January Embers

A long, long time ago, in a faraway land of high peaks and excellent sausage, Princess Steffi tried to knit a cute little top for herself. But oh my! how she failed. Her tension was way off and her darling little top was fit for a Sumo King.

Many years later, Steffi brought out her magic knitting sticks (in a substantially smaller size) and tried her hand again at producing the same top. And lo and behold, success!


Pattern: Short Top with Stripes and Raglan Sleeve in Vivaldi and Alpaca
Source: Drops Design
Needles: 7.5mm bamboo circulars
Yarn Details:

• Garnstudio Drops Vivaldi
• 56% mohair, 14% wool, 30% polyamide
• 50 grams = 279 metres
• colours #03, #15, #16, #20

• Garnstudio Drops Alpaca
• 100% alpaca
• 50 grams = 180 metres
• colours #2915, #2921, #3620

The whole thing, including the tassles, weighs exactly 100 grams.

Yep, first time around (in early-ish 2006) I used the recommended 10mm needles. The length of the final product wasn't so bad, but the width was ludicrous! In the end it was ripped and put away for another day.

I changed the sleeve decreases slightly to make some little points, just for a bit of interest.

All in all, a quick and easy little project with no pattern troubles. I love the colours and the way the two strands of Vivaldi combine with the one strand of Alpaca to create new colours.

Jussi-Slipoveri

Yet another long-ago project that is just now finally being given some blog time. I made this for my husband for his birthday in November last year, but finished it a month early. I was so worried about it not turning out okay that I started it with plenty of time, just in case I had to rip back or redo sections. In the end, I needn't have worried, and the whole process lasted about two and a half weeks.

He loves it and wears it with proud regularity. Hooray! A hand-made item that I don't have to nag him to wear!



Pattern: Miehen Jussi-Slipoveri
Source: Novita Talvi 2007
Needles: 3.0mm and 3.5mm bamboo circulars
Yarn Details:

• Novita Nalle
• 75% Wool, 25% Polyamid
• 150 gr = 390 m
• colours #43 (grey) and #574 (red)
  

All-in-all, a fairly simple pattern, but a lot of stitches. It's always surprising just how much bigger men's garments have to be. I worked the body in the round until the underarms. If I had to change anything, I would have lengthened the section between the underarms and the shoulders, but as this was a secret project, there was no model handy at the time.

Mossy Beret

Well, okay, so I'm a bit behind the times with this post, seeing as I finished this project a fortnight before xmas. It's such a useful hat, especially now that it's friggin' freezing here. The Snowflake Tam that I made back in October just doesn't cut it as winter noggin protection.

Pattern: Moss Stitch Beret
Designer: Kent Turman
Source: Kent's Craft
Needles: 3.25mm and 4.5mm bamboo dpns
Yarn Details:

• Pirkanmaan kotityö Ohut Pirkkalanka
• 100% wool
• 100 grams = 400 metres
• 70 grams used
• yarn held double
  

The pattern was very simple and rather quick. I love the doubled band; at first I was worried about it turning out too small due to my ridiculous yarn substitution and the relative inelasticity of stocking stitch, but it turned out great and it keeps in the heat well. It has already seen a lot of usage, and a few non-stitch'n'bitch members have asked me where they can find the pattern.

On my trip to Tampere last year, I found the time to purchase altogether too many skeins of pirkkalanka from the outlet shop there, and this green yarn is some of that. How could I resist half-price pirkkalanka, and in this great green! I love how there's some yellow blended into it. Very cool. The rest of it is planned for the sunrise circle jacket, blended with Rowan Felted Tweed. Yep, stole that idea straight from Mustaavillaa.


So, after the yarn diet which lasted the better part of last year, I'm going to keep track of what's going in and out of the yarn closet this year. There's a running total up on the right of the page, showing how much has come in and how much has been stitched into finished objects. Oh, how quickly the discrepancy shows.