Mine, finally

Last fall, I got my hands on a wonderful skein of Tukuwool Harmas. The Kainuugrey (a Finnish landrace) wool was rustic and soft at the same time. It had to turn into something extra special, and so it did: I combined the Kainuugrey yarn with some mohair/silk and designed a beautiful brioche hat that I named 'Yours, always'. It just so happened that the beanie fit my sister so well I had no other choice than to gift it to her.

What: Yours, always / Own pattern
How: Circular needle US 2 (2.75 mm)
From: Tukuwool Harmas + ITO Sensai, 25 + 21 g

It took a year but now I finally have one for my own use as well. The end of the summer took a crappy turn in my personal life and for the longest time I felt the need to buy myself happy at my LYS. I was feeling so low that none of the yarns were speaking to me and I was having a hard time finding some comfort yarn. Finally, I got to the shelf of those candy-like ITO mohair/silks. And suddenly it was clear what I wanted to make - the beanie that got away!

Yours, always hat is a combination of two completely different yarns: a woolly, Kainuugrey that is used as the main color of the brioche and forms the top knit stitches of the pattern, and delicate, lace weight mohair/silk that's used for the bottom purl stitches of the brioche pattern. It makes the inside of the hat like a soft, fluffy cloud.

Since the Kainuugrey yarn is sport weight and the mohair/silk lace weight, you need to use three strands of the latter. You could, of course, use three strands of the exact same mohair/silk but it's much more fun to create your own colors combining three different colors of mohair/silk.

I'm always fascinated by how the fluffy mohair/silk determines the color of the entire garment. Last year's hat had dark brown and grey mohair/silks that painted my sister's beanie kind of a brownish purple in my eyes. For my hat, I chose pale, colorless mohair/silks: white, beige and a pale mint green. Uncolors aren't for everyone but I for one adore how my chosen mohair/silks kinda seemed to render this beanie entirely colorless. I see many different shades in this beanie but no color - and I love it.  

The hat is mostly simple two-colored brioche but it's decorated with a beautiful leaf pattern made with just increases and decreases. I finished the hat in just couple days and it was just what the doctor ordered. Oh boy, how fun it was to work on an old pattern for once. Just for fun.

You can find the pattern in three different places: Ravelry, Lovecrafts and PayHip.

MKAL 2020

This year's MKAL shawl is called Entanglement. It's a mystery shawl so be prepared for anything. 

Choose your favorite fingering weight yarn in three colors, one skein each. I'd recommend choosing two colors that are somewhat close to each other and let the third one be a color pop with good contrast to the first two. Speckles, semisolids and solids will work well for this shawl.

Entanglement MKAL will kick off in August. The pattern is now available on Ravelry and yarn kits are coming to my web shop on Friday 10 a.m. (GMT+3, Helsinki time). If you buy a yarn kit you will get the pattern for free.⁠ The pattern comes in three languages: English, German and Finnish.
 

There are a total 13 clues which will be released every couple days, varying depending on how much knitting there is in each clue.⁠

Clue 1: August 7th⁠
Clue 2: August 10th⁠
Clue 3: August 12th⁠
Clue 4: August 14th⁠
Clue 5: August 15th⁠
Clue 6: August 16th⁠
Clue 7: August 18th⁠
Clue 8: August 20th⁠
Clue 9: August 23rd⁠
Clue 10: August 27th⁠
Clue 11: August 28th⁠
Clue 12: August 31st⁠
Clue 13: September 4th⁠

Will you be joining us this year? Any guesses on the shawl based on this year's logo?⁠

 

This year I teamed up with nurja for the yarns. I had so much fun coming up with three mood boards for them to dye three different kits of three colors each. You'll see the yarns on Friday but I can already tease you with the names of the three themes: Creamy Romance, Glow in the Dark and Summer Boogie. I'm excited to see which one you like most. If you've been following me for a while, it will be no surprise that Creamy Romance is the one I'm making my sample with.⁠

You can join the MKAL discussion threads on Ravelry and use the tags #entanglementmkal #wwokmkal on Instagram.

