Works In Progress

This is the time for secrets...

I have been hard at work for many weeks already, but nothing I can show until Christmas is over.

IF you are a relative or a dear friend of mine stalking this page, then the joke is on you...

...because since I took these pictures, my plans have changed...

 ...and some of this yarn may or may not be used for Christmas gifts... muhahahahaa!

I have squeezed in some very selfish sewing though, so as not to go completely insane. I have been meaning to make an updated pant sloper for ages, and now I have gotten as far as making fit adjustments and tracing the changes on to the pattern pieces. I'm using a Burda pant pattern as a base, and armed with "Pants for Real People" I am now trying to make them fit better. 

I got the book last Christmas, but only got around to reading it now that I'm actually making pants. If I'm honest, I wouldn't have bought this book if it wasn't for Lauren's great review quite some time ago. I have already learned A LOT reading it, and I'm not even close to finishing it. I'm certain that I will return to it over and over again.

But back to Christmas - I'm not even a little bit stressed out by my list of  handmade presents. I should be feeling panicky right about now, right? My selfish pant sewing is on pause until every little gift is done, but I'm not even bummed out by that. I think I've never enjoyed making presents as much as I'm enjoying it this time - I'm sure the reason is in WHAT I'm making, but that I won't reveal yet...

Anyone else excited about what they are making for others? Or is it beginning to feel like a chore with so little time left?

A Yarn Like Candy

Hi again!

This blog has not turned into a knitting-only-blog, I swear, it's just that I love knitting small stuff at the moment. This one was a gift for a friend who is anxiously waiting for her first baby to be born.

The yarn is the same one that I used here, Nalle Taika by Finnish yarn company Novita. The model is #35 in the magazine Moda 1/2013, also Finnish.

I have gotten so used to knitting in the round, that I cringed at the gazillion separate pieces that this baby-onesie is made of. I didn't have the courage to change the construction though, but maybe next time I will. Is it a Finnish preference to knit separate pieces and seam them together, instead of knitting in the round? I also found the instructions scarce, I think they assumed that the knitter has quite a lot of knowledge when it comes to getting the best end result.

I haven't really got that much more to say about this one. But you could of course pause for a moment and appreciate the couture design decision to use two different colored buttons, one at the top and one at the bottom, which stemmed from not buying enough buttons. You're very welcome.

I have got a whole lot of Christmas knitting going on over here. But I think the universe is against me finishing a pair of stinkin' cute mittens, but I have no idea why. Now that I think about it, I think the universe has something against me knitting something using two colors. Whyyy do I have to do everything over and over again? Whyyy?

I promised myself that I wouldn't get stressed out over hand-made Christmas-presents, but it's very difficult at the moment not to get pissed off over color knitting... VERY difficult. And to verify that, I'm now off to knit the same mitten for the third time. Sigh.