SNY:n syyskausi 2009

As this post is mostly about a Finnish swap, it's in Finnish only.

Salaisen Neuleystävän syyskauden ilmoittautumiset on avattu, ja kävin liittymässä mukaan. Laukku- ja sukkavaihtoihin olen joskus taannoin osallistunut, mutta SNY-ilmoittautumiset ovat jotenkin aina päässeet vilahtamaan hups vaan ohi. Tällä kertaa olinkin sitten ajoissa! Jännityksellä odotan syksyä: SNY ja TitiTyyn sukkalankaklubi! Molemmat mulle ihan uusia aktiviteetteja. Kyllä nyt kelpaa postimiestä odotella.

Mutta mukavaa tulee kyllä olemaan myös pakettien räätälöinti SNY:lle. Olen jo useamman vuoden seurannut sivusta näitä vaihtoja, ja meininki on näyttänyt niin kivalta että pakko oli lähteä messiin. Pidän dekkareista, ja tällaiset Salaiset Vaihdot ovat ainakin ajatuksena mulle ihan omiaan. En malttaisi odottaa, että saan SNY:ni tiedot, haluaisin heti mennä vakoilemaan blogiin ja Ravelryyn ja ja... ja lankakauppaan ostoksille tietysti!

Ensikertalaisena yritän parhaani mukaan toimia sääntöjen mukaan, ja selkeästihän ne tuolla SNY-blogissa olivatkin. Vähän jännittää silti. Onneksi netin neuleyhteisö on leppoisaa porukkaa, ei tarvitse olla oikeasti huolissaan, kunhan muistaa deadlinet ja raportoinnit.

Turun keskiaikamarkkinatkin tuli muuten kierrettyä. Tuliaisina oli tietenkin lankaa ja villaa. Mukaan tarttui vyyhti lammikoitumatonta sukkalankaa Juulibugia, pari värjäämätöntä vyyhtiä ohutta lähiseudun lammastilan villalankaa (näillä pääsen toivottavasti kasvivärjäystä testaamaan), ihanan pehmeää merinoa, josta osa on jo kehrätty, sekä vihersävyistä kotimaista villalankaa joka on parhaillaan mariomyssyyntymässä. Juulibugista on muuten tulossa Nancy Bushin Heelless Sleeping Socks, ja yksi 65g vyyhti näyttäisi riittävän ihan ohjeen mukaisiin sukkiin (ekan sukan jälkeen jäljellä vielä yli 30g). Loistavaa!

Waiting for the Finnish summer

While I was waiting for the Finnish summer to begin (this June has been a cold one!), I decided to make more socks. Such a surprise! Below, Glynis by Cookie A. The yarn is Araucania Ranco Solid, which is one of my favourite sock yarns, as I've probably mentioned before. I started these socks on WWKIP day, and they were soon ready. The pattern is easy but interesting enough, and I think it fits well the semi-solid yarn. I used 2,5mm Clover Bamboo needles (as I nowadays usually do, though it would be nice to get sets of 2,25mm and 2,75mm dpns).

And another Cookie pattern, Sunshine. This is Anttila Corallo again - I just love the bluish gray colourway. (and the yarn is cheap, too...) I had to make the leg slightly shorter than what the pattern calls for, because I didn't have enough yardage. The yarn was a bit too thick as well - must try the pattern again with another yarn. I enjoyed knitting both Glynis and Sunshine - logical, easy, but not too simple. Perfect patterns for travelling/TV fiber activity.


These mittens I really love! They're warm! They're pretty! And I decided to call them my Garden Mittens though I never really do gardening.

The base yarn, the grey one, is Gjestal Janne. The flowers, I think, are mainly Gjestal Maija... the lighter purple at least. I used a Drops pattern for the flowers, though I modified it a bit. The mitten pattern is a basic one, and I added the green leaves by crocheting them on in the end. As you can guess, I've also been doing some Fair Isle work... more about that later - still need to weave in the ends on those ones!


