Birkenwasser knits

During my short online presence in the knitting world I have already discovered quite a few things that I've never tried, but that seem to be pretty popular. As a note to self - try these:

1. Top down knitting. You know what, I honestly had never heard of knitting pullovers top down, and I'm still not quite sure why that would be better than knitting bottom up. Therefore, I'd better give it a try!

2. Along the same lines: socks knitted toe up. Actually, I don't think the flat toe looks so nice, but as this is something that I also haven't tried, I'm gonna do it just to see how it goes.

3. Shawls. This one I share with Of course she knits who is also new in the online knitting world. What's with the shawls? I never see anyone wear shawls, so do you just knit them for the fun of knitting? I'm definitely going to knit a couple of them. Maybe Quicksilver and then something lace. I keep seeing pictures of Quicksilver, and can't figure out how it was knitted. It just might have to be the first pattern that I buy.

4. Three needle bindoff. Picot edge. I was looking for a dictionary of English knitting vocabulary and found these Learn-to-knit instructions. It seems that there are some really basic(?) things that I've never tried. Also the ways of sewing things together look different from the way I was taught to do it. Then there are row (or whatever) markers. Those I'm not going to try before someone explains to me why they would be useful. Aren't they just extra work, moving them around?

5. Linen. The first four items on my list could be explained by the little engineer in me who wants to try new techniques and see how things are compiled in three dimensions, but this one can't be explained. I really want to knit something linen.

Is there a limit to how much you can knit for yourself? Well, about two years ago I thought that it might be time to knit something for someone else. If that someone else is not a knitter or a designer, it is easier to pick a pattern from a magazine than to design something yourself. In this case, it was even difficult to get Business woman to understand that you can change the color from the original version, let alone modify the pattern. We did manage to find something that she kind of liked, though, and then found an interesting colour from the yarn store. The pattern is "Naisen pitsineulepusero" from Novita Winter 2012 collection. The original pattern has 3/4 sleeves and no trimmings on the edges, but I knit the sleeves in full length and added garter stich trimmings to sleeves and hem.



The back is knit stich all the way, so it was quickly finished while reading. At the time I was working from home in St Petersburg, so any Skype meetings with my colleagues would provide the opportunity to work on the lace parts. Unfortunately, we moved back to Finland before the poor pullover was finished, and it got buried in some box for a year or so. I did find it again at some point and the sleeves were transferred to my knitting basket. I would knit them between other projects, and then put away again. When I started this blog, I did an inventory of all my projects and noticed that I had actually knitted all pieces of this pullover and it was only waiting for finishing.



Last weekend I finally got around to do some blocking and then it was just about sewing the pieces together, knitting the collar and weaving in ends. Here you are, Business woman! A nice woollen pullover for the summer, eh...

It never occured to me to do an inventory of my unfinished projects, until I started documenting them on Instagram. Excluding those whose status is "discontinued", the list is still quite long. The first one is only a sketch with an idea for the yarn, but let's exclude that for now. Starting from the latest additions, Peippo cardigan for Troll Princess is so far only a drawing and two skeins of Noro Haniwa yarn:


Haapana pullover is made of Malabrigo lace. Front is almost done, back started.

The next one was started back in 2013 when pastels were the thing for the spring. Unfortunately we also moved back to Finland in 2013 and I never got around to unpack the boxes of yarns and UFOs. The pieces of Allihaahka top have been waiting for finishing for two years... The problem with this one was that I wanted to add some flowers to the front, but they didn't turn out nice, so the whole thing was put away. I might want to finish this without the flowers now.



I don't always design what I knit, sometimes I try a pattern written by someone else and only slightly modify. The last one is purple pullover from Novita winter 2012 magazine. This one might have been in the making since winter 2012, but now that I found it and realized that it's all knitted I will go ahead and finish it.




That makes a total of nine unfinished objects. You need to have a couple of projects going on simultaneously, though, because there are different kinds of knitting situations. Most demanding is reading: that requires so much concentration that anything beyond ribbing is too complicated. Then for knitting in public you need to have something small enough to carry around. And the rest you can do while watching TV. If you don't watch much TV, then that part kind of piles up, as it includes the blocking and seaming of the pieces knitted on other occasions. Finally, there's the design part, which really requires all your attention, so you can't do it while doing anything else.

