I’ve had a longing for a knitted dress for ages – just haven’t bumped to the right pattern yet. While I flipped and turned the pages of IK back and forth, pondering about making this top I came up with an idea to extend it to tunic or dress. One more petal would make it probably a tunic, with two it might be a cute short dress. Because my body and  body conscious clothes just don’t mix I’m considering making it A-lined. Every petal should be slightly longer than previous and I would gather the extra while sewing.

There was two giant cones of Yeoman bourette silk in my stash, it’s quite thin but I’m using it doubled with decent results. I’m making my version from top down, sewing it petal by petal to see how my adjustments turn out.

Hi! Here’s the proof that I’m still knitting!

And this is a detail of a little sewing project I plan to publish really soon!

This is a bolero (I’m not kidding).

This should be something like Changeling bolero. It is built from narrow cabled stripes – so narrow that it is easiest to work with DPN:s. I love the yarn, it is Plymouth Suri merino. “Like knitting through clouds” described someone in Ravelry yarn page – and I completely agree. The colour is equisite, too. Vibrant blue-green and grayish purple mix up to extraordinary, colour changing shade of gray.

This is an attempt to illustrate the structure. The longer stripe forms M-shaped figure, the ends of the M are on front and form the top and bottom of button band. The bottom of M is middle back, it is sewn together with the corresponding opposite M-shaped stripe. The other piece forms the middle fron, sleeve and part of the back. I still need one small triangular piece for the front.

I don’t have too much yarn, I suspect that I need at least one ball more. So if you happen to have an extra ball Plymouth Suri Merino colour 791, lot 282 I could certainly purchase it!

The bolero seemed to be very small in the product image. Later I saw a real life version on a real person – and the yarn is considerably thicker than I thought, and the bolero is so much larger. But I think that it might be cute even as small version like this. If the unconventional structure actually works…

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Edit: I finished the first cardigan half and sew it together. It looks lovely! It might be too small for me – but I’m not going to have any trouble finding a new home for it. And there is enough yarn, after all.

Those colours are from another realm.

I blame the awfully dark season. And the boogie.

But something is coming out soon, really! Ophicleide has been in test knitting, I want to thank my two lovely test knitters for the first time public right now! But will get back to that later… Ophicleide pattern will include two sleeve options, the short pouf sleeve of the original and gently gathered 3/4 length version. Then I have two sock patterns coming out, the first will be Harlequin socks, second one will be a pattern for these:

Another sock is still on progress. I quite like both of these patterns. They produce socks that are thin enough to use in fitting winter boots (my usual use for handknitted socks), but I’m quite sure that people who like to show off their handknitted socks will find the patterns interesting enough.

My bookmark scarf is finished – and I love it!

Some knits I do just for pure knitting fun. When my friend fell in love with the Butterfly Dress, it was enough encouragement for me to begin the second one. Luxurious material, that is pleasant to knit (hmm, I’m not saying a thing about frogging, though), playing with hundreds of lovely little glass beads, delightful lace border and well thought finishing works made this one of my favourite projects of all time – from the process knitter’s view. I got also a good reason to get to know Garnstudios kid mohair – silk blend.

I like vintage clothes and visit flea markets quite often. I tend to avoid those second hand boutiques – yes the selections ale usually great but the expertise for picking the clothes usually raises the prices. And one thrill on buying used clothes for me is to find excellent bargains, quality clothes in very low prices. Recently I found this lovely cotton velvet vintage skirt from the neighborhood charity shop. It looks like it has been used only couple of times – and the size is just right. I hesitated a bit of the length of the skirt and thought about shortening it a bit – but now when I have played around with it a bit I’m totally seduced by its vintage charm, and I’m afraid that that charm has lot to do with that conservative length.

If I had a lighter build on the top of my body, I would love this skirt with black fitted thin wool turtleneck, broad belt on waist and some simple black pumps.

