Christmas came early

I'm one of those people for whom the words "Secret Santa" only bring up memories of awkward, random gift swaps at school in which no-one ever got what they really wanted or even liked.

This year I thought I'd throw caution to the wind and take part in the Secret Santa among Finnish Ravelry users. After all, the worst that could come out of it is acrylic, right?

I received my Christmas parcel today and (me being me) I opened it right away. I was thrilled!


I got a yummy skein of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (70% extrafine merino / 30% silk) in a gorgeous blended earthtone colourway (9254). I also got stitch markers for bigger needles, as per my letter to Santa, and not one but two pairs of earrings, which were also on my wish list! In addition to these, I received hazelnut chocolate (yumm-o!) and a lovely pattern for a ruffled scarf.

As a surprise, Kerri and Miina received a present too; the parcel had one special gift tagged with an image of a cat, with instructions that the one tagged gift was to be opened by the pictured recipient. Inside was a fascinating woollen mouse toy that rattles (!), instantly grabbing their attention.

(Miina was slightly intimidated by the size of the mouse - nearly as big as her head - but she appeared to feel courageous enough to swat at it from the safety of under the chair.)

What an awesome headstart to Christmas!

Writing this, I realised that I don't think I have introduced little Miina to you at all! We got her a few weeks back, a bit of a roundabout way: the queen of a friend of my sister's friend (are you following this?) was producing a litter with the tom of said sister's friend. One of the kittens needed a home and we had kitten fever, so we went to see her and came home having decided to adopt her!

She's a gray-ish brown tabby girl who looks a lot like a Norwegian Forest Cat although as far as we know she has no such blood in her. She's a sweetheart and will start purring if you just look at her. She also loves to shred paper (all kinds, from tissues to newspaper); fortunately she has shown no interest in wool as of now.

We named her Minerva because she looks like an owl with her big fuzzy face! For short, we call her Miina or Mini.

Initially, Kerri was deeply hurt that we should bring such a creature into her universe (of which she was the centre, of course), and for the first two days of hissing and fighting we weren't sure if they were ever going to make friends. Since then, things have luckily improved greatly and the girls are now like Batman and Robin. They still wrestle sometimes, but it's for fun now. And I think Kerri is starting to appreciate the amusement that the kitten provides on days that we're not home.

And Now for Something Completely Different

(i.e. humouring the Finns reading my blog - apologies to my anglophone readers!)

Kun tämän palkinnon saa, niin täytyy tehdä seuraavat 7 kohtaa:

Kiitä sitä, jolta sait tunnustuksen
Kopioi kuva ja liitä blogiisi
Laita linkki sen blogiin, keneltä sait tunnustuksen
Kerro seitsemän asiaa itsestäsi, mitä joita muut eivät vielä tiedä
Anna tunnustus seitsemälle
Linkitä nämä blogissasi
Kerro näille seitsemälle tunnustuksesta

Sain k.o. palkinnon Stazzyltä Välimeren rannalta, kiitosta vaan. :) (Anteeksi, oli pakko punakynäillä ohjeita. En vaan voi sietää huonoa suomea.) Stazzy pyysi paljastuksiin neulonta- ja kissa-aiheita, joten täältä pesee...

1. Neulominen on parempaa lääkitystä kliiniseen depressioon kuin essitalopraami, fluoksetiini ja terapia yhteensä. Neuloessa voi ajatella kaikkea tai ei mitään, miten haluatkin. Neuloessa ei ole suorituspaineita; voit neuloa koko päivän tai vain yhden rivin (tai silmukan). Jos teet virheen, pura ja aloita uudelleen. Kukaan ei saa koskaan tietää. Neuloessa virheistäkin voi tulla jotakin kaunista.

2. Kissan omistaminen ei ole rentouttavaa tai stressiä vähentävää yleisestä uskomuksesta huolimatta. Kissa ottaa sinulta heti kättelyssä luulot pois eikä anna niitä koskaan takaisin.

3. Olen ollut koko elämäni huono neuloja. Käsityönopettajani ala-asteella kutsui neulostöitäni kummituksiksi, ja äitini yritti estää minua ostamasta lankoja. "Kun ei siitä kuitenkaan mitään tuu."

4. Kun sanon Kerrin olevan vauvani, en tarkoita sillä vain sitä, että pidän sitä sylissä ja lepertelen sille (vaikka sitäkin toki tapahtuu). Harjoittelen Kerrillä myös pitkäpinnaisuutta ja yksinkertaisemman luontokappaleen käsittelyä. Kun herään aamuneljältä siihen, että Kerri roikkuu kynsillään upouusissa verhoissa ja määkii riemusta, lasken mielessäni kymmeneen ja takaisin, jotten tekisi siitä pilkullisia rukkasia. En ole mikään luontainen hanhiemohahmo, enkä tiedä, tuleeko minusta koskaan sellaista. Koejärjestelyn tulokset julkaistaan myöhemmin.

