Winners!

Thank you all for your comments! It was fun reading them! Your impressions on The Lair varied from handspun yarns and cabled and stranded knits to "a witch" (I take it as a compliment!), Tolkien (well, that's where the name comes from) and Mr HairyFeet. And the lack of cross-stitching, which I really am sorry for. I am such a slow stitcher, but I should have more finished pics soon. I am on a UFO finishing spree, but it takes a long long time.

Olihan blogikisa! Kiitoksia kaikille kommenteista, niitä oli lysti lukea! Luola muistetaan neuleiden lisäksi ainakin Karvajalasta ja hämähäkeistä. Ja ristipistojen puutteesta, joka kaivaa omaakin mieltä, mutta olen onnettoman hidas pistelijä, joten niitä vaan ei synny (varsinkaan kun rukit huutelee vieressä). Olen viimeistellyt paria pistelyjuttua, jospa saisin ne valmiiksi piakkoin.

Anyway, we have a winners! Congratulations, Jaana and Julia! Go on, have some cake and do a victory dance, we'll wait!

Meillä on voittajiakin! Onnittelut Jaanalle ja Julialle! Ottakaa vähän kakkua voiton kunniaksi, me ootetaan täällä.

You're back? Good.

Jaana and Julia will both get a skein of handspun, which both have been seen in The Lair before (feel free to go dig through the posts) :D I hope they like them - they're both special skeins and I do hope they will be loved and knitted to something warm and exciting. Congrats to both of you and everyone else, thank you so much for your comments! I got lots of ideas for new posts from your comments, I'm glad you enjoy The Lair so much.

Jaana ja Julia voivat ootella käsinkehrättyä postissa. Molemmat on nähty blogissa aiemmin, toivottavasti ne ovat mieleen :) Voittajille onnea ja muille kaunis kiitos osallistumisesta - Luolassa ollaan vallan häkeltyneitä osanotosta ja kivoista kommenteista :)

Many of you mentioned handspun yarns, lace and pictures. We have all of those today! Let's start with the spinning. I have some merino-bamboo (60-40) on the bobbin.

Moni mainitsi kehruut ja pitsit ja kuvat. Kaikkia noita löytyy Luolasta tänään! Kehruupuolella rukin rullalla on merino-bambua.
merino-bamboo green 1
I recently bought a lace flyer for Sylvie, and had to try it with this wonderful blend. I really like the lace flyer, it is superfast! The bobbins are old and slightly worn and I need to sand them, but otherwise I enjoy spinning lace again. I have spun so much sock yarn it feels good to go back to lace weight. But, even with a lace flyer, spinning feels slow, much slower compared to sock weight.

Ostin pitsilyhdyn (vai kehrän?) Sylville ja koeajan sitä tämän ihanan kiiltävän kuidun kanssa. Pitsilyhty on hurjan nopea (nopein kehrä on kai 40:1). Rullat on vähän kuluneita mutta lyhty toimii hyvin ja sen kanssa on kiva kehrätä. Sukkalankojen jälkeen on kiva kehrätä oikeasti ohutta, vaikka aika hidasta pitsinkehruu onkin.

Speaking of lace, I finished a Swallowtail Shawl with some handspun. I managed to get some 660 yards (607 m) of merino-silk blend, and it was perfect for this shawl. I made it slightly bigger than the pattern said, and it turned out to be roughly 36" x 70" (90 cm x 180cm). This will be a gift, the colors were perfect for the recipient.

Pitsistä puheen ollen, neulaisin lahjaksi Swallowtail Shawlin käsinkehrätystä pitsilangasta. Lankaa oli juuri sopivasti kivankokoiseen huiviin. Tein tästä vähän ohjeen huivia isomman, kakkoskaavion toistoja on 19. Lankaa meni noin 515m.
handspun sws 1
I am sorry for the poor pictures, I find lace so incredibly difficult to photograph. The shawl turned out really nice and delicate, it weighs only 3 oz (some 85g).

Pitsiä on tosi kamala kuvata, mutta itse huivi on minusta kiva. Toivottavasti saaja tykkää.
handspun sws 2

I find sock yarn almost brainless to spin. So I spun some. Allspunup club fiber for May was this breath-taking blend of greens in superwash merino.

