Pohjan Neito

The white cardigan is finally finished. And I love it!

Valkoinen palmikkotakki on viimein valmis. Ja se on ihana!

I know, it is a bit too simple, and there's a couple horrible design flaws which always catch my eye, but I know I will wear this and wear it proudly!

Tää on ehkä hieman simppeli, ja pari aika hurjaa mokaakin siinä on, mutta kyllä mie tätä varmana vielä pidän paljon, ja pidän ylpeänä!

My regular readers might remember Louhi, the long grey cardi I designed and finished 9 months ago. I was - and am - very proud of it (although Louhi, too, is full of little errors), and have worn it so much I might have to reknit it eventually.

I've been asked to give out the pattern for Louhi, and I would've done so already had I not mysteriously deleted or destroyed the charts on my computer. (Our laptop died on Christmas Eve, and I lost a lot of information when that happened, and I believe the Louhi charts were among those lost forever.) So, I'd have to reconstruct Louhi, which was a pleasant task, since I always wanted to reknit Louhi in some form or other. The original is very long, so I decided to go for a simpler and shorter version of the cardigan.

Since this cardigan is not Louhi but closely related to it, I will call it Pohjan Neito. It means Maiden of the North. In Kalevala, Louhi is the matriarch of the North, a strong and powerful woman, and her daughters are called Maidens of the North. They too, are difficult to get and strong women in their own right. Since Pohjan Neito is quite simple, but still not the simplest pattern there is, I think the name suits it well - my Maiden is (ahem) hard to get. At least it'll take a while to knit, even though it is not very difficult. I took some 40 hours to knit this one.

Säännölliset lukijat muistanevat Louhin viime syksyltä. Vaikka sekin on täynnä pieniä ja isompia virheitä, se on ollut paljon pidetty ja rakas neule. Sitä on pidetty itse asiassa niin paljon, että se täytynee neuloa joskus uudelleen.

Louhin ohjetta on kysytty moneen otteeseen, ja olisin sen jo antanutkin, mutta koneeltani ovat kadonneet Louhin alkuperäiset kaaviot. Ilmeisesti kyseessä on käyttäjävika taikka sitten ne hävisivät, kun kannettava nyykähti viimeisen kerran viime jouluna. Joka tapauksessa Louhi piti rekonstruoida ja neuloa uudelleen, jos ohjetta oli aikomus saada joskus julki. Toisaalta originaali Louhi on todella pitkä ja massiivinen neule, joten pienempi ja lyhyempi versio väikkyi jo mielessä.

Koska tämä on sukua Louhille, muttei kuitenkaan Louhi itse, tämä sai nimen Pohjan Neito. Kalevalan Louhi on matriarkka, voimakas naishahmo, eivätkä hänen tyttärensäkään, Pohjan neidot, ole ihan joka pojan vietävissä. Eikä tämäkään neito ole mikään (köh) "helppo". Vaikka ohje onkin aika simppeli, ei se silti ihan hetkessä valmistu. Itse neuloin tätä noin 40 tuntia kaikkiaan.

The pattern for Pohjan Neito will be published in the fall edition of Ulla, which should be around Oct 7th.

Louhin ja Pohjan Neidon ohjeet tulevat syksyn Ullaan, joka ilmestynee lokakuun alussa.

Now, a few words about finishing a garment. I always find this a very difficult time, since I'm only able to spot the mistakes I made and the design flaws I didn't notice in time. Almost always I find something I could fix, but being almost done with a garment, I just hate the idea of ripping and reknitting. And then, when I know I'm almost done with a garment, the last yarn-ends to be woven in, the last buttons to sew, the blocking... I just can't get myself to doing those. I really have no idea why I find finishing a garment so difficult.

But then.. time passes, and I look at my finished garment with "new eyes". And I find it pretty and nice, despite the obvious flaws and mistakes. I wear it a lot, and it becomes almost like an old friend. You notice the good qualities, and learn not to just concentrate on the not-so-perfect ones.

Oh, and a note to my SP: I am very easy to please, even though I have spent some money on yarn and books lately ;) (I won't be buying any yarn before the Christmas, so yarn is always a good choice ;D) Just check out my amazon.com wishlist, and the updated SP11 questionnaire. And if you have any questions, just let me know.