Some random bits

For the past couple of days, ever since I cast on for the new sweater with purelife Rowan, sweater that is all stockinette and nothing but stockinette for skein after skein, my mind of course has been exploring other paths. Stockinette is simple, it uses only one of the two brain cells, and it is very difficult and challenging to stay focused. I am planning on taking a trip next week to visit my two girls in the south and decided to take the train (my soul always drags behind when I am flying, so I like to travel slowly if I have the time, I very much prefer to arrive in one piece, that is body and soul together) and thought that the sweater would be good knitting for the long trip. Now, I am thinking of leaving all the knittings at home, so that by the end of my visit, I am really looking forward to knitting again. I am not sure if this is wise but then again, little break can really work wonders in a relationship and I should know, after all I am married to a sailor. I will make few notes of the two beautiful patterns (both by Bonne Marie Burns) I would love to knit before summer and bring them along in case I see some suitable and beautiful new yarn. Cotton, hopefully.

I have got enquiries about Rowan's purelife and how do I like the yarn. I like it, knitting with big needles does feel a bit clumsy, as small needles suit my hands better, but it has not been bad. Usually I get sore and achy fingers with cottons, but none of that has happened. This could be because I am aware of the fact and tend to take pauses plus choose the needles according to the fiber, but also because simple stockinette really is gentle to hands, as is garter stitch too. But add to the mix lots of cables or decreases and the knitting with cotton becomes more difficult and tiring for hands. The yarn is interesting to look at and to touch, it is not as unforgiving as cotton usually is, where all the mistakes and uneven stitches are very obvious and special care has to be paid to individual stitches, and this of course due to the texture of the yarn. Also it helps to know that the yarn is spun from recycled fibers and that is has silk in it. The yarn breaks more easily than usually cottons do but this is not a problem, I just happened to try how it breaks. It is a three-ply, adding new yarn ball is not difficult. It really is a nice change to my usual wool knitting.

One thing has bothered me a bit and that is that the outcome is thick, as it would be when knitting with worsted, and since this is not wool, it does not have the air pockets that make wool feel lighter, so the outcome is sort of heavy. And I am a bit worried how this will behave when in action, whether this is stiff or will this drape nicely and even out the wrinkles when it is used. Of course by careful consideration before and knitting big swatches and handling them for a few days, would have told me a lot, and I could have planned out the design based on that knowledge but I just made my swatch, compared it to the ball band information, and was quite happy with the outcome, and cast on the stitches for a sweater.

I am not sure how I will shape the sleeves or the yoke yet and that adds both interest and anxiety to the knitting; there seems to be so many possibilities - both right and wrong - ahead. I have only two skeins of lilac and have already used a lot of it for the folded hem so I will need to think up a nice way to add some more of it to the sweater. I am not too worried yet, there are still few skeins to go through before that.

From the last post a couple of answers. The Istex Einband was bought in Iceland some years ago. I have never tried Temari but have one book on the subject and maybe - hopefully - one day I get around to it. And I received Lovely Blog Award from Gayle - thank you for your kind words.

Okey, I started the blog by saying that I have been exploring other paths, and that is that I have been drawing a bit again. Feels rather awkward after such a long time, but since I don't have photos to show you, here's the drawing.

Wool with you,

Lene

Change in the air

When I look out of the window up here in the Arctic I see plenty of snow. Plenty! The light, as it comes from a different angle now, tells me that it is spring, or more like spring-winter. I must have written before that I think we have six seasons up here; there is spring, summer and autumn and then the actual winter months should have three categories, dark-winter (snow comes and goes, it rains in between, the lake freezes and melts, it is slippery and dark and it keeps getting darker and darker by every minute), mid-winter that is around Christmas time, the snow blanket starts to build up, the temperatures are way down and the forest seems to have died, it is so quiet and I keep hauling firewood inside and seem to spend lots of time looking at the outside thermometer while getting even more firewood inside, and then there is this spring-winter, the light returns and mother nature keeps dumping more and more snow already on the thick blanket. The wind picks up, the trees start to hum to the sound of the wind and the birds seem to practice scales and open up their voices. And then, oh the joy, when you see the first drop of melting snow glide along the roof and once again the journey towards the green world is begun.

We have an old cat and he stays inside for most of the winter. Occasionally he stands at the doorway and sniffs the air to be sure that inside is the best place for him, but lately he has been going out daily. He does not stay out there for a long time, but he is eager and willing to try. The old Labrador (15 in May) has really suffered from the long and cold winter. She has refused to come with me for a walk during the past mid-winter months, we have gone out, she has taken a few steps and then she has turned back to the door thinking that the world is too hostile and that it is safer to be inside. We all have been watching her with sad eyes thinking that any day she could be gone. She has not been in pain, she has been just exhausted and sleeping a lot. She has been eating well and has behaved according to her nature, she is gentle and friendly, never a bad word about anyone. Even the little rascal, Kukka, who every single day tries to pull her tail (even thought we tell her not to always) never gets a scolding from her. Every night when I have said good night to her, I have been saying in my mind, that it is just fine if you don't want to wake up in the morning, and that you have been a good companion, together we raised three beautiful girls, you have done your share and more even. So you get the feeling that I have been watching with awe when during the last two weeks she has been with me for a short walk every day. When the sun shines, the temperature is mild, she is sniffing all around, she even runs occasionally, wags her tail outside and I can almost see her smile. And I think to myself that again, we made it together through the long and bitter Arctic Winter.

This year Miina will be 15, Mr Cat (Kille) will turn 14, Tina 5 and little Kukka will be 2 next week.

