Birkenwasser knits

I couldn't help but come back to the lovely pink Snowdrop dress in Helga Isager's Neuleiden neljä vuodenaikaa book. It's such a pretty dress and looks so good in the pale pink that it's knitted from. The only thing is that I'm not really a lace person and pink is not really my color. As my little Troll princess put it "well, mom, you don't look like a girl". So I decided to start with pullovers that were more my style, until I realized that I don't have to strictly follow the pattern - I can modify it to fit my style. The result is perfect, a dark gray no frills dress for a girl who doesn't look like a girl!

The shawl contest supporting Women's line is on until the end of this week, so there was time to knit one more shawl. Digging into my stash revealed a bag full of Novita Florica, so I started experimenting with a triangular shape this time. To take advantage of the project as a learning opportunity, I added some popcorn stitches and tried a looser bind off. I had tried this looser bind off (*slip 2 sts back to left needle, K2tog, K1*, repeat) once before, but I must have skipped the K1 as it turned out super tight and I decided to forget it. The other day I ran into Liina and her new Rosewater shawl. She liked the looser bind off, so I gave it another try and it worked out perfectly.



To continue with my just-in-time knitting style I finished with this shawl last night, blocked it and it's ready for delivery today. While I was in the finishing mode I also finished a brioche cowl that I found earlier from my stash, so that's going in with the shawls, and then there's a scarf also. You'll see more of that later.


But now I'll have to hop on my bike and be my own bike courier to get the shawl to Novita as it's the last day of the competition!

I lived in St. Petersburg for four years, but trying to fit in and do as the locals do, I did all my yarn shopping in Finland. The only crafts shop I visited back in those days was a Singer shop on Suvorovsky prospekt, and only for emergency needle shopping. Last weekend we visited our old neighborhood and I thought that it would be time to check out a yarn store or two during the trip. I tried to ask for tips of nice LYS in St. Petersburg, but unfortunately the only one mentioned was Manefa, which is located in Pionerskaya and that was a bit off our planned track. After some googling (or actually its Russian version yandexing) I found a LYS right next to Finland station and with a pretty appealing selection of yarns. That's my destination then!


Magia priazi is a nice little LYS and I ended up getting some lovely souvenirs. Nothing Russian, though... They have a nice selection of brands, but unfortunately not in colors I would have liked - except for some lovely Jaipur Silk Fino.


I also got a set of KnitPro needles. This wasn't such a good idea, as it turned out that two of the needles were damaged and KnitPro warranty says that you need to go back to the reseller for replacement. Well, good thing is that Business woman does business in St. Petersburg, so she will get to visit the nice little yarn shop on her next business trip... I liked the KnitPros that I bought in Moscow, but they felt more like wood than this set. To me the needles feel like plastic and I might go back to my old bamboo needles after all.

Novita yarns is hosting a charity knitting contest to support Women's line, a service that helps women suffering from abuse, threats or fear. As a former volunteer for Women's line, I knew that this was a contest I have to participate in. The rules are simple: design and knit a scarf/shawl/cowl with Novita yarns. All submitted items will be sold at a crafts fair and the revenues donated to Women's line.




Definitely a new technique for me was the i-cord finishing of the sides. I was afraid that it would take forever, but it wasn't too slow after all. Even if I had to do a couple of retakes as I was too hasty and ended up making it too tight.

All in all this project was a success for me: learning a couple of new techniques, getting to knit a shawl, doing a bit of stash busting (only a bit of orange and brown left!). Now all I can do is hope that someone likes the shawl enough to pay for it!

I was actually so happy with this project, that I have another (two...) on the needles. And 8 more days to knit!