Monday, October 31, 2005

DancesWithWool

Every fall a madness called the moose hunting season hits the country and this village.

During this period which commences in late September and stretches up till December women are experiencing pleasant weekends and spending this precious time in various chores. Some knit.

Men gather together very early Saturday and Sunday mornings and come home late in the evenings so exhausted they don't have any interest in the home life. Some newly weds complain but we elderly women with more than 5 years in this holy matrimony greet this season with high hopes and great expectations. The countdown starts right after the Midsummer...

During these months there might turn up some inconveniences when you have to put your knitting down or stop the spinning wheel. It is when the tired hunter comes home with 50 kg's of raw moose meat which you have to sort out, label and freeze. But really, if you count your blessings this is only a minor drawback.

Then there comes the big weekend. The whole village comes together for a celebration. Hunters put on their best white shirts, prepare us non-hunters a tasty, country meal of moose meat and serve it in the local school. Usually it is Saturday afternoon.

Later on there is a dance which is held in the same school's gym. The gym has a beautiful, shiny floor. Nobody is allowed in there with shoes that might scratch the perfect surface.

What do you think we do then?

We call the party "Wool Sock Dance" - put on our slippery woollen socks and waltz and tango along with them.

There coudn't be a better way to end up the season.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Warm your body with the blue, feed your soul with the lace

Renee gave me the advice in the title with this Chinese proverb:

if you have but two pennies, spend one on bread for your body, and the other on hyacinths for your soul. . .

which I'm going to remind myself of when I come to crossroads. Thank you!

It is peace and harmony in the knitting front now. I wouldn't use the words peace and harmony when thinking of the other aspects of my life. Yesterday, 10 km from home, my old, loyal, trustworthy longtime War Horse ( = car ) broke down and it looks like the engine is beyond repair... I can see the yarn money waving good byes...

I started first the blue Jaeger Aqua and knitted 100 grams of it and then cast on for a scarf from handspun yarn. Here the rules: Every time another 50 g of Jaeger Aqua is gone I get to knit a little bit of the scarf as a reward. A little bit? How much is it? Let's say about 5 cm (2 inches).

Jaeger Aqua is going to be Pivocoli from the Magknits August 2005 issue. The pattern is simple and the knitting is coming along so easily ... I was afraid of the Aqua being too stiff but it is fine. I can picture me making an another one.

For the scarf the wool is from Rovings (Polwarth, colorway: The Blues!). I'm learning to get control of the wool, get rid of the lumps or place them where I prefer. This yarn is not going to be plied.

Here the few rows for the scarf. The pattern will be from an Estonian book called "Pitsilised Koekirjat" which I bought few years ago from an old book store in Tallinn. (I love the different shades of blue in this picture.)

The Rovaniemi knit-along mittens are finished. Also the inside.


This is how the lake was today early in the morning. It was raining yesterday and the temperature is above zero so there is lots of water on the ice.

We didn't get out our skates yet.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Crossroads

There are two roads in front of me;

the first one, a very narrow one, looks quite diffucult and rocky while the other one is wide and pure easygoing down hill. Which one should I choose?

Should I start doing swatches and calculations and proceed with my sensible plan to knit something to wear underneath the blue cardigan... just focuse on this yarn which was bought together with the blue alpaca so that these two would make an unseparable pair? The one would not be complete without the other.


The other road seems so tempting --- it is paved with the silky wools and beautiful lace patterns. I want to go there!

But then

when the final call comes and I arrive at the gate I'm asked what were you doing while all the rest were using their skills so wisely

shall I confess that I was lusting away knitting lacy shawls and scarfs one after an another ...

I have to choose.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Frost Flowers

Few days ago I joined this mitten knit-along. I thought that I'll whip up a pair of Rovaniemi mittens... the rate is more like knit one tink two. Again this mitten is taking away all my confidence - also patience. It is easy to remember now why I have few mittens missing the other pair (thay are going to be singles the rest of their lives), also I have one without a thumb (couldn't handle it the first time). I promised to show you the inside but I might have to take that back.

The pattern can be found in some old Finnish books. I don't know if it is available in English. The instructions even in Finnish are not very exact, they show you the pattern and how to arrange the little balls but so far I haven't seen anywhere explained how the stitch is made.

We had -14 degrees today, the sun was shining and I had to go out to take you a picture of the frozen lake. I found these frost flowers scattered all around the ice. Then happened to look at the gloves I was wearing ... the same flower!


These gloves are "Vante from Hedmark" from the book "Håndplagg til Bunader og Folkedrakter" (ISBN-82-496-0187-4). It is the most beautiful Norwegian book about hand wear.

