Under the Rainbow

Ahem. Anyone still out there?

2011-12-17T14:07:00.003+02:00

It's been a while, huh? I'm not going to go that much into why I've been awol for the past few months, let's just say that life happened (well, I'll tell you this much, I separated from my husband, and have been living on my own since October. The kids stay with me every two weeks, so all of this is taking it's time to get used to.) This year has been pretty much the crappiest ever, so I'm really looking forward to next year. I'm thinking that it can't suck more than this year. :P One good thing tho, I'm graduating school in a couple of days, so I'm still pretty proud of myself for finishing school in the middle of all this. Aaand that's pretty much all I have for now, I'll try to squeeze in an FO-post before Christmas.

We've gone all girly around here.

2011-08-08T22:41:00.007+03:00

I've always been a jeans girl. Never really cared for skirts or dresses and such. But this Summer I've come in touch with my girly side, and have made, not one, but two dresses for myself. And I've cut up the fabric to make another dress. And two skirts. :O No, wait, three skirts. But more on those when I actually get around to sewing them... The first dress is a maxi dress, because, you know, maxi dresses are in at the moment. I had problems with getting the upper part to fit, so there kinda is a seam where there kinda shouldn't be one... But you kinda can't tell that from the picture. :D
(Yes, the picture is, again, horrendous, sorry. The next one won't be any better either. :P)

And if the first dress was a maxi, then the second dress is the exact opposite, it ended up a wee bit too short. :D I kept yanking it down all night, afraid that my butt was showing. The fabric was a pain to work with, especially since the dress has a princess cut both in the front and in the back. Plus I've gotten a wee bit smaller lately, so the dress was too big for me at first. Well, it's my own fault really, I should have made some measurements before starting to cut fabric. Oh well, you learn as long as you live, I guess. :)

And since I have a new-found fondness for zippers that show, I decided to add a big metal zipper to this dress. :)
Last, but not least we have a dress for my tiny princess. She threw a fit the other day when we went shopping, and stupid mommy didn't buy her the princess dress she wanted. But I bought the fabric to make her a dress ages ago, just never got round to it. Until now. The seams are crooked, and the hem isn't all that straight, but she's three, she doesn't notice things like that. And I was in a hurry to get it finished. And it's kinda cute. :)

Wanna know what I did last week?

2011-06-15T12:17:00.019+03:00

Well, I'll tell you anyway. :P Very early on Sunday the 5th we packed all our bags in the car, and drove to the airport. Five or so hours later we landed on a very sunny and warm Crete. In other words, we jumpstarted our Summer vacation by going to Greece with the kids! For a week we didn't cook, clean or do any other housework either. We rested, ate well, and spent half our time in the pool. I didn't knit a single stitch until the busride back to the airport. :D

And because a picture tells more than a thousand words, here are a few to tell our story. :)

And just to prove that I was along on the trip too, here's a picture that the husband too of me right after I had a shot of raki. :D

School's out for the Summer!

2011-05-31T23:04:00.004+03:00

Yay! Wooohooo! Whee! Two and a half months of total relaxation, aaah... (Yeah right, with three kids running around? So not gonna happen.) I have a ton of stuff to do this Summer, but at least it's stuff I want to do, not stuff I have to do. There's a big difference.

(Oh, umm, let's ignore the fact that I should go to school tomorrow and on Friday, shall we? I just noticed today that my brain hasn't functioned for, oh, about a week now, and I made every conceivable mistake on my practice collar. My brain needs a break. And the tiny one has to go to the hospital for allergy tests on Friday, not likely that I'll sit in school that day.)

Aaanywhoo, yay, Summer! (See, I'm effectively also ignoring the fact that I can't even go outside without getting the most annoying rash all over, I don't even need the sun for it anymore. And it's gonna be like this until, umm, September or so. I'm just so happy that I don't need to get up and go to school tomorrow morning.)

I wish drawing was easier...

2011-05-24T21:17:00.001+03:00

drawings, originally uploaded by RainbowDash2008.

So that making just three (yes, three, the last one is old) fashion drawings wouldn't take me all day.

Some stuff I've made recently.

2011-05-15T22:09:00.013+03:00

I'm still suffering from having the crappiest Spring ever, but I wanted to let you all know I'm still alive (if there's still any of you out there.) Anyways, just pics this time. (In no particular order.)

I realized that I never showed you the details of the green tunic I made months ago, so here they are. Finally.

And then there was the princess dress I made for a friend's three-year-old.
And a hat for me.
A pair of fun earrings.
Turn-a-Square for the husband. (rav-link)
Sweet Peasy for the tiny one. (rav-link)
A tunic that made me look even more shapeless than I am. (from Burda.)
Alina-shawl. (rav-link)
A chiffon-satin-dress for a friend.

I have this weird thing..

2011-04-21T19:37:00.006+03:00

About having to sew myself something new to wear whenever I go out to party. Which happens about twice a year. I think I need to go out more, just think how much clothes I'd have if I'd go out, say, once a month. But, alas, I doubt the husband would let me go out that often. :/ I have lots of improvements to make to the next version, but I'm pretty happy with this version too. FYI, lace is a PITA to sew. (I know, I know, the pictures suck once again, trying to take your own picture isn't all that easy. XD The first pic shows the color correctly, the second one is just to show the length.)

Upon request

2011-04-08T17:57:00.006+03:00

No, I'm not officially coming back from my blog break, but some (well, one) of you (and you know who you are) asked me to blog about the corset and dress I've sewn in school. I made a corset for myself, and a dress for a customer. The corset is just a plain black denim, that was about the cheapest fabric I found when shopping for the corset.. But since I had no idea how this would turn out (it's heavily modified), I figured that I don't want to invest a whole lot of money in it. And without further ado, here it is
I'm thinking of adding some kind of embellishment to it, so that I know which end should be up and which one down. :D I just haven't figured out what I want to decorate it with. Maybe a flower or sequins or something..

The dress is made of taffeta, organza and tulle. You can't really see the tulle in the pictures, but it's there. :) Making the folds wasn't the easiest thing ever, but I think it turned out pretty nice for a first try. :) (Oh, btw, the color is way off in these pictures, the photo studio at school just didn't want to co-operate with me today. The dress is really much lighter irl.)

Too much crap

2011-03-12T17:32:00.001+02:00

Mental capacity overload. Can not blog. Must take break.

I'll be back. (said in Arnold Schwarzeneggeresuqe voice.)

Ei mul mitään asiaa oo

2011-03-05T15:28:00.001+02:00

(Sorry, only in Finnish this time.)

Kirjahyllymeemi a'la Minä. Napatkoon ken tahtoo. :)

1. Oletko mies vai nainen?
Dracula

2. Kuvaile itseäsi?
Angels & Demons

3. Kuinka voit?
Carpe Jugulum

4.Kuvaile nykyistä asuinpaikkaasi?
The Last Continent

5. Mihin haluaisit matkustaa?
London Bridges

6. Kuvaile parasta ystävääsi?
Maskerade

7. Mikä on lempivärisi?
The Bluest Eye

8. Millainen sää nyt on?
The Light Fantastic

9. Mikä on paras vuorokauden aika?
Night Watch

10. Jos elämäsi olisi tv- ohjelma, mikä sen nimi olisi?
Great Expectations

11. Päivän mietelause
Reaper Man

12. Millainen on parisuhteesi?
Wuthering Heights

13. Mitä elämä sinulle merkitsee?
Cradle and All

14. Minkä neuvon tahtoisit antaa?
Roses are Red

15. Miten tahtoisit kuolla?
Thud!

16. Mottosi?
The Sun Also Rises

Things don't always go as planned.

2011-02-19T14:07:00.005+02:00

Thanks for all your thoughts and well-wishes regarding my surgery. Due to circumstances that I won't go into here, the surgery has been moved. I was hoping to get it over and done with now, but something's come up, and I'll have the surgery in April. Oh well, I've waited a year, I can wait another couple of months.

And on a lighter note, the missing mitten has been found! The husband found it between the wall and the radiator yesterday. Now I can finally finish the pair, yay!

I made a skirt and a vest a while back that I haven't showed you yet. I have the worst pictures of them that you can imagine, but I don't have any better to offer either. Oh, btw, they're made from the same fabric, but you can't tell that from the pictures. The color looks right in the vest pictures.

You know, this sucks

2011-02-09T17:29:00.004+02:00

Remember my green socks-turned-mittens? No, you probably don't, because I wrote about them over a year ago, and never mentioned them again. Well, I finished one of the mittens ages ago (except for the thumb) and started working on the second mitten. I got about halfway thru the cuff on the second one, when I got tired of them. So I threw them in a basket, where they lay until about a month ago. I finished the second mitten, thumb and all, and thought I'd finishe the second mitten too. But then I took my three-week break from knitting, and guess what? I can't find that thumbless mitten anywhere. It's nowhere to be found. Argh. I'm starting to think that the mittens are cursed, and I'm just not supposed to finish them. Ever. Hmph.

And in other news, I started knitting again. I started working on the Alina shawl (rav link), because I thought it would fit the theme for the month. The shawl was designed by a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the pattern was released on the day of her surgery. And since I'm going to have breast surgery myself in a couple of weeks, I thought that now would be as good a time as any to finally knit the shawl. (And yes, I realize that I haven't mentioned anything about having breast surgery before, I just haven't found a good time for it.) My shawl won't be that big, because I'm using pretty thick yarn, but it's looking pretty so far. :) I don't have any pictures, you'll probably have to wait until the shawl is finished and blocked. :P

And just because blog posts without any pictures are boring, I'll show you a picture of a tunic I made in school. (and yes, I know I'd need to have the customers approval to show this picture online, but as the customer is a friend of mine, I'm sure she won't mind. :P ) In this pic the buttons are missing, I'll show you close-ups of those when I get round to taking them..

ainiin. ps. VILLAPALLO!

Still no knittin' goin' on

2011-01-25T21:59:00.004+02:00

But I did sew a skirt for the middle kid. She asked for a skirt waaay before Christmas, but I only got round to making it a couple weeks ago. She chose the fabrics and I sewed it up. It looks bright and cheerful! :)
There's nothing new on the knitting-front, I'm on my third week of non-knitting, and I think I might just as well give in and start knitting again. See, my reasoning is, that if I haven't knit a stitch in over two weeks, and my thumbs haven't gotten any better, then it wasn't knitting that made the thumbs sore in the first place. And I can just as well start knitting again. I'm tired of sitting around and doing nothing all evening. Bah. So next time I might actually have something knitted to show you. ;) (Or I might show you the skirt and vest I made myself, I just have to get them photographed first..)

First two for 2011

2011-01-10T18:38:00.008+02:00

Well, um, apparently I don't have that much to say, so I'll just show you my latest FOs, a pair of plain old mittens (made with not-so-plain-old-Noro-yarn), that are too big for me, and a slouchy hat (made with Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn). The hat started out as the Sockhead hat, but I only used the amount of cast-on stitches from the original pattern. And after casting on, I just ignored the pattern, and made the hat the way I wanted it. :)

Dunno when I'll have any more knits to show off, I have to take a break from knitting, because both my thumbs are crazy sore. My right thumb has been sore for, oh, two months or so, but now my left thumb is sore too. Oh poo. I'm thinking of taking a one-week break to start with, and we'll see if the thumbs get any better. I'm two days into this first week, and I'm going bonkers. How anyone can sit around and watch TV without doing anything with their hands is beyond me. And those of you who would want to do something, and can't, you have my deepest sympathies.

Chapter 142 - In which I show you the last FOs for 2010

2010-12-31T14:35:00.013+02:00

So the year has come to its end. May I just ask how that can be possible? This year has just flown by. I quit work, started school, sold my house, bought a new one, moved.. (oh, I also fit in a marital crisis in there..) Phew, no wonder I've spent most of my Christmas holiday asleep. :D Anyhow, I wish you all have had a good year, and have an even better year 2011!

And onward to my FOs, I have lots of them today. :) In no particuar order, I've made Christmas dresses for the girls, the older girl chose the fabric for her dress herself. :)

And the tiny one got a red plaid dress, with tulle at the bottom. You can't really see the tulle, but it's there. :)

As for my school project for this Fall, I made a full-length dress for a friend. It took ages to finish, but I think it was worth it.

Just before Christmas break we got assigned to design, draw the pattern (luckily we got to use a basic pattern for this one!) and make a shirt, also a school project. This is my shirt.

