Summer vibes in snowy Finland

May 10, 2017July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Hello everyone! Are you feeling the summer vibes already? Over here in Finland the summer is felt only in my colorful cat sweaters as it’s snowing behind my window as I am writing this blog post right now… Let’s just say summer definitely isn’t in a rush to visit Finland this year! And talking about cat sweaters, you’re probably wondering: hey, Asta, we understand it’s snowing in Finland in the mid May, but come on – other countries have normal climates and are baking in the sun already, so… where are all the summer goodies, huh? Well, they just arrived! The new collection was released last week in my PurringPyjamas shop on Etsy, and now I finally found a few free minutes to quickly introduce it. Are you ready?

The first 3 sweaters are super cute, super colorful and super soft. They’re also very light, stretchy and give that oh so needed protection from the sun for your hairless family member. These sweaters let the skin breathe very well, so your kitty will feel comfy while wearing them. The yarn is 70% cotton & 30 acrylic, which means that the sweaters won’t irritate even the most sensitive skin. Because they’re so light and stretchy, they’re also good for the first time wearers and cats who don’t like thicker sweaters!

I also decided to decorate these cute stripey sweaters with some beads I bought last year. I really like the little spicy vibe that they give to each sweater – from very sunny and bright yellows to more subtle brown hues. If you want to get any of these sweaters, you can find them here: Yellows & Blues, Blues & Reds, Blue Hues.

Now this sweater doesn’t really belong to any collection, but I loved the yarn, so I thought to myself – “Why not to make something cute with it?”. So I did! I hand crocheted this cutie from cotton yarn and added a few white rose beads. There are only two sweaters available in sizes XXXS & XXS, so if your kitty is on the smaller side or you happen to have a kitten, grab it! You can find it here: Pink Rose.

If you’re interested to take a look at all of the summer sweaters available in my Etsy shop, you can find them here: Summer Clothes.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful day!

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asta

Another Snowsuit: Royal Blues In White Winter

September 25, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

After making a snowsuit last year, throughout the year I kept on receiving some requests on making another one. Unfortunately, most of the time I was too busy to take on a project like that and people just weren’t willing to wait. However, after my little vacation I was contacted by one lady, who wanted a cute blue snowsuit for her little kitty due to the fact that she’s so small and gets cold easily. I had some free time, so… why not? Here’s the result!

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This snowsuit has 2 layers of knit instead of fleece inner layer. The main reason for this is that knit offers so much more flexibility and lets the kitty to move more easily. Fleece doesn’t have as much stretchiness, and even though it’s very warm & soft, it might restrict the movement of the cat, especially when it comes to something as thick as the snowsuit.

snowsuit2

In the front the snowsuit has a zipper and 3 paw buttons, just like the previous one. It also has holes for the harness and tail. The hood is also casual and is there more for the style than function – the kitty has fur, so she didn’t need her head or tail to be very well covered. This snowsuit also has waterproof fabric on the paws, so that kitty’s paws wouldn’t get all wet, cold and uncomfortable.

It was also easier to make this snowsuit than the previous one as I already had some experience and more knowledge. Also, it didn’t require as much sewing, so it was definitely quicker to make. Overall I really liked making it and would probably consider doing it again in the future!

I hope you all are having a wonderful day!

asta

Custom order: mommy & kitty matching sweaters to spice up the autumn

August 22, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Back in the autumn of 2015, I was contacted by a nice lady, who mentioned that she’d like to get matching sweaters for her kitty – Gwennie – and herself. At first I was a little cautious and a bit concerned, because I don’t really make clothes for people and the last time I made a sweater for a person was ages ago. I expressed that to her, but she still said she wanted me to give it a go. She didn’t really have any certain deadline, so we decided that once I get better (I was sick at the time) and have more free time, we’ll talk more about it and see what we can come up with.

