Extremely bohemian Scandinavian rya pillow + a needle rya tutorial

Rya, or as we in Finland say - Ryijy, is a handmade knotted wool rug that used to be used for warmth instead of furs in homes and sleighs. Nowadays, it's used mostly for decoration. Traditional rya is made by knotting yarn on a loom. There's also another way of doing it, which is with a needle on a base cloth (that's what I did). My grandparents had several ryas, pretty much one on the wall of every room in the house, and my mother has many of them now. 

I've always thought they were slightly dated, but these things seen to grow on me as I get older. In fact, I got very exited when I learned this needle rya technique that I made a rya pillow! It's a very bohemian pillow, and maybe not every one's cup of tea, but I love it!

I've always thought making rya was difficult (and maybe on loom it is, I don't know), but this at least was not hard at all. Time consuming, yes, but easy once I got the hang of it. I've tried rya before (you can see it here) and it was just not working, so I just cut of my previous work and started anew with a needle.

Very unlike me, I just went for this project, and just learned as I went. I made several mistakes, but just continued on. Really, this was such a project for learning to let go, great for a recovering perfectionist (*waves*).

I chose the cross/plus sign pattern again, because I like it and because it'd work no matter what way the pillow was placed. I just drew the pattern on the base cloth with a permanent marker and then roughly followed it. It's a very haphazard, uneven pattern, but I really wanted a relaxed, bohemian pattern. And that's what I got! 

Some of the crosses are more even.

And some are basically just blobs.

It's all good.

I used a wool yarn that I had bought for a sweater, but that ended up not working with my coloring. For our bedroom color scheme, however, it was perfect.

Now, if you want to try this (do you? maybe I scared you of with my crazy pillow), I made a little tutorial. I originally followed this tutorial, but I found it a bit difficult to follow.

Continued under the fold ->

Three granny square blanket designs

I've made two granny square blankets in the past (you can see them under the tag granny square) and although for now I have no intentions making more, it was a project I LOVED. It's both a very big project (the whole blanket) and a very small, portable project (each square), great for travelling with! Each square takes very little time to make, although making enough for a whole adult size blanket (and assembling! oh, the assembling!) takes quite a lot.

I thought I'd just share a few plans I've been dreaming up in case it takes me years to get around to actually crocheting one. The granny square which in itself seems pretty old fashioned can be combined into really cool modern designs. I'm a big fan of the cross/plus sign design, so here are three different patterns for that.

Each square corresponds to one granny square. The Internet is full of tutorials on how to crochet a granny square, so I haven't included one, just do a Google search and pick your favorite. The size of the square will depend on the yarn and hook you use. For my blankets I've used wool yarn called 7 veljestä and an European size 4 hook. 

You can also make the blanket of more or less squares, for example 7 x 10 for a baby.

I use a ladder stitch to assemble the squares.

These colors (or lack of color...) are just suggestions, make them in any color you wish.

I think it's quite fasinating how one basic pattern can yield so many different results.

Linen tote

My adventures with black linen continue! Confession: I bought FIVE METERS of black linen, so the adventures are likely to continue for some time. But this is volume two: the linen tote.

I thought I was going to use this just for groceries, but you guys, this tote is PERFECT (if I may say so myself) and I've just been using it as a handbag. When you make stuff yourself you truly get exactly what you want.

Most fabric tote bags are sort of small and one-dimensional (you know, two pieces sewn around with one seem) , so for my tote I really went for generous size and added panels for the sides and bottom to really get a 3D effect.

I wasn't going to add pockets (after all it was supposed to be just for groceries), but when I was done I thought "hmm, some pockets would look cool, even if I don't use them, why not?" I've been using the pockets non-stop. They perfectly fit my phone, wallet, lip-balm, handkerchief, hair ties and what ever random crap I carry with me. And they are very secure, nothing has dropped out yet. 

Trying to show of the size.

I tried to make the handles long enough so that I can comfortably carry it on my shoulder, but short enough so that the bag doesn't drag on the ground if I just hold the handles in my hand. It came out just right.

Uh, posing, how does this work?

The large portion fits EVERYTHING. In these photos I stuffed a throw pillow in there and I've used this for shopping, going to the beach (for all three of us), as a diaper bag... It comfortably fits everything. Yet looks good empty, too. And it's super light weight in itself so you wont pull a muscle. I feel like the linen is perfect for this type of bag: durable and light.

And I did french seams again! Not only do they look nice they also add to the structure and sturdiness of the bag. 

Is this better..?

I really can't say enough nice things about this bag (and as you can see, I've tried).

I give up.