it's meant to continue (more or less). We've been taking the opportunity to spend some time outside to make the most of it. The weekend before this one we were meant to go over to David's boss's house for dinner on the Sunday. As the weather was so nice we decided to cycle - he cancelled, but we still went for a bike ride anyway.

We just happened to end up cycling past, what is turning out to be our favourite pub in Helsinki - The Black Door

They serve real ale and other more interesting beers than the usual Carlsberg and Koff that is sold in most of the bars around here. And you can sit outside in the sun.

This weekend I met up with Cecilie and Quinn to continue with Cecilie's indoctrination into knitting and what is turning into an informal Saturday knitting group. We did try to sit outside of the Black Door but unfortunately there weren't any tables free so we ended up on the sun terrace of MBar. We were having a sock knitting session, so we got Cecilie started off with her first sock and Quinn and I cast on (with varying levels of success) for socks for ourselves. Quinn was eventually successful, but I cast on again on Sunday morning as I'd completely miscounted my gauge and I think the sock I cast on at MBar could have become a jumper.

I'm using Trekking pro natura in a green/blue colourway and am knitting using the sailor's ribbing pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

trousers

2008-04-17T19:26:00.004+03:00

We seem to have been pretty busy lately - with Finnish class, Finnish homework, our weekly trip to the cinema, a beer festival, various amounts of work and just general living.

I've been plugging away on my boyfriend socks that I talked about in my last post and am just about to turn the heel on the second sock, and then I'm on the homeward stretch. David tried the first sock on and it looked pretty good (it's all relative as it is just a sock after all!). I don't think Cecilie's quite ready to start learning socks yet, so I should get the 2nd sock finished while she's still scarf-ing.

I've also been knitting my jacob cardigan - I'm knitting the cabling that's on either side of the front - it's pretty slow going and I don't seem to be able to learn the pattern so am having to follow along with each stitch. I'm also a little concerned that it's going to be too small - but I'll keep going for at least one side and then see what I think.

I've also been sewing. I've made a pair of trousers....

They're made using the now discontinued vogue 2865 pattern. They're simple, lined trousers with darts at the front and back, no separate waistband and a side zip. I altered them at the waistline and also made them a little shorter (they still look pretty long, but I like my trousers longer rather than shorter). I'm pleased with how they look, I think they're quite flattering and my changes to the waist have worked. I have enough fabric to maybe make a jacket as well. Not that I really need a suit at the moment. I have no idea what the fabric is composed of, it's pretty light and has a bit of stretch - I bought it from a little shop in Bristol.

And finally, we bought a compost heap.... now the weather's improving I'm looking forward to doing some digging and no doubt making some garden waste to go along with the kitchen waste that David produces, and also hopefully growing some veg for David to use in the kitchen.

Boyfriend socks

2008-04-08T08:45:00.006+03:00

There's a project I'm working on at the moment that I haven't blogged about yet. Well, actually there's a couple, but they'll come later probably as they're mostly wedding-related. I'm knitting David another pair of socks. I'm following the boyfriend socks pattern by slippedstitch.

They're worked toe up with a short row heel and are so far working out fine. I've only done about 5cm of the leg after turning the heel, which is why they look so out of proportion. I'm enjoying the cables, they're an easy repetitive cable that doesn't take too much concentration.

The wool I'm using is Regia silk, which is a blend of merino, silk and nylon. It's lovely and soft and has a really nice sheen to it. I'm hoping that with having the silk in it these socks won't be too hot for boy feet and might even get warn inside shoes rather than for just lounging around in when it's cold.

I mentioned in one of my last posts that I've been trying to teach myself how to knit continental so that I can help Cecilie learn to knit. We had a visit to the yarn shop and a lesson on Saturday morning. She could already cast on and knit, but now she can purl as well. I think she's doing really well - I remember some of the first times when I was learning to knit and how I would start out with 20 stitches and by the end of the 2nd or 3rd row I'd have 23 stitches and have now idea where they came from, and then after another few rows I'd have 18 stitches and have no idea where they went. I don't think it was my counting, although I was quite little. Anyway, she doesn't seem to be having this problem and her tension looked as if it was getting more even at least in her knit rows.

She's knitting scarves at the moment - but is wanting to knit socks. I'm hoping to get at least the 1st of the boyfriend socks finished before she's ready for a sock knitting lesson as I think it will be useful if I cast on a similarly constructed sock at the same time as she does.

potting on

2008-04-02T14:32:00.005+03:00

I had a potting on session yesterday, so now the seed tray has expanded into lots and lots of little pots. I expect there'll be some casualties as the tomatoes, especially, are very leggy from not getting quite enough light when they first germinated. I planted the tomatoes deep to try to make up for their legginess and encourage some roots to form along their stems.

Monsieur le Sammy has been given four tumbling tom plants to look after.

I'm still a bit nervous about putting anything out in the cold frame yet, but there are some spinach, chard and cabbage plants that will move outside when the time's right.

It was fun potting everything on yesterday. I love growing plants, especially vegetables, from seeds. I like thinking about how the plants are going to develop and wondering how much veg we'll get this year and what we will make. I've also been wondering about where to plant the little fruit bushes and the rhubarb plant we have - the soil's definitely not warm enough for digging yet, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about these things.

On the knitting front, the cable and rib cardigan I'm making using the Jacob wool is coming on well, the back is finished, so I've started on the front cabling. So far so good. The ribbed part is all twisted rib, and the wool I'm using is really letting the texture stand out. I can't wait to see how the cables look.

I've also been having a go at knitting "Continental" rather than "English" - a friend, Cecilie, has decided to expand upon the little bit of knitting she was taught when she was younger, of course she was taught continental and I think it would be useful if I could knit the same way, in case she needs help. Although from what she's been saying she's been getting on pretty well on her own with the help of the Internet. I've also read that being able to knit both ways is useful for speeding up stranded, colourwork knitting, so it'll be a useful skill to learn. So far I can knit and purl continental although it's slow and uneven and very awkward feeling - I'm sure with some practice I can get better.

Easter hare

2008-03-25T21:50:00.003+02:00

We saw this lovely fella in the garden yesterday evening. We believe he's a European Hare. I'd noticed footprints through the snow on a few occassions recently that definitely weren't cat or bird and looked too big to be rabbit, so I think it must have been him. We stood in the kitchen watching him, while he sniffed the air and twitched his ears towards someone walking by about 100m away, all the while we stood in the kitchen undected about 5m away.

With the hare's mythological link to Easter/Eostre I thought it was very fitting that we saw him the day after Easter, I wonder if he was going home after spending the weekend hiding eggs?

musings

2008-03-24T14:18:00.006+02:00

It's been a good easter weekend - nice and relaxed. We had a few people over for drinks and food on Sunday. David did most of the cooking, apart from some moroccan flat bread using a recipe from Jamie Oliver's return of the naked chef and some hot cross buns from Nigella Lawson's Feast.

I've not made hot cross buns before and am not a huge fan of Nigella's - I was reading a blog the other day that then linked to another blog that talked about Nigella that made me giggle as I'm pleased to hear there are other people out there that have a similar perception of her. I haven't watched her programmes much, wouldn't go out of my way to watch her, but if I do come across her I probably wouldn't switch over, but would watch amused, as the second blogger I linked to above appears to be, by her - not quite believing that she's real. Anyway, the hot cross buns came out well. I'd like to try to make some crumpets next.

I also think I've been watching too much TV lately - we seem to be watching American Idol... anyway, I've come to the conclusion that there's a certain similarity between Paula Abdul and Sandra Bullock I'm not quite sure what it is, but there's definitely something.

Edit... I posted this but there was a third thing I wanted to mention and in my usual libran way forgot. We were talking about the David and Goliath t-shirt slogans last night.... well, I kind of was, everyone else was thinking I had completely lost it - we'd had a bit of wine and I started talking about the slogans, I think in relation to certain boys turning into toads rather than Princes. Anyway, I looked it up on good 'ol Wikipedia afterwards and thought I'd link to my ramblings. I don't think I'd realised there was quite so much controvesy over the slogans - but thought their range was quirky and fun.

Hanko

2008-03-19T16:29:00.005+02:00

Last weekend we spent some time west of Helsinki in and around Hanko . We were very off season, but it was nice to go and relax and explore a little. We saw a castle, interesting street signs, lakes, sea, snow, sauna and our little hut and lots of other interesting things. The area's meant to be really bustling in the summer so maybe we'll go back and see what it's like?

The strangest thing we encountered was a peperoni pizza, which also had pineapple and tuna on it - a very strange combination, the yummy chips we had with it made up for the weird topping. We're meeting up with some friends for pizza and beer this evening, so lets hope there's some more traditional toppings going.

We also stopped at Fiskars on the way home on Monday, unfortunately everything was shut, but it looked really interesting - lots of history and crafty boutiques, so we'll definitely be taking a visit there soon.

In other news - I proudly present my finished spring socks. Yes, I know they're bright! They were fun to knit with the alternating colours. I shortened the foot of the first sock as I mentioned I was going to do and as you can see they fit pretty well. The photo of the tulips below is the inspiration for my colour combination.

Rabbiting on about spring again....

2008-03-12T07:45:00.004+02:00

I know I keep rabbiting on about it nearly being spring, and is it nearly spring, and it's not cold enough to be winter blah blah blah. I'm not quite sure where this has all come from. It definitely hasn't been a severe winter, so it's not as if I'm needing it to warm up so that I can dig myself out of a 10m high snow drift, and it hasn't seemed a particularly dark winter - the joys of living a long way north but actually managing to move south and also closer to civilisation so there's more light pollution. I don't usually count down the days to the start of any other season, who knows what's happening in my brain?

So, anyway to continue the where is spring rabbit:

I spotted some snowdrops coming up in the garden yesterday. I don't think there's a lot of bulbs planted in our garden, but these were nice to see. My seedlings I planted the other week are doing OK. There's been lots of germination, some are a little lanky so we'll see how they go. The peas I planted are doing very well and I've potted them up with some support. Everything's still inside though.

I've also nearly finished my spring socks.... nearly? but there's two socks there. Yes, but if you notice the bottom one is longer in the foot than the first one. After I cast on for sock number two I tried on sock number one and decided it was too big, but as I'd already occupied my needles with sock number two there was nothing I could do about it till sock number two was finished. So, now sock number two's done I'll rip back sock number one so they're the same length and re-do the toe. When ripping back a few rows I tend to use this technique rather than just ripping and hoping that I can pick up all the right stitches again at the right place.

It shouldn't be that easy....

2008-03-07T07:13:00.003+02:00

I'm still a little in shock.... our friends Jo and Andrew came to visit us last weekend. We went into town on the Saturday to mooch around and also with an underlying mission of finding shoes for me for the wedding. I thought it would be difficult - I usually get an idea of what I want in my head and then get pretty stubborn even when it's obvious that what I'm imagining doesn't exist in my current location or time, but we figured if anyone could help me it would be Jo - who loves shoes. So, we went into town and the first shoe shop we looked in we found the perfect pair of shoes. This is too easy, we both think, so explain to the lady in the shop that we can't buy the shoes as they're the fist pair we've seen and we need to look in all the shoe shops in Helsinki first, but that we'll be back if we don't find anything better. I think we both knew that we wouldn't find anything better, but we did look in lots of other shoe shops before finally arriving back at the first shoe shop and buying the shoes I'd tried on. It still feels as if it was a little too easy, but they are the right shoes.

planty news

2008-02-27T11:28:00.003+02:00

It's amazing what a bit of neglect and some thinking time in a box can do.... I've been trying to take a nice photo of this amaryllis for a few days now and have finally given up (it's much nicer in person). The last time we saw this flower was in its first year with us, in the spring of 2006 before we'd started our Nordic adventure - unfortunately that year it wasn't in a heavy enough pot and ended up falling off a table. In 2007 it had some leaves but didn't do much else, but this time after feeding it during the summer and encouraging its leaves, and then letting it dry out, cutting it back and putting it in a box for our move to Finland it has done us proud.
There are actually two bulbs in the pot, so lets hope both of them will flower next year.