Onni

The blog has been a bit silent during this strange spring. It's not because I'm not knitting and designing - quite the contrary. I've been working all spring on a color work book that Laine will publish later this year and I can't show off those knits until the book comes out. But in the midst of all that, I did find time to design this shawl.

What: Onni / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 3.75 mm

From: Tukuwool Hakamaa Fingering, 155 g

Tukuwool produces these wonderful special batches from local wool. When they offered this lighter than air, single-ply yarn from Kainuugrey-Rygia sheep that I've got to pet at Hakamaa farm, I of course had to knit something with it.

I cast on for this shawl before Christmas but unsurprisingly a dozen book-related color work projects have eaten up all my knitting time. I finally found a little slot in my schedule to finish the shawl and oh, what a pleasure it was to work simple garter stitch and lace for a while. Change is always so refreshing.

I named the shawl Onni, a Finnish word for happiness or luck. Happiness to me is letting the stithces slide on my needles, having a moment of peace, not having to think of anything for a moment.

Onni is an asymmetric, arrow-shaped shawl. It starts from one sharp corner, working increases on the sides and decreases in the middle. What makes this design so fun is the fact that half of the shawl is worked in squishy garter stitch and the other half is a combination of stockinette stitch, purl ridges and simple feather and fan lace.

The shawl gets its neat look from an i-cord edge all around the shawl. Don't worry, the i-cord is worked at the same time with the shawl body so no need to pick up millions of stitches in the end just to bind them off straight away. You can use the rest of the yarn to make tassels for the corners. I know, I wanted to - because tassels!

You can find Onni on Ravelry. Use the code HAPPY to get 20% discount until Sunday June 7th.

And that's not all, folks! My LYS, TitiTyy is taking part in a Finnish virtual craft fair and because of it they're offering a free Onni print to anyone purchasing Tukuwool Hakamaa Fingering to make the shawl. The offer is valid until June 7th when the virtual craft fair ends.

We're also hosting a KAL with Tukuwool over on Instagram. You can take part by tagging your shawl photos with #onnikal. The KAL ends on August 31st and, of course, we'll be giving out prizes.

Bobelo

There's no stopping this design inspiration. I hope someone can keep up and knit these new designs.

What: Bobelo / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.5 and 4.0 mm

From: Brooklyn Tweed Loft, 277 g

When inspiration strikes, you have to get it onto your needles right at that moment. I had a vision of a relaxed, casual yet stylish boleroish cardigan with an interesting texture. So I went and got me a pile of Brooklyn Tweed Loft and started working on calculations and swatching right away. The knitting didn't take that long either, I finished the cardigan in a few weeks. I did have to unravel a bit due to my inability to calculate my own gauge correctly. But it was worth it and now I have a lovely new cardigan-thingy.

Bobelo is knitted in one piece flat. It's a funny shaped piece and you won't see it's final form until a bit later. Once you have finished the piece, you block it and sew two short seams that help make up the sleeves. Finally, you pick up stitches and work the cuffs, hem and the shawl collar. The shawl collar is shaped with short rows and the whole thing is finished with a neat i-cord bind off. The smaller needles are used for the cuffs. The rest of the cardigan is worked with the larger needles.

Bobelo is meant to worn with a lot of positive ease. The sleeves are quite short coming just beyond the elboves. The cardigan is shorter in the back and the fronts are a bit longer. You can wear it open or close it with a shawl pin.

Except for the borders, the cardigan is worked in bubble stitch that consists of dropped and picked up stitches. There is a chart, written instructions and a photo tutorial and I promise you, it's very easy.

The pattern has sizes XXS-XS-S (M1-M2-L1) L2-XL-XXL and you  can buy it by clicking the link below.

I chose to make mine in Brooklyn Tweedin Loft. Its woolly and airy texture is a perfect fit for this pattern. Its light and fluffy, yet warm. I made mine in the colorway Postcard which is this amazing blend of pink and grey.

I've used this one a lot ever since I finished it. I know I'm quite partial, but I thoroughly recommend this pattern.

