Epäolennaisten Kokemusten Osasto. Section of Irrelevant Experiences.

Ennen putkiremonttia meillä oli aina valoisaa, luettiin kirjoja ja lehtiä ja pelattiin lautapelejä ja oltiin onnellisia. Tästä olen varma. Muutamassa päivässä se kaikki palaa takaisin. Makaan sängyssä influenssan kourissa (tai ehkä vain ilkeän flunssan), ulkona leviää valo ensin aurinkona ja sitten lumisateena. Luen kirjoja, nukun, katson elokuvia, itken Poirotin kuolemaa. Rasmus menee ja tulee eikä mihinkään ole kiire. Ludvig on tyytyväinen, kun kotona on ihminen. Viimeiset kiireiset päivät työpaikalla, jossa hemulin täti väijyy selän takana, eivät koskaan toteutuneet. Viimeiset kuukaudet katoavat kummallisen nopeasti muistini Epäolennaisten Kokemusten Osastoon, jossa asiat ovat häipyviä ja utuisia, vaikka en ole vielä voinut edes käydä tyhjentämässä sosiaalitiloista lokeroani. Maanantaina, kun menen uuteen harjoittelupaikkaan, sisäkengät ovat vielä jossakin, jossa en oikein edes muista olleeni.

Hänen kuninkaallinen korkeutensa.
Her royal majesty.

Before the renovation, it was always so bright in our home, we read books and played board games and were happy. I'm positive about it. In a few days it all comes back. I lie in bed fighting a flu (or maybe just a nasty cold), the light spreads outside, first sun and then snow. I read books, sleep, watch movies, weep Poirot's death. Rasmus goes and comes and there's no hurry anywhere. Ludvig's happy for having a human in the house. Last busy days at work, hemulen's aunt ambushing from behind my back, never realized. Oddly fast do the last months disappear into the Section of Irrelevant Experiences within my memory, in where things are fleeting and hazy, even though I have not yet managed to empty my locker at the changing room. On Monday, when I start at a new place, my work shoes are yet somewhere I don't even remember to have existed.

Tänä talvena aion. This winter I'm going to.

Kesän kynnyksellä joka puolella näkyi listoja siitä, mitä kukin haluaa tehdä kesällä – suloisia, epärealistisia listoja! – mutta näin talven kynnyksellä en ole nähnyt yhtäkään. No, minä tykkään talvesta. Talvilista tosin taitaa pysyä realistisemmissa rajoissa, koska jotenkin marraskuu ei innosta energiseen unelmointiin.

Tänä talvena aion

• ruokkia Seurasaaressa sinitiaisia kädestä
• bongata Viikin ruoikossa viiksitimaleita
• juoda teetä Cafe Regattassa
• laskea mäkeä
• rakentaa piparkakkujurtan; tosin en tiedä vielä sen asukkaita, mutta pihalla voisi seistä puu, jossa istuu totoro
• luistella
• tehdä töissä lapsille aarteenetsinnän kaltaisen joulukalenterin
• järjestää piparinkoristelujuhlat
• neuloa vaaleanpunaiset säärystimet joissa on palmikoita
• makoilla pitkiä laiskoja päiviä Tallinnan asunnon sohvalla katsellen Greyn anatomiaa ilman ääntä mutta vironkielisin tekstityksin
• juhlia käärmeen vuotta ystävien kanssa

Hölmistyttävä viiksitimaliystävä.

This winter I'm going to

• feed bluetits at Seurasaari island
• spot bearded reedlings at Viikki reed beds
• drink tea at Cafe Regatta
• go sledging
• build a gingerbread yurt, although I don't yet know who would live there, but there could be a tree growing on its front yard with a totoro sitting on the top
• skate
• organize a treasure hunting kind of Christmas calendar for kids at work
• throw a gingerbread decorating party
• knit pink legwarmers with plaits
• lie through lazy days on a couch at Tallinn flat watching Grey's Anatomy without sound but with Estonian subtitles
• celebrate the year of the snake with friends

Finnish ski bonnet

I have an enormous collection of bonnets. When my friends see an animal-shaped bonnet they want to buy but don't want to wear, they give it to me. Last spring two brothers I know were travelling to different destinations - one to Peru and one to China - and somehow they both managed to bring me a bonnet. The one from Peru was owl-shaped; the one from China, panda.

Most of my bonnets, however, are versions of a Finnish ski bonnet. It's simple, it's cute, and I love it.

Basic ski bonnet made with thick, untwisted yarn.
Crochet laces to tie under a child's chin.

Basic model with stripes and really thick alpaca.

This is slightly more complicated, although not very.
Instead of knitting every row, you knit two rows and purl two,
changing the yarn so that the colorful rows show knitted and
purled white on the outside.

Instructions. (I link guidance to basic stitches for those of my friends whose first knitting I know this to be; if you know what you are doing, no need to check them. Gosh, some of them have terrible music playing.)

First, you need to cast on a necessary amount of stitches. If you are knitting for an adult, the width should be approximately 18 cm; for a 3 years old something like 12 cm and for a one year old baby something like 10 cm. This also depends on the thickness of the yarn you use: you need more width if your yarn is very thick.

Knit the first row. On the second row, knit one, then decrease one by knitting two stitches together. Knit until you have two stitches left. Do a lifted increase - that is, knit one stitch of the stitch on the row below and then knit the second last stitch normally. Knit the last one and all the way back. Repeat the increase and decrease on every other row until you have one fifth of the desired length when you slightly stretch your knitting. (Desired length is the head circumference of the person you are knitting for. For example, my head is 56 cm, so I should now have some 11 cm done.) Your knitting should be kind of leaning to right.

Now you change: you knit one, increase one (by lifting), knit until you have three stitches left, decrease by knitting two together, knit one. And then knit all the way back. Repeat until you have two fifths of the desired length when slightly stretching your knitting (in my case, 22 cm). The second part should be leaning to left.

Then you change again, following the instructions for the first part, except that now you only continue until half of your the desired length is done (in my case 28 cm).

Change again, following the instructions for the second part, until you have three fifths done (in my case 36 cm). Change again, following the instructions for the first part until you have four fifths (in my case 45 cm) and then follow the instructions for the second part until you have the whole length. Cast off.

It should look like this:

Now all you need is to sew it together. Sew A to A, B to B and so on.

And it's ready.