Tauride Shawl is my latest pattern, an asymmetric shawl decorated with Vikkel braids. The shawl gets it asymmetric shape with increases on one side and decreases on the other side. While increases are made on every row, decreases are combined to form an angular edge. Binding off stitches on the right side continues in a Vikkel braid to form wedges. Each wedge is two rows wider than the previous one, and each bind off has more stitches than the previous one, creating an ammonite-like form. Seed stitch at the corners keeps the edge from rolling up. You can knit the shawl in two sizes: there’s a one-skein version (Small) and a two-skein version (Large). The pattern includes a photo tutorial for Vikkel braid.



This pattern is a collaboration with Lanitium ex Machina. I had the opportunity to try their gorgeous BFL Silk Cashmere yarn for the large shawl, and let me tell you it's a bliss to knit! The only problem is choosing which one of the gorgeous colorways to use. I do recommend a light color to make the Vikkel braids visible.


The shawl gets its name after the Tauride gardens in St. Petersburg. We moved to St. Petersburg three weeks after Young Warrior was born and stayed for four years, except for the summer when Troll Princess was born. That summer I spent in Helsinki with Young Warrior, because I wanted to be close to a Finnish hospital when the time comes. Three weeks after Troll Princess was born we moved back to St. Petersburg (Why three weeks for both babies? One week to get a passport, two weeks to get a Russian visa!). We lived close to Tauride gardens, and I have spent endless days in the park, enjoying lovely weather, flowers, shashliks and friends - but also rain, wet snow, and loneliness. In Finland, we say that there's no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. Therefore, we take the kids out every day. In Russia, at least in my experience, you don't take the kids out if its cold or raining or snowing or anything else that might make the kids feel uncomfortable. As a result, it was just me with a baby and a toddler in the giant park on so many days that my memories of those years start with miserable images of pushing the double pram alone in wet snow in the park. This shawl is my attempt to take back the pretty park through creating something beautiful and remembering the good times. I love St. Petersburg and we still go there a couple of times every year, even though it's been almost four years since we moved back to Finland. I wanted to take pictures of the shawl in its namesake gardens during our last visit, but I had been away from St. Petersburg long enough to forget that the park is closed for renovations one month every spring! Therefore, these pictures were taken in our current next-door park: Mustikkamaa island in Helsinki.







Today is CreaDienstag.