Winter wonderland

Here's some photos I took one morning when I went to work. They're all from Espoo, more precisely from Glims.

 

Gingerbread elf

I know I've already said it, but I absolutely love this winter with all the snow <3 Everything's just so, so beautiful.

More Christmas presents, part 2

My mom got to choose her Christmas present herself, all the way from the pattern to the colour. She has an old hood, but I thought it's time she'll get a new one. So I suggested I knit this for her:

Pattern: Luxury cowl / Hood by Lion Brand Yarn

Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä

Needles 6 mm

It was an quick and easy knit, maybe even too easy since it got a bit boring in the end. And since the pattern is called luxury cowl, I decided I had to do something to make it even more luxury: sew on some pearls around the edge. I actually added one more row of white pearls after taking the photo, mostly because I was at work at the museum and didn't have anything else to do since it was the day before Christmas Eve and NOBODY had time to come and visit a museum. But that was even better for me since I got my last presents finished AND had the time to make some small cards for the wrapped gifts.

Some presents, part 1

Finally I can start posting some of my latest finished knittings! Here's at first a Totoro hat that I made for my lovely little godson:

Pattern: Top Down Bonnet with Anime Character

Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä

Needles: 3,5 mm

I actually made it already during the summer when I had lots of time to knit. But now during the autumn when I've been watching him grow really fast, I've been afraid it'll be too small, even though I made the biggest size available! And, well, he did grow too fast. I just hope the hat will stretch a bit.

I also had the time to finish a phone cover for a friend. He just got a new phone with a big touch screen, so he wanted something to protect it from scratches.

Pattern: my own

Yarn: Novita Tennessee

Needles: 2 mm

I decided to improvise the pattern, and it wasn't even that hard. I just started with an invisible figure 8 -cast on with 13 + 13 stitches, and then increasing 2 stiches on both sides. After that, I knitted in stockinette stitch until it was big enough to fit the phone. 

Some autumn photos

I almost finished the essay I had to get done today, so now I'll finally allow myself to have a free afternoon. And guess what I'll be doing? This:

Chilling on the sofa, drinking tea and of course planning what to do with all my yarn. And then I'll try to finish a pair of mittens I promised to make for one of my friends already long ago. But better late than never, right? :)

Then I also managed to take some autumn pictures before all the bright colours rained away. I was a little bit dissapointed with the colours my camera showed me, though, so I have to admit that I slightly brightened them on my computer. The last pictures is taken with my phone, so I blame the weird colour (even after the first-aid session on the computer) on that.

But still they do look a little bit flat. I've been looking at photos taken by other people, and I've finally understood how important it is to have a good camera if you want to take nice pictures. Our small camera is ok if the light and everything is perfect, but if it's a little bit dark or the light is too bright, the pictures can turn out horrible. So next on my wishlist: a new camera. Let's see when on earth I can afford that one...

Seeking inspiration

The past few weeks have been so hectic that I haven't really had the time to do anything else than sleep and run from one place to another. All the spare time I've had, I've just been spending in front of the TV. Haven't even felt like knitting. All the project I have in progress felt so dull. But now I've finally found my inspiration again, and that is thanks to these:

I went to the library for no particular reason and a few moments later I found myself at the crafting section. Most of the knitting books were pretty old and didn't really have anything that interested me, but these books are different and I just had to borrow them and take them with me home. My aboslute favourites are Haiku Knits and Neulekirja. Haiku Knits has beautiful japanese-inspired knits and Neulekirja is a quite new finnish book with lovely, happy and slightly different patterns. I immediately had to start knitting on a pair of socks. I hope I'll be able to show them here soon.

