Poor models...

Just a small sneakpeak from behind the sceenes. Sometimes a sockmodel has to put up with quite much for a "good-enough picture". This, for example, was a very cold winter day with almost half a meter of snow on the ground. At least my fingers were quite cold once we got back inside... Not to mention the sockmodel's toes...

Yes, sometimes I knit socks too!

Look, I made two pairs of socks this winter!

Pattern: G. Pienikuvioinen kirjoneulesukka from Novita sukkalehti
Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä
Needles: 3 mm

Pattern: from my head
Yarn: Marks & Kattens Carolina Tweed and Novita 7 Veljestä
Needles: 3 mm

I made the green ones as a present, but I actually modified the pattern quite a lot :) I used thicker yarn, and didn't cover the whole sock in the diamond pattern. Only two diamond stripes and then some easy colourwork in between. 

The other ones were made for an introductory knitting course at the university. Or actually we had to make only one sock for the course, but then I decided to make a pair for it as well. In stead of a ribbing, I just worked a few cm in garter stitch around the ankle, which actually turned out quite nice. The yarn is horrible, though. 100% acrylic. Feels disgustingly plastic. But I chose it for the socks only because I wanted to get rid of it, and I didn't think I would use them anyway. But now that I have them, I thought they might as well serve as indoor summer socks for a while. At least they're not too warm... And now I'm also one step closer to using up all the leftover yarn in my stash! Yay!

Light spring breeze

This spring has been incredibly hectic, both at work, at home and in school. Sorry this blog almost died out because of that :) And since I haven't had time to update, most of my upcoming updates won't be of new finished projects but of older ones, photographed already during the winter... or autumn, as this one.

Last autumn I took an introduction course in weaving at the univeristy. And I have to say it was awesome! I've never tried weaving before (at least not since high school) but I LOVE IT! Too bad a loom is just a "little" bit too big for my living room ;)

This was my main project for the course:

My original plan was to make a small and light carpet for my living room. This finished carpet is 46 cm wide and 115 cm long. The yarn in the warp is Gianni Versace: Lane Profilia, 100% linnen. I got a box of this yarn from my aunt a few years ago. Haven't found any information about it, but the labels look quite old. So maybe my carpet is actually half-antique. Yay, suits an historian well ;) Anyway, I didn't know what to do with all of the yarn until this project came along, but it turned out to be perfect for it!

For the fill I used Drops Lin that's also 100% linnen. The green details are woven with Järbogarn: Lovikka, 100% wool. And even though the woolen yarn was very rough and nothing I would use for knitting, it actually turned out pretty nice with the linnen. It feels kind of soft now, which is pretty amazing, if you ask me!

Funny thing is that I actually didn't use this as a carpet after all. Everyone told me it was too beautiful to step on, so in stead I sometimes use it as a runner/tablecloth on my dining table. I'll show you pictures of it in use another time! :)

Here's a small detail of the braids in both ends of the carpet. Although now that it's a runner in stead, I think I might actually redo the loose warp ends... Just have to decide how...