Patchwork sweater

This sweater is not one I have just finished but I haven't potographed it here before. It was fun making it in between other, smaller projects. Geometric shapes are easy to knit. I have crocheted them together from the right side. The collar rolls up. The sleeves are shaped from the top of the arm by decreasing stitches.  I measured the sweater to an old one to get the right fit.

From the close-up photo you may see that some bits have been knitted on a knitting machine, not by hand. I used to have a Bond knitter type of a machine. I didn't really like the kind of finish you could get using it, so I don't have it anymore. Using a knitting machine feels too much like work to me! You need to stay sitting by the machine and you can't concentrate on a TV programme or talking with people at the same time.

But I love the colourful finish!

Bridesmaid's and flowergirl's dress

Yesterday I posted about a wedding dress I made. I also made one of the bridesmaid's dresses, for my daughter, and a flowergirl's dress for her daughter. The bride had selected coral as a colour for her wedding, and that was used for the dresses.

The bridesmaids dresses are not at all what British or American ones would be! The bridesmaids wanted a print dress that would be wearable afterwards. They could not have had the same cut because the other bridesmaid was on her last month of pregnancy. She made her own dress. She also made a flowergirl's dress for her 2½-year-old daughter. But on the day the little grl wouldn't wear it because she said it was scratcy at the shoulders! Instead, she wore an ordinary cotton summer dress for the wedding.

Flowergirl's dress

We decided to make dresses of two different fabrics. The top one is transparent sheer fabric. The skirt part is a fairy dress style, with two squares set on top of each other.

Below a phone photo I sent to the other bridesmaid to show how the pieces of the bottom part of the dress were arranged.

The skirt part consists of a square of each fabric, with a round hole in the middle. The hole is 1/3 larger than the girl's measurement around the chest.

Excitement in throwing rose petals :)

Bridesmaid's dresses

The bridesmaid's dress is made of fabric that feels like a scarf. My daughter chose the shape to be copied from her sister's old evening dress.

The dress is bare back.

 

I loved the wedding because the bride and groom had managed to make everything show their own personalities!

Wedding!

Years ago, when I used to be a fulltime craftsperson in Belfast, sewing wedding dresses was one of my favourite kinds of work. After a long break from it I was asked to make a dress for a daughter's friend.  She was very specific in what she wanted and couldn't find it ready-made: 50's style, knee length with accents in coral colour.

The wedding was on a hot weekend on a small island outside Turku.

The dress is thick ivory satin. The bodice is partly covered by lace. The bride bought it in Stockholm. There is 10 metres of tulle netting under the skirt.

 

 

I'm used to doing most of my sewing by making big alterations to patterns or completely without patterns, just drawing the shape directly on the material. There was a pattern for the bodice but after alterations it ended up quite different. I drew the full circle skirt on the fabric with a pen, using a builder's measure. I don't sew much now so my tools aren't up to date!

There is boning at the back of the bodice. The plastic boning wasn't of great quality because bits started sticking at the bride just before the first dance! We had to get the ends cut off in a rush. Need to find out where to get boning that stays the way it should be!

A detail of the belt: 

 The bride's lovely shoes came from an American online store:

It was a great day, apart from being too hot!

Yarnbombing in September

I have worked with yarnbombing projects in the past. The largest was in my hometown Turku last year. You can see photos of the Knit 'n' Tag-project here.

Now there is a new project I'm taking part in. It is tied to a charity project of getting people to knit hats for a prem baby unit. A petrol station + restaurant complex near Tampere, Finland will be covered with lots of graffiti inside and out. I'm involved in coordinating some of it through a Facebook group. There will also be school children taking part as part of their craft learning.

I have made a few pieces now, mainly crochet.

Hope to get many more made before it will all go up on the 15th of September!

Baby blankets

In the spring I crocheted a blanket for my grandson before he was born.

When he was a few weeks old, the blanket fell off the pram. Even though the person walking the pram returned very soon to look for the blanket, somebody had already taken it :( So, I decided to make a new one. This one is the same colour but a bit heavier wool, with autumn and winter coming.

I wanted a square I hadn't made before.   By googling images for 'crochet square' I found this square: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5129/5731174379_fb58b11a23_z.jpg. Later in a Facebook group someone told me that there is a free pattern on Ravelry for a very similar square. It includes a chart of the stitches, so I'm not drawing a chart of the square here. My square is not exactly the same, I made it on the basis of the photo in the first link.

The square is 12 x 12 cm (4 and 3/4 in square) The center is always white and the last row is turqoise, otherwise the colours vary.

My daughter wanted something in between each square in white. I showed her a few different ways of joining squares and she chose this:

It is 2 chain stitches and attached so that I skip 2 stitches, alternating between the squares to be attached.

I first made strips of 4 squares and then attached the strips together.

I have been making the blanket in a number of different places. Here it is in Rowallane Gardens near Belfast, Northern Ireland:

And here in the Samppalinna park in Turku. It was 30°C on the day I took that photo, so the woollen blanket felt quite warm!

And here the finished blanket:

I wonder what happened to the first blanket for baby Daniel. Does the present owner know where it came from?

Craftspeople in metal pods!

What would it be like to have your workshop in a glass-fronted metal container by the sea?

WONDERFUL! But just that I came across in my evening walk in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

Each brightly coloured cubicle has two workshops. The occupants represent different kinds of arts and crafts, from paper craft to loom weaving and ceramics and fine art to sewing and working with yarn. Each one is in their own workshop in full view of the passers by!

Earlier, in the late 80s and early 90s I worked in crafts in Northern Ireland. Who knows what the future will bring!

