knitted purse #2

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.

Is it Spring yet?

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!

purses and hats

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...!

The calm week before the storm....

...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.