As for knitting, I haven't done much of that, but I have been able to finish two projects, and two more are almost done. I guess those will have to be my first two FOs for 2011. :) I made the lining for the hat I showed you earlier, and it turned out ok. If you don't count the fact that it's now too small for the tiny one. I'm thinking about soaking it and stretching it out a bit. It is made of wool, so it should stretch just as much as I want it to.
And I finished the slouchy socks too. I did switch to dpn's when I got to the heel, because I like my socks to be tightly knit, and working with the mini-circs made my knitting very loose. I guess I just have to work more on my tension with the mini-circs. (The yarn is a lot darker than it looks in the picture..)
And on that note, I'm done for this year, nothing left to do than eat some cheesecake (mmm, Bailey's cheesecake, omnomnom) and look at some fireworks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From all of us, to all of you

2010-12-24T20:17:00.002+02:00

A very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or whatever it is that you celebrate this time of year.

Let me tell you about my weekend

2010-12-16T10:06:00.008+02:00

Yes, I know it's already Thursday, but I'm slow, ok? So last Friday we packed our bags, and headed for the airport. Up until Thursday night we had been waiting on pins and needles to find out if we get to go on our weekend trip or not, the flight attendants on our domestic airline (the one we were supposed to fly with!) were on strike. Well, on Thursday evening the husband got a text message that said that our flight would be leaving when it was supposed to. Yay! So on Friday we were on our merry way to jolly old London. (Let's not even mention that the flight was an hour an a half delayed, and we didn't get to our hotel until 8 p.m. We were in London!)

On Friday night we went for dinner (I had the best salad ever) and then thought we'd take a walk and go see Piccadilly Circus. See, on the map it didn't look that far. But London is a big city. So we walked, walked, and walked some more. It took about an hour. We finally got to Piccadilly, took a photo, this one here
And then, get this, we decided to walk back! Seriously, this is where I get a bit confused. There's an underground station right there at Piccadilly, we had just walked about 5 kilometers (about 3 miles), the underground would have taken us to about a block from our hotel, and we decided to walk back! All kinds of crazies going around..

On Saturday we walked to Portobello Road (yes, more walking :P), it was so packed with people that you could hardly breathe, but we bravely walked along it for a while. :) From there we took the underground to Tower Bridge, as the husband wanted to see it, as he's never been to London before.
Then we headed to Trafalgar Square, and I'm so happy we stopped there, because this is what we saw

I have no idea what al these Santa's helpers were doing there, but there were hundreds of them! And wherever we looked, there were even more of them walking towards the Square (all of them more of less drunk.) I would have wanted to visit Camden Town, but we didn't have time for that. Just as well to leave something for next time too, right? :) After this we headed to Oxford Street to do some shopping. Not that we bought much of anything, I bought a shirt, pants and a too small dress (because it is a good idea to buy a dress and think "I'll fit into this some day". But it was so cute. And I'm going on a diet after Xmas. Hah) for myself, and then we got something for the kids.

All in all, it was a good weekend, a bit stressful because we only had one whole day to see everything, and Ican't wait to go back. Can I go back now? Can I? Pretty please? No? Well crap.

So I made a coat..

2010-12-05T16:33:00.009+02:00

And then it got too cold for me to wear it. Oh pah. Anyways, it's a wool coat, a fun circle shape (please don't ask me what pattern it is, I have no idea whatsoever.) So far I've used a very fancy safety pin to fasten the coat with, I'm working on a better solution. :) The collar isn't sewn on correctly, it's supposed to lie perfectly flat, but let's pretend that I wanted it to look the way it does, ok? Because I'm so not going to admit that I just couldn't figure out how the heck it was supposed to be sewn. And I kinda like it the way it is now. And let's also pretend that I don't look very tired and pale in the pictures, with strange shadows where shadows shouldn't be present. Oh, also, you can't see that double chin, can you? ;)
And of course I had to make a matching bag, because I'm a bit anal like that. This was a real pain in the a** to sew, I had to pull the thing forward with both hands, because the foot of my sewing machine just didn't want to move ahead while sewing the ribbon on. Argh, never doing that again!

And finally, I went to the theatre yesterday, so I just had to make myself a new skirt. Because I had absolutely nothing to wear! It's warm, it's cute, and I love it! (the only thing that bugs me just a teeny bit, is that with a little bit of effort I could've made the vertical stripes continue in a smooth line from the waistband to the rest of the skirt. But I didn't think of that at the time, and I only wear löong shirts anyway, so nobody will ever know. Except for everybody who sees these pictures. XD )

I have no FOs to show

2010-11-29T18:50:00.007+02:00

So I'll show you a bunch of WIPs instead. (And again, I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures.) Let's start with a hat that I actually made years ago, when the middle child was two or three. It's in perfectly good shape, but it's not nearly warm enough for the frickin' cold weather that we've been having lately. So I came up with the perfect solution, I'll knit a lining for the hat! A double wool hat should be warm enough, even for our -20C weather.
Next we have a pair of mittens for me. I'm making these with Noro Silk Garden. The mitten part is too big, and I made the thumb too short, but let's call those design elements, shall we?
And finally, I'm making myself a pair of thick socks. I have a finished sock around here somewhere, but I have no idea whatsoever where it is, so here's a photo of the inprogress-sock. ;) (Hah, I completely forgot that I told you about these socks already. XD I'd forget my head if it wasn't securely fastened on my shoulders..)
I do have a coat and bag that I've sewn, but I want better photos of those, so you'll have to wait a while to see them. :)

New home for my new phone

2010-11-14T20:34:00.004+02:00

So I got a new phone (as a birthday present :) ). It didn't fit into my old cozy. Obviously I had to make a new one. It's not particularly pretty, but as it took me about half an hour to make this, I'm not going to be too critical about the finished product. :D

Trying out new things

2010-11-12T15:17:00.004+02:00

I finally started a pair of socks for myself. I would have started these weeks ago, but the husband tidied up around here at some point, and he has put my ball of yarn in a very secure place. So secure in fact, that I can't find it anywhere. Today I gave up and bought a new ball. (So, naturally, I'll find the missing ball tomorrow.) Nothing new about me knitting socks, you say? Well, that's true. But I'm knitting my socks on mini circulars for the first time ever. At this point, I'm not completely convinced that I like them, we'll see how I feel after knitting the whole pair. :) (Actually, I'll probably switch to dpns when I get to the heel..) Here's the very beginning
Oh, I realized that I forgot to show you my new earrings. I made these a couple weeks ago, but forgot to add them to my last post. Nothing special about them, just a pair of dangly skull earrings. :)

Don't try this at home kids

2010-11-01T16:56:00.006+02:00

Try to take decent photos in the dark. Because, you see, it just won't work. It's just impossible to get good photos when it's this dark. So I'll show you a few sucky photos, just pretend that they're now horribly underlit, ok?

First a simple pink raglan that I made for the tiny one, I used the Top Down Raglan Sweater Generator that I always use for these kinds of knits. And just so that it wouldn't be too boring, I sewed on a couple of buttons. The yarn is Cascade 220, in a very girly pink. :)

And because I'm completely convinced that you've enjoyed these photos, I'm going to show you a couple more. I made three new bracelets, one to replace the one I made earlier, that broke into a million and one pieces, and two completely new ones. Because I have nothing better to do all day than sit on my a$$, watch Stargate and make bracelets. Nope, I really don't.

And they all have different clasps, bacause where would the fun be in using similar clasps on all of them?

My knitting has a mind of its own

2010-10-26T10:27:00.004+03:00

So I wanted to make a thick scarf. And I got a skein of Malabrigo Chunky, thinking that I'll get a scarf out of it. I then picked the pattern I want to use, which was the One-row handspun scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Cast on my stitches, all 30 of them and started knitting. And I knitted happily along for a while, until I noticed that my ball of yarn was shrinking at an alarming rate. At which point I realized that I would definitely not have enough yarn to make a scarf. Oh pah. What to do? As I may have mentioned before, I absolutely loathe frogging, so I had to think of something else. So I wrapped it around my neck and came to the conclusion that it was just the perfect length to make a cowl. And here you have it, my new, warm and cozy cowl. Yay! :D

Oh, in case you were wondering, yes, my hair really is very much a bright pink at the moment. ;)

Super-duper quickie

2010-10-20T20:57:00.002+03:00

So I knit a hat. It took me all of half an evening to make. And I'm not able to wear it for even half that long. I'm so never using this yarn again for anything. It doesn't feel too bad on the ball, doesn't even feel bad knit up, but good grief how much it makes my scalp itch! Argh! I wore it for about ten minutes, and felt like scratching my scalp and ears until the bleed. So, not gonna wear this. Which really is too bad, because I really wanted a hat with sequins. Am I really going to have to buy a hat with sequins? Shock, horror!

B-day pressies

2010-10-02T21:31:00.005+03:00

The middle kid has two birthday parties to go to this weekend, and as I'm flat broke at the moment, I decided to make the presents myself. At first I was going to make both girls bracelets, but as the girl who had her party today is really tiny, I didn't know what size to make it, so I thought it best to make her something else instead. After giving it some thought, I decided on a bag. A small bag, for a small girl. And this is what I ended up with. All little girls love a little bling, right? :)

For the girl who has her party tomorrow I made a bracelet, but now I'm getting a bit worried that it's not enough.. Oh well, let's hope she likes her present. I think it's pretty..
Let's just hope I can find the bracelet tomorrow, the kid tried it on and now I can't find it anywhere..

Look, knitting! Actual knitting!

2010-09-26T10:18:00.013+03:00

Because everyone needs a little bling in their everyday lives. :)
And that's about it on the knitting front. I'm still working on the Minimalist cardi that I started way back when. I finished the back and am now working on the left front. And I have a feeling that it won't suit me at all. But I guess I won't find out about that until I'm finished. Next I'm going to start working on a scarf for myself, I just need to get the yarn wound into a ball first. Oh, and I need to make a pair of mitts for my mom..

And just so that you don't think that I've been sitting around doing nothing, here are a few pictures of our new house..

More to come after we actually finish something.

There ain't no knittin' goin' on here

2010-09-11T08:42:00.006+03:00

But I did make a bracelet for myself. And I'm ridiculously proud of it. Now if I just wasn't afraid that it would break, I could actually wear it. But it's pretty. :)
I didn't plan on using the seed beads between the crystals, but I didn't have enough of the metal thingies to go round the whole bracelet, so I solved the problem by using the beads.

And now back to renovating.. Blech.

Oh, poor neglected blog, how do I feel sorry for thee..

2010-09-01T18:38:00.003+03:00

What can I say, moving is bloody hard. I haven't had any energy left over for this blogging stuff (plus we've had the slowest internet connection ever since we moved, just got out broad band back yesterday), I haven't even knit anything in ages. :O Like I said no energy, we're all out of that around here. Sold out, sorry. But I promise to bring you all up to date on the house-stuff sooner or later, after we get settled in a bit better. :) Because right now, this is what most of our new house looks like, kinda need to concentrate on getting the house fixed up. ;)
ps. that's not our couch, it's a loan couch that we get to keep until we get our new couch.

Please disregard my last post.

2010-08-05T12:17:00.009+03:00

For reasons that really are too painful to go very much into right now, I will be moving again. We're not going to buy the house we had planned, but have to be out of here by the 21st, so if we can just find a temporary apartment, we'll move in there for now and then start trying to find something more permanent. This has been a really crappy week, I really hadn't planned on spending my last week of Summer vacation trying to find a place for us to live. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject for now.

But on a lighter note, I've finished two projects! Yay, me! I finally, finally, finished the February Lady Sweater that I started in, well, February. It turned out bloody huge when I finished it, about two sizes too big for me. Luckily I used Colourmart angora yarn, that's supposed to shrink when you wash it. So, I chucked it in the washer with the rest of my normal laundry, and hoped for the best, hoped to high heavens that it would shrink enough so that I could actually wear it. And whaddaya know, it did! You can barely recognize it as the same sweater, but it is. (And right about now I'm a wee bit peeved at myself for not takin a "before" picture of it. I was so mad at it for being so much too big for me, that I didn't even want to look at it.) Anyway after washing it, I now have a warm, soft sweater, that is the perfect size for me. The pictures of me wearing it aren't great, because I took them myself. :D
I haven't sewn in buttons yet, because I haven't had the energy to decide what kind of buttons I want. And yes, that's a safety pin holding it closed. :)

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne (ravel it)
Yarn: Colourmart angora 6/16 nm
Needles: umm, 6mm, I think

I also made a hat, from a dark grey yarn that Lotta gave me. I mentioned on Ravelry that I'd want to make a hat out of dark grey yarn, but didn't have any, and Lotta came to the rescue, and sent me some that she had. ♥ It took me about five episodes of Stargate to make this. :)
A thick wool hat, just in time for the record heat we're supposed to have this coming weekend. Hah.

