Garn Boet - The Yarn Nest

Venezia has been finished for a while already, but the modelled pictures have taken some time to get taken. First it was too hot, then it poured down, and then it was too hot again. Yesterday it was still hot, in fact hotter than ever before this summer, but when the sun went behind a cloud for tem minutes I grabbed the pullover, the camera and the husband in order to finally get the pictures taken. It was 27 degrees Celsius in the shadow, and positively too hot to wear a pullover made of Shetland wool, but who knows when I otherwise would have got them taken.

Project details:
Pattern: Venezia by Eunny Jang, Interweave knits Winter 2006.
Yarn: Jamieson’s 2-ply Spindrift, 100 % wool in the specified colours
Needles: Addi turbo circs 2,5 and 3 mm, dpns 2,5 and 3 mm for the sleeves.
Alterations: V-neck instead of boat-neck.

All in all a wonderful pullover to knit. The pattern is very detailed, and you need to read through it before you start, in order not to make mistakes. But it’s well written, like Eunny’s pattern always are, and a joy to work with. The colour chart looks very complicated, but you get the feel for it easily, and then you “see” it. The pattern is in fact more addicting than any pattern I can remember to have knitted before; the syndrome of “just-one-more-row” is always present.

I have never used Shetland yarn before, so that was a new experience for me too. It’s softer than I thought, but still a bit harsh, even after washing. It blooms out in a beautiful way when washed, and I easily understand why this is so popular for Fair Isle typed works. The 25 grams balls are also a blessing, so even if the yarn isn’t cheap, you don’t have to buy way too much yarn for your project.

Click here to zoom out and to zoom in !

I know there are quite a lot of people working on Venezia, so the club of Venezia finishers is not that exclusive. But I must admit I’m quite pleased both with the finished Venezia, and with having finished Venezia. And I hope I’ll see more Venezias all over blogland!

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Edit note: I wrote I speak English. Well, perhaps so, but I don’t seam to be able to write it. I –twice- wrote Germany when I of course meant German. Error corrected nothing else new in this post since first posted.

Grandma Flea has tagged me for the 7 random facts meme -

Rules of engagement: "Each person tagged gives seven random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their blogs seven facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog".

So here goes - 7 random facts that you would not know from reading this blog:

1. I love Japanese cuisine. The first real restaurant I visited together with my now husband, about a month after we had met, was the Japanese Yokohama on Tehtaankatu in Helsinki (they closed it some 15 years ago). He had been there with his parents before, and liked it. We had saved money in order to be able to go (we were poor, young students). It was love that was about to last. We have been married for almost twenty years, and I have loved Japanese cooking since that day. The next year I bought my first Japanese cookbook, and I have thus been cooking Japanese for almost as long. Good for hubby he too still likes Japanese cooking.
2. When visiting new cities I always hunt down not only yarn shops, but also shops specializing in Japanese cooking utensils and china ware. Twenty years ago you didn’t get these things in Helsinki, and even if we have a good shop today, I always keep my eyes on new and unusual bowls and plates for my collection. My first were bought in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1986.
3. I try to learn Japanese, both because of my interest in Japanese cooking, and because of my interest in bonsai. It’s the most difficult thing I have ever done. I speak Swedish, Finnish, English and German (or actually I haven't spoken German for a while, but I read and write). I have tried French, it was not my piece of cake, but I'm still able to read knitting intructions in French. They say it's good for the brains to learn new languages, I really hope so!
4. When I had my first exam in law in business school I promised myself and told everybody I would never read anything that had to do with law during my studies. I had bookkeeping, accounting and auditing as my major subject in the specialized studies, and soon realized it was a promise made a bit to fast. I had to take a course in tax law, I hated it, and in corporate law, bad, but not hate. Then I realized would be good for me to take a couple of courses in other business fields. And suddenly were all courses finished, and I longed for more. Secretly, only my husband (or at that time still boyfriend) knew about it, I read for the tests you have to finish in order to be accepted as a law student. There are way more people interested in studying law than there are places, and you have to have almost everything right in the exam. I decided to try once, passed it and was accepted as law student at the University of Helsinki. What you know from my blog is that I finished with a degree in – drum roll - tax law. Who would have believed in that some 15 years ago?
5. My grandma thought me to knit, and the first item, a small rat in red yarn, is still in my possession. The first big thing we were supposed to knit in school was a hat. It was a disaster, I had to take it home and knit on it, cried, my mother helped me, and of course you can see where her even rows were knitted. So my teacher realized what had happened, and I didn’t get a very good note on knitting. I found the hat two years ago, and throw it away. It was still able to almost make me cry, and now I wanted to get rid of it for ever. The memories are not as bad as the hat itself.
6. I can weave and spin, but don’t do either very much nowadays. I don’t weave because I don’t have space for my loom, a lovely old thing that has been in my husband’s family for at least four generations. I don’t spin because I, even if I am a person with a fairly good portion of patience, don’t have the patience for spinning. I guess this is a way to say I don’t find the process of creating yarn interesting enough to entertain me. But my spinning wheel is a beauty, blue grey in colour, with good balance even if it too is an heirloom thing, again from my husband’s side of the family.
7. During my life I have had all kinds of pets; hamsters, guinea pigs, budgerigars, canaries, cats, dogs, an assortment of bugs (didn’t like them much) and fish. I worked with horses during all weekends and summer holidays for about five years. I took care of my friends’ and the school’s pets during the summers, and was responsible for the aquarium in school a couple of years.

Since this meme has been going around for a while now, I don't want tag anybody. I know, it's against the rules, but still, it's not a new one, and almost everybody has it down in the archives somewhere. But if you feel for it, do it!

New sock from the toe up

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So I’m toying with the idea of adding a V-neck opening instead. On the picture to the right is a measure added where I imagine neck opening would be. What do you think? I’m not very fond of making big alterations on patterns, but I’m not going to knit Venezia in order to have her collecting dust in the cupboard. And if you support my idea of a V-neck, how would you knit the edge of the opening? Would the double knit as used for the bottom body and the arm cuffs be too heavy? (I guess the only right answer to this question is try it out, but still, I’m interested in your input).


And on the spring cardi front: still no buttons.

Posted by Maud at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

Give me some buttons, please! Pearls or shells, no matter, but now! All my seams are sewn, all ends are finished, I have got a nice tour on the blocking board, and I deserve buttons. I even fit the person who is going to wear me, so there is no reason for not sewing in buttons. Except that they aren't bought, and there were none in the button stash. But that's a detail, isn't it?
P.S Venezia is sending her greetings, she got quite a lot of attention last evening. Like almost one pattern repeat. There are about four pattern repeats before the arm steeks, two and a half to go. She is happy.

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