The whole lake is frozen! The ice is maybe 3 cm (little more than 1 inch) thick, I walked on it near the shore and jumped on it and it feels quite strong already. We might be able to skate later on this week if the weather stays like this.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

The Rovaniemi Mitten

This is the traditional Rovaniemi Mitten (Rovaniemi is a small town at the Arctic Circle). Usually you see it knitted with brighter colours and thicker yarn. Although Rovaniemi is my birth place it wasn't until Vaasa's Nordic Knitting Symposium couple of years ago where I discovered the beauty and the challenge of this mitten. Before Vaasa I thought it is just ordinary multi-colored knitting --- it is not. In this pattern you have 11 small balls of pattern yarn on a long needle plus the main colour. It is hard to believe but these small balls stay in perfect order on the long needle and the back side of the mitten is neat. I'll show you a picture when I get that far with the new mittens. With thin yarn (Vuorelma's Satakieli) and small needles 1,5 mm the pattern is very delicate.

I'll make a variation on this theme. I changed the colours: since it is my blue period I must have some blue and some time ago I made another Eugen Beugler shawl with brick red. I haven't blocked it yet but these mittens should match the shawl. The cuff will be doubled but shorter than in the original, it will be easier to wear.

This is not speed knitting... but very interesting.

Yesterday the socks were finished. The pattern is also a variation from old Finnish socks. When my Mother saw the pattern she told that my Grandmother used to decorate her sweaters and cardigans with these "double purl" stitches. When Grandma knitted, she drew the pattern on brown paper and then knitted along and compared the piece with the pattern every now and then. She did't calculate beforehand any decreases or increases and she made all kinds of beautiful knits with shaping. When she died at the very high age few years ago, I saw her knitting tools; she had only few bent needles and that was all. I don't think she thought she didn't have enough and with them she produced a lot. I'll call these socks Martta's socks.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Some old, some new

The temperature dropped today again to zero. I heard and then later on saw two swans on the lake. They must be the last ones to go... The nature will become more quiet each day and the days will get darker.

Soon I'll sit here by the fire, sip warm red wine (glögg) and only knit. Sounds perfect - don't you think?

That is if you ignore the fact

that I have to get the fire wood inside first (and only one armful doesn't burn long enough even for a baby bootie)

that after a while by the fire my eyes are sore and burning red and so watery that I'm not able to see what I'm knitting

that for the wine I have to showel the snow to get to the car and drive 30 km on slippery roads (that is if I can start the engine).

But really it doesn't matter if I run out of wine and can't start the engine if only the electricity works and the PC plays: I can happily stay in contact with knitters and the mail man (long live the postal service!) can occasionally drop a package of yarn at the doorsteps.

Today I joined the mitten knit along. My very first one. Half a year ago I didn't even know (just how ignorant can you be?) there was this knitblog world out there and now all the excitement and inspiration is only a click away. I'm the early bird here and always drink my first cup of coffee while reading my favourites. I'm glad there are so many of you.

Here are the socks. The yarn is Sandnes Sisu. I don't do well mending and repairing but still I like to knit this type of heel where you can easily rip the worn one and knit a new one - like as a salute to the old way when yarn was sparse and every little bit of yarn was very much appreciated and handled with respect.

Sometimes I think if I lived up to 150 and knitted daily from dawn till dusk the rest of my life I wouldn't have enough time to use the last bit of my wool.

Oh, just kidding!

(The last words are for my husband...)

But I want to be reminded that I'm fingering something very precious and out of respect of yarn all these old and beautiful and practical techniques were born.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

The Blue C is born, little less than 450 grams

As you can see from the photo, it's cloudy and rainy and no sight of snow. But we had some last night. When I went to bed I was happy thinking I could take some snowy pictures today...but it is +6 centigrades!

It was so close! I received a new book from Amazon UK a couple of days ago: The Gathering of Lace and found myself fingering lace yarns...

I finished the cardigan last night. First the good:

I tried a new cast-on. (Vogue Knitting spring/summer 2005 page 38 explains how to get purl bumbs for the long tail.)
Don't know if this new cast-on on this particular knit makes any difference because the yarn is so thin and blurry it is almost impossible to see
(but, you know it is there and that's what counts, sort of like when you use your good underwear).

The edge is knit simultaneously except for the back and it turned out well.

The shaping is ok.

This was the first time I didn't make exact calculations for the sleeve cap and it turned out very nice - by accident! Honestly. The cap is round and full, no pulling or hanging.

I knitted the sleeve with 5 dpn's and did the same under arm decreases as in the body part. Then continued decreasing one stitch per row. When getting close to the top compared the cap with the sleeve opening and realized that I had not made enough decreases. The cap seemed too wide at the top. Ignored it and kept knitting. At the very top just decreased the stitches to half and heureka!

