I'm back and a great time was had by all!

Two weeks went by way too fast and we are now back home. During that time we celebrated a great wedding and a nearly equally great midsummer, while I ate about 18 liters of icecream and got addicted to weeding my parents' garden. Who knew weeding could be so much fun? More to the point, who knew I would find weeding so much fun?

Due to the previously mentioned activities and a few more besides, I didn't get much knitting done. I did make a jacket out of the pile of yarn I showed previously in this blog, which turned out to be just the right thing to wear. Not too hot during the sunny day, but still warm enough for the somewhat chilly night. However, I decided to do the top later, as my mother miraculoucly made both a skirt and a top out of a piece of fabric that was meant to be too small for even the skirt, according to the pattern specifications.

Anyway, it turns out the only fairly decent photo of me in the jacket is this one, sans my head as I can be shy at times.


Finally, I have to show this sunset photo, taken from the car at about 4 am as we were driving back home after the wedding. Sadly it doesn't quite show in the photo, but it was a beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day.

He really loves me!

I received a package a few days ago - a birthday present my husband had ordered. This is what it contained:


Both are 100% wonderfully soft merino wool in delicious colours. The variegated green one is hand-dyed and it makes me envision a cabled pair of gloves and a matching neat hat. The other one is both handspun and -dyed, and for the moment I'm content with just stroking it and enjoying the softness while I await inspiration.

If you like the look of these yarns, take a peek at the Etsy shop that sold them, appropriately named HandSpunandDyedToo.etsy.com.

Thank you hubby! :D

Over the hills and far away...

Where am I going?
To visit my parents.

How long for?
A whole two weeks.

What will I be doing?
Going to a wedding and catching up with old friends, but mostly just lie on the grass while eating icecream and watching the strawberries grow. Hopefully they'll grow big enough during my visit that they can disappear into my tummy.


I'm one of those strange people who feel that vacations are for doing absolutely nothing. Or perhaps more correctly, what other people might consider 'nothing': lie on the beach or in the garden while reading, knitting, eating icecream... Aaaaaahhhh.

Planning and going on trips to foreign lands, thinking up all sorts of stuff one 'must' do now while there's free time and setting up schedules for when to do them - all that's wayyyy too stressy. I do enjoy doing those things from time to time, it's just not what I consider proper for relaxing and charging my batteries during a Real Vacation.

These two weeks will be my Real Vacation. Joy. :D So, I only have one single major event planned: attending a wedding. I have my outfit all planned, now all that's needed is making it. (This part is fun and is thus not considered at odds with the concept of a Real Vacation.) I have about one week to turn this...



...into a fancy top and fancy little jacket with lace and cables. Fortunately I chose bulky yarn and fortunately the train ride to my parents is about 5 hours long.

Wish me luck, boys and girls.

I came to a realization...

Magenta is really an excellent colour. Seriously.

No, I'm not talking about the horrible magenta that makes your eyes bleed when you stumble across it among the wide webs of the internet. (Especially when combined with yellow or turquoise. *shudder*)

I'm talking about the deep, rich, delicious magenta I'm using to knit a shawl. I've had this slightly shiny cotton yarn for ages, not knowing what to do with it. I'm not even sure how I got it in the first place. There it has sat and waited for years, until a week ago, I had a terrible need to knit a shawl.

Yes, that's right. I needed to knit a shawl. One can get addicted to anything, it seems.

So anyway, I started knitting this shawl in my own design. For such a bold colour, I chose to use bold lines. This thing will be awesome. Just you wait and see. Until then, here's a preview:


Excellent, I tell you.

EXCELLENT

Yum Yum, Yarn!

Monday morning gave a nice surprise, for here's what I received in the mail yesterday:


100 % natural silvery-black alpaca. Sooo soft, it was a real pleasure winding the skeins into balls. =) This lovely stuff can be found at Stick Chick Designs on Etsy, a shop full of all kinds of natural, undyed fibers. Go take a look!

The big question is, how do I decide what to make with this? Whatever it'll be, it'll be alllll mine!

Knotwork knitting is fun!

I thought I'd give knotwork knitting another try. I tried it for a sweater a long time ago and liked the result, but that's about it. This time however, I found I LOVE doing it. It's not too difficult, but it demands concentration and focus - a combination I, oddly enough, find very relaxing.

I made several items once I got started, here's one of them:


I designed the pattern myself, inspired by Celtic and Viking knotwork, and used cotton yarn. The bag is just big enough to hold a standard DVD-case. It closes with a zipper, which would have been a simple thing to add, had I not managed to sew it on the wrong way around at first. :D

Other recent knotwork items include a belt and a headband. They're all unique, because it's more fun trying new pattern ideas. I imagine there will be more knotwork in the future.