So here came spring of 2016, and we started planning what we’ll do. She looked through my sweaters, chose few designs and colors. In the end she wanted her sweater to be inspired by this cat sweater that I have in my shop:

When it comes to color, she really liked the mustard yarn that is available in my shop. Once we decided on the design & color, she sent me her measurements along with the wishes on the shape of the sweater, length of the sleeves, etc.

At first we were talking about me making a sweater, but eventually she decided that she would like a sweater-dress instead that would be snuggly and comfy to wear with leggings for example. She gave me the length she wished for the sweater-dress, and then my work started. It took a little trial and error, but in the end she was satisfied with the result, when I sent the pictures of a finished product.

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Even though she was satisfied with the sweater-dress, I couldn’t really completely relax until she received the item. I was constantly thinking: but what if in real life the sweater-dress doesn’t meet her expectations? Or what if it doesn’t fit right? These thoughts kept on crossing my mind until few weeks later when the buyer received the package left me these reviews:

lou ann

That was a big relief! Actually, I really thought that it will take much longer and will be much harder to make this sweater-dress for a person, because sweaters meant for cats are so much different in their structure and are knitted in different way. But… As long as I have another satisfied customer, I am happy! And I truly gained more experience, which is always a great thing. We have this saying in my country that “You won’t carry the weight of the knowledge on your shoulders”, which basically means that whatever you learn, won’t do bad to you.

But for now… Have a beautiful day everyone and I wish your week will go well!

asta

Soft colors and bright moods

August 16, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I last posted over here. But time flies so fast! And so with it everything not only passes, but there also appear new exciting things! And that’s what this quick blog post is about – the new cute sweaters that are available in PurringPyjamas Etsy shop.

The first two sweaters I actually made while being on the road. I took a little road trip in the Southern Finland, so while sitting in the passenger’s seat and enjoying the view I decided to also do something useful. Especially that I just got the yarn these two sweaters are made of. Both sweaters are crocheted. The first sweater’s yellow yarn is 100% acrylic, while the shiny green one has 60% mohair and 40% acrylic. You can get them both or either one over here: Yellow Dreams, Tortie Fluffs.

Moving forward we find stripes. Because who doesn’t love them? The first sweater has beautiful yellow, blue, white, green & dark gray stripes. The yarn is really high quality and made in the UK, so I was happily waiting for it to arrive. It’s called after the bird blue tit (see the picture below), and I think it looks gorgeous! You can get it here: Blue Tit Kitty.

Blue-Tit-Desktop

Here’s another crocheted sweater. It is very soft, because it’s made from the yarn meant for knitting baby clothes, so believe me when I say that it will not irritate even the most sensitive kitty’s skin! It has a beautiful pattern and is made of 100% acrylic yarn. This striped beauty is available here: Blue Stripes.

And now let’s go from something soft and light to something soft and really warm. This beautiful ombre effect sweater is made of 70% acrylic and 30% wool yarn. It is incredibly soft and keeps the warmth well, while also letting the skin to breath. It is available in 2 sizes, and you can get it here: Soft Ombre.

And now let’s talk about the classics – red and black. The red sweater is made of 75% wool & 25% polyamide yarn and is incredibly stretchy and warm. Black sweaters are made of 100% polyacrylic yarn, which means they’re incredibly soft and will not irritate kitties’ skin. And how about the cute beads they’re decorated with? I am sure your kitty would like it! You can get them here: Red Stars, Red Shells, Purple Beads.

And the last, but definitely not the least is this very fun sweater. You know, it is perfect for times when you kind of wish to pet something fluffy, but your naked sphinx kitty just ain’t doing it. This cute blue sweater is made of 100% acrylic yarn and is incredibly soft. You can get it over here: Blue fluffs.

I wish you all have a wonderful day and good start of the week!

asta

From classy lace & pearls to modern mohair & crystals

June 24, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I last posted over here showing off the new designs in my shop. Today I want to share with you some of the designs I’ve been thinking about for a long time, just didn’t have enough time to actually make them. I hope you will like what you see, ‘cause I am really satisfied with the result!

