Birkenwasser knits

We had homework before the class, so everyone brought three swatches that were to be cut open. I enjoyed doing the homework, because I can't even remember the last time I did stranded knitting (except for the Welcome to Finland socks more than a year ago, but a little Finnish flag hardly counts as stranded work).


The first technique we learned was the crochet method. That was pretty straight forward, and we got to make the first cut! Nothing unraveled, and it looks pretty neat.


The second method we learned was sewing. You can see the purple yarn on the left side that was used to secure the stitches. What is also visible is that the result is not very pretty. You would need to add a ribbon to cover the ends, or make a steak sandwich cover, such as the one on the right side. I like the way the sandwich looks like, but I wouldn't use it for a button band - maybe a blanket or an open cardigan.


The third method we tried was the most laborious: knotting. It means that you unravel the steek stitches in pairs, cut them in half, knot the two strands together, and weave in the ends. That is some weaving in! You can see from the picture above that I almost finished my tiny swatch in class, but for some reason didn't feel like finishing it after class. Many people in class swore that this would be their first and last try of the knotting method! This would be a good method for slippery yarn, but, in my opinion, it would be even better to choose a non-superwash wool to work with in the first phase.

We also learned to pick up stitches from the steek, first for a simple button band and then a sandwich version. All ready to move to garments now!


There are several good tutorials about steeking online, both photo tutorials (Kate Davies' is a great example) and YouTube videos, so it would be possible to learn the techniques on your own. However, it is so much more fun to learn with other knitters and make new friends while doing it. Thank you, Renee, for a great class, and thank you all my class mates for making it such a nice experience!

Now I feel all inspired for some stranded work with steeks - maybe the Cherry Bloom by Lene Tosti or Bruntsfield by Ysolda Teague. Or do you have any other suggestions?

I have recently used bubblewrap stitches in several designs: Pastilles Hat, Ipana Cardigan and Mesmeria Dress. It's a nice way to add what looks like stranded knitting with a bit of texture - and only working with one color at a time. Knotions magazine published a tutorial for bubble stitches and it's really worth it to have a look if you are not familiar with the technique. The stitch is also known as Drop, Ladder, Knit (DLK). I was happy to read that my pattern was in the top 5 for the January issue of Knotions - maybe it was the bubble stitch!

Bubble stitch tutorial in Knotions

Knitting for babies is always a pleasure: whatever you knit, it won't take much time and you get a cute result. So when I heard that we'd be visiting a friend who had a baby last summer, I wanted to knit something for her. I included a baby size for the Mesmeria pattern that I published in November, so I decided to make a mini version of the dress. One of my test knitters used a gradient yarn for her dress, and I wanted to see how that would look like. I had just enough pink-purple Nordlys left from my U-turn sock project that all I needed was a main color for the dress.



I like the way the dress looks totally different from the first one I knitted in red and brown. And I love the little pink butterfly buttons that I found for this dress!

It's CreaDienstag.

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.

The shawl contest supporting Women's line is on until the end of this week, so there was time to knit one more shawl. Digging into my stash revealed a bag full of Novita Florica, so I started experimenting with a triangular shape this time. To take advantage of the project as a learning opportunity, I added some popcorn stitches and tried a looser bind off. I had tried this looser bind off (*slip 2 sts back to left needle, K2tog, K1*, repeat) once before, but I must have skipped the K1 as it turned out super tight and I decided to forget it. The other day I ran into Liina and her new Rosewater shawl. She liked the looser bind off, so I gave it another try and it worked out perfectly.



To continue with my just-in-time knitting style I finished with this shawl last night, blocked it and it's ready for delivery today. While I was in the finishing mode I also finished a brioche cowl that I found earlier from my stash, so that's going in with the shawls, and then there's a scarf also. You'll see more of that later.


But now I'll have to hop on my bike and be my own bike courier to get the shawl to Novita as it's the last day of the competition!