And while I'm getting excited about plants....
I planted some seeds on Sunday, it's maybe a little early, but the growing season is relatively short and it seems to be getting lighter so I thought I'd take a risk.... I'm a little earlier than last year when I managed to wait until April. From left to right I've planted chillies, peas (g), San Morzano tomatoes (g), tumbling tomatoes (g), spinach (g), chard (g), pepper, and cabbage wintergreen (g). I'm not sure if you can make it out in the photo, but there has already been some germination going on... the ones in the list above followed by a "g" are the ones that are showing signs of germination. It's very exciting, or at least I'm very excited by it!

knitted purse #2

2008-02-26T15:27:00.004+02:00

Another week is plodding along here at the Monkey House.

We went to dinner last Saturday with some fairly new friends and had a great time, although I think we may have drunk a little too much. These friends are both non-meat eaters, and served us a lovely mix of vegetables cooked in various interesting ways. It made us realise how generally uninspired we're being at the moment about food. We have an occasional blip of inspiration (eg last weeks sushi) but not as on-going as it used to be. We had been making a concerted effort to eat less meat and only eat meat we knew where it had come from and generally experiment with vegetables, non-meat products such as tofu etc and fish, but we seem to have come to a bit of a halt. So, I'm going to try to kick start us back into being inspired (and hopefully healthier) - I went to the supermarket today and bought Jerusalem artichokes, beetroots, sweet potatoes and cous cous so lets see if anything exciting comes out of them?

Work's quite quiet at the moment so I've been trying to make progress on some bits and bobs that are floating around project-wise. Today I've finished a waistcoat for David for the wedding and a knitted change purse I've had on the go for me. The change purse has been knit for quite a while, it just needed a lining putting in. It's done now, and change added:
I think that's the last of the change purses I wanted to make, although I am tempted to make a bag at some point - something for me to think about.

Green tea cheesecake

2008-02-19T13:06:00.005+02:00

We had David's boss and his family (wife and 3 kids) over for dinner on Sunday afternoon. David did most of the cooking, apart from the dessert, which is usually seen as my department. We cooked a Japanese inspired dinner and decided to try to make a green tea cheesecake for dessert.

We've previously made green tea ice cream, which was surprisingly good so we thought this was the next logical step. I used a basic baked cheesecake recipe from Sue Lawrence's Book of Baking and then added green tea powder instead of the lemon juice and rind. It worked, and was tasty, although I still think I prefer the original lemon one.

Keeping on the Japanese theme we found the little Japanese shop I blogged about visiting the other week and then didn't think I'd be able to find it again. It's called Common Japanese Standards and has a website. It's well worth visiting if you're in the neighbourhood. The couple that run it are ever so friendly and they have some beautiful things for sale. They also give you some green tea to drink while you look at everything and have a chat.

Here's the start of my latest project. It's going to be a zipped jacket (it has a little way to go yet!) but will hopefully look something like this once it's done.

The skiing lesson last weekend went well - the instructor was very funny and made it a lot of fun. He gave us a lot of tips and hopefully started us off with some good techniques. We just need to get out there and get some practice in now. The snow's still a bit patchy (although it has just been snowing) so getting practice around here might not be so easy.

Giddy with the sunshine

2008-02-15T17:09:00.004+02:00

I'm feeling almost giddy with the fact that the sun has come out here. It feels like it's been damp and grey for ages, but we've now had 1 1/2 days of sunshine. Proper big blue skys sunshine. Hoorah. The temperature's gone down below freezing (I don't care the sun's out) and there's still no snow (I don't care the sun's out). So, in celebration of the sun coming out I've finished my red cardigan (lemonade). It may be a little ahead of the weather, but it's ready for the summer! Not a particularly great photo, but I was so amazed at the sun being out that was all I could manage.

My parents visit went well despite the grey and damp weather they had. They made positive noises about Helsinki and no doubt will be back at some point to see the city and its surroundings in a different season.

We went to the cinema last night with a few people from the Jolly Dragons group. We went to see Lust, Caution! I enjoyed it - David's written more about it here so I won't say much. The film is in Chinese with Finnish and Swedish subtitles, so we got the gist from the Swedish subtitles and of course the images. I would be interested in seeing the film again with English subtitles just to see what I missed.

What else - oh yes, we're having cross country skiing lessons this weekend despite there being no snow - David went to check if it was still on during the week and they apparently bring snow in to keep the track open. It seems pretty mad that they have to do this - is this climate change or is something else going on? So, wish me luck - I'm not exactly renowned for my love of skis!

winter or spring (or neither)

2008-02-05T11:41:00.000+02:00

We're still waiting for winter to properly arrive in Helsinki. We did have a nice covering of snow on Sunday night. Some of it has melted already but I'm optimistically going to hope there's some more on the way. This is a photo from my office window before it started to melt. And while we're waiting for winter I'm still going with my spring sock. I've knit my first short row heel ever. I don't think I've done too badly for a first attempt - it's not perfect, but then not being a perfectionist that doesn't bother me, as long as it's close enough (which it is). I'm enjoying the fair isle pattern - I think I've definitely decided that I prefer to create my own pattern rather than using self-striping etc wool.
The sewing went well last weekend. The dress is done and ready for my parents to take it away with them. I've also started on a wasitcoat for David. So, now my thoughts are turning to what I'll sew next.... I have some ideas but need to think some more first and not get too far ahead of myself.

We have visitors coming this week - my parents - which will be good. And we've also got our friends Jo and Andrew booked to visit us for the weekend at the end of February - so I'm sure there's some mischief to be had.

Being social

2008-01-29T16:46:00.001+02:00

So much for finishing my wedding sewing last weekend - instead while David was out at work I met up with a couple from Australia who have also just moved from Norway. We know them through David's work, and they're both taking the same Finnish class as us, so I thought it would be good to be social! I met them mid morning and we chilled out and had a wander around Helsinki - it's fun going with other people as they have got used to going different routes and it's all part of the great explore. They showed me all sorts of things that we hadn't found yet - a nice little cafe that did very nice croque monsieurs, little antique shops and a lovely little Japanese shop with artisan plates and cups and tea pots etc and various different types of Japanese green tea (I don't drink tea on the whole - I'm a disgrace to my British-ness! - but David likes his green tea, so it's good to know). The problem with our explore is that I only vaguely knew where we were and am not sure I'd find where we were again!