The plan is to share the progress of these babies with you! I think cutting down to half of this would be a good goal, but I kind of like this spread from plans to almost finished items. Let's see what happens.

Thursday night at the library. Two librarians take turns in reading short stories for an audience of knitters. Now how cool is that! This is just one of the awesome services by Helsinki City Library. Monthly knitting events, called "Novellikoukku" are organized in 17 libraries around the city and its surroundings. Tonight we heard the first chapter of Pirkko Saisio's "Signaali" and two short stories from "Irakin Purkkajeesus" by Hassan Blasim. This is a bonus in addition to knitting: someone else has picked something interesting for reading. This novel by Saisio is now on my reading list and Blasim wasn't too bad either.
As a mother of two, visiting the library usually means spending time at the children's department until I get a nervous breakdown from trying to slow down the kids and keep their loan pile small enough to carry home, then quickly collecting whatever I had reserved for myself. At home I'm the one who is doing the reading: I read to my kids every day. I also read for myself while knitting, so getting to sit down and knit and relax while someone else is reading for me is a rare luxury. Judging by the popularity of these events, I'm not the only one needing this type of pampering!


You can bring your own knittings or knit for charity. Yarns and needles are provided by local yarn stores and you can help out in making blankets for the Red Cross by knitting small squares.

These events have been taking place since 2012. Since then I've been trying to make it to one of them, and finally succeeded! Now how can I make sure that it won't take three years before the next time?!

After 30 something years of knitting I thought it would be time to share some of my designs. Just write what I did and post it on Ravelry, right? Oh, little I knew of the business. There's a reason why some people get paid to write patterns! Naturally, I wish I did, but let's try to learn how to do this first. (And let's forget that those people who get paid to do this probably also had many years of education to learn how to do it...) Where to start from? Well, why start with something simple if you can pick the most complicated cable pattern you've ever designed?

Photo: Mikko Kultanen

It might also be a good idea to write as you knit, but hey, it's not that difficult to count the stiches afterwards. From the complicated cable pattern. Then all you need to do is to draw the knitting chart, and there are plenty of tools for that. Takes some time to try them out, and with the demo versions you don't get to save or export your charts. I like Knit Visualizer, but I think I'd like to get paid for writing the patterns to pay for the software.


After spending maybe five nights with this project it's done! I have written my first pattern! Now all I hope is that someone will like it enough to try it, and maybe even give some feedback...

Photo: Mikko Kultanen

This is a cable slipover for a young gentleman knitted using the finest silk-alpaca yarns. I used Drops Baby Alpaca Silk, 70% Baby Alpaca 30% Mulberry Silk. The yarn might be expensive, but you only need two balls, so it's not that bad. This pattern requires some concentration to keep up with three kinds of cables, but you'll love the result.

Find the pattern on Ravelry: Kivitasku - Cable vest for a little boy. Available in Finnish. English translation coming up. After maybe five more nights of hard work...

I have always been knitting. At school, while others were learning how to knit mittens, I dyed my own yarns to knit a multicolour pattern sweater. But. To start from the beginning, my very first self made sweater was an easy pattern for beginners: basic garter stich all the way. In lovely 80's colors and design:

Wearing my first pullover at my 10-year-old birthday party.

Pretty soon I learned that it's more fun to design your own sweaters. Then again, it might be that I didn't have the money to buy yarns, so I had to do with whatever I found from my mom's stash. Experimenting with different styles, patterns, techniques, yarns... You name it, I've tried it.

"Is that Madonna?" my spouse asked.

Badges were the thing in 1989.

Luckily I also kept a picture diary of the sweaters I've knitted, starting from the first one back in late 80's to number 27 ten years later. It's too bad that I quit taking pictures of my knits. Now I'm missing almost 20 years of knittings!

Remember these yarns from the 80's?

My knitting diary is almost a fashion highlights parade from the 80's and the 90's! Almost. Then again, I might not have been the number one trend setter at the age of 10. Or 20. (or at any other age, for that matter.)

Using leftover yarns.

Pattern and yarns from Novita.

I also noticed that if you want to knit something that you want to wear as well, it might be a good idea to use a pattern designed by someone else. But hey, it's more fun to design your own, and once in awhile you hit the jackpot and make something that not only looks and feels nice, but is also unique and your own design. The plan is to share those highlights and switch from the picture diary back in the day to a blog - with pictures. Stay tuned!