Rohdin

Sometimes I want to knit something especially intersting and challenging (read: alway!) and once in a while I want to work on something mellow and relaxing without giving it much thought. I surprised myself with the latter this time.

What: Rohdin / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 4.0 mm

From: Wishbone Flax Flower, 92+76 g

 

Rohdin is just that - a simple, understated shawl with not much happening. The shawl is arrow-shaped: it starts off in the sharp corner with increases worked at the edges. The hole at the bottom of the arrow is filled working short rows. To keep things just interesting enough, the shawl has contrast color stripes so it's ease to see your progress.

Finally, you'll pick up stitches at the bottom edges of the shawl and work a lace edging in the contrast color. You can block the sea shell lace straight or highlight the shape by placing your blocking needles at the yarn over holes of the last lace row - which is what I did with my sampel shawl.

Usually, when I design something simple it's all about the yarn. This was the case here as well. I picked up some Wishbone Flax Flower from Edinburgh Yarn Fest last spring. It's a single-ply combination of SW merino and linen. The name of shawl means flax in Finnish.

The linen gives crisp texture to the shawl as well as beautiful drape. The soft merino is a fun combination with the long fibers of the linen. And, especially in this deep ink color, the white linen fibers stand out beautifully.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry and use the code FLAX to get 25% introductory discount until  Saturday October 5th.

Verso

I've been enjoying the spring weather and it has called me to work on some lighter knits for a change. I've never been much of a cowl person but on these sunny days, a shlanket-sized shawl is just too much.

What: Verso / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.5 mm

From: Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the wool, 100 g

After mulling over it for a year, I finally decided to get me some Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool yarn from Edinburgh Yarn Fest. It's a gorgeous yarn that's dyed to look like handspun. It's a 2-ply yarn where each ply has been dyed separate creating a beautiful gradient of colors.

I bought two skeins (two different colors) and figured I shoud design a cowl with them. The yarn is sport weight and the two 50 g skeins just wouldn't be enough for a shawl. I never thought I'd need a cowl but I've converted completely. The cowl turned out cute as ever and it's the most handy accessory for this spring weather.

Verso is a cowl that used two different gradient-dyed yarns. It plays on their colors and different textures. The cowl has ribbing, stripes, lace, you name it! It's a fun and super quick knit as it's almost impossible to put it down. You just have to see what comes next and how the colors will behave.

What: Verso / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.5 mm

From: Schoppel-Wolle Edition 3.0, 100 g

Handdyed yarns are true works of art and I'm totally priviledged to get to work with them. But it is a fact that they can easily be out of someone's budget. With that in mind, I worked another sample in a much more easily affordable yarn that fits the pattern jus as nicely.

Edition 3.0 has a lower yardage than Dyed in the Wool but if you leave out the seed stitch section in the middle you can actually get by with just two skeins of Edition 3.0 like I did here.

The pattern has an introductory 25 % discount until the end of the week with the code SPRING.

Easy knitting, eh?

Few years ago I knitted the best sweater ever. Except that it had a ton of little things I felt could be tweeked to make it even better. It wasn't perfect but it was the best sweater in the world.

What: 3 in 1 / alfa knits

How: Circular needles 3.5 and 4.0 mm

From: Tukuwool scraps and Pirtin kehräämö Kampalanka, 319 g

Every once in a while my brain needs to take a holiday and work on someone else's pattern. You know, knit without thinking. Except that if you know me, you know that's never really the case.

So I needed little mindless knitting and after staring at my Tukuwool leftovers for a moment I developed a craving for another 3 in 1 - this time in Finnish wool. It would be so great: the pattern calls for five colors and my scrap yarn basket was full of Tukuwool Fingering, some Kässäkerho Pom Pom Suoma Single and other Finnish yarns. I've made the sweater before so I knew how much I would need each color. So I grabbed the kitchen scale and sat down on our living room floor to figure out the yarns. I tried out all possible combos but in the end I ended up choosing five colors of Tukuwool Fingering. For the first hem, I chose Ruura and Rae, for the middle sweater I went for Selja, and for the main sweater I chose Auri and Uupo.

If you're not familiar with the pattern you should know the measurements are a bit off. The first time I made this I started working on size M - even though my measuments are closer to L. And both me and Hubby could fit in that sweater. So, I unraveled that and worked the sweater in size XS! In the end it fitted me nicely except that the sleeves could've been a bit looser. So this time around I cast on for size S. Though, I didn't stop to consider that Tukuwool is a more airy and fluffy than my yarns last time and now the sweater is a bit too loose. The sleeves are still a bit thight.

The sweater is worked bottom-up. First, you make the stripy hem. That's shaped with short rows which can be a bit of a pain with striping as you constantly have to remember to carry along the other color to have it in the right spot. Then, you cast on for the middle sweater. That one has a stockinette stitch hem that's meant to roll and the first two sweaters are worked together before continuing with the solid color middle sweater. Finally, you'll cast on for a third sweater, join it with the middle sweater and again, shape with short rows while working stripes.

