Answers...

to more questions than you knew you had!

I was going to answer Michelle's (Not an Artist, her blog title SO lies about what she is! Go look at her amazing photography!) question here, since I realized I didn't really talk about the pattern much.

The pattern for the brown tweed sweater is my own, the idea was just something that popped into my mind, but the basic measurements were taken from my favorite sweater. This trick always works like a charm -I warmly recommend it! The way I see it is, why would you make a pattern that somebody decided to make for an imaginary body, or maybe not imaginary, but most likely not yours, anyway, and think it would fit without adjustments? Think of it this way: how many sweaters do you try on at the store, before finding one that fits you perfectly? Would you like the odds for your hours and hours of work paying off to be as small as that? I sure don't, and I never make a sweater pattern as written. Well, most often, I don't follow patterns, anyway. It's just like cooking, I'm incapable of following a recipe, even if I try.
(And if you remember that I'm a chemist, that might scare you a little... ha ha!) But that's not the point, the point is that if I'm going to spend that much time on something, I'm going to do my best to make sure it fits before I'm all done. And I hate to tell you this (in case you're one of those people who don't like swatches), but you can't do that without a gauge swatch! And if you knew what an impatient person I am, you'd be very impressed with how diligently I always knit a swatch and measure everything before starting. See, the alternative is a lot of frogging, and as much as I hate to wait for getting started on something, I hate frogging a million times more!

And here's a little thing I copied from Michelle's blog: it's the 48 Things You Could Care Less About. It makes more sense to me than the "100 things about me", since first off, it's half of that, and I don't think anybody would have the patience to read a 100 things about me, and secondly, I don't think I could even come up with that many. So here's 48:

1. FIRST NAME?
Lotta

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My mom claims dad wanted to name me after some Swedish athlete at the time, but dad denies this.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
Yesterday.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Yes, I think it’s fine.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT?
Double smoked ham, definitely, and a close second is a peppered salami.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Sure. Well, not everybody is friends with me, I’m not cool or popular, but I hope that if I was another person, I wouldn’t be one of those things, either. :D

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?
No.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
No, lost those years ago.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Why on earth would I do that??

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Muesli, or granola. I also like Honey Nut Cheerios, but they get boring after a while.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Depends. Most often not, but I also don’t have a lot of shoes with laces.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Mentally? Yes. Physically? No!

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
I like ice cream. Lot’s of ice cream, and many kinds. Right now my favorite is the cherry dark chocolate one that appeared on the blog with the argyle vest, but I also have other favorites.

14. SHOE SIZE?
39, or 8W

15. RED OR PINK?
Red

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My critical nature.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Many things about and in Finland.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
I haven’t changed since I got home from work, so I’m wearing black pants and socks. I’ve already taken off my black shoes.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE?
A Caesar salad.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Nothing.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
An orangey red, of maybe more like a burnt orange.

23. FAVORITE SMELL?
peppermint, fresh bread, rain after a hot summer day, fall forest.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My husband.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO?
Smile, voice.

27. FAVORITE DRINK?
Hard cider.

28. FAVORITE SPORT?
What?

29. EYE COLOR?
Brown.

30. HAT SIZE?
56 cm.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No.

32. FAVORITE FOOD?
I couldn’t possibly name just one! I really like sandwiches on homemade bread with the above mentioned fixings (and cheese), but I also love good pizza, and about a million other things!

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Spring and fall, please!

36. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Creme brule.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?
I just finished Ilkka Remes' last novel, and started a book called “Simon”, but I forget who the author is.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Periodic table of elements.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV?
TV on Sunday night? There’s nothing on! Tonight I watched Two and a Half Men.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
Rain, newborn baby sounds.

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES?
The Beatles.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME?
My other home. And other than that, I think Morocco and Dallas, TX.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT?
Hmm… Being able to “think outside the box”.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?Helsinki

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

No one.