2007/03/30

Sirkushuveja!


Nämä sukat ovat menossa salaiselle sukanvaihtoparilleni, kunhan toinenkin valmistuu. Niiltä vain puuttuu nimi. Julistankin blogikilpailun sukkien nimeämiseksi, palkinto on luvassa niin ensimmäiselle lopullista nimeä ehdottaneelle kuin lohdutuksena yksi arvontapalkinto. Todennäköisesti palkinto tulee sisältämään sukkalankaa.

These socks are going for my secret sock pal. Only thing they are missing is a name. So, I ask you, my readers, to come up with a name for these. I'm giving out an award for the first suggestion of the winning name and one random suggestion. The prize will likely be something sock-related.


Blogikisu.
Blogkitty.

2007/03/28

New meaning of SSK

Sain Salaisen SukanKutojan sukkani viimein. Kiitos, ovat juuri täydelliset ja aivan sopivat, eivät kiristä, mutta eivät aivan pyöri jaloissakaan. Värikin osui aivan nappiin, sillä Coloriväreistä juuri tuo violetti ja sitten se turkoosi ovat minulle itselleni mieluisimmat. Sydämentykyksiä sain vähän kun kotiin tullessani sukat odottivat kirjekuoressa eteisen lattialla postimiehen jäljiltä ja kappas kun kuoren päällä oli sama logo kuin, työnantajani oli viime kesänä ja jossa viimeksi eilen vielä kävin työryhmäpalaverissa. Lisäksi yritän kovasti viimeistellä graduani, jota tein työkseni niin säikähdin vähän että "Mitä minulle nyt sieltä kotiin laitetaan? Ja vielä PEHMEÄSSÄ kuoressa?". No, kävi lopulta näin hyvin ja olikin ihanat sukat eikä sen peloittavampaa.

SSK doesn't currently mean "slip, slip, knit" in the Finnish blogscene, but it is the name for local "sockapalooza" sock swap which is coming to end quite soon. SSK is acronym for Secret Sock Knitter, amusingly with same letters in the finnish Salainen SukanKutoja name. This is the pair I got, they fit really well and I love the colour. The pair I'm making is still little bit in progress, the second sock is halfway done. I was little bit worried when I received these and saw the envelope before I found out what was there since the envelope was something that has the same logo on it as did my previous job. Anyhow, I love the socks.

2007/03/20

Minun Helsinkini


Kävelen pimeällä,
Hiljaisessa Helsingissä,
Kenkäni alla rasahtaa pistaasinkuori

I walk after dark,
In silent Helsinki,
Pistachio shell cracks underfoot

2007/03/19

Quick snapping


This came today. My Kromski Mazurka.

Kromski Mazurkani tuli tänään.

This is what I'm working on right now on the old wheel. It is merino, with touches of bombyx-silk in places.

Merinoa ja bombyxiä yhdessä, tämänhetkinen kehruuprojekti.

The old and the new together. The new is more quiet and smoother. I did only a small test run before blogging, so more to come.

Vanha ja uusi yhdessä. Uusi on hiljaisempi ja siloisempi, mutta kokeilin hyvin vähän ennen blogausta.


I even got a lazy kate with it. I also have enough spools to last me a few spinning projects.

Mukana tuli lazy-kate (pitääkin muistaa etsiä nimi jostain) ja rullia riittävästi, yhteensä 8.

2007/03/13

Will it get lost in translation?

Tiedote: IRCnet. #askartelumassat. Tulkaa, jos teitä kiinnostaa miten aikaisemmissa viesteissä esitellyt askartelumassa helmeni on tehty ja haluatte kokeilla kivaa harrastusta. Noiden helmien tekeminen on yllättävän helppoa.

Olen pitkään ihastellut Grumperinan blogissa olevaa galleriaa hänen ohjeistaan neulotuista töistä. Niimpä haluaisinkin, että te, lukijani, jotka olette neuloneet jotain, jonka olen suunnitellut laittaisitte minulle linkkivinkkiä tai kuvaa töistänne ja samalla kertoisitte saako työn kerätä galleriaan. Epäilen, että kuvia ei tule vielä paljoa, mutta koska en malta odottaa sitä, että olen Suuri Neulesuunnittelija niin ajattelin aloittaa nyt jo. Sähköpostihan on eeva(piste)saviranta(ät)gmail()com. Lisäksi Ullassa on kaksi ohjettani jäsensivuilla.