We then went for a drink to celebrate Australia Day and met up with David (once he got off work) and also bumped into a group of people from a society called the Jolly Dragons who we've met up with a couple of times - they're a social group that do all sorts of social, sport and fun activities. A mix of foreigners and Finns, and so far everyone we've met have been very friendly. We're still getting to know what it's all about, but they seem to be genuine.

So, next weekend I'll get my sewing finished.

Is it Spring yet?

2008-01-22T16:40:00.000+02:00

Finally, finally, finally the Internet has been switched back on. I hope they don't want a pat on the head and a gold star for switching it back on three days earlier than they predicted - it's still been off 2 1/2 weeks. I'm not ranting, I'm just thinking back to the happy days of working in the library with the beery breath and belches of my fellow library users. Anyway, it's back on and long may it stay that way.

David was away last weekend - he went to Spain as a surprise visit (along with his siblings) for his Dad's 75th birthday. It sounds like they had a good time, although I'm not exactly sure that they did anything other than sit around, talk and drink - mind you that sounds pretty good to me. Especially in the sunshine. It's continued to be grey and murky here in Helsinki. It poured with rain and was windy over the weekend and is overcast with a smattering of snow today. People keep saying that February is the best chance of the proper snowfall, big blue skies and crispness. Fingers crossed, as if it's like I'm imagining, it'll be beautiful.

I got my wedding dress pretty much finished while he was away - I think I'm pleased with it, I think I'll feel happier with it once I've tried it on again after being away from it for a week.

I also have been doing some knitting. I decided to make a lined purse like I'd promised myself. I borrowed the fall 2007 interweaves knit magazine from a friend and was inspired by the article about cables to figure out some cabling for my purse and go for it - I had been keeping my eye out for a cable that I liked, but this was a better idea. So, it's knit, and has lots of texture (I wanted something textured so that I can find it in my bag - my current handmade purse gets mistaken for bag lining). Now I just need to line it. I've used a thick wool (fritidsgarn by Sandnes Garn) and used 3.5mm needles to make it nice and dense.
The friend that I had been knitting the bee socks for has had her baby (Catherine Isobel) and has also said that the bee socks I made for her fit, so in celebration I've cast on another pair of socks.

Last spring we got some tulips and I thought it would be nice to knit some socks in tulip-like colours. I bought some wool (sisu by Sandes Garn) and have been waiting for the right time to knit them. What's more perfect than during miserable, dark, depressing weather? Sort of a first sign of spring?... I'm using the fifth fair isle pattern in Sensational Knitted Socks.
This is my first go at fair isle knitting - I've been wanting to do something with some colour for a while, so am pleased that I'm finally doing some - and they're certainly colourful!

red cardigan progress

2008-01-14T13:50:00.000+02:00

Felicity Anne has taken time out of her busy wedding dress helping role to help me show some red cardigan progress.

I’m annoyed with myself for not spotting that I could have simplified the construction of the cardigan earlier. The pattern calls for a belt knit in three sections (back and two sides) – which are then joined together using three needle bind off, and an upper part knit in the same three sections and then a lower part, again knit in the same three section, all of which are seamed together down the sides. If I’d been thinking when I cast on I’d have knit one long belt picked up stitches along the side for the whole of the upper section and then split at the armholes. I only realised this when I was half way through the first upper side, after having knit the upper back, so it was too late really to start again.

So, as you can see from my update photos I’ve finished all the belt and upper sections and have seamed them and the belt together as per the pattern, and am currently knitting the sleeves (in the round as what’s the point in leaving a 3cm seam to have to join later?). Once both sleeves are in I’ll pick up all the way along the belt and knit the bottom sections all in one go alleviating the need to do any more seaming. I love the shade of red - very vivid.

I’ve been very deliberately not casting on for anything more while I get a good start at the wedding dress – the dress is under control, so I’m starting to think that maybe I can think about casting a small project on…. It’s deciding what that’s the hard part!

And still no internet connection…

Buzzing around

2008-01-10T15:57:00.000+02:00

Hopefully this will be the end of the bee-themed knitting for a while.

So that Rach didn't feel left out I knitted her some striped like a bee socks, I hope they fit as I kind of guessed what size feet she has.
And as there was more yellow and black wool around I thought I'd knit another pair of bee booties for her bump (due any day now).
Looking at those photos you wouldn't think that the top one was taken outside with a flash and the bottom inside without a flash.

We're having some technical problems at home at the moment - in that the phone line into the house has been disconnected and will apparently take three weeks to reconnect - I'm not going to rant - I'm past ranting. It makes blogging a bit random.

New knitting needle roll

2008-01-03T13:22:00.000+02:00

I finished off the knitting needle roll I was making this morning. It's not the prettiest as it's made from a mish mash of fabric colourways (all from the same curtain fabric swatch). It is large enough to fit all my needles (straight, dpn and circular) and the other bits and bobs I've got like row counters, needle end thingies, needle size gauges etc etc and rolls up to about the same size as the old bag I was using.
I didn't really follow a pattern, or tutorial, although did search the web for pictures and took inspiration from what other people had done - although I couldn't see an example of one that seemed to be as big and comprehensive as what I was wanting. It pleases me that it's all organised and I have half a chance of knowing what needles I have. I found a circular needle in a size that would be useful for the red cardigan I'm knitting at the moment, while I was putting the needles into the roll once I'd finished - which I thought was a real bonus!

Old knitting needle bag

2008-01-01T18:55:00.001+02:00

I'm not sure I mentioned - but we had another green Christmas and New year. I don't quite understand how, for the past two Christmas periods, living in what are thought of as cold and snowy places we've managed to end up with a green Christmas. I'm sure it will get cold and snowy in Jan/Feb - it did in Norway - but still, a little dissapointing that we couldn't go outside on Christmas day and build snowmen. Maybe next year?