I just love red and black together

So I've been knitting again. I must say it's the perfect way to spend a long, boring train ride. This is the result of the latest 5 hour train ride:

They're for sale, but I don't know how long it'll be before I break down and take them for myself. Consider yourself warned.

By the way, I recently realized fingerless gloves would be the perfect accessory for a windy picnic. I just wish I had realized this before going on said windy picnic.

Finally finished!

Just as spring is beginning to poke its nose into our days, I finish my winter sweater project. Typical. But, knowing what Finnish spring is like, I'll have use for this sweater still.

This isn't the one I mentioned previously in this blog; that one is still half done and will probably be something to finish for next winter. This one is a romantic, frilly thing, shaped like an oversized bolero. It's fun feeling all girly for once.



This must be the first item of clothing I have ever knitted by following a pattern, I just couldn't resist the photos I saw. (I managed to find it online too, but it's all in Swedish and doesn't look like the pattern itself is available there anyway.) It's made from 75 % wool/25 % polyamide yarn in a lovely green shade and it's aaaall mine.

Feels good to have a bigger project finished.

Take a look at this treasury!

After days (weeks?) of trying, I finally managed to get another Treasury list. Take a look!

As always, the list lasts for only two days, so hurry!

Dinosaurs again!

I want you all to meet the latest addition to my flock of sweet creatures. Her name is Dorothy and she's a plump little stegosaurus.



Dorothy is knitted from soft acrylic baby yarn, so she's very cuddly. Even the crocheted spikes along her back are soft. She's made from 8 parts, so she's a bit more complicated than most other creatures in my shop.

Dorothy herself has found a good home, but her cousins are available for adoption in my Etsy shop.

This yarn is so delicious I could eat it

I usually don't buy acrylic yarn to use for clothing, because I much prefer the feel and qualities of natural fibers. Natural fibers are warmer, breathe better and just feel nicer on the skin, in my opinion. However, when I saw this particular acrylic yarn I couldn't stop myself. The colours were exactly what I had been looking for: a mix of turquoise, rusty orange, beige and brown hues. YUM


Perfect for an autumn/winter sweater, so that's what I'm in the process of making. Photos will be up once I finish this lovely thing. Stay tuned.

All I want for Christmas

Clickety click!

Another Treasury list and it's all about what I want. ME ME ME. Bwaha.

Looking for a soft and cuddly Christmas gift?

Time for some shameless advertising again! Yay!

Here you can find all the little ones in the photo.

I make these softies to order, so to make sure I have time to make and send them off in time for Christmas, I recommend you make your purchase by November 30th.

I've made four so far this week, for both offline and online customers, and have another one to make this weekend. Busy busy. My fingers are starting to hurt, but oddly enough I don't mind!

Lots of little goldfish, swimming round and round...

At times I make items it's really hard to part with. I mean really hard. This is one of them.

The knitting bit went fine and quick, as did sewing the lining. However, when I was testing durability, the darn lining ripped! So I had to cut it out, get another fabric and sew it in, while my fingers complained about the stitches misplaced into them.

In any case, this would be a neat Christmas gift for the goldfish lover in your life. Or pretty much any fish lover. Or someone who just likes cute little things. Hint hint.

So buy me now! I'm too cute to stay in the shop!

The new lining fabric has gone through severe durability testing, don't worry. Plus it's pretty and shiny too!

Etsy Feature: Sapphire Lizard Designs

This lovely one of a kind ring arrived a couple of weeks ago, sent from the US by the friendly and helpful SapphireLizard. It's simply beautiful and I love it!



She has many more awesome wire wrapped rings like this listed, such as 'Pebbles in the Water' and 'Teal & Copper', but also many other kinds of handmade jewelry and accessories. 'Illusion Necklace - Citrus' and 'Teal Dangle Earrings' are a couple that have caught my eye.

Visit her shop for more! SapphireLizard.etsy.com

A Treasury Full of Yummies

I got another treasury list!

Man, I'm so hungry now.

You look like you need a monster around your neck

I find it hilariously fun to put big eyes and teeth on things. My monster socks are one example, my monster purse another. This time, my husband needed a scarf and I immediately had visions of some long, chompy thing curled around his neck. Don't ask me why.


This is what I came up with. Knitted from 75 % wool, 25 % polyamide yarn, with crocheted details. Looks quite like a moray eel, don't you think? Fortunately, my hubby loved it from the moment it crawled around his neck.