5. Nyt, kun neulon paljon, saatan hyvinkin ihailla neulelehtien malleja, jotka ohittaisin välittömästi postimyyntikatalogin valmisvaatteina. Yritän pitää riman yhtä korkealla, mutta se on vaikeaa. Toisaalta puolet neuleiden ilosta tulee niiden tekemisestä. (Ja jos lopullinen tuote on sittenkin susiruma, sen voi aina antaa jollekulle toiselle.)

6. Väite, jonka mukaan kaikki kissat vihaavat muovia ja alumiinifoliota, on myytti. Kissaopas neuvoo, että huonekasveja voi suojella asettamalla ruukut tarpeeksi kauas ulottuvalle muovi- tai folioalustalle. Voit haastatella lattialta tänään löytyneitä St. Paulian lehdenpuolikkaita menetelmän toimivuudesta.

7. En keksi parempaa olotilaa kuin sen, jossa istun sohvalla jalkani mieheni sylissä ja Kerri lämpimänä keränä jalkojeni päällä. Jälkimmäisen silmät seuraavat neuletyöni langankulkua yhtä tarkkaavaisesti kuin omanikin. Sohvapöydällä kupillinen teetä ja puolikas paketti tummaa suklaata. Hidasta, hurisevaa keskustelua, meidän kaikkien välillä. Huomenna vapaata, ei deadlineja. En vaihtaisi.


Lähes kaikki blogituttuni ovat jo tämän tunnustuksen saaneet, joten en tällä kertaa jatka ketjua edelleen. Halukkaat voivat toki tehdä tunnustuksia ihan omin päin. :)

Finished: Favorite Cardigan by Wendy Bernard

As I mentioned in my last post, I have mostly knitted socks and small things in the past. In fact, I have yet to finish anything that is worn on the actual body. Until today.

Two weeks ago, I was grocery shopping at a supermarket when I noticed they had yarn on special (cue mad dash). Despite having a strict yarn shopping list, I picked up seven skeins of Novita Luxus Cloud (65% wool / 35% bamboo) in a delicious scarlet shade, without a clue about what I was going to knit out of it. When I found out at the checkout that they were only 2€ a skein (normally 5€), I went back the next day and got seven skeins more, all that they had in stock.

When I got home, I went through my knitting books and found the perfect use for the Cloud (or so I thought at the time) - the Favorite Cardigan by Wendy Bernard, from her book Custom Knits. See the model photo at left. The gauge matched, it offered a gentle introduction to top-down knitting, which I was keen to try, and last but not least: I really wanted a scarlet cardigan. So off I went.

I am not usually what they call a project knitter, but I really liked working on this one. I cannot explain why - it must have been the top-down construction - but it was an incredibly quick knit. Consider that I have another cardigan in the works that I started a year ago... Whatever the reason, I took a strong liking to top-down projects, trying it on as I worked was great!

I made several mods to the pattern, as encouraged by the book: My gauge was off by two stitches per 10cm so I changed the needles from 4.5mm to 5.5mm. Since I fell between sizes, I CO'd size S and added an extra row of raglan increases for a larger bust, then decreased back to size S for the waist (two extra decreasing rounds). I moved the front cables two stitches further out for a nice knitted edge, I also moved the sleeve cables by a stitch to match them with the collar ribbing. Sleeves were size M minus two stitches, so I skipped the first round of decreases and then worked as per size M, making them longer until I felt they were right. Lengthened the body from 12½" to 14½" before the bottom ribbing. Tossed the buttonhole instructions out of the window as they produced the most god-awful "buttonholes" I've ever seen. Did regular "BO 2 sts, next round CO 2 sts" buttonholes, used seven buttons instead of eight. Phew, I think that's all!

The final result can be seen at right (click for a bigger photo). I wish I could say that I positively adore the first torso-wearable thing that has come off my needles, but I don't quite. It's certainly OK or even fine, but the fit is slightly odd - too short to start with, despite the extra two inches. The big annoyance is the yarn; although it's incredibly soft and a dream to work with, it has already started pilling... bad. The cardigan certainly doesn't look as though it was finished today. On the other hand, it does look like a favourite cardigan, slightly worn out. It could be worse, I guess!

If nothing else, I am proud of actually finishing this thing, and in two weeks to boot! It has given me confidence about starting "big" projects that I have so far always discarded halfway through, bored and/or disillusioned. I've got several more cardigans/sweaters/jumpers on my to-do list now. Gotta dream big! For my next project however, I'll think small - my niece requested a pink sweater, so a pink sweater she will get. She loves Hello Kitty, so I'm scheming intarsia (another first for me) in fluffy white yarn. We'll see how it turns out. Luckily her birthday is not until December!