Knitting Tour 2017

Like every year in July, I need a knitting project for the many hours I am going to spend with Mr K. watching the Tour de France cycling race. This is the first pair of socks I finished - yes, I know, you have seen three similar pairs already but again the heel is different and this time the leg part is longer than usual.

Next I wanted a pair for little feet, for some 3 or 4 years old person who might love roses and red.

The next pair is again a pattern I used last year already, but I like the bubbles and I like these colours together.

The next pair is on the needles. Today's ride is not a bad one, moderate hills only.

I'll leave you with another picture of our Flammentanz rose, without socks this time. Have a nice weekend!

Tour de Fibre 20 - more stitching

Yesterday's post reminded me of the Scandinavian Christmas quilt I was stitching last year as a part of the Tour de Fibre 2012. I took out another Lynette Anderson project, Scandinavian Snowball Fun, that I was going to stitch together with Melanie last Autumn. Life (and the opposite) happened, and I couldn't get my project started. Melanie has finished ages ago but said she will keep her project secret until I'm ready.

 

 

So I have built a cosy nest on the sofa, where I'm surrounded by the pattern sheets, three snowball blocks to stitch, and my floss and thimbles and needles.

 

I had prepared the blocks months ago but for some reason - again - didn't proceed. I know I have too little dark red floss, so I have stitched on all the blocks with other colours and keep on doing so until on Monday I can buy that missing floss. There is still so much to stitch here! The long  Eurosport broadcasts from the Tour de France in the Alps have been just perfect for this project. Yesterday the Finnish reporters told about a lady who was supposedly knitting on her 4th sweater during the Tour, and they found the idea quite hilarious. They immediately imagined a family wearing a yellow, green, white and dotty sweater. How little do they know! In addition to our Tour de Fibre I have seen a Tour de Fleece for spinners - and they were not having a spinning group at a gym, but making yarn - and there must be other more or less loosely formed groups, who all combine the great cycling event with things to do with their hands while watching. Three weeks of intensive work on old and new projects mean good results! A stitchery in the hand also prevents me from eating all the time quite efficiently.

 

In the garden the hosta is in bloom. We planted 5 plants of 4 different species of hosta some three years ago, and it looks like we have to give them a little more space and replant some of them in a new place.

Time to smell the flowers

The end of the Tour was exhausting and I was too tired to even report for the final stage. Instead, I took time to smell the flowers, or at least see and notice them. My favourite bellflower the Campanula persicifolia, or "the crane's bellflower" in Finnish. Cats, magpies, deer, elks, goats, foals and even old men have their own bellflowers in Finnish.

Prunella vulgaris (common self-heal) colours our lawn with beautiful purple. Finding the link for you I learnt that this flower is edible. I have not yet tasted!

On a little shopping trip I found these delicious Autumn fabrics 20 % off the price. I tried to explain to Mr. K that 6 fabrics with 20 % off the price would mean a discount of 120 %, but he is so good with numbers that he didn't believe me.

My blanket has grown a little even after the TdF. I pick up the stitches by the side of a knitted square and join the last stitch at the end of the row to the other square's finishing row, so there will be no sewing the squares together.

This was my secret sewing during the Tour, a clothes pin apron for Simone for her birthday.

TdF day 18 and 19 - Book hunting and knitting (again)

On Friday my blanket was at this stage.

We made a little Summer trip to Hämeenlinna, a city about one hour from us.

The church is from 1798. This Summer cafe is to the left of the church.

We wanted to continue our book hunting. Mr. K. had better luck than I, but I was happy to find a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in very good condition.

Yesterday was spent recovering from the trip and a lunch in town, so this post covers two days of the Tour. The knitting has grown a little:

New flowers have opened their buds in our garden:

TdF day 17 - foggy day

The Tour was riding through fog yesterday. Our views are foggy too, as the new windows are covered with plastic as long as the house painters have finished their job. The new blanket is growing.

I added a white first border to the Helping Hands quilt

and now I'm going through my stash for ideas for a wider border.

TdF day 16 - knittings out of the house

I promise this is the last you will see of my baby hats. I took the lot to the local maternity ward yesterday. 31 in all, if you want to know. And even if you don't. Wool, cotton and bamboo yarns, and a set of 4 in baby acrylic.

Four knitted blankets, these are all in baby acrylic.

Five tiny preemie quilts from earlier this year, one of my PIPs.

And finally the Angel Pods.

The nurses were pleased to receive all this. More than 1,000 babies come to the world there every year. They are getting hats from other knitters too.

The Tour was too exciting yesterday , I had to watch it from the beginning to the end. The Col du Tourmalet is the first thing I remember about this Tour from many many years back. All I can do without constantly looking at my hands is knitting, so here is the result:

I had about half of the blue square knitted on the rest day, and finished last night when the red square was ready. I have several balls of both yarns so this will be a red and blue blanket.

Our apple trees are full of promises of apples. Last year there was hardly anything, so this year my cellar will be filled with apple sauce jars again.

TdF day 15 - knitted minestrone

Yesterday's knitting was just using up the waste ends of the smallest rests of yarn:

You can read more about this yarn soup on the other blog I have joined. The group is "full" now, but you are free to steal the idea.

I have also been sewing but it is a secret project. What about our yellow rose instead:

Today the cyclists are resting and so do I. See you on Thursday!

TdF day 14 - knitting again

I knitted my first square for a baby blanket. I was shocked about the sabotage on the other Tour.

