Sunflowers

For a change I made a little table runner with sunflower blocks. No plaids this time, just solid colors.

These socks are like made for Easter, light and striped and yellow and white. We still have ice and snow, night temperatures down to - 10 C or so, and - 6 C in the mornings, so warm socks are a sensible choice. I used some leftover yellow yarn for the stripes of these socks. I had about half a meter of the yellow yarn left after the last row so I could see that it would not be enough for a row of yellow dots for both socks, and it was time to make the heels. As always, I knit both socks at the same time so I can see how far a yarn rest will take me.

This method helps me keep track on the number of rows and adding stitches or any other changes along the way, and both socks will look the same.

For this pair of men's socks I used the rest of  two different blue yarns together with the basic grey, which seems to be a trusted favorite among men.

And finally a pair of bed socks in natural white baby wool.

The pattern is not quite what I meant. I didn't remember exactly what the easy lace pattern from my school days looked like, so I (lazy as I was, I didn't go looking for my old notes or for that blog post in the link) just knitted something in that direction.

More purled stitches between the yo, 3 tog, yo repeats, and maybe a knit row or two would have made this look like the school project revisited, but I think this "new" lace is not too bad either. 

The knitting quilter's return

Somehow time just flew by and nothing happened here on the blog. Week by week it was more difficult to sit down and write. Naturally there was Christmas, and snow and darkness, and it was cold out there, and then it was so long ago I last time blogged, and there were no photos ... and so I just knitted and knitted ...

... and I found a new way to use my Grandmother's mitten patterns like this.

 

And for a third pair with the same yarns.

Then I knitted some socks for fundraising in the sports club's colors for our grandson's team.

I had some 9-patches left over from the RSC2022, and made some more in feminine plaids, and used up a light grey fabric for the alternating squares. This time the machine quilting was no problem.

I got a nice lap quilt made all from scraps and little bits, and I happened to have a lovely grey flannel with white dots, exactly the right size for the backing. As the Autumn's Joys quilt has already been sold for the Red Cross fundraising for Ukraine, there is and empty place on the shelf for this quilt. People seem to be ready to use their money for a good purpose.

Usually at this time of the year we have the first snowdrops peeking through snow in the garden, and pussy willows soft and furry, but this year we have had lots and lots of snow (which has almost melted 

away before there was more), and today it has been snowing again all day. The only migrant birds so far have been the whooper swans, looking for open water (not yet there) and inspecting their familiar nesting place. In a few weeks there must be more signs of Spring!

Back at the sewing machine again

For the first time in ages I have started a new quilt. It looks like little huts at dawn, doesn't it?

But it isn't, it is paper dolls holding hands! I used some vintage children's fabric for this, some summer frocks and nighties saved because of their pretty fabrics. Some fabrics are new, I didn't want to use the same fabric more than twice and there were not too many old fabrics available. My favourite is the yellow Moomin fabric in the bottom right corner, it used to be my summer frock before I went to school.

The Paper Dolls pattern is by Stephanie from Loft Creations and available here. I just made it a bit bigger. Apple sauce cooking came in the way and the quilt is still waiting for the batting and backing to be cut and layered and the rest.

Someone I know is getting married and I just heard about it last week. I wanted to get her a little gift, and as she is a fan of Harry Potter and the Moomins, I decided to make her some mug rugs and get her some Moomin tea bags, as I'm sure she has several Moomin mugs already. I had seen some great paper pieced Harry Potter blocks on Terri's blog, and she always linked them to Fandom In Stitches.

There I picked the easiest patterns and managed to make a Hogwarts Robe, the Golden Snitch, Sorting Hat and the Cauldron. For the backing I used my yellow Moomin fabric so she can use that side with her Moomin mugs.

New finishes

Remember the treasures my daughter sent me and I just found recently? The light beige knitting with needles sticking in was a beautiful lace scarf in the making, and the yarn lovely Rowan Kidsilk Haze. The reason it had remained a WIP was the complicated pattern with a hickup neither she or I could trace. I didn't want to waste the beautiful yarn so I unraveled her knitting as far as I could.

Because it is a mohair yarn, it was rather difficult to unravel, and I had to leave some of it as it was. Then I rinsed the skein I had made and dried it, and thinking of cobwebs on grass in an early morning I looked for a lace pattern I could keep track on.

Then I found this pattern, bought a number 4 circular needle that is as smooth as can be, and started knitting. I used all the yarn there was and was surprised to see how big the shawl finally was. light like a cobweb, a little over 60 grams I think it is.

Then I finally quilted the Windy Day quilt I made for our grandson number 2.

Detail of the fabrics.

Today I'm fighting with a puckering backing of the next quilt I'm trying to quilt on my machine. Rip, rip, rip ...

Blogger has stopped sending me the comments by email. It makes answering back more complicated, and I'm trying to change back to receiving them on my email again.

Edit: Now the comments are coming to my email again. Thank you for your help, Radka!

Plus size quilt top

Finally I have finished a new quilt top! I even managed to make a little dent in my recycled shirt stash with it. I used all kinds of  light greys and creams, and red plaids and one plain red, as this quilt is for the Finnish Red Cross. 

