Birkenwasser knits

This month I have finished so many projects, that it made me feel uncomfortable already: what if I suddenly don't have the right project to knit when I need it? It's always good to be on the safe side and work on 10+ projects at any given time. So I've started some new things:


I had an idea about a shawl design long time ago already, but didn't like the way it turned out with the yarn that I used for the first version. Now that I found these lovely Malabrigo sock colors from Stockholm, I thought I'd give the idea another try. I can already say that it looks a lot better than my first try! The book is "Lasteni farina" (Story of my children) by Essi Kummu. It's a book about the early years of her prematurely born twins and how she was traumatized by everything that happened. Actually, the book is more about her trauma than about her children.


Easter is coming, so it's time to make some Easter decorations. I like the occasional crochet project, and making vegetables was so much fun that I wanted to continue with amigurumi and decided to make some Easter eggs this time. Getting rid of some old scrap yarn while at it! The book is "Viimeinen sana" (Last word) by Pärttyli Rinne, story of a school shooting. Pretty heavy stuff here to go with the pastel colored eggs, huh?


After knitting the Brassy bling bling hat I thought that I would frog the whole pullover I had made of the bling bling yarn earlier. It would be easier to use the yarn for other projects if it was unraveled and ready for use, right? Well, it's such a pain to unravel that yarn, that I gave up after half an hour or so. I was listening to a book while doing it, "Snabba cash" (Easy money) by Jens Lapidus. It's a crime story of Stockholm underground: drug dealers, trafficking in women, Yugoslav mafia. Definitely not my type of reading, but I do like to read these best sellers every now and then to know what people are talking about. Of course, the fact that it was a gift from an e-book service provider played a role in the choice of the book. I can see why it's been so popular, and I have to say that I have learned a lot of organized crime and money laundering by listening to it. Lapidus is a criminal defense lawyer, so I guess there's some truth to what his writing.


I'm still working on this dress for Troll princess. It hasn't been number one on my knitting queue, and I'm afraid the winter is going to be over before I finish it. I have to make it big enough so it will fit her next winter! In the kids' classics series we have started with "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. The kids are loving it: yesterday Troll princess asked for a second chapter of Oz even if there was a choice of Frozen princess stories on the table! (They both get to choose one book/chapter/story every night.)

What about last month's projects? Well, I finished the tunic I was working on, and didn't even have to unravel anymore. I read the short stories by Katja Kettu, and started listening to the other book. We loved Ruby's adventures in coding and I'm hoping that my friend liked the cardi that I knit for his baby boy. I read the book about Ukraine, but I'm not sure if I really understand more about the situation there, except that it's a mess. The yarn for a second tunic is still waiting for its turn, even if the tunic turned out great. I have to knit something else for a change.

Joining Ginny's Yarn along.

Time for the monthly round up: what's on the needles and what am I reading while knitting?
 

"The Children Act" is a novel by Ian McEwan. Does a child have a right to refuse treatment for religious reasons? If parents want to let their child die, because their religion prohibits blood transfusions, can a judge rule over their decision? Really interesting book. And the knitting, well, that's interesting too. Combining two hot topics here: tweed and broken seed stitch. Looks great, doesn't it? Yarn is Isager tweed.


For me, traveling is an opportunity to learn. I don't know that much about Cuba, so I wanted to prepare for the trip by reading more than just the travel guide. "La vie cachee de Fidel Castro" (The secret life of Fidel Castro) by Juan Reinaldo Sanchez gives an introduction to Castro's life and Cuba of his times. Sanchez was Castro's bodyguard who dedicated his life to protect his hero - only to get disappointed and flee out of country in his old age. The knitting is going to be Starling pullover by Helga Isager, using Isager Spinni and Isager Alpaca 1.


One of the long term visitors on my night stand is "Philosophers Behaving Badly" by Nigel Rodgers and Mel Thompson. It's an introduction to the crazy lives of great philosophers: Rousseau, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Russel, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Sartre and Foucault, with Simone de Beauvoir as an added bonus. I don't remember how far I got the last time I picked up the book, but as I'm taking a course in philosophy starting today (by the Finnish philosophy super star Esa Saarinen) I thought that I might as well read the book now. The knitting is in Quince & co Sparrow, a linen top that I already showed in my previous Knitting and reading post. There's going to be linen stitch and stockinette stitch, and now you've seen both. Hoping to finish by the time we fly to Cuba!


More summer knitting, this one in silky form: Jaipur Silk Fino top, also hoping to wear it in Cuba. And the book might also come with me to Cuba. It's "The Paying Guests" by Sarah Waters, and it just might be long enough for the long haul flights with its 600 pages.


