Calm

The book isn't just about cardigans and pullovers as next up, we have a dress called Calm.

What: Calm / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 2.75 and 3.0 mm

From: Aara Liina, 314 g

Calm is a relaxed and chic dress that gets its name from the lotus flowers adorning the yoke and hem.

The dress is worked seamlessly top-down. It has a round yoke and contrary to many other colorwork yokes out there, here the colorwork is a narrow stripe going round the yoke.

The lotus flowers of the yoke are repeated on the hem, after which the colors change places and the rest of the hem is worked with the dark contrast color.

The dress has 3/4 length sleeves and waist shaping. The waist decreases are worked on the sides from the underarm to the waist and the hip increases are worked evenly around the hem.

I chose Aara Liina for this design which is a lovely blend of alpaca, silk and linen. The linen especially makes this a wonderfully light summer dress.

You can find all the info on the design below. Some of the photos were taken by Laine for the book and some we snapped ourselves at one of my favorite swamps, Tunturiaapa at Pyhä fell.

Size

XXS-XS-S-M1 [M2-L1-L2-XL] 2XL-3XL-4XL-5XL

This dress is meant to be worn with positive ease. Choose a size with approx. 3.5’’ / 9 cm positive ease at bust circumference.

Finished measurements

Bust circumference: 34.25-35.75-37.75-40.75 [42.25-43.75-47-49.75] 54.25-57.75-61.5-68.25’’ / 85.5-89-94.5-102 [105.5-109-117.5-124.5] 135.5-144.5-153.5-171 cm

Yarn

Aara Liina (50% alpaca, 25% linen, 25% silk, 400 m / 100 g), or other fingering weight yarn. Shown in colors Koru (MC) and Jalo (CC).

3-3-3-3 [4-4-4-4] 4-5-5-6 skeins of MC and 1 skein of CC.

Yardage

MC: 1020-1080-1185-1250 [1320-1400-1490-1570] 1740-1825-1950-2240 yds / 935-990-1085-1150 [1210-1285-1365-1440] 1595-1675-1785-2055 m,

CC: 235-250-270-280 [290-300-320-335] 360-375-385-435 yds / 215-230-245-260 [265-275-295-305] 330-345-355-395 m.

Needles

US 2 (2.75 mm) and US 2½ (3.0 mm) - 40’’ / 100 cm long circular needles and dpns in the bigger size if you prefer to work the sleeves with them. Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the right gauge.

Gauge

22 sts x 34 rnds = 4x4’’ / 10x10 cm in stockinette stitch and color work worked in the round on the bigger needles (after blocking).

Other

4 stitch markers, tapestry needle.

Hehku

The new Christmas edition of Finnihs TAITO magazine has not just one but two of my designs! In addition to the men's sweater, Havu, I designed a dress.

What: Hehku / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.5 mm

From: Tukuwool Sock, 425 + 75 g

It was very exciting to design my first men's sweater but this dress was another first. Over the past couple of years, the knitting community has been obsessed with colorwork yoke sweaters. I too wanted to try my hand at designing one.

And it was a lot of fun as a colorwork yoke calls for its own kind of math. I know most wouldn't agree with me but oh, did I love solving the equations needed here!

I designed the dress in November last year and send it to the magazine just before Christmas. I'm not blessed with a lot of patience so it was pain waiting a whole year for the pattern to be published. But if I neede patience, so did my test knitters! They too made their dresses a year ago and I applaud them for keeping the secret so long.

Hehku is a dress with a round colorwork yoke. The dress is worked seamlessly top-down and it has stranded knitting on the yoke, the cuffs and the hem. You can easily make this in sweater length but I for one have fallen in love with knitted dresses. The pattern comes with waist shaping to make it fit just right.

As the design is for Christmas, I wanted to keep the coloring quite Christmasy. Though, I want to be able to wear this at other times as well so I decorated the yoke with flowers, diamonds and nups instead of any particular Christmas pattern.

The dress has long sleeves with corrugated ribbing at the cuffs. The hem features the diamonds without nups and some corrugated ribbing. The neckline, cuffs and the hem have a few rounds of stockinette stitch that's allowed to roll up.

As I said, I made my sample a year ago and oh, how lucky I got: just as I got the dress out of blocking, we had a little snow strom and got these wintery pics taken just before I had to ship my sample to the magazine.

The last two pics are from the magazine's photoshoot. Thank you TAITO magazine. <3

Both Hehku and Havu will be available as individual downloads on Ravelry in the spring 2020.

Vieno

This spring, I suffered a bad case of the knitting blues. You know, the horrible feeling when none of your wips inspire you and you don't even know what else to knit. I was feeling down: I was going to the movies the next day and none of my current projects was suitable for movie knitting. I had nothing appropriate in my Ravelry queue either. My go-to fix for the knitting blues is to go stash diving and pick up whatever feels most inspiring, no matter if I was saving the yarn for something special or if what I wanted to wasn't movie knitting appropriate either. The main thing was to get out of the knitting funk. And it worked.

What: Vieno / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.0 mm and 3.5 mm

From: Martin's Lab Tibetan Singles, 355 g

I went stash diving and picked up my precious merino/yak/silk skeins by Martin's Lab that I had bought at the Finnish Craft fair last fall. I'd had a vision for them that I wanted to design a dress with brioche on the yoke. Fine, so designing a new dress on the go didn't exactly sound like movie knitting either but I didn't care; I felt inspired!

I spent most of the movie winding the yarns. Finally, it was time to cast on. As I had done no prior calculations, I checked a few dresses I had knit before for appropriate stitch counts for the neckline and sleeves and started knitting with no thoughts of swatching or the width of the brioche pattern looming in the very near future.

