Studio Julmahuivi

Mindless crochet and finished objects

julmahuivi — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:34:33 +0000

I went to the yearly Helsinki craft fair yesterday with my mum. I usually go alone to these types of events, so this was a nice change. We decided that she would not let me buy any more yarn and I would not let her buy any more bags, and it worked. I didn’t buy anything, and she just bought some kind of steam iron cover. Unfortunately, this means that I haven’t got any yummy yarn pictures to show you.

I felt a cold coming on and got really tired after just one hour of walking around at the fair. Today I’ve stayed indoors all day with a runny nose and done a little easy crochet to pass the time. Looks like a nice little doily, doesn’t it?

But it seems to have drawstrings… It’s a tiny bag!

Actually, it’s a shower scrubbie. Just the perfect size for a lovely Chagrin Valley sample soap bar. The pattern I used was Shower Scruba Dub Dub and the yarn some old Novita Butterfly I had lying around. It’s a cotton and viscose blend, probably softer than a good scrubbie should be, but we’ll see how it works for me.

Anyway, as I was working on the scrubbie, I remembered that I had originally bought the yarn for a lace top that I had made two or three years ago but never worn, because it turned out too big. But I had never thought about wearing it as a vest on top of a blouse! So I took the top out of my closet, fixed some ends that were still unfinished, and tried it on. It’s ok, isn’t it?

Lankaa kaupan!

julmahuivi — Sat, 24 May 2008 09:33:20 +0000

This post is in Finnish only.

Myyn pois nurkista vanhoja lankojani.
Ihanteellista olisi, jos voisin luovuttaa ne ostajalle Espoo-Hki -alueella, mutta lähetän ne toki kauemmas myös postitse, jolloin postikulut lisätään hintaan.
Langat ovat savuttomasta mutta kissallisesta kodista. Kissa ei kuitenkaan ole ollut niiden kanssa tekemisissä!

Novita Aino. 6 kerää, 12€ VARATTU!
100% villa, puikot 6, tiheys 16×21
Väri: viininpunainen, 777
Kerä: 100 g = 140 m

Novita Aino. 6 kerää, 12€ VARATTU!
100% villa, puikot 6, tiheys 16×21
Väri: petrooli, 192 (kuvan väri on vääristynyt)
Kerä: 100 g = 140 m

Gjestal Naturgarn no 1. 4 kerää, 5€
100% villa, puikot 8, tiheys 12 s
Väri: vihreä 734
Kerä: 50 g = 55 m

Novita Samos. 10 kerää, 10€
50% puuvilla, 50% akryyli, puikot 4,5-5, tiheys 16-17×24-25
Väri: vaalea mintunvihreä 313
Kerä: 50 g = 90 m

Novita Maxi. 6 kerää, 6€
60% puuvilla, 40% akryyli, puikot 6, tiheys 14×18
Väri: mintunvihreä 368
Kerä: 100 g = 110 m

Novita Pop. 5 kerää, 5€
70% akryyli, 30% villa, puikot 7, tiheys 14×18
Väri: vaalea beige 608
Kerä: 100 g = 105 m

Novita Pop. 6 kerää, 6€
70% akryyli, 30% villa, puikot 7, tiheys 14×18
Väri: marjapuuron punainen 751
Kerä: 100 g = 105 m

Novita Sardinia. 5 kerää, 5€
100% akryyli, puikot 6, tiheys 13×20
Väri: tummansininen 170
Kerä: 100 g = 130 m

Resolutions…

julmahuivi — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:29:04 +0000

Here are my new year’s resolutions for 2008:

will blog more often (what really has been holding me back lately is the darkness of winter – not being able to get good pictures for the blog)
will not buy yarn I don’t have a project in mind for (actually, I’ve been quite good at not buying any yarn lately)
will finish at least some UFOs -or frog them

Bad, bad blogger

julmahuivi — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:04:13 +0000

I’m such a lazy blogger. I went to the craft fair in Helsinki two weeks ago, and it has taken me this long to take pictures of what I bought. Anyway, here’s the result of my stash enhancing experience:

One skein of Ornaghi filati Merino Oro and a skein of kettle dyed wool yarn (I couldn’t find any brand name on the hank). I’m thinking these two could become very nice lace shawls or scarves…

Three skeins of Noro Silk Garden. These might become an entrelac scarf one day… Strangely enough, one of them looks quite different from the others, but they are all supposed to be from the same colourway (225) and dyelot.

Finally, there’s two skeins of basic cotton yarn. The strangest thing happened to me the day I went to the fair. I felt an uncontrollable urge to crochet a white little doily. So I bought this yarn. And I crocheted the doily. Must take a picture of it someday.

Cup of yarn

julmahuivi — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:37:53 +0000

I’m always happy to see knitting kits presented in a manner that will tempt non-knitters to give this fine craft a try. Quite accidentally, I came across this scarf kit on Amazon:

It’s called Cup of yarn and it contains instructions for a scarf, 270 yards of yarn and bamboo needles in a cup. Too bad that the yarn is 100% acrylic… It should have been bamboo too!

Green Swan

julmahuivi — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:29:09 +0000

I bet there’s a pub in England with that name. I’ve been slowly progressing on clue 4 of Mystery stole 3, which turned out to have a swan theme. I’m okay with that, but for some reason I don’t see myself knitting (and wearing) a wing. I probably won’t be wearing this as a stole either, more probably as a scarf. I decided to make it symmetrical (no wing), and Melanie, who’s designed the stole, just posted an interesting and creative solution to this. Thank you, Melanie!

However, this still means a lot of work before I get to the interesting part… I have to make another half just like the first one (obviously, because that’s what symmetrical means). But I’m in no hurry and have actually quite enjoyed the lace experience. I have done some lace work before, but nothing this big.

And what’s the ice cream box doing in the photo? That’s where my two little balls of yarn are, of course. I’m using Grignasco Merinosilk doubled, and keeping the balls in a box, with a hole in the lid, stops them from getting all tangled and rolling around. This is quite a nice little knitting tool to make as it involves eating the ice cream first.

Blog mysteriously resurfaces – owner totally amazed (but really trying to keep it up this time)

julmahuivi — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:48:25 +0000

I started this knitting blog last year in Finnish, my native language. Somehow I never got into the habit of writing regularly, although I really like writing and often think about things worth writing about. Now I’m making a fresh start, this time in English, so people finding me through Ravelry will be able to read my blog too. I promise I will really try to keep this up, second time around.

So, I just made a subscription to Craft Magazine, starting with issue 04. The price for four digital issues was US $26.95, so I thought I might give it a try.

Well, after flicking (or clicking, rather) through the pages of the latest issue, I’m a bit disappointed. I knew it wasn’t really a knitting magazine, but somehow I expected more fiber crafts stuff. There is only one knitting project – the crime scene scarf portrayed on the cover – and that’s really not enough of a challenge for a person who has been knitting for some years, like me.

Other things related to fiber crafts in this issue: a natural dyeing 101 and a tutorial on how to carve your own crochet hook. I haven’t read the other articles yet, but some of them seem interesting and I’m hoping the next issues will have greater fiber content (after all, they say it’s good for you!).