The year-round scarf

It only took me a year! Well, it's been finished for a month or so, I just hadn't gotten around to taking pictures of it. Why did it take so long? I'm in a way new to knitting so my pace is quit slow. Also, I was crocheting all kinds of projects in between so this scarf always ended up at the bottom of the priority list. The last (and first time) I knitted a scarf was in 7th grade. It was a navy blue garter stitch scarf that was very wavy because I was probably too impatient to care about knitting equally tight rows. I'm glad I took the time to knit this scarf properly. I wanted a thinner wool scarf that I could use all year round. When I took these pictures I thought I maybe won't be needing this scarf this summer but then I went to an outdoor party recently and was glad I hadn't packed it away with the rest of my winter clothes. Hopefully I won't need to use it too often this summer!

Better late than never

2016 has been declared as the year of the scarves. My brother got one for his birthday (well, more like 3 months after) and I'm still working on my seed stitch peach dream. I've now finally finished one I crocheted for my friend Laura. Ehum, her birthday was in May. To my defence this summer was very busy. Better late than never, right? Once the scarf was done we had an impromptu photo shoot on Lauttasaari. The scarf is crocheted in a closed shell stitch. I wanted to use a stitch I've tried before because crocheting a scarf is quit time consuming. I really like this minty colour, it's mild but works great with both bold and monochrome colours. A few rows in and still in denial about how long it's going to take to finish the scarf. Tada! A few months later the scarf was ready and gift wrapped. "Hold the pretty flowers!" Me trying to channel my inner art director. But can you blame me though? These fluffy flowers were so pretty! And flowers apparently make great backgrounds. Then Laura suggested we go to the beach, excellent idea! You can never go wrong with sunsets! There was somebody filming a dance routine…

Willing spring to arrive

Spring might not want to come to Helsinki just yet but I've already gotten started with spring cleaning. Last week I went through all my clothes, putting aside all the pieces that simply don't work for me anymore and man was I brutal! This wardrobe edition of the hunger games left me with little workwear which is daunting but I believe in the long run it will pay off. While going through my accessories I noticed that the scarves I've had the longest and that I use every year are the ones I've made myself. I have a couple of colourful scarves that have kept me warm in the coldest winters but they are quit thick and too warm spring and early autumn use. With my recent rediscovery of knitting, I decided to knit a thinner but textured scarf. I wear scarves pretty much all year round (except for those few weeks in July when it gets really hot) so I need a few of those thin but warm ones in my wardrobe. I had originally planned to use the moss stitch for this scarf but I noticed it was hard to keep track of my rows while watching TV shows. So I…

Oh brother, art thou cold?

Sometimes I'm not a very good big sister. On my middle brother's birthday I called him, congratulated him and told I hadn't been able to find a birthday present for him. I told him "if you possibly need a scarf, I can crochet you one". He's a quit easy going guy so he was like "mmmkay" and we started discussing colour options. We agreed on a dark wine red but once i was at the store I couldn't find a yarn in that colour or the right thickness. After another call we settled on a teal colour and in wool. What was more tricky was picking a crochet stitch for the scarf. My brother dresses in a quit classic style so I knew all the lace and flower like stitches were not his thing. Instead I tried to find a simple stitch that created a clean graphic pattern. I came across the Cable Stitch on Pinterest and after testing it decided to go with it. I found this great tutorial, which also shows a variation of the stitch where the diagonal lines are all in the same direction. The stitch is quit easy so I was able to finish the scarf before…

Apple greens and basket weaves

Remember a while back when I crocheted all those swatches and vowed to get started on a scarf? Well, I finally got started but I didn't use any of the crochet stitches I had sampled. What happened was I went to the yarn store and bought a few skeins of yarn in this lovely apple green colour, but when I got home I realised that the yarn was too thick for what I had in mind. So after hours of googling, youtubing and testing crochet stitches I decided to go with a basket weave stitch. I really like the thickness and the texture of it but it consumes a lot of yarn so I might have to pay that yarn store another visit.I find crochet to be very meditative so I'm glad I have this project to keep me occupied through the dark winter months.