Merry Christmas!

Lämpö for Valokuvatortai.


This picture was taken around a year ago. My boyfriend's parents own this living room and the dog. With this picture I want to wish the best Christmas to everyone! Hyvää joulua! (Finnish) And of course Nollaig Shona! (Irish)

Brighter colours for grey winter days

The days are shorter and shorter even here in Ireland and the world outside of the house is grey. It's raining often or the sky is just full of dark clouds. It is so nice just to make a lovely fire and stay at home maybe watching your favourite TV show and of course eating lovely foods and drinking many litres of tea.

You could also spend your time knitting something bright to warm up your frozen feet. What would be nicer than a pair of socks or leg warmers? They would make a perfect Christmas present as well. These two projects are very very easy, but I think this kind of multi colours look the best with a simple pattern.

Red Winter Socks


Pattern: my own.
Yarn: Araucania Ranco Solid. 75 % wool, 25 % polyamide.


Noro Legwarmers


Pattern: my own, at least doesn't remember seen something similar.
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, 100 % wool, colour 220.

Valokuvatorstai 110.

Valokuvatorstai challenge Glass.

World

My cousin is stuck in Bangkok and his sister is in Mumbai, if I remember right. Maybe I am from a family of trouble makers...

Where to start?

I have so many projects going on at the moment (house, studying, knitting etc.), but just don't know where to start. Then I just get angry at myself because of being lazy. I actually tried to paint some room in this house the other day. We have so much to paint here. I opened the windows and that room was very well ventilated, but the smell of paint felt me feel so sick in my stomach (not pregnant as I know!) and I had to stop doing that. This house will look very nice, when everything is done!

I have read some old posts of mine and can't believe how many mistakes I am making. One reason to that is laziness. I just write and post without reading it properly through. I mean, I mostly can write the words how they should be, but the grammar; articles and prepositions being my weakest part. I also would like to have a bigger active vocabulary in English. I have a huge passive vocabulary, but... I can read very difficult and complicated language, but to produce good written English is different thing. I am reading books mainly in English these days and live in an English-speaking country (some Irish people don't like that expression). Writing, writing. That's the best way to make a better writer. Engrish always helps, when I think my English is crap. It really makes me laugh every time.☺ There are some other people making mistakes and even funnier than mine!

Valokuvatorstai 108.

3 photos for this week's Valokuvatorstai challenge.







Location: Kinsale Old Head, Co. Cork, Ireland.

Finnish Art in Dublin

Virginie by Albert Edelfelt. Photo from here.

Good news for all Finns in Ireland and those, who are interested in Finnish culture. The National Gallery of Ireland is hosting an exhibition of Finnish Art. The Exhibition is called Northern Stars and Southern Lights: The Golden Age of Finnish Art 1870-1920. There are works for example from Albert Edelfelt, Akseli-Gallela, Pekka Halonen and other painters, whose works almost every Finnish person must have seen somewhere. At least in the History books at school, if nowhere else. However these artists are not that famous in other countries. The exhibition started last weekend and will be open until beginning of February next year. I am definitely going to see it, maybe on my next trip to Dublin. I think I have seen many of those paintings in Finland, but I think there are still I haven't seen before. So more about it later.

New look for my blog

I am going to do some changes on this blog soon. I am getting tired of this current look of my blog, it looks really boring at the moment and doesn't inspire me to write very much. I would like to make it look a bit different. I have some ideas, but my skills are not enough to make it as I wanted, but I am going to try.

I want to wish Happy Halloween to everybody!

Holiday knitting

On my visit to Finland I had also some time knit. I didn't have to buy any new yarn though. I had some stash back there in my parents house and I used also some of my mam's yarn (of course asking first).

Stripy poncho-kind-of-thing

This poncho was just kind of knitting what I just started doing from top to bottom without measuring and checking any other patterns. I also did some crocheting for the top and bottom parts of the thing. It is not very wide, but not as tight as it looks in this picture. Maybe I actually could have made it a bit shorter. Everybody was laughing at my silly projects. Hmm, maybe I won't find very much use for it, or maybe wearing it on cold winter nights when watching telly. We'll see. The other projects were actually a bit more practical.