Here is what you see opposite the site. Not a bad view from your work place :)

Bamboo hat for newborn, pattern link

One of my daughters just had her first child, a baby boy! Here in Finland each new mother get this pack full of baby clothes and items, from the social security. It includes a boring white hat that all mums seem to wear on their babies.  I thought of making a nicer one if you really think that a newborn should wear a hat, often even inside. I didn't but then I didn't bring my children up in Finland until they were much older!
(Here's a link to the hat in question: www.kela.fi/documents/10180/1525732/2014_Myssy/97eac646-59a9-4bc9-b722-82025f689aed?t=1392382842129 )

The pattern is available in PDF format in Ravelry
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bamboo-hat-for-newborn

Nappy cake for surprise baby shower

Daughter number 2 is 36 weeks pregnant. Surprising we managed to organise a baby shower for her without her guessing anything!

I only ever heard about nappy cakes (diaper cakes) a few months ago. Daughter number 3 wanted us to make one for the baby shower. We googled for ideas and instructions. It was fun! Surprising how many nappies it took, 2½ packets of size 2.

Started by rolling up the nappies and attaching with elastic bands.

There needs to be something in the middle that the nappies go around. We had seen photos of bottles being used for that. But I took a cardboard roll that had been in the centre of a roll of fabric. We attached baby grows around it. You could put all sorts of baby things in the middle of the cake.

Each row of nappies needs to be tied securely. We first put an elastic band and slipped the nappies inside it. When the row was finished, we tied it with a cord at two different places.

We ended up with 4 layers. The top layer only contains one row of nappies and there are no baby grows there anymore to pad it.

To finish we put a teddy bear at the top of the cake. The poor teddy didn't stay there until I stuck a metal knitting needle into him!

The tying cords are covered with ribbons and bows, whatever you come up with. The baby to be born is a boy so we had blue ribbons. We also used tiny socks and a pair of baby shoes to decorate the cake.

We wanted one of the layers have a different decoration. I sewed a pompom ribbon on white fabric.

The bottom part of the finished cake:

Part of the programme at the baby shower was a guessing game: when will the baby be born and what size will he be.  I just hope he won't be as late as his mum who was born 19 days late!

Baby booties with instructions

This is a translation of my own Finnish blog post 2½ years ago.

I have been testing different ways of making baby booties. This type is quick to knit and easy to create different looking booties.

This pair is in my favourite colours, in shades of pink and lilac.

I have looked at different patterns for making booties to come up what I find nice-looking and quick to make.

You begin knitting in the middle of the sole. The bootie can be knitted entirely on two needles and sewn together at the end, or you can take double pointed needles and knit the cuff on the round. I like doing it that way.

Yarn:  I have used Gjästal Maija or Novita Nalle - any yarn that is about 130 m/50 g (142 yd/1.75 oz) (Doubleknitting weight)
Knitting needles 3,5 mm (US size 4)
Gauge: 21s = 10cm (4 in)
The finished lenght of the sole is 9 cm (3½  in).

The pattern is for this bootie, the other photos here have some things added to them:

 

Abbreviations:

st/sts = stitch/stitches
k = knit
p = purl
Stockinette = Knit on the right side of work, purl on the wrong side
Garter stitch: knit both on the right and wrong sides
p2tog = purl 2 stitches together
yo = yarn over
k2tog = knit 2 stitches together (=right-slanting decrease)
[sl1, k1, psso] = Slip one stitch, knit the next, pass the slipped stitch over the knit one.  (=left-slanting decrease)

Increasing: knit the same stitch twice, first the front side of the stitch, then the back side.

Sole:

Made in garter stitch.
Cast on 30 sts.

Row 1: Increase by knitting 1st st twice, k 13, k next 2 sts twice, k 13, k last st twice (you have 34 sts)
Rows 2-3: knit (garter st)
Row 4: Knit 1st st twice, k 15, knit next 2 sts twice,  k 15, knit last st twice (you have 38 sts)
Rows 5-6 krs: Knit (garter st)
7. krs:  Knit 1st st twice, k 17, knit next 2 sts twice,  k 17, knit last st twice (you have 42 sts)
8. krs: Knit

Picot edging

Change to different colour yarn.

Row 1: Purl
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: *p2tog, yo*, repeat from *  to * until 2 sts left. Purl them together.
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: Purl
Row 6: Fold work at eyelet row. Pick up the first loop of  first row on different colour and knit together with working stitch. Repeat to end of row..

Alternately, if you find it difficult to pick stitches and knit them together, you can sew the picot edging afterwards.

This photo below shows the finished sole and half of the picot edging has been done.

Side of foot

After finishing th epicot edge knit stockinette for 8 rows.

Top of foot (decreases that make the form of the foot part)

Stockinette.
1. krs: k 23 , [sl1, k1, psso] , turn work (to go back without finishing the row)
2. krs: p 6, p2tog, turn work.
3.krs: k 6,  [sl1, k1, psso] , turn work.
Continue the same way until 12 sts left on both sides of the centre part with decreases (31 sts altogether). Purl last decrease row to end of row without turning.
2 more rows of stockinette.

Photo below: Decreases of the top of the foot partly done.

Cuff

Ribbing: k1 p1 for 14 rows. Bind off sts.

(If you make the cuff on the round, increase 1 st before starting cuff to get even number of sts for ribbing.)

Here the finished piece before sewing the back together:

Sew up a seam for the sole and back. Use threads left from the knitting if they are long enough.

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If you prefer, you can knit the cuff part in the round on double pointed needles. I do it this way.

The green and white bootie is a variation of the same pattern. The side of the foot is in garter stitch and the top of the foot is ribbing. I made a separate piece for the strap and sewed it on. It is 12 stitches and 3 rows.