Alpakkatäkki, alpaca quilt ♥

Löin aikanaan vedon – viime keväänä, itse asiassa – että saisin alpakkatäkkini valmiiksi ennen kuin miehen kandidaatintyö valmistuu. Hävisin.

Olisin hävinnyt joka tapauksessa, mutta syy siihen, että täkki valmistui vasta nyt, oli hellyydenkipeä kissa. Virkatessani viimeistä kiinteiden silmukoiden kerrosta jo kokoon ommellun täkin ympärille se tuli puskemaan, kehräämään ja leipomaan täkkiä ylipitkillä kynsillään. Riips-raaps, sanoivat tilkut. Masennuin niin, etten saattanut koskea koko täkkiin vuoteen.

Tässä se nyt on. Paikkasin kolme tilkkua ja virkkasin kiinteät silmukat loppuun. Se on lämmin. Se on yksi hienoimmista asioista, joita olen koskaan virkannut, ja varmasti isoin. Autuus.

Last spring I made a bet with my husband that I would finish my crochet alpaca quilt before he finishes his bachelor's thesis. I lost, and would have lost anyways – but the reason for the quilt getting finished only now was an attention-seeking cat. While I was crocheting the last row around the already sewn quilt, she came to purr and knead the quilt with her overgrown nails. Screech, said the quilt and my heart broke. I couldn't touch the quilt for a whole year. But here it is now. Darned, lovely and warm.

 

Yksittäinen neliö on niin yksinkertainen, ettei se varmaan tarvitse ohjeita, mutta tässä varmuuden vuoksi.

Aloita virkkaamalla 6 kjs, 1 ps näistä ensimmäiseen.
1. krs: 3 kjs, 18 p kjs-renkaaseen, 1 ps kerroksen aloittavan kjs-ketjun 3. kjs:aan.
2. krs: 3 kjs, 1 p samaan silmukkaan, 2 p jokaiseen edellisen kerroksen silmukkaan, 1 ps kerroksen aloittavan kjs-ketjun 3. kjs:aan.
3. krs:  3 kjs, *2 p, 2 p yhteen silmukkaan*, toista, 1 ps kerroksen aloittavan kjs-ketjun 3. kjs:aan.
4. krs: 2 kjs, 3 ks, *2 p, 2 pp, 3 kjs, 2 pp, 2 p, 8 ks*, toista 3 kertaa. 2 p, 2 pp, 3 kjs, 2 pp, 2 p, 3 ks, 1 ps aloittavan kjs-ketjun 2. kjs:aan.

A perfect day

Best days are the days you don't have to do anything. Okay, getting tyres changed. But that's done now and I have summer tyres and sunglasses and new windscreen wipers. Well, yeah, and a new car. And white lilies in the bathroom, gotten from a sweet American girl who was couchsurfing here. And another sweet, joyous couchsurfer sleeping on my floor, this time from Brazil; and melon muffins, although I used honeydew and toadskin melon instead of cantaloupe and damsons instead of apple sauce; and a happy tired cat and patches, endless, neverending patches. Soon, soon it'll be finished and I can finally do something else. And I feel like writing a memorial to my old car.

Oh, March

It's a grey, dull day, clouds hanging miserably on rooftops. And after many days of surprising excessive energy, I have none. So don't imagine I'd be going outside for a second, expect slouching to the nearest grocery store to get candy. Instead, I'm spending my day pretty much like this:

The book is Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and a DVD of Agatha Christie's Marples is just outside the picture.

I've made a bet with my boyfriend. If he finishes his bachelor's thesis before I finish my alpaca quilt, I'll treat him a dinner in Dong Bei Hu (the best Chinese restaurant in Helsinki, and the only one which number I have on my cell phone). And, obviously, vice versa. He's written some five pages of minimum 15; I'm up to 89 of 135 patches, above to which I will have to crochet the uttermost round to each 135 and sew them together.

Fifty-three to go

 

Seventy-one patches done. Fifty-three to go. Although I think I miscounted and need actually a total 128 - in that case, fifty-seven to go. Plus of course the outermost ring to each one. And the sewing.

I think I gotta do something else for a while. Something I can complete sooner. Something like this, perhaps, to use as a purse when flying.

Neverending patches

My eternal problem seems to be that I buy more yarn that I can possibly use. Sometimes I go on strike: no more yarn until at least some of the old is finished! And then I stare at my yarn collection (and believe me, it's huge) wondering what to make. For example, what to make of the odd collection of alpaca?

Inspired by this, I started my own crochet quilt. Unlike this beautiful tulip quilt, my patches won't be so flower-like: just rounds surrounded by either a hexagon or octagon. The color for the outermost ring isn't decided yet either, as I thought I'd finish all the yarn I already have before choosing the binding color.

I counted that I would need some 124 patches for a blanket - that is, if there's enough yarn. Still 83 to go.