I'll have to try this on another sweater to see if this really works because I ended up with nice and round sleeve cap - like it is supposed to be in set in sleeve. The decreasing at the top served the same purpose as the ease-stitching in couture.

The not so good:

I'm not pleased with the ribbing. No matter how well I concentrated on I couldn't make it even. The whole time I didn't get into this nice easy knitting stage, I kept making mistakes and couldn't figure out why.

The decreases could look better.

The yarn is beautiful and soft. Maybe a bit too soft for me. In my robust country life it might not feel right. Maybe too sophisticated?

What is too early to tell is what category this belongs to, it is either b or c, not a. Some clothes a) are perfect from the very first moment, some you b) get accustomed after a while and then there is c) the unhappy yet numerous amount of those pitiful things that never make it out of the front door.

It is socks on the needles now...

Monday, October 17, 2005

Nice colour!


After two weeks of labouring my knitting got some attention from the family yesterday:

Nice colour!

No more, no less.

This weekend was spent cleaning the yard. The teenagers participated also after negotiating for pay. As Miina told you in her entry from Saturday the wind suddenly turned north and it became very cold. Until Friday the autumn has been pleasant and warm, the temperature almost 10 degrees centigrade daily but since Saturday the temperature had dropped down close to zero. All the gear that was lying around during the summer had to be collected inside before the snow. The weather forecast was promising us snow by the end of the week.

We would prefer to have very low temperature first and no snow. Then the lake would freeze and we could skate on the ice. Later on when the snow comes, we get so much of if, that it will be impossible to keep the ice clean.

I did not get much time to seriously knit, just had to crab the moment but there is progress. One sleeve to go. While pondering on the next task I might knit socks in the mean time.

True. It is my book shelf in the picture. It needs some sorting out. I did not realize the state it is in before I took the picture. You can't even see any decent reading there (although I have some good knitting books) - just a pile of old magazines...

This is Kille. He, like most of the cats, lies there where the wool is. During the daytime - that is. At nights he hunts for mice outside. Until it gets very cold. Then he just stays inside and waits for better hunting weather.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Preparing for Winter



The wind is in the north. The first snow can't be too far away. My nose tells me so. While Mom was busy with her blue cardi, I tried on my winter wear to see if it still fits.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Little more than 20 cm done

I have passed the waistline of the blue c.

The knitting is plain 2k/2p. I changed into k2/p2 - 1k/1p did not look right. Also this leaves a lot to hope for, but I have decided to be gentle to myself and let the knitting be the way it is now. I have a tendency to be too demanding and that just leads to 10 starts and never goes any further.

While knitting I have been trying to recognize different signs of danger in my behaviour since my ufos keep piling up. The more I knit the more I get. So now I'm regularly asking myself: are you ok with this? So far the blue cardi feels right, but from the experience I know that the switch to something else can happen suddenly and most of the times I don't even seem to realize it, I get so excited with another idea that the previous project just fades into the background and then it is too late --- so I'm paying attention - there must be a pattern somewhere in my brain leading into these side tracks.

This sweater I finished last winter. It is twined knitting (tvåändknitting) and my first attempt with this technique beyond mittens. The shaping could be better (it is knitted from bottom to top) but otherwise I'm quite happy with it. It is knitted from wool from Anne-Maj Ling (the yarn is z-spun) with needle size 3 mm. The embroidery is done in chain stitching. The wool for the embroidery is from Renaissance Dyeing (the wool feels very nice and the colours are beautiful).

Twined knitting seemed strange at first but once I got used to it, it became easier and it gave a very nice canvas to embroider on. More than a year ago when I cast-on the first stitches I needed a challenge but about eight months(!) later when I cast-off I was sure I had had enough (during those eight months I asked myself a couple of times, do I really have all this time??) ... but I would like to start another one with very much the same appearance but with little more shaping.

Here, again, I'm doing it. I have to be careful now and gather my thoughts and focus only on the blue cardigan.

Monday, October 10, 2005

On the road again!

The autoradio is playing Louis Armstrong: "...and I think to myself what a wonderful world..."

The agony of packing is behind, I'm travelling relaxed in the front seat with a happy husband beside and three smiling(!) teenagers behind. I'm congratulating myself because after all I did remember to write even the vet's telephone number down to the house and animal babysitter and did remember the antihistamines. Everything under control. We have come 50 kilometers from home and there is no turning back anymore or only for major crisis. The scenery is lovely and the sun is shining, no clouds, no worries...