Then I also did something I had promised not to do until I've used most of the yarn I already have in my stash: I went to the lovely Lankamaailma Nordia. It's the biggest yarn-shop in the Nordic countries. Therefor it's very deceiving and dangerous for my wallet. But now that I saw they had an autumn sale, I just couldn't resist. But I'm actually really proud that I managed to stick to yarns I already knew I needed for some specific projects. Here's what I came home with:

Looks so soft and lovely, doesn't it? Oh, I can't wait to see how they turn out in real, finished projects :) The yarn with the beads I actually got for free, so I don't yet what I'll use it for, but I'm sure it'll find its' place.

Now I have to study some more again, but I promise to catch up soon!

The owls are hooting in the morning mist

You remember the knitting project I started in July while I was at my parent's place? Well, I did finish the knitting part itself only three weeks from there, but then it took me ages to find the inspiration to "decorate" it. I've been working on it on and off every once in a while, but this morning I finally sewed on the last pearls. So here's the result:

The pattern is called Owls and I found it so cute that I just HAD to make one for myself. And I really like it. It's soft, warm and sweet :) Although the knit itself turned out a bit too loose, but I don't actually mind. At least the size fits perfectly. The original pattern suggested just buttons for eyes, but after looking at some other versions of this sweater, I decided to take it one step further:

Although these two owls are a bit special. There's one girl owl with eye-lashes and then a guy beside her that can't seem to believe his eyes :) The rest of the owls are just basics with eyes pointing to different directions. And then there's one owl with a beak.

The weather has also been lovely autumn-ish today. The mist never cleared, but the sun was still shining. I actually love this time of the year when the sun is getting a bit lower. It brings so wonderful colour-variations to the nature when the upper parts of the trees are coloured by the yellow sunlight while a shadow is covering the lover parts. I think it's really beautiful. And the mist makes the lanscape so mysterious. Lovely.

Weeruska!

I'm sorry that I haven't updated anything in two weeks, but I've just been so busy with studies, work and other stuff. And then, most of my freetime I've been working on my new knitting project. The minute I saw it on Jatta's blog last spring, I hoped she would write down the pattern for it, and finally, in August she did! So I've been knitting on it since then. Especially for the past week I've just been knitting, knitting and knitting as often as I had the chance, because it felt that since I was so close to finishing it, it was almost impossible to put it down and go to bed in the evening. But now, after hours of "hard work", it's finally finished! And I aboslutely LOVE it! It's wonderful!

It's not too hot since it has short sleeves, yet it's not too cold either since it's made out of woolen 7 Veljestä yarn by Novita.

Although, it ended up a few centimetres shorter than I had intended (I don't know if I miscalculated it or if my gauge was so different to Jatta's), so even though I wanted it to be a dress, I think I'll mosly use it as a tunic in stead. I don't like showing as much of my legs as I do now with it. But there's nothing wrong with a new knitted tunic either! Maybe I'll knit another version of this later and then I can make it longer.

This colorwork I actually had to redo once, since I knitted it too tight the first time. It felt horrible to rip it, but now I'm glad I did. It fits much better now :)

But in short, this Weeruska dress is most likely my favourite knitted project so far! It's aboslutely marvellous! <3

First sock!

Hehe, I finished my first sock ever! And it's knitted entirely at and for work. You see, at the Finnish Toy Museum they once in a while have these workshops for children where we make hobby horses (you know, a horse head on a stick), and for those workshops we need a lot of socks since the head is made out of a decorated sock. So, when somebody actually pays me to knit at work, it didn't take me long to grab some of the left over yarn and start my very first sock.

Since the yarn itself wasn't that pretty, I couldn't resist making a small heart-pattern above the toes, just to make it slightly more girlish :)

(And this, too, is a phone picture. Sorry)

I know it's a bit weird that I've knitted so many other things, but never socks. But the thing is that I've always had enough socks since my grandmother gave me a pair of those every Christmas, so there hasn't really been any reason to knit such things. But now that the first one is over and I noticed it wasn't hard at all, I might just knit some more socks. It was much easiler and faster than I thought. And now that I think of it, I would actually need a pair of slightly longer socks for my rubber boots... Preferably in a nice, autumn colour. Hmm...