And since I finished one big project, I started a new one (because where's the fun in finishing the cardi I've had lying around for almost a year now..), the Minimalist Cardi. With my current knitting speed, I estimate to have this done by Fall. Next year. I've knit the ribbing on the back, will start the moss stitch next. Oh, btw, did I say a while back that I hate seaming, and will never, ever do it again? Well, guess who started a cardi that has to be seamed? Yup, you guessed it, genious over here. Oh well.. At least the color is beautiful, but it's really difficult to photograph, this was the only photo I got in which the color looks correct. (Please try to ignore the barcelet and other stuff that don't belong in the picture.)
And now I have to go fill out application forms for apartments.. Wahoo.

I'm never moving again.

2010-07-31T21:59:00.005+03:00

No, really, I mean it. I'm never moving again. Well, unless I have very, very good reason to do it. I've been going thru our stuff, and I'm going to go mad before I'm done with this packing. Argh! I've filled three huge garbage bags with junk, three huge garbage bags with clothes, all of these boxes with stuff
and I've just barely begun to scratch the surface. And I've been doing this packing stuff for, oh, more or less three days now. And I'm getting just a wee bit frustrated. And I need to start working on the girls' room next. I'm so not looking forward to that. Like I said, I'm never moving again. That's all for now, carry on. :)

First pants with a zipper I've ever sewn

2010-07-25T20:58:00.005+03:00

Shorts count as pants, right? Well, in this case they do. I've never sewn a zipper in pants before, so I was a bit uncertain about how to go about it. I tried reading the instructions, but didn't understand any of them, so I decided to just go ahead and sew the zipper in without thinking too much about it. And it ended up just fine. :) For some reason I'm having huge difficulties with written instructions these days, don't know what that's all about.. Anyway, here are my new shorts, I found this fabric (like so many times before) in the discount section of the fabric store and just had to have it. It was love at first sight. :) And just look at that pose! :D (and yes, you can see my pink crocs again..)
The pattern is just a basic bermuda short with pockets and waist band.

Oh, umm, huh, I haven't sewn on the buttons yet.. Oops. :)

Pattern: Sortsit from Suuri Käsityö 7/2010
Fabric: some pre-cut JoAnn's fabric from Eurokangas

Love these!

I also made a new dpn roll, with a matching small project bag, as a request. I think they turned out very cute. :)

Oh my, I've been productive

2010-07-18T18:46:00.009+03:00

Honestly, I have been. I've sewn two dresses and a skirt for the middle kid. And she'd better wear them! The first dress and the skirt she picked the fabric for herself and the second dress I made without asking her opinion. You've actually seen the dress once before, months ago, when I still thought it was going to be a skirt for me. But I decided long ago that I didn't like the hem, and couldn't figure out what to do with it. Until the other day, when I had an epiphany, and decided to make it into a dress for the older girl. Hah, and a cute dress it became. ;) See

I should have made the straps longer, but it'll do the way it is. Maybe I'll make them longer at some point, if the kid actually wears the dress..

The other dress I made is a simple raglan, with a couple hearts on the front. Turned out kinda cute. :)
I was going to use the fish fabric for a summer dress for the tiny one, but thought that it fit perfectly together with the green fabric that the girl chose herself, so I used it for this instead. Last, but not least, I made an owl skirt, a very simple one, with a bit of ruffle and elastic band at the waist.
And as proof that I've been knitting too, here's a pic of my February Lady Sweater. I finally picked it up, after a very long break. Just in time for the worst heat wave we've had in years. Because what's better that sitting with a big, warm sweater in your lap when it's 30 degrees outside (Celcius, that is.) All I can say is thank the gods for air conditioning! I've been knitting on this for what seems like forever and it just doesn't seem to get any longer, I still have about eight centimeters to go, before starting the garter stitch. This is going to be quite big, so I really hope that it shrinks in the wash, which it should do, otherwise I'll have a sweater that's way too big for me.
See, told ya I've been productive. ;)

It's bloody hot around here

2010-07-14T18:59:00.011+03:00

I'm going to melt into a puddle soon. But despite that fact, I've finished the tiny one's hoodie and sewn myself a dress! How about that for being effective? ;) The hoodie gave me much trouble, I don't know if the problem is that I just don't understand the written word, if the pattern is badly written or if it's just badly translated, but I really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing where in the pattern. So that's why my version probably looks a bit different that it's supposed to look. :D Oh well, it's still cute. The part I had most problems with was the hood, I just didn't understand how to knit it, not even a browse thru FOs on Ravelry made me any wiser, so I know that my hood looks very different than the original, but I'm going to call that a design feature. :)
Pattern: Cabled Cardigan and Hoodie from Sirdar 347, Ooh La la
Yarn: Sirdar Calico in Pink Silk
Needles: umm, I'm not sure, 5mm I think..

Oh bugger, now what'd I do.. I wrote a long thing about the dress I made myself, but then I managed to delete it. D'uh! Anyways, the fabric is by Amy Butler, from Hawthorne Threads. We got a basic dress pattern from school, that I modified lots in order to get this dress. I think it looks ok, altho the color is so not me.

Note to self: go on diet, and learn better poses.

..and once in a blue moon..

2010-07-07T14:23:00.005+03:00

..she sews something! I've had the fabric cut up for this skirt for a few weeks now, just haven't gotten round to sewing it up, but now I did. And it took me all of about an hour.. It's a very simple skirt, with a little ruffle at the bottom, looks cute on the tiny one. :)
I've been wanting to use that paisley fabric for something, and now I finally figured out what to use it for. I wish I had more of it, so that I could make a skirt for myself with it too. But, alas, I don't. Oh well, luckily there are loads more fabrics in this world. :)

Next in line is a skirt and a dress for the middle child, she placed an order with me because she got a bit jealous that her baby sis got a new skirt, and she didn't. :)

Oh look, she crochets!

2010-07-04T19:42:00.003+03:00

Whoda thunk, huh? I've actually gotten something done, you never would have guessed, would you? I'm still far, far away from having finished my blanket, but at least I've crocheted two skeins worth of hexagons. (well, ok, technically I've crocheted one skein, and about a third of another skein, since the other skein was just leftovers..) Maybe I should count colors instead.. I've crocheted two colors of the ten colors I have to crochet. (well, ok, technically I only have eight colors so far, because I haven't dyed the last two skeins yet.) Here's the pile I've gotten done so far, still lots more to go.

Move along, nothing crafty to see here..

2010-06-26T16:25:00.006+03:00

Somebody hasn't had the energy to do much crafting of any kind lately, so I really don't have anything new to show you. Apparently somebody has been crazy lazy since our Summer vacation started. I'm hoping that somebody will get over it soon, I mean, for how long can you sit around doing nothing? Hopefully not for long. I did, however, crochet three hexagons for my blanket today, so now I have a total of twelve of them. Whee! (Umm, not.)

I also did start working on a jacket for myself, I have the front and back pieces sewn together, including the pockets. I spent the longest time trying to figure out exactly how the pockets were supposed to be sewn, and just couldn't wrap my head around it. Luckily there were some wonderfully helpful people over on Raverly who were kind enough to help me out. :) So that part's done. Next I need to sew up the sleeves and the hood, and start working on the lining. I'm hoping I'll have the jacket done by, say, August. :)

Oh, I do have a little announcement too. No, I'm still not pregnant. :P It just so happens that we just bought a house. :O So if you don't hear from me for a while, it might just be because I've drowned in all the junk that we need to pack up. I'm dreading having to pack all the crap we've accumulated over the years, good grief. We haven't exactly been planning on moving, it just kinda happened. The husband saw a kinda nice house in the paper on Sunday, we went to see it on Tuesday, thought about it for a couple days and called the realtor on Thursday. Went to see the house again on Sunday, and made a bid on it. The owners came back with a new bid (sorry, I don't know all the terms..), so we made a new bid, which was accepted. :) So now we have to try to sell our own house, so that we can actually pay for the house that we bought and can move in. I'm so excited! The realtor came to see our house on Thursday, and told us that it shouldn't be any kind of problem getting this house sold. Yay! So that's my little bit of news for you. :)

And so that I don't have to make this post without any pictures at all, I'll show you a couple photos I took out in the yard yesterday. :)

Ps. Because of our upcoming move, I've reduced the prices on all items in my shop, even the shipping costs have been reduced. ;)

Shortest blog post ever.

2010-06-15T20:07:00.006+03:00

So I made a dress. And it's kinda cute. And the tiny person looks adorable in it. And, umm.. huh.. apparently I don't have anything else to say about it. So here are a few pics, so that you can see for yourself. :) Oh, I also cut her hair short, and I think she looks very cute in it. But I might be just a wee bit biased. ;)

I finished it, it's done, ready I say, ready!

2010-06-11T21:31:00.007+03:00

It's thoroughly embarrassing how long it took me to sew this skirt, but now it's finished! Whee! And I love it, I've actually worn it today, and that's saying a lot, I'm not really a skirt type person. But hey, it's summer, you're supposed to wear skirts, right? I'm already planning my next one.. And a dress, I have the pattern drawn up for the dress, just have to wait to get the fabric. Aaanyway, here's the finished skirt (please pretend that you can't see the drainpipe-thingy behind me, ok?)
Did I mention yet that I love this skirt? How fun to have a twirly, swirly skirt, I feel so girly in it. :) The only thing I regret is that I made the back piece plain black, it looks kinda boring.. Oh well, I love it anyway. I omitted the waist-flap-thingy that the original skirt had (that you can see over here), because nobody would ever have seen it, I never ever wear my shirts tucked into my skirts or pants. It would just have added extra bulk under my shirts. I decided on a plain, thin waistband instead, and I'm glad I did. And I'm totally in love with that sequinned fabric too, it's so pretty! Here's a close-up. Oh, all the sequins are black, eventho some of them look lighter.
I'm so happy! :)

I started a new project.

2010-06-06T21:39:00.005+03:00

I estimate to have it finished by Christmas. Of 2015. What kind of project is it, you ask? I'll tell you. I started making a crocheted hexagon blanket. With my current rate of crocheted hexagons, I do believe that it will take me at least five years to have enough of them to make a blanket. I started this project on Friday, and have made three and a half so far. That should tell you something about the speed I'm working at. Hah. Anyway, I'm only using one color at a time, this is my first color.
I'll keep you posted on my progress. :)

Oh, I just have to tell you that my lil darling turned two today, she's such a big girl already (she's still my baby tho..)

School's out for the Summer!

2010-06-03T21:20:00.007+03:00

And I have a new skirt! Too bad I have to wait about six months to be able to wear it, my new wool skirt might be just a tad too warm to wear in the summer months. When I have time (and after I've finished the other skirt) I'll make a summer skirt with the same pattern. Because I think this one turned out pretty good. See
The fabric was quite challenging to work with, especially as it's bias cut. But I ended up as the winner in the end, and ended up with this skirt. I also had a huge problem with the skirt being waaay too big, I had to remove 20cm (about 8 inches!!!!!) from the circumference, before it fir me. I still haven't quite figured out exactly where the problem was, all my measurements were right, my pattern was right, but still the thing was enormous on me. But after removing all the excess fabric, it now fits me like a glove. :) All that hard work finally paid off, wahoo!
Oh, the first photo shows the correct color. The skirt is kinda bright. ;)

And before I forget, my proficiency test-thingamagee, I passed. On a grade scale of one to three, I got a three. Me very happy. :)

Happy Summer!

Crappy, crap, crap photo

2010-05-27T22:36:00.004+03:00

Kinda pretty dress tho. This is the dress that I made for school, a girls dress made with a linen-cotton blend fabric. It was horrible to make, the fabric went all horrible and wavy when I ironed it, but luckily the end result is ok. Altho it looks all crumpled even if I put it up on a hanger right after ironing it. Anyway, the photo is very, very bad, because it's taken with my phone camera, but you still get an idea of what it looks like. (And I'm hoping that we can use the school studio to get better photos next week.)
And a close-up of the belt fastening.
So I'm hoping that this dress will help me pass my test. :)

From idea to FO in four days

2010-05-23T15:14:00.004+03:00

I have my first skill-test-thingamagee (I really have no idea what it's called in English, it's "opinnäytetyö" in Finnish. It's a test at school where we prove that we've actually learned something.) at school next week, and we got a little surprise on Monday, when our teacher told us that we're getting an extra assignment that we have to do before the real test. Well yay, because the test itself isn't stressful enough.. Anyway, our assignment was to design and make a bag by Tuesday. We had two days to design the thing (actually, we had to draw up three different bags, our teacher chose which one we had to do) and four days to sew it up. I've been working on mine all weekend and just finished it. I still have to get it ironed properly, but I'll do that at school tomorrow, the equipment at school is better. :)

Anyhow, here's my design (please keep in mind that I can not draw), the most difficult one of the three that I drew up.
And here is the finished product
(Actually, now that I compare the pictures to eachother, the drawing looks better. :O ) I am happy with the end result tho, I spent a couple sweaty hours sewing it. I'm especially happy with the zipper, it wasn't the easiest thing to sew, but I did it. :)
Now I just have to hope that the teachers evaluating our work like it too. :)

Oops..

