Add stash

I spend last weekend at my very first knitting retreat ever. It was so much fun, I arrived home on Sunday evening tired but happy. Knitting, talking, eating, drinking, sauna-ing, a yarn purchase or two. I even managed to destash some yarn. Came home with more yarn than I left with, though. I'm already looking forward to the next retreat. Those nice fellow knitters doing all the organizing, thank you! I wish you all an overflowing stash.

Prior the retreat, everyone except one I told about it asked whether it was meant to be a silent one. Around 50 opinionated, yarn-loving, social (occasionally slightly tipsy) women present, what do you think?

The yarns at the photo: the cake on top is Wollmeise Twin in Golden pear. Underneath from left to right: three skeins of Kintlob's Lair sock yarn, Wollmeise Twin in Rosenrot WD and Wollmeise 100% merino in Regenbogen. More details in my stash.

Those who wonder about the world's cutest Pikku-Hukka, she's holidaying chez my mother. Mom reports PikkuHukka's spending her time sleeping in a pale blue bowl and looking adorable. Who'd have guessed? And that she fits in it!

Edited later on:

I forgot, managed to finish this hat while at Päivölä.

more about it here

FO: sunny socks

I'm on some kind of a sock-knitting phase as I've already knit more pairs of socks this year than during the whole 2010. It's a nice state of mind to be in. These, my newest, are on my feet at the moment. All the details are here.

Despite the weather - below freezing temperatures, snow falling & more promised over the weekend - I've started to knit a spring hat for my self. The spring will come, even if it's two weeks late by now. What makes a hat a spring hat, you might ask? Well, a spring hat is not too hot and it does not look too woolly. This yarn's a nice tweedy wool-silk blend.

But I must say, looking at posts such as this one and this makes me green with envy.

FO: warm wrists

These have been finished for quite a while.

They're nice and warm and brighten up any outfit.

Originally I meant them to be worn with a specific,

as yet un-finished pullover, but they go rather well with

 my Marimekko T-shirt, too. This one's my fav colour-combo.

The Rav project page.

What a relief

I have quite a few finished knits I haven't blogged about. Haven't updated my ravelry page either. I haven't had time or energy to photograph them. The reason is that my father had a big (scheduled) heart operation on 24th of February. 

Even though the op was a relatively simple one for such a big operation (they stopped his heart for half an hour and all that), we were quite anxious.

During that week plus the following week which he spend in hospital my thoughts were focused on him. Father eventually got to get home on 4th March. The op went fine and father is recuperating as he should be. So, I really did not think about knitting photos or much else that father for a fortnight. I did get a fair amount of simple knitting done while visiting him, though. 

So, no knits, but here are a few yarn purchases.

This silk-cashmere lace yarn in colour Mangrove is from Skein Yarns. Fast shipping, even though she's as far away as she could be. The yarn's Rav page.

I've also joined a yarn club for the first time ever. This is the first of three skeins I'll get this spring from the  Plucky Knitter. It's Primo fingering, merino-cashmere-nylon blend in the colour The Hills Are Alive. Here's the Rav page for the yarn.

Then I've got this Evilla 8/2 lace yarn from Kissanviiksi, in shade A-76. A lovely melage of browns and grey. There's 220 grams in the skein and here's the yarn's Rav page.

It will become a Revontuli shawl. Which reminds me, the first Ulla of 2011 has been published. Check it out!

A winter day in rural Finland

These were taken near where my mother lives.