Incandescent

I wanted the book to include one accessory pattern as well and so this beautiful little beanie hopped onto my needles.

What: Incandescent / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 2.75 and 3.0 mm

From: La Bien Aimée Merino Singles + Snail Yarn Merino Singles, 62 g and G-uld New Zealandsk Lammull + Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool, 45 g

This hat is a match for the Everything's Coming Up Roses sweater from the book.

The hat features are folded brim worked in twisted ribbing and a stunning rose colourwork which you can work with a solid colour or play around with gradient-dyed yarn.

This beanie is a really special one to me as I made my first sample with SnailYarn gradient set that were leftovers from my Utu cardigan, published on the cover of Laine Magazine issue 2 back in 2017. I'm glad I held on to those yarn ends as they make this design shine.

I designed the beanie to be a match for the rose sweater from the book and quite apptly, there were enough left overs from the sweater to use for the main colour of the hat.

I fell in love with the beanie so much that I wanted to make another one - from scraps as well! For the second beanie, I used left over yarns form Woodland cardigan and Rosehip sweater.

I never throw away left over yarns and I'm so happy every time I manage to design something that can be worked with left overs.

All the info for Incandescent can be found below. Some of the photos were taken by Laine for the book and some we snapped ourselves.

Size

M

To fit a head circumference 22’’ / 55 cm.

Yarn

La Bien Aimée Merino Singles and SnailYarn Merino Singles (100% SW merino, single ply, 366 m / 100 g), or other fingering weight yarn. Shown in colors Loam (MC) and Viridian gradient set (CC).

1 skein of MC, 1 set of CC.

Yardage

MC: 200 yrds / 180 m,

CC: 110 yrds / 100 m.

Needles

US 2 (2.75 mm) and US 2½ (3.0 mm) - 16’’/40 cm long circular needles and dpns in the bigger size for the crown decreases. Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the right gauge.

Gauge

26 sts x 37 rnds = 4x4’’ / 10x10 cm in colorwork, worked in the round, on the bigger needles (after blocking).

Other

5 stitch markers, scrap yarn, crochet hook and a tapestry needle.

 

Sandy Shores

I love it that we have a proper winter here in Finland. And what would be more appropriate for that a warm and cosy beanie?

What: Sandy Shores / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.75 mm and 4.0 mm
From: Nature's Luxury Town & Country Cashmere, 75 g

I haven't designed a hat for a while but when I fell in love with these gorgeous Nature's Luxury cashmere fade kits I knew right away that I wanted to make a new beanie. I used the Sandy fade kit for my sample - hence the name for the hat.

Sandy Shores is a sweet hat that starts off with a neat tubular cast-on. It takes a couple setup rows but gives the neatest, round cast-on edge. The pattern comes with a photo tutorial for tubular cast-on so fear not.

The hat is adorned with intricate cables and fun bobbles. And of course, a pompom! My favorite thing is that the pompom is attached with a button so you can easily remove it if you need to wash the hat or aren't feeling pompom-y some day.

In my weekly Tea Time over on Instagram, there have been lots of questions on how to make such a perfect looking pompom. There's a simple trick for that. First, I use a pompom maker. It's easier to get a full pompom with that than using a cardboard cutout. But the perfect fluffiness is achieved with a cool trick: once the pompom is finished, hold it over a tea kettle because the hot steam will make the plies of the yarn open up, giving it the perfect fluff. 

I designed the beanie in collaboration for Nature's Luxury's stunning cashmere yarn and you can find kits over on their web shop. They're offering the pattern with the kit. You can also get Sandy Shores as an individual download on Ravelry, LoveCrafts and PayHip. Use the code SANDY to get 15% discount until the end of this week.

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.

Yours, always

Most of the time I set out planning to design something. Other times, the yarn turns into a design even without trying. Almost as if the yarn itself already knows what it ought to be knitted into. 

What: Yours, always / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 2.75 mm

From: Tukuwool Harmas + ITO Sensai + Shibui Knits Silk Cloud, 21+14+8 g

In September, I went to a weekend knitting retreat organized by my LYS. All of us got lovelyt project bag with yarn in it - a skein of Tukuwool Harmas. Harmas is a special batch of Tukuwool spun of Kainuugrey that is a Finnish landrace. Kainuugrey makes for a soft and airy yarn in a gorgeous light grey shade.

I kept looking at the skein thinking that such a special yarn needs to be knitted into something extra special. It didn't take long for some silk mohair to start whispering in my ear that they wanted to play with the new Harmas yarn.