2010-05-15T15:10:00.003+03:00

Dunno if I can ever get it to work, as it's kinda old and kinda broken, but if I can't fix it, then at least I'll have an old pretty wheel sitting in the corner. :)

Taking a picture of a skirt..

2010-05-14T15:44:00.006+03:00

..while you're wearing it, isn't the easiest thing ever. Trust me, I know. and here are some pictures to prove it. :)
I still need to sew the hem, make some kind of waist band and sew in the zipper, but I can already tell you that I'm in love with this skirt. And I really need to finish it now.

I have a new woolly hat

2010-05-10T17:41:00.006+03:00

And just in time for Summer too. Hah. My husband asked me what the point is in kintting a wolly hat, when Summer is just around the corner, shouldn't I knit something a bit more "user-friendly". Oh, stupid, stupid man. He doesn't understand that when you see a pattern, fall in love with it, then you must immediately knit it, no matter what season it is. What can I say, he's a man and he doesn't knit. Nobody really expects him to understand anyway. And the pattern? I told you about it earlier, in this lil post right here. Well, now it's finished, and I love it! It took me a week to knit it, but that's just because I'm bloody lazy.
Ha, taking pictures of your own head is such fun! Here are a few more pictures just to prove how fun it is. Haha, my nose looks huge in that first pic. :D
And then I realized that huh, I could just put the hat on the head of one of the children running around here, taking a picture would probably be way much easier. And then I woke up and realized that the boy, whose head I put the hat on, can't sit still for even a fraction of a second, so all the pictures were blurry. Plus he kept making silly faces for the camera, like so: :)
Pattern: Skid by Stephen West (ravel it)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Cadmium and some unidentified white yarn..
Needles: umm, methinks I used 5mm's..

I'm sorry, I'm going to flash you now.

2010-05-04T17:40:00.002+03:00

Big pile o' paper

2010-05-02T18:24:00.003+03:00

Who believes that this pile of paper might actually be transformed into a skirt one of these days? I'm having a minor gush of disbelief myself.

Oh look, she knits!

2010-05-01T18:51:00.007+03:00

Once upon a time, I bought this colorful yarn from Katia, called Bombay. (Seen in this post right here, if you just scroll down a bit.) And then I just about forgot that it existed, until I saw this post from 50 villapeikkoa. I started thinking about what I could make with the yarn I had, and finally settled on a tunic-type-thingy for the tiny one. It is worked in the round, from the top down. I made the yoke in garter stitch, because I think it looks fun in variegated yarns. The body is then knit in stockinette, and I decided to add a picot hem. I pondered between a garter stitch hem or this picot, and settled on the picot. I think it looks cute. :) The tunic ended up a bit too big on the tiny one, but she'll grow into it. The only problem that I actually have, is that the sleeves are too tight, I did the binding off too tight, so I have to undo the bind off on both sleeves, and do it again.
I added buttons to one side of the yoke, but those are really just for show, because there is no need to open them to get it over the tiny one's head. And I just now realized that I don't have a close-up of that.. Oh well.. You can kinda see them in this pic.
There are four buttons, eventho you can only see two of them in the pic.
I also started something new today. I saw the Skid hat on watch stephen knit, and I just had to have it. I hardly ever start knitting on something right after getting the pattern, but this time I did. Now, admittedly, I haven't gotten very far yet, but I've only worked on it for about twenty minutes. I'm making it in Malabrigo and some other yarn that I can't even remeber what it is. Here's my huge progress. :)
I'm also working on making a pattern for a skirt for myself, based on this skirt.
I'm using black fabric, because white skirts and me, we just don't go together. I'm not even trying to make an exact match, I'm just making my own version of it. :) Here's my brainstorming (or brain melting, as the case may be) area, I've spent quite a long while there today, trying to figure out which piece goes where, and what part should be what size.. And then I got a bit frustrated, and had to go out for a long walk. Luckily there are loads of helpful people on the internet who are willing to help when you get stuck. :)

How long does it take..

2010-04-26T20:23:00.004+03:00

..for a wannabee-seamstress to sew a pin cushion? You would think that the answer would be, umm, about ten minutes, right? Wrong. The correct answer, in my case, is about two months. How utterly embarrassing. I started to make this in February, right after school started, and I just got round to finishing it today. But at least I finally have a pincushion that I can wear on my arm, whoopdedoo. Now I need to make another one, for my other pins. So if I start now, I should have it finished by the time we go back to school in August, right?

Anyway, here's the finished pin cushion
The darling oldest fruit of my loins asked me why I put skulls on everything? I told him he was just jealous, because he'd love skulls on all of his stuff too. :)

I sewed a simple elastic band on the pin cushion, so that I can easily get it over my wrist. It's not the prettiest thing, but it does the job.

Let me introduce

2010-04-16T21:21:00.009+03:00

the first items of clothing I've made for the school store. I absolutely love how these turned out, but good grief all the pain and anguish we've gone thru this week to actually get these finished in time. This was a group project, there were four of us in my group, we all made the same clothes, just in different sizes. And I do believe that we were just a wee bit too ambitious when designing these, because they really took a long time to make. We got to start the sewing on Monday, and the clothes should have been finished by Wednesday, and we had to spend two extra days at school in order to get our clothes done. And we're talking abou two items of clothing, a sleeveless hoodie and a pair of jeans. I kinda wish our teacher had told us to rethink our designs and make simpler versions of them, but, like I said, they look great now that they're done, so I can't really complain. Well, I can, because we really did have a way too tight schedule in making these, and that's really not our own fault. (oh, by the way, I've had a wee bit of wine before writing this, so please excuse me for maybe being incoherent in places..)

Annnywaaay, where was I.. Oh yes, the clothes I've made, here's a photo of the set we made (I didn't really have much to do with the designing of the items, I was at home with a sick kid when they had made the designs.)
I'm soso happy with how these turned out, even if sewing them was a pain in the, you know, butt. Here's a photo of what the big table in our classroom looked like today when we were starting to draw up the "product cards". Luckily we were the only ones there, because we were kind of spread out . :D
And to finish off for today, some close-ups of the clothes

Just wanted to let you all know..

2010-04-09T11:50:00.002+03:00

that I got my biopsy results today, and I can now say that I do not have breast cancer! Yay, weee, wahoo, and all that! :D I would like to thank everybody for your support and prayers and warm thoughts, it has meant a lot to me. Big hugs all around!

Yay for instant gratification projects!

2010-04-08T20:30:00.008+03:00

If there's something I love in this world, it's knitting projects that just about knit themselves and get done in notime. Like this hat, I cast on for it on Sunday, knit about twenty rows or so, tried it on the tiny one and realized that it was way too small. So I frogged it and cast on a few more stitches. I didn't have time to knit for more than a few rows, so I had to continue the next day, and yesterday I was done. And now the tiny one has a new hat. It's still a bit too chilly for her to wear it, as the yarn is a cotton blend.

Peekaboo!
The yarn is Cotton Kapok DK, by Sublime Yarns. It's wonderfully soft, altho quite splitty. Knitting this honeycomb stitch pattern was a bit annoying, because the yarn kept splitting. But the result is nice. :) You know, I could make myself a hat with the same stitch pattern.. Hmm..

I didn't realize that my decreases at the top ended up looking like a flower, until I saw the tiny one wearing the hat. But it kinda does, see
And finally a couple more photos, just because the tiny one is so very cute. :)

And one more from the side, here you can see the stitch pattern a bit better

I finished the kneehighs, wahoo!

2010-04-03T11:02:00.005+03:00

Ok, so it took me almost two months (!!!) to finish them, but now they're done. Done, I say, DONE! And I love them, I do, I really, really do. I have no idea when and where I'll wear them, but at least I now have a pair to wear when the mood strikes me. :) Actually, now I need to finish the skirt I'm making, so that I can wear the kneehighs paired with the skirt. (And then I need to make the second skirt too, so that I'll have two skirts to chose from.) And after all this blabber, here are the socks
See, aren't they cute? :) Let's pretend that nobody notices that my calves are very thick, and that I really should have added a few more stitches at the top. But at least now they stay up. And I've noticed with my other Noro socks that the yarn stretches out a bit, so it's just as well that they're a bit tight now.

I used 145 grams to make these, so I have a little over half a skein left. So I could easily make a pair of kiddie socks with the leftovers. Altho I was kinda thinking about making a hat.. We'll see what I end up using the leftovers for. But see, aren't my kneehighs cute? ;)
I realized the other day that I've forgotten to show you the finished pair of striped sockies I made for the tiny one, and they've been finished for weeks now. I really should have made them a bit bigger, both wider and longer, but they'll do. I can always make another pair. :)
Maybe now I need to knit something else than Noro striped socks?

I've been contemplating this for days..

2010-03-26T18:45:00.003+02:00

Should I talk about this here or not.. But I figured that it's not exactly a secret anymore anyway, so I might as well mention it here too. Since I apparently need to talk about this. Don't know why. (No, I'm still not pregnant. Oh how I wish that was the case..)

This all started a couple months ago, when I found a small lump in my right breast. At first I thought it was just because I was about to have my period, it's normal for the boobage to get a bit more lumpy and bumpy a week or so earlier. So I tried not to think about it, and decided to consider going to the doctor if the lump was still there when my period was over. Which it was. So I went. And I had a mammogram and an ultrasound. And the doctor didn't find anything. So I was relieved. For a while. Until I noticed that the lump had gotten bigger. Lots bigger. And it started aching. So I went to the doctor again. She was dumbfounded. Hah, doctors.

So I got called to an appointment with a surgeon at the hospital. Oddly enough, she couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, just by giving me an exam. Strange, huh? And here I thought all doctors are supposed to come with x-ray vision these days. Aaanyway, I went to another ultrasound this Tuesday. The lump, the huge lump at this point, is harmless. Apparently it's just breast tissue, no problem there. The problem, however, is in a spot just a couple inches above the lump. There is some kind of abnormal tissue there, that this doctor wanted to biopsy. Well great. I go in there still kinda hoping that the lump might turn out to be a cyst after all, and come out of there hoping that I don't have breast cancer. So that kinda sucks.

Stupid thing is, I've been having these strange pains in the very spot that they now biopsied, I just hadn't paid any attention to it, because I was so worried about the ever growing lump. What sucks even more is the fact that even if I don't have cancer now, I have a very large risk of getting it at some point. Because the tissue in that area is abnormal, so it might develop into cancer sooner or later. But hey, at least they caught it early, in case it turns out to be cancer. That's good, right?

And now that I've totally gotten myself all depressed I'm going to go have dinner and try not to think about this at all. Yeah, like that's gonna happen..

Hand embroidery in not my thing

2010-03-19T14:53:00.004+02:00

Oh no, I'm so not enjoying the hand embroidery I have to do for school, no no no. But even if I'm not liking it, it's still cool to learn something new. It's just going too slow for me, aagh. I've been working on this little piece of practice embroidery for hours already, and I haven't gotten more than this done.
But hey, at least now I can do the kind of cute embellishments on my knitted items that I've seen on many blogs, and always keep thinking "that's cute, I wish I could do that." And now I can, wahoo! See, learning new skills is a good thing. :)

Anyway, I still much prefer the embroidery machine at school. I know I promised to show you a picture of the embroidery I did on the bag I made in school, and just haven't gotten around to it yet. So, at long last, here's a picture.
It has gotten all wrinkled from use, and I put the embroidery too far down, so the pocket comes over the picture-thingies, but other than that I'm very happy with it. :)

There has been very little knitting going on here, but I'm almost done with the new socks for the tiny one and then I'm going to continue working on my kneehighs. I've had problems concentrating on much of anything lately (those of you who know about the health thing might understand why..), so I've just been sitting on the couch in the evening with my knitting on my lap and not actually getting anything done. Annywaaay, I'll try to better my ways and have some actual knitting to show you next time. :)

Not a whole lot going on here

2010-03-09T12:19:00.008+02:00

I have no idea where all my energy has gone, I just feel like sleeping all the time. Ok, so I'm just getting over a stupid cold which has drained some of my energy, and I've got a sick kid at home, but still, this tiredness is insane. So, I haven't gotten a whole lot done lately, but I thought I'd show you a couple WIPs.