Rosala

Back in January the yarn shop Kerä asked me if I would be interested in designing some garment for their own lamb's wool yarn. I'm not in the habit of saying no to lamb's wool! So, they sent me some yarn and I was happy to design a cardigan for their yarn.

What: Rosala / Own design

How: Circular needles 3.0 and 3.5 mm

From: Vänö Ull Lammull, 285 g

Because this design started with the yarn, I'll start with talking about the yarn. It is lovely! It's softer than a baby's bum but still strong enough to knit. Don't you just hate when some soft yarns break when you try to knit them? This yarn still smells of the lamb that donated the wool. And the yarn still has that natural grease, lanolin in it.

The scent can be a deal breaker for some people but I loved it. And after washing the cardigan, the smell is very mild and you can't really notice it unless you keep sniffing the cardigan. (Oh yes. I sniff. All the time.) The lanolin made the yarn a bit greasy while knitting but after washing, the garment feels like velvet. I absolutely loved the yarn, so thank you so much for the oppoturnity.

I wanted to come up with a simple design for this softest of softs yarn. The kind of soft and comforting knit that you'll want to wrap yourself in when you feel like you need a softer take on life. And I reached my goal. Every time I put this cardigan on, it makes me feel a bit softer, gentler and lovey-dovey.

The cardigan features full length raglan sleeves with ribbing at the cuffs and hem. The button band is garter stitch and the neck band is knitted in stockinette stitch and allowed to roll. The highlight of the cardigan is a geometric lace in the sides and sleeves.

The pattern has 9 different sizes and it's meant to be worn with a bit of positive ease so choose a size that has bust circumference approximately 2''/5 cm wider than yours.

The pattern calls for sport weight yarn and depending on the size, uses 875-1200 yards / 800-1100 m.

You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry by clicking the link below. On top of everything, Kerä is offering a 10 % discount with the code "rosalacardigan" in case you would like to knit this in Vänö Ull Lammull.

Oh, and the name. Rosala is an island in the Finnish archipelago where Kerä has their headquarters.

Soulful

I've been bitten by the designing bug. Which is a bit of a trouble maker if you've just agreed to design and knit something and then get the inspiration of the year for something completely different. Luckily I didn't loose my inspiration while keeping my other agreements, so I can now present to you me newest knitting pattern.

What: Soulful / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 2.5 mm ja 3.0 mm

From: Holst Garn Coast, 144 g

I had a vision of a light as a feather spring/summer cardigan. It would have a neckline higher than usual for me but a wider lace neckline below the actual neckband. At a local knit night, I ran to Holst Garn shelves to look for just the perfect uncolor. It was a tough choice between all those lovely grayish whites and pale beige colors. I asked a friend to help me and still couldn't make up my mind. At first, I wanted to make this pattern for the new Holst Tides but it didn't have this color I fell in love with. It did have a similar color but that one looked kind of soulless next to this - hence the name for the cardigan.

The cardigan is knit top down with simultanious set in sleeves. If you've knit my Uan cardigan, you know the drill. The vocal point of the garment is the lovely lace front that slowly disappears. I like how it kind of forms a V-neck below the actual neckline.

The cardigan has waist shaping and 3/4 sleeves. The neckband, hem and sleeve cuffs are twisted ribbing. I used smaller needles for the neck band to make it snug enough. Size M2 took 14 buttons. The button band is also knitted in twisted rib.

The very best thing about the cardigan is how light and airy it is. I made mine in size M2 and it took less than three skeins of Coast! That's like nothing. The garment feels light and gentle on. Half of the yarn is cotton which makes it an excellent choice for summer knits.

As with all my pattens, this has 9 sizes. The lace has both a chart and written instructions.

The cardigan also sports these cute little pockets that are knitted seamlessly. The pattern has a photo tutorial on the technique. You can buy the pattern by clicking the link below.

How about it, would you like to join a KAL? My LYS TitiTyy sponsored the yarn for this design and they promised to also sponsor a yarn prize for the KAL. Head on over to Ravelry to talk about yarn choices and your progress on the pattern.