Huovutetut Liekkilapaset / Felted Flame Mittens

Testailin, miltä näyttäisivät liekit huovutettuina. Ei hassumpi lopputulos! Käytin oranssia, keltaista ja punaista Ístexin hahtuvalankaa eli plötulopia ja ruskeanmustaa Thingborgin lopia. Nämä kaksi hahtuvalankaa huovuttuvat eri tavalla. Thingborglopi on hieman ohuempaa, se huovuttuu tiiviimmin ja lopputulos on karvaisempi kuin Ístexin plötulopi. Käytin puikkoja numero 4, ja lankaa meni yhteensä noin 110 grammaa.

I tested how felted flames would look like - not bad end result! I used orange, yellow and red plötulopi by Ístex and blackish brown unspun Icelandic by Thingborg. The two lopis felt differently - the Thingborg lopi is a bit thinner and felts more intensely, and the end result is a bit more hairy. I used about 110 grams of yarn with needles number 4.

Pariisin Tuubipaita - Paris Sweater

Halusin neuloa jotakin yksinkertaista, joka vie paljon Novita Rose Mohairia varastostani. Löysin ohjeen tähän Paris Sweater-tuubipaitaan ja ryhdyin tuumasta toimeen. Paita neulotaan yhdestä palasta: suorakaiteesta. Tein vielä alas ja hihansuille resorin. Hieno tuli! Vitosen puikoilla lankaakin meni viisi kerää :)

I wanted to knit something simple that uses up a lot of Novita Rose Mohair from my yarn stock. I found instructions for this Paris Sweater, and I started knitting. The sweater is knitted from one piece: a rectangle. I also made ribbing to the bottom and sleeves. It is great! It used up five skeins of yarn with number 5 needles :)

Dinosaurustossut / Dino booties

Neuloin pari vuotta sitten dinosaurustossut vauvalle - sisareni ihastui niihin ikihyviksi ja halusi aikuisten dinosaurustossut. Otin haasteen vastaan, aloin soveltamaan ja tässä on tulos, sukan ja tossun välimuoto. Aika söpöt, eikö vain?
Koko 39, pohja tehty kantapäätekniikalla (1o, tuo lanka eteen, nosta 1). Lankana Novita 7 Veljestä punainen ja oranssi, puikot numero 4.







A couple of years ago I knitted a pair of dino baby booties - my sister completely fell in love with them and requested a pair in adult size. I took on the challenge, started improvising and this is the result, hybrid between a sock and a slipper. Quite cute, eh? The size is 39, bottom made with heel technique (k1, yfwd, sl1). Yarn Novita 7 Veljestä red and orange, needles number 4.

Saroyan-huivi / Saroyan scarf

Tämä Saroyan-huivi valmistui jo keväällä, mutta syksy on sille oikea vuodenaika. Huivi on tehty kolmesta kerästä Hjertegarn Vidal Alpaca-lankaa kolmepuoloisen puikoilla. Mielestäni huivi sopii ruskaan upeasti!




This Saroyan scarf was done already in the spring but autumn is its true season. The scarf is knitted from three skeins of Hjertegarn Vidal Alpaca (needles number 3.5). I think the autumn colours really make justice to the scarf!

Huovutetut lapaset suomenlampaan villasta / Felted mittens from Finnsheep yarn

Pidän Riihivillan langoista (100% suomenlampaan villaa) todella paljon. Heidän lankansa on pehmeintä tietämääni täysvillalankaa, ja luonnonväreista saadut värit ovat yksinkertaisesti upeita. Mieheni tahtoi pehmeät ja lämpimät lapaset paukkupakkasiin, joten valitsin luonnollisesti langaksi Riihivilla Aarnin.

I really like Riihivilla's 100% Finnsheep yarn. They have the softest wool yarn around, and the natural dyed colours are plain fantastic. My DH wanted a pair of soft and warm mittens for cold winter days, so the natural choice for me was Riihivilla Aarni. There is a good review of this yarn in English at Knitter's Review.