Turquois!

I made a new necklace again, this time with turquoise and white pearls. I think it'll suit my black dress perfectly, since there's some embroidered turquoise flowers on it. And then I also already have matching earrings: the ones I made before the baptisme in july.

But here comes some photos of this new creation:

White pearls!

More pearls! :) I actually finished another necklace too:

(Note the panda looking over my shoulder ;))

The white pearls are actually rather old. I think they used to belong to my great grandmother Katarina but then she or my grandmother gave them to me already when I was pretty young. Then they've just been in my stash for years, waiting to be used for something. I'm glad they (or at least a few of them, I still have some pearls left) finally did find a new home.

Then I also used some golden and silvery sweetwater pearls, and they have a compleately different kind of story. When I worked at the Mustio Mannor a couple of years ago, we sold these bracelets made out of sweetwater pearls in different colours. The problem was that they used to break quite easily, making the pearls roll all over the room. Of course, we tried to gather all the pearls and send them back to where they came from, but there were always some pearls left behind. So, occasionaly, when I a few days later found one lonely, lost pearl on the floor, I put it in my pocket :)

Necklace in red

Yesterday I was reading some handicraft blogs again and found especially one that I liked very much. It's called Annan aarteet. She's got a beautiful blog, where she presents all her different crafts. Mostly jewelry and cards, but also some sewing and knitting. 

Once again inspired by all the lovely things I found around the web, I finally finished my first pearl necklace.

It's mostly made out of old pearls I found in my stash. I actually have quite a lot of them. When I was a teenager, I was really into this pearl-stuff so my mom bought me a lot of small glass pearls. Unfortunately I think my inspirations flew away after making only a few bracelets back then, but lately I've had some use for the pearls again in a lot of different crafts. Like this one :)

In case anyone's wondering, the music sheet underneath the necklace is Mozart's Fantasie in D minor :) I love playing that tune. It's really beautiful! But I really should practise it more... I never seem to learn some parts of it.

Cherry-berries

After surfing around on different handicraft-blogs, I got inspired and made a new pair of earrings. They're very simple and not at all like the fabulous creations on the blogs, but I like time anyway. They suit me. And I call then Cherry-berry earrings :)

I also started making a necklace, but that one isn't finished yet. I guess my inspiration just flew away...

Then I also got a (in my own opinion) splendid idea! I want to start a hobby-club! When I was out for a walk with a friend this afternoon, I told her about my idea, and now I already have one member! Yay! The idea for the concept is simply to have an excuse to meet friends more often. Everyone could bring some of their hobbies with them and then we could gather somewhere, maybe eat some good food and just spend time together. And as I'd like the club to be very liberal, a hobby wouldn't even be compulsory. Or you could bring a movie, or a book, or whatever! The most important thing would be to bring yourself. Tell me, isn't this a good idea? :)

Now, what could be a good name for the club...? Hmm...

(Almost) 100% homemade!

Inspired by a friend at work, I made som homemade muesli and I have to say it turned out delicious!

It contains four-grain flakes, cornflakes, hazelnuts, pinenuts, raisins, dried cranberries, dried bananas and some brown sugar. I roasted the nuts and flakes along with the sugar in the owen and then just mixed them up with all the other ingredients. Especially the cranberries where actually quite expensive, but I decided I could afford a more luxuary muesli-version this time. Maybe I'll make a cheaper version of it next time :)

Then I also made homemade hamburgers a while ago:

I even baked the bread myself. Homemade hamburgers are just so much better than what you get in e.g. McDonald's. There's no extra fat (or other suspicious stuff) and you can choose exactly what you want to have in it and how much of everything. Then I also made some spicy potato wedges as a side-dish to the burgers. Yummy. Cooking at home is just so great. ...As long as everything goes according to plan...

Summer!