(This is the state of mind I'm with my knitting now.)

here: the agony of packing


On every journey though

- there will turn out some unexpected path considered at this point only an exciting adventure
- there are tempting shortcuts which instead of making the drive shorter add on more hours
- there is just a little bit too old map giving mixed feelings and causing serious conversation
- there will be stops for the bathroom and for snacks which are not pleasing all members of the team
- there is going to break out some hostilities in the front or the back seat (or both!)

And eventually the autoradio is playing Chris Rea's This is a road to hell.

But I will not think about that yet...

here: 50 kms from home


Last time I was saying that I try to avoid seams where I can. Susanna you have a point there, the seams add structure but when the fabric is very stretchy and the seams don't stretch there can sometimes after wear and wash be a problem, the fabric and the seams sort of live their own lives. And I fear that in this case the yarn is so soft that with my seaming skills I'd better do without any side seams. Considering of all kinds of different facts is interesting and also frustrating: every yarn and every pattern and every desing is always going towards their own destinations, no matter how hard I try.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Blue Period


If I recall right Picasso had a blue period (you with a well functioning memory, forgive me if I'm thinking of the wrong guy here...) and I might be entering mine. It seems to me it is going to be a long period. I wonder how long was Picasso's.

What I'm going to do with this all this blue is a cardigan, and something to wear underneath with or without sleeves, socks definately (Sisu is for the socks) and then maybe something small, a hat or a scarf maybe...


The outlining of the cardi is here. Not very long, fitting and simple, with as little finishing as necessary, set-in sleeves though. I pinned also the neckline of the with/without sleeves there, but it looks a little bit crowded. The yarn for the cardi is Drops Alpaca, the lighter in the picture. The yarn is very soft, so I'll try tight ribbing 1k/1p.

One of the best things about knitting is that you can shape you garment while knitting and eliminate seams. I find side seams disturbing when there is shaping and try to do without them. So so far so good. Well set goals!

And then... The yarn is difficult to see. I tried swatching with it, but could not see what I was doing. So I switch to white yarn and tell myself that when I have got the increasing, decreasing and the front opening stitches correct I'll do another swatch with the Alpaca. Looks like I have a long way ahead trying to get everything sorted. Look here, not nice, not at all. Something wrong with the goals?... I'll try harder and if it still looks like a piece of scrap I try something else.

The final picture shows you the Eugen Beugler Lace Dream shawl knitted from the book of Shawls and Scarves (The best of Knitter's Magazine). The yarn used is Silvia by Wetterhoff 30%silk/70% wool, 500m/50g (used little more than 100 g) with 4 mm needles.


As you can see we are living here on the edge of the world. You can't go much further without dropping off the world. There aren't too many temptations out there, you can either showel snow 9 months out of 12 or fight with the mosquitos the rest three. First time I arrived here I was not given a choice but second time I came here from my own free will... There is one (can't be the only one) good reason to stay up here, you have plenty of time to knit!!

PS. Plus knitting you can also see how I'm progressing with learning to blog. You might ask why don't you consult the teenagers, they could help you... They could...

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Wear Thy Knitting

I love knitting.

While being baptized more than 45 years ago one of the good fairy godmothers must have put a ball of yarn to my palm while whispering ... in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer...
if there is an eternity, I hope to be able to knit right through it.

That will do for an introduction. Please keep in mind, I'm newborn blogger, and after couple of months I'll probably blush when I think of these first entries.

How many times have I looked into my closets thinking I have nothing to wear?

To be honest I don't even have to look into them, I know I have nothing.

It is not good, when my husband asks me should we go out for a night, maybe theatre and dinner, or just for a few pints in our favourite pub, the first thing I think is, what shall I wear instead of how nice to go out.

And then how can this be true, since I have been knitting practically my whole life. And I have done so many interesting pieces, cables, lace, basket weave, embroidered knits, stripes, plain...

And when the moment comes, there is absolutely nothing to wear.

So this brings me to my new knitting era: wear thy knitting. From now on, I'm only going to knit what I'm going to wear (plus occasional gifts, also to myself).

Now I will need to think hard what I need.

Middleaged mother in the middle of nowhere, three dogs and a cat. It calls for practicality.

Three teenaged daughters being ashamed for their mother's outdated wardrobe. Not too madame-like - yet.


A husband to hold on. So a little bit of sex appeal would not hurt. (Susanna, I don't want to push my luck with the orange camping towel!)


Cold winters, cold hands and icy toes. It calls for wool. Mostly wool. And socks and mittens and hats.


Face fading and lines dropping, so color would add some sparkle to my being. - what color?!!

I love blue jeans. Most of the knitting would have to match.

While I'm thinking about all this...

please, meet my companions. They will soon start hibernating, so this might be the very last chance before next spring. The hedgehog is a gardener while the badger is a knitter. (Both knitted - in case you wondered)





PS. I love lace. I don't have to give it up, do I?