Life has been pretty hectic lately and housework has been seriously neglected. Although I like to think of myself as a fairly organised person, my study in particular was starting to resemble a jungle of books, paper, computer stuff, post-it notes, you name it, with various odd balls and hanks of yarn, patterns and general knitting stuff lying all over the place as well. It’s so easy to just close the door and hide the mess when someone comes over… On top of that, we’d never had time to properly organise the book shelf after the move. It covers one entire wall in my study up to the ceiling, and there were piles of books all over the floor as well. Countless were the times when I knocked a pile over when swinging around in my chair, starting a domino effect of falling book piles.

Anyway, one day when I’d been working late, my darling man had tidied up and organised everything in my study, put the books in place and cleared and cleaned both the floor and my desk. The room was miraculously clean, almost shining. I no longer have to wade to my computer on a narrow path between book piles or place my tea cup dangerously close to the keyboard simply because there’s no space for it anywhere else.

But what’s best, although all the surfaces had been cleared of all clutter, he’d left these on an otherwise plain shelf, just because they looked nice. As a design element and source of inspiration. Now, how sweet is that?

Elämä on ollut viime aikoina melkoisen hektistä, ja koti on jäänyt hunningolle. Erityisesti työhuoneeni, jonka oven saa niin kätevästi kiinni, kun tulee vieraita, alkoi muistuttaa kirja-, paperi- ja muistilappuviidakkoa, jossa kaiken lisäksi lojui erinäisiä lankoja, ohjeita ja yleistä neulontasälää siellä täällä. Kaiken lisäksi emme olleet muuton jälkeen edes ehtineet järjestää kirjahyllyä, joka täyttää työhuoneessa kokonaisen seinän lattiasta kattoon. Niinpä myös lattioilla oli kirjapinoja, joita onnistuin useasti kaatamaan, kun pyörähdin tuolissa ympäri turhan vauhdikkaasti. Dominoefektin ansiosta pinoja kaatui yleensä useita.

Joka tapauksessa tässä yhtenä iltana, kun tulin myöhään töistä, rakas mieheni oli siivonnut työhuoneeni ja järjestänyt kaiken paikoilleen. Kirjat olivat siististi paikoillaan hyllyssä, lattia täysin vapaa, työpöytä ja kaikki tasot siistejä, tavarat järjestyksessä ja kaikki pinnat putsattu. Huone oli suorastaan maagisen siisti. Tietokoneelle ei enää tarvitse taiteilla kirjapinojen välissä kulkevaa polkua pitkin, eikä teekuppi ole enää vaarassa kaatua näppikselle.

Parasta on kuitenkin se, että vaikka kaikki pinnat oli siistitty ja tyhjennetty, mies oli jättänyt nämä muuten tylsähkön valkoiselle hyllylle, ihan vain koristeeksi ja inspiraation lähteeksi. Kun ne olivat hänestä niin kauniita ja värikkäitä. Eikö olekin suloista?

A couple of years ago I got addicted to running, having hated it all my life. How did that happen? I bought myself a good pair of running shoes, gave it a try and realised how effective it is. I used to run with my heart rate monitor and iPod, but recently we both bought iPod Nanos. I got mine mostly for running, since the huge old iPod was quite heavy. Our new iPod Nanos are sleek, super light and red. And what’s best, we got ourselves some new running gadgets - Nike + iPod!

Innostuin pari vuotta sitten kokeilemaan lenkkeilyä. Olin aina inhonnut juoksemista, mutta yllättäen jäinkin nopeasti koukkuun. Miten siinä näin pääsi käymään? Ostin kunnon lenkkarit, kävin koelenkillä ja huomasin, miten tehokasta juokseminen on. Juoksin ennen sykemittarin ja iPodin kanssa, mutta ostimme hiljattain molemmat iPod Nanot. Minä ostin omani lähinnä juoksemista varten, sillä vanha iPod oli siihen melko painava, mutta pidän siitä muuten edelleen, sillä siihen mahtuu paljon enemmän musiikkia kuin 8 gigan Nanoon. Nano taas on kapea, kevyt ja punainen ja siksi houkutteleva! Ja mikä parasta, nyt pystyimme hankkimaan myös Nike + iPod -setin, joka sopii vain Nanoon.

The kit includes a sensor that goes in the shoe and communicates with the Nano, and later the computer, about the running statistics: distance, speed, calories burnt, etc. The only problem was that the sensor is only compatible with Nike shoes that have a little compartment for it, and no way was I going to give up my trusty Asics, nor did I feel like carving a hole in them. But lo, inventive runners have come up with several ways of using the sensor in non-Nike shoes. These include all kinds of devices that allow the sensor to be attached to the laces. What would a knitter do? Knit a pouch for the sensor!

