Birkenwasser knits

Lehtokerttu top is a linen summer top with dropped stitches creating lace like horizontal lines. The top is knitted sideways in one piece. It has a loose, boxy shape.


Quince & co Sparrow organic linen yarn has a lovely glow. The top turned out just the way I wanted: the summer top that makes me wish that summer was already here!


Just in time for the #tttKAL and with a couple of days left for the #linenKAL2015 - I managed to finish my first KALs on time! The pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry and it is available in English and in Finnish.

First, there was Sparrow. Quince & co organic linen, shiny and lovely and turning into a design in my mind. After the Lehtokerttu design was on paper, it was time to get the yarns from Kerä, the LYS where I spotted the yarn. And then just cast on!



I had read about KALs, but never participated. Then I noticed that Quince & co was hosting a linen KAL - as I was knitting my Sparrow top! The KAL had started in April already, and the deadline was approaching on June 8th, but hey, deadlines are great, they give purpose to life, right?


So there I am, knitting along, when I notice another KAL: Tops, tanks and tees KAL by Very Shannon. Now can you participate in two KALs with the same knit? Maybe they'll disqualify me from both, but I thought that I'll go ahead and give it a try. And the best thing with this second KAL for my Lehtokerttu top: the deadline moved to June 3rd, so those needles better be moving!

Of course, this is the point when you get the front done, and notice that it's too small in every direction. So to make making the deadline a bit more challenging, I frogged the whole thing and started from the beginning. There's still almost a week to go, so no panic...



Then I read that Kerä is hosting a Lemon-KAL. This KAL has a specific pattern, Helga Isager's Lemon, which happens to be pretty awesome in that a) it's pretty and b) has some new things I haven't tried before (sideways stitches and front panel construction). The good thing is that the deadline is in July, so there's plenty of time for knitting here. So I'm going to take this as a learning experience and follow someone else's pattern for a change. Unless I need to modify it at some point...