My friend has been experimenting with plant dyeing. She used birch leaves to get this lovely shade of yellowish green, and generously gave me a skein for test knitting. The yarn is wool, perhaps 100% (it started as a mystery yarn, white). I think it might be Novita 7 Veljestä (7 Brothers) yarn, or something very much like it. I improvised the pattern, using a cable from 101 stitches to knit (ed. Erika Knight, The Harmony Guides). I don't know yet what happens when I wash these mittens... that's all part of the test! I think the colour is fab, and I hope my friend will continue with her experiments. Though as a botanist, she really knows what she's doing!





A bigger font size, by the way. I thought it would look better with the new template. And as always, more details and links: knittitude @ Ravelry. Next: Turku Medieval Fair, this weekend - hope to see you there!

Spinning, finally

Look at this cute ball of Lana d'Irlanda! It looks like it could be mimicked - perhaps a nice pattern for a hat... the blanket under the skein has some lovely sheep on it. Actually, it isn't in the picture on purpose :D it's just almost always on the sofa.


Some spinning, then. First, three little skeins made from the Phat Fiber March Box samples - see the linked post for details and links! In the first one, the darker single is the Wild Hare batt, the light one is one of the Tactile samples. I enjoyed spinning both samples! The glittery Angelina in the Wild Hare sample does not show properly in the pic, but it's pretty. And did I say glittery?



This yarn is spun from the Whorling Tides sample in pretty shades of pale pink and blue. I spun it together with some grey wool from my stash (which is very small compared to my yarn stash!). I also spun in a few of the plastic, transparent stars that were in the plastic bag together with the sample. I'd love to spin more of this stuff!


This sample combines the NorthStarAlpacas sample with the candy-coloured one from Feeling Sheepish.



These two pretty little skeins are merino, bought from the owner of Naurava Lammas during the Turku Medieval Fair - was it two years ago? I forget :) The colours remind me of a berry sorbet of some kind - delicious! The fiber was easy to spin. I'm also knitting a shawl using Nauravan Lampaan Silkkivilla (30% silk, 70% wool) - I hope to post pics of the finished item later.

So that was it for now. I hope the new, more logical and hopefully more efficient Blogger interface will let me post more often than I used to... Oh, and I'll probably be starting my K-ing IP (or KIPping? well in theory K-ing IP would be more grammatical but no one puts it like that. sorry, it's the linguist writing) in Käsityö-Elisa (my LYS) on Saturday, so hope to see you there, fellow knitters from Turku.

Have a nice KIP day everyone!

Lots of photos!

Okay. It's been a long while. I'm going to share a few pairs of socks now. But first of all, a mystery sock! I remember I had a pattern for this one - a bit like Baudelaire (which I've made as well), but a different one. If somebody recognizes the pattern in question, please inform me! I think I had a copy of the pattern in Finnish, but I bet there are lots of patterns like this one around. This one has lace both in the front and on the back of the sock. The yarn is Araucania Ranco Multy. You can find more specs at Ravelry, where I'm known as knittitude - see you there!





This pair? Vinnland Socks, from theAntiCraft. The yarn is Sisu.


Trystero, by Cookie A, the yarn is Trekking.



I got Cookie A's Sock Innovation a week ago, and it's YUMMY! Kai-Mei, Araucania Ranco Solid. They're size L, so they are too loose for the model (me). Must make a pair for myself someday. The pattern is simple, yet clever.


One of my favourite designers, Nancy Bush. The pattern is Whitby from Knitting on the Road, the yarn is Gjestal Maija. I don't usually do yellow, but just take a look at the cooperation of the yarn and the pattern and you'll see why. Don't you now?



Nancy Bush's Unst from Knitting on the Road. The yarn is a cheap one (Corallo, 2€/skein) I bought from Anttila. The yarn is made in Italy for Anttila. I'd like to know which company it is that actually makes this yarn. I think the quality was OK for the price - some extra nylon strings had to be pulled out though.


Yarn as in previous. The pattern is Little Child's Sock in Shell Pattern, by (surprise surprise) Nancy Bush, from Knitting Vintage Socks.


Little Child's Sock by Nancy Bush from Knitting Vintage Socks, the yarn is again Sisu. The socks look a bit boring in the photo found in the book - but when worn, they fit like a dream! Must make another pair of these someday...

So that was it. There are so many things I should link to places... but I think you all know most of the patterns and yarns anyway - if not, Google or Ravel them. Please. Do check out Nancy Bush, Cookie A and theAntiCraft. They're fab! Next: Spinning...