Ohjeitanihan ovat:
Hönkä
Suomu
Syyskukkia
Cthulhu
Pörhö

Listed above are my patterns published in Ulla so far. I'm thinking of starting a gallery like Grumperina does of them, so anyone who has knitted anything by them, please send me a note. Since none of them are in English yet, I translated my Suomu-scarf and the pattern in English is Scale. It is a free pattern, but if you want to use it for any commercial purpose, check with me first. I'm thinking of translating few more of the patterns and since I have quite a few more planned, there may be more free English patterns available in the future. I'll also appreciate any feedback concerning the pattern. My email is eeva(dot)saviranta(ät)gmail(dot)com.

2007/03/08

World's best women's day

See? Cute knitting related stamp. This has to be something really good from a knitterly friend.


I got a brief note from post office with today's mail. In short, it seemed that something coming to me had gone through customs (declared customfree), address locationing service (found to be going to the same address as stated), our hallway yesterday (postman didn't ring the doorbell, just signed "unreachable") and a lot of slush today. I went to pick it up today (the postal service netsite said it was something volume of 23 liters) with quite a curious mind. As soon as I saw the packet I was thrilled, it was from Suzanne (go read her blog, she is a good writer and the knits are really beautiful). Most of you don't know, but we have been visiting each other's blogs now for about 6 months (maybe a bit more) and she was the 100th commenter on my blog. Ever since my blog has gained a lot more popularity, but she remains one of the few truly foreign readers and the main reason I blog in English (any other readers reading this mainly in English? I'd love to hear from you).

This is what she sent me. Lovely, gorgeus stuff you cannot get in Finland. I guess I could have the koigu shipped (see? real Koigu! this is stuff I've only seen in photograph before!) and the plush I could have gotten from thinkgeek (but the postage is about twice the price of the plush). The plush is a e-koli bacterium, one of which is rarely seen in our almost meat free fridge. The best part is the colourful knitting needles, I've been drooling these for ages now. Suzanne, you worried in vain about them being long, they are 3 centimeters shorter than the needles I use most. I got them in five different sizes and only two of these are commonly available in Finland (1,5 mm and 2 mm, we get sizes every 0,5 mm which means no 2,25 mm knitting needles). And, as a Huge bonus there was whopping 24 packets of green Kool Aid (monetary value equivalent of 22 dollars here, if you could get it. We get the yellows and reds, sometimes the blues, but I've never seen any of the green in the two stores that import american stuff).


Yup, the needles look really good. If you excuse me, this Jitterbug and the yellow needles have some getting to know each other to do. The Koigu are looking envious in their lovely padded box, but they'll have to wait for a proper knitting pattern for them.

I had the box with me today to see some knitting pals in a cafe as a spontaneous meeting. When I reached there there were two of them already and I just couldn't stop myself getting it out of my bag. Three more were still to come, so I had to keep a keen eye on the packet so that some of it would remain for them to see. One of them claimed that I wouldn't do anything with the pink dpns, that they surely weren't my size. They all loved everything that was in. Thank you. This really really made my day. I hope they understand I might be a tad bit jealous of my pink needles though.

2007/03/05

Antaa kaikkien kukkien kukkia


Jatkoin edellisiä helmi-idiksiä vähän eri suuntaan, katotaan mitä syntyy.

Just a few more beads, I'll see where I'll end up with these.

2007/03/04

Uusi Ullallaalaaaaaa


Lehdessä on muutama ohjeeni, mm. Hönkä- ja Suomu -kaulalliinat.

A few of my patterns have been published in the Finnish online knitting magazine Ullaneule. These are for example Hönkä (Breath) and Suomu (Scale) scarfs.

2007/03/03

Ihan kiva kurssi

Olin Ihan kivan kaupan massakurssilla, ihan alkeita ja perustekniikoita opeteltiin. Tällaisia syntyi, olen melko tyytyväinen tulokseen. Toisaalta kaipaisi visiota siihen mitä tekee ja toisaalta pitää näitä tekemiään kivoina. Kuulemma minun pitäisi olla tyytyväinen itseeni, mutta kun kaiken kanssa vaivaa sellainen puolittainen tunne että "tämä ei nyt ihan ole sitä mitä kaipasin itseltäni". Kurssi oli kiva ja opin siellä paljon perustekniikasta.

I was at a polymer clay course for beginners and I managed to make these. I like them, but I'm still missing something. The little vision is missing. I've been told to be happy with what I do, but still there is something bothering me. I liked the course a lot, and I learned a lot and do like what I made, but I wish I were able to tell what is bothering me.

2007/03/02

Elisa? Elina? Ellen?

Idea hakee vielä vähän muotoaan, mutta mietin tämän kaltaista neuletta kesäksi itselleni - Novitan uutuustenneseistä kun niissä on niin kiva ruskea ja sininen.

I'm planning this for myself for the summer in some local cotton, the brown and blue of the season look really good. The idea is still looking for a little touch though.