One thing that I've been playing with between Christmas and New Year is to make a replacement for this:

I've ended up with my Nanna's old knitting needles and bag - I've added a few (mostly circular) needles to the collection, but they're a mixture of imperial, metric and US sizes all in a jumble in the bag. So I've started figuring out a knitting needle roll that will house them all and also organise them in millimeters. So far (no pics yet) what I've done is looking very practical and should fit the main objectives of the project, although isn't that aesthetically pleasing. I'm using some curtain fabric swatches that I acquired when I used to work in a made to measure curtain shop back what seems like years ago (1997/1998 before I went off to the US to do my Masters), so it's looking like a bit of a hodge podge.

inbetweeny time

2007-12-28T15:50:00.000+02:00

Christmas is over and we're in that funny bit between Christmas and New Year. David's back at work, but I won't be until after New Year.

We had a good Christmas, we had our first visitor here in Helsinki - David's younger brother... as we were moving, we were trying to predict who would be the first to visit us, and we never thought it would be him. My parents usually arrive just as we're unpacking the boxes, but this time they aren't coming till February, as they thought it would be too dark at the moment (it does limit what can be done in a day when it gets dark so early).

I believe my knitted gifts have gone down pretty well - I only gave the socks and knitted purse to my Mum and have heard that the socks fit, but nothing about the purse - no doubt when we next talk properly I can get some proper feedback.

There's lots of thoughts about what to knit and make next year going on... including what's already on the ikke ferdig list there's the wedding dress, and also a couple of accessories (for both me and David - don't worry I'm not going to try to make David a suit!). I also got some knitting books for Christmas, two about socks and a vogue book that I've had my eye on for ages now - so lots of food for thought.

It'll only get lighter

2007-12-23T09:08:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was the shortest day.

In Helsinki the sun came up at 09:25, and went back down again at 15:10. I make that 5 3/4 hours of official day light. Not too bad compared to Trondheim, where yesterday the sun came up at 09:59 and went back down at 14:28 (just short of 4 1/2 hours). We've really noticed the extra 1 1/4 hours - it hasn't seemed anywhere near as oppressively dark as it did last year. I think this time last year in Trondheim it was cloudy a lot of the time, which didn't help, whereas here in Helsinki we've had some clear, cold, crisp sunny days (like yesterday).

I still think back to when I moved from Knoxville, Tennessee back to the UK (in 2003) - I think Knoxville this time of year has about 9 1/2 hours of day light, and Bristol has about 7 3/4 hours, I remember really noticing the difference over the winter, and thinking that Bristol was really dark - looking back, I didn't know anything. I can't imagine living north of the arctic circle and not getting any light whatsoever.

I've altered the Koolhaas hat so that it covers my ears - it was quite stressful ripping back the crown shaping - before I ripped anything I thread a smaller circular needle through what I thought was a row and unravelled back to it - I had managed to thread through a row (they're difficult to spot through the cables) and so it all went OK. So, here's a definitely finished Koolhaas hat:

Sunset

2007-12-19T17:04:00.000+02:00

There was a beautiful sunset here in Helsinki this evening - not a delicate wispy multi-coloured affair, but a stong, vivid, bright, the sky is on fire, deep pink sunset. Red sky at night, shepherds delight - I'm now excited about what tomorrow's weather is going to be like. I did think about taking a picture, but I think in order to do justice to a sunset you must have a super-dooper camera and a certain skill for taking sunsets, otherwise I think it's best to just enjoy them while they're here.

I've now properly finished my koolhaas hat (photo to follow) and have managed to make a decision about what to knit next. I finally decided to start a pair of bee socks for Rach - part of what has become the Poulton bee series! Not a lot done yet, but the stripes are taking shape.

I'm using the same basic Sirdar pattern as I have for quite a few of the socks I've knitted and some suitably bee-coloured wool. I'm using a random stripe generator to figure out the stripes and am trying to do stationary jogless stripes.

finished Koolhaas (edit - not quite...)

2007-12-16T11:27:00.000+02:00

A finished project to show.. This is the red hat I've been knitting from the Interweaves Knit Holiday Gifts 2007 magazine. I like the pattern and geometric-ness of the design and its shaping etc... it's pretty snug, and I'm not sure it's really warm enough for the Finnish winter weather, but it's cute and it matches my red coat.

(Edit - I wore it to the shops and decided that it's too short - so I've just ripped back to the beginning of the crown shaping and am going to make it a bit longer.... )

I really like the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran that I used, it's ever so soft and squishy. There's a couple of different thicknesses of wool in the Cashmerino range, so I'm wondering what else I could use it for?

I've been pondering what I should knit next - there's so many different knitting techniques that I've heard about and would like to try... I'd like to do some more cables, and I'd like to try my hand at some colour work, maybe some mosaic stitch, and there's always the lure of stripes. Decisions decisions (not an easy thing to make for a libra!).

Shrouded lady

2007-12-14T10:19:00.000+02:00

I went to my first ever knitting group meeting - at the Kamppi Cafe in the centre of Helsinki. I've never been to a knitting group before and was pleased that I fit in with the groups demographic (rather than it being lots of older ladies knitting for their grandchildren) - it was fun, I'm at an obvious disadavantage not speaking Finnish, but they were very nice and spoke some English so that I was included. I think I was also the only one knitting "English" style - I've never really been around anyone else knitting, other than my Mum and Nanna (both who knit English), so it was interesting to see it done "continental". The majority of people seemed to be knitting socks, although I seemed to end up in the red corner as I took along one of my current red projects and the lady to my right was knitting a red shawl and the lady to my left was knitting a red cardigan - maybe there's something in the water? There was also some books that had been brought to look at, and there was some wool as well. I was told about some other knitting groups that happen at various times of the month - I'll probably stick to just this one for now as it's so convenient to get to. We're also hoping to start Finnish lessons in the New Year, so I don't want to fill up too many evenings that are then going to end up clashing with classes. So, all in all a good evening.

I spent a bit of time during the week making progress with the wedding dress dummy run. I've done as much as I need to do now (altered the pattern and made the dress from an old sheet, without lining including a zip and the foundation) and am happy with how it's turned out - so next step is to start making the actual dress. I need to find out when David's working weekends so that I can work on it then.