Novita yarns is hosting a charity knitting contest to support Women's line, a service that helps women suffering from abuse, threats or fear. As a former volunteer for Women's line, I knew that this was a contest I have to participate in. The rules are simple: design and knit a scarf/shawl/cowl with Novita yarns. All submitted items will be sold at a crafts fair and the revenues donated to Women's line.




Definitely a new technique for me was the i-cord finishing of the sides. I was afraid that it would take forever, but it wasn't too slow after all. Even if I had to do a couple of retakes as I was too hasty and ended up making it too tight.

All in all this project was a success for me: learning a couple of new techniques, getting to knit a shawl, doing a bit of stash busting (only a bit of orange and brown left!). Now all I can do is hope that someone likes the shawl enough to pay for it!

I was actually so happy with this project, that I have another (two...) on the needles. And 8 more days to knit!

I had seen a couple of finished Lemon projects earlier and thought that the pattern looked interesting. Then the lovely yarn shop Kerä announced that they were hosting a KAL for this pattern, so I thought I'd give it a try. And I'm glad that I did, as the result is absolutely beautiful!






The front panel meant learning to do vikkel braid. Luckily Jonna from Kerä provided a good instruction video, as my first try from reading the instructions failed. It's not difficult to do, but it's time consuming. Switching between vikkel braid and stockinette stitch meant that I would read the newspaper for 20 minutes while doing stockinette, and then take a 10 minute break and make the vikkel braid. A bit annoying. This knit is not for reading! At least not the panel part.


After finishing the front and back panels you make little folds on the sides and knit the sleeves and sides sideways. I made a slight mistake with the folds and only noticed it when I was almost done with the whole top, so I decided to leave it as it is. Unfortunately, this means that the folds that really took a lot of time and energy are not as visible as they should be. Sigh. There's a lot of picking up stitches, which is ok when you do it for the first time, but when you pick the same stitches for the second time, that's when it gets difficult.


My favorite part is the neckline finishing with triple vikkel braid. I think I'm going to be borrowing that for one of my own designs!



Unfortunately, I noticed that my first worry of this design not working for my body type was correct. I didn't buy any extra yarn, so I couldn't modify the pattern, but ended up knitting something that I can't wear. And after trying to unravel my vikkel braid swatch, I noticed that you can't unravel this either. This might be due to the yarn, which has a pretty rough texture. I think I like the yarn, but I'm not sure if I would knit another summer tee with it.

This was a nice learning experience, though: doing vikkel braids, panel construction, three needle bind off, trying a new yarn, so I'm glad that I participated. I also enjoyed very much seeing everyone else's progress on Instagram. I should have just payed more attention to their pics and see when they differed from what I was doing...

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."

During my short online presence in the knitting world I have already discovered quite a few things that I've never tried, but that seem to be pretty popular. As a note to self - try these:

1. Top down knitting. You know what, I honestly had never heard of knitting pullovers top down, and I'm still not quite sure why that would be better than knitting bottom up. Therefore, I'd better give it a try!

2. Along the same lines: socks knitted toe up. Actually, I don't think the flat toe looks so nice, but as this is something that I also haven't tried, I'm gonna do it just to see how it goes.

3. Shawls. This one I share with Of course she knits who is also new in the online knitting world. What's with the shawls? I never see anyone wear shawls, so do you just knit them for the fun of knitting? I'm definitely going to knit a couple of them. Maybe Quicksilver and then something lace. I keep seeing pictures of Quicksilver, and can't figure out how it was knitted. It just might have to be the first pattern that I buy.

4. Three needle bindoff. Picot edge. I was looking for a dictionary of English knitting vocabulary and found these Learn-to-knit instructions. It seems that there are some really basic(?) things that I've never tried. Also the ways of sewing things together look different from the way I was taught to do it. Then there are row (or whatever) markers. Those I'm not going to try before someone explains to me why they would be useful. Aren't they just extra work, moving them around?

5. Linen. The first four items on my list could be explained by the little engineer in me who wants to try new techniques and see how things are compiled in three dimensions, but this one can't be explained. I really want to knit something linen.