Birkenwasser knits

Taito magazine issue 3/2018 includes my Kaiku wrap pattern, among all the other lovely crafts ideas, instructions and articles. Kaiku wrap is an easy introduction to lace, with simple eyelet rows and eyelet mesh creating a striking end result. This wrap is easy to knit, but it will keep you interested with its unusual construction. It’s that relaxing project you want to pick up after a long day at work, comforting you on the couch with its simple, repetitive knitting. Kaiku wrap has a rectangular shape. It is worked from both ends towards the center. Once both sides have reached the center they are joined by knitting the remaining triangles outward from the center.




This project is a collaboration with Lanitium ex Machina. When Sonja from Taito asked if I could design a shawl for Taito using a Finnish indie dyer's yarns, I already had this design in mind, and I knew that Lanitium ex Machina's Alpaca Silk Linen (50%/25%/25%) would be a perfect base for it. Lanitium's Nea agreed to participate in this project, and she dyed this special colorway just for Kaiku.

Is there a limit to how much you can knit for yourself? Well, about two years ago I thought that it might be time to knit something for someone else. If that someone else is not a knitter or a designer, it is easier to pick a pattern from a magazine than to design something yourself. In this case, it was even difficult to get Business woman to understand that you can change the color from the original version, let alone modify the pattern. We did manage to find something that she kind of liked, though, and then found an interesting colour from the yarn store. The pattern is "Naisen pitsineulepusero" from Novita Winter 2012 collection. The original pattern has 3/4 sleeves and no trimmings on the edges, but I knit the sleeves in full length and added garter stich trimmings to sleeves and hem.



The back is knit stich all the way, so it was quickly finished while reading. At the time I was working from home in St Petersburg, so any Skype meetings with my colleagues would provide the opportunity to work on the lace parts. Unfortunately, we moved back to Finland before the poor pullover was finished, and it got buried in some box for a year or so. I did find it again at some point and the sleeves were transferred to my knitting basket. I would knit them between other projects, and then put away again. When I started this blog, I did an inventory of all my projects and noticed that I had actually knitted all pieces of this pullover and it was only waiting for finishing.



Last weekend I finally got around to do some blocking and then it was just about sewing the pieces together, knitting the collar and weaving in ends. Here you are, Business woman! A nice woollen pullover for the summer, eh...