Firstly, let’s start with classy things. These sweaters feature beautiful lace flowers and pearls, so your kitty will be classy from head (or ear!) to toe! The black sweater is incredibly soft, because it is made from 100% polyacrylic yarn, so it will not irritate even the most sensitive skin. It is also a great sweater for cats who don’t like wearing clothes or they have never worn any sweater before. The blue sweater is made from yarn, that consists of 30% wool and 70% polyamide. You can get the sweaters here: Black lace & pearls, Blue lace & pearls.

Now here comes something modern and fancy. As soon as I saw this bright colored yarn in the shop, I just knew I had to have it, ‘cause it would make some great material for amazing sweaters! And I would say I was right! I really enjoyed making these sweaters, trying to fit different beads, choosing best colors, variations, etc. Overall, I am really satisfied with the result. The yarn is 63% mohair, 27% acrylic & 10% polyester, which means that sweaters are not only very nice and fluffy looking, but also extremely warm and super stretchy. And for all of you who love mohair sweaters out there, let me tell you a secret… At the moment, I am working on more sweaters from mohair yarn! Whoop, I am guessing your kitties will stay very warm and stylish during this winter! But for now, you can get these gorgeous sweaters over here: Green mohair, Pink mohair.

Now these two sweaters might cheat you into thinking they’re made of mohair yarn too… But no, they’re not! 🙂 But it doesn’t make them any less beautiful or worthy! These sweaters are made of yarn that consists of 44% wool, 24% acrylic, 20% polyester & 10% polyamide. The sweaters are very warm, stretchy, and, of course, very stylish! You can get them here: Purple crystal sweater, Orange crystal sweater.

This sweater was made without having any prior idea as to what it will look like in the end. I just grabbed the yarn, started knitting and watched where it would take me. And so that’s how this funky looking hoodie was made! The yarn is 50% wool and 50% acrylic, which makes this sweater very warm, but it also breaths very well. If you’re feeling like having something a little funky today, check out this sweater on my Etsy shop: Funky hoodie.

Here is another interesting design – this little curly vest. It will keep your kitty super comfy, because it doesn’t restrict the movement, but still warms your kitty. This vest is made of 100% wool yarn. You can get right here: Curly vest.

And last, but definitely not least is this green sweater, which has this super interesting pattern. I’ve had this yarn for so long, but I could never think of any ideas as to what I would do with it. But one evening I sat down and decided to finally start knitting something from it. I looked through so many different knitting patterns, and this one just stood out. As soon as I saw it, I knew that this is the right pattern for this sweater. The sweater is very thick and made from 100% wool, so it will keep your kitty very warm even on the coldest nights. You can get it here: Green braided sweater.

And here are couple additional shots from the photoshoot 😉

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asta

Important: why the prices on Etsy might rise

June 12, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 2 Comments

Hello, everyone! And happy summer! To be frank the spring was more summery over here in Finland than the June itself, but I still hope for some nicely warm days. I hope your summer (or winter!) is going well!

Today I wanted to address one important thing, which includes both the buyers and the sellers on Etsy: the prices. If you are shopping on Etsy very often, you might have noticed already (or maybe not), that in quite many small shops (like mine) prices rose a bit. Everyone has had their own change, but prices in PurringPyjamas rose €1-2 (US $ 1.12-2.25). I really hope there will be no need to raise the prices even more. Here comes in the most important question: WHY? The answer is simple: additional VAT. Or, at least, I wish it was that simple.