Here's how it's looking....
Ha ha - you didn't really think I'd show a picture, did you? Felicity Anne, is again helping me model, but she's shrouded so that David doesn't see too much.

A case of the reds

2007-12-11T10:13:00.000+02:00

I seem to be going through a red phase at the moment - not sure why - although red is my favourite colour, so it's bound to happen at some point.

I'm making progress with the red cardigan - I'm knitting it in a slightly different order than the pattern calls for - I'm knitting up from the cabled belt first as I think I may want to make it a little longer, but I only have a finite amount of wool. Lots of stocking stitch at the moment, but I'm managing to keep it pretty even and neat. I've also cast on a Koolhaas hat, again in red - a dark, overcast Finnish day has made the hat look much pinker than it really is.
This is taking more concentration than the cardigan, but I'm doing OK so far. And the Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran that I'm using feels lovely and soft - I'm hoping there won't be any itchy forehead syndrome once it's done.

The latest baby booties went in the post yesterday along with our wedding invitations - so no going back now! I've got a plan for some socks for Mum-to-be-Rach, so once I finish the Koolhaas hat I'll get on with them. And I've also got a small project called wedding dress to make progress with and a date of February 5th to have it finished by so that my parents can take it back to the UK with them when they come to visit us. Now if I can just figure out how to measure the length of my legs by myself...

Even more booties

2007-12-10T07:03:00.000+02:00

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I had a request for some baby booties to match the bee socks I'd made for Rob for his birthday. The baby isn't due until mid-January, but I thought it would be nice to get them done and in the post along with all the Christmas post. So, here they are: Thinner stripes than Rob's socks, as always I hope they fit.

Snow report

2007-12-03T12:05:00.000+02:00

On Saturday night we had about 5cm of snow here, it was lovely to wake up and it be white over. There was the peacefulness that comes with everything being covered in snow too. David did a bit of snow clearing and we walked through it to get to and from the swimming pool, but apart from that we just enjoyed looking at its whiteness and wondering how long it would last. It didn't take long to realise that the temperature was rising during the day, and when it was 4°C by the evening we knew it wouldn't last. There's still a little bit left today, but according to the BBC the temperature's meant to get to the heady heights of 7°C by the middle of the week. I'm sure it'll be back and I'm still feeling positive about a white Christmas.

I've finished the socks I've been knitting for my Mum. It seems to have taken me ages to knit these - I guess I did have three attempts at starting them, which didn't help. As I said in another post the pattern isn't exactly as written - but it gives an interesting textural ribbing, which I like, and I hope my Mum does too.

konfekt ferdig and red jumper started

2007-11-30T08:09:00.000+02:00

Finally, I have something substantial so show finished. I finished all the knitting and sewing up on konfekt 18703 about a week ago, but had to wait to declare it finished finished until we got a new ironing board (the old one used to collapse while you were using it so we decided it wouldn't be joining us in Helsinki). The sun shone and I managed to take a couple of pictures in natural light, for once, with the help of Felicity-Anne. I'm pleased with how it's turned out. And quite surprised considering I was following Norwegian instructions. I managed to have two balls of wool un-used, which makes me think I've done something wrong, but it looks fine, and fits OK. The pattern called for some popcorn wool to be used around the collar and cuffs, but I decided against adding that.

So, as I've finished one, I've decided to cast on another - keep the momentum going and try to keep the wool stash under control. I'm knitting lemonade as published in the August edition of Magknits. I've had this red cotton wool lying around for ages after I bought it and then didn't like what I was starting to knit with it. It'll feel good to finally use it. I've been looking for a suitable pattern for ages, and thought this one was very cute when I saw it a few months ago now. It's shown in magknits pictured on the designers daughter (I think), so am hoping it looks as flattering on a more "developed" figure! I haven't done much yet, but it's a start.
We're planning on walking into Helsinki today from home (about 7km) as David has the day off work. We've been directed to a goldsmiths that we think may be able to make us some wedding rings (we have a couple of old wedding rings that we'd like re-cast for us). We're hopeful that that will be another thing ticked off the immense wedding planning list that we're slowly making our way through.

purses and hats

2007-11-27T10:03:00.000+02:00

We woke up this morning to Helsinki having been covered by a dusting of snow overnight - it's very pretty and makes me wonder whether we'll finally have a white Christmas - we thought we'd get one last year in Trondheim, but they had some freak mild weather and it never happened. So, fingers crossed I haven't just jinxed it for this year.

I've followed through on my thoughts about knitting a change purse. As you can see - a few rows of ribbing and then just plain old stocking stitch. As I'd thought, I knit it in the round and then did a three needle cast off along the bottom.
I've also put a zipped lining into it:

The wool's fritidsgarn by sandnesgarn. It's nice and chunky - I wanted to make a fairly firm fabric so used 3.5mm needles (more than anything because I seem to have a gap in my needles for knitting in the round (both dpns and circulars) from 3.5mm to 7mm and didn't feel like going out and getting more at that point). I'm pleased with how it's turned out. I've made it so that it's big enough to put a bank card in it - for those times when you want to just take out a bit of cash, but then a bank card just in case...

I've got another ball of this same wool in the greens colourway, so am going to knit another one, but this time with more texture - maybe some cables? I have a change purse at the moment that I made (sewed rather than knit) and can never find it as it feels the same as the inside of my bag, so I think some texture should help.

I ended up going into Helsinki yesterday in order to swap over our modem so that we could get the broadband TV service to finally work. While I was in town I decided to check out a wool shop that had a stand at the Arts and Crafts Fair that we went to last Friday and also had good reviews on knitmap . So, I wandered around and found Käsityötalo Priima. A nice little shop with some interesting and well known wools. I also found out that they have a knitting group twice a week - so I'll probably try to go.

So, I bought two balls of Debbie Bliss' casmerino aran in order to knit the Koolhaas hat that's in the interweave knits holiday gifts 2007 magazine.

What else? I photographed all the wool I have and uploaded it into ravelry - I seem to have an awful lot of pretty random parts of balls, or just odd balls of wool. so I need to have a think about what I can use it for.