If anyone else out there would like a scarf like this, I might be persuaded to make one. Who knows, might make one for sale once I get a moment free. In the mean time, here's a more traditional scarf for sale. It's made of cotton, so it's great for anyone with a wool allergy.

Etsy Feature: Flora & Fauna ACEOs

ACEOs have caught my attention lately. ACEO stands for 'Art Cards, Editions, and Originals' and the only rule is that the artwork has to be 2,5 by 3,5 inches (6,35 x 8,89 cm). Any style and material is allowed, as long as the dimensions are correct. In addition to paintings and drawings on paper, I've seen for example collages, metal, fabric and clay. More info can be found at www.art-cards.org.

I've found many ACEOs on Etsy and I want to show off some of my favourites. I chose the theme fauna and flora, because that is what I often turn to for inspiration for my own work.

As usual, I'll let the images do most of the talking, because they do a better job than me. Note that all images link to the ACEO in question.


SharonFosterArt.etsy.com has such lovely colourful artwork. They give me a good mood by just looking at them.



The paintings at laurali.etsy.com show beautiful, atmospheric scenes. You can also visit Laura's website called Zen Breeze Gallery for more ACEOs and other artwork.



Be sure to check out Talia's pencil work at TaliaArt.etsy.com. Great colour and detail!



The artwork in bluedingodesigns.etsy.com simply makes me smile. I love this style!



If you like cats, then you have to visit cdingo.etsy.com for wonderful feline portraits.


That's all of them this time. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Cuteness Overload and Dinosaurs, Oh My

I got another Treasury list and filled it with cuteness! See it here and see it quick, for soon it will be gone.

In other news, I just finished my third Tommy. All three are tyrannosaurs, all are knitted and they're all called Tommy: Big Tommy, Little Tommy and Tiny Tommy. And no, there's nothing wrong with my imagination. It was just on vacation for a bit.

It all started with Big Tommy and a contest at deviantArt. I wanted to make the biggest softie I'd made yet for the contest and figured a T-rex would be perfect. I didn't quite plan on him becoming as big as he ended up though: 120 cm (4 ft) from nose to tail, needing 36 hours of knitting! You can find the original contest entry on dA, with more details on creation.

Let me introduce you to Big Tommy with the original description I wrote:

Here's Tommy the T-rex. He used to get teased for his pastel colours by the bigger, tougher T-rexes, the poor thing. He tried to fit in by growling menacingly and stomping around in a threatening fashion, but he didn't fool anyone. Everyone could tell he's really a cuddly big softie. Poor Tommy felt so alone, who would ever like a kind and cuddly Tyrannosaurus?

Fortunately everything turned out well in the end. Tommy found peace, happiness and acceptance once he got a job as a dinosaur kindergarten teacher and is now one of the little dino kids' favorite teachers.

Soon after the contest my Mom threatened to steal Tommy away, so I had to make her one - Little Tommy was born just in time for her birthday. Recently my brother started showing the same tendency, so Tiny Tommy was made for his birthday last week. Let's see what will happen for my Dad's birthday next month...

Etsy Feature: Temptations of a Yarn Addict

It's time for a confession. I'm a yarn addict. I have bags full of yarn everywhere, waiting to be used up. I shouldn’t buy any more before I’ve used up what I have, but it gets so darn hard not to when I see the wonderful yarns for sale at Etsy. I figured that if I can’t buy any right now, I’ll at least show off some of my favourites.

And as an added bonus, I'll be creating a handy shopping list for later at the same time. Just don’t tell my hubby, or I’ll get one of those suffering looks that say "not more yarn AGAIN".

Anyways, enough chatting and on to the important bit! I'll let the images do most of the talking, because I'm sure they'll do a great job of luring you over by themselves. Note that each image also links to the yarn in question.

Visiting chewyspaghetti.etsy.com sets my imagination going every time. Just look at these two!

ruby297.etsy.com has so many yarns I'd love to use... I wouldn't know which to choose, it was difficult enough to decide on which to use as examples.

I just love the look of that pink yarn. Spazspun.etsy.com also has more than just your usual wool - how about some llama, yak or ingeo?

Want a change from the usual striped socks? Epicurus.etsy.com offers something special: sock yarn that goes from light at one end to dark at the other.

FearlessFibers.etsy.com has a wide selection of both subtle and striking colours, as well as different fibers. My knitting fingers are itching already!

That's all of them this time. So, away with you to browse all these shops, you're bound to find something (or, such as in my case, many things) you like!