July 2008

FO The First: DROPS Bolero

Thursday, July 31, 2008

This is the one I was gushing about in May. I vowed myself I wouldn't cast on another project before finishing the cabled cardi. Aaand I kept that promise, sort of: I didn't cast on until the cabled one was off the needles, drying and blocking.

Project: Drops Bolero (Ravelry), cast-on: May 25 2008, cast-off: June 24 2008
Pattern: 107-19 Bolero (Ravelry) from DROPS/Garnstudio
Yarn: The Cotton Garden Bella (100% cotton), colorway #14 (navy), about 4.5 balls (226 g or 360 m/393 yards)
Needles: 5.0 mm (gauge
Mods: Omitted the button holes and instead did button loops at the end. Continued knitting the garter stitch borders all the way up, then did a knitted-on border along the back neck.

I'd never done a round yoke before but from now on, I'm definitely trying this more often. I'm loving the purl ridges in the yoke part and I'm already mentally modding this to make it a full-length long-sleeve cardi. Wouldn't it just look great in a rustic-y, sort of handspun-looking yarn?

BTW, the cabled cardi: totally finished. All blocked and zippered up. Love it. (Pictures to come.)

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Bake Day

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Besides knitting & crafting blogs (obviously), I'm also hooked on food blogs. Today's apricot filled pastries (hedelmäiset sarvet) brought to you by Limepippuri (recipe only in Finnish, sorry). With Nordqvist blueberry muffin white tea.

Nom nom nom.

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Vacation Finds

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Phew. That was a long break from blogging.

The last few weeks of work were hectic and then, when vacation started, I headed out of town. But now I'm back with some interesting stuff I bought while I was away. (No knits or yarn, though. Next time!)

1) A super cute Max & Julie bag, the Paradise line, I believe (not the one pictured though).

2) An Iittala "Taika" mug. I've coveted these puppies since they came out and finally allowed myself to get one. It doesn't look that big in the picture but the mug is a whopping 4 dl (13.5 oz). That's a lot of tea.

3) Jewelry. I've also been coveting some glass jewelry on Etsy (mainly shoozels) so I was already in the right frame of mind when I spotted these. I visited Kenkävero (Google map) in Mikkeli, an old vicarage that now houses (among other things) a shop for local artisans to sell their creations.

The aqua butterfly one is made by Tiina Ehrukainen of Design Ihania (click the photo to see it larger).

This blue one is really interesting. I'm beating myself for not writing down the artist's name (all I know it's Eija J-something). I think she or the group she works in/for goes by the name Pohjan Akka. Apparently, the motifs she uses in her jewelry are ancient cave and rock paintings. The pendant I got is called Astuvansalmi, named after the site of the largest rock paintings in Scandinavia. According to the Wikipedia article, the paintings, the oldest of which were made sometime in 3000-2500 BC (wow, I never knew that), contain e.g. elks, human figures (which can be seen on the pendant as well), hands, animal tracks, and boats. I'm a history/archeology nerd so all of this is really cool to me. Besides, the pendant is really pretty. :)

In the meantime, I've been knitting like a crazy person. I have actual finished items. Scary! Long car rides really help. ;) More knits to come but I'm putting stuff on the FO page (and Ravelry) for now.

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