Birkenwasser knits

I enjoyed making my first Knitting and reading post so much, that I'm going to make it a series. I don't want to post every week, as Ginny's yarn along would suggest, but a monthly series would provide the opportunity to look back and see what I was working on the month before and what new projects I have started.


For the next picture I wanted to pick a book that I'm reading for Young warrior, as the knitting is also for him. I'm working with Isager Aran tweed and it's a cardigan, also my second version of a new design, soon to be published. Jalmari Finne's Kiljuset is a Finnish children's classic, a collection of books that were first published in 1914-1925. It's funny to read such an old book, but at times you wonder if books like this could be written to children anymore. Like when the family goes to war. I'm surprised that my little ones (4 and 6 years old) are so happy listening to a book that doesn't even have pictures on all pages. We're on page 420 already, so it won't take long to finish. And the knitwear is supposed to be a Christmas present.



Iida Rauma's new book "Seksistä ja matematiikasta" was on the best books of 2015 list by Helsingin sanomat. While I'm on the library waiting list, I thought that I'd start with her debut novel "Katoamisten kirja" from 2011. So far so good. Every now and then I try to get a couple of rows of linen stitch worked in Quince & co Sparrow. What is stopping me is that I'm working in three colors and the yarns are a big mess. I should sort it out properly, but instead I just pull enough out for the next row.


This poor vest in Novita Wool has been on my project inventory already in April, but it was started long before that time. But as Christmas is coming I decided that it's time to get this one wrapped for Business woman. With Knausgård's "Min Kamp" I'm on the third book.


Not exactly a novel, nor knitting in this picture, but to continue with Christmas gifts, the last picture shows two of them. The crochet fruit and vegetables are for my Troll princess and I'll be sharing a whole bunch of them with you soon. Just adding a beet root and some salad before that. And what comes to Cuba, well, let's put it this way: I know what I'm getting for Christmas!

Since last month's post I have finished Laura Lehtola's Pelkääjän paikalla, but the yellow cardigan is on hold. I finished the Helmipöllö beanie and scarf, but Zadie Smith is still waiting for the right mood. Robin pullover is almost done, Juha Itkonen not so. I have added a couple of rows on my blanket and read Pirkko Saisio's Signaali. Sparrow cardigan is finished, but both Putin books still waiting. And Pine cardigan is still waiting for needles from another project.

Keeping calm and crafting on, also taking part in KCCO.

Pikkutylli ("Little Ringed Plover") cardigan is designed for a newborn. Knitted from top down in one piece, it has no seams or buttons that would press against delicate skin. The cardigan is tied with thin crocheted cords that will not make a big lump in a baby's armpit. This is a fast knit, and the construction will keep your interest in it for the short while that it takes to knit this.


If you are not familiar with adding crocheted strands on a knitted item, I have made an instruction video for that part. The video shows how you can avoid weaving in the ends while crocheting the strands.


The background for this design is in my experience with babies. All babies like to be held on someone's shoulder, facing backwards. Another favorite position is to be on someone's arm, facing away from the person holding the baby (place the baby on your arm, facing down, your arm going between the baby's head and shoulder, and grab the top leg pulling it in a "frog" position and you are sure to have a happy baby - and a free hand to do chores while holding the baby). If you're not holding the baby, they are usually happiest lying on their stomach. What is common to all these positions is that there should be no buttons in the front of the garment the baby is wearing, and this is where the idea for this design comes from.

This project had a long lead time. A friend of mine gave birth to twin girls in May, and I made a plan to visit them in July. I even bought the yarns in May already. But then I wasn't sure what I wanted to knit for the baby girls. Slowly the design started evolving in my head, and I started by making the first swatch in June. This project involved plenty of prototyping, however, and all of a sudden I noticed that I have two days left and this is what the project looks like:


Well, nothing works like a little time pressure and I was able to finish the fourth prototype the day before leaving. This time I finally had the fit I had envisioned, so then it was just about writing notes and knitting the second cardigan for the rest of that day. I had to write the pattern as well before leaving, as I would be giving the samples to the little babies during the trip!

The yarn I chose was Novita puuvilla-bambu, a 50-50 cotton - bamboo mix. The yarn is soft and makes a lovely knit for a baby. However, you need to pay attention while knitting, as the plies come apart easily and you will notice having knitted only half of a stitch.

As winter is coming, I wanted to try the pattern with a wool yarn as well. It also seems, that there's a sudden baby boom around me, so there are plenty of recipients for these small newborn knits. This winter version was made with Drops Merino Extra Fine. This one, as well, was given to a tiny newborn before I got a chance to take a picture of the finished item.

Sateenkaaria ja serpentiiniä blog (in Finnish) is calling for small knitted items to a charity sale for Canelipuu ry. This non-profit organization is building a school in India, and they are raising funds for running the school. Sounds like a good cause, and as I recently released a new pattern, Helmipöllö, I wanted to use that. I found some yarn from my stash that's thinner than the original pattern calls for, so I decided to see if thinner yarn and smaller needles would make a children's version of the beanie and scarf.


The beanie turned out too small on my first try when strictly following the adult's size pattern, but adding one repeat of the cables was enough to make it fit. For the scarf I simply used all the yarn that I had left, and it's just enough to wrap twice around a little neck (134 cm).

