Saana shawl

Next design from the e-book, The Girl Who Said Baa, is a shawl pattern.

What: Saana / Own pattern

How: circular needle 4.0 mm

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 115 + 72 + 87 g

The first thought about the shawl was its shape. I wanted to design an asymmetric triangular shawl that is shaped with short rows. The kind that is wider on the other side. Also, I wanted to play around with different color combinations.

Saana has alternating garter stitch stripes with two colors and lace sections with a third color. The stripes are nice, mindless knitting - perfect for social knitting or watching tv. And the lace is shaped with short rows. The lace keeps thing interesting but is easy to memorize. Finally, the shawl is finished with a picot bind off.

The pattern has two sizes. M is your average sized shawl. Not too small. And the larger size is a true shlanket. You could really use it as a blanket while laying on the couch. For the smaller size, you only need one skein (50 g) of each color - at least if you don't have the loosest gauge in the world. The larger size has one stripe and one lace section more and for that size you will need 3 skeins of color A and 2 skeins of B and C.

This design gives you the chance to play with different color combinations as it uses three colors. I would suggest something light for the lace. For the stripes, choose two colors that have enough contrast with each other.

I've been waiting for months to actually get to use these knits. Finally, I can wrap myself in my huge woolly shlanket of a shawl.

Thank you for the pics to Miika and thank you for lending your sheep Hakamaa sheep farm!

Helmi hat

Let's start going through the patterns one at a time.

What: Helmi / Own pattern

How: 3.0 and 4.0 mm circular needle

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 76 g

Let's start at the beginning. So, I had the idea of designing a collection of knitwear for Tukuwool yarn. And the first design I conjured was a cabled hat.

First of all, the hat was to have a tall folded brim because my main priority in the winter is to keep my ears from freezing. Second, the hat was to have cables with moss stitch inside them. And third, the hat was definitely going to have a pom pom. That's how Helmi hat came to be.

After the folded brim there are some cables and you decrease part of the stitches while knitting the cables. The rest of the hat is reverese stockinette stitch because I feel it let's the cables shine. You could work garter stitch but let's face it, garter stitch in the round is a bit blah.

And finally, there's a pom pom to top it off. You can never have too many pom poms, right? I still haven't managed to buy a pom pom maker so I still cut out one from cardboard as they taught us in kindergarden.

The best thing about the hat is how cute it makes you look. Even if I don't think I look too shabby, I rarely glance in the mirror and think I'm super cute. But this hat makes me do that! So keep your ears warm and get cute - all in one hat. There are two sizes and you can make them with two skeins of Tukuwool.

The amazing pics are by Miika. And here's a link to the KAL in Ravelry.

The Girl Who Said Baa

The blog has been very silent this fall and it's because I've been hard at work with a secret project. Well, not that secret anymore if you follow me on Instagram. I've been working on my very own e-book, The Girl Who Said Baa.

It all started with my love of rustic, organic wool. Not that prickly kind you might be thinking of but soft, airy and warm wool. I had a vision of an e-book containing everything you'd need from head to toe using Finnish yarn brand Tukuwool. So, I started knitting!

This is my very first knitwear collection and it includes patterns for a shawl, socks, a cardigan, mittens and two hats. I'll give you an overall look here and then later post about each piece one at a time.

What: Helmi / Own pattern

How: 3.0 and 4.0 mm circular needles

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 76 g

Helmi is a sweet hat with a folded brim and cables. And a pom pom to top it off. It will sure keep your ears warm during the winter.

What: Saana / Own pattern

How: 4.0 mm circular needle

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 115 + 72 +87 g

Saana is an asymmetric triangle shawl with alternating garter stitch stripes and lace sections that are shaped with short rows.

What: Ruso / Own pattern

How: 3.0 mm circular needle

From: Tukuwool Sock, 82 g

Ruso socks are simple and comfy. They're a combination of cables and ribbing.

What: Aada / Own pattern

How: 2.5 mm circular needle

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 55 + 12 g

Aada mittens have a high cuff that you can fold in two. The stitch pattern is a combination of stranded knitting and simple cables. It's easy to knit yet gives a big effect.

What: Manta / Own pattern

How: 3.5 mm circular needle

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 405 + 30 g

This cardigan has a warm folded collar and honeycomb cables in the front. The edges are finished off with a contrast color i-cord bind off. There are also contrast color pockets hiding behind the hem cables.

What: Alma / Own pattern

How: 3.0 mm circular needle

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 48 g

Alma is a relaxed beanie with cable details and a fun envelope bind off.

Big thanks to Hakamaan sheep farm for letting us have the photoshoot at your farm and borrow your lovely sheep for the pics. The photos of the e-book are by the talented Miika Ihanainen. Huge thanks to Tukuwool for sponsoring all the yarns for these designs. I'm also super thankful to my army of hard working test knitters. You are the best!

All the designs in the e-book are also available as individual downloads on Ravelry. But if you're interested in several patterns, it's cheaper to get the entire book. The book also has a small technique chapter and some words about Tukuwool and about the sheep farm where we took the photos. Come join a KAL in my Ravelry group.

SnOwl

So I designed a new sweater. Surprising, isn't it?

What: Snowl / Own pattern
How: 3.5 mm and 2.5 mm circular needles
From: Primrose Yarn Co. Sophia, 300 g

At this summer's knit festival, I spent a lot of time saying Oh! and Ah! at ILO yarns' booth. I was drooling over all the lovely Primrose Yarns Co. yarns and typically for me, I picked up the only colorless colorway. Except that it isn't colorless, it's just the perfect creamy white with tiny dark speckles. Perfect, I say!

And the yarn base, merino, nylon and cashmere. Oh my. It's unbelievably soft and felt amazing in my hands as I knitted it.

The lovely shop owners sponsored the yarn for me and I promised to come up with a design this fall. The color of the yarn demanded to be knitted into cables so that's what I did.

Snowl is worked top down seamlessly because that's how you knit every nice project. The sweater has raglan sleeves and there are three cables in the front. Otherwise, the sweater is all purls because I feel that reverese stockinette stitch is the best way to let cables shine.

The sweater has a V-neck and the neck band is worked with smaller needles. One of my favorite things about this design is that it's A-line. There's about 2''/5 cm positive ease at bust height and 6''/15 cm positive ease at the hem which makes this a nice, relaxed sweater. The hem is shaped with short rows such that the back is longer than the front.

But above all else I love the sleeves of this sweater because they're looooong. The MCN yarn base is amazingly soft and I don't know anything that tops soft overly long sleeves that you can wrap you hands in.

The sweater became an instant favorite and I've been using it all the time. The relaxed A-line is a perfect match for dresses as well as jeans. It's stylish and relaxed at the same time. You can knit your own favorite sweater by clicking the link below.

Huge thanks to ILO for sponsoring the yarn and to mom for these beautiful photos. Luckily, it doesn't show in the pictures but it was freezing cold and kept raining all through the photoshoot.

Did you wonder about the name? Well, the sweater was named after the colorway of the yarn, Snow owl. I just removed the extra letters.