Sitten niihin sukkalankoihin. Allspunupin kuituklubin toukokuun kuitu oli kaunis superwash merino-topsi.
ASU club may fiber
I spun it to 440 yards/4 oz (400m/approx. 110g) in 3-ply, and knitted a lovely pair of socks.

Sain siitä irti sopivasti sukkapariin kolmisäikeisenä, ja neulaisin sukat itselle.
ASU club may socks
These socks were knitted with the same formula as always: toe up, 72 sts, upside down German heel, with a ribbed cuff. It works, and it's easy to knit, and it fits me, so no need to change, right?

Well.. I wanted to play a little. I tried Cat Bordhi's Riverbed construction (in New Pathways for Sock Knitters) and came up with a round heel that works for me, and I used this combination in another pair of socks I finished a few days ago.

Yleensä neulon sukat samalla kaavalla: varpaista ylös, 72s, nurinniskoin saksalainen (eli lappukanta, neliömäinen kanta jne) kantapää ja vähän joustinta sukansuuhun. Toimiva ja istuva malli, joten ei syytä muuttaa sitä, eikö? Innostuin leikkimään kuitenkin Cat Bordhin rakenteilla, ja neulaisin seuraavaan pariin Riverbed-mallilla pyöreän kannan. Yleensä pyöreät (ranskalaiset) kannat nurinniskoin ovat minusta jotenki liian leveitä tai pussittavia, mutta sain tästä stetson-mallisesta mielestäni aika hauskan ja sopivan, ainakin omaan jalkaan.
wild colors bfl socks 1
These fit really well, but the best thing, by a mile, is the richness of the colors. The colors in this yarn were just incredible! The fiber is superwash BFL which I dyed to crazy wild colors (you saw the fiber and the yarn a little while ago), but I never expected the variety and range of colors to appear. I know I will spend the rest of my life trying to duplicate these colors. And most likely, will never succeed!

Sukkaparista tuli ihan mukava ja sopiva, mutta kaikkista parasta näissä on värit. Värjäsin pätkän superwash BFL:ää, ja en todellakaan olettanut kaikkia näitä värejä. Ja todennäköisesti vietän loppuikäni yrittäen saada näitä uudelleen..
wild colors bfl socks 3
The night I finished these the sun cast its final rays in our living room. The colors are even richer in the evening sun.

Päätellessä ilta-aurinko paistoi sopivasti neulomistuolin käsinojaan, värit tulivat siinä vielä kauniimmin esiin.
wild colors bfl socks 4
They looked good in the morning sun too, though.

Joskaan eivät ne ole hullummat noin aamuauringossakaan.
wild colors bfl socks 6
I will have to learn how to darn really well. I don't think I can ever, ever throw this pair away. It will be worn to pieces and darned and reknitted and it will end up looking horrible, but how can you throw such beauty away? It'd be a crime.

Nyt täytyy opetella siis parsimaan hyvin. En varmaan raaski ikinä nakata näitä pois, joten niitä parsitaan ja neulotaan uudelleen ja todennäkösesti ne päätyvät näyttämään ihan kamalilta mutta eihän tämmöisiä voi nakata pois, eihän?

Blogiversary!

The Lair turned 4 years yesterday! I still can't believe it's been 4 years already!

Meillä Luolassa on synttärit! Luola täytti eilen 4 vuotta!

I remember the night I started blogging. It was a Friday night (I think), and Mr HairyFeet had gone to a friend's house for a beer and videogames. (He came home around 6.30 the next morning.) I was bored. So I started a blog. It wasn't called The Lair then, it had a boring name. And some really, really horrible pictures.

Luola sai alkunsa neljä vuotta sitten muistaakseni perjantai-iltana, kun KarvaJalka oli mennyt yhdelle kaverin luo (ja rantautui kotiin aamupuolella). Oli tarpeeksi tylsää niin aloitin blogin! Tosin se ei ollut Luola silloin, nimi oli tylsä. Ja kuvat aivan hirveitä.

One of the things I love about having a blog is seeing the progress in projects, and in the pictures. I knew absolutely nothing about photography when I started blogging. (I still know nothing, but now I have a better camera and PhotoShop.) In the beginning I blogged relatively often, now my pace is very slow. I'd like to blog more often, but it seems coming up with good post titles and taking decent pictures is a lot of work. And I would like to write funny posts, or thoughtful posts, or at least meaningful posts. None of those have happened. I also forget to thank you all for your comments (or respond to them), which is not intentional. The comments and suggestions really mean the world to me - you have no idea how happy I am to see others like what comes off my needles! It really means a lot to me.

Blogaamisen hauskin puoli minusta on prosessi, kehittyminen neulojana ja valokuvaajana. Aloittaessani en tienny kuvaamisesta yhtään mitään (en edelleenkään tiedä mitään mutta nyt on parempi kamera ja PhotoShop). Alussa polkkasin usein, nyt tahti on maltillisempi. Mieluusti polkkaisin enempikin, mutta siinä vaiheessa kun on kuvat ja valmis neule, aivosolusta harvoin saa tiristettyä viksun otsikon ja viksumman tekstin. Ja yksi mikä oikeasti hävettää on se, että en kiitä kommenteista tarpeeksi usein, enkä muista vastata niihin. Ne on tosi tärkeitä - ette arvaa miten ihana on kuulla että toisetkin tykkää neuleista joita puikoilta pukkaa yön pimeinä tunteina. Joten kiitos kaunis kaikille kommentoijille!

This last year has been a very good one. I learned to spin some 13 months ago, and this year I have been spinning a lot. I still have a lot to learn, though.

Viime vuoden isoin juttu on ollut kehruuhommat. 13 kuukautta kehruuta takana, ja kolme rukkia talossa, joten rukin ääressä on vierähtänyt tovi poikineen. Vielä on kyllä paljon opittavaa.
sw merino sockyarn
But it's been fun! Although no one told me that the fiber doesn't really disappear from your stash after spinning - you need to knit it too. And there are so many skeins and colors and pretty fibers I'd like to knit and spin right away! And spinning doesn't help with the existing stash. The yarn sitting in the plastic bins is going nowhere while one plays with the wheel. I could use more hours in a day. Maybe 50 or so would do.

Mutta lystiä kehruu on! Tosin mulle ei kerrottu että se villa ei katoa varastosta minnekään ennenkuin sen neuloo. Ja kehruu ei kyllä auta olemassaolevien lankojen kanssa - jonkun pitäisi keretä neulomaan eikä istumaan vain kehräämässä. Selvästi vuorokauteen tarvitaan enempi tunteja - viitisenkymmentä ainakin.

Blogisynttäreiden kunniaksi Luolassa järjestetään pitkästä aikaa kunnon arpajaiset. Säännöt lyhyesti: Jätä kommentti tähän postaukseen 30.5. mennessä, kommentissa kerro ensimmäinen asia mikä tulee Luolasta mieleen. Se voi olla mitä vaan, kommentti ei vaikuta arvonnan tulokseen joten saa sanoa rehellisesti! Ja jätä joku yhteystieto, linkki blogiin tai spostiin, jotta saan kiinni, jos arpaonni suosii. Palkintona on ehkä sukkalankaa, ken tietää. Jotain yllättävää kuitenkin!

I haven't had a blog contest or a raffle in a long time. So it's about time we celebrate this properly with a contest. Here are the rules. To participate, leave a comment by May 30th (one week from today). In your comment, write the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of The Lair. It can be anything, from "cheesecake" to "the crazy lady with a bazillion spinning wheels"! You can be critical or not, or leave suggestions for improvement, or not. The result will be absolutely random, so leave honest comments. And when leaving your comment, please link to your blog or email so I can contact you. And the prizes? Maybe some sock yarn? Who knows? It'll be a surprise!
hand dyed sock yarn box

Ok? So... go!

WIPs and New Projects

I have severe startitis.
WIPs
The brownish gray project is a coat for me, the warm brown is the Toffee Sweater which has been neglected lately, the white circular thing is Kristel's Springtime Swirly which I have knitted and frogged several times now, the light blue lump will become Swallowtail Shawl eventually and the green wonder is yet another pair of socks.

I never said I was a monogamous knitter.

And I really, really shouldn't start another project. Really, I shouldn't.
sw bfl wild colors skein
But I want to!

The newest skein is 100% BFL, spun to fingering weight at approximately 386 yards or 347 meters and it weighs around 3.5 oz. It will become my 6th WIP today, and I am proud to say, 2/3 of my WIPs are knitted with handspun yarn (both sock projects, one shawl and one sweater). Not bad, I think.

I promise the sock pictures will cease soon. I think I am running out of fiber suitable for socks! (However, lest ye be worried, I'm not running out of fiber anytime soon. Or sock yarn. Or yarn.) But there will be skeins of handspun, I have several bobbins full of yarn ready for plying!

I never said I was a monogamous spinner, either!

Random Fluff

Thank you so much for your comments on my Dad's cardigan! I'm glad you like it :) As for the pattern, I wrote down my notes but didn't write an entire pattern for it just yet. I can be bribed with say, alpaca! :D

I promised some sock pictures in my last post. So let's look at some socks.
räsymattosukat 1
I finished the red and white handspun socks, finally. They are super comfortable and soft! And they fit really well, especially the foot, which has been my problem lately. I tend to knit the foot bit too short in my socks, but this pair is just perfect for my gigantic feet. (I am not kidding you, my shoes made my Mom say they would be perfect for some rowing, "one only needs oars "...)
räsymattosukat 2
The colors and the texture reminds me of rag rugs that my Grandma used to weave, years and years ago. She made beautiful patterns with recycled materials. I wonder if we still have some of her rugs, I must ask my Mom if we do.
räsymattosukat 3
(I told you my feet were huge. This picture makes the feet look even bigger.)

I also finished the calico colored socks. They might be my favorite pair so far.
calico handspun socks 5
For some reason, the socks are nearly identical, only the heel is slightly darker in the other. I have no clue how this happened, I wasn't planning for it. I used about 3 oz of regular 3-ply for the socks, the cuffs are knitted with 1 oz of the same singles, only chain plied.
calico handspun socks 4
The socks are the same size as the red and white socks, so they also fit really well. And I managed to cast off both pairs loosely so the cuff is nice and stretchy too! The socks are superwarm, and the colors are really pretty.
calico handspun socks 3

I have spent far more time at my wheel than I have spent knitting, which is why I don't have more knits to show. But I have yarn!
pink-gray bfl and sw colonial
The pink and gray is 100% BFL, spun to light sport weight and might eventually be a pair of gloves or mittens for me. It's very soft, and BFL, as usual, was fun to spin. It really is a wonderful fiber for nearly any project. I want to knit a pair of BFL socks, but this is slightly thick for that purpose, and I am afraid I don't have enough yarn for an adult-sized pair. (Especially if you have huge feet.) The yellow and teal skein is 100% superwash Colonial, and also sport weight 2-ply. I didn't like spinning the fiber, it felt like spinning steel wool, but the finished skein feels fine. I planned on knitting this for socks too, but yardage may be an issue. There's only about 280 yards of yarn in each skein, I don't think it's quite enough.

Which is why I am spinning this now: 100% superwash BFL in crazy wild colors!
sw bfl wild colors
It looks very promising on the bobbin (I won't torture you with blurry pictures of singles on a bobbin). This'll be chain plied, hopefully I'll get some 400 yards out of this one, that would be enough for socks. And I can always spin more, I have plenty of this in my closet.

Come to think of it, I have plenty of pretty much everything in my closet. So much so that it is not even contained any more.
wool explosion 1

I believe my friends are planning on an intervention.
wool explosion 2
Some might even say it's long overdue.

Actually, I took those pictures for my swap pal in the Finnish knitters' swap on ravelry. I told her (like I tell everyone) I don't really have a favorite color, but it seems I have a lot of blue and green in my stash. But maybe these will give her an idea of colors since the swap is color-themed, and if not, well, white is always good - one can always dye it!

Enjoy your weekend!

Dad's Cardi

No pictures of socks or handspun yarn today, I promise! (They're in the camera, still waiting to be photoshopped..)

Tällä kertaa ei sukkia eikä käsinkehrättyjä. Ne kuvat on vielä kamerassa.