Settiin kuuluu sensori, joka on yhteydessä Nanoon ja myöhemmin tietokoneeseen ja tallentaa lenkin tilastot: matkan, nopeuden, kulutetut kalorit jne. Ainoa ongelma oli se, että sensori sopii vain Niken lenkkareihin, joissa on sitä varten sopiva kolo. Ja minähän en suostunut Asicseistani luopumaan, saati kaivertamaan niihin kuoppaa. Onneksi kekseliäät juoksijat ovat keksineet yhtä jos toistakin tapaa kiinnittää lähetin lenkkarin nauhoihin. Mitäpä tekee neuloja? Tietenkin neuloo lähettimelle kotelon!

Essentially, it’s just like the toe of a sock that’s closed up at both ends. The sensor really is very small. Just compare the finished products with a mouse:

Kotelo on ikään kuin sukan kärki, joka on sitten suljettu toisestakin päästä. Sensori on todellakin pieni. Tässä molempien sensorit uusissa vaatteissaan hiiren vieressä:

And here they are in action:

Ja tältä ne näyttävät lenkkareissa:

Pattern: Nike + iPod Shoe Hack
Yarn: Garnstudio Muskat, black (his) and silver (mine), about 1 g each
Needles: 3.5 mm bamboo dpns

The pouch is nearly invisible on the black shoe. But as you probably guessed, these are not my man’s running shoes; he likes to wear regular gym shoes when running at the gym. So I’ll be making a new pouch for him when the outdoor running season starts in the spring, to match his Asics running shoes. Luckily, this was a fun little project and it only took me about 20 minutes to knit each pouch. My thanks to Zeska for lending me her scrap yarns!

Sensori ei pahemmin näy varsinkaan mustasta lenkkarista. Tosin, kuten varmaan huomasittekin, nämä eivät ole mieheni juoksulenkkarit; hän käyttää salilla juostessaan mieluummin tavallisia lenkkareita. Teen siis uuden kotelon Asicseihin kiinnitettäväksi keväämmällä, kun sää sallii juoksemisen ulkona. Onneksi nämä olivat mukavia pikku projekteja: yhden kotelon tekemiseen meni aikaa vain parikymmentä minuuttia. Kiitokset Zeskalle jämälankojen lainasta!

Whoaa, I get back from holiday, and what do I see? Both Pilvi and Niina have given me the

award. As a beginner in both knitting and blogging, I’m exhilarated and flattered. (I’m always surprised to hear that someone actually reads this blog.) Thanks, girls - and needless to say, you both totally rock, too!

Due to recent travels I’m weeks behind on my blog reading, and since things in the blogosphere tend to spread like wildfire, I’ll have to do some catching up to see who doesn’t have the button yet before passing it on…

I’ve also heard that my blog has been sporting non-existing updates while I’ve been touring the US, blissfuly unaware of how annoyingly it has been behaving behind my back. Bad, bad blog! So sorry for the inconvenience - I know how irritating that is. I tried a trick on it, so hopefully the problem is fixed now.

Y2rn p0rn coming up as soon as I get unpacked and organised…

Hello, fellow knitters, welcome in! As a beginner I don’t have an awful lot to show you yet, so I thought I’d start by telling how I became a knitter in the first place - my friends and family still can’t believe I’m knitting. I’m still a bit baffled myself, as up until about two months ago I had never felt any interest whatsoever in knitting or anything related to it (except the end products, sweaters, scarves etc., as I am always cold), nor in blogging. So how on earth did I end up setting up Yet Another Knitting Blog?

It all started when one of my colleagues turned out to be a Famous Knitting Blogger. I had of course noticed her endless collection of lovely and warm-looking sweaters, and when I realised she’d actually made them herself, I started looking at them more closely and complimenting her on them, and she started talking about knitting, yarns, needles and stuff. I listened politely, but the whole concept of knitting was so strange to me that mostly the talk just went in one ear and out the other. Then, one day, she brought me a small bag and said, “I got you a gift!” Surprised, I peeked in - and found two skeins of yarn and a pair of needles! “Thanks”, I said, “but I really can’t knit at all”, and tried to hand it back to her. “Oh, just look it up on the Internet”, she said, and continued - this was a Friday afternoon - “Right, I’ll be expecting some results by Monday then!”

Yikes! Of course I could have just made a regular potholder, and admittedly, I walked home that evening planning a revenge of an equal magnitude - some monster origami with Japanese instructions, perhaps? But she had done her market research well and the yarn was lovely and soft, a mix of silk and alpaca, in just the right deep red that I love, and I was sure it could be turned into something warm. And deep in my heart I was also touched by the thought and the gift and didn’t want to ruin her nice yarn, so I thought the least I could do is try my best to make something useful of it. And so, instead of watching tv with my SO, I spent that Friday evening googling, finding basic instructions and looking for ideas. I decided to make a hat, and a nice one at that, as my head is quite small and finding hats has always been a problem. In the end I found a nice enough model, learnt how to cast on by watching some videos I found on the net, and by Monday I had indeed something to show.