In the original pattern, both the middle and main sweater have a stockinette stitch edging but I modified the main sweater to begin with few rows of garter stitch to make it different from the first two. I also modified the stripes to be 4-2 stripes instead of 2-2 - again to differentiate it from the first sweater. This made working short rows even more irritating but modifying things to be harder seems to be my thing.

Once I finished the short rows I wanted to throw the sweater in the bin. Never ever before have I had any trouble combining any Tukuwool colors together but for some reason this time the greenish yellow Uupo made the sweater look dirty. I cooled off for a couple of weeks and then ripped out Uupo and replaced it with this lovely orange Repo. Much better!

Once I got past the short row shaping (again) the sweater was coming along really fast. A bit too fast even. At this point I started to notice that my gauge was off since the sweater was looking way too tall. I didn't want to rip it back but I did have to modify the sleeve caps to make them fit with my gauge. More mods in the horizon. So much for that mindless knitting.

The sleeves I worked as instructed - until it was time to join them with the body.

If you take a look at my first 3 in 1 you'll notice that the neckline looks a bit different. In the pattern, there's just few purl rows before changing from one color to the next. It bothered me last time that the sweaters really look like layering pieces at the hem but not as much at the top - and it would be easy to modify. Of course that meant a lot more bind off - pick up and knit. But it was totally worth the trouble. It looks awesome and truly like three different sweaters.

The last challenge was the main color Auri. As my gauge was off I run out of it. First I replaced it with another Finnish yarn which happened to be exactly the same color (they're both spun at the same mill too!). But I lost at yarn chicken with that one as well. Finally, I had to work the last few rows with Auri in Tukuwool Sock. It's thicker yarn but you don't really notice as it was just last few rows. And I'm super happy I got to use up old scrap yarns.

It turned out not be easy, relaxed and mindless knitting. Not even close. Though, I should have known as that's what always happens when I decide to go for easy knitting. But I really, really love the sweater. It was well worth all the trouble and it looks so good.

Tiny knits for a tiny person

One of the best things in life is when you get to be a godparent to child. As a godmother, I'm assuming I have to right to loose all control when it comes to Christmas presents. This time, I made two little knits for our little goddaughter.

What: Unicorn Trails Child Sweater / Sophie McKane

How: Circular needle 4.0 mm

From: Kässäkerho Pom Pom Donegal DK + scrap yarns, 106 + 24 g

One category in the Indie Design Gift-A-long is garments: cardigans, sweaters and dresses. And of course, being a statistician, I had to optimize. You see, the rules state that kids' clothes are ok as long as they're not for a 1 year old or younger. If they are, they're counted in the baby category. So I was very happy to run into this lovely little pattern for which the smallest size was 2 years. And even better, I just so happen to have a one year old goddaughter so it'll be perfect for the spring or next fall.

The design is a cute and simple cardigan with color work yoke and sweet little pockets. My stash had just enough mint colored DK tweed yarn for the main color and then all I had to do was to dig up some scrap yarns for the color work.

I'm more than happy about the beautiful scrap yarn gradient from dark purple to sassy pink I managed to find. I haven't been holding on to the smallest left overs for nothing.

And hey, how cute is that cardigan!

What: Elfbaby hat / Robynn Weldon

How: Circular needle 2.75 mm

From: Kässäkerho Pom Pom Donegal Tweed, 34 g

For the baby category I found this sweet little elf cap. The pattern was really nice. It had several options for the edging - and of course I just had to go for the most difficult one with twisted purls...

If the edge took its sweet time the rest of the hat flew off the needles. A big reason  for that was the yarn. The tweed yarn felt like melted butter. I don't think I've ever tried a softer yarn than this one.

I'm really bad at tossing away left over yarns. I hold on to the smalles little scraps thinking that one day I'll figure out a use for these. And today was one of those days! I had more of the yellow yarn so I worked the edge with it and then started striping 3 rounds stripes as far as the grey would last. I did run out of the grey yarn just before the end but that's fine because there's this funny little knot on top and it kinda hides the fact that the yarn ran out.

At first I thought I don't know any baby to give this to. But since it almost fit me (let's not go to those pics!) I figured it would be just perfect for our goddaughter.

Crooked stripes

More legs for the octupus hunt.

What: Slanted stripes / Andrea Rangell
How: Circular needle 5.0 mm
From: Handspun Pigeonroof Studios BFL/Silk + Triskelion Elmet, 46+ 29 g

For some reason, in the Gift-A-long shawls and other neck things have been separated into two categories. So, in order to tame the octopus I needed knit a shawl and a cowl.