Let's start with a small sock. The tiny one is amazingly good at misplacing all her wooly socks, and she's lost yet another sock. So now she has to wear socks that are either too small or too big, so I just had to start making her a new pair. And as I happen to have lots of the Noro sock yarn left over from my own socks, I decided to make the tiny one her very own pair of Noro striped socks. :) I have the first one finished. I know it looks very, very small, but the kid isn't that big either. :)
And this pile of fabric here will become a skirt for me one of these days. Oh, the color is so much off, that it's not even funny.
Oh, I do have an FO too, this is the first thing I've sewn for school. The very first days we just practiced sewing different seams, but then we finally got to sew some actual fabric, whee! :) The first thing we made was a bag for ourself, that we had to design and draw up the pattern for. The only thing was that we had to use all the different seams we had practiced when making the bag. Here's mine
I kinda love it. :) The back of the back looks basically the same, there's just no pocket on the back. Now we're back to practicing different techniques, tomorrow we get to use the school's embroidery machine again. It's really cool, I want one for myself. :D I'll show you later on what I embroidered, I'm going to embroider a text on that bag.

And in case anybody is interested, here are a few pictures of what we've been doing at school. We've practiced making technical drawings and such. I'm really crap at drawing, altho I've been told that my drawings aren't that bad. :) And I'm sure the drawings will get better as I get more practice, right now I'm not too impressed with how my drawings look.

Wahoo, I finished one of my Ravelympic projects!

2010-02-28T14:16:00.007+02:00

Me so happy now. :) So happy, in fact, that I'm not even sad that I'm not going to finish the socks in time. This was my primary project anyway, so the important thing is that I finished it. And with it I of course mean the Snapdragon Tam. I'm kind of in love with it. :)
Please note how well the green goes together with my carrot-colored hair. ;) I decided that I wanted a change from the dark brown I've been sporting for a while now, and went a bit crazy with the color remover. :D And eventho I put another color on after removing the old color, I still ended up looking like I'm related to a carrot. But I kinda like it. :) And just for the heck of it, here's a better pic of my hair. :P
Aaand now back to the subject at hand, my new tam. It grew an insane amount when I blocked it, I was going to block it over a dinner plate, but realized that I don't have any plates that are big enough. :O So I just kinda had to stretch it out a bit and lay it on a towel to dry. It ended up being really slouchy, but I like my hats that way. :)

Oh, the specs..
Pattern: Snapdragon Tam by Ysolda Teague (ravel it)
Yarn: Madelinetosh DK in Seaglass
Needles: 4,5mm (I could very well have used 4mm)

I was going to post this pic
but luckily I noticed how horrible I look in it, without any make up on whatsoever. Oh, wait, did I post it anyway? Oops, sorry. :P In order to give your eyes a chance to recover, let's end with a pic of just the tam, without me.

I made the tiny one a new shirt

2010-02-25T17:09:00.009+02:00

But you'll kinda just have to take my word for it, because I couldn't get a single decent shot of her wearing it. Instead I'll show you what kinds of photos I did get. Here we go.

Brilliant photos, dont'cha think? Hah!

And on another note, I'm so not going to finish my Ravelympics projects. Oh well, I'm doing just about as well as the Finnish team in the real Olympics, so I'm not too bothered. :) I'm about halfway thru the Snapdragon tam, and I've finished one of the kneehighs. I'm going to try to finish the tam, because it was my primary project for the Ravelympics anyway. I still have a few days left. :)

Testing, testing..

2010-02-19T13:09:00.004+02:00

Guess what this is?
Huh, anyone? What do you think it might be? A cozy for your toilet paper rolls? A bottle cozy? Nope, it's a pouch-thingy for my DPN's. :) See, I can fit loads of my DPN's in there.
I should have made it even longer, and made more different sized pockets, but this was just a test drive. Oh, I should also have made it deeper, because as you can see some of the DPN's are longer than the pouch, and that just doesn't look good. But anyway, I think this is quite practical, now I don't need to keep my DPN's in a tin anymore, where they get very, very dusty. I just love this fabric too, paisley is cool. :)

I used the same fabric to make myself another pencil pouch too, because I realized that all of my pens wouldn't fit in the first one I made.
So now I put all my coloring pencils in the old pouch and all other pencils and pens and scissors and stuff in this new one. :)

Best mail-day ever!

2010-02-16T13:59:00.007+02:00

I went a bit crazy with the internet-shopping a while back (yes, I can still hear my credit card whining), buying all kinds of fun stuff, yarn, fabric and such, and most of it arrived today. Wohoo! I came home to find my mail-box stuffed with, well, stuff. There was a package from The Loopy Ewe, one from Hawthorne Threads, and one from Eat.Sleep.Knit!

From the Loopy Ewe I got three skeins of Cascade 220, in a wonderful dark blue heathered color. I couldn't get the color just right no matter what settings I tried on my camera, but this one is pretty close, the real color is just a bit darker
Next we've got the fabric from Hawthorne threads
And last but not least the yarn from Eat.Sleep.Knit. I actually got two skeins from there, but I'm only showing you one of them, because the other one is for the swap I'm in. Ssshh, siikrit stuff. :)
Oh, the yarn is Pima Petite by the Unique Sheep, something I've never tried before. I think that this will have to become a hat one of these days. And I have just the one skein, so I don't even have enough for a larger project.
I think I still have one package or two on the way, but can't for the life of me remember what they might be. Oh well, I'll find out when they get here. :)

And on another note, I'm participating in the Ravelympics this year, yay! I have two projects on the needles, and I'm not entirely sure if I can finish both in time, but we'll see. I have next week off from school, so I'm planning on doing lots of knitting then. And we'll be on the road for several hours this coming weekend, as we'll be driving to the husband's grandmothers 90th birthday party, so I'll have a few hours of uninterrupted knitting time. :)

Aaanyway, my first project is the Snapdragon Tam (ravel it) by Ysolda Teague in the beautiful Madelinetosh DK I got a while back. This yarn is just too soft and yummy for words. :)
I'm also making new socks with Noro Silk Garden sock yarn, and I'm hoping these will fit over my thick calces, so that they will be kneehighs when they grow up. :) I haven't gotten very far yet, but I love them already.

Skulls, skulls, skulls

2010-02-09T19:32:00.007+02:00

When you start a new thing, like, say, school, you really do need new bags and pouches and things to carry all your new stuff around in. Because, you know, I have to start carrying around scissors and pens and books and notebooks and waaah, all sorts of stuff now that school starts. Plus I definitely need a new bag, a big bag. So I made myself some new carry-along-thingies, no point in buying new stuff, when you can sew everything you need yourself. :) Let's start with the bag. It's big, bordering on huge. And it's black, a thick indian cotton. So I had to spice it up a bit. And here we come to the first skull, it's a big one, and I'm totally in love with it. Oh, I didn't take a pic, but the lining fabric is a very bright pink cotton. For some reason I couldn't get the colors right, but they look right in this next pic.
Pretty cool, huh? Aaand moving on.. I also made two pouches, one for my pens and the other for my sewing accessories (needles, scissors, measuring tape..), using my very cool Michael Miller skull-fabric. Btw, I can't find this fabric anywhere anymore, so if anyone happens to know where I can get some please, please, let me know!
I should have made these a bit bigger, especially the one for the pens, because I can't fit everything in there. How embarrassing. Oh well, I can always make another one. :)

ps. I just might have made two pouches for the shop too. ;)

Waaah, now that just sucks!

2010-02-05T09:31:00.005+02:00

The following story serves as an example that you should always pay attention to what you are knitting.

I went to a knit meet on Wednesday and knitted happily along for several hours on my Feb Lady Sweater without noticing anything odd, and I actually got quite a lot done. The next day I started looking at what I had gotten done, and looked at the progress. And noticed that part of the knitted fabric looked somewhat strange. You can't really tell, but here's a picture
The knitting looks looser and more "holey", and I realized that part of the yarn was significantly thinner than the rest. Well crap, now what should I do? I thought about leaving it the way it was and pretend that it didn't bother me, but I know that it would have bothered me, so I decided to rip back to where the yarn went thinner, which meant that I had to frog almost all of what I had knitted the evening before. :( Oh well..

Here's a pic to show you that the difference in thickness was really significant, it suddenly went from 6ply to 4ply
I still can't get over the fact that I didn't notice this while knitting it! Anyway, I've been in contact with the shop that I bought the yarn from, and they promised to send me some more yarn in the same color, to make up for the change in thickness. So I'm not too bummed about this whole thing. :)

I've got new socks, yes I do!

2010-02-03T12:36:00.007+02:00

Noro socks, no less. :) I just love these Noro striped socks, must make more of them. Next I have to make kneehighs, because I just need kneehighs, I really do. I have no idea where I would wear them, but I have to make them anyway. (maybe I'll start wearing skirts to school, so then I can wear kneehighs?) But I'm going to use the Silk Garden sock yarn for those, because my feet deserve it. :)
I knit a (very, very ugly) short-row heel on these, and I really need to find a better one for the next socks. This one I just made up as I went along, and it looks that way too. And just to fool you into thinking: that heel doesn't look too bad, I'm only showing you the better side of the heel. :D
And just because I've come to realize that it's mandatory to take pics of Noro socks out in the snow, I'm adding this pic. :)
I also started on a new project, the February Lady Sweater. I've had this in my queue for ages, but now I finally decided to actually knit it. I have no idea if I have enough yarn to make the sleeves, but I'll make it into a vest if I run out of yarn. :) Here's how far I got in one evening, wohoo! :D
I've also been doing some yarn shopping, yesterday I got no less than two packages from Eat.Sleep.Knit. I got four skeins of Malabrigo Chunky in Buscando Azul, and two skeins of Madelinetosh DK in Seaglass. In love with these! Need more! Must. Buy. More. Yarn.

Oh, ok, enough of this already!

2010-01-31T13:38:00.006+02:00

Now don't get me wrong, I love Winter as much as the next guy, but I'm getting a wee bit tired of this snow already. Seriously, it's everywhere! And there's so much of it! I just spent an hour and a half plowing our yard and driveway. This is the view down toward the road
There's just an insane amount of snow everywhere. I feel sorry for my poor appletrees, their branches are almost down to the ground because of all the weight of the snow.
And like I said, there's snow everywhere
And to prove that I have been knitting too, I finished the Diamondback Mitts! They did turn out a bit too tight, but I wet them after they were finished and stretched them out, and now they fit me perfectly. :) I just love them, now if the temperature just stayed like this (it's about -4C today) I could actually wear them too. :) The -20c we've been having lately is just a teeny tiny bit too cold for fingerless mitts. Here's a very professional looking photo of one of the finished mitts. :)
Pattern: Diamondback Mitts by Stephen West (ravel it)
Yarn: Cascade 220 in White and some of my own hand dyed Sandnes Garn Perfect
Needles: 4mm (altho I really have used 4,5mm)

I'll probably finish the Noro socks today, and then I'm going to cast on a sweater, for me. Imagine that. I haven't quite decided on which sweater, I have a few to choose from.. Stay tuned! :)

Kaheli-vaihdon paketti tuli!

2010-01-28T17:54:00.005+02:00

Only in Finnish this time, sorry. :)

Ok, ok, johan se tuli monta päivää sitten, mutta en vaan oo saanu aikaseks blogata aiheesta. :P Eniveivi, mä sain kaikenlaista kivaa, paksua Pirkkalankaa, vihreenä ja mustana ja Blend Bamboota sinisenä. Pirkasta en oo keksiny vielä mitään tekemistä, mutta tuosta Blend Bamboosta ajattelin tehdä jonkun myssykän. Molemmat langat on mulle uusia tuttavuuksia, joten oikein kiva päästä kokeilemaan niitä. :)
Pakettiin kuului paljon muutakin kivaa, kansio koulupapereille, kaaviopiirtämisen apuvälineet (mikä noitten oikea nimi on, mä en tiedä. nolo.) Nättejä silmukkamerkkejäkin sain, niitä ei ikinä ole liikaa. :) Lämmin kuppi vielä odottaa juojaansa, suklaat mitkä paketissa oli ei päässeet kuvaan mukaan, joku köh, nimiä mainitsematta ehkä tuhos ne jo, mutta nekin oli oikein herkullisia. :) Eli kaikenkaikkiaan oikein mieluinen paketti, iso kiitos siitä Kahelille Kaverilleni. :)

Itse menee vielä tovi miettiessä että mitä kaikkea mä omalle kahelilleni oikein keksin, mutta kyllä tää rupee tästä pikkuhiljaa selviämään. :)

Two new WIPs

2010-01-23T18:49:00.004+02:00

I was going to make myself a pair of striped kneehighs with Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I cast on a bunch of stitches (60, if I remember correctly), knit the ribbing, added four stitches and started knitting. And I knit and knit and and knit some more. After a while I tried my soon-to-be-kneehighs on and realized.. That I have thick calves. :( So, once again I was faced with the decision to frog or not to frog. And, well, ok, you all know how I feel about frogging, right? So once again I decided not to frog, and just start the heel instead. The cuff is quite long on these socks, but not quite up to my knee, maybe I'll just call them boot socks instead. :) Oh, and I may jus have ordered more Noro sock yarn that I'm going to knit into kneehighs later on. ;) I'm almost done with the first sock, just the toe decreases to go.
I love these colorways, I think I need to get one more skein of each. :)

My second WIP, that I started just yesterday, is a pair of Diamondback Mitts, by Stephen West from Watch Stephen Knit. I started knitting these with 4,5mm dpn's, but then I switched to 4mm's because I thought the beginning seemed a bit too sloppy. However, I should just have stuck with the 4,5mm's, because now these are just a wee bit too tight. But I think that if I just wet them and stretch them out a bit when they're done, they'll fit me just fine.

