Birkenwasser knits

Kässäkerho Pom Pom changed the schedule of their annual SUPERweekend from autumn to spring and we enjoyed a lovely weekend in Kuopio on March 23-25. The weekend was filled with yarns, knitting, old and new friends, chatter and laughter - and learning new things.


The marketplace had some old favourites, as well as some new amazing yarns. Moar Yarn demonstrated hand spinning and had a lovely collection of hand spun yarn and spinning fibres on their stand.


ILO yarn made the trip all the way from Salo, and brought a lovely selection of these pastel beauties by Lystig Yarn, as well as gorgeous items from Primrose Yarn Co., Annie Yarns, etc.


KVG Woolworks had more of the awesome signature "Kuopio" colorway, only available in Kuopio, and this time also as fade kits. I had to get a sweater quantity of Kuopio, but with the fade kits I opted for this accidental colorway that I found especially pretty. I also picked up an accidental colorway of Kässäkerho Pom Pom Merino singles, as well as some Alpaca-Linen-Silk from Lanitium ex Machina, so it looks like I managed to get a ridiculously exaggerated haul back home with me. Nothing new here... (Except the yarns, they are new, something I didn't have in my stash, so I had to get them. Right? Right?!)


It was nice to see a couple of Liinu Shawls that I designed for the previous SUPERweekend. I also learned that more Liinu Shawls were in progress, and I can't wait to see them! This merino-silk one was on display and later worn by its talented knitter Maijusha (Ravelry name) at the evening party at Hygge Bro.


I had the opportunity to attend Liinu's sock blank workshop, finally! It was very exciting to have my first try at dyeing. My sock blank even turned out pretty much the way I wanted (see below) - until it was time to microwave it. For some reason, the dye bled afterwards, and I got some unplanned effect from that. I'm not sure if it was good or bad, as it actually dyed the whites from underneath (I only painted one side of the blank). So the end result is not what I planned (see the end result in the yarn haul pic above), but I'm definitely super anxious to get it on the needles and see how it is going to look like as socks!


Thank you, again, Liinu and the team for organising such a great event! And thank you all lovely Kuopio knitters for welcoming us visitors!

My contribution to Knit Picks Everyday Wraps book is a tribute to speckled dyes. Ilana Wrap gives you an opportunity to parade the wildest speckled colorways with contrasting intarsia framing the speckles on both sides. The wrap is knitted diagonally, which turns the simple change of color into a row of triangles that frame the wrap.





Everyday Wraps is a collection of sock yarn shawls. With the durability of sock yarn, you don't need to save these shawls for special occasions! You can get your copy of Everyday Wraps either as a physical book or as an e-book through Knit Picks website.


Photos courtesy of Knit Picks.

Joji Locatelli's Expressive is a pretty shawl that looks like it's going to be a lot of work - and turns out to be even more. The body of the shawl is worked in twisted ribbing, with yarn over increases and decreases creating its lovely shape. It's not difficult to knit, but you have to look at your knitting at all times to catch the back loop of every other stitch. I couldn't read while knitting this and, as my attentive knitting time is limited, it took 11 months to finish.




If all that twisted ribbing isn't enough, the whole thing is finished with a bobble bind off that takes forever to work. It does give the shawl its nice look, so I persisted even if working it made me consider skipping the bobbles quite a few times.


If you have seen the original version, you might notice that my contrast edge looks wider than in the pattern. There are two reasons for this. First, I only had one skein of the main color, so my original plan was to use a third color for the bind off (the instructions say that you need three skeins). I kept going until I ran out of MC, and started the edge from there. It was actually only a few rows from instructed change of color anyway. Second, I kept going with my contrast color, thinking that I would knit all of it and then switch to my third color. At some point, I started counting my rows, and realised that I was already way pass the last row! But hey, who wouldn't want to do a couple of extra centimetres of twisted ribbing on 500 + stitches... I didn't want to go through the extra trouble of ripping back to where I was supposed to bind off, and as there was still enough yarn left, I simply stopped at that point and finished the shawl. Which took like a month or even more. But it's done now, and I have a lovely new shawl!

It's RUMS day.

Cold weather front from Siberia has created chaos all around Europe. I understand that when you are not used to see snow, it can make life difficult. However, here in Finland, we have enjoyed perfect winter weather: sun has been shining for two weeks, there's snow on the ground and the temperatures have been between -5 and -15 degrees centigrade. People are skiing, skating, and walking on frozen sea! Of course, cold weather means that you need to dress appropriately.


My little Troll Princess lost the cowl that I made her last year, so I had to make a new one. I also wanted to knit the "deer with little antlers hat" by tiny owl knits, so I started with that. I was thinking that the left overs of the Evanlyn hat would be enough for a small hat, and they were. But not enough to make ears, so I had to change plans and knit a plain hat instead.


I had the same Eden Cottage Yarns Oakworth DK in pink, so we decided to add a pink pom pom and a pink cowl to go with the hat. I had looked at the previous KlompeLompe book, but didn't find anything I wanted to knit. From the second one, "Strikk till hele familien", I found this "Peikkonen" cowl with a lovely texture. Only modification I made was to change the ribbing to match that of the hat.






My model is super happy with her new hat and cowl. And we're off to the skating rink across the street!