Beth: I’m practicing first on my second ball.

Me: Dirty.

She was talking about her first attempts at knitting. Or so she says…

* * * * *

Ski Guys calls, and as soon as I pick up.

Ski Guy: Are you making fun of my blog?

Me: No! Of course not! I adore your blog. *pause* I’m making fun of you.

*pause*

Ski Guy: Okay.

* * * * *

BF and I are meeting H and J for lunch. H arrives wearing a flowery dress. Like, really flowery. BF stands up to greet her. (Note! BF and H get along really well.)

BF: [H], you look… *he takes a closer, longer look* … like a flower shop threw up on you.

H *turns to me, faking indignation and sarcasm*: He’s a keeper.

Me *laughing hysterically*: And correct!

It wasn’t a good dress.

… when walking around town.

1) Black tights (we’re talking less than 40den here) don’t hide the fact that you haven’t shaved your legs since December office Christmas party.

2) The talent of smelling rain half a day in advance is creepy. (I can.)

3) I cannot be trusted to go into a yarn store “just to look”. But I can come out of one without any new yarn. I was proud of myself. Ski Guy, not so.

4) That I can be simultaneously fascinated, disgusted, horrified, amazed and broke-hearted about one thing. (I’m reading about Katrina and New Orleans, you see.)

Just to name a few.

I just went crazy in a yarn store. Drops has an absolutely adorable irresistible line of cotton, the softest ever, yet firm enough to not go immediately slouchy. And the colors are amazing!

I wonder how I get them home. Yarn is actually pretty heavy, so the airline might have an attitude.

At least this took away all the “you buy too much shoes” complaints. And apparently knitting is not sexy. What’s with that??

Last summer I knitted myself this top from Novita:

I made it in hot pink. And it turned out pretty good, even if I say so myself, in the end. Of course, there were some troubles while making it, despite the really simple pattern.

See, the upper part of the top, the lacy part, is knitted from one edge of the sleeve to the edge of the other one. In on piece, really. You just have to part the section into two for a while to make the neckline. Which I forgot to do. So I had to undo like 15 cm of that. Not fun.

Lately, I’ve been working on a blue version of the top, as I really really love the model (plus it looks awesome on me!) and the yarn used (Tennessee by Novita, a 100% cotton). Now, despite the simplicity of the pattern, and the fact that I’d already done the top once, or maybe because of those things, this one had its problems.

First, as I was making the two separate sides for the neckline, I made the first one too short. So after making the second one, I had to add a little bit to the first one, then cut the yarn again and start from the edge of the second one again to match the pattern correctly. Confused? Sufficient to say, I had to end like 10 yarns once it was over. Not fun.

Then, as I moved on to the waist-section, which is knitted from the opening left by sewing the bottom seams to the sleeves, I was being smart. You see, the way it’s done, you sew the seams to create the sleeves, so that you have a tube with a hole on the upper side (that’s the neckline) and a hole in the bottom side (the body). Then you pick up from the bottom hole to knit down to the edge.

Now, with the pink one, the waist is a bit too wide, so I sewed the sleeves together for a bit longer, creating a smaller hole for the body. Still with me? Good. Then, I continued to pick up the stitches, and knitted for 15-something cm of the waist section, feeling all good and accomplished once I finished.

Yesterday I tried the finished top on and started wondering. “Did I really make the waist this small? Hmm… Oh, well, it’ll stretch.” It was on the borderline of being too small. Then I noticed the seams on my shoulders.

I’d knitted the waist-section to the neckline.

Once again, undoing was to be done.

For such a simple pattern, I sure seem to be having huge problems with it!

… steam-ironing knitted toilet paper.

Idea courtesy of Mochimochi.

Do you know the feeling, when you’ve struggled with a problem for hours after hours, days on end, and then you finally figure it out and the answer is so obvious that you feel incredibly stupid for not realising something so self-evident a long time ago? That’s exactly how I feel now.

For days now I’ve been trying to come up with a name for my latest wrap design. To no avail. Nothing seemed appropriate, nothing fitted. It was all wrong, all seemed forced and artificial. Nothing captured neither me nor the wrap.

Finally I realised that I was completely ignoring the enormous potential of my name. I don’t mean derivatives of my name. Nor do I mean anything to do with my last name, which does come with a load of baggage. I mean the history behind my two first names.

I was named after two goddesses. The goddess of the rainbow and the goddess of fashion. I have more inspiration right there, in my driver’s licence, than in a whole of library. The Greek mythology and the entire modern fashion creation.

So it came to me. The name for the wrap. Of course. It makes sense now. It’s self-evident, it’s obvious, it’s so simple it makes me feel downright stupid.

The name? 12.

… I’m having a very busy day.

I have plans for today. I have a To Do -list that’s long, and one I fully intend to accomplish. After few days of just lazying around, at most getting some knitting done (the Still-Nameless Wrap is turning out pretty good, even if I say so myself!) and wasting yesterday chatting with Beth the whole day (she had a crisis, she’s getting old. So naturally I was a good friend and reminded that her face is nothing compared to the stretch marks she’ll get from pregnancy. Aren’t I sweet? *laughs*), I’m finally feeling enthusiastic and energetic and ready to take over the world. Despite the fact that I overslept, as I’m on a screwed-up sleeping schedule after coming home, where I don’t go to bed until 3am and then sleep till noon, I’ve already written a chapter on my thesis, checked the BCF, and am currently writing this post. Writing my To Do -list. What’s on the list? I hear you ask. Well, my little curious ones, here’s the list.

