What, me early?!

This week I saw some nice apple green bracelets and necklaces at a clothing store - the color was so tasty that I decided I need my own 'Waiting for Spring' -set immediately. And luckily, the beads arrived with the pony express within one day from here, and I'm all set!

F i n a l l y..

..I managed to put my teal Debbie Bliss 'Cashmerino DK' stash into good use, after a couple of rippings, as you may remember. Here it is, a sweater from Phildar Winter 07/08 magazine. Original looked like this:

And mine looks like this - I'm quite pleased with the sleeves especially, they have a nice drapey/slouchy feel to them, and are very feminine.

I made some alterations to the original pattern's neck band, since I couldn't for the life of me understand the instructions: "..work several more rows of st st in a different color. Iron these st st rows, when making up sweater you will simply unravel these rows to base color". Say wha?! So I just gave up (and thought myself real stupid for a while), and picked up the stiches from the neck and back, and knit with 1k 1p rib. It may not be as French as in the original, but hey, it works. I also added a press-on button to make the neck-line more sturdy and wearable.

* * * *

Hey, you know what this is?

It's an empty desk, a tabula rasa, a clean slate -- no WIPs, just open opportunities! New projects, here I come! :)

Finished Objects....

..or more like Objects Interrupted. Some of you may recognise the cable..
These handy wrist warmers a.k.a cuffs are part of 'Cabled Cuff Gloves' by Tuulia Salmela (Twist Collective, Winter '08).



in order to defend my laziness when not knitting the whole gloves, I'd like to refer to my earlier posting about the Finnish folk tale of the mouse and cat and the changing end-results... :)

Deliveries and plans

A lovely package came with mail the other day - thanks sisters! :)

As you can see, the colorway is 'Troglodyytti' - well, if my camera would show the correct colors, then maybe you could really see.... anyway, it's a lovely brown shade, hand-dyed by Mokkasukka. When this grows up, it may want to be a pair of gloves..

One wouldn't think that keywork 'knitting' would produce that much results in YouTube (other than knitting instructins, of course), but here's something you might enjoy..

In the theme of tea... I must of course now join the ranks of knitters who have designed and made their own tea pot cozy .. more to come on that subject soon!

A Finished Object

Sooo, here it is, my combination of a designer scarf and hand-made knitted piece - I quite like the end result myself.

The pattern is my own, yarn came from Down Under (The Knittery, merino-silk blend in charcoal color), and the silk scarf is from Anna Sui. I knit as much as the 200g lasted and then just folded the piece into double and machine-sowed the two together. Voilá!

Thé

I've been reading, or more like gulping, a book on tea ("Tee teematka",by Helena Petäistö, in Finnish). It's such a nice book - plenty of delicious descriptions on the best Afternoon Teas found in various European locations (mostly in grand hotels of the capitals, but of course also in actual tea houses and tea rooms), a lot of history (sometimes very bloody measures have been taken in order to guarantee tea to the salons and chippendale tables of the high and mighty), and personal accounts on different tea varieties. The lady who wrote this book is a long-time foreign correspondent of Finnish television, she's located in Paris, and is an expert on all things French.

Being known as a not-so-avid coffee drinker (meaning no coffee for me, like, ever...), I've lately taken up different coffees, and grown to somehow even like them - I guess more important is the mood and athmosphere of the café or coffee house than the actual drink itself. Although I must admit that the boost of caffeine for someone like me who's not used to it is quite something, and at times can provide good extra energy for a short period of time.

Due to this background of not drinking coffee, I've been always offered tea at parties etc., and mostly it has tasted bad, bitter and bland. The Lipton Yellow Label, which gets a special mention in the book for the most awful thing that has ever happened to tea, is the worst of them all. Rumour has it that it's made from the stuff they sweep off the floor after finishing the production of the better teas. Eww!

Anyways, this book has been really inspirational - she's comparing teas with wines, that it's possible to find as subtle and multiple differences between different teas (black, green, white, yellow..) as a wine-buff can find among red wines, for example.

If you take time to prepare the tea properly (quality and temperature of water is the key, and after that make sure that the brewing time is correct), it's really an experience worlds apart from the 'place-the-yellow-labelled-bag-into-boiling-hot-water-and-let-it-simmer-there-until-taste-is-unbearably-bitter' method.

Just imagine a fresh pot of delicious tea, some scones with thick cream and strawberry jam, cucumber sandwhiches, cakes and pastry.... Makes you want to jump on a plane and hurry off to London/The Hague/Dublin/Frankfurt/Vienna immediately (just to mention some of the best places mentioned in the book to have your afternoon tea in the old fashioned way).

In the meantime, you can also feast you eyes on the web pages of the top Finnish tea place. The calm effect of this alone will convert anybody from the rush of caffeine into a Slow Movement supporter and tea drinker.

Cleanin' up!

If you want to offer a good home to these books, please let me know - I will give them away, with just the price of postage. First come, first serve - so give me a holler if you are interested!


"Scottish Inspirations" by Rowan / Sarah Dallas, 18 patterns using Rowan Scottish Tweed yarn.

"Inspired Cable Knits" by Fiona Ellis - 20 designs for sweaters and accessories

New year - new ideas!

Since it's a new year, and I'm on the mend from the symptoms of Uninspiration by now (the lovely sunny & cold weather has helped..), I have started up with a new sweater (from some old yarn..), and also finalized my decision how to go along with the scarf which has been in production for quite a long time now....maybe some of you remember this grey thing..?



I will join two scarfes to make one - the white silk scarf is a gift from a colleague, and has not found it's way into my wardrobe yet, although it's a nice design by Anna Sui. I believe that the marriage of these two will end up nicely - let's see! There's still some of this lovely grey yarn (silk/merino) left, and I intend to use up all of it. Further report will come later, then...



The story behind the sweater is actually starting to resemble quite much the old Finnish folk tale of a mr Cat commissioning a coat from a tailor, one mr Mouse. When the cat comes to collect his coat, the mouse says something like this: "Oh, no sir, there is no coat, sir, but what I could do is a swell pair of pants for you, sir!". And when Cat comes to collect his pants, mr Mouse comments: "Oh, sorry sir, but no pants materialized from this fabric - I could make a beautiful waiscoat for you, however!" etc etc etc, until there's nothing left of the fabric... .... (and until the cat eats the mouse in his frustration, but that's not relevant here..).






So I gave up on the previous Phildar pattern which I planned to make with the teal Debbie Bliss cashmerino DK yarn which was coming from another cardigan which I ripped... phew!... and have instead already finished the back of this Phildar pattern - very simple, but I like the idea of the deep cut in the front and the willowy sleeves: