Sunday Lately: Week 55 and a Knitted Gift

I'm back with another Sunday Lately, courtesy of the Blogger Tribe! The words for this week are Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing and Scheduling. 

This is the Classic Cuffed Hat by Purl Soho knitted in some Christmas gift leftover yarn. This immediately became my new go-to pattern for knitted hats. The yarn is '7 veljestä' by Novita, if my memory serves me right.

- Completing - :: This week I completed a knitted hat for a family member. Not because she asked for one, but as a surprise because she mentioned that she liked the color of my Christmas gift hats (coming up on the blog next week). It feels good to use your knitting powers for good. 

- Visiting - :: Visited that same family member to drop off the hat and some other stuff yesterday.

- Repeating - :: I haven't actually repeated anything this week, but there are some things I would like to repeat. Earlier this week I wrote about a knitting pattern I would be happy to knit again and the same goes for the Classic Cuffed Hat by Purl Soho.

- Writing - :: the theme for my last year of school seems to be Nilla Writes E-mails And Nobody Answers. Seriously guys - I'm trying to graduate here. That would go so much smoother if everybody would just answer my first e-mail, and not only the third. Actually, at this point, every response seems like a luxury. Bitter much? YES.

- Scheduling - :: as a Lifelong Obsessive Planner I find it difficult and frustrating not to be able to plan out my entire year at this point. Too many things in my life right now are such that I'm forced to proceed one step at a time, because I can't see the whole path ahead of me. Frustrating? Yes. 

Burda 01/16 #103C

On to happier subjects! I received my copy of the Finnish Burda January issue in the mail this week. This dress especially caught my eye, and  Sew Crafty Chemist already made a beautiful version! I have my reservations concerning how flattering this dress would look on me though. I also have half a mind to turn the top around, so that the draping in the back would be in the front instead. 

What do you think? Good or bad? Draping in the back or in the front?

The Lovely Bella

Hello everybody!

This is yet another Christmas gift I made. It's a knitted tunic for a 1,5 year old girl and I'm sure you all recognize the yarn already, it's the same "Nalle Taika" by Novita that I've used here and here. The pattern is Bella by Dani Sunshine, available on Ravelry.

This was a really relaxing knit. I love the top-down seamless construction and with no seaming required and only three buttons to sew, this is almost an instant gratification project.

 The details on the yoke and hems keep the knitting interesting, and the stockinette body knits up fast.

The pattern comes in sizes ranging from 6 months to 10 years old, which I think is great. This tunic is also easier to fit than most patterns, since there's only three buttons on the yoke and the rest of the bodice remains open. 

I can honestly say that I hope to get a chance to knit this pattern more than once, and I don't usually feel that way about any pattern. This is a winter version in a wool yarn, but I think this pattern could also be a great summer layering piece knit up in a bamboo or cotton yarn.

What are your go-to knitting patterns, for either adults or kids?

Sunday Lately: Week 54 + WIPs

Have you all heard about the Blogger Tribe already? If you haven't, you should head over to the Facebook group Blogger Tribe (and ask to be added) or read any Blogger Tribe related post from the wonderful founding bloggers Katy McKinley, Meghan Hayes and Nicole White.

The Blogger Tribe Facebook-page is a place to share your own blog posts and read other peoples posts, and the aim is to build a community based on sharing and commenting. In addition to that, the lovely ladies behind the Blogger Tribe launched a Sunday Lately-series. The Sunday Lately- posts are built around five words and the words change every week. The words for this weeks Sunday Lately are updating, remembering, needing, wearing and being.

This is my first ever Sunday Lately-post, because I only joined the tribe yesterday. So here it goes, hopefully I'm doing the series justice!

This is my last Christmas gift, a pair of mittens for my sister. The yarn is "Nalle" by Novita and they're almost done. On Christmas Eve my sister got a printed copy of the pattern with a note saying that I saw this pattern and immediately thought of her, and that she'll get to choose the yarn herself.

- Updating - :: What have I been updating this week? I "updated" my dinner table into a sewing table by clearing all the clutter that had been compiling since the holidays. I promised to sew my fiancé a scarf some time ago, but nothing is more demoralizing than first having to clean up before you can even bust out the sewing machine (or serger in this case). A better word for my situation might be "reinstate".

- Remembering - :: I bought a new calendar. Not a big deal, but I chose a smaller calendar than I used last year *gasp*. I did it because hopefully I'll graduate this spring, and I don't have that many classes to keep track of anymore. A smaller calendar means that this calendar addict/micromanager is letting go of the tight reins... slowly...very slowly. It's hard to feel zen and "in the moment" when your calendar is bursting at its seams. I'm on the look out for zen here people.

This is a swatch for my first selfish knitting project this winter. Earlier I finished a pair of socks for myself, but they were almost done so I'm not counting them! This will be a bigger project and I still feel like knitting only fast and easy ones, so no guarantees that this one will get finished this winter...

- Needing - :: Oh gosh, I have probably needed a whole lot of things this past week. Umm, yesterday I remembered that I need to buy a remote control for my camera. I already know which one to get, but it got forgotten with all the Christmas stuff going on. And I definitely need one for - wait for it - blog pictures! Surprise?! 

- Wearing - :: This week I smiled when I realized that both the top and the pants that I was wearing were me-mades! Both of them are in heavy rotation, and that makes me happy for many reasons: it means that I have gotten the fit, fabric and the pattern right. The small victories in life, right?

- Being - :: Just be in the moment. That sounds simple enough, but it's one of the most difficult things for me. My mind always rushes ahead, which means that I'm not enjoying what I'm doing right now, because my mind is somewhere else. So yes, the word "being" is an important word for me and one I strive towards every day.

So there you have it folks! Did I get the concept right? or did I ramble too much? This was so much fun, I'll be looking forward to every Sunday Lately-post from now on :)

Horsies and A Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I love reading blogposts summarizing the year that has ended and planning the year that has just begun. I didn't feel like reviewing my makes for 2015, since I've only been back to blogging for a couple of months. But I have been thinking about the upcoming year and what that means to me, and I'll be sharing some thoughts about that at the end of the post. But first, let's focus on one of my me-made Christmas presents this year - and it has horses on it!

As a teenager I lived and breathed horses and one of my absolutely dearest friends has stayed with me since those days. My friend still works hard and keeps her love for horses alive, so as soon as I saw this hat, I knew I had to make one for her.

I first saw the Karusellen hat on the blog Fringe Association (which I love, love, love!) and bought the Pom Pom Quarterly solely for this pattern. Btw, I blame this hat for my recent addiction to Ravelry. So. many. hours. spent browsing through patterns. So. many.

I learned so many things knitting this hat. The instructions included several new to me - techniques, and I took my time with it, because I suck at color work and I wanted those horses to be perfect.  The only thing that still makes me a little sad, is that the color work portion was nearly finished when I somewhere on the internet (very possibly the Fringe Association - blog) read that it does matter which color goes above the other when switching between colors. And I had randomly decided to do the opposite, so all the color work had to go. That still stings a little.

But back to the New Year 2016, and what it means to me. I already know that this year will be a hugely important year for me personally. And perhaps that is why I don't feel like setting any specific goals for sewing, knitting, blogging or any other hobbies for that matter. As I'm a huge planner by heart,  I can't resist the urge to plan altogether, so here are a few small "suggestions" for the future me this year...

Get your yarn stash under control - I have already made progress

No new yarn this winter, except for gifts - so far so good

Please woman make a pants sloper already - I know, I know, but I've made some progress

Sew work appropriate clothes - I have some plans

ENJOY everything that comes with sewing and knitting: take your time to get the best result you can get. It's better to sew one garment in three months than three garments in one month, if it means that I'll make sure that that one garment will be worn over and over again.

And a quick reminder from your guilty conscience: you have a bag of clothes in the back of your closet that needs to be refashioned, or possibly burnt.