Purple-grey-black Mittens

Pattern: my own.
Yarn: some old left-over Novita Nalle.

Grey-white Mittens





Pattern: my own.
Yarn: some old left-over Novita Nalle.


Fingerless Mittens


Pattern: my own.
Yarn: Novita Nalle and something unknown.

Valokuvatorstai 107.

Valokuvatorstai 107."Silta nykyaikaan."

Some silly cat etc.

Back to Ireland now, but I have still got loads of pictures from Finland in my camera.



Some beanie I made many years ago. I think I took my inspiration from some Finnish knitting magazine, but did lot of changes to the original pattern. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of some other old projects, so I'll add some photos of Milli instead. Milli loves warm places and sunshine.

PS. I seem not to be able to change the font now. Sometimes I really love Blogger...

Old school works

As I am now in Finland and visiting my parent's home, it is good time to make a post about my old works I made at school. I am going to make another post of some other old stuff later.

I made this hand towel when I was about 11 years old. Every girl in my class had to make similar one. This crocheted part has suffered a bit in washing machine. I really have used this towel.

My first pair of socks I ever knit. I was 12 years old. They were too small for me, but my sister and brother used to wear them, when they were small. So they don't look that nice any more. I think they are pure wool, but I am not 100% sure.

This jumper was one of those school works we could choose voluntarily. I was 14-15 years old. This is not my first jumper, but the very first one is gone, disappeared. I think the pattern for this jumper was from the German Burda magazine or something. I used alpaca and wool yarns. This was for my little sister, who used to wear it quite often.

A bit closer look to that previous jumper.

This cable jumper was made about the same time as the previous one. It has been used by two of my little sisters. So it has strechted a lot. The yarn is cotton. I think the arm holes look a bit strange, but otherwise not too bad for a teenager.

I think I am much lazier these days knitting mostly socks or mittens. I really should start making something bigger again.

Valokuvatorstai 104.

Valokuvatorstai "Kiltti". (kiltti=kind, good etc.) He is a good boy at least once a year...

Totoro etc.

I am still in Finland and as everybody else is working or at school I sometimes feel a bit bored, so what could be better than do some knitting and other crafts.

I never knit any toys before, so I gave a try. Totoro, a Japanese cartoon character, is just so cute. It looks a bit like a rabbit, but I am not sure, what it actually is. My Totoro looks definitely more like a rabbit. (and doesn't look very well made) I used some old yarn from my mam's stash. I think the white and grey are Seitsemän Veljestä and black one is something else.

Totoro


Pattern: my own.
Yarn: Seitsemän Veljestä etc. old leftover yarn.

I think next I am going to make a post of my old works. I found my first wool socks I made about 19 years ago and some old jumpers.

In Finland

It's been some weeks since my last post. I am in Finland now, have been actually over 2 weeks now. It's been nice to see everybody and weather hasn't been too bad.

At the moment still feeling horrified because of the shooting in Kauhajoki. My sister actually knows somehow the partner of one of the victims. So sad. They should really make it very very difficult to get any guns. I never actually understood someone's interest in guns. Guns are evil. My family has never been interested in guns. We don't have any guns at home. I know some people who go hunting, but nobody who is doing shooting just for fun.

Maybe the biggest problem is the Finnish society. That guy like the previous shooter had been bullied a lot. I think a lot of Finnish men seem not to speak very much of their emotions and troubles, just keeping everything inside. But not every bullied man shows their long hidden anger that way. Some people get other mental problems. I think schools should take bullying more seriously and also the mental health services should be more extense, easily available for anyone. It is not only the problem of schools but also work places and other areas of society. We should make the life bearable for everybody. I wish this would change something and this kind of things could be prevented.

Celtic inspirations

I am going to Finland for a month in two weeks time. I can't wait since I have been a bit homesick lately. It is so nice to go home and see everybody and see all the changes that happened there when I was away. Last time I was there at Christmas time. In last 4 years have spent about 6 months altogether in Finland. Sometimes I really feel like a foreigner there. I keep saying "sorry" to everybody I push accidentally or who push me and use it too much altogether for the Finns. I keep door open for the next one coming after me. Nobody says anything and other people slam it to my face. I forget to weight all the fruits and vegetables and tag them before going to the till. Anyway it is nice to go there after so many months.

