Garter Stitch Baby Jacket

Geez, back in October 2008 I started this baby jacket. Worked on it a bit, put it away, worked on it a bit more, let it gather some dust...six months down the line, I was fed up with looking for my 3mm bamboo circulars and finding them attached to a work in progress. I finally decided to bite the bullet and finish all of that garter stitch and reclaim my needles.



Pattern: Jacket in Alpaca
Source: Drops Design
Size: second (6-9 months)
Needles: 3mm bamboo circulars
Yarn details:

• Novita Nalle
• 75% wool, 25% polyamide
• 150 grams = 390 metres
• colours #43 (grey) and #574 (red)
• about 200 grams used

I've made this jacket before. Last time I suspected that the recipient wasn't too thrilled with it, probably because the colours were dark green and gold, and all of the other clothes she had bought for her little girl were pink and white. Woops.

This time around I mailed a picture of the finished product to a friend of mine whose wife just had a baby a few weeks ago, and asked him if he liked it and if he would like to have it. He knew the whole story of the previous incarnation and understood why I was asking him!

He was very happy to receive it, which makes me all the happier for having given it to him.


The buttons were a gift that came from Vienna and have been waiting for a good project to attach themselves to. I like how they're a bit radioactive-like in the way they 'glow'.

Itsenäisyyspäivä Sukat

There's nothing quite like a deadline to motivate the stitches to get moving.

I'd had some blue and white self-striping sock yarn for quite a while, with the thought of turning it into knee-high socks. Blue and white are the Finnish national colours, so what better way to celebrate the Finnish National Day than with some self-made Finnish socks?

Pattern: Knee-high Socks
Designer: Mary Jo Hamilton
Source: Society Socks
Needles: 2.25mm bamboo and 1.5mm metal dpns
Yarn details:

• Schachenmeyr Nomotta Regia Nation Colour
• 75% new wool, 25% nylon
• 50 grams = 210 metres
• colour #395
• 115 grams used

Even though the finished socks weigh 115 grams, there's not that much yarn left over from my original four balls because I had to do lots of snipping of colours to get the socks to match.

The pattern came from a sock designer called Mary Jo Hamilton. I can't remember exactly where on her website I found the information, but she had a knee-high sock pattern available upon request, so I emailed her and she was kind enough to send me the pattern. From memory, the reason why I chose the pattern was because it used the exact same yarn as I had, and the calf size was adjustable.

Getting the heel right was a real challenge, and finding a good calf size wasn't too easy, either. In the process, I ended up knitting at least three socks because of all the frogging.

The deadline of the 6th of December was looming large and I was having so much trouble with the heel...it was a close call, but after switching the panic button to ON, I finished them off at about ten o'clock on the evening before the celebrations.

They stay up on my legs really well and cope with maching washing perfectly. If I were to make them again, I would have fewer stitches on the foot part, as they're a little loose for my liking.

Diagonal Lace Scarf

I work with a lady who likes to wear what I call 'indoor scarves'. They're not substantial enough to wear outside in winter, but are a nice accessory for indoors. She has a nice collection and looks great all the time, so I thought I'd steal her idea...here's what I came up with:

Stitch Pattern: "Diagonal Lace"
Source: Harmony Lace and Eyelet Stitch Guide, page 248
Needles: 4mm bamboo straights
Yarn details:

• Novita Luxus Cloud
• 65% wool, 35% bamboo
• 50 grams = 97 metres
• colour #571
• 170 grams used

I searched around quite a bit to find a pattern that I liked and was also in my library. The Raha Scarf (Ravelry Link) from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia looked like the winner for a while, but in the end I wanted a fabric that was more or less reversible. I tried a few different stitch patterns from the Harmony guide, with mixed results, until this one worked out well and I didn't keep stuffing it up all the time.

This yarn has only just come into the shops up here recently and I wanted to try it out. It's lovely and soft and gives a good drape and comes in a small selection of nice colours. What I should have realised, however, based on the yarn and the stitch pattern, is that the length of the scarf would extend dramatically after washing. My 130cm-long scarf ballooned out to 180-odd-cms...starting to be a little too long for indoor wear. Nonetheless, I like the scarf and even if I don't wear it indoors here, it will be a good spring-summer scarf.


As a side note, the yarn bled like a severed artery when I washed it. It took a good ten minutes for the water to run clear.