As we all know, people pay VAT from goods and/or services. But in order to be eligible to pay VAT, you need to earn a certain amount of money (it differs from country to country). In my case – or PurringPyjamas case – I’d need to earn from the shop €10 000 or more in order to pay VAT. Guess, do I earn that much? Not even close. So I don’t need to register as a VAT payer for PurringPyjamas and I do not need to pay additional VAT to Finnish government, ‘cause my income from this little Etsy shop is not even close to the limit. But guess what – Etsy requires EVERYONE to pay VAT. It doesn’t matter, how much you earn from your shop – you can earn €50/year or €50 000/year, you still will have to pay THE SAME percentage of VAT, unless you already registered yourself as VAT payer beforehand. So, basically… Even if I earn that €50/year, I still have to pay VAT. And no, that money definitely does not go to Finnish government (as I am not required to pay tax), it goes to Etsy’s pocket. So, this kind of decision to take VAT automatically might be the right decision for big shops, that have huge sales on Etsy, but for small shops it hurts, because now we need to not only pay taxes to Etsy (yes, Etsy as sales platform has it’s own taxes too), but also pay VAT, for which we aren’t even eligible.

I just thought to clarify this a bit as eventually it might raise some questions. I simply didn’t want the buyers to think that I rose the prices for absolutely no reason. Shipping prices will not change (at least in my shop), even though Etsy charges tax from shipping too (crazy, I know!).

I hope you all are having a beautiful morning/afternoon/evening/night! 🙂

asta

The Jungle Spirit

March 15, 2016July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

And here we are again – a week later there’s more sweaters and more designs coming to my shop! This time it’s all about those bright and beautiful spring colors.

These first sweaters are from “Colibri” series. It was a limited edition yarn, which (unfortunately) I found a little bit too late, so I could grab only couple different balls that were still left. I absolutely love the color of this yarn – it’s so bright and just associates with warmth, sun, good mood and great times! The yarn is not only beautiful looking, but also is very thick due to the pattern I chose for these sweaters. It consists of 100% acrylic, which means that it’s soft and doesn’t irritate even the most sensitive skin. Only blue colibri (the middle one) is still available, so make sure to grab it if you want it! You can get it here: Blue Colibri.

Another sweater continues the jungle theme. Because where else could you see such an elegant leopard?! Well, probably at your home if you get one of these sweaters! This style is available in few sizes, so it will make quite a few kitties happy and wild. The sweater is hand knitted, while the decorations around neck, bottom of the sweater and sleeves are hand crocheted. This sweater was designed very fast and impulsively as I didn’t know how I want it to look like once it’s finished. But I am happy with the result – I think it looks really good! The yarn is 75% wool and 25% polyamide, so it’s very warm and breaths really well. You can get the sweater here: Elegant Leopard.

Now this sweater is a real improvisation! I started it with this beautiful brown yarn that has tiny golden threads in it and ended up with soft wool & mohair mix. This sweater is really comfy and will keep your kitty really warm! Peach color yarn is 48% acrylic, 32% polyamide, 10% wool and 10% mohair, while the brown one consists of 100% acrylic. Get this warm sweater for your one of a kind kitty here: Peachy Golds.

And the last, but definitely not the least is this sweater made of 100% acrylic yarn with little golden threads. I am really unsatisfied, that it was quite impossible to show in the pictures all the shine that it has, but my camera just refuses to see what I see! 🙂 Probably it’s because the golden shine shows up in certain light and only in some parts of the sweater. It also has this cute kitty button, which nicely finishes up the sweater. You can get this nice and soft sweater over here: Golden Shine.

I hope you enjoyed this little blog post and have a wonderful day! 🙂

asta

Seashore magic

July 13, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / Leave a comment

Even though this past week was nothing like summer (except for the green trees, little sunshine and nicely smelling grass after the rain), in our home we live with very summery moods. And the little summer sweaters that I made definitely add freshness and remind every single day: it’s still summer.

The first sweater is this off white (or light beige – whatever you want to call it) shirt with beautiful golden bling. It is also decorated with tiny little flowers at the bottom. Every single detail in the sweater is crocheted. It’s super light, lets the skin breath and is made out of 100% cotton yarn.

You can find the sweater over here: The Bling Bling Sweater.

The second one is all about the sea. It’s related to the sea not only because of it’s beautiful coral color, but also because of the shell pattern. I’ve had this yarn for a while and tried quite a few patterns until I decided that this is it. And I think the pattern suits this yarn perfectly.

