Birkenwasser knits

My Steller Tunic pattern is published on Ravelry!  This tunic is knitted seamlessly top-down. There is garter stitch edging on neckline, hem and cuffs. The tunic has a flattering a-line shape with set-in sleeves, designed to fit tight around the shoulders and loosening along the way towards the hem. A color block in the hem gives room for a bit of color play. Choose a size closest to your bust circumference. This light tunic worked in a wool-linen-silk yarn is perfect for warm days and nice to wear when the weather starts getting colder.



If you think that autumn is not optimal to knit a short-sleeve top, you can do as I did for the prototype version of this pattern: knit half length sleeves. Or continue until 3/4 or full length! If you knit the hem first, you can see how much yarn you have left and knit your sleeves accordingly.



Linking up to RUMS.

Julia Mueller has the most spectacular glove designs I have ever seen. I started with Knotty gloves last spring, and as the third round in Lankakauppa Kerä's Head-to-toe-challenge was for wrist warmers (mitts, gloves etc) I knew that I wanted to pick another one from Julia's collection. With some leftover beads from Tour-de-Sock last summer, I decided to see how subtle the effect of red beads on red yarn would be. Arkema pattern seemed to have enough going on to make the project interesting. Pattern printed, yarn wound, tools ready, and onto an intercontinental flight!


I planned on knitting these gloves on my holiday in Indonesia, even if I was still working on Head-to-toe-challenge round 2 scarf when leaving home. I did get started with the gloves in Bali, but I didn't even finish the scarf during the holiday (which was nice, as it means that the holiday really was a holiday, also from knitting). After the holiday I put the gloves on my knitting table by the TV. This pattern does require attention, so you can't knit while reading, and you can't really carry it around with all the beads and stuff. So I would work on the gloves during the evening news - for the following 2 months!! If I ever pick up a project like this again, I really need to start watching more TV...




The gloves are lovely, and they would be worth every minute spent on them, had I paid more attention to my gauge. Normally I always swatch to find out my gauge and adjust needles if necessary, but this time I figured that since I only have 2,5 mm DPNs there's no point in swatching. And then I went for the largest size, because, well, I have big hands. Unfortunately, my hands are not big enough to accommodate the loose gauge, so the gloves don't really fit like a glove.


Another thing that you should always do is to read through the whole pattern. This one starts with the cabled cuff knitted sideways, then you pick up stitches on the side for the hand, and then on the other side to continue with the cuff in the opposite direction. At some point I was looking at the picture and thinking that it looks like an i-cord on the edges of the cabled cuff, but there were no instructions to do an i-cord edging in the first part. Well, after you thought that the gloves were finally finished, there's still the part where you pick up stitches for the add-on i-cords...


Today is RUMS day.

Combining two-colour brioche with two-colour garter stitch, finishing with one-colour brioche and garter stitch. Throw in some short rows and i-cords, and it's a poncho. Or a cape. Or a cardigan. Or whatever, but it looks good and feels nice. This P-Rex by Susanne Sommer was one of my Indie Design Gift-A-Long projects from last November-December, but I didn't manage to finish it then. After the deadline had passed, there was no hurry to finish - not until the Head-to-Toe-Challenge by Lankakauppa Kerä. Round 4 in the challenge was for sweaters, and as finishing a WIP was allowed, this gave me the push needed to wrap up this project.



The pattern calls for sport weight yarn, but as the options at my LYS were much better in fingering weight I decided to go with Hedgehog Fibres Sock. The fit of this garment is not really an issue, so I simply followed the instructions for the largest size and got a nice medium-large result. Although, I have to admit that before blocking I was slightly worried that it would be too small, but I'm happy with the size after blocking.


It's RUMS day again.

Nancy Marchant is the queen of brioche, and I've been wanting to knit something designed by her for quite some time already. So when Lankakauppa Kerä announced the beginning of their year long From Head to Toe challenge and the second item to knit was a scarf, I knew that it was time to pick one of Nancy's designs. I chose Bart & Francis for the interesting brioche pattern. The instructions are great, and there are both written and charted instructions. The pattern has enough going on to keep you interested while knitting, and after a couple of repeats you don't need the instructions anymore as you can always look at the previous repeats. My only problem with the instructions was that there seemed to be a mix up of right and left slanting decreases, but looking at the pictures soon fixed the problem.




This was a nice pattern for learning a couple of new techniques: two-colour Italian cast-on and Italian bind-off. The cast-on technique is easy and creates a nice beginning for two-colour brioche patterns. The bind-off wasn't so easy and I managed to get it wrong in the beginning. It's also known as the kitchener bind-off, and it's done with a tapestry needle. Unlike grafting a seam, such as the toe of a sock, there's only one end to finish, and for me that made it more difficult to see which way the needle should go into the stitches. You can see how the beginning looks crooked and then the stitches start to look good. Of course, I should have started over when I noticed that it was going wrong, but I was lazy and decided that no-one is ever going to take such a close look at my scarf anyway.


I added one pattern repeat to make the scarf a little bit wider, and then simply went on for as long as there was yarn left. This actually produced about the same length as the instructions said. I took the scarf project with me for our winter holiday in Indonesia, but I didn't get much knitting done and I missed the deadline. Having eventually finished, I believe I'm still in for the 9 items KAL. Although, I did also miss the wrist warmers stage... Putting effort on the sweater stage now, while also trying to finish my gloves for stage three.

It's RUMS day.

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!