My biggest knitting project (I have to say) this summer has been these brown socks, which are made of Wollmeise yarn I ordered last year. They have taken forever to make with small needles, but some weeks I didn't actually do anything for them. Actually I am making the other one again, because I wasn't very happy with it. I have never made that short socks before. I thought some cable things would look nice with these sock. As I am in Ireland Celtic Cable stitch was my choice. :) I have made them just by measuring on my foot. That's the way I seem to be doing most of my small knitting projects. I think I call them Brick socks because of the color. Other name could have been in something Irish, if I knew it a bit more. I think they definitely look celtic.

Brick socks



Pattern: my own.
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle (sock yarn) 80/20, Spice market.

Summer

This summer has been quite busy actually. I haven't had any holidays, what is not too bad because of the weather. I am actually planning to leave my job soon and go traveling for a couple of months. I am planning to visit my family and then go somewhere really hot. I want to have some real summer without constant rain. There have been a lot of things to do. I haven't done very much knitting and other crafts lately, just some socks and curtains. However there are lot of projects waiting to be done, knitting and sewing ones. Many little babies are waiting something cute. I was also asked to make a jumper for a man. No shortage of the ideas anyway.

The white net I made for our living room window using my new sewing machine.



My boyfriend's little nieces were visiting Ireland in July.



Where is the sun gone? We don't want any more rain...

New sewing machine

Last weekend I bought a sewing machine, my first ever. It is Singer Confidence 7463. I have been only using someone else's machines before and it is really handy to have your own. I already made a little light curtain (net?) for the living room window and was happy with that machine. It is easy to use. So I have been happy so far. I actually have some other works, what need to be done. I have to sew more curtains and there are some clothes waiting to get altered or fixed. It is so different to use that machine than the probably 50-years-old machine I was using lately, which belongs to my boyfriend's grandmother.

Waiting for the really hot summer days, if we get them here in Ireland at all this summer.

Creative moment

The other day I felt violent. I took my knife and...cut some old magazines. I wanted to test my new craft knife. I made two little things just cutting the paper. First I drew the lines of the figures on the selected pages of magazines. Then cut them with that knife and glued the pieces on white sheets. Simple. A nice and quick way to make something to hang on the walls. You could even change the pictures every day.

Three birds.



Sail away.

Blankets

I am not very good at crocheting, but have made two big (simple) blankets of left-over yarns. That was the autumn 2005, when I was still living in Finland. Some of this yarns are from my mother and late grandmother. So some of the yarns I used were really old and used for something else before. The quality of the pictures is not great. They are taken with my old camera in the wintertime.

The first one is made of different pieces with different colors and shapes. I personally like this one very much.

Whole blanket before it was completely finished, but this is how it looks like.




I gave the blanket to my parents. The cats seemed to like it as well.

After the first blanket there were still loads of yarn left, so decided to make another one. This one is made in one piece. It was kind of mindless crocheting. I didn't have any clue, how would it look like at the end. It was fun to make, even thought at the end it felt quite heavy to crochet. So my family (and cats) got another blanket. They have used them actually very much. So everybody is happy.

Stardust or something else?

I made this little Stardust cardigan from Knitty. I finished it a few weeks ago, but the photos were waiting to get transfered into the computer. If you compare my pictures with those Knitty ones you can see I didn't follow the instructions. First of all my yarn was thicker alpaca (Artesano, Inca Cloud, same as the mittens in the previous post). Then I decided to make it without the sleeves. I thought the sleeves would have made it look too heavy. So it is not actually any cardigan anymore. I also realized that the ties look better at the back. In front they would look a bit too heavy. I am actually quite happy with it, even thought it is not the best time to wear it at the moment. It is a bit too warm.

Me in our back garden.

Pattern: Stardust, Knitty, with some changes.
Yarn: Artesano Alpaca, Inca Cloud.




Too heavy looking ties in the front.



My way to tie the Stardust.