In the children's classics series we finished "Kiljuset" and started with "Pippi Långstrump" by Astrid Lindgren. First, Troll Princess and Young Warrior announced that there's no point in reading the book, because they have seen the movie and know what is going to happen. Ten minutes later they were loving it. Knitting should turn into a dress for Troll Princess. Yarn is Tuulen Tytär by Knitlob's lair.

Since last month's post I have finished both "The Death of Bunny Munro" and the Repeating Horizons pullover, finished "Kiljuset" and the Skerry cardigan, and finished "Swallows of Kabul" (turns out it wasn't written by a woman, but interesting to learn more about Afghanistan anyway). The brioche stitch is temporarily on hold, while I'm working on the summer knits for my holiday. I finished "Katoamisten kirja", but I'm still working on the linen stitch. I finished the yellow vest just in time for Christmas, but Knausgård is still waiting. The amigurumi fruits also made it to a Christmas wrapping and we have been quite busy with Lonely Planet Cuba making plans and reservations!

Playing yarn along with Ginny.

Finnish handicrafts fair is a huge event. With more than 44 000 visitors and 650 exhibitors it's the number one event for handicrafters in Finland - and the largest of its kind in Europe. It was almost shocking to arrive at Tampere exhibition hall and see the filled parking lots and all the buses lined up. People gather from all over Finland to Tampere for this one weekend of handicrafts extravaganza.


To visit every exhibitor or even to walk by every booth would take more than one afternoon. That's why our sisters-team had a list of exhibitors that we wanted to visit and only took a look at the interesting stuff on the way. Even with this strategy we ended up spending the whole afternoon at the fair. Afternoon well spent, I would say. There were such pretty decorations and talented designers, crafters, jewelry makers - and yarn shops. One of the prettiest booths was Vihreä vyyhti with lovely color coded yarn selections on the wall.


I was a bit afraid that we would see empty tables on Sunday afternoon after the masses had flooded over the exhibition Friday and Saturday, but happily that was not the case. The only place that looked like shoppers had raided it was Novita's charity shawl wall and I was happy not to find all my four shawls hanging there. I hope the last one was sold during the afternoon!

The first shopping spot on my list was Tukuwool. 100% Finnish wool was something that I had wanted to try for some time already, and the pattern design is waiting for yarn on paper. Now I have the yarn for it as well!


We came by another 100% Finnish wool supplier, Riikka-Piikka, with lovely hand dyed colorways, and my sister knew what she wanted to knit with that. Akvarelli-Elli is going to become a vest and I'll stay tuned to hear more - and see more - of her experiences with the yarn. By the message I got late Sunday night, the yarn is already on the needles, so I won't have to wait for long.


It doesn't make any sense to travel 360 km to Tampere and back to buy yarn from a LYS that's located in downtown Helsinki, but it seems that I never get around to visit Snurre in Helsinki, so that was our next stop. From all the lovely yarns they had I chose a trio of Knitlob's lair's Tuulen tytär that will become a dress for Troll princess. I also found a beautiful colorway of Madelinetosh tosh merino light for a shawl design that's been taking form lately. And I got a lovely bag to carry my shoppings in! (You'll have to check my Instagram account to see the bag).


There's no visit to Tampere without visiting Kerä. Luckily they were also at the fair so I didn't have to run to their shop (which would have been closed on a Sunday anyway). This spring I bought some perfect silk yarn from Kerä, but unfortunately knit a pullover that turned out too big for me after blocking. Luckily, the other member of our sisters-team has the boobs for the pullover and the part of the fit that I was a bit disappointed with disappeared with a right-size model - it fits her perfectly! No need to worry about Christmas presents there, as she proposed that I would give the pullover to her for Christmas. Now the problem was that I want one for myself, but Kerä is out of stock with the silk yarn that I originally chose. Naturally, there were several other options at their exhibition stand, so all I had to do was to pick the yarn with the best colorways.  After seeing the lovely Rose and El Greco colorways of Madelinetosh DK I knew that they were exactly what I wanted. Especially, as it was an unusual choice of colors for me. Or so I thought - until I saw the names of the colorways and realized that they were the exact same colors I chose for my Exploration station...


With bags full of yarn we headed to the last must-visit booth: Titityy. This one was a bit more difficult. Not that they don't have all the lovely yarn in the world, but my shopping list was done and even if it might sometimes seem different, I do like to shop for yarn only if I know what I'm going to knit of it. It took some lingering and strolling around before we noticed a special fair price for BC Garn Colori and also spotted some lovely colors. And the next day I had a design on paper as well, so I know what these babies are going to become.


What a nice experience. Thank you for the invitation, Kädentaitomessut!