TdF day 13 - cotton stripes

Approaching the Mediterranean, I thought a cotton knit would be cooler. This will definitely be the last baby hat for now, before some new yarn jumps my way.

We are having typical summer weather, alternating sun and rain. The grey clouds look so dark when there is a little sunshine. At the moment it is pouring again.

TdF day 12 - The last pink one, with yellow

I weighed the last ball rest of the pink yarn, and added the pale yellow yarn I had left, and knew I could make yet another preemie beanie/cap/hat (pick the name you prefer, I call them myssy):

Mango and strawberry ice cream, don't you think?

Wild strawberries from our back yard this morning. Yummy!

Did you see what happened to David Moncoutie yesterday on the Tour? Broken collarbone and bleeding all over. If this can happen to experienced cyclists, can you wonder why I never learnt to ride a bicycle. When trying to learn as a kid, I fell over at least twice, and the second time I was bleeding. Who knows what could have happened the third time. Better safe than sorry.

TdF day 11 - Madeleine

The first BIG summit yesterday was Col de la Madeleine, and I thought it would be a nice name for this heart pattern I designed. The last rest of the pink yarn was 5.8 g, not enough for even a tiny hat. Luckily I had a last rest of the yellow fine yarn as well, so a new hat is being knitted today.

TdF day 10 - Helping Hands progress

Tuesday was rest day and this is my Wednesday TdF post. With no TV on Tuesday, I managed to spend some time at the cutting table and sewing machine. I matched some solids for sashings:

and put together the Helping Hands quilt. The top is hanging in the window, the horizontal stripes are from the blinds.

Here a closer view. What next? I need borders and outer borders to make the quilt bigger.

The obligatory preemie hat of the day:

Today there will be some serious mountains to reach! Happy Tour to you all.

TdF day 9 - pink

A new preemie hat on the needles.

TdF day 8 - still knitting

Yesterday on TV there was the F1 race going on at Silverstone at the same time as the Tour de France climbed mountains in Switzerland. At times I concentrated on closing my ears and keeping my eyes on the knitting, and when the cycling was on, I just enjoyed the combination of Eurosport and knitting. I tiny hickup happened with the pattern but this time I decided it can be left as it is.

The first tiny tomatoes are there. If you look carefully, you can see there is one against the stem on the left.

TdF day 7 - Grandmother's knitting pattern

Some time ago I showed the unfinished mittens I have kept as a piece of history. Yesterday I took my knitting needles and some yarn ends and started experimenting. This was my first try but something went wrong and I started again.

This time I believed in myself and solved the mystery. You only use one colour at a time, knit all rows and change colour after two rows. Number of stitches can be divided by 4. So here it goes: knit two rows in colour 1 (my red), then  row 3: *knit 3 stitches in colour 2 (white), lift one* repeat to the end of the row. Row 4: knit all white stitches, lift the red stitch with the yarn on your side of the stitch, repeat to the end of the row. Row 5: Change to colour 1, knit 1, *lift 1, knit 3*, knit the last stitches of the row. Row 6: Knit all red stitches, lift the white as on  row 4. Repeat the rows 3 to 6.

My pattern writing language is not what the patterns usually are, but if yo really are interested, just try to follow it and write it for yourself in the correct language. As you can see, I can now knit like my grandmother used to:

The 3-coloured pattern was easier. I must be knitted in circular rounds either on DPNs or a circular needle. Again, only one colour is used at a time, and number of stitches something by 4. Row 1, knit in the background colour. Row 2:* knit in colour 1 (red) 3 stitches, lift one*, repeat. Row 3: like row 3, you will lift the same white stitches. Row 4: knit all stitches in background colour (white). Row 5: knit in colour 2 (blue): knit one, lift one., *knit 3, lift one*, and knit the last two stitches in blue. Row 6: Like row 5. Repeat the rows 1 to 6.  - Both patterns make the mittens warmer than just plain stitching, and there are no long yarns inside to catch the little fingers.

After the fine wool I wanted to knit something with bigger needles. I used all my colourful cotton ball ends, starting at the top with the tiniest scraps:

This hat will be for a strong little baby.

Today "we" will be cycling in the mountains again.

TdF day 6 - baby hat

The 6th day of the Tour was warm and sunny here. The cyclists were approaching the mountains and that will make watching them more interesting. I worked only on the knitting project and finished the pink hat finally.

This is the 25th preemie hat I made this Spring and Summer, and as you can see the collection calls for some more pink hats. The 50 g ball has 310 m yarn so I think I can make two, maybe three more.

Have you seen the other Tour de Fibre projects? List of links is here or here.

Tour de Fibre day 5 - SC finish and some knitting

Yesterday's cycling was nothing too dramatic, and as I don't have any countrymen participating, there is no extra excitement. Therefore I managed to get my Scandinavian Christmas quilt officially finished, with binding, label and sleeve. 

Today is cloudy so the picture quality is what it is. You have seen close-ups of the blocks during the SAL so I will not bore you with new ones. On my sidebar under the Scandinavian Christmas button are all the links to the 7 stitchers who have told me or Melanie that they are playing with us. Each link is to the latest post of the block in question. If I have missed your post, please let me know and I'll add the new link. This has been a demanding project with lots of work, but also satisfied feelings after a goal has been reached. Without the group's support I would not have finished the quilt for a long time, and I hope my finish will encourage others to keep up their good work.

For the rest of the evening I continued work on the baby hat. You can see on my ball of yarn how much I still have to knit to get where I was before unknitting the enormous hat with a dropped stitch.

Finally a peek in the garden; the hosta is about to show its pale flowers: