An Open Letter to Terry Gilliam

Hey man,

I've been influenced by the work that you do for all my life. When I was a child, I grew up watching Monty Python's flying circus, learning to speak english, not taking things too seriously, learning to see the strange humour that is all around us. Later on I found films like Brazil, that seemed to me to have a deeper meaning in them that influenced me in whole new ways. I've always loved your films, which is why I'm so sorry to say I'll probably never buy another one again.

I was hurt to see that you were among the hordes of film industry people that said "Hey, you know what, it's OK to drug, rape and sodomize a child if you make movies that are good enough." I don't care if you're friends with the guy, I don't really even care if you like him. You do the crime, you do the time. No matter who you are. Roman Polanski has not done the time. In fact he's fled from doing the time to luxury houses all over Europe. He was arrested going to receive a lifetime achievement award for a body of work that was mostly created while he was fleeing the law for raping a child. If this were just anyone, this wouldn't have happened. He would have done his time and everyone could've moved on.

By signing the petition you are openly saying that if you are rich, powerful and famous enough, it's ok for you to rape a child. And dude, for that, you suck.

Disaster struck!

I haven't been knitting or writing for a long time since I managed to get RSI from bad ergonomy, doing overtime and knitting while playing World of Warcraft. Apparently wrists can't cope with all that damage at once for a long time. So I spent five terrifying weeks on sick leave basically doing nothing, because everything was painfull and I was scared shitless of having to get surgery or worse, becoming permanently disabled because of this. I have to say it was bad, worse than I've ever had. At first I was almost literally a prisoner in my own home because even opening locks was difficult due to the pain involved. Thankfully it's slowly getting better, although I'm still not knitting, just to be sure.

Because knitting hasn't been an option and surfing has definitely been out of the picture, I've been kind of bored. At first I just read. Everything and anything I could get my hands on. After a few weeks of that I got bored of that as well and started snapping at the better half. It seems that I get very snappish when I get bored. So I got my sewing stuff back from my mom and started working on a more stylish sewn wardrobe. Pics of the progress soon to come.

Something that's happened over the summer is us selling our gorgeus, tiny apartment and getting a bigger one, further away from the center of Helsinki. Which means I'll be getting a room all devoted to my arts and crafts stuff. I'm completely loving it, because that means, that I won't have to keep putting away and taking out my sewing stuff whenever I'm in the middle of a project.

F.O. Rinsessa hat

I decided I neede another hat for this winter and what do you know, Ulla webmag had just the thing for me.



Pattern: Rinsessa Pipo by Sirkku Isopahkala (Ravelry)
Source: Ulla web magazine - all in finnish unfortunately.
Materials: Rowan Felted Tweed
Amount: a little less than 1 ball
Needles: 2.5 mm dpn's
Finished Dimensions: Good for a 58cm head circumference.

Started: 09.12.2008
Finished: 18.12.2008



I work in software development as a programmer or a dev if you will. The project I'm in now is somewhat stressfull and therefore a lot of the guys smoke. After being there a while, I found myself with the urge to just step out and take a break for a while. I've never touched ciggies and didn't want a silly project to change that, so I started taking my knitting along when the guys went out for smokes.

I needed a hat that didn't need me to carry around cable needles but was still interesting enough to make me take a break from work. Enter the rinsessa.



I need to start blogging right after finishing, because this far out, I can't remember much. All I do remember is that this thing was a really quick knit. It seemed to be over before I really got started. It looks nice and has seen almost constant use since it was finished.

F.O. The Blue Beast

Four weeks before Christmas I decided that the hubby needs a cardi as a present. So like any sneaky bitch, I started showing him sweaters I liked and he either agreed or disagreed. We had a long discussion about two cardis that to me looked basically the same, but to him had a key difference in them. Then I showed him Brooklyntweed's Big Blue and he plain out asked me if I could make him that sweater. What's a girl to do about that but start swatching?



Pattern: Seamless Shirt Yoke sweater (Ravelry)
Source: Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Materials: Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed
Amount: 12 balls
Needles: 4.0 mm circulars and dpn's for the sleeves
Finished Dimensions: 46 inch chest

Started: 28.11.2008
Finished: 08.01.2009



I started out the project trying to convince myself that I have no problem with steeking and I could easily steek if I wanted to. I was lying. Frankly, I was scared about it, I'm not ashamed to tell you now. For now, I am a Knitter.

After the third time I frogged the yoke I simply thought "Screw it, I'm gonna have to sew the zipper in anyway, I'm steeking the rest." I did, and it was GOOD. I had a bit of a gauge problem in that the front was too big. Fortunately that was easily fixed when I was sewing the zipper.

The yarn was wonderful for steeking. Like it was made with that purpose in mind. Even while knitting it was pretty hard to frog, so it didn't require any special precautions for the steek. Even now, after a month of use, the cut edge looks exacly like it did after I cut it.



I grafted the armpits using a techinque described in Knitting Daily's blog just before Christmas to help all us desperate last minute gift knitters finish on time. I have to admit, it's the best finishing technique I've come across so far. I love it.

I'm mostly very happy with this sweater, I just don't like the way the neck opening turned out. After all the frogging I just didn't have the heart to frog it again.

Le roi est mort, vive le roi!

... or in English, the king is dead, long live the king! The endless blue beast that I've been knitting for what seems like an eternity (but is actually only six weeks) is finally finished. I've had to frog parts of it so many times that if every stitch counted, I would probably have two sweaters by now.

See here, here is the monster soaking in a nice bath of hand-temp water and Citrus Soak courtesy of Loopy Ewe's small customer gifts.



And after a nice bath I put it down to block on top of the dog's cage aka the Retreat. See there, in all its glory;



I still have to put the zipper in after which I will be giving the low-down on this thing, with proper pictures. Right now I'm just so happy I had to share it with someone. The future-husbeast is sick and therefore royally uninterested that I've completed my first adult-sized knit ever, the dog even less so. Actually no, she did think the wool was to be played with, which cannot be endured, so I think it might be a good idea not to try that episode again. Now to wait for the thing to dry.

Looking Back

With the end of 2008 upon us, it's time to look back before looking forward. I really began knitting only last year so this year has been incredibly productive for me. As with all finns (including men) I first learned to knit at primary school, but as most do, I sort of forgot about it until recently. I blame the Domiknitrix.

I probably should explain such wanton accusation, so here goes. I've been sewing clothes for myself and others for ages and I love corsets. So I bought myself Corsets and Crinolines the definitive work for anyone interested in historical undergarments. So Amazon faithfully started listing other stuff I might like which included the Domiknitrix book. It looked fun, and frankly I hadn't even imagined knitting looking like fun. Seems like a shock now, I know, but I was young and naive. So it arrived and with the first look of the Bob Dobbs vest Tommi asked if I could make him one and so I did. Nothing's been the same since.

So the completed projects for 2008 have been blogged about so recently that I don't see a need to blog about them again yet. What's up for 2009? I found out about the NaKniSweMoDo (or Nationa Knit a Sweater Month Dodecathlon) for 2009 today. The basic idea is to knit 12 sweaters during the year 2009. That doesn't sound too bad. This is when the knitting fates attack and make it impossible for me to complete even the one. Although that's been happening loads lately, so too late! *muahhahaha* I also intend to knit the garter stitch afghan by Elizabeth Zimmerman by the next time cold weather rolls around again. Add some socks in the mix and we have ourselves a productive knitting year to look forward to.

Knitting for peace

As the year is coming to a close I am grateful for so much. I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say, I wholeheartedly agree with the Harlot that I am lucky if only because I'm able to knit. With resent events at the Gaza strip and elsewhere it seems that peace and wellbeing for all is not possible.

But I'm going to try the best that I can. Martti Ahtisaari said "Peace is a matter of will" when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. Even with the risk of sounding like the sort of person who makes their own granola (I'm not), I subscribe heavily to the sentiment voiced by Andy Maize of the Skydiggers at a concert before Christmas: "Things will be better if we all take care of each other than they will be if we don't take care of each other."

With that thought I'm challenging everyone around me, as well as any stragglers that might be reading this blog to make a point to do something to improve someone else's life better at least once a week for the whole of 2009. Being a knitter, I of course intend to knit many warm and useful things for people in need to be distributed by the SPR or Finnish Red Cross.

The Deal

The Darling Man (DM) has been making a lot of game purchases lately and I have been making a lot of yarn and other knitting related purchases lately. It's not like it's a problem, but we do have a wedding coming up and it would be a good idea to make more of an effort to save up for it. So we made a deal. Tommi will not buy any games for himself until he has played through half of the games he has bought lately and I will not buy any yarn untill I have knit through my WIP queue on ravelry + the Relm hat that I've been coveting for a while now and did actually buy the yarn for on my saturday trip to Priima. Both of us get one veto purchase, but if only one of us uses it, the other gets bragging rights.

We're both pretty happy with the deal. It's not like we're running out of room for either or anything, we just think it better that we "force ourselves" to take the time to enjoy the things we've got now. All the better to start after this self imposed fast.

In other news; christmas is starting to look dangerously close now. I've finished all the pieces for the baby jumper going as christmas present to Tommis brothers eldest, I just need to wash and block them and attach the sleeves and it's done. The torso and hood part are complete with all the ends sewn in and the hood secured and finished. At the moment the sleeves seem like a daunting task so I find myself putting off the blocking, cause that way I'm not scared of the sleeves. How stupid is that?

Tommi's cardi is not in such great shape. The body is worked up all the way up to the armholes, I've gotten one sleeve up to the elbow during today and I got the zipper today, but I don't think there's a snowballs chance in hell this thing will be ready for christmas. Maybe for new year's. It's going to be good though, when I finish it. I'm already loving it.

Spreading the word of the Knit

I've been sick since the beginning of November. Some kind of viral flu or something, doesn't matter. What matters on the other hand, is that I've been spending a lot of time waiting at the doctor's office, the lab and so on. Lot of knitting has gotten done during all that sitting around waiting. My doctor's been fascinated about my knitting and today I managed to egg her into to starting knitting as well.

Last night we were sitting as a group at a bar after a professional community meeting, having some drinks and talking about everything and anything that came to mind, me knitting away on my rinsessa hat when all of a sudden my little sister remarks that she might have to start knitting, because it looks like so much fun. This is a person who has never knit except for the mandatory stuff at grammar school. NEver even cared much for arts and crafts. I was so shocked I even dropped a couple of stitches.

If there's hope even for my little sister, there is clear indication that one day, the world will be run by knitters. And what a wonderful day that will be.

Kaamos

Kaamos is the finnish word for the perpetual darkness that comes in the winter. Many people living in the nordic regions of the world are effected by SAD aka Seasonal Affective Disorder. This manifests itself as increased craving for sugars and fats (aka chocolate), trouble sleeping, dramatically increased feeling of needing more sleep, tiredness, irritation, and in extreme cases clinical depression. Yesterday I finally copped up and admitted that I have SAD. I've been increasingly bad to live with, but I only admitted to having SAD, when I didn't want to knit anymore. How sad is that? (pun intended).

Last night I just couldn't bring myself to knit, on account of every single yarn I own being "all gray". I have pretty denim blue tweed, gorgeous yellow-orange-red sliding dyed wool from Estonia that made the rounds among Finnish knitters last year, Noro sock yarn that varies from bright turquoise to orange. But nonetheless, everything I own was "all grey". So I spent the evening admiring Cherry Tree Hill solid socks in colours so bright that they hurt the eyes.

The worst thing of it is, I have startitis as well. I've got waaaay too many things in the works, but nothing is getting done. Baaad combination.