Special announcement

2010-01-18T23:30:00.002+02:00

No, I'm not pregnant. :P Admit it, that was your first thought. :D (well, except for those of you who know what I'm talking about.) Aaaanyway, I know I haven't talked about this stuff much here, but I applied to school last Fall, after finally figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. My job has been causing me nothing but grief and stress since I went back last September, so when I found this school that had the exact education that I was looking for, I sent in an application. And then I waited. And waited. And waited some more.

The last day for applications went by, so I waited some more. And then I sent the school an e-mail asking when I could possibly wait to hear something. To which they replied that the application time didn't end until sometime in December. Sooo, I waited yet some more. And then I got the letter I was waiting for, I got called i for an interview. It was on Friday a week ago. They had a second round on interviews last week, so I've been very anxious since then, because I figured I'd find out this week if I get in or not.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to wait for very long, as I got a very pleasant call today, as they called me from school to tell me that I GOT IN!! Whee! Wahoo! Yippee! Yay! I honestly can't say how thrilled I am! (my boss was less thrilled when I told him, and he might actually end up firing me. But who cares, I've hated that job for a long time now.) This is such a relief and I'm too happy for words. :) Oh, and in case anybody wonders, I'm going to be a seamstress when I grow up. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

I've been really busy lately..

2010-01-17T10:12:00.004+02:00

Unfortunately, I've been busy with work, not with anything fun. So the only thing I've knit in the past couple of weeks is a pair of teent mittens for the tiny one. I knit them tith Malabrigo worsted, and they're sooo soft. I want a pair for myself too. :) I can't believe that the only thing I've knit for myself with Malabrigo is a Calorimetry.. Hmm, I must rectify that soon.
I do have three dresses that are almost finished, let's hope I'll have time to finish them soon. :) Two of them are for the shop, so I'll finally have some new clothes to list too. And talking about the shop, I have been dyeing new yarns and I'll be listing them as soon as I get them reskeined and photographed. There's lots of bright stuff on the way, like this green yarn for example. :)
Plus I've got some brown yarn, brightbrightbright pink and more green. New stuff is on its way. :)

First post for the new year :)

2010-01-03T13:00:00.005+02:00

First post - first FO. :) Ok, so this is a bit like cheating, because I started this hat last year, but as I finished it this year, it still counts. :) I've had the Odessa hat (rav link) in my Ravelry queue for ages, but only now decided to actually knit it. It was a really quick knit, I knit it in about a week. I was going to add beads, to add a bit of bling to the hat, but apparently I have trouble understanding written text, because it didn't sink into my brain that you were supposed to add the beads to the yarn before casting on. I just figured that I'd use the add-beads-with-crochet-hook-method that I usually use. Until I got to the first beads and realized that it couldn't be done that way. Bugger. So I had to decide between frogging the beginning and adding the beads or just knitting the hat without the beads. And as I'm not a big fan of frogging, I did the latter. And decided to knit another Odessa with beads at some point. The hat is so soft and smoochy I could wear it all the time. :)

Pattern: Odessa hat by Grumperina (ravel it)
Yarn: Sublime Yarns Extra Fine Merino Wool DK (one skein wasn't quite enough, so I had to knit the last 20 or so rows with another yarn, I used some Gedifra merino, can't remember exactly what it was called..)
Needles: 5mm & 6mm

I also started to knit myself a pair of socks, because I really need new woolly socks, especially with this really cold weather we've been having lately, it's -19C as we speak. Which of course it loads warmer than the -29.9C it was this morning. I knit happily along for several centimeters until I realized that the cuff was going to be way too tight. So, again, I was faced with the decision to frog or not to frog. But, as I just mentioned, frogging sucks, so the socks are now going to become mittens instead. I really need new mittens too, so it's actually a good thing. I can use some other yarn to make the socks. :)
This was originally going to be the Glynis-socks from Cookie A's Sock Innovation, (seen in this post), but after the tiny one pulled out the needles from the beginning of the sock I just never got round to fixing the thing. So in this case, I did frog. :O I really love this color, I wish I could duplicate it. Maybe one of these days I'll try.

I've also been dyeing some new yarn for the shop, but I just can't get my camera to show the colors right, no matter what settings I use. It's driving me mad! I'll only be able to list one new yarn, because the other colors look so wrong. Maybe I can get better pics tomorrow. I hope.

Quickest cowl ever

2009-12-27T20:21:00.005+02:00

Remember that cowl I told you I started yesterday? The Guy Next Door Cowl? Yeah, well, I finished it. :) Yep, you read that right, I finished it! I can't remember when I last went from WIP to FO in 24 hours. So at least I've gotten something done during this Christmas "vacation". I really liked this pattern, it was easily memorized, but not boring. I knit most of it while watching Stargate last night. I decided to divide the stitches and knit two.. watchamacallits.. "flaps", one for the front and one for the back, to protect the neck area even better. (as suggested by Suvi from 50 villapeikkoa.) Because knowing my 7yo, knitting just the cowl without the flaps wouldn't have worked. And hey, he liked it, so it's an instant success. :)
I think the cowl would have been long enough even if I'd knit one repeat less of the pattern, but maybe it's warmer as it curls up on the neck more. And I only now noticed that the suggested needle size is 3,75mm, I used 5mm. I don't even want to think about how small the cowl would have been, if I'd used the suggested needle size. And I thought I was knitting this looosely. Oh well, at least it turned out perfect for the 7yo. :)
Pattern: The Guy Next Door Cowl by Devin Fredrickson (ravel it)
Yarn: Cascade 220, white (it looks off-white in the pic, but it's a pure white)
Needle size: 5mm

Now I just have a dilemma.. What should I knit next? This never happens to me.

Easy peasy raglan dress, how I love thee, let me count the ways..

2009-12-26T17:30:00.006+02:00

Ok, ok, so this one turned out a bit too big, but it's still cute. :) The pattern is the same basic raglan pattern I've used before for the tiny one, I just made this one a bit bigger. Because, well, you know, the tiny one has grown. :) I love this Christmas fabric by Michael Miller, that I bought in Eurokangas. It's just so bright and cheerful that I had to make something for the tiny one with it. I decided that a simple raglan dress would be my best bet.
The tiny one sends her sincerest apologies for no looking her best today, she's running a bit of a fever, so that's why she's looking a bit tired.

I also made a pair of new legwarmers for the 5yo, she chose the yarn and color herself. The yarn is Nalle by Novita and it has been Kool-Aid dyed by me. The pic is utterly crappy, but it actually shows off the color correctly. Which was quite surprising to me. I made these with a simple 2x2 rib, with 1x1 ribbing for the top.
And I've started on a cowl for the 7yo, as he doesn't want to wear scarves nowadays. Weird kid. Anyway, the pattern is The Guy Next Door Cowl by Devin Fredrickson (ravel it), and I'm making it in a plain white Cascade 220. I just have to figure out how to make the bottom, because I would like for it to be wider at the bottom, so that it would cover the collar area better. I was thinking about adding some stitches and then maybe doing some ribbing, maybe 3x1 or something.. We'll see what I do when I get that far. :)

Skinny scarf - finished!

2009-12-25T13:30:00.006+02:00

And it only took me almost two months to finish it. I was planning on knitting the whole skein, but I got soo bored that I just couldn't knit on this any more. So I decided that it's quite long enough now. I think I might knit the rest double stranded and make one of the kids a scarf or something with the leftovers. Anyway, now it's finished, and I love it. :)
Yes, I need to pluck and color my eyebrows, I'm just too lazy to do it. :D

Oh, I just have to share this pic with you, it's of the tiny one, just after Santa Claus came to visit us. She looked too funny, looking at him suspiciously. :D I was sure she would refuse to go get her presents from Santa, but she went to get all of them. Plus she would have wanted everybody elses pressies too. :)

More Christmas presents!

2009-12-23T23:36:00.009+02:00

And with these, I'm done! Done, I say, done! (well, ok, technically I still have about 6cm seams to sew tomorrow, but I'm not counting that.) Let's start with the shirt I made for my 5yo godson, aka the dumbdumb-shirt. I read the pattern wrong, so the collar is all crappy. I didn't have time to fix it, as I would have needed to redo the whole collar. I sewed the buttons on, and decided that it didn't look too bad. Besides, no kid ever wears his shirt without having the uppermost button undone. Or so I've convinced myself. Other that the collar, I think the shirt looks cool. :)

On the sleeves I added orange buttons, just for fun. :) I thought the fabric was so cool that I just had to make something with it, it just took me a while to figure out what. :)

Pattern: Ottobre 6/2009
Size: 116/122 cm
Fabric: from Lucky Kaeru

I also finally finished the small girls' raglan, got the elastic bands put in. I still have to close the gaps on the sleeves and the neckband, but that'll take about three minutes, so I'm calling this done too. :)

And as a quickie, I made a small pouchy pouch for the 8yo, I bought a lipgloss and nail polish to put in it. I knit this in just a couple of evenings.
The color looks a bit too dark in this pic, my camera was being a bit uncooperative at this time of night. And finally, I added a little bow to the Hello Kitty I made, as I thought it was missing a little something. I think it's much cuter now. :)
And with this, I want to wish all my readers Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas, to those of you who celebrate it. :) Ja Hyvää Joulua kaikille suomenkielisille lukijoille!

Chrissie pressies!

2009-12-19T20:48:00.007+02:00

Whee, I've finished a few Christmas presents! Yay for me! :) Let's start with the tunic, it's for an 8yo girl, I really hope she'll like it. I think it turned out cute, but I'm biased. :)
Pattern: Ottobre 1/2009
Size: 134 cm
Fabric: something from the bargain bin :)

I learned new things when making this tunic, like making a (what was the real word for this?) cleft, which was something I had huge problems with. The magazine had instructions on how to make "an easy cleft", and it really was everything but easy. I started making it in my sewing class, and asked my teacher for help, thinking she'd know how to do it. Well, I was wrong. We probably spent half an hour trying to figure out what part went where and what to sew next. Pah. It might be sewn together wrong, but at least it looks ok. :)

Next we have two knitted toys, first the mooonsteeeeer I've shown you before. Here he is, all finished, waiting to be given to his new 5yo owner. :)
Pattern: Abigail the Middle-sized Monster, from Mombot Companion
Size: kinda small :)
Yarn: some Kool-Aid dyed old stuff

And another toy, a teeny tiny Hello Kitty, for a one-and-a-half-year-old. The ears are in the wrong place, but I doubt the recipient will notice that. ;) I knit this in the round, not flat as the pattern said. I'm just not a big fan of seams, and try to avoid them as best I can.
Pattern: Hello Kitty Look-a-Like, by Valerie Powell
Size: tiny
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly

That's it for now, I still have to finish the shirt for the 5yo, and the raglan dress for the younger sister. I'm working on the button holes of the shirt now. Oh, how I love those button holes.. Ugh.

Christmas dresses!

2009-12-10T14:25:00.006+02:00

Two of them! All finished! And just in time too, as our first Christmas party is today. The basic pattern is again the same as in this one, and this one, with some modifications. The smaller dress I made a bit slimmer, the bigger dress I made a bit fuller. The bigger dress was supposed to be a kind of balloon dress, but I, ahem, screwed up the lining just a wee bit, so it ended up a straight dress after all. All of these fabrics were a pain in the a** to sew, and I'm very happy to have finished them and still have my sanity left. And without further ado, here are the dresses

And as you all know, taking photos this time of year isn't the easiest task, so I hope you'll forgive the poor quality of these. Using the flash really doesn't help either, and I'm still considering a "bright-light-lamp" (I really have no idea what they're called in English). This photo of the tiny one is loads cuter, but it distorts the color of the dress a whole lot
I think this photo shows off the color best, it's a really difficult color to photograph.
The older girl insisted on giving me photos like this
I also finally finished the scarf for the boy in the Estonian orphanage, I have to try to remember to mail it tomorrow, to make sure that it gets there in time for Christmas. I really hope he'll like it.

Yum, new yarn

2009-12-08T10:17:00.003+02:00

Still very little crafting going on around here, but at least I have some yummy new yarn. :)
The red one on the left is a bit darker than in the pic, the other two look about right. The yarns are Dream in Color Classy, Dream in Color Starry and Malabrigo Chunky, all from Eat.Sleep.Knit.