1) University Computer Department needs a visit. Don’t get me started on the complexities of this whole thing, the short story is that I need to visit them to get the online ID I need to sign up for the exams I’m taking at this other university we’re cooperating with. So it’s administrative thing, let’s leave it at that.

2) While I’m at the University, I need to visit the library, and get some books I need for my Finnish essay. My own school doesn’t have them.

3) Before that, though, I should research the books I need, so that I don’t have to do it at the library. Luckily I can do that as soon as I’ve typed out this post.

4) As I’m going to be in that neck of the woods, I might as well stop by at my own school and fill in some more administrative paperwork…

5) … and return some books I no longer need to the library…

6) … and check out some econometrics books I need.

7) I need to tidy up at home, there’s some basic things like dishes and laundry and ironing. Nothing too bad, just pre-chaos control, you know? And there’s still some unpacking left to do. I hate unpacking.

8 ) I might squeeze in a visit to the gym. *passes the smelling salts to H* Yes, the gym. I’m actually feeling kind of good about this. And after the very pro advice I got (I totally used my connections and got both Ski Guy’s and BF’s trainers and physical coaches to plan for me, I mean, I might as well ask the truly pros, no?) I’m feeling ready to attack the elliptical machine and the cross-trainer. I’m not too keen on the weights, but cardio sounds good. So I might go fall flat on my face on the treadmill, today’s as good a day as any.

9) Crochet the hat I promised for My Friend Who Likes To Visit Third World Countries For Fun. Basically the same I’ve made myself in hot pink, only without the cap and in lion yellow. Someone stole her hat, so she needs another. I need to get it done as I’m seeing her (finally!!) shortly, and if I leave it to the last minute, I’ll just forget it. And driving and crocheting is never a good combination! So I might do that while watching Bones tonight.

10) I’m getting my thesis mojo back. Namely, the theory mojo, as I didn’t have any trouble obsessing over the trade deadline. Might write. Should write. Already started writing. I’m on a roll.

11) I might also start writing this completely unasked for and therefor all the better job application. It’s nothing grand, nothing amazing, but it could be fun. And right now, fun is very high on my list. And it’s not like it’s going to cost me something! Plus, it’s a job that could help me with the whole design-thing, which I still need to blog about, I know.

12) I need to go to the grocery store. I have absolutely no food in the house. Which is worrying, as I just went the other day. So someone’s eating my food. Must go again.

Now, how’s that for a list? I better get one more cup of coffee…

*kisses*

ii

Some time ago I decided that I’m no longer going to let things hold me back. That I’m going to turn the negative or problematic things around enough times until they suit me, and work in my advantage and not opposite me. I’ll spin it. (like the whole hockey/thesis thing)

Cost Accounting, the one exam I cannot seem to pass… I have a mental block, no doubt, because I just don’t like it. Now I came up with making it work for me! I’m simply going to study the subject as if I’m actually planning on starting my own business! I’ll make it personal. I’ll apply my own interests to it. Yes, seems simple and seems like something I should have been doing all along. But until now, I didn’t have the passion for something like that.

Now I do!

So I’ll just read “product” and think of something I could make, like a handbag. “Raw material costs” become “costs of yarn and sequins”, “unfinished inventory” becomes “bags that need a lining” and “profit margins” becomes “my shoe money”.

I’m so smart is scares me.

There’s currently a lot of different thoughts in my head, as I try to decide what I want to do when “I grow up”. While I should focus on a) graduating, and b) getting a job, I’m playing with secondary plans.

I want to design. The things closest to my heart are obviously wraps and scarves, but I haven’t rules out other knits.

I want to write. I don’t know if I have what it takes, and I’ve never really dared to try. I guess I prefer to live with the delusion that I could, but I haven’t just given it a go yet, than find out for real that I can’t.

I wish to create something. Something I can look at and say “I made that happen.”

I want something that’s mine. My doing, my creation, my achievement.

I wonder what it is, though.

Till the next time,

xoxo,

ii

As you all probably know, one of my absolute favorite ways of keeping my figure is knitting.* And knowing my love, passion and adoration of scarves, wraps and shawls, it’s easy to guess what I like to knit the most.

Of course scarves and wraps aren’t all I do, but they do let me have fun and play around the most. Try different yarns, different techniques, an odd needle-size… In the end, it doesn’t have to fit. Or better yet, how do you make a wrap that doesn’t fit? So wraps let me experiment.

My latest project wasn’t a scarf or a wrap, though. It’s a handbag. Is, as it’s still in the works. I’m doing it to a friend, to match a sweater I made her earlier and she loves. So I’m using some of the cable pattern and the same yarn from the sweater in the bag. I ripped the idea of the model for this from a Margaret Nicol bag from 2006, and customized and altered it until it fit my purpose and my friend.

But this all made me realise how much I really enjoy this experimenting and planning and trying out and seeing things take form and turn out like I wanted. So I started playing around with this idea of designing some things of my own. I’ve done it, to a degree thus far. But really, all I’ve done is take someone else’s design and alter it. I want to make something of my own.

And the cliche of it all almost turns me off the idea.

Input, anyone?

xoxo,

ii

* What?? It’s perfectly logical!