Preparations for the Finland Sweater

The last year has been a busy travelling one for me, and in knitting terms my voyages have so far seen an Adelaide scarf, Brisbane socks, Vanuatu bag, Paris hoodie and a Hobart Cardigan. The next trip is now organised, and once again I am heading for the COLD. Yaaaaaayyyy!!!! Astute regular readers may indeed wonder why the hell I live in Queensland. You and me both.

But anyway, I am going to Helsinki, Finland for three weeks in November/December. Worst weather time, but I reeeeeeaaaallly wanted to see the St Thomas Christmas markets and the lights on Aleksanterinkatu. I love Christmas so much!! And a market in the snow, how awesome. 🙂

  
    
 
Again I will be travelling solo. I did actually put the word out this time in case anyone particularly wanted to come with me, and the responses I received back from friends and family ran the gamut from “F*ck that for a joke” and “You’re totally insane”. So be it. Bunch of wusses. M, who genuinely believes Queensland is “bloody freezing”, was obviously a non-starter.

I come from Finnish heritage on my mother’s side, and I’ve always felt a strange pull to go there. I’ve been learning the language for a couple of years (so I basically know three words. It’s a pretty hard language). They speak a lot of English there, fortunately.

So 3 months out, now is about the time to begin my Finland Sweater. Obviously I have invested in some heavy duty outerwear this time, because I would rather not die. Therefore this sweater actually needs to be quite slimline, to fit nicely under coats. 
I have chosen this earthy yarn that my Mum was throwing out called Bagabo Country Spun Wool, which is 100% wool (Australian merino/corriedale). It’s a 5ply (sport weight), and I really like the undyed grey/oatmeal colour called silver. (Not as brown as it appears here.)

   
 It took a while to find an appropriate pattern, and I have settled on this, by Purl Soho, the Top-Down Turtleneck Cardigan. Not actually a sweater, but it will be worn as one. (I’ve decided that cardigans worn as sweaters are a lot easier on the shoulders, so I’m not sure I’ll ever knit myself another proper ‘pullover’.) 

   
 Something about the lines of this drew me in…the shoulders maybe. And the neckline which, although I know won’t flatter my particular shaped jaw, is warm and practical under a hooded coat. 

  
As usual, I will add patch pockets to this, and I am also somewhat tempted by the needle-felted patches on the elbows that I am seeing all over Pinterest. So maybe them too. I think I’ll also change the bottom edging.

  
Can I rant for just a second here? This is a very prettily laid out pattern, and it frickin should be for US$9. That is way more than I would normally spend, especially on something relatively simple, but it looked very elegant and slick. However it reeeeeally annoys me when I download patterns and they only have US terms! What is that about? Ethnocentrism might be a standard human trait, and I can live with it in free or inexpensive patterns, but it is a massive fail in a pricey ‘professional’ pattern being downloaded worldwide. I can cope with the inches-only measurements, because every tape measure has them, but yardage with no meterage, and U.S.-only needle sizes with no equivalents is totally unacceptable. I should NOT have to look up the conversion and write it in. *Insert grumpy huff.*
Anyhoo. Okay I’m over it. 🙂 There’s a LOT of stockinette here. Wish me luck.

B 🙂