Birkenwasser knits

January 21, 2017 is going to be a day of women's rights. Starting from Women's March planned for Washington, D.C, the movement has spread around the world with sister marches arranged in various cities. We are going to have one in Helsinki, so I thought that it's time for me to join the PussyHat Project. The idea is to have everyone marching wear a pink pussy hat. The original PussyHat Project pattern has more than 6000 projects on Ravelry, so it seems that this project has gotten needles moving. You don't need to use that pattern, though - any pussy hat pattern is ok.


To support the Pussy Hat Project, I have made an adult version of my Catwoman returns hat. You can find the instructions below. It's basically the same hat as the original children's hat, only the earflaps have been replaced by a 2 x 2 ribbing and it's a bit bigger to fit an adult head. I wanted to keep the crown shaping and short-row ears, so I didn't use the original PussyHat Project pattern by Kat Coyle.

Materials and tools

150 m (165 yards) Aran weight wool (here: Novita 7 veljestä)
Needles: 3,5 and 4 mm DPNs (US 4 and 6)
2 stitch markers, tapestry needle

Gauge

21 sts and 29 rows = 10 cm (4") in stockinette stitch.

Instructions

Cast on 112 sts on smaller needles. Join in the round and place marker at beginning of round. Work in (k2, p2) ribbing for 6 cm (2 1/2 inches).

Switch to larger needles and continue in stockinette stitch until total length is 15 cm (6").
Following round: (k12, k2tog), repeat to end of round. (104 sts)
K 10 rounds.
Following round: (k11, k2tog), repeat to end of round. (96 sts)
Set up round for ears: k48, place marker, k48.

Start ear shaping with short rows. If you are not familiar with short rows using wrap & turn (w&t), check out this Knitty tutorial.

K15 sts after marker, w&t.
P30, w&t.
K to 10 sts after marker, w&t.
P20, w&t.
K to 7 sts after marker, w&t.
P14, w&t.
K to second marker, catching wraps as you come to them.
Repeat ear shaping for the other ear.
K to first marker, catching wraps as you come to them.
K one round, catching remaining wraps as you come to them.

Bind off sts, using three needle bind off: place first and fourth needle close to each other, k2tog (one from each needle), k2tog, lift previous st over this one. Continue to last st.

Weave in the ends. Block the hat and get ready to march for women's rights!

With the refugee crisis going on in Europe, many people start uttering extreme comments about immigrants, or even dressing up in bed sheets waving our precious Finnish flag in a context where I would prefer not to see it. So why not show the flag in a more positive context?


Refugee Hospitality Club organizes a sock knitting project to give knitters a way to help refugees. Obviously, knitting a pair of socks is not going to make a difference in the refugee crisis that we are having, but it is not meant to do that. What it is meant to do is to welcome one person to our country, showing that I personally knitted this pair of socks for you so your feet wouldn't be cold in our cold country. I liked the idea, so here's the result.


Again, a charity project is also an opportunity to learn a new technique. I don't really like to knit socks, so I've never tried to knit them toe-up. For a first try, the end result is not too bad, but I'm not perfectly happy with them either. For me, the heel doesn't look that good, so I might have to try another heel for the next pair. Another bonus with this project was to use up this yarn; leftovers from a weird project many years ago.


As I'm not really a sock knitter, I thought that I was immune to the Second Sock Syndrome. I mean, if you're knitting socks, then you just simply knit two of them and get done with it, right? Well, as I was digging through my sock yarn stash I came across evidence proving that it happens to the best of us:

For the pink fair isle pair it's a classic case of running out of yarn. That pair is getting frogged. Then for the others, I have no idea. The baby sock looks nice, so I think I'll just knit another one of those and pack the pair for the refugees. Then there's the rainbow sock, which actually looks nice, so I must have ran out yarn with that one as well (or maybe broke up with the intended recipient? I mean, it's been a decade since I was knitting that sock...). Now digging in my stash I found some black sock yarn, so I might just finish that pair for myself. And then there's the weird white sock. I have no idea. And no intention on doing anything but frog the horrible item.

It's Helsinki Pride week and artists Ilar Gunilla Persson and Heidi Lunabba brought their Washing line art project* to Helsinki. The minute that I saw the announcements, I knew this was call for some knitted street art! So here is my yarn bombing contribution:



The artists say that the act of selecting textiles from the cabinet can be seen as a symbolic act that refers to the concept of "coming out of the closet", although in this case they would rather see it as a way of showing compassion. Well, I'm selecting yarns from my yarn stash cabinet, bringing them out of the closet!




I also have a secret wish to decorate the construction site surroundings in my neighborhood, so instead of using our own balcony for the washing line, I took it out to a pedestrian and cyclist detour around some major construction work taking place at the moment. Hopefully it will cheer up my neighbors who have to walk the extra bit to get around the construction site!




This was a fun little project to knit, and it also gave me the opportunity to compare german short rows with wrap & turn, and to try out different ways to cast on. It was also fun to knit in two dimensions for a change. And the best part: no weaving in the ends, as the ends were used to tie the items on the "washing line"! 




* Here's how the artists describe their project:

"Washing Line is a community art project where everyone who want to show their support for equal value are invited to hang out washing in the colors of the rainbow, photograph it and share images using the tag #tvattlina.

Washing Line is part of the Helsinki Pride Festival 22nd -28th of June 2015. The artists Ilar Gunilla Persson and Heidi Lunabba started the project during Jeppis Pride Festival 25th – 26th of July inviting Pietasaari and vicinity to attend."