I have always loved the flea markets, but don’t buy from them often. That is probably so, because I have some simple rules for myself for buying second hand. I seek for clothes and accessories that have really good materials and are well made. They should be in excellent shape and right size for me. I’m afraid that a cheap piece would not inspire me for large adjustment work – and probably I’m right. I wish so badly that I had this kind of discipline for all clothes and acessory shopping…

It is sort of sad to see that overall quality of secondhand clothes is getting gradually poor. Of course the best ones are always picked to vintage boutiques, but it is amazing to see piles and piles of 5-15 years old clothes that are made with uninviting materials (90′s viscose dresses and skirts, polyester stretch trousers, suits and skirts, nylon sportswear) and poor craftsmanship.

I guess that this skirt will be one of my favourite finds. I photographed two other second hand jewels with it, a small snakeskin bag I found from the lovely outside flea market of Hietalahdenranta (a must visit for Helsinki visitors in summer) and a short dyed rabbit fur – it cost me 10 euros… Side note: I really don’t want to encourage fur usage overall, fur farms are not good places for animals. But I would like to encourage second hand fur usage, the material lasts well for 2-3 generations and is 100% biodegradable.

Oh, crocheting makes so portable little projects. I’ve almost forgot the delight of this craft. This particular project has zero creativity in it – I copied the idea and the yarn choice directly from
Windloop. But I absolutely love the idea and these particular shades of Kureyon, they actually don’t look good on the yarn ball (sweet pastels interrupted with some dirty gray and muted brick), but the self striping quality of Kureyon and this pattern are simply made to each other. The beauty of this garment reminds me the Rivendell set of Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Some more stuff from Japan… …this lovely olivey shade of Araucania Ranco looks pretty nice knitted up with this clever japanese lace rib pattern.

I’m having a new Twinkle fever cycle. Twinkle’s Town & Country Knits is published tomorrow, and I’ve pre-ordered it. And I have found three very promising candidates for subbing Twinkle Soft Chunky – a lovely yarn, but not available in Europe. The tried and tested one is Katia Nordic, a Spanish yarn, I’d be very happy to find some European on-line shops selling this. At least I can get it from Tallinn. And then there will be Garnstudio Polaris. I haven’t even seen this yet, but I know Eskimo very well and love it. So this should be good stuff. My latest discovery was Gedifra Highland Alpaca – and this yarn is available in Helsinki, at Fiina Neule and widely in Europe.

Highland Alpaca and Soft Chunky are almost identical weight: Soft Chunky 200g 83m, Highland Alpaca 100g 41m. And they look same – but Gedifra has additional luxury bonus factor from that generous alpaca content (50%)! I like Gedifra colourwork in general and fortunately this yarn, too, has many beautiful shades. I really like that subtle grayish tint of this ecru shade, I would describe this yarn “bone white”.

More yarn shopping from Fiina Neule, I happened to pick up these two amazingly soft balls of Zitron Nimbus organic wool – and could not leave them behind…

That blue Soft Chunky (shade Haze) seen on that comparison picture I ordered for Urchin Beret: the fastest knit on the earth. I casted on one evening, went to sleep and finished the beret in the morning while drinking my breakfast cup of coffee. Now I have some lelftover yarn to really compare to those subs…

Oops, sorry ’bout that picture, this time there were no good shoots…

This one I blame about my messed up schedule… …the pattern will be out soon. Can you guess what it is?

At first I was eyeing on Laura Zukaite’s Essential Tank Top (at Ravelry) but then I thought again and decided to design something by myself… …can you see the theme, me, myself and I…

It will be a lacy ribbed T-shirt, very transparent, suitable for layering or for very brave souls (not meaning yours truly). The construction and the shape will be simple but I have some neat ideas for details.

Yarn is Colourmart chocolate mousse coloured cobweb cashmere silk, about 3000 yards in one cone! I can tell you that knitting three strands of cobweb together is not always fun…

My yarn diet is over, sort of. I have no intentions to extend my yarn stash to new proportions – but I don’t need to say “no” to every temptation from now on. I can give in delicacies like this:

Yarn is Ilu’s wool-bamboo-mohair handpainted sock yarn. I love the drapey feel of this stuff and those delicate yet earthy colours.

I decided to start a clothes shopping diet, but boy that will be hard this autumn.

Young finnish designer Hanna Saren will have her collection for local high street clothes shop
Seppälä – and I love it to the bits. Pay a visit if you are in Finland around 6th of October.

I really like those accessories, but there are some very sweet clothes, too.