Now, here comes the pictures I promised already a few days ago

I had planned to do all of this quite evenly while I was at my parents' place. But in stead of doing the most important thing, i.e. study the old letters for my master's thesis, I ended up knitting for most of the time. I think mt newest knit will be ready in just a few more days, yay! I'm so excited about it. I think it's going to be my favourite so far!

Then I also made a summer drink. It's a Pirkka-recipe (Hunajainen mansikkabooli) and was really easy to make. Just 1 l of apple juice, 1/2 dl of honey, 1 lemon and 1 l of strawberries cut in half. Then I put the whole thing in the fridge for a couple of hours and then added 1/2 l of sparkling water with the taste of forest fruits and some ice right before "serving" it. The next time I think I'll add a bit more lemon, because it was maybe too sweet like this, but nevertheless refreshing.

As the sun was shining on Sunday, I went out to take some pictures in the garden.

 

This is a some kind of a self portrait in the garden :D

But now I think I'll just let the garden speak for itself. First up something I think is like a small zen-garden, then just a lot of flowers :)

   

 

 

 

Summer means knitting for me...

...or at least kind of. During the summer I usually have more time to knit than during the winter when I have all my studies, so no wonder I finish more projects now. Here's the latest finished knitting project; a black shrug. I'm a bit unsure about the sleeves, I might redo them later and make them long after all.

It was a quick and easy pattern, really easy to follow and the size fits perfectly.

Then to some other news. As I told you earlier I applied for the class teaching program here at the University of Helsinki. The results came yesterday and unfortunately I wasn't accepted. I was 7 points away from the minimum 203 points needed. Of course I'm dissapointed but I guess I just have to try harder next year. At least now I'm prepared for the tricky interview. It's just that there's so much to read for the written exam, that I don't know how I'll make enough time for it next year. This spring I only had a few lessons and even so I felt I didn't have enough time to prepare. But next year it's full-time studying again so it'll be even harder. But there's no point in being miserable. The weather has been so wonderful in Finland this summer so I refuse to let it pass me by. I know some people already complain about the heat, but I think it's great. I'm glad it'll continue like this at least for a few weeks more. The only bad thing about it is that it's so hot inside too. Last night I woke up several times because of the heat and was sweaty all over. Yuck. Air conditioning would really be a great thing...

Well, better get back to work again :)

Champagne taste

Phew, it's been hot today. But it's nice too. I have this week off from work (except for tuesday and saturday) so I'm trying to get some work done on my master's thesis. It's just not that inspireing to sit inside by the computer when the sun is shining outside and it for once is warm even in Helsinki. I was outside for and hour and a half, but then I had to come inside again to prevent buring my skin. I'm still too white for this kind of weather since I've been working most of the sunny days so far.

I've had time to finish another handicraft too:

I'm not sure if I like this white purse or not. It's sweet but the shape is a bit... I don't know... Not like I pictured it anyway! But maybe I get used to it eventually.

You can also get a glimps of an impulse buy I made a couple of weeks ago, but here's a better picture:

It's a painting I saw in the shopwindow of a tiny, little shop a couple of blocks away from where I live. I love champage! :) Just haven't figured out where to put it yet, though. Maybe the kitchen? Or the bedroom since it's yellow? Hmm...

Baptism

I was to the baptism today. I think the hero of the day behaved real nicely even though he was a bit cranky in the beginning of the ceremony. But no wonder! I would be angry too if someone woke me up during my nap and then poured some water on my head :) Here's the little cutie when he was still asleep:


And here's our godparents' certificates. I actually never thought I'd get the chance to be a godmother since I don't have any siblings. But luckily I now have someone to spoil after all.


And now I think I also can reveal what I made for the little boy:


Of course he also got a silver spoon, these small bootees were only like a small bonus. I found them on Ravelry and couldn't resist them. I thouht they were so cute. I just hope they're not too small. The boy grows really fast, so there's a good chance he'll never have time to wear them... But well, no can do. I had fun knitting them anyway! :D