I've also made a start on my wedding dress - but no photos...!

Bootie parade

2007-11-23T09:13:00.000+02:00

I thought it was time to have a bit of a knitting update:

The Konfekt 18703 has been making good and steady progress and now has two sleeves - so I just need to pick up stitches around the top edge and knit the neck and then it can join the ferdig list. I'll be pleased to have one largish project behind me - means I can move onto another one!

The first of my Mum's socks is done, and I've cast on the 2nd one. I realised as I was starting the pattern on the 2nd sock, that I've actually not followed the beaded rib pattern correctly from the sensational knitting socks book - so not only have I not knit these sock toe up as in the book, but I apparently haven't followed the stitch pattern either - whoops. I guess as long as both socks match each other it doesn't really matter. I think I might start at the beginning of this book and try to knit a pair of socks from each section - but first I'd like to knit some hats.

I've also been knitting and finishing off baby booties. This first pair is the small pair I was knitting just before we moved. I decided that, even though I thought they were too small it would be worth adding buttons and sending them to one of my friends that's just had a baby - just in case I'm wrong. So these went to Sophie:
Along with a bigger pair in the same wool:

I also knit a little blue pair for Anna's baby boy, Henrik. These came out a lot better looking than my blurry photo lets on. They were in the post before I realised I'd taken a rubbish photo.
I've had a request for some bee booties to match Dad to be Rob's bee socks - and if I have time I might try to knit Mum to be Rach some bee socks too - so the whole family will match. Their little one isn't due till mid-January, so I have a bit of time.

Moving photos...

2007-11-21T16:17:00.000+02:00

Hoorah, we're online at home now. Let's celebrate - ginger beers all round.

Now that we've got the computers set up at the new monkey house, I've finally properly downloaded my photos from during our move and thought I'd share a few:
This is us driving over the pass between Norway and Sweden - I don't think the Abba was quite playing by this time - as you can see there was a bit of snow!
This is a statue of George and the Dragon in Stockholm.
This is the boat we were on between Stockholm and Helsinki.
This is David enjoying a beer on the boat.
And this is David pretending to be a pirate (he needs more practice)

And this is us arriving into Helsinki the next morning. Arriving at a city (especially one that you're just moving to) by boat is different than arriving by plane - there's something less immediate and quick, and therefore more real about it. Or maybe I was just pleased to finally be in Helsinki at last?

Getting back to normal

2007-11-15T13:31:00.000+02:00

We went to see Atonement last night, we've both read and enjoyed the book, so it was on our list of films we wanted to see and finally we had our chance. We weren't disappointed - a really good film, tragic in parts (most parts), a good adaptation of the book and some beautiful cinematography and images. I'm not a big Keira Knightly fan, but she was very good - I think it's her jaw I'm not keen on (I didn't say I had a good reason for not being a fan!). Afterwards we went to go to a Thai restaurant - we looked in the window and found that it was packed (very small restaurant with a good reputation - I guess we will book next time) so tried next door in a Malaysian restaurant. There was nothing pretentious about the Malaysian restaurant - good food, no airs or graces. To top the night off we bought me a mobile phone - so I feel all connected and mobile again.

I mentioned in my last post that I was having a bit of a bootie knit - I've got one pair finished:

I used the same pattern and wool as the last pair I was knitting, which came out tiny - but have used larger needles this time. This pair look much better, and I found four yellow buttons for them too. I think these look more girly so I'm going to send them to Sophie for Beatrice and start another pair, probably with some leftover sock wool for Anna's Henrik.

Helsinki one week on...

2007-11-13T15:35:00.000+02:00

Well, as I said last Thursday we've made it to Helsinki safe and sound, our stuff (which seems to be getting more and more with each move despite the efforts to not let it grow) arrived the day after us, which is good - as now a week on we're pretty much packed and able to live. The house is better than I'd remember when we'd seen it back in August. It feels very grown up, I can't explain what it is about the house that makes it feel grown up, maybe it's that it's new, or that it has a working dishwasher (that isn't from the 60s), or that it has a walk in wardrobe (or should I be pretentious and call it a dressing room?), or that it has two bathrooms - I don't know, but it feels grown up. It's nice and warm, so despite the fact that the temperature is going to plummet we have underfloor heating and a very efficient fire, and lets not forget the sauna, to keep us warm.

David seems pleased with the kitchen and has already started restocking the freezer!

We've been given a date of next Monday (Nov 19th) for the internet to be turned on - ahead of the expectations we'd been given, which is good - and hopefully in time for a work meeting I have scheduled. In the meantime I'm hanging out in our local library, which is part of a culture centre in our local area - from what I can tell it is very well used and looked after.

While we've been in the midst of moving two friends have had babies - Sophie has had a baby girl, Beartrice on Oct 31st and Anna has had a baby boy, Henrik on November 2nd. So, I'm back to knitting booties, the booties I was knitting for Anna's baby turned out too small so I'm starting again with those ones, and now that I know she's had a boy, maybe they won't be pale yellow.

Internet connection-less

2007-11-08T14:23:00.000+02:00

We've made it to Helsinki, but it looks like it's going to take 3 weeks until we're connected to the internet. So, I guess my entries are going to be even more intermittent than they have been!

bits & bobs

2007-11-01T17:31:00.000+02:00

I thought I'd better show some pictures of the outcome of the miracle freezer emptying desert from last night...They baked up fine...

They were an oozy mixture of apple and chocolate with a very subtle texture of dried apricots... And they disappered just fine! Yum yum. Not bad for a cobbled together use-up desert. And the condensed milk was the pièce de résistance.

I spent most of the morning putting back up the horrible pink shiney curtains that were in the living room when we moved in. They're still just as pink and just as shiney, I think they can be seen in a previous post at about the time we were moving in. The other thing that is pretty hideous about this house is the wallpaper in the toilet - so I thought I'd take a photo and show it to the world...

The toilet's only about 1m squared - so it's pretty overpowering.

