I have tried this "5 for 5" in my blog earlier but I got no-one to participate. So when I saw Jamie to ask friends to enroll to her 5 for 5 in Facebook, I did. The rules are the same: if you want to get something from that person, you need to start your own 5 for 5 and so I did. I had quickly five persons to attend this fun "game" so I immediately started to work on the project. Because I'm kind of "into knitting" these days I thought to knit something for everyone.  I also wanted to use the yarns I already have instead of going to a store to buy new ones.

Jamie lives in north part of the USA, in Iowa, and she said she likes pink, so I thought to knit her warm mittens 100% lamb wool (hahtuva = preyarn, wool that isn't yarn yet but can be knitted with. It still has lamb grease and there fore feels warm and dry even when wet) with a traditional Finnish pattern (originally it came to Finland from North Sweden but it has been known in Finland so long I think one can call it Finnish too?) called Lovikka-lapaset. She received them Jan 29th.

 

Here in this pic you can also see the "hahtuva", preyarn.

 

4.5 mm double pointed needles.

59 g with the yarns to decorate.

 

Here you can see the slight difference in the coloring. I didn't even try to find same colored parts of the preyarn, it was so thin. I used tripple preyarn in the colored part and double in the white.

 

Before these were in her mailbox I had started the second and third project. The next work was also mittens, but those kind that are cut from the top so that you have bare fingers (Thank TiiQ now I know they are called fingerless gloves/mittens). I made them for Kathryne who lives in Maryland where winters aren't quite so extreme but cold enough. She said she likes the colors of fall so I chose 100 % wool for her too in fall colors of course. She got her parcel Feb 2nd.

Yarn used Novita Puro, iltanuotio 52 grams.

6 mm double pointed needles.


 

 

I mailed my third gift on the same day I did the second and so actually Anu received her surprise before Kathryne or Jamie did because she is a Finn and domestical mail travels faster than international. She said she likes pink, red and black. She has small children and I thought she spends a lot of time out with them and needs a warm hat. So I knitted a hat for her in her favorite colors using my favorite hat pattern: Matti. (Wow, a lot of favorites in this sentence! I know my English teacher would ask me to use a synonym, but I'm not in school anymore!) Her parcel arrived Jan 22nd!

 


Yarns mixed 7veljestä, Nalle and Gjestal Janne maybe about 65 g.

4,5 mm circular and double pointed needles.

 

And in my head. I used the pink Nalle yarn in double on those first three stripes to make the hat warm.

 

Then I started the fourth project. This one was for Kathy, who lives in Wisconsin which is actually northeast from Iowa. For some reason I thought those fingerless mittens were good for her so I started them in "her colors", in green. Or black and green.. Once again 100 % wool to make her hands feel warm. I just needed to cut the yarn many times to find greens because all those Puro yarns are made so that color changes from one to another through out the whole ball.

 

Yarn used Novita Puro, different  balls, 55 grams.

6 mm double pointed needles.

 

You can use gloves under them.

 

Then I had one friend left to make this surprise, Kaisa. She kind of asked me to spare her as last, so I did.. She is my dear friend from elementary school (she's been my friend more than 20 years). I thought she would like to have Lovikka-mittens and I happened to have violet or purple and blue colored preyarn. Then I got sick and that is when I made a mistake.. I kept on knitting because it is so relaxing, but because I was sick (having a cold) I didn't remember the number of the stiches correctly (who said anything about writing them down or checking?) and the second mitten was smaller than the first one!! Ouch... So I had to knit 2 mittens more... One of each size to match the ones I had ready. So I was very worried I might run out of wool before I have them all ready especially when I had to take the green parts away from between.. but  lucky me that didn't happen! So finally on Friday I could wash all the 4 mittens and on Saturday I added those nice little decoration yarns. The second pair goes to my sister because she loves those colors and has small twins! Now you think what does the tiwins have to do with her getting the mittens as a surprise from me? Well, I suppose she goes for walks with them (boys in the strollers) and she needs to keep herself warm too.

 

The first "pair" I made is in the center. So you can see the size difference easily!

 


Kaisa's pair. 61 grams of preyarn. (decorative yarn not in).

4.5 mm double point needles.

 


My sister's pair. 56 grams of preyarn. (decorative yarn not in).

4.5 mm double point needles.

 

And both mittens in a pile.

 

Both mittens should be at their new owners today!

I certainly enjoyed this fun game and I hope everyone else did too! I knitted all these thinking of you my friends! Happy Valentines Day, it is coming soon!


Corrected few words, thank you TiiQ for the information!