Anteeksi!

Since I forgot to make a post last week, here's a bonus! I dug through my old photos and came across an old project of mine. About five years ago, I discovered the webcomic Scandinavia and the World, and I really enjoyed it. I particularly liked the sullen Finland character and his expressive faces.

This is about the time when a dear friend of mine tried to get me to learn Finnish. It didn't take, per se, but I did enjoy trying!

Anyway, Finland in SatW is usually portrayed with a distinctive green hat. Being the fledgling cosplayer I was at the time, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to make my own. And because I was (and still am) averse to photographs, I drew a face on a balloon and used it as my model!

This was one of my very first freestyle projects: no pattern for me! I toyed with writing it down but never got around to it. Tell me, would any of you like a Finland Hat pattern if I drafted one up?

Sweet as a Snail

Aah, sorry for forgetting to post last week! It was a very busy week, and honestly I'm still quite busy. So I think I'll have to go every other week for a little while, just so I can keep up with life stuff.

BUT that's not what I'm here to talk about! Whenever I get busy and stressed, I end up making cute softies, and this one is a whopper of a pattern. Let me introduce you to Laci:

Isn't she adorable? She's a banana split snail! Who even comes up with this stuff?

Apparently, Knot Bad does. His pattern is pretty darn good. It's got a lot of parts, but clear instructions and ample pictures make it fairly easy to put together. The one thing I will say is that this took more yarn than I expected it to, especially of the banana yellow color. Be careful of your yardage if you make it! That said, it's a super fun pattern with a super cute result. Laci sure brightened up my day when I finished her!

Lace! Again!

We're getting into another busy part of the year for me. Which, naturally, means that I should start another complicated lace shawl. The last one wasn't that bad, was it? No, I must be misremembering, exaggerating even. Besides, I have some pretty green alpaca lace that I bought ages ago, and it's just begging to be knit!

I didn't have a good shawl pattern in mind for the yarn, so I went searching for one. What I came up with was Argyle by Anna Kotsolainen. I'm a big fan of classic angled patterns like argyles and plaids, so I was excited to start it! It didn't seem too difficult from the pictures, anyway.

I'll be honest with you, this pattern was a bit of a challenge. I'm fairly certain that it stems at least in part from translation issues; the pattern seems to have originally been written in Russian, and I think some key details got lost in translation. Specifically, the pattern notes that the lace chart shows only "half" of the pattern, without elaboration. Half? Which half?? How do I figure out the other half???

Only after staring intently at photos of other people's completed projects did I learn what was meant by "half." The pattern is otherwise quite nice, so if you want to try it for yourself, allow me to explain:

When the pattern tells you to begin to work from the chart, you'll notice that the first row has significantly fewer stitches charted than you have on your needle. This is okay. First, knit 3 stitches for your garter border. Then, knit the stitches on the chart, ending with a yarn over. Next, knit one stitch (this is the center stitch). Then, knit all the stitches on the same row of the chart again, and end with another 3 stitches of garter border This is what was meant by the chart only showing half of the pattern. For every subsequent row, follow the same pattern: border, first pass through chart, center stitch, second pass through chart, border. It should look something like this:

Once you get it going, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. That being said, some people made just the "half" shawl without repeating the chart, so you could go for that if you'd prefer. It would make the pattern look rather different, but you do you! I'm going to keep going as intended, and I'll be sure to fill you in. With my luck, this thing will get done just in time for it to be too warm to wear!