Fairy lights

Don't you just love those little fairy lights people hang in their gardens? In the winter they make falling snow look like fairy dust.

What: Fairy lights hat / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.0 and 3.25 mm

From: Walcot Yarn Opus (3 colors), 48 g total

A year ago, at Edinburgh Yarn Fest I fell in love with Walcot Yarns Opus. It's one of the softest yarns ever, a luxurious combination of Falkland merino ja baby alpaca. I designed my Dre cardigan with it and was excited when they asked me to design an accessories set to be released for Edinburgh Yarn Fest this year.

I wanted to use their lovely color palette better so I went for stranded color work. I envisioned hanging fairy lights, painted with yarn - and so the fairy lights chart came to life.

The hat starts off with a neat long tail tubular cast on. After the ribbing there's few rows of three-color stranded knitting to work the fairy lights chart, and then most of the hat is fairy dust worked with two colors.

But the most beautiful part is at the top. Once the hat is tall enough, there's one more set of fairy lights - this time with just two colors, and the crown decreases are hidden among the color work. The decreases pull the the fairy lights together forming this beautiful flower.

What: Fairy lights mittens / Own pattern
How: Circular needles 3.0 mm
From: Walcot Yarns Opus (3 colors), 53 g total

The hat needed matching mittens so I had to design them too.

The mittens have folded cuffs with the fairy lights chart on top. As with the hat, most of the mittens are worked with the fairy dust pattern with two colors and ending with one more set of fairy lights forming the flowers on top.

The hat comes in three different sizes and the mittens are one-size. You can buy the patterns on Ravelry. The designs call for one skein of main color and mini-skeins of each of the contrast colors. I've used Light gray, Greenery and Golden rod. If you work the pattern in some other yarn you may need to adjust the needle size because Opus is a special yarn with its own kind of drape.

Color work practise

Last summer at the Jyväskylä summer knit festival, I saw for the first time gorgeous silver yarn guide rings by goldsmith Sanni Lehtinen. As a silver ring was a bigger purchase I wanted to think it over for a while but once I got back to her booth she had already sold them all and was packing up her things. On the next winter knit fest I was determined not miss out on the rings so I left work early to get there on time and got myself a silver yarn guide.

What: Mīlēt / Ysolda Teague

How: Circular needle 2.5 mm + yarn guide

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 55 g

Of course I had to try out my new gadget right away! Last spring at EYF, I bought Ysolda's mitten beautiful mitten pattern and it was the perfect opportunity to try out the ring. I stash dove for some Tukuwool scraps and cast on.

The stranded color work seemed smoother and faster than usual with the help of the yarn guide ring as I didn't have to constantly stop to tighten my yarns. I got as far as the thumb but I didn't have extra yarn with me to leave the thumb stitches on hold and so the mitten was left to hibernate - as was the whole project since I had already got to try out my new gadget. You know, been there, seen that, off to something new.

I get easily bored with knitting patterns which is why I almost never make the same design twice. Mittens and socks have the downside that you kinda have to make two of them. And I'm constantly looking to learn and make something new.

In June, I finally decided to fix the situation and finished the first mitten - only to start working on the second one in October. But hey, I did finish them in the end!

These are color work mitts worked in three colors. They have a folded cuff to keep your wrists warm and majority of the mitts is easy dot pattern worked in just two colors. The best part of the mitts is definitely the gorgeous star or snowflake shape at the tip of the mitts and thumbs.

Once again it happened that once I finished the mitts they started to look like they belonged to someone else - my bff. So I gave them to her for Christmas.

After the mittens, I also tried the yarn guide ring on couple other things: sport weight and lace weight yarns. I can honestly tell you that no one should punish themselves by working lace weight stranded color work. Also, this ring was best suited for fingering weight yarns and smooth sport weight yarns. Woollier, coarser sport weights might get a bit stuck and interfere with you knitting flow.

Blended Scotch

Let's take it easy this year, they said. Let's not play secret Santa but just have a KAL at our Christmas party. It's much more relaxed that way, they said. It'll be loads of fun, they said. OK, if I'm being totally honest, I was one of the people saying these things. But no matter who said it, we were all wrong.

What: Blended scotch mitts / Thea Colman

How: Circular needle 2.5 mm

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 35 g

We have had a tradition with my knitterly friends to have a Christmas party and play secret Santa. We've randomly assigned pairs in the summer but still each year we've always left the actual knitting to the last moment - and some years we've even had half done socks in the gift bags. So, it has been a bit stresful from time to time and this year we wanted to take it easy. Or so we thought.