Getting that step out of the way, I can now concentrate on a baby quilt using these fabrics I have cherished for many years. It will be a boy quilt, with worms and bugs but also with some hearts or flower petals.

We have been travelling abroad too, and for the long waiting hours at airports I had of course a book but also a knitting. I knitted the striped chemo caps during the trip and the plain ones at home.

Two new baby hats have been finished too. There is a little yarn left from a 50 g ball in all my baby hat yarns, so I think there will be a pink-blue-and-white striped hat on the needles sooner or later.

The little misses Purple and Yellow spent a fine holiday in Lapland before Easter with their family, and the girls learned to ski, make snow castles, roll in the snow to refresh during a sauna bath, and to have Winter fun like native Finnish children. For this, the socks and mittens I knitted for them were naturally useful, and so they wanted to thank me with this:

100 % Irish wool to knit something for my own use! I think I need to dare take a step into the unknown and learn to knit some Celtic cables in a scarf or something like that.

Weather report: This morning we had -4C, today is sunny but not warm, on Wednesday we had rain for most of the day. The snowdrops and tiny yellow crocuses are the only flowers up in the garden. By the roadside we can see bright yellow coltsfoot dots where the sun has been shining.

Dots and dashes, socks and beanies, and finally something new

 After a long break I have been cutting my fabrics again. Reds and neutrals from the shirt boxes.

Squares and strips like dots and dashes. I wonder if this will be something in Morse code? I really liked Inspector Morse!

I knitted a plain pair of socks for little Miss Purple, because her little sister was going to get one,

and a striped pair for little Miss Yellow, because there was a striped pair for her big sister.

The chemo caps are easy and fun to knit. This one took a little more than one ball of yarn 

so I used this pattern with less stitches and made an XS size in straw yellow.

This is the "new" I'm learning. In fact this technique, nalbinding or nalebinding, in Finnish neulakinnastekniikka, is ancient and much older than knitting or crochet.

It has been used to make mittens and socks and hats. This is the longest chain of first stitches I have managed to make so far. The idea came from Melanie, and we are learning together with Tracy in Norway, all of us total beginners. In Finland this technique has been used up to WWII and the last masters have passed it on to new generations. I have been asking around, but several friends who have studied handicrafts only remember they learned the basics during their studies but didn't make it a hobby. My mother had taken a class in nalbinding as well, and made a lovely, beautiful pair of mittens nobody was allowed to wear as she had won a price with them at some contest. At that time I was too young to be interested in learning something so old and slow. At least I have her needle and some papers from her class. I hope to be able to show you a chain in the "Finnish stitch", and maybe a second row as well. Our first stitch to learn has been the Oslo stitch.

Autumn is here

In an earlier post I mentioned that our strawberries in the flowerbed keep making berries until September. Well, it is October now, a quarter of it gone, and there still are strawberries slowly ripening! The taste is not what it used to be, but they are edible.

I have been away from home for a while and therefore not so busy with quilting or knitting, but managed to finish a pair of socks in Autumn colours

once again in my favourite colour combination.

Then I almost used up some rest balls to make these socks with my own grandmother's pattern.

That is all new finishes, but I can show a picture of my blue and white quilt with the quilting and binding on. It is now hanging in Villa Cooper, where visitors can vote for their favourite gift for Finland's 100th Anniversary.

The Autumn has been very rainy, but luckily the leaves shine bright when there is just a ray of sunshine coming through the clouds.

The last flowers in the garden

Here is exactly 20% of our apple harvest, so I'm not cooking any apple sauce this year!

Border blocks for the new quilt

The yellow, blue and white quilt is getting some borders.

These blocks will be 4" finished.

Socks of the week with half fisherman's rib in two colours. The rib is thick and warm and nice. Socks for a fashionable young girl who goes out with bare ankles even in cold weather.

Knitted in Schachenmayr's Regia 4-ply wool, perfect for socks you want to wear with regular shoes.

Our tiny strawberries. I get a handful every day, from the end of July to mid September.

February fun and some garment sewing

Believe it or not, I don't just sit and knit socks. Before Christmas I did some creative work and designed a protective garment for a very young artist as a Christmas gift.

I used a little girl's dress pattern but  as this is supposed to be an apron with sleeves, the back covers just the shoulders. The material is PU coated so the little guy will remain dry even when he uses watercolours.

Then I have been working on the Splendids again:

As I was itching to see what the suggested sashings would look like, I tried them on a new block:

And I crabbed some more blocks to see how they work together. It seems that my shadow grey is very close to a solid light blue I have used for the blocks and therefore a darker colour would have looked better.

This is what I bought and cut so this it is going to be.

Naturally I have been knitting too, so ten new pairs of baby socks are ready to be delivered.

My very pale blue 100% wool is almost used up, but no end of the project is in sight:

My sister P who is not a knitter, wanted to participate in this national project and bought four big balls of sock wool in blue and white for me to knit on her behalf. This means about 20 or more pairs of new socks. Luckily the Eurosport channel offers so much snooker, tennis and cycling that I will have a cozy time with Mr. K by my side and a knitting in my hands.