Birkenwasser knits

This weekend has been filled with knitting, yarn shopping, meeting new people and talking about my designs. Kässäkerho Pom Pom SUPERviikonloppu in Kuopio, that is. I released my Circular Reference Hat and Cowl pattern on Friday, and SUPERweekend visitors got a free download code for the pattern. I brought the hat and cowl, along with several other samples to Kuopio. I was happy to see many knitters try on the Wigeon sweater, and it was nice to discuss the patterns with them. On Saturday evening there was a party, and the lovely Liinu of Kässäkerho Pom Pom interviewed me about my designer career.


Naturally, there was also a corner dedicated to knitting and it was nice to take a break and work on a sample of a new design while chatting with other knitters.

Liina recently told me that with the amount of socks I've been knitting lately, I'm not allowed to say that I'm not a sock knitter. So I decided to give in big time and haul these autumn shades from KVG Woolworks table. I see more socks in my near future!


On Lanitium ex Machina's table I couldn't take my eyes off of this gorgeous Merino Tussah in colorway La Reina. Black pearl should work with it.


Leeni recently started selling yarns that she dyes under Lystig yarns brand and shoppers wouldn't let her take a break even during the party in the evening. Look at these babies, and you can understand why!


The best part of the weekend was meeting yarn dyers and yarn producers, though. Stay tuned for news on that front!

Circular reference hat and cowl are worked in spiraling two-color brioche. The pattern is enhanced by switching the main color and contrast color for each panel. Use high contrast in colors for a more visible pattern or less contrast for a subtle effect. This pattern will keep you interested while knitting and still produces a cool no-frills end result. Make the hat first, and you can adjust the size of the cowl according to how much yarn you have left. This unisex design works for both men and women. The pattern comes in sizes S and L. The stretchy brioche makes it adjustable for anything in between - or even for a child: my 7-year-old Young Warrior announced that he is taking the samples, because a silk-merino cowl is just what he needs as the weather is getting colder.

While I was waiting for my test knitters to finish their Betua Hat and Mittens projects, I started thinking that it would be nice to step on the other side myself and experience the test knitting process from the tester's point of view. I noticed a testing call for this pretty rhomboid shawl, and loved the way it makes use of gradient yarn. First, I told myself that I'm too busy with my other projects, but before I knew it I was already stash diving to see if I had something that could work with this design. So I signed up for my first test knitting project as a tester.


The testing process was interesting and I learned more about the difference in continental and English knitting from the pattern writing point of view, and I hope this will help me in writing my own patterns as well. I had some trouble with Chinese waitress cast on, but other testers pointed out that it's the same as crocheted cast on and after that the pattern was easy to follow. Aster stitches were something new for me, and it was really addictive to wait for the color changes in the Nordlys yarn.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to learn from my mistakes. I should've learned from the Broken seed stitch socks already that there needs to be enough contrast with the colour-changing yarn and the solid yarns (or, I should've read the instructions!). I just chose yarns that looked nice together and ended up with some invisible aster stitches - even if I tried to cut out the bits with the least contrast... Still, I'm pretty happy with the result - I love these autumn colors!


Taking part in CreaDienstag.

Last summer I spent quite a few evenings crocheting by the playground. And crocheting quite a bit elsewhere, too! Frida's Flowers Blanket was originally published as a CAL in 8 fortnightly instalments, but I only joined in when others were already on block 6 or something. Still, I enjoyed starting every new block: by the time it starts to get boring you start with something new again! I had been wanting to crochet a patchwork blanket for some time already, but I was hesitating whether I wanted granny squares in the house. When I saw this pattern, I knew that it was so over the top, that it could actually look nice (I've heard contradictory opinions already, though). And what is more important, crocheting was so much fun as the motif changes every 4-8 pieces!

Our balcony is decorated more in a minimalistic than in this kind of extravaganza style (check out my previous balcony crochet project), but that's also the reason why I think one multicolour flower blanket fits in. We'll see next summer, for now it's too cold to sit outside, even with the heater on.

I followed the instructions for most parts. After the first round or so I stopped switching between 3,5 and 4 mm hooks, as I thought that blocking would do the trick of making the pieces same size. Which it did. The only real modification was that I added more colors to the edging. I wanted to use up as much of the yarns as possible, but I think I'll be making some amigurumis in the future as there's still a bag full of bright colour cottons in my stash...

Betua Mittens and Hat are knitted with one main color and three gradient contrasting colors used in the background. The design features a birch leaf pattern in two-color brioche stitch, where the second color changes using all three gradient colors. The background for the brioche birch leaves is knitted in two-color garter stitch: every other round in main color and every other round in contrasting color.





This is one of those patterns that were inspired by the yarn. The lovely gradient set of Aarni by Riihivilla made me think of autumn leaves, and that became the brioche part: birch leaves, with autumn colors in the background. Betua is Gaulish for birch. You could also try a self-striping yarn in the background, or simply use two contrasting colors.