Instead of playing secret Santa, we decided to start a Knit-A-Long at the party. We've done it before and it's been fun.. sort of.

We came across the perfect pattern. The description even said it was designed to be knitted with friends swapping leftover yarns. So, we chose this pattern and everyone promised to bring some scrap yarns with them to the party. I know, it sounds fun so far.

Straight away it turned out we all wanted to use Tukuwool and everyone brought a pile of Tukuwool leftovers. It's really no wonder as our last KAL mitts turned out so nice from Tukuwool but it kind of killed to idea of swapping yarns.

Then, we started going through the pattern and it all fell apart. A) The design had no thumb gusset in it! B) Instead of a thumb gusset, there was some stranded knitting placed at the height of the missing thumb gusset. C) And not just any stranded knitting but stranded knitting with three colors which is hard to work such that it doesn't become too tight. D) The pattern had two sizes and two charts, of which only one worked with both sizes. For the other, you needed to adjust your stitch count before starting the chart. E) This is no fault of the pattern but we tend to be lovers of symmetry and couldn't take the asymmetry of the other chart. F) The pattern was written for DK-weight yarn but the stitch counts were suited for fingering weight. So. Things didn't exactly work out as planned.

In the end, we all modified the pattern and ended up with different looking fingerless mitts. The only thing we all used from the pattern was the height of the cuff. A total mystery why we felt the need to do so.

I made my mitts with the stitch count of the smaller size. Just so I didn't have to adjust the stitch count for either chart. After the cuff, I worked the smaller chart and right after that I did a thumb gusset. I moved the larger chart above the thumb and started the fingers right after finishing the chart.

Usually this amount of modifying makes me easily leave a project for time out for about a year. However, this time I finished the mitts in few days - but ended up waiting several months to weave in the ends. Oh well.

Aada mitts

If you ask dear Hubby, these mittens are the best design in The Girl Who Said Baa. Even so much that he wants a pair for himself!

What: Aada / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 2.5 mm

From: Tukuwool Fingering, 55 + 12 g

The third design I wanted to include in the collection were these mittens that would have a fun stitch pattern combining stranded knitting and simple cables.

The mittens have a looooong brim you can fold in two if you like. Or, if you coat has shorter sleeves you can leave it longer to make sure your wrists won't freeze.

The stitch pattern is a combination of stranded knitting in two colors and cables. It looks fancy but is really easy to work. Originally, I wanted the contrast color cables to be purled stitches but that proved impossible. Perhaps it was for the best as these look really lovely as they are now.

This is a great pattern for trying out different color combinations. The pattern has two sizes so it works for bigger hands as well. And it seems, I'll have to work the bigger size quite soon - and even in the exact same colors! The smaller size took only one skein of the main color because the skeins tend to be a bit overweight.

Photo credits to Miika and sheep credits to Hakamaa sheep farm.

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.

Baby gifts

I had the pleasure to meet my friend's baby and that kind of meeting requires some extra cute knitted gifts.

What: Bits + Pieces / Veera Välimäki

How: Circular needle 3.0 mm

From: La bien aimée Merino Singles + some grey scrap yarn, 18 + 6 g

As usual in these cases, I went straight for my favorite baby patterns. Bits + pieces is my top 1 for baby hats. It's not only sweet but also a fun knit since the cap is knitted with short rows like a heel turn. One huge plus for this pattern is also that it can be knitted in just a few hours. I knitted the hat in size 6 months and took one size bigger needles than in the pattern to be sure the hat would be big enough. Baby sizes are impossible to guess, but I managed to get it just right this time.

We got goodie bags at last summer's knitting festival and those bags were full of yarn tasters. My (and my sister's, thank you very much!) bag had this amazing colorway by La bien aimée called Wee rainbow on a vespa. Finally I found a tiny enough project to use it on. The grey yarn was also in the goodie bag but I can't remember what it was.

What: Mini motif baby mittens / Lynette Hulse

How: Circular needle 3.5 mm

From: Zelda's dippins Wild and free + The Uncommon Thread Everyday Sport, 9 + 8 g

Of course I had to knit something else besides the hat. The teeny tiny thumbless mitts are essetial here in Finland because the spring weather is still quite cold. This pattern is another one of my favorites. The best part in the pattern is that it includes eight (!) different charts to choose from. You can never get bored of this pattern.

This time I chose to go with the owl chart. However, yet again, I chose too variagated yarns and the owl doesn't really show all that well. Will I ever learn? I knitted the mitts in sport weight yarn to make sure they're big enough. I've knitted these before in fingering weight yarn and those mitts are best suited for a newborn.