I think the set looks good, and the feedback from the model was encouraging: "I like this big pom pom. Can I wear these after the photo shoot until daycare?". Actually, I'm so happy with the result that I'm offering the pattern for free for anyone who wants to use it for a charity project. If you'd like to get a copy of the pattern, click on the Facebook link at the bottom of the page, hit the Like button and leave a note with your Ravelry id (or e-mail address) and a link to the charity project that you want to use the pattern for. I'll send you the pattern through my Ravelry store.

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!

"Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading" starts the Yarn along post in Ginny's Small things blog. Well, you got me with that sentence, because what could be better than knitting and reading? Both at the same time, if possible, please.


I was running around the house to find my currents WIPs - knitting and reading - and realized that I have a pretty similar approach to both. You need to have the right book for the moment and the right knit for the occasion. It turns out that I can't really play the yarn along according to rules, as I have no idea how to choose *one* book and knitting for posting one pick. So I'm just going to show what I'm working on in no particular order. Except for the first one, as it's a novel by the very talented Laura Lehtola, nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for a debut novel. I have only read half of it so far, but I can recommend it already! The knitting is going to be a cardigan for Business woman.


One of the reasons for having so many half-read books on my night stand is my fear of not having enough to read. That's why I always pick up a new book if I have to travel somewhere. Imagine the horror of being on a long haul flight and finishing your book before reaching your destination. What would you do for the rest of the flight then?! I started "NW" by Zadie Smith on my trip to Australia last year. It's not quite "On beauty", and it's in English, so I haven't gotten around to finish it. Now I know that some people prefer to read in the original language that the book was written in. For me, English is the language I use at work, so I want to relax and enjoy my novels translated into Finnish. The knitting is an experiment with my new Helmipöllö pattern: I wanted to see if using a thinner yarn and smaller needles would make a children's size for a charity project.


"Kohti" by Juha Itkonen is a victim of travel reading as well. I found the book on my parents' yacht and took it home with me to finish, but never did. The pullover-to-be is Robin by Helga Isager, knit with Isager Spinni.


"Signaali" by Pirkko Saisio is a book that was read at a knitting event at a library. I love these knitting evenings when you can relax and knit and someone reads short stories - or in this case the first chapter of a novel. I think that I might need someone to read the rest of the chapters to me, as the book has been waiting on my nightstand since April... The blanket is also a long-term project that stays on hold and then I knit a row or two if there's nothing else to knit. Usually there is.


While running around the house trying to locate my books I noticed that I can't find Katherine Pancol's "Muchachas" part two, which is not nice as it's not my book. I have signed up for a reading event about the trilogy and obviously there's no point in going if I haven't read the book. Good thing is that I haven't lost any knitting projects. Actually, I met a friend for lunch today, and she returned this cardigan project that I left at her house a couple of weeks ago. No hurry with that one, as the linen Sparrow is more of a summer knit anyway. The book by Kalle Kniivilä is called "Putin's people", it's about the silent majority in Russia: the people who support Putin. Why do they not want democracy? Really interesting read.


Another Putin book, this one Masha Gessen's "The Man Without a Face - The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin". Isager Spinni and Isager Alpaca1 are combined to make a Pine cardigan by Helga Isager.

Actually, the number of my WIPs is currently 11 and the book pile on my nightstand much higher than this, but as I enjoy knitting and reading so much more than taking pictures of them I'm going to leave it at this and go knit and read a bit.

The weather is getting colder and it's about time to start knitting for the winter. Helmipöllö (”Boreal owl”) beanie and scarf feature two different cables and a pompom. Knitting with bulky weight yarn makes this a quick set to knit. With forgiving bulky yarn, big needles and only two different large, fairly simple cables to knit, this hat looks harder than it is. Most rows are just simple knits with a few purls thrown in for interest, and only four rows of cable crosses in the whole hat. A great pattern to try your hand at cables. The pattern is both charted and abbreviated.

This pair of socks was cast on many many years ago. It was long before self-striping yarn, so the rainbow stripes are achieved by buying 6 balls of yarn in the colors of the rainbow. Naturally, the socks are knitted in the traditional way, from calves to toes using DPNs, a traditional 2x2 ribbing and basic enforced heel. Just the way my mother taught me 30 years ago. Following the traditional knitting choices, the yarn is also the most popular sock yarn available in Finland: Novita 7 veljestä. I don't remember why or for whom I started knitting these socks, but obviously lost interest and buried them deep in my sock yarn stash. As I'm not a big fan of sock knitting, they also stayed there for 10 years or even more. This fall the knitting for refugees charity project made me dig deep into my sock yarn stash and revealed one almost finished rainbow sock. So I decided to go ahead and finish this pair.


See-through rubber boots seem to have been the thing for Finnish sock knitters this summer. I didn't find transparent boots, but I found these ankle-length boots and thought that they would look good with colorful socks. Of course, this meant that I had to make the ribbing longer by adding some black ribbing below the colored stripes in order to show all the colors - meaning that I had to unravel most of the almost finished sock that I had found to begin with. But now I have the socks and boots for a colorful fall!