Neuloin lapaset vitosen puikoilla kaksinkertaisella langalla. Lankaa kului tasantarkkaan kaksi kerää. Lankaa jäi yli noin pari metriä. Ennen huovuttamista, lapasten pituus oli 43 cm ja ranteenympärys 30 cm. Huovuttamisen eli kahden pesukonepesun (40C) jälkeen lapaset ovat 28 cm pitkiä ja ranteenympärys on 26 cm. Peukalosta tuli hieman liian leveä, mutta se onkin näiden lapasten ainoa ongelma :) Kirjoitin ohjeet muistiin Ravelryyn seuraavaa kertaa varten:) Aarni huovuttuu helposti ja kauniisti. Huovutettu lapanen on uskomattoman pehmeä! Olen huovuttanut monia erilaisia lankoja, ja täytyy sanoa, että Riihivillan Aarni antaa ehdottomasti pehmeimmän lopputuloksen.

I knitted the mittens using double yarn and needles number 5. I used exactly two skeins of yarn, maybe 2 metres remained. Before felting, the mittens were 43 cm long with a circumference of 30 cm. After felting (two 40C cycles in the washing machine), the mittens are 28 cm long with a circumference of 26 cm. The thumb is a bit too wide, but that is the only problem with these mittens. I posted instructions on Ravelry so as to remember what I did for the next time :) The yarn felts easily and the resulting mitten is fantastically soft and pretty! I have felted a lot of different kinds of yarn and I must say Riihivilla Aarni givest absolutely the softest end result.

Kalajoki-sukat / Kalajoki socks

Pidän näistä Kalajoki-sukista todella paljon, koska ne ovat yksinkertaiset, kauniit ja mielenkiintoiset tehdä. Ohje on Ravelryssä suomeksi ja englanniksi. Tein pieniä muutoksia ohjeeseen varpaiden kohdalla. Vaihdoin toispuoleisen nauhakavennuksen eräänlaiseksi sädekavennukseksi, jossa jokikuviokin kavennettiin siten, että joen alkulähde on noin pikkuvarpaiden päällä. Käytin lankana Novitan Luxus Alpacaa ja kolmosen puikkoja. Lankaa kului noin 80 grammaa 38 koon sukkiin.

I really like this pattern resembling a slowly flowing river. The pattern is available also in English at Ravelry. It is simple, pretty and interesting. It is also a fast knit. I changed the pattern a bit in the toes. Instead of the one-sided string decrease I made a round decrease which fits the pattern (just do not ask me to write it down - I just did it with a feeling). I also decreased the pattern: my river has a starting spring near the little toe :) I used Novitan Luxus Alpaca and number 3 needles. Size 38 socks required about 80 grams of yarn.

Stockholm scarf

I saw this beautiful cowl at Ravelry and got so inspired I made two of them :D

Yarn SMC select Silk Wool 200g
Needles 6


Yarn Novita Tempo 300g
Needles 6

Instructions in English from here or at Ravelry

Paraphenalia socks / Paraphenalia-sukat

These Paraphenalia socks are amazingly beautiful and not hard to knit, either. Instructions here or at Ravelry
Yarn: Novita Nalle Aloevera 120g
Needles: 2.5
Size: 39

Shooting Star long socks

I rarely make long socks, but these ones caught my attention immediately. The pattern was quite easy to remember. Am eyeing the cardigan a bit...
Instructions in English at Drops Design 116-1

Size 39
Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä black 150g, white 60g
Needles 3.5

Cadence socks

These socks were supposed to be a present for someone - but I never could part from them :D So I decided to, uncharacteristically, keep a pair of socks I knitted. I love these! The pattern is from Ravelry

Yarn: Novita Nalle Aloevera 150g Needles: 3.5 Size: 39

Another week, another Icelandic cardigan

I really love this pattern called Keđja ('chain'), designed by Védís Jónsdóttir. The original design in Ístex pattern book 28 (page 2) is for a tunic, but I decided to make a cardigan instead. I made the calculations myself as I was using a thinner yarn.