Once I matched the yarns, I didn't really have to think while knitting. The beanie kinda manifested on its own on my needles.

So I designed this super sweet hat in luxurious yarns. Tukuwool Harmas is soft but airy and rustic. It'makes for such a fun and gorgeous combo with silk mohair.

The yarns are so different and luxurious in different ways. Two-color brioche seemed just the perfect way to combine them. I used Tukuwool Harmas for the main color on top of the brioche.

For the contrast color, I combined three different silk mohairs that make the beanie the softest ever. Three strands of silk mohair were not only the right weight but also gave endless opportunities to play with colors. I used two browns and one silver grey silk mohair. They painted the beanie into the colors of November in Finland. For the next beanie, I'll use brighter colors!

You can find the beanie pattern on Ravelry. There's also a 20% introductory discount with the code NOVEMBER. The code is valid through November 27th.

One of the best things about the pattern is how little yarn you need to make the beanie. I think I'll go stash diving in my scrap yarn basket for another one!

Xenakis

I've been in the mood for colorwork lately. It's mostly manifested as just me buying yarn for colorwork projects.

What: Xenakis / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 4.0 mm

From: Retrosaria Vovó, 41 g

One of my most recent purchases was three skeins of Retrosaria Vovó, a gorgeous, rugged non-superwash wool. The label alone was enough to get me to buy the yarn as it features this amazing tattooed knitting grandma. I had a vision for a beanie and this time the vision made it all the way onto my needles.

Xenakis is a simple and fun beanie with colorwork playing with three colors. Though, there are only few rounds with all three colors to mess up your yarns. To balance those out, there's also lots of plain vanilla stockinette stitch with just one color.

The hat is topped off with a beautiful star pattern to hide the crown decreases.

As per usual, you can find the pattern in my Ravelry store and if you use the code VOVO, you can get 25% discount during this weekend.

The yarn was new to me but I really loved it. It's woolly and rugged without being harsh. Lately, I've been concentrating on non-superwash yarns - they feel so natural.

I chose the colors to suite me and designed the beanie for myself but Hubby stole it straight away. And darn, doesn't it look better on him - as if I designed for him. I didn't but he took it anyways. I guess I'll have to make myself another one.

Taming the octopus

Sounds strange? Not at all, once you'll let me explane.

What: Thunderstorm toque / Abbye Knits
How: Circular needles 3.5 ja 4.5 mm
From: KVG Woolworks Merino DK, 81 g

I'm taking part in the annual Indie design gift-along hosted on Ravelry. It includes a huge bunch of independent knit and crochet designers having a 25 % sale for a week and then everyone joining in for gift knitting.

The event has 8 different categories, each with their own KAL thread. And if you manage to complete a project in each of the eight categories, you've tamed the octopus. I haven't participated in Tour de Sock for a few years now and I miss the competition. So here I am, chasing an octopus.

The spirit of the Indie design gift-along is for the designers to promote each other instead of everyone promoting themselves. So I'm hoping to knit these 8 projects by 8 different designers.

My first project was a super cool hat that I've wanted to knit for a long time. It has a folded rib, showy cables with bobbles in between. But the show stopper is the star shaped crown. I modified the pattern to have a long tail tubular cast on. Just to make the cast on edge nice and round.

I finished the hat in almost one night and it turned out just perfect. The plan was to knit Christmas gifts but what am I to do if the hat fits me so well.

And the yarn. It is the softest thing ever! It's a treasured left over yarn from my stash. I've made a shawl in this yarn some years ago so I'll have to keep the beanie for myself. They make such a cute set!

Noki

Every once in a while I long for something simple and relaxing to knit. Like a simple beanie with cables. Nothing fancy.

What: Noki / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 4.5 mm

From: Rainbow Heirloom Sweater, 57 g

Back in spring I was admiring Rainbow Heirloom's booth at Edinburgh Yarn Fest. It truly was a rainbow of lovely yarns - every possible color you could imagine. So naturally, I picked a black skein... I was in a mood to make a beanie for Hubby dearest.

Then the other night I got a craving to see something actually finish fast. Something quick and relaxed. Something that would be finished almost as soon as I had cast on. So I cast on for a hat with cables.

Noki got it's name from the black yarn. It means soot in Finnish. Apparently it also means eaves in Japanise which goes rather well with the cable pattern. Noki is a sporty beanie with funky cables. The crown decreases are hidden among the cable pattern.

With worsted weight yarn and big needles this hat is really quick knit. It's ideal for a last minute Christmas gift.

The pattern is up on Ravelry and until the end of October you can get it with 25 % discount using the code CCCABLES.