Tyyne and Viljo

How is already two years since I published The Girl Who Said Baa e-book? I searched for a local sheepfarm for the photoshoot of the e-book and ended up at Hakamaa sheepfarm. The knits in the e-book were all designed for Tukuwool but the owner of the farm told me they also produce yarn from their own sheep and have been working for years to get an especially beautiful sheen in their wool. It took me a couple years but I finally designed something for Hakamaa yarns. And the best thing is, I've got a batch of the yarn if you're interested. But more on that at the end of the post.

What: Tyyne / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.5 and 4.0 mm

From: Hakamaan lammastila 2ply, 50 + 65 g

Tyyne was born out of my desire to play with different textures. I've had my eye on stamen stitch for quite a while already and really wanted to try it out. In case you're not familiar with it, stamen stitch plays with purls and slipped stitches. 

I combined stamen stitch with garter stitch for the brim of the hat. It's a fairly simple beanie design except that there are two tucks at the back of the head to get the hat sit just right on your head. No sagging at the front or crunching at the back - expect of course for the tucks.

Tyyne pattern comes with two sizes and you can just get away with 50 grams of sport weight yarn for the smaller size. If you're a fan of huge pompoms it might be cutting close. I tried the hat with and without a pompom. The bigger size took 65 g of Hakamaa 2ply and the smaller one 50 g (with a pompom I added after the photoshoot, cause you know, pompoms!)

And in case you haven't seen this tip on the internet before, the best way to finish a pompom is to dangle it over boiling water. The steam opens up the plies and fluffs up the pompom.

What: Viljo / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 4.5 mm

From: Hakamaan lammastila 3ply, 67 g

I wanted a cohisive set so the DK-weight 3ply turned into matching mittens. They play with stamen stitch and garter stitch just like the hat.

In the mittens, there's a fun little 2 stitch cable forming a zig zag pattern breaking up the two textures. The thumbs are garter stitch.

I like to own at least two pairs of mittens: a fingering weight pair for use all fall and spring along, and a thicker, DK weight pair for crisp winter days when the temperature sinks below 10 celsius degrees. You could also fit lightweight gloves inside these if you need the extra warmth.

The Hakamaa sheepfarm yarns have been spun at Pirtin kehräämö (a Finnish spin mill) into sport weight 2ply and DK weight 3ply yarns. As a friend of warm and woolly things, this kind of local yarn is a true luxury to me. I also have a small batch of the yarns to sell if you're interested in trying them. My webshop only works in Finnish at the moment but if you're keen on ordering the yarn, email me and I can write you an invoice. Both yarns cost 9 € per 50 g skein and if you buy two skeins with the matching pattern the whole kit is just 19.90 €.