Am so happy with the ready cardigan! In my own opinion, this is one of the prettiest things I have ever knitted. It was a fast knit, took me from Friday to Wednesday :D

Yarn Novita 7 Veljestä red 570g and white 140g
Size 44-46
Needles 4

Icelandic cardigan: days 6-7

Done! Now only finishing and that's it :)

This was a very agile knitting project, meaning that the plans got modified with reality and accumulated knowledge. The pattern found its form as I knitted along, and in the end I decided against the hood. I decided to call the cadigan "gimsteinn", which means gemstone in Icelandic. I will write the pattern up and post it later, together with a picture of the fully finalised cardigan.

Icelandic cardigan: day 5

So I got to the yoke! Now this feels like real knitting - no more bling speed-knitting but paying attention to the yarn and the pattern. I calculated that I made 20% of the yoke pattern yesterday, 80% more to go. I hope the white yarn is enough for a hood, though. We'll see!

Icelandic cardigan: days 3-4

The bottom part of the body is now done: afterwards it always feels like finishing a marathon. The true Icelanders knit cardigans also in a round so as to avoid purling, especially in the pattern. I am, however, not really comfortable with sewing and cutting the knitted pullover in the front (in case I want to make changes later on) so I opted for purling.

The sleeves are coming a bit slower than usually since I am making them simultaneously with circular needles. I have to do it this way as it seems that this city does not have double-pointed sock needles of size 5.5! On Saturday I went to four handicraft shops with no luck, so I decided to do with circulars. Some ten more centimetres for the sleeves and I hope to get to the yoke pattern by tonight.



In general, knitting with Álafosslopi is fun because it feels so real. There are little pieces of hay, thorns and whatnot in the yarn: it is almost possible to imagine where the sheep had rambled.

Icelandic cardigan: days 1-2

I finally got the time and inspiration to start the Icelandic lopi cardigan for which I bought yarn in August at the Ístex factory outlet. The yarn is bulky Álafosslopi, and I have seven skeins of white (0051), one of burgundy (9210),  one of orchid (0159) and one of dark soft purple (0163).



The pattern will be something like Var by Védís Jónsdóttir from Istex Lopi book number 29. I will make some modifications, though. For instance, I already decided not to make a pattern on the body, only on the yoke, sleeves and hood.

This is where I got to after two days of work. Mind you, I spent the entire first morning on deciding on which pattern to make (i.e browsing Ravelry and Lopi pattern books) and on and doing the measurements and calculations. I used the free Icelandic knittingpatters.is programme to calculate the required number of stitches.

Dino baby booties

These dino booties were fun to knit - the doggie seems to like them too :D





Instructions at Ravelry

Yarn Novita 7 Veljestä lime green and orange, total 60 g
Size 0-3 months
Needles 3.5

Stay-on baby booties

Very easy baby booties: apparently these should stay on even on a hard-kicking child.



Instructions in English at Ravelry or here.
The booties were originally knitted flat, but I knitted them round to avoid the sewing of the back seam.

Yarn Novita Bambino 50 g (white); 60 g (pink)
Size 0-3 months (white); 3-6 months (pink)
Needles 3

Winnow socks

These Winnow socks were great fun to knit. Not too hard and not too easy. I really enjoyed making this pair! Otherwise I followed the instructions but I changed the toe to a round one - it looks better in my opinion :)



Size 39
Yarn Novita Nalle Aloevera 120g
Needles 3

Two hats

I am trying to clean up my yarn storage - these two hats emerged out of the two skeins of microfiber yarn I had bought a couple of years ago. To my life I cannot remember what I was originally supposed to make out of the yarn but I am quite satisfied what I ended up making with it :D

Rikke hat

Yarn: YarnArt Polo 100% microfiber 120g
Needles: 3.5 and 4

Jacques Cousteau hat

Yarn: YarnArt Polo 100% microfiber 80g
Needles: 3

Kalajoki-sukat / Kalajoki socks

First shared harvest from the Icelandic wool I bought during our trip :)



Female size 38
Yarn Ístex Álafoss Létt-Lopi 100% wool 80 g
Needles 4

Instructions in Finnish here and in English at Ravelry.

I modified the pattern a bit. First of all, I cast on 44 as the yarn was thicker. Then, instead of the edgy toe decreases I made a round toe. I also made the pattern come together at the toe, i.e. applied decreases also to the pattern.