Birkenwasser knits

I couldn't help but come back to the lovely pink Snowdrop dress in Helga Isager's Neuleiden neljä vuodenaikaa book. It's such a pretty dress and looks so good in the pale pink that it's knitted from. The only thing is that I'm not really a lace person and pink is not really my color. As my little Troll princess put it "well, mom, you don't look like a girl". So I decided to start with pullovers that were more my style, until I realized that I don't have to strictly follow the pattern - I can modify it to fit my style. The result is perfect, a dark gray no frills dress for a girl who doesn't look like a girl!

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!

I lived in St. Petersburg for four years, but trying to fit in and do as the locals do, I did all my yarn shopping in Finland. The only crafts shop I visited back in those days was a Singer shop on Suvorovsky prospekt, and only for emergency needle shopping. Last weekend we visited our old neighborhood and I thought that it would be time to check out a yarn store or two during the trip. I tried to ask for tips of nice LYS in St. Petersburg, but unfortunately the only one mentioned was Manefa, which is located in Pionerskaya and that was a bit off our planned track. After some googling (or actually its Russian version yandexing) I found a LYS right next to Finland station and with a pretty appealing selection of yarns. That's my destination then!


Magia priazi is a nice little LYS and I ended up getting some lovely souvenirs. Nothing Russian, though... They have a nice selection of brands, but unfortunately not in colors I would have liked - except for some lovely Jaipur Silk Fino.


I also got a set of KnitPro needles. This wasn't such a good idea, as it turned out that two of the needles were damaged and KnitPro warranty says that you need to go back to the reseller for replacement. Well, good thing is that Business woman does business in St. Petersburg, so she will get to visit the nice little yarn shop on her next business trip... I liked the KnitPros that I bought in Moscow, but they felt more like wood than this set. To me the needles feel like plastic and I might go back to my old bamboo needles after all.

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!

There are two things that I don't really enjoy: interior design and crochet. Well, actually I do enjoy crochet, it's just not something you can do while reading and there aren't too many things you can crochet that would also be useful and look nice. Having said that, I have crocheted a couple of things for our home and when I noticed that we need place mats for our balcony table I got the idea to crochet them. I chose Novita Tuubi as the yarn, as I've used that for baskets before and I like the way the baskets turned out. Well, I also like the way the place mats turned out!


The thing I didn't like about crocheting the place mats was the way it hurts my hand to do it! Maybe because of that or maybe because of some other reason (such as the other 10 or so WIPs...) it took me all summer to crochet 6 place mats. At some point after listening to me complain, Business woman even suggested that I should only make 4 as there are only four of us in the family. But the table is for 6, so it needs 6 place mats! Just in time for the end of the summer I finally finished this project, and I'm glad I managed to do all 6.

I was thinking about writing the pattern for these place mats, but I guess you can see the pattern from the pictures so there's no reason for me to learn crochet vocabulary in English. For my Finnish friends, I've included the instructions below.


Now I can relax and enjoy the last summer sunsets on the balcony, with my knitting and wine glass on the new place mats!


Korppi-tabletit

Virkkaa 10 kjs ja niihin 10 ks. Tee viimeiseen ketjusilmukkaan 3 ks ja käännä työ. Jatka tekemällä ks jokaiseen aloitusketjun silmukkaan. Tee viimeiseen ketjusilmukkaan 3 ks ja aloita 2 krs. Nyt virkkaa ks:t edellisen krs:n kiinteiden silmukoiden takareunaan. Tee aina kulmasilmukkaan 3ks ja jatka näin 14 krs. Päätä piilosilmukalla ja päättele lanka.


Edit Nov 27: I happened to be following a crochet pattern in English, thus learning the English vocabulary, so here is the translation:

R1: 10 CS

R2: 9 SC, 3 SC in next stitch, turn the piece and work on the front loop of the original sts: 9 SC, 3 SC in next stitch. 

From the third row on, work in back loops of stitches


R3: 10 SC , 3 SC in next stitch, 1 SC, 3 SC in next stitch, 11 SC, 3 SC in next stitch, 1 SC, 3 SC in next stitch

Continue in a similar manner for 14 rows, bind off and weave in ends.

Helga Isager must be one of the most talented knitwear designers. After participating in the LemonKAL I knew that I wanted to knit more of her designs. LemonKAL was organized by Jonna Hietala who had translated Isager's book Finstickat into Finnish (Neuleiden neljä vuodenaikaa), so the next logical step would be to get the book and see what's in there. I thought that I would only take a look at the book and the designs so I signed up on the library queue for the book. I was thinking that I would save some money by borrowing the book instead of buying it. Fail. Epic fail. Take my word on this: you will not save money if you get your hands on this book!


After a couple of months of waiting I finally got the book and couldn't let it down on the first evening. Of course, I had to get online to see what where the yarn options. Unfortunately, my favorite LYS was almost out of stock for most of the colors that I wanted to get. Now the smart thing to do would have been to buy yarn for the first item that I wanted to knit and then get more once the first one is finished. Would have been. Then again you can also search for an online yarn store that has all the colors you want and order it all on the first night of getting your hands on the book. I'm so glad that my exchange student year in Germany wasn't in vain, as I was able to purchase the yarn from a German web shop! Then it was just about refreshing the DHL delivery status daily, waiting for my package to arrive in Finland... And it's finally here!

The book features four seasons of knitwear in beautiful pictures. I think I will end up buying the book as well after all, as it's such a gem to flip through and think about future knitting projects.



I noticed that I have currently 12 WIPs on the needles, so I will be finishing those before casting on any of these babies. NOT! I'm pretty sure that the first one will be on the needles tonight. But with a stash enhancement this expensive I decided to do what the more experienced stashers do: pack the rest of the yarns in sealed plastic bags. Just in case.

Summer vacation is over, and it's back to cold Finnish summer. Holiday travels in the Balkans were a success. After freezing in Finland in June and July, the heat in Dubrovnik was almost unbearable. First day of +38'C made my 4-year-old ask: "Mom, why did we come to Croatia where our blood melts?!" Well, our blood didn't melt and we got a bit more accustomed to the heat, so vacation turned out great. Swimming every day, visiting interesting places and eating delicious food. And, of course, knitting every day.

Before the trip I was having a hard time trying to decide which project to take with me. I had just finished the Lemon top, and I would have liked to have a pattern to follow for easy holiday knitting. Unfortunately, everything in my yarn stash was dedicated to my own designs, so I had to pick one and start swatching in the airplane. The yarn I chose was Quince Sparrow. I thought a linen yarn would be nice to knit even if it's hot, and it turned out to be a good decision!

Kotor Bay, Montenegro

Shkoder, Albania

Budva, Montenegro