A "new old" pattern

There is a story to this piece of knitting: when my mother (now 80) moved house a couple of years ago, we went through everything that had been accumulated in more than 40 years. Among other things she found a mouse-chewn baby cardigan that she had knitted for my younger brother before he was born. This is the pattern on the cardigan, in different colours. The original is pale green & white. Now my brother and his wife have just had a new baby, so I'm going to knit a cardigan for her, using this kind of patterning.

Tähän neulemalliin liittyy tarina: kun nyt 80-vuotias äitini pari vuotta sitten muutti talostaan, jossa oli asunut yli 40 vuotta, kävimme kaiken läpi. Yksi löytynyt esine oli vauvan villatakki, jonka äitini oli neulonut veljelleni ennen hänen syntymäänsä. Villatakissa on hiirensyömiä reikiä, mutta siitä sai kuitenkin mallin kopioitua. Veljeni ja hänen vaimonsa ovat juuri saaneet uuden vauvan, joten teen tätä mallia käyttäen vauvalle villatakin. Koetan saada sen valmiiksi parin viikon päästä oleviin ristiäisiin.

Knitted cables and crocheted frills

At the moment I'm knitting a cardigan for one of my daughters. In the photo a detail of the pattern.





This is a child's knitted hat with crochet frills. You make them by first making a chain and then single crochet 2-3 stiches to each chain stich. That's what makes it twirl around.
Tupsu virkataan siten, että ensin tehdään ketjusilmukoita. Seuraavalla kerroksella jokaiseen ketjusilmukkaan virkataan 2-3 kiinteää silmukkaa. Tämä saa aikaan kierteen.

Multi-coloured mittens and top

I love everything colourful. These mittens are another example of that.

So many balls of wool at the same time get tangled!

As you can see, I like to use up left-over wool. And then of course, there's never enough - I buy more - and then there's more left-overs. Suppose that goes for everyone who knits and crochets :)

Crochet in wool and cotton

I have always loved crocheting. Here are a few things I have made, some recent, some older. I first learned to crochet thin lace, then only later wool and other thicker materials. Some of these are very easy, others take a bit more skill to make. Starting with an easy one: a wool net scarf.





Then a top in lace crochet, with also a detailed photo. I must admit that the reason why there is a different looking bit on both sides is that the first version was a bit too small for me :)









A cardigan I finished a few weeks ago. Since I hardly ever use patterns for anything, I ended up making the bottom, lacy part twice because the first try was too tight. But I don't mind! Now that I'm not doing any craft or sewing for work, I enjoy it even when something needs to be done twice.













These mittens are a pattern I often used as a teenager. You first crochet the middle bits separately, front and back, then a few rows around them before joining the front and back. After that you last make the cuff, then crocheting round.








The little pram figure is one I have used in many baby cards, in different colours. It is starched with 50% sugar 50% water solution.






This crochet in jeans blue wool got lost when I moved about a year ago! It was a half made cardigan. It will eventually turn up from somewhere, I'm sure:

At a beadcraft shop in Germany

In my recent trip to Wuppetal, Germany, a friend took me to a lovely beadshop www.pujalu.de . There was such a nice and friendly athmosphere there. Apart from buying beads you can make necklaces, earrings etc right there and the owner and others help you. I made one necklace:

A couple of photos from the shop:

Artist book of childhood memories

This book is a mixture of a scrap book and an artist book I suppose. I have put together many of the things I found when my childhood home was sold a couple of years ago. There are many pages from primary school exercixe books, an old timetable written by my first grade teacher, a card for my first birthday, a card to my mother in the 40's, a note written by my father who died soon 20 years ago, a piece of my mother's best dress in the 60's and so much more, with various bits of lace and other decorations.

Tämä kirja on varmaankin taitelijakirjan ja skräppäyksen sekoitus. Olen siihen koonnut esineitä, jotka löytyivät, kun lapsuudenkotini jokin aika sitten myytiin ja tyhjennettiin.



Primary school 1st and 2nd grade timetables, scrap angels I remember using in making Christmas cards when I was about 15, an old photo.

Right:
A primary school drawing

At school we got 1-3 stamps on exercises from the teacher, showing how well we had complited it. With my sisters I made little booklets with stories. Bottom left: how I hated the summer we had to collect and press flowers for school!

Page on the left:

I have always loved other cultures but as a child I didn't have the opportunity to travel. Therefore I had pen friends from different parts of the world as soon as I knew some English. The leaf picture was a gift by an Indian pen friend sometime in the 70's.

Page on the right:

Both my mother and I have woven many rugs. Therefore, when she moved house, much ready-cut rag rug material was found. These pieces all brought memories, like my father's working shirt, kitchen curtains when I was about 5, dresses mother made for me and my sister.

Picks from the past

I made this tiny doll many many years ago when I was less than 10 years old. It was found a couple of years ago when my mother moved house. I have displayed various interesting articles in my entrance hall by attaching them on a piece of painted chicken wire net attached to the wall.

For the several years I worked in crafts in Britain I must have made hundreds of these crochet angels. Our radiators had a large flat top and from September to Christmas they were always covered with angels so that the sugar starch would dry.

I would have been around 14-15 when I knitted this jumper, combining any scraps of wool I had. I have made a couple in the same style since and each time it is such a delightful mess of balls of wool attached to the work at the same time. Much of the time in making these goes into trying to keep the wool from getting into knots.

I must have had a lot of patience as a teenager. I knitted these mittens using lenghts of wire as knitting needles and bobbin lace thread.

When my 3 children were small there were of course birthday parties often. I didn't want to use paper table cloths but made a colourful one from whatever craps of material I happened to have in hand at the time. Really it looks quite awful now but it has so many memories :) The cloth was used for many years.

Crafts over the years

Ever since I was about 5 or 6 I have loved making things. I learned to knit and crochet before I started school and made many of my clothes by the age of 12. For many years I was self-employed in sewing and Christmas crafts in Britain. Eventually I ended up working in computers in my native country of Finland but all sorts of crafts have remained an important hobby. So now I decided it was time to share with others many of the things over the years.

(Finnish) Kirjoitan näitä pääosin englanniksi, mutta silloin tällöin lisäilen suomeksikin :)