The yarn is 85% cotton and 15% viscose, so the sweater is very light and comfortable. It is available in coral and lime colors. You can buy the sweater over here: Coral Shells.

The last one is simple yet it has a twist. It is made of a light, but very stretchy and nice extremely white yarn, which consists of 62% viscose and 38% acrylic. While the previous two sweaters are both crocheted, this one is knitted. It is also decorated with real shells, which give nice and subtle look to the sweater.

sweater

Get the sweater here: Shell sweater.

When I was taking the pictures, the light was simply awful. It’d been raining for days already, and I didn’t know, when it would stop and if it would stop, so I made a decision to start a photoshoot. I am not very happy with the end result, but, well, thinking about the conditions I had, I am glad the pictures are THAT good! Oh, I can’t wait to have a new camera, which probably will be at my home this autumn. Fingers crossed!

And here are couple more pictures from behind the scenes. Why? Because cats are simply adorable. At all times.

Always wash yourself before the shoot to make sure you’re squeaky clean!

Enjoy yourself. And sleep whenever you can!

asta

A walk in dandelion fields

June 26, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 4 Comments

This week was so busy I thought I’ll lose my mind! I needed to do so many things, and my failed health definitely didn’t help me at all. But at least by now I’m finally getting a grip of everything and can finally focus on the important things. But, well, at least I always have my cute soft kitties to cuddle with. And let me tell you – their purrs heal better than any medicine! Like, how can you feel bad, when you walk into the room and see something like this?

When I was still feeling good and had some free time, my fingers were itching to do something. And so I found yarn, which I bought a while ago and started knitting. I didn’t really have any clear idea of the sweater, so I just went with the flow. I knew that even though the yarn is thick, I wanted it to look “summery” and fresh. And to me there’s one thing that remind me of re-born nature and late spring – dandelions. So why not to make a Dandelion sweater?

Doesn’t look bad after all, huh? It required some precision to make it, but it was so much fun. And oh, I love that bright coral color!

I have only two sweaters available in sizes S and XXS. Yarn is 100% polyacrylic.

This sweater is sold out.

And even though the sweater was so bright and nice, my model Beliza was all grumpy and sleepy. Nothing helped – no treats and no toys were interesting to her. Maybe it was the rainy weather that caused it, or maybe she just didn’t get enough of her beauty sleep. Anyway, we managed to work something out and got some nice pictures!

Bright reds and puffy fringes

June 23, 2015July 27, 2018 / Asta Lamminen / 1 Comment

The last few days I’ve been knitting and crocheting day and night. Literally. And now, as I am writing this post it’s exactly 4:18 am. Do I feel like sleeping? Nope. Am I tired? Can’t be sure, but my back would say a definite yes. So what do you do, when you have insomnia? In my case, you watch something and knit knit knit. Meanwhile Bacha is sitting on my laps, purring and giving me constant kisses. She’s such a sweetheart, it always seems that she understands so much more than I think she does. Cats are absolutely amazing animals sharing their unconditional love with us. 🙂

Anyway, so as I said before I was knitting loads of things. And here I represent one of the shirts I crocheted – a light, bright colored summer sweater with cute fringes all around it. This sweater is perfect for every naked sun worshipper as it protects sensitive skin from the sun, but also is very light, because it’s made of 100% cotton.

Actually, I’ve had different plans for this yarn and I even started crocheting an absolutely different sweater. But after some time I realized, that it will take loads of time to finish it. Yep, my imagination again went wild and created something that is so much harder to fulfill in the reality. So then this boho-kitty fringy sweater was born. It is available in 3 colors: bright red, medium blue and white as snow.

The sweater is available for purchase in my Etsy shop right over here: Fringy sweater.

And here are some pictures of Bacha enjoying her photoshoot. It was one of the lightest weight sweaters she has ever worn, so she definitely didn’t think twice about the play time!