Tallinn after the rain

Tallinn, Estonia, is one of the most famous abroad destinations for Finns and expats living in Finland. "Abroad", as I should probably write in quotation marks, because almost any one from Helsinki has been to Tallinn at least few times in his life. 

Tallinn with its proximity to Helsinki makes the perfect destination for a short family weekend, a nice party trip with friends or just a place you would like to visit for literary a delicious lunch.  The trip to Tallinn takes in worst case 2,5 hours one direction with a ferry, and during the summer you can reach the city from Helsinki in a bit over an hour.

The trip with the ferry complements a nice walk you will most probably have in the Old Town Tallinn, no matter of the weather. In general, Tallinn offers you the opportunity to enjoy its authentic atmosphere, with medieval pubs, taverns, crafts shops and markets, old protestants temples and shiny orthodox churches together with new and lustrous architecture and shopping malls accompanied with the sound of the old trams and a hint of remembrance of the Soviet Union's cultural heritage along with the country's constant thrive to wash away its historical existence. But to my humble opinion all of this has already weaved in the city's atmosphere and any part of it has nicely found its place amusing tourists and visitors. And because of it, you can visit Tallinn hundreds of times, and you will still find something new or something unexplored. And all of this in a small capital city with less than half a million population, Tallinn definitely worth visiting.

Our family had wonderful time in the city, and although it was a rainy day and occasionally rained cats and dogs, it could not ruin our lovey family walk. Supplied with rain coats, rubber boots and a rain cover for the push chair, we still enjoyed both rainy and post rainy Tallinn, with the charming glimmers of the rain drops and the water puddles on the cobble streets. And oh, the smell of the rain... 

I am loquacious, as you notice and can go on writing about Tallinn, but instead I'll let you have a look at some of the pictures made there. And I hope that next time you consider a destination to travel to, my random ramblings about the beauty of a city charmingly combining the cultural sensibility of the North and East, will help you remember Tallinn.  

I am sure Tallin will welcome you warmly.

Tere tulemast or "Welcome" in Estonian! 

The crafts market in Old Town Tallinn

Pubs, taverns, and protestants temples in Old Town Tallinn

The view above in Old Town Tallinn

The square in Old Town Tallinn - perfect tourists' destination

Pub in Old Town Tallinn

Charming café waiting for its customers in the labyrinth of cobble streets of Old Town Tallinn

Souvenirs shop in Old Town Tallinn 

Our family walk in Old Town Tallinn 

Crocheted basket from tricot yarn

Few months have passed since my last post. Summer is usually a busy season for us, as we travel outside Finland in July or August, and while in Finland we would like to collect as much sun as possible, so our family stays outside quite a lot. And all this unfortunately means no time for posting, but luckily enough it still means time for crafting.

This June I managed to complete a late birthday gift to a friend - a crocheted tricot yarn basket. Although two months late (oops!), the basket turned out quite nice and it was a good compensation (according to her reaction) for the time she had to wait for her birthday gift. Well, it's one of a kind :), so compensatory enough, I think :))... (oh, modest me!).  

But enough about me, more about this lovely basket by Me. :)))) 

You'll be curious to know that this basket even though its huge size, stitches wise, it's not a lot bigger than another basket project of mine - the Paper Straw Yarn Crocheted Basket. The inspiration for this basket came from Liz's wonderful blog - Crochet in color, although I used different yarn (tricot yarn) I did use her technique for the bottom of the basket. And one more difference, the bottom of the basket I made was single crochet stitches only. As a matter of fact the whole basket is single crochet stitches only. 

So pretty much the basics: 

The size of the tricot yarn crocheted basket

Needed: 

• around a kilogram of thick tricot yarn (I had a little left over). And mind the thickness of the tricot yarn, as this way the basket will stay firm and erected. Also before buying tricot yarn, check its flexibility and stretchability, the less it stretches, the firmer the basket will be. 
• a crochet hook size 11.5 (American size 16)
• around two weeks of an hour a day crocheting 

and the pattern: 

Bottom: 

Rnd 1: 6 sc in a circle. Join with sl st.

Rnd 2: Ch 2 sc in each st. Join with sl st. (12 hdc)

Rnd 3: Ch 2 sc in same st, sc in next st * around (or 2 sc in every second st). Join with sl st. (18 sc)

Rnd 4: Ch 2 sc in same st, sc in next 2 sts, complete *times around (or 2 sc in every third st). Join with sl st. 

Rnd 5: Ch 2 sc in same st, sc in next 3 sts, complete *times (or 2 sc in every fourth st). Join with sl st. 

Rnd 6: Ch 2, sc in same st, sc in next 4 sts, complete *times (or 2 sc in every fifth st). Join with sl st. 

Rnd 7: Ch 2, sc in same st, sc in next 5 sts, complete *times (or 2 sc in every sixth st). Join with sl st. 

The process of crocheting a tricot yarn basket

Rnd 8: Ch 2, sc in same st, sc in next 6 sts, complete *times (or 2 sc in every seventh st). Join with sl st. (64 hdc)

Rnd 9: Ch 2, sc in same st, sc in next 7 sts, complete *times (or 2 sc in every eight st). Join with sl st. (72 hdc)

The bottom of the tricot yarn crocheted basket

Rnd 10: For completing the bottom, as mentioned I've used Liz's technique, and I would recommend her explanations, for many reasons, but mainly that I could not possibly explain them clearer. 

Basket: 

Rnd 11- 20: Ch 1 sc in the same st  all around. Join with sl st. Repeat *.  

Rnd 21: Ch 1 sc in the same st  in 11 st around, ch 12 chs over the basket and join over with sc in the 10th sc on the edge of the basket (this will make the handles of the basket. If this explanations if not clear enough, I apologize).  Ch 1 sc in the same st in the next 21 st around and then ch 12 chs and join over with sc in the 10th sc on the basket. Ch 1 sc in the same st  in 11 st around. Join with sl st. 

Rnd 22: Ch 1 sc in the same st *times around (over the handles as well). Join with sl st and complete. Cut the yarn. 

A tricot yarn crocheted basket can be very handy used for storing pretty much anything

And this was it. The basket turned out quite nice and spacious. I am actually planing to make a bit bigger one for my daughter's toys, and may be next time try a square one. I hope all instructions were comprehensible (if not please ask), as I have said before, I am still learning. Good Luck to all!