Birkenwasser knits

I have a thing for challenges and knit-a-longs, so when Leeni Hoi announced that she's hosting a KAL for her cool X Sox design I knew that I wanted to participate. I had bought a skein of her Lystig Merino Sock in My Little Pony Overdose at the Knitmare Fest in October, and this would be the perfect occasion to knit socks for me using that yarn. Or so I thought. We had arranged for the kids to spend a week of their Christmas holiday with grandparents in Kuopio. That's north enough to have snow and a real winter; something that we have had in Helsinki for only the last couple of weeks (and that'll be gone by Thursday when we'll get rain showers that will melt the precious snow away). I was planning to continue with my last GAL projects until end of the year, and then cast on my X Sox on first of January. Then, on the train, I realised that we didn't pack woolly socks for Troll Princess.




"You can't possibly knit a pair of socks that fast!" said Business Woman, and if that's not a challenge, I don't know what is. I had three days before returning to Helsinki, but, obviously, there are other obligations when visiting the in-laws so it's not all knitting time. However, I had 4 hours on the train so I could get a good start.


The pattern has instructions for heavier and lighter weight sock yarn, and a note saying that you can get a larger size by using heavier yarn with light weight stitch count. I figured that it would work the other way around as well, and started with the stitch count for heavy yarn using this light weight yarn. It happened to fit perfectly, so there was no need for further modifications. The legs could have been longer, but I bound off the socks 10 minutes before we headed back to the train station. This was the size that was doable in three days. In the end, Troll Princess had a lovely week of playing in the snow with warm feet!


The problem with these photos is that you can't see the X in the Sox! I only realised when I looked at the pictures that she should have worn them the other way around for the X to show - now they look more like diamond socks... Sorry, Leeni!


It's CreaDienstag!

I'm super happy with the positive response to my Tiger Flower design for Quince & co, thank you so much! I have to say that I have been enjoying knitting this pattern so much, too, that I have knitted three versions already. The first prototype went to my mom, and the sample to Quince, so I wanted to knit this one for myself.


The third time of knitting this design was almost all pleasure and no work. Almost, as in that I couldn't just knit along, but had to follow the pattern. I have shown this shawl at trunk shows, and I also wanted to re-check the pattern, so I forced myself to count stitches and make sure it confirmed with the instructions. Normally, I just knit away and don't care too much about stitch counts.


As you can see from this "wrong side" detail, the shawl is reversible: you can tell a difference in the brioche pattern if you look closely, but it looks good on both sides.


It's RUMS day!

Vivid Winter issue of Pom Pom Quarterly has so many lovely patterns that I had a hard time choosing which one to start with. I decided to go with the ones that I had yarn for first, and socks that I could use all those leftover sock yarns sounded like a good pattern to start with. Finding a fade of seven colors wasn't as easy as I thought, though. I tried several combos and ended up with this one. It's still not perfect, as the red is too dark. I took a black and white picture of the yarns, so I knew there was a problem with the red. Nevertheless, it was the best choice of the ones I had, so I decided to go with this combo anyway.




I wanted to knit two-at-a-time, and doing that with a single cake, knitting from both ends, and fading to the next color made quite a mess. It was doable, though, so I continued and managed to finish both socks at the same time. Unfortunately, the socks turned out too big. The instructions tell you to knit the foot until 3 cm less than the desired foot length, but my heel took 5,5 cm after that. My gauge was slightly off (32 sts and 48 rows instead of 34 sts and 45 rows), but that should actually work in the opposite direction. I guess the 3 cm instruction was for the smallest size, and with the largest size you need to work more rows. I tried the sock on after the heel, but for some reason I didn't believe it was that big, and continued anyway. Of course, this only means that I have to knit another pair and this time get a better combo for the fade and start the heel earlier. In the meanwhile, I think that I can wear these socks anyway!

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long inspired me to knit one last minute Christmas gift: Rivoletto Mitts by Noriko Ho. I had knitted the UnCrabby Crab for my brother-in-law, and then realised that I had nothing for my sister. This pattern seemed like the perfect gift: pretty, useful and quick to knit.




I like the way the ribbing makes the mitts fit many sizes, and how the thumb is part of the ribbing: a lovely little project!


It's CreaDienstag!

My fourth FO in Indie Design Gift-A-Long was Crooked Lines by Karalee Harding. This pretty cowl has instructions for a single loop and a Moebius loop versions. The lace pattern is easy to memorise and it's completely reversible, so you don't have to worry about the wrong side and the right side when wearing it.


Basically, the idea is to start from the middle of the cowl and then work towards both edges at the same time. Sounds complicated, but it's not!


After getting started it's just simple knitting until you're finished, and this one skein project is also easy to carry with you. For me, this project was my "Länsimetro" project. After years and years of waiting, we finally have a western ("Länsi") extension to Helsinki metro line, and I can now take the metro from where I live in Helsinki all the way to where I work in Espoo. That means uninterrupted knitting time for the 18 minutes that my commute now takes. Provided that I don't leave at rush hour when the metro is full at my stop and I have to wait 5 minutes before I get a seat. Still, that leaves me 13 minutes of knitting time! On the way back there's no problem getting a seat as the rush hour traffic goes in the opposite direction (it's way more common for people to work in Helsinki and live in Espoo). Here's one happy Länsimetro customer and a pretty cowl to prove it!


It's RUMS day!