Oh well, we'll soon be in our all white house in Helsinki and miss all the colours.

bootie turnovers

2007-10-31T16:38:00.000+02:00

The booties I've been knitting from the Saartje's bootees pattern are finished apart from buttons - the buttons will have to wait till we're reunited with our furniture and stuff next week once we get to Helsinki... I enjoyed knitting these, they're quick and easy and quite cute. I think they're probably a bit small - a scant 3" in length. I have no idea if Anna's baby's going to be big or small, so once I'm reunited with my needles I'll probably knit another pair on bigger needles.

As part of the move one of the things we've had to do is empty out the freezer and fridge - David and I like to keep a pretty well stocked freezer, mostly with home made stocks, leftovers, extra portions of things we've made etc (we don't tend to do frozen pizza or ready meals). As the move is now T minus 3 evening meals and one of those is going to be spent in a curry house here in Trondheim with friends, we're pretty much scraping the last edibles out of the freezer - one ingredient that did have us a bit stumped was a couple of sheets of frozen puff pastry. But genius that I am (and modest) for desert tonight we're going to have turnovers. They're stuffed with an apple (bought), apricots (so few of them left we decided they weren't going to join us on our travels) and some chocolate flaky bits that we got with some ice cream and have been sitting in the fridge ever since. I had to use a beer bottle instead of a rolling pin, and didn't have any flour, so it was a potential sticky mess.
So fingers crossed they bake up alright. We have a half finished can of condensed milk sitting in the fridge that needs finishing as well, so I'm sure that will help! Although we may not be able to sleep this evening for all the sugar.

Squirrel

2007-10-30T14:34:00.000+02:00

I was sat here yesterday (waiting for my boss to call) watching a red squirrel out of the window leaping about a tree. He was fun to watch - very agile jumping about all the branches with apparently no fear of falling. It's nice to see red squirrels here as in the UK the red squirrels have most often been squeezed out by the non-native bully grey squirrels. I wish I had a fancy camera with a zoom lens etc as he was hanging upside down from a branch at one point and it would have been good to have been able to take some proper squirrel antics shots. Instead I've ended up with this photo He's in the centre of the photo heading right, you can just see his tail straight out behind him parallel to the branch he's running along.

In case you can't see him, here he is zoomed in. Unfortunately you can't see his nice red colour, or his white underside.My boss never called so I decided to cast on another pair of baby booties as another of my friends, Anna, is just about due. They don't know the sex of the baby, so I've used a pale yellow fluffy wool I was given by my future mother-in-law when she was clearing out some stuff.
I'm using a pattern available free on the web by Saartje de Bruijn. It's a pretty easy pattern with some simple, but very effective shaping and from the pictures I've seen of finished ones looks pretty cute. I hope it fits a baby foot - I didn't make any attempt at checking my gauge as I have a limited amount of unpacked needles (one set) and a limited amount of wool available (one type).

The calm week before the storm....

2007-10-29T11:45:00.000+02:00

...at least for me, anway.

Now that all the furniture has gone and is on its way to Helsinki, apart from making sure our current house is in a respectably clean condition when we leave, there's not a lot more for me to do concerning the move until we start driving next Saturday morning. I think I'm going to have to go and see the tax man at some point, but apart from that my life continues pretty normally. David's on the otherhand is very busy at the moment as he has one last big commercial review thing to do at work this week.

In this calm, I've managed to take a few photos of my current projects that are on the ikke ferdig list, and that have managed to not get packed.

I've kept back the socks I'm knitting for my Mum - it's coming on well now after its failed first attempt as a toe-up sock (that's why the wool coming from the ball is all crinkly).
I'm also thinking about making some knitted purses - I bought this wool on Saturday in town: I'm thinking about knitting a simple tube about 10-15cm in diameter, which I'll then do a 3 needle cast off in order to seam it up at the bottom. I've got in my head a fairly dense knitted fabric so will probably use smaller needles that the wool band calls for - I'll probably just do stocking stitch for the first go. The plan is then to make a lining out of some cotton fabric with a zip in the top, which I can then insert and attach. That's the plan anyway!

I've also sewn in the 1st sleeve into the Konfekt 18703 top - I'm pleased with how it's shaping up. So 2nd sleeve is on its way and then I think I pick up stitches around the neck area and knit around for a bit. Lets hope the Norwegian on that bit isn't too difficult as the Norwegian-English dictionary is on the lorry.

Other things that I'm thinking about:

Should I change the name of my blog to reflect that I'll no longer be in the land of brown cheese?

How can I knit more quickly and efficiently - I don't sit and knit for hours at a time, but it would be nice to know that I was being as efficient as I can be when I do. I have a feeling that I'm not holding the wool in my right hand quite right - I'm sure I was taught the correct way to hold everything when I learnt when I was 4 or so, but there was quite a long hiatus until where I am now.

I've set up my ravelry account and added some things to my stash and current projects etc etc. I've also joined some groups - I joined a Helsinki group, so will make contact rather than lurking once we've actually got there - I'm hoping some of the members of this group will know about knitting groups, and maybe classes so I can start meeting some people.

sporadic blogging

2007-10-27T10:22:00.000+03:00

In this time of moving and general change it's not really so surprising that my blogging is getting a little sporadic.

So, we got back to Norway after being in the UK last Friday. It was a successful trip - our main aim was to get ourselves sorted legally with the registrar and book her for us getting married next year, and also to find a venue for getting married and the reception afterwards. We were successful on all counts. Our meeting with the registrar went fine and we managed to remember our names and the other details she needed. We also found a venue - we ended up not going for the combination I last blogged about as it was starting to feel to complicated to organise from afar, so instead have gone for here for both the wedding and reception. It's not too far from Penrith and we think will suit having a relaxed type wedding, and having it all in one place takes out the whole logistical worry of how to get between different parts of the day. Also, the lady that runs it is very very enthusiastic about weddings and I'm sure will end up being invaluable with us arranging the wedding from Finland.

Since we got back we've been organising ourselves for our furniture etc being packed and starting on its journey ahead of us. It all went yesterday, so now we're left in an empty house with an inflatable mattress, sleeping bags and a cork screw for a week before we set off.

I did keep out a few crafty things to do, as we won't have much entertainment from the TV etc over the next week. And I also intend to take some pictures and get my ravelry account started (username deballan).