Sometimes things just work out. My gauge was spot on, the stitch counts I chose semi-randomly were a perfect match for nice and even yoke increases. I made a brioche pattern that would work with my stitches and then something magical happened. Without planning it ahead, I had accidentally designed a brioche yoke that sits on the bust in the most flattering way ever. Finally, when working the hem, I managed to guess just how much the dress would grow length in the wash. Usually, I get to sorely regret not calculating and grading a design before starting my sample. But this time, this dress was just meant to be.

Vieno is worked top-down seamlessly - as all my designs. It has a round yoke with a show stopper brioche pattern.  The brioche pattern is graded to sit on the bust in the same flattering manner for all the sizes. The dress has long sleeves and a high rib at the cuffs.

The dress has waist shaping: you'll work decreases on the sides until you reach the waist. After that, you will work increases around the hem to make it round. Just before the hem rib, there is a gorgeous color work pattern. But it's not just any color work: the contrast color pattern is worked with purl stitches to make it stand out. It takes some concentrating but is well worth the trouble.

I designed the dress for this gorgeous single-ply merino/yak/silk blend and it is one of my favorites. In addition to silk, the yak gives a special shine to the yarn. And the yarn drapes beautifully, which is something to keep in mind when deciding on the length of the hem as a dress is quite heavy when washed. This was my first time trying out Martin's Lab yarns but not last. There's a man with an eye for colors.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry. It comes with 11 sizes, to fit bust circumferences from 30'' to 60.75''. I've been following the size inclusivity discussion on Instagram and I wanted to do better. With that in mind I added one more size to the pattern (60.75'') even though it hasn't been test knitted. I will look for test knitters for that size and update the pattern in case any errors are found but I'm confident all the sizes will work as mathematics doesn't lie. But, in case you run into any trouble, don't hesitate to contanct me and I'll figure it out!

To celebrate the release of the pattern, you can get 25% discount with the code MOTHER until Sunday June 30th.

Speaking of mothers, the dress got its name from my great grandmother. I've never met my grandfather's mother but I've heard stories from mom. Also, fittingly, some people on IG commented that these pictures have a 'mother of dragons' vibe to them and now, I can't unsee it.

Nothing is as elegant and comfortable as a knitted dress.

Anna Johanna

Monday dress

I don't often write about my sewing projects but this project was so lovely I just have to share it with you.

What: Monday dress / Kässäkerho Pom Pom
How: Serger and sewing machine
From: Kässäkerho Pom Pom's linen fabrics

The lovely Finnish LYS, Kässäkerho Pom Pom, has nicely started to offer sewing stuff in addition to yarn. They have beautiful linen fabrics and Merchant & Mills patterns. And at the craft fair last November, they released the very first own pattern, the Monday dress. I ran to their booth as soon as the doors opened so I wouldn't miss it.

In addition to the pattern, I bought light blue linen with their own print, Iltapäivä. I pondered for a while should I take this or the pink one. I had seen their own version on Instagram which had a color block at the  hem and I had just the perfect match at home - a silver colored linen.

The dress was super easy to sew. The pattern had exactly two pieces - front and back. And there were only a few seams to sew. The neckline and sleeves were first sewn with a serger and then stitched into place.

I wanted to copy the color block hem so that was one extra seam to sew. I wanted to modify the dress to have pockets as well. I could've just inserted pockets at the side seams but the color block hem was screaming hidden pockets.

I wondered for a while if it could really be this simple and easy and thought this way might lead into some puckering but it turned out so neat! I cut the pattern at the hem and cut the hem from the other fabric. For the front, I added pockets to both the top and the hem (15 x 19 cm). Next time I'll make them a bit bigger and a bit closer to the sides.

All I did to make the pockets was to seam the front top and hem together following the pocket shapes. A bit of ironing made them look neat and finished - and they really are well hidden unless you're like me and hold your hands in them all the time. I shortened the hem a bit and also made the fold bigger than in the instructions to get a good length for myself.

I just love the dress. It's loose and comfy, yet it drapes beautifully and looks flattering on my body. And the best part was how easy it was to make.

Liath

I went and designed myself a new favorite dress.

What: Liath / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 5.0 mm and 4.5 mm

From: nettilanka.fi Lumoava Paksumpi Sukka, 600 g

Nettilanka.fi wanted to offer me some yarn for designing back in the spring. I chose their sport weight sock yarn which I had never tried before. I turned out to be truly lovely, handdyed yarn. I chose the silver color which is the perfect semisolid gray with a lovely shine.

Originally, I was going to design a cabled sweater but when inspiration strikes, you have to go with it. At the last moment I got a vision of a dress instead of a sweater. I named the design Liath which means grey in Gael.

Liath is an elegant dress with long raglan sleeves. It is knitted seamlessly top down. The dress has a V-neck and an A-line body. Majority of the dress is broken ribbing which gives the fabric lovely character. The cuffs, neckline and the hem have a few rounds of garter stitch.

The hem is shaped longer in the back using short row technique. I really like it that way because it keeps the dress short and playful at the front but makes it long enough so I don't have to be too careful with my moves.

At first, I was a bit nervous about how this thicker yarn would settle in a big fabric like a dress. Luckily, it's just heavy enough to give the dress a lovely drape. This dress has instantly become my trusted uniform for the fall: woolly socks, thights and a knitted dress. It's the perfect outfit keeping me stylish but feeling so good and relaxed to wear.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry or by clicking the button below.

I don't now about you but I could never have too many knitted dresses!