This cardigan took forever to finish. My Mom asked me to knit a cardigan for my Dad, and she gave me this yarn last July when we went to Finland. The first picture of this was posted in January and I had swatched and sketched for weeks before that. Now it's finally finished!

Äiti lykkäsi mukaan pussillisen seiskaveikkaa viime kesän Suomen-reissulla ja pyysi isälle villatakkia. Ekan kerran kuvasin tämän alun tammikuussa, sitä ennen tätä iisakinkirkkoa neulottiin ahkerasti. Nyt se on vihdoin viimein valmis.
vihreä villatakki 7

I was sick of the design and the color and the yarn and everything by the time I finished it. But I am very happy with the way it turned out!

Neulominen meinasi jäädä kesken moneen kertaan, mutta tästä tuli kyllä ihan kivanoloinen takki loppujen lopuksi.
vihreä villatakki 4

There are some issues with it, obviously. The sleeves are a touch long, especially for my DH who modeled the sweater. (It's also too big for my DH, but it wasn't designed for him.) But my Dad likes long sleeves, so I hope they're not too long. The zipper could've been longer but apparently, 28" zippers are impossible to find. And the 26" zipper I found was not green, but I hope Dad won't mind. The collar could've been more snug, too.

Ihan täydellinen tämä ei ole. Hihat ovat pitkähköt, varsinkin KarvaJalalle, mutta isä tykkää pitkistä hihoista joten toivottavasti ne eivät ole liian pitkät. Vetoketjukin olisi saanut olla 70-senttinen, mutta kaupasta ei millään löytynyt sopivaa takkivetoketjua. Ja 65 cm pitkä, jonka löysin, oli vääränvärinen, mutta jospa se kävisi kuitenkin. Ja kauluskin olisi saanut olla tiukempi.
vihreä villatakki 6

But I am happy with the cabled design, and the saddle shoulders especially.

Tykkään noista palmikkokiemuroista kyllä, ja erityisen tyytyväinen olen noihin satulahihoihin.
vihreä villatakki 5

The broken rib is very warm and looks good in men's garments.

Valejoustinneule on tosi lämmin, mikä oli yksi toiveistakin.
vihreä villatakki 3

The back design is my favorite (sorry for the poor pic).

Kuva on surkea mutta takakappaleen alareunan palmikkokuvion loppu on minusta hauska yksityiskohta.
vihreä villatakki 1

I hope my Dad likes it. I'm happy with it!

Toivottavasti isä tykkää tästä. Mie kyllä tykkään lopputuloksesta, toivottavasti tämä on sopiva.
vihreä villatakki 2

Next time, more sock yarn and more socks! (And fiber pictures!) Enjoy your week :)

An Excuse to Blog

Thank you for all your comments on my socks!

As you have noticed, I'm horribly lazy when it comes to blogging. However, today I have an excuse to do so: I bought a new 50mm f/1.8 lens for my beloved Rebel. I hate to disappoint you, I have no finished projects, but pretty pictures of fiber and yarn. And flowers.
gerbera
I bought this beautiful red gerbera on Friday. I was on my way to see my friend, when (as I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some blueberry muffins) I saw the new fresh flowers. I got one for my friend, and I just had to bring this red one home with me. The color and the big flowers make me really happy - it doesn't feel like spring unless you have at least one blooming flower in the house.

And even though it is spring and surprisingly warm, one needs socks in the evenings. And one especially needs handspun socks. Before that, one needs to spin the sock yarn.
ASU clubfiber oct 1
Kristin from Allspunup dyed this incredibly beautiful combed top and the colorway was her clubfiber for October last year (I think). The fiber is 100% superfine merino, it feels very smooth and yet somehow a little sticky to spin. I haven't had the guts to tackle this 4 oz braid of utter beauty until now. This doesn't mean I have improved as a spinner, I can still make a biblical mess of this yarn.

But the colors... I can't mess them up. I hope.
ASU clubfiber oct 2

The spinning has been slow, mostly because I am working on some socks again. (There is also a sweater project but let's pretend I didn't mention it.) It's the calico yarn you saw a little while ago.
calico handspun socks 2

I love the wee bumps of the heels. (And I absolutely adore the new lens!)
calico handspun socks 1

That's all for now - next time, maybe something finished!