Oh. And if you want to know more about the patterns/specs/yarns, visit me at Ravelry (knittitude). I've got the links over there!

Phat Fiber March Sampler Box

In the latest issue of Knitty, there was a feature on Phat Fiber Sampler Boxes. The idea is quite simple: indie spinners, dyers, producers of fiber, stitch marker makers and various other contributors send in samples of their artwork. The goodies are put in boxes, which are then sold at Etsy - and that only takes a couple of minutes or so. The theme for the March box was "Celtic", which to me sounded really good. So I just had to try it out. It only took the box about a week to travel from the States to Finland, so it was super fast as well. And this is what I got:

There were yummy things inside...

The multi-coloured braid in front right, from Feeling Sheepish, is "domestic wool", so it's probably from some serious US sheep ;) It looks like candy!



Tactile had put in some lovely, soft, naturally dyed Blue Faced Leicester in two colours. I've only ever spun merino and the native Finnish wool, so am I in for a treat!

The lovely braid in shades of green from cloudlover is also BFL.





The alpaca/merino roving from NorthStarAlpacas will also be a new spinning experience for me. You can smell the alpaca when smelling the roving, I love it! :) Wonder what wet alpaca smells like (as opposed to wet sheep)?

FarmgirlChic sent some Raw Natural Colored Border Leicester / Corriedale with washing instructions, a nice idea.





I also got a dark green superwash wool/Angelina/nylon batt from Wild Hare Fiber Studio. I've also (surprise surprise) never spun anything this glittery (although the glitter effect is actually very subtle and sweet!).

The Suffolk/Hampshire cross roving from eXtreme Spinning differed from many of the others in that it was not in shades of green but in a beautiful heathery hue, which I just love!

Last but not the least (as to the fiber part), Whorling Tides' contribution is a beautiful alpaca/merino/tussah silk blend in soft hues. Do I even need to say that I haven't spun anything with silk in it before and am really looking forward to try it out? ;)



Abstract Fiber's MightySock instantly caught my attention. This superwash merino/tencel blend is beautifully dyed, has an incredible shine and is really soft.

Also Fiberphile's Alchemy sock yarn (superwash merino) is an extremely beautiful yarn, which I might definitely consider ordering someday.







Artemisia Ink sent a lovely, dark brown skein of undyed, bulky Corriedale/Merino cross, seen on the left; the pretty multi-coloured skein in front right is from Plum Crazy Ranch & Fiber Art.

Desert Garden Farms had packed their two cute mini-skeins in a handy box, which might become a home to buttons or stitch markers after I've used up the yarn.



Very Irish were the Erin Go Braugh handspun from Wooliebullie and the sport weight Shetland superwash from Sweet Pea Fibers. Both these yarns are in the white, orange and green of the Irish flag. As I've been an Irish dancer for almost five years now, I thought I might knit a small bag for my soft shoes and use either one or both of these yarns as an accent colour.

I also got three patterns in the Sampler Box. First, there was Mrs Dalloway, a beautiful lace wristlet from The Crochet Side - luckily I can crochet as well! The second pattern I got is Shetland Bracelet by Katherine Vaughan Designs - this might be a nice way to use up one of the mini skeins in the box. I also got a nice pattern for Cabled Wrist Warmers from Katsara Yarns.




Finally, I got a pretty, natural stone pendant from Ambrosia and Bliss and a beautiful green/silver pearl stich marker from Black Tie Fiber Arts, both of which will definitely be used. There were also several (very tempting!) coupons in the box. I wonder whether I'll ever make the potato/cabbage mash (the recipe in the envelope) but I guess it might actually turn out quite nice - potato mash tastes great, so why wouldn't this?



As others have said, it felt a bit like Christmas when I received the box. It was so nice to get some surprise yarn and fiber! Meanwhile, I've already knit and spun a bit with the contents; I'll try to blog about that soon after I manage to get some photos taken.

Thank you Jessie (the woman behind Phat Fiber) for the kind and fast service and for the possibility to get to know US indie fiber artists through the beautiful selection of samples! I'll probably be checking out some Etsy shops soon...