And then there were Christmas lights..

2009-11-29T20:48:00.002+02:00

Wee you aware of the fact that it's freakishly difficult to get good photos of Christmas lights out in the dark? I can tell you that it is, very, very difficult.

I have a new bag! (plus a crumpled dress..)

2009-11-27T09:26:00.008+02:00

I needed a new bag, the one I had was a bit too summery for this time of year. So I took some wonderful Michael Miller fabric (that I got from Hawthorne Threads, when they were still on Etsy). Then I cut up some fabric and started sewing. And a few days later I had a new bag. It's not perfect, apparently I wasn't thinking at all when I was sewing it together, but it'll do. Here it is
I wanted a flap on this one, so that it's not an open bag like the other one. I think I still have to add abutton, so that I can close the flap. And so that the bag wouldn't be too boring, I made the inside with bright polka dots. :)
And I added a pocket! Altho I sewed it on the wrong side.. Oh well, maybe I'll remember next time on which side I have to sew it on.
Plus I have the coolest reflector ever. :)
The crumpled dress I mentioned is this one
It's a Christmas dress for the tiny one, the same basic pattern I used for this dress, modified a bit. I still have to add the zipper (my very favorite part!) and maybe add some sequins or something to hide fact that somebody cut the fabric very crookedly.. Oh, and I plan on ironing it before I show you the finished item. ;)

Wheee, a.k.a. I have an FO

2009-11-22T09:54:00.006+02:00

I know you haven't heard that in a while. :) I have an FO, how cool is that? :D Ok, so it's only a pair of teenytiny socks, but still, I'm very happy to be showing you something else than just WIP's for a change. (Altho I do have a new WIP too..) Oh, btw, the title of this blog post could also have been: Chapter 78, where we learn about the difficulties of taking a photo of a pair of socks, while an 18-month-old is wearing them. But that would have been a way too long title. :D But here's a pic to prove that it is difficult to take a photo of a small child wearing her new woolly socks
Here's a better photo :)
And one more photo of the socks, without feet in them
The new WIP I have is a scarf for an orphan boy in Estonia. A bunch of friends on mine have been making handmade Christmas presents for all the kids in an Estonian orphanage. The boy I'm knitting for is a soccer-fan, so I thought it would be fun to make him a black-white-green scarf, because the ball is usually black and white, and the game is played on green grass. :) I'm making it in a simple 1x1 rib, and I'm knitting the yarn held double, to make it nice and warm. I hope the boy will like it. The yarn is Sisu by Sandnes Garn.
And finally, the Chrissie pressie monster is almost finished, I just need to sew on his eye and make the mouth. And bind off a couple loose ends. So soon I can start working on the Hello Kitty-doll that I'm also making as a Christmas present. :)

Shopping therapy :) (and half a sock)

2009-11-14T12:01:00.002+02:00

As I still don't have anything finished to show you (I know, I know, shame on me), I thought I'd show you the pretty fabric I bought yesterday. These will become Christmas party dresses for the girls, at some point..
Yes, I realize that the colors are a bit distorted, the two last ones are black, the first is a kinda strange purplish pink, very pretty in person tho. :) The first and last ones are taffeta, the middle one is velour. I'm planning on using the black ones for a dress for the older girl, altho the husband couldn't understand why I'd make a child a black dress. I think it'll be pretty, as it isn't completely black. I still haven't decided if I'll make a balloon dress or not. I might. Or I might not. The tiny one's dress will get a very simple dress, maybe with a little bit of ruffles or something. And now if I'd actually have time to make these dresses..

And now for the sock. The tiny one lost the green socks I made her, so obviously I have to make her another pair. I'm using the same yarn I used for the 5yo's socks, as I had lots left over. I'm at the heel of the first sock, maybe I'll finish the first sock this weekend.

No FO's to show off, Part II

2009-11-07T11:17:00.007+02:00

Nope, none, not a one, zip, zilch, zero. So instead, I'll show you a bunch of WIP's and some stash enhancement. :)

Let's start with the monster. I have all the knitted parts ready, I just need to stuff the limbs and sew all the pieces together, and make the face.
I do have one problem with the monster tho, one leg is longer than the other, should I frog a couple rows on one leg, or let them be different lengths? I'm thinking I'll leave it the way it is. It is a monster, after all.

Next, we have a skinny scarf I'm knitting for myself. I bought one skein of this new yarn, Sandnes Garn Mini Palett, just to try it out. It's 75% wool, 25% nylon, but I definitely would not use this for socks, as the yarn is very thin in places. I'm using 5mm needles, so that the scarf is nice and soft.
Next we have two sewn pieces of clothing, but you can't really tell what they are, as I haven't gotten much further than just cutting up the fabric. I'm hoping I'll have time to do some sewing this weekend, because these need to be finished before Christmas. :O The first is a tunic, the second is a shirt for a boy. I got really stuck when making the slit (is that what it's called in English?) at the front of the tunic, I just didn't understand the instructions in the magazine. Good thing I was making it at my sewing course, otherwise I would probably have thrown the whole thing in the rubbish from frustration. Our teacher didn't understand the instructions any better than I did, but I did get it done, it just took me about two hours.

And now for the stash enhancement, I only bought three skeins, one of which was the Mini Palett, pictured here
I just love the colors in this yarn! And the two other skeins? I was just going to buy one skein, but the I remembered that I had this card in my wallet that allows me to get 30% off on my purchases, so I ended up buying two skeins of Noro sock yarn, whee! :) These will become a pair of stripey kneehigh socks when they grow up.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:09:00.003+02:00

Ja Hyvää Pyhäinpäivää kaikille suomalaisille lukijoille! :)

Finished the longies! Plus started on Chrissie pressies

2009-10-25T16:48:00.008+02:00

The longies are finished, yay! And eventho I made them lots shorter than the pattern said, they're still very much too long for the babe. Good thing I didn't make them as long as they were supposed to be. :) And as a bonus, they're really cute. See, aren't they cute? :)
I ran out of yarn at the waist, so the waistband is knitted with a different yarn. You really can't tell tho, because they are both dyed with similar colors. The pattern was really easy, I'll probably make another pair for next Winter. :)
Pattern: Vilsongit by Sirkku Siiskonen (only in Finnish)
Size: about 86 cm, I think. Thereabouts
Yarn: Novita Wool, Kool-Aid dyed by me, plus a bit of Novita Nalle at the waist
Needles: 3,5mm
Love these!

I've also started working on Christmas pressies, I have three kids to make pressies for, and they will all get something knitted and something sewn. The first thing I've sewn is a raglan blouse, with 3/4 sleeves, it should be anout a size 92cm. It's still missing the elastic at the neck and sleeves, I'll have to remember to take a pic when I've added those. Plus I was thinking that I would want to add an appliqued heart at the hem, haven't decided about that yet..
The second pressie will be an Abigail monster. :) I just think that my version might me a lot smaller than in the pattern, but we'll see how it works out. Here's the very beginning
I think I might need to use a slightly thicker yarn, I'm not sure yet. And that's all I have for now, I hope you've all had a great weekend, and will have a great week!

Quick note

2009-10-20T22:44:00.001+03:00

I'm offering free shipping on all items in my Etsy-shop until the end of October! That is all for now, hope you all are having a great week!

Quickie update

2009-10-18T11:59:00.002+03:00

making progress, originally uploaded by RainbowDash2008.

Just to show you where I'm at with the longies. I'm at the butt right now. :) I'm making these shorter than the pattern says, because the pattern is for size 92cm, and the babe isn't even 80cm tall yet. I'm using 3,5mm needles, so I'm probably nowhere near the right gauge. (In case I've never mentioned this, I'm a very tight knitter.) I need to measure some of the babe's pants, to see just about how much I need to knit to make them fit her at the waist. That is all for now, carry on. :)

No FO's to show off

2009-10-16T10:50:00.004+03:00

So instead I'll show you what the 5yo and I did the other day. I saw these
in a magazine (Suuri Käsityölehti 0809) a couple months ago, and have wanted to make some myself since then. Now we finally got around to it. We used both Fimo and Cernit modelling clays. Our finished jars aren't quite as pretty as those in the magazine, but it was just our first try, so I'm sure the next ones will be better. :) I bought more clay, in several different colors, so that we can get much more colorful things next time. The girl thought it was loads of fun to make these, tho big bro was a bit disappointed that we made them without him. Here are our finished jars, I put them on a shelf in the girls' room.
For the next ones we have many more colors to use, like orange, red and glow-in-the-dark! And now I know what to do differently next time, to get a prettier result. ;)

The only thing I've sewn all week

2009-10-11T17:28:00.004+03:00

Is a pair of pants for my 5yo. Honestly, this is depressing. And the only reason to why I've even had time to make these, is that I made them during my sewing course on Wednesday. Have I mentioned before that working full-time sucks? I have? Oh. Well, it does. And eventho I've had the weekend off I haven't gotten anyhing done because I've been too tired. :( Ok, the complaint portion of this post is now over. On to showing you the pants, and here they are
What can I say, I think these are really cute, and the fabric is adorable. :) Plus it's nice and soft too. It's a corduroy that I got from my local fabric store a while back, it was half-priced so I just had to get it. :) The pattern is from some Ottobre magazine, I have no idea which one tho. I just drew the one pattern up from the magazine, but didn't remember to check which issue it was. The pattern was really simple, and I'll probably be using it again, when I have time. The size is 116cm, and the pants are a bit big on the girl, but like my mantra says: she'll grow into them. :) I would have liked a different kind of elastic for the waist, but I only had this thin kind at home, so I had to use what I had. I couldn't remember if the pockets were supposed to go on the front or the back, but I decided to put them on the front. :) Here's one more pic of my daughter's Sunday outfit
ps. The longies are coming along quite well, I have one leg done, and am about halfway on the other.

Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout..

2009-10-03T10:21:00.004+03:00

Down came the rain and washed a toxic spider out.. No, wait, that's not right.. Anyway, my boy asked me for a black hat with a green spider on it, so that's what he got. (just as a side note, he's usually very specific about what he wants me to make him, like the tome he wanted a black and white hat with a yellow lizard on it, or telling me the exact shade of red to use for his sweater.)

I didn't want to make him a woolly hat just yet, altho with the temperatures we've had lately maybe i should've, so I decided to use this new yarn by SandnesGarn, called Duett. (oh, I used the same yarn for the first hat, that the husband got.) It's a blend of 55% cotton and 45% wool, and I think it's just lovely. I definitely want more of this yarn, I'm sure it would be wonderful for kiddie clothes. I didn't have just the right shade of toxic green that I wanted for the spider, so I had to dye some up myself. It went just a teeny bit too dark, but it's quite close to what I had planned. For the spider I used PumpkinMama's spider chart again. And now I've been jabbering on enough, so here's the hat
The spider works as a reflector too, as I used a reflector thread along with the green yarn. How clever am I? ;) Here's a close-up of the spider
I know, I know, my duplicate stitch isn't perfect, but it's good enough. The boy was happy with it, and that's what counts. :)

Something finished, something started

2009-09-30T14:23:00.006+03:00

Exactly how long can it take to knit a pair of child-sized, thick socks? Apparently 16 days. (and obviously I can't even count.. If I started these on the 12th and finished them yesterday, on the 29th, that doesn't make 16 days, it makes 17. I shall go sit in the corner and hang my head in shame now.) Yes folks, it took me over two weeks to knit these socks! I'm actually a bit embarrassed about this. In my defence tho, after going back to work, I don't really have much time for anything, and my knitting time is cut down to a minimum. But still, 16 days! (nope, still 17, not 16..) Wow. But now they're finally finished, just in time too, as it's supposed to get a lot chillier soon.

