Conscious Knitting

I have not bought any yarn this year. 9 months without a single new hank of yarn. And what is even more surprising: I'm enjoying every second of it. I going to continue till the end of this year (as originally planned) and far beyond, until I can't knit anything interesting from the remaining stash.

9 months ago, I had 15 kg of yarn, I did not fully realised what I had, and I did not like the half of it. Now, I have approximately 10 kg of yarn, I have several forthcoming projects in my mind and I have used a lot of yarn that I wouldn't have knitted otherwise. This doesn't mean that I've knitted 5 kg of yarn this year. I gave at least 2 kgs to a local elementary school for their crafts project.

During this time, I have visited many yarn shops, both LYSs and others. I have spent hours in knitting in one local shop. I love to fiddle with those wonderful colours and feel the softness of new yarn, but I do not feel tempted to buy any.

Another challenge that I have put to myself is that I have to knit something wearable for myself. I've been knitting for almost 30 years now, but I still don't have any good-looking, self-knitted cardigans, pullovers or vests to wear at work. Currently, I'm knitting a cardigan and a pullover at the same time (that's another mistake: always focus only on one project at the time!), and I still have at least two sets of yarn for cardigans. Still, my next project will be Revontuli, the Finnish classic made of Estonian wool.

Buying yarn seems to be the only area of life that I have a good self-control. But, as my dear friend said: as long as you have sweets at home, you don't need to buy any.

Things that made my day:

• Cleaned house
• Home-made dinner
• Sunny and exceptionally warm weekend

Semele

Two scarfs in a row: Spriteling and Semele.

Semele is a beautifiul design by Åsa Tricosa! It is knitted sideways in one piece, and it is long and quite narrow. The pattern is very well charted, although so difficult that I had to follow the chart all the way till the last stitch! But the result is so nice and wearable!

Next, something totally different! (Well, not that fancy, just socks. But at least not lace scarfs...)

Things that have made me happy:

• Two weekends in our summer cottage. The first with dear friends, the second with the dearest family.
• Trees that are greener than green!
• Our first own geocache was published yesterday!

Spriteling

Spriteling KAL is finished!

This was my first KAL, and I really did not know what to expect. At the beginning, you just don't know what the final project will be like. Along the way, I learned to love the pattern more and more. Especially the last clue and the bind-off edge are beautiful!

In general, triangle scarfs are not my favourites, but this I've alreary worn once at work. It is a bit too small for me, but light and delicate!

Things that have made me happy:

• Summer is finally here!
• Weekend full of laughter and knitting with dear friends
• My dearest at home!

Spriteling, clue1

I finished the first part of the Spriteling KAL. Along the way, I missed a few YOs, but I think I got most of them right. I used 5 mm needles, so the holes might be bigger than they should be. In the beginning, I had 105g of yarn, and after finishing the swatch and the clue1 I have 76g. I don't fully get the idea of the centre panel, but the sides and the edge are beautiful!

It's interesting to see where the remaining two clues take me, and what shape the shawl will take!
Things that have made me happy today:

• Long-waited warm spring weather
• New plants and pots in the living-room

A knitter in New York

Since last November we had been planning a holiday trip to Japan.We aimed at cherry blossoming season, and booked flights and hotel rooms in good time. Then came the Big Quake and the Big Wave and changed all our plans. We got an opportunity to change our flights to any other destination (Thanks to Finnair!), and we chose New York. And off we went!

What comes to knitting, I traveled light: I had no needles nor yarn with me, I did not search any local yarn shops in advance, and I did not buy any yarn. Still, I made some notions of New York as a knitter.

Firstly, I was impressed of the variety of knitting books in local book stores. We visited Barns & Noble in Columbus Circle and some other stores as well, and they all have meters of fancy knitting books, some of which were familiar to me, some of which were new. After considering my luggage space, I bought two knitting books: Super Stiches Knitting by Karen Hemingway and Knitting Brioche by Nancy Marchant.

Secondly, we went to see Wicked, the new and very popular Broadway musical in Gershwin theatre. I loved the show: the fabulous actors, fantastic songs, impressive settings and everything about it! Costumes were designed by Susan Hilferty, and we saw beautiful dresses, miraculous fantasy suits and classical school uniforms. Curiously, all the most weird characters and not-so-popular pupils at school wore a crocheted hat! I was only wondering why, and what does this little detail tell about knitting and crocheting...

Thirdly, long rubber boots were very popular in Broadway. Classy ladies wore them even when there were no signs of rain. Maybe long rubber boots will become a hot fashion trend? Start wearing yours right now and be ahead of your time!

Swatching Spriteling!

First clues for Spriteling arrived on last week, and now I have completed the swatch.

Since I've decided not to buy any new yarn this year, I went to my stash and searched for a proper yarn for this. This asks for 400 meters of fingering yarn, and I use Dazzle HT Sock by The Natural Dye Studio.

The pattern is well written and charted. I made a lot of mistakes in knitting the swatch, but I think I noticed all of them in time. Yet, I'm not sure if I love this lace pattern or not. It reminds me of the spider's web in I do: it's difficult to see what the pattern presents. But, let's see how this project proceeds and how this swatch pattern is used in the shawl. Can't wait the next clue to come!

Things that have made my week:

• A feverish cold
• Spring sun that melts snow

Pray for Japan

Angels, please spread your wings over Japan!