Do you love knitting hats? If you do, you should buy this book "Twisted Woolly Toppers" by Woolly Wormhead. I got it myself last week and already knitted one hat "Medici" (scroll down) from it and wore it once and in its maiden voyage it practically just flew from my head to another one, I did not even manage to take a picture of it. The pattern was easy, quick and the hat turned out just beautiful. I loved it and will knit myself another one soonest. The book has 10 designs in different sizes and I would love to knit every single one and hopefully will in the coming months. And speaking of hats, there is another source that I have been visiting. I saw the advertisement of Stitch Diva Studios in Interweave Crochet and I knew I needed to buy the beautiful pattern for the crocheted cloche. Have a look!

Last week I also bought some yarn that I plan to knit a simple go-to-sweater for spring. The yarn is beautiful in itself so I think I will knit simple raglan with it. I know they are almost too simple (and somewhat boring) to knit but the upside is that they are also simple to wear. And I am noticing a new color, something that I have never really liked very much nor have been aware much, but that cannot be totally true, since after digging through my stash I became aware of these...

New spring, new color, new yarn, new patterns! All new and beautiful.

With you too!

Lene

Oh and new blog template, got a message from Blogger and just had to go and look around Blogger Draft. I saved the old one, just in case I want to go back.

Little bits on Embroidery

Beautiful March is here, the weather is sunny but it is still very, very cold. I don't remember March being quite like this for a long time, but then again, I have a very short memory! The light outside is harsh and bright, there is so much white snow all around, that the light just bounces back and forth from every surface and it is quite difficult to be caught in the middle of this. Sunglasses are a must but at times even they are not enough, and when I step outside I feel like I am a blind mole stepping from my cave. Yet I cannot stay inside, I must take my snow shoes and make little rounds.

Detail of an embroidery, possibly a design by Dimensions

When I finished the mittens I had to take a short break from the knitting. Those two weeks with constant knitting just took their toll and I have had to let time pass and not until last week end did I feel a strong pull towards knitting again. At some point I will come back to the mittens and will try to make them into patterns and I am thinking up ways to write something about embroidery, but that also in the future.

Detail from a handwork bag, possibly my first cross stitch from the first or second grade.

Thank you for all your comments about the mittens and your questions about them. I used for all the embroidery my old trusty embroidery yarn that comes from the Renaissance Dyeing. Their quality and colors are just so high that once I came accustomed to them, I have never found anything that has come even close to the them. And really it is the beautiful color palette that makes the embroidery almost radiant.

Detail from an embroidery, possibly a design by Dimensions

I try to answer some of the questions now and will come later back to the ones that I leave out of this post. The pictures in this post are from various embroidered things I have around the house and that were easy to take pictures of. There are plenty hidden away in boxes and I did not do any digging so these are just a thin layer. I don't say this to boast, but to let you know that I have been doing little bit of embroidery here and there over several decades and to encourage you to try all kinds of pieces, every single one is going to teach a valuable lesson even if it is just a few stitches.

When embroidering mittens, I very often draw the design on paper first to see the size and shaping and then while drawing I will also think about the stitches. There are few stitches that feel "right" to me, it is almost like when you write, you have your favorite pen or pencil that you reach for. Chain stitch is my stitch, although I do like blanket stitch almost as much. When I have decided the main lines of the design I will draw it on the cloth with yarn and needle. I usually never draw on knits, woven cloth is different, but since the designs intended to embellish knits are usually small and simple, it is not necessary to transfer the design with any other media but yarn and thread. Once I have the basic shapes on, I will fill the empty spaces with stitches. Very often I end up embroidering with different set of colors than what I first envisioned. I like to keep the process flowing and open and flexible and try not to make too hard boundaries, after all the process has to be interesting and also fun or enjoyable.

Detail of an applique project

Since I use small gauge often or use twined knitting as back ground, I don't use any backing material. I like to keep the knit fabric as much as possible the way it is although it is bound to get a little bit stiff after all the extra yarn that is put on the surface.

Detail of a Teddy Bear's Cook Book cover

I know my process sounds easy but it very seldom is. It involves lots of ripping and redoing, I can start out ten times before I am satisfied and even then it is some kind of a compromise between obsessive me or healthier, forgiving me. I don't mind labor, I don't count how many times I make a mistake - and sometimes when I finish finally something, I feel a bit stupid of being so obsessive over something as small as mittens or socks. I mean if I was making a wall hanging, the process would seem understandable, but at times I wonder if all this work over mittens is healthy...

Detail of a Silk Ribbon Embroidery (really don't know how to do it) 

Why line twined mittens? The yarn I used for the twined mittens was my handspun and it is not soft and nice wool, but something on the coarser side. I have very thin skin in my hands and get deep cuts from the freezing temperatures, so I really cannot wear anything hard on my hands plus when it is -30 C outside, really one layer is never enough. I think that the twined mittens with lining are warmer than these double knitted mittens, the main reason really being the fact that twined knitted fabric is dense while the normal knitting lets the wind blow through more easily.

I knitted the grey mittens with the blue lining both mittens at the same time. The motif on the outside with blue is knitted in grey in the inside. I guess this technique is called double knitting. My English is not correct, it must really be quite bad and elementary school like often (Finnish is my own language), so please forgive me for misusing the terms at times. I try to check what I write, but am blind to the mistakes often.

I guess this answers most of the questions from the comments. I know the embroidery book list is something I have promised to make, but before I can do that, I need to organize my stuff a bit.

Right now I am knitting socks. Loving every single minute of it. But more of them next time.


Wool with you,
Lene