Miss Bambi - DIY ring

I think this might be the cutest ring I've ever had! Bambi <3

Originally it was one of my colleagues at work that came up with the idea for a ring like this but I thought it was such a great idea that I wanted to make one for myself too. And since it wasn't at all hard to make, I thought I migth as well share some simple instructions with you too.

This is all you need:

Scissors
Glue
A ring base
A decorative glass stone
A small-enough picture

I didn't find a picture I wanted in magazines, so I simply printed one out from the internet. But remember, it has to be small enough to fit the ring base. Once you've cut it out, glue it to the ring base. Then, put glue only around the edges of the picture and press the glass stone on top of that. This will prevent the glue to blur out the picture. Last but not least, let the ring dry and then it's ready to be shown off to everyone you know! :)

More weft rags in a summer cinema!

Well, this was a slightly different project... At the museum I work in we have a summer cinema in the old drying barn where we show old finnish ethnographic movies in July. Therefore the four old wooden benches we found for it needed some soft covers. And fast. We had only one week left to the first show. But everyone started crocheting in superspeed and we actually made it!

This was a super easy, fast and relaxing project. And I really think they turned out pretty cute. They look a little bit like crochet rag rugs, just like the real rag rugs in the main museum building. We made them 30 cm wide and 240 cm long, and then just tied them to the bench as shown in the pictures.

But how can a project be relaxing even though we were in such a hurry? Well, the only thing we planned and decided on was the size and that we were going to use weft rags. The rest was just improvising. And it felt quite nice to actually, for once, just go with the flow without thinking too much. You just pick whatever colour that looks the nicest at the moment and go with it. And it didn't matter if the edges weren't perfect, because they were hidden underneath the bench anyway. All of us really got hooked to this project, and now that it's done, it almost feels a little bit dissapointing. What should we do now? Some more benches that needs covers, perhaps? Please? There's still some weft rags left, you know... ;)

Piece of cake!

Last monday I had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate my birthday. Very rare delicacy, only happens once a year. What made this year more special was the cake I made for the first time ever: a pancake cake! Yummy yum!

Wonderful blueberries on top and jam and whipped cream as filling. Tasted like heaven.

Perhaps inspired by that sensational taste and the colours, I made these super easy and soft summer accessories the day after:

Want to make some of your own? Do so, it's the easiest piece of accessory you've ever made, I promise! As yarn I used some tricot weft rags and the hook was size 10. Then you just crochet a chain as long as you want, leave a 10 cm tail in both ends and put a ribbon on it. And voilà! Doesn't take more than 10 min to make a whole set. See? A piece of cake! :)

Snowflake dress

Well, now that I study handicrafts at the university, I have to do stuff I normally don't do. Like sewing. I think I've only made one or two garments since the compulsory ones in highschool, and even those were a very simple skirt and a very ugly dress. So when I heard we'd have to plan and sew a dress (or a skirt + a blouse) and even draw the patterns ourselves, I felt very unsure of my own skills. And actually still feel. But this is the result, anyway.

I was quite surprised that it turned out this well. I totally exceeded my expectations. And I was quite proud of it at first. But then my teacher found a thousand flaws in it. And as the perfectionist I am (or at least on some level), it kind of changed my opinion about the whole dress after that. But perhaps, if I'll let it hang in my wardrobe long enough, I'll start liking it again?

Anyway. It's quite a simple model, the only details being the pockets and the snowflakes and the vintage buttons as decorations.

Pattern: Windom Peak Snowflake
Yarn: Novita Tico Tico
Hook: 2,5

And if you wonder where the beautiful background is, it's in Espoo, at Villa Elfvik.

(By the way, this time I was the poor model. It was freeeeeezing outside that day!)

Roses on rocks

For the past three weeks I'll just been knitting, knitting and knitting. A deadline really is the best way to get things done! You see, I signed up as a testknitter for a new cardigan pattern, and the testknit had to be finished yesterday. And eventhough I still have some things from the winter to show you, I decided to let this one go first:

Pattern: Rock Rose Cardigan by schneckenstrick
Yarn: Novita 7 Veljestä, beige
Needles: 4 mm
In Ravelry

I'm very pleased with the result. This is a perfect cardigan for a chilly summer evening! The pattern was also very well written and easy to follow. Only the rose pattern was actually quite annoying to knit at first, but then I got used to it.

The cardigan is knitted from the top down and it's compleatly seamless (me likes!). In fact, this time I made only two minor modifications: I added some waist shaping and some length to both the sleeves and the cardigan itself. What was even more perfect, was that I also managed to use up some of my stash of yarns! Yay!

So far I've only been knitting sweaters using a rather thick yarn (or well, Tender lavender being one exception to the rule), so I was actually quite terrified at the beginnin. After two weeks of knitting I was sure I wouldn't be able to finish it in time. But there I was yesterday, ready to shoot pictures of a brand new cardigan!

I'm not that sure of the buttons, though. I found them in my mom's old stash and they are perhaps a little bit too "bling" for my taste. But I'll see. They were after all the easiest part of the cardigan, so it won't be hard to change them later if I feel like it.

As a bonus picture I'd like to present a quite new friend of my: Miss Owly. She's making sure I always know what time it is. Sweet, isn't she? And I'm just crazy about owls. Funny thing I actually don't have that many things with owls. At least not yet... :)

Hoot hoot!

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...

Not far now!

The summer, I mean! Stay strong!

That was summer 2012 in Finland, Denmark and Slovenia. Let's hope this summer will be as beautiful as that one!

Branches in the snow

Or actually branches waiting for snow, as these were photographed already in September when the leaves in the trees where just so wonderfully beautiful.

If you look closer at the pattern, you'll perhaps notice I've used it before in this sweater two years ago. Back then I fell in love with the owls, but even though I'm still crazy about owls, I decided I didn't need another hooting sweater. But since I still think the pattern is really good, I wanted to follow it anyway. Just leaving out the animals. And moving the waist shaping a little bit closer to the sides.

Pattern: Owls by Kate Davies

Yarn: Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Chunky

Needles: 6 mm

In Ravelry

The Rowan yarn is absolutely LOVELY. 100 % wool and still so amazingly soft! Doesn't itch at all! It's a shame it's so expensive... This stash was brough to me by my parents last time they were in London. So thank you for that!

Warm and comfy! Just what I need when there's still a lot of winter left <3