I dove straight into the deep end and fell in love with this huge stranded colorwork thing that some might also call a cowl. After a while I came to my senses and realized that I needed a whole lot quicker project in order to tame the octopus that is the eight categories of the GAL. Luckily, I happened to run into this simple little cowl by the same designer. Though, I will definitely want to make the colorwork thing one day!

This cowl is designed for two yarns: a neutral solid gray and lovely, lively green-blue yarn. The colorful yarn is something I was drooling over at the Spincycle yarns booth at Edinburgh Yarn Fest last spring. It's super pretty. The yarn is made to have colors behave as if it was handspun. It was also quite expensive so I didn't buy it - though I really really wanted to. Luckily I happen to spin myself so I did have the real thing in my stash.

I had a couple of options but in the end I chose this lovely BFL/silk mix from Pigeonroof Studios with the colors running from yeallow to brown and orange. I paired it up with wonderfully woolly Triskelion Elmet in a color that reminds me of wheat fields.

The cowl was every bit as relaxing as I hoped. It's worked in the round with decreases at one end and increases at the other which made the stripes slanted. Also, the width of the stripes kept changing. That's it. I only wish I would've picked smaller needles as this turned out a bit too loose.

Colorful stripes

Or not.

What: Basic socks / Own pattern
How: Circular needle 2.25 mm
From: Scrap yarns, 60 g

Few years ago I came up with a fun way to use scrap yarns. I made a pair of socks for a friend knitting stripes with two yarns that were almost the same color. You couldn't really see the stripes but they made the colors behave differently and I had such fun making them. It may well be that I'm the only knitter on earth who has fun making invisible stripes but I liked them so much that ever since then I've wanted to try it again.

I went through my scrap yarns and picked out all creamy neutrals and knitted a pair of stripy socks. I cast on 60 sts, worked 12 rounds of ribbing and then started working 3 round stripes. The heel is a French heel, the kind that has a round shape.

The colors didn't work exactly as I planned. They had a bit too much contrast and you can clearly see the stripes. And then there was this cute but unfortunate blue glitter yarn that turned out the be way more blue than I imagined. Look how loud it is! How rude.

You can't really blame the socks for having too much color but I really like them. I've been longing for a pair of light colored socks in my wardrobe and now I have them.

I am a bit bothered by the amount of contrast in these and I will probably have a do-over at some point. I still have a bunch of light mint scraps and deep green scraps so we'll see.

Shaken, not stirred

I've had the hardest time keeping this under the wraps! I had a vision of a shawl in the summer but since I thought of making it into a mystery knit-along, I had to wait. Next, I waited for the two Finnish indie dyers, lanitium ex machina and iKKe to put their yarn kits up for grabs. And then, I had to wait for the MKAL to start in September. So much waiting! I tried to keep my cool and let everyone else have fun with the MKAL but then I couldn't stop myself and I just had to cast on for another shawl. And then, more waiting: I still had to wait until today to get to show you these pictures of my beautiful shawl - except that now there are already two shawls to show you.

What: Shake it up / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.75 (grellow shawl) and 3.5 mm (blue-beige shawl)

From: Fru Valborg Merino Swirl, 280 g (grellow) and Koukuttamo Hehku Singles + Madelinetosh Merino Light + Uschitita Merino Singles, 58 + 93 + 95 g (blue-beige)

The mystery shawl consisted of a total 13 clues that had variations of garter stitch, stripes, lace, brioche and at the end, one row garter stitch stripes.

The idea is to take three colors and play with them to see how beautifully they can blend together. Shake it up starts off with color 1 and soon, you'll begin striping with color 2 until you will switch it to be the main color.

Color 3 is worked in unnoticed. There's first brioche with colors 1 and 2, color 2 being on top. At the halfway point of the brioche you will switch the background color to color 3. There's some striping with colors 2 and 3 until at the very end you'll be using colors 3 and 1 together. There's something exciting happening all the time - yet the shawl looks quite harmonious.

The shawl has an arrow shape. You start at one sharp corner and work increases at the edges and decreases in the middle. At the end, the wedge at the center is filled up working decreases at one edge of the shawl while continuing the increases at the other edge and the decreases in the middle.

You might think the shawl is finished once the wedge is filled up. But there's one more section to work: you'll pick up stitches from the bottom edges of the shawl and work garter stitch edging using color 2 and shaping it with short rows. If you still have enough color 2 left, you can work an i-cord bind off around the shawl. It really ties the colors together.

One of my favorite things about Shake it up is that you can use the rest of the yarns to make tassels. This way you won't have any left overs.

I had so much fun organizing the mystery knit-along. So much that you can be sure, I'll do another one next year!

If you happen to be in Finland next weekend, please do come and join us for Shake it up meet up at the yarn shop Lentävä lapanen in Järvenpää.