I asked my 7yo to sit on the couch so I could get a pic of his feet, and this is what I got. Obviously the boy isn't that good at getting instructions.. The yarn is something I dyed with Kool-Aid ages ago, the pattern is a normal rib for the cuff and stockinette for the rest.
My something started is a pair of longies for the tiny one. I've knit a whopping two rows on these! Maybe I'll have them finished by Winter. Of 2010. Here's my huge progress
I also have something almost finished. Well, I finished the knitting, now I just have to get the spider in place. And since I didn't have any bright enough green yarn, I had to dye some. So now I'm just waiting for the yarn to dry, so that I can get started on the spider.
Finally, something completely unrelated. Here's what happens when you leave your 1yo alone with some yoghurt, and don't look at what she's doing for a few minutes

Sunday is for sewing

2009-09-27T16:28:00.007+03:00

I've had a bunch of half-finished items of clothing lying about (and one that was just cut up) that I decided to finish today. Which means that I now have four finished items of clothing lying about. :) And I still have three or four half-finished ones left. Maybe I'll eventually finish those too. But now on to the finished ones. First off a tunic for the 5yo. It's a similar shape to the other one I did, the trick here is in the hem. I made this one so that the hem is longer on the sides than in the middle. This is the best pic I got of it
I think this is a fun shape, a little something different from the usual straight hems. :) Next we have a dress that was supposed to be for sale, but as it has gotten some light spots from the sun, it'll be for the tiny one instead. She'll just have to grow a bit, because it's too big for her now. See, it's huge on her. :) The flowery fabric is by Michael Miller again, it's Beatrice Bloom in Espresso, from fabricworm.
And next, more polka dots, another tiny tunic. This one will be up for sale on Etsy later on today. I think. Maybe.
Last we've got Matryoshka dolls. This one will definitely be up on Etsy later on today. :) The cutesy Japanese Matryoshka fabric is from Karaku.
I'm quite happy with what I've gotten done this Sunday (oh, I've also done four loads of laundry, filled the dishwasher and changed the sheets in four beds), and I think I've earned a nice cup of tea, don't you? :)

Yet more owls (and some flowers too)

2009-09-26T16:42:00.005+03:00

I think it's highly possible that this is the final version of this dress, because now I can't think of a single thing I would want to change about it. I'm so, so happy with this. Plus I still love the fabric, it is quite possible that I need to get more of it. See, isn't this just too cute? :)
And here's a pic of the back, that is totally different from the dresses I've done before.
We went shopping today, and somebody had asked the husband where the dress was from. Stupid him only replied that I made it. Had he been smart, he would have told her that I can make more, if she wanted to buy one. Hmph.

Anyway, one last photo, to show you the tiny one's favorite place to sit. :D

Good thing we've got different sized heads around here

2009-09-25T20:15:00.003+03:00

Because this hat was supposed to be for the 7yo. And it ended up fitting the husband. And since I'm lazy, I didn't feel like frogging the whole thing, so now the husband has a new hat. (not that he deserves it, the moron.)
That is all, thank you.

I finally finished something!

2009-09-20T10:10:00.005+03:00

Wow, this working-full-time-crap is seriously disrupting my crafting. Pah. Maybe I'll have time to finish the four half-finished items I have lying about next week, when I have the morning shift, there's absolutely no time to do anything during the evening shift week. Ok, that's enough complaining for now, sorry 'bout that. It's just that I have not yet found the positive things about being back at work.

Anyway, this little owl top is what I have to show you this time.
I absolutely love this owl-fabric too. It's Night Owls by Michael Miller, from fabricworm. It's not as bright and cheerful as the other owl-fabric I have, but I really love this too. Have I happened to mention that I love owls? :) The top is a smaller version of the tunic I made my bigger girl. I wanted to try to make it in a smaller size, and I think it turned out just fine. I tried to get a pic of the fastening in the back, but that's not happening right now, the tiny one quit cooperating after I got the first photos taken. :) And now we have to start getting ready for the 7yo's next soccer tournament, I'll tell you later if they win any of their games today. :)

Long time, no blog

2009-09-16T10:50:00.007+03:00

It's been a while since my last blog post. I blame it all on going back to working full-time. (Which sucks big-time btw.) I've been able to finish two knitted items tho, a jacket for my 5yo (a huuuge jacket) and a pair of tiny mittens for the babe. The jacket turned out so big that the girl will probably be able to wear it when she starts school in two years. Then again, I did knit it in size 122cm, so no wonder my 111cm tall child drowns in it. But like I've said before, she'll grow into it. :) Anyway, I still thinks it looks quite nice. (and it'll look even better when the girl grows a bit. :D ) I got lazy in the end tho, and skipped the pockets that you were supposed to knit according to the pattern.
I must say tho that I didn't like working with this yarn (Novita Mambo), I found it quite hard to get an even finish. Maybe I should block it, that might help.. The girl liked it, and it should keep her warm for several years to come. :)

Oh, the specs
Pattern: 57. Tytön takki, Novita Syksy 2008 (ravel it)
Size: 122cm
Yarn: Novita Mambo
Needles: 10mm

edited to add another pic of the jacket, the color is right in this one

My second finished item is the mittens I started a while back. I think they're just too cute. :) They fit the tiny one just perfectly, they're actually a tad tight, but at least they stay on well. The photos aren't great, you try to get a photo of a 1yo's hand. :D

Now I need to make another pair that are just a bit bigger. So basically I could use the same yarn, just go up a needlesize. I used 3mm for these, 3,5mm would probably work perfectly to make the mittens just a tiny bit bigger. Besides, little ones need more than one pair of mittens, right? Now that I've made one pair, I can make five more. :)

It's all in a weekends work

2009-09-07T11:33:00.008+03:00

I'm just a tiny bit pleased with what I've done this weekend. I made a tunic, a dress and a pair of socks. And I started a pair of mittens for the tiny one. Ok, so I admit that I didn't knit the entire socks this weekend, but I did finish them yesterday. :) Now if somebody would just sew the seams on the 5yo's Fall jacket that I have lying about, so that I could finally call that an FO too..

Anyway, let's start with the tunic, a polka dot one. I'm test driving this pattern, as I'm thinking of making these to sell too. I think it turned out just fine, I just have to make the fastening at the back better, I was thinking of adding a clasp or something. Here's how it looks now
The color is just about right in this pic, who knew that orange was such a difficult color to photograph? Anyay, here's the whole tunic
My girl-child has a cold, if you're wondering why she's looking a bit pale and tired.

Next on the agenda we have a pairof woolly socks, made with the yarn that the 5yo Kool-Aid dyed a while back. I just love how these turned out, so bright and fun!
Oh, I only just now noticed that the color doesn't look right.. Here's a slightly better pic
And on to the mittens. I haven't made mittens in years, as my older kids refuse to wear them. But now I have the tiny one to make mittens for, yay! :) These look really tiny, but her hand isn't that big either. and white is of course the most practical color to use for a pair of baby mittens.
Last but not least, we have the for sale-stuff. :) As I've mentioned before, every baby should have skulls in their wardrobe, so that's why I made this dress.
Off to list it in my Etsy-shop now. :)

First two tops made to sell

2009-09-05T16:13:00.004+03:00

After all the encouragement I've been getting left and right about selling my kiddie clothes (even my 5yo's dental hygienist told me that I need to start selling them), I've finally gotten the first two tops ready and listed in my Etsy-shop. Thanks to everybody for your kind words and encouragement! I'll be adding things as I finish them, but as I go back to work next week, I won't have that much time for sewing, but I'll try to make as much stuff I can in the following week and then add things as I have time to make them. :)

Here are the first two "out of the oven" :)
And now I need to go finish the tunic I'm making for the 5yo, so that I can see if it's something I can make to sell too. :)

I have a thing for owls

2009-08-31T13:40:00.009+03:00

Aka, the second raglan dress. I saw this adorable owl-fabric (by Amy Schimler) on fabricworms Etsy-shop and I just had to have it! I must admit that the owls were a lot bigger than I thought they would be, but I'm in love with the fabric nonetheless. So much so that I'll probably need to get more of it. ;) Anyway, I realized that the fabric didn't suit the project I had in mind for it, I had to make something else. So I made another raglan dress. Which is actually more of a tunic, as I didn't make it long enough. I had also planned to make the sleeves long, but now they are more of a 3/4-length. Which I this looks adorable on the tiny one. :)
Yes, it's a very lovely photo, but it's about the only shot I got of the tiny one where you can see the sleeves. :) At this point in time my lil darlin' is mad at me for not going out to the sandbox with her. See, she's a little drama queen. :D
The fabric I used for the sleeves is Tone on tone floral by Riley Blake, also from fabricworm. I tried shirring for the first time ever on this project, which is something my sewing machine didn't much like. I still think it turned out quite nice, eventho I never got round to reading the shirring tutorial I was going to read before trying it out. Here you can see the shirring
And a cutesy-pic (or two) with big bro

note to self: always make the babe pose with big bro, that way she'll stay still for a moment. I have a feeling you'll be seeing much more of the boy from now on. :) One more pic (well, ok, two), just because I think these were so cute.

Oh, btw, I'm also knitting a pair of socks for the middle child, I've already knit one sock, need to start the second one today. I'll try to remember taking a pic of the finished sock at some point. :)

Two new tops

2009-08-30T11:19:00.008+03:00

The babe is going to have dozens of these tops as I work out all the kinks, to get a version good enough to make for sale. I'm quite liking this first one, I think I got this one just the way I wanted it. Except that I need to make it just a teeny bit longer.
Here's a (kinda blurry) full-body shot
If anyone has any helpful tips as to how to get a 1-year-old to stand still for more than a nanosecond, please, please tell me! :) Anyway, here's the second top, butterflies and tiny polka dots. :)
Next I'm thinking of making the raglan dress with long sleeves, I have a couple ideas already. :) Stay tuned!

And as a final note, my boy went to his very first soccer tournament yesterday. They played three half-hour games, and his team even won one game! Here he is with his brand-new medal.
And yes, he usually always stands around with his mouth open like that, staring blankly into the ditance. :D

Lil Miss Blueberrymouth (and a pair of socks)

2009-08-28T22:11:00.006+03:00

Oh the joy of eating blueberries all by yourself!
Oh, right, the socks. Well, Fall is upon us (yay!) and it's rubberboot season for the kiddies. We don't have any tiny woolie socks, so I knit up a pair for the tiny one. The yarn is some Kool-Aid dyed yarn from ages ago. This "normal" heel really doesn't fit a tiny foot, I'll have to make another pair, trying out some other kind of heel. Besides, these socks ended up a bit on the small side, so she'll outgrow them by Winter anyway. These are a warm-up for this years Sukkasato (Sock Harvest, only in Finnish), that I'm participating in for the first time.

So I had this idea..

2009-08-27T19:36:00.007+03:00

Of a kimono-style jacket for the tiny one. After making some mods on the kimono-top, I had this
(I sincerely apologize for the poor quality of the photos, it's too dark to take decent ones.) Anyway, I think this turned out pretty darned cute. :) It could have been just a teeny bit wider, but luckily the babe is really skinny, so this fits her perfectly. I think I'll probably make another one, maybe lined with fleece or something, so that she can wear it when it gets colder. I really dislike making buttonholes, but this time I managed to not mess them up, and I actually made them the right size! Whoda thunk? Here are a few close-ups
And lastly, this is the best shot I got of the babe wearing the jacket, and even this one is all blurry. I think I might have mentioned before that she just won't stand still for even a second.

Under the Rainbow

Ahem. Anyone still out there?

We've gone all girly around here.

Wanna know what I did last week?

School's out for the Summer!

I wish drawing was easier...

Some stuff I've made recently.

I have this weird thing..

Upon request

Too much crap

Ei mul mitään asiaa oo

Things don't always go as planned.

You know, this sucks

Still no knittin' goin' on

First two for 2011

Chapter 142 - In which I show you the last FOs for 2010

From all of us, to all of you

Let me tell you about my weekend

So I made a coat..

I have no FOs to show

New home for my new phone

Trying out new things

Don't try this at home kids

My knitting has a mind of its own

Super-duper quickie

B-day pressies

Look, knitting! Actual knitting!

There ain't no knittin' goin' on here

Oh, poor neglected blog, how do I feel sorry for thee..

Please disregard my last post.

I'm never moving again.

First pants with a zipper I've ever sewn

Oh my, I've been productive

It's bloody hot around here

..and once in a blue moon..

Oh look, she crochets!

Move along, nothing crafty to see here..

Shortest blog post ever.

I finished it, it's done, ready I say, ready!

I started a new project.

School's out for the Summer!

Crappy, crap, crap photo

From idea to FO in four days

Oops..

Taking a picture of a skirt..

I have a new woolly hat

I'm sorry, I'm going to flash you now.

Big pile o' paper

Oh look, she knits!

How long does it take..

Let me introduce

Just wanted to let you all know..

Yay for instant gratification projects!

I finished the kneehighs, wahoo!

I've been contemplating this for days..

Hand embroidery in not my thing

Not a whole lot going on here

Wahoo, I finished one of my Ravelympic projects!

I made the tiny one a new shirt

Testing, testing..

Best mail-day ever!

Skulls, skulls, skulls

Waaah, now that just sucks!

I've got new socks, yes I do!

Oh, ok, enough of this already!

Kaheli-vaihdon paketti tuli!

Two new WIPs

Special announcement

I've been really busy lately..

First post for the new year :)

Quickest cowl *ever*

Easy peasy raglan dress, how I love thee, let me count the ways..

Skinny scarf - finished!

More Christmas presents!

Chrissie pressies!

Christmas dresses!

Yum, new yarn

And then there were Christmas lights..

I have a new bag! (plus a crumpled dress..)

Wheee, a.k.a. I have an FO

Quickest cowl ever