And later this autumn there will be Comme des Garçons collection for H&M. I do have a soft spot for Rei Kawakubo designs – and I have been relatively satisfied to all H&M designer collaboration clothes I’ve bought so far.

The collection looks surprisingly daring and uncompromized (more images). If you can get over with that rather gloomy styling there are several great separates and some really great deconstructed or interestingly detailed jackets. How lovely would that cropped one look over a simple gray knit?

Well, my dressing inspiration has been quite different, lately: seventies rules! I have this great pair of pretty old Diesel bell bottom jeans (yes, you have seen them several times before) and lately they have felt just right. Well so right that they are starting to fall apart – why are the jeans at their best just before they come apart?

Oops, accidentally twisted my shirt – but you get the idea…

I don’t match my accessories often, instead I try to balance the overall impression with them and add some interest.

There is one serious summer knitting madness going on. I guess that the one knit only -restriction when knitting Chevron Sweater backfired a bit .

Habu cashmere top
I wanted to do something useful from this lovely yarn.

So this is the body of sheer tank top, excellent to layer over other garments. 3,5 mm needles, but the knitting is quite fast. There is no purling involved, I just turn around to create the texture.

Rust brown wrap top
Almost finished! I only need to reconsider the edging, the pattern I firs picked does not look nice knitted with Muskat. Still don’t know if this will be decent or not…

Another Montego Bay
Since I was knitting my first Montego bay I have dreamed of knitting one with original Handmaiden yarn. I really love how the suble colour shifts of periwinkle Sea Silk work in the original. Well, sometimes the wishes come true! I met a Ravelry friend on the beginning of July – and she brought me a lovely ball of Handmaiden Silk Maiden, even more luxurious yarn than Sea Silk. Thank you so much, Carrice!

That turquise colourway is so beautiful.

Changeling -copy
I have to admit that I find Anthropologie knits often more inspiring than patterns in knitting magazines. So if one had some skeins of beautiful suri-merino in ones stash and Anthropologie shows this kind of lovely knit for autumn, what can a girl (supposedly a knitter) do? Isn’t it a crime they won’t provide the pattern as well? That little tangly piece of cables will be so much fun to knit! Love the unconventional construction.

Olive Grove socks
Sometimes the inspiration is easily drawn from beautiful yarn alone! Araucania Ranco (Ravelry) feels so soft, and I really love these handpainted almost solids with subtle but noticeable colour shifts.

That olive tone is so yummu… …my new socks might have some vines and leaves incorporated…

Striped Noro scarf
I’m certainly not an early adopter with this but one certain Kureyon colourway just forced me to join the Noro striped scarf craziness.

I pre-ordered the Nicky Epstein Crocheting on the Edge, the book finally arrived – and I like it.

Unlike Knitting on the Edge this one has nice charts of every pattern. There are again few patterns for whole garments.

And I have to say that I really like that circle cape. On the other hand that small capelet would be excellent reason to spree to some Tilli Tomas Swarowski-silk.

And then I made an one night trip to Tallinn, Estonia. Estonia is well known from traditional colouwork knitting. Considering that it might be a small surprise how small selections of Estonian wool is available there.

I would have preferred a bit different shades… …for colourwork… …but these probably end up regular socks…

…this is not Estonian. Thick wool from Katia will probably be a Twinkle scarf one day.

I got some cotton yarn from my mom, it’s Garnstudio Muskat in lovely color.

Shooting to another direction of windowsill… …more gorgeous browns…

That yarn is knitting up to sleeveless wrap top. I have one neat idea incorporating the wrap bands to the knit, it allows them to be interchangeable, even made from fabric. I’m thinking this dirty ivory silk here. I will add some light ruffle for the lover edge of this top. I really like this one with dropped stitches from Knitting on the Edge.

I haven’t bought fabrics in ages, so it was pretty hard to control myself when picking up that silk for attachment bands. I love fabric pieces sold by weight. These airy silks weigh nothing, so they were almost free… …a skirt, perhaps?

Another container was filled with beautiful lightweight cottons, I could not resist.

Oh yes, then there is that fabulous Habu cashmere I bought from winter sales. I have a neat and extremely simple idea for this one! I want to start right now!

Inspector is checking the swatch…

…seems to be a quality yarn…

…approved!