Birkenwasser knits

I had my first attempt at painting a sock blank a couple of months ago at Kässäkerho Pom Pom Super Weekend. Obviously, I was anxious to get the sock blank on the needles. I painted the sock blank with a fade in mind, thinking that I would knit two socks at the same time, unravelling the sock blank from both ends.


I soon learned that this would not happen, as the blank only unravels from the top down and not from bottom up. I had to rip the whole blank and cake it before I could continue. This took a bit of the fun of knitting a sock blank, but it was still nice to wait for the next color to appear.
By the time I got to the second color, I was getting bored with the basic socks. I started thinking about what pattern I could start with the foot almost done, and then I remembered Vanilla is the New Black socks. I quickly learned that it's a cuff-to-toes design, and I was working toe-up. Luckily, there is also a Vanilla Reversed pattern, which is basically the same design, but worked toe-up.

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.

Ephemeris was my third project from Pom Pom Quarterly Vivid Winter issue. It is an asymmetric triangle with mosaic details in two colors. Perfect opportunity to use two precious Lanitium ex Machina Merino Tussah skeins. These skeins have been in my stash since the first Kässäkerho Pom Pom Super Weekend in 2016, waiting for the perfect project. I think this turned out to be a perfect project for those lovely yarns!




I have only tried mosaic knitting in socks before (Tour-de-Sock 2017 and 2016), so this was nice practice before taking the mosaic shawl design class with Melanie Berg this summer at Jyväskylä Summer Knit Festival. Maybe you will see my own mosaic design in the future...


It's RUMS day!

Kivitasku Vest has a cable pattern that makes it a smart vest for a young gentleman. It's knitted seamlessly from the top down. The V-neck looks great with a collared shirt, and you can pair it with a colourful shirt for a casual look or use a white shirt for a more formal outfit. The pattern is now available for purchase on Ravelry.




I knit the first prototype 7 years ago, so you can see the same model posing for size 18 m and for size 10 on the pattern page. I think the small vest is so cute, that I used the left overs of the Knit Picks Hawthorne Aquatic Speckle to knit a tiny vest. There wasn't enough yarn for the hem and neckline, so I used Hawthorne Poseidon for those, and I think it looks pretty good combined with the speckles here. Now I just need to find a toddler who could wear this!

Tabular is on the cover of Pom Pom Quarterly Vivid Winter issue, and the minute I saw it I knew that I wanted to knit it. Jyväskylä Knit Fest Winter was approaching, so I decided to wait and buy yarn at Titityy during the festival. I was planning to use Coop Knits Socks Yeah!, but I changed my mind in the shop and decided to go with recommended Isager Highland Wool instead. And I even chose almost the original colors: MC and one CC are the same as the original colors, although the CC is not in same position.




At Titityy, I noticed that KnitPro has interchangeable needles also in size 3 mm, so I sat down, borrowed needles from a fellow knitter, and swatched to make sure that I can get gauge with that size. Swatch seemed perfect, so I bought the needles and yarn, and started the project the same night.


I was planning to make size 3, so that was what I bought yarn for. For some reason, I changed my mind and started a size 4 instead. That proved to be a good choice, as I noticed that the swatch with metal needles wasn't the same as what I got with the new wooden KnitPros - I was knitting tighter. Of course, by the time I noticed this was when I was knitting the bottom of the front, so there was too much effort invested to start all over with larger needles.


I decided to work the sweater a bit longer than instructed. Now, the instructions say where you can add length for the front, but not how much that equals for the back. You can see in the pictures that the front is knitted with increases in the middle and decreases on the sides, so adding length is a bit more complicated than simply doing x rows more for front and back. I ended up doing some trigonometry to figure out how much I would need to increase for the back, but as I only added 1 cm to the front the difference with the back was lost in rounding.


Only problem that I had left was that I bought yarn for size 3 and I was hoping that with my tight knitting it would be enough for size 4. I considered knitting the sleeves top-down so I could simply make them as long as there was yarn left. For some reason, I didn't, and of course I ran out of yarn when knitting the bottom hem. I didn't want to leave it at that, and luckily Kässäkerho Pom Pom stored the same yarn even in the same dye lot, so I was able to get one more ball at the Super Weekend in Kuopio. So I finished the pullover and it's lovely - and it's too small for me. And Business Woman, who was nice enough to model in the pictures, doesn't like it. I think it looks good on her. I'll have to talk her into liking it.

In a recent blog post on the publication of Ilana Wrap pattern in Knit Picks Everyday Wraps collection you could see a sophisticated black, gray, and white wrap. That sample was not knitted by me, though. I did receive sponsor yarn to knit a sample for myself, and here it is!




I wanted to go with shades of the seas: blue and turquoise. We had more snow last night, and the sea is still frozen, but I think the shawl also goes well with the blue winter light.


It's CreaDienstag.

Kässäkerho Pom Pom changed the schedule of their annual SUPERweekend from autumn to spring and we enjoyed a lovely weekend in Kuopio on March 23-25. The weekend was filled with yarns, knitting, old and new friends, chatter and laughter - and learning new things.


The marketplace had some old favourites, as well as some new amazing yarns. Moar Yarn demonstrated hand spinning and had a lovely collection of hand spun yarn and spinning fibres on their stand.


ILO yarn made the trip all the way from Salo, and brought a lovely selection of these pastel beauties by Lystig Yarn, as well as gorgeous items from Primrose Yarn Co., Annie Yarns, etc.


KVG Woolworks had more of the awesome signature "Kuopio" colorway, only available in Kuopio, and this time also as fade kits. I had to get a sweater quantity of Kuopio, but with the fade kits I opted for this accidental colorway that I found especially pretty. I also picked up an accidental colorway of Kässäkerho Pom Pom Merino singles, as well as some Alpaca-Linen-Silk from Lanitium ex Machina, so it looks like I managed to get a ridiculously exaggerated haul back home with me. Nothing new here... (Except the yarns, they are new, something I didn't have in my stash, so I had to get them. Right? Right?!)


It was nice to see a couple of Liinu Shawls that I designed for the previous SUPERweekend. I also learned that more Liinu Shawls were in progress, and I can't wait to see them! This merino-silk one was on display and later worn by its talented knitter Maijusha (Ravelry name) at the evening party at Hygge Bro.


I had the opportunity to attend Liinu's sock blank workshop, finally! It was very exciting to have my first try at dyeing. My sock blank even turned out pretty much the way I wanted (see below) - until it was time to microwave it. For some reason, the dye bled afterwards, and I got some unplanned effect from that. I'm not sure if it was good or bad, as it actually dyed the whites from underneath (I only painted one side of the blank). So the end result is not what I planned (see the end result in the yarn haul pic above), but I'm definitely super anxious to get it on the needles and see how it is going to look like as socks!


Thank you, again, Liinu and the team for organising such a great event! And thank you all lovely Kuopio knitters for welcoming us visitors!