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.

Eazy

I have a tendency to go for the more challenging knitting projects. However, this time I challenged myself to design something mellow and easygoing. And here's the result.

What: Eazy / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 4.0 mm

From: John Arbon Textiles Viola DK, 390 g

Since I wanted to design a relaxed and easy cardigan I kept the silhouette simple. The cardigan starts off by casting on shoulder stitches for the back. There's no neckline shaping at the back or front. The shoulders are shaped with short rows. The back and fronts are worked separately to the underarms and then the rest of the body is worked in one piece. The cardigan comes with waist shaping.

Since the silhouette is so simple I had to add a little something to keep me interested. So the cardigan got this amazing brioche braid at the center of the back. The braid is worked in one-color brioche with simple increases and decreases. It looks intricate but is quite easy to work and the pattern comes with both a chart and written instructions.

The brioche continues at the front edges, the hem and the cuffs - though without the braid pattern. You can use any stretchy bind off but I really recommend trying out Italian bind off. It gives the most beautiful finishing touch to brioche. If you're not familiar with the technique I've made a little tutorial video on my Instagram highlights.

The pattern is now available on Ravelry and it comes with sizes XXS-XS-S [M1-M2-L1-L2] XL-2XL-3XL-5XL with finished bust circ. 39.25-72'' / 98-180 cm. Use the code BRAID to get 20% discount. The code is valid through April 22nd.

buy now

The yarn was new to me. I fell hard for it at Edinburgh Yarn Fest and promised to design something special for it. It's a DK weight soft merino yarn from the British spinning mill, John Arbon Textiles. And the best part are the gorgeous heathered colors. I especially love this warm yellow called English Mustard. John Arbon were kind enough to offer a discount code for the pattern launch so in case you would like to try out the Viola DK, you can use the code EAZYCARDILOVE in their webshop to get 10% discount. The yarn discount is valid through April.

Ekorre

My third sweater of this year is a real cutie pie! 

What: Ekorre / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 2.75 mm

From: Louhittaren Luola Kytöläinen II, 202 g

The story of this sweater begun last fall as we were headed for Lapland to go hiking amidst the fall foliage. A talented dyer has her shop along the way and I had never before had the chance to visit her store. Our hiking trip gave me the perfect excuse to finally visit Louhittaren Luola (Knitlob's Lair).

We stopped for an hour and I got to see the dyeing studio and did a fair bit of shopping as well. I was especially excited to finally get to test Kytöläinen II which is a beautiful handdyed light fingering weight yarn of Finnish wool. I'm always into local wool! And it didn't hurt that there was this stunning pearl grey tone that I paired up with a warm hazelnut brown. I was in the mood for color work. 

And color work it was to be. The yarns turned into this sweet sweater called Ekorre. The sweater is worked seamlessly top-down. The sweater has a round yoke with a woodland-themed color work pattern featuring acorns, squirrels and oak leaves.

The yoke ends with a purl ridge and the rest of the sweater features a simple stitch pattern giving the sweater a bit of texture.

I haven't fully embraced the fashionable bishop sleeve trend but I'm quite smitten with these sleeves where you stop the decreases a bit early to give a little more room above the cuffs.

One of my favorite things about this sweater is definitely the folded neckline. Provisional cast on and a folded neckband give the neatest finishing touch to a sweater. It also helps the neckline stay in shape.

You can find Ekorre on Ravelry and there's an introductory discount of 20% with the code ORAVA (squirrel in Finnish). The code is valid through March 15th. The pattern comes with sizes XXS-5XL, a finished bust circumference of 35.75-66.5''. The recommended ease is 4.75''.

With this sweater I finally got my last missing letter and now I have designs starting with all the alphabet from A to Z. And so will start the Anna Johanna Alphabet Challenge! The challenge being to work a design of mine starting with each letter. There's no deadline for this KAL. There's a KAL thread in my Ravelry group where you can come and chat and show of your projects. If anyone is goofy enough to complete the challenge they will get a signed diploma and my enamel pin - and of course get their name in the Hall of Fame.

Kuura

This year's first issue of the Finnish craft magazine, Taito, is a special one for me: not only does it include my new sock pattern but I got to model all the designs! The Taito magazine team came to my town in search of snow and winter. Unfortunately, all we had to offer was melting ice, cold wind and icy rain. Ah, the glamorous life of a model.

What: Kuura / Own pattern

How: Circular needle 2.25 mm

From: La Bien Aimée Super Sock, 70 g

The inspiration for designs was frost and I immediately started thinking of socks with lace flowers. I found this beautiful icy colored Super Sock by La Bien Aimée and cast on.

The socks are simple with a simple lace on top - just the kind most people like to knit. But designing simple socks gets a bit boring so I decided to keep things interesting by writing the pattern in both directions - cuff down and toe up.

Some like to work their socks the traditional way, cuff down. And others prefer the more modern direction of toe up. So the pattern includes both directions and everyone gets to pick their favorite. Or, if you're a bit mischievous like me, you can make a mismatch pair.

I ended up making six socks all together! First, I made my sample pair - only to realize both socks had mistakes on them. The first sock (cuff down), I had made a mistake on the second lace repeat just after the cuff ribbing. The second sock (toe up), I had accidentally purled the middle stitch of the lace all the way. Yep, it should've been a knit stitch. So that's two socks that were set aside to wait for better days. Then, it happened that a dear friend of mine asked me to knit her a pair for their wedding and of course I did that - this time with no mistakes. four socks done. And finally, I had to unravel both of my sample socks and rework them and that gets us to a total six socks for this design.

Kuura socks have this beautiful lace on the instep. Depending on the direction of knitting, there's a little flower just before the cuff or toe. The gussets are purled which creates a fun little design feature.

The pattern in the magazine is only in Finnish but it will be available in English, as an individual download on Ravelry in June. (The horizontal pics are my own while the lakeside photos were taken by the Taito magazine team.)

Budding

I've been looking forward to releasing this pattern! Last fall, I and bunch of other knitters got to have a sleepover at our LYS and during the night, I bought a sweater quantity of Brooklyn Tweed Peerie. I had been wanting to try it out for the longest time but never got around to it - until now.

What: Budding / Own pattern

How: Circular needles 3.5 mm

From: Brooklyn Tweed Peerie, 180 + 37 + 27 g

I'm usually into really muted low-contrast colors but this yellow was calling my name. I got three different colors because I wanted to try designing a color work sweater where the background color changes after the yoke.

I have a somewhat old-fashioned style. I love 40's fashion. I'm so happy when I manage to design something that fits my oldish style spot on but still feels contemporary enough to wear today. I think Budding nails it.⁠

So my sweater quantity turned into a nifty little joyous cardigan with a round yoke full of flowers. The cardigan has long sleeves and a cropped hem. Budding has positive ease yet a close-fitting hem ribbing ending at the natural waist making it comfortable and stylish at the same time. As this is a cropped design, I added instructions for an optional bust dart.

The cardigan is worked in the round and cut open once finished. I know, I know, I can hear your screams of horror all the way here. Steeking can sound super scary but it's quite easy and the sweater will be quite safe. You just need a non-superwash yarn. Woolly, rustic yarns can be re-enforced with crochet while rounder fibres might need sewing machine seams before cutting. And the trick to steeking is that knitted fabric wants to unravel top-down, not sideways. That's why cutting won't kill your new sweater. The pattern comes with a photo tutorial for steeking so do not be scared. I re-enforced my cardigan with couple machine-sown seams and stitched the raw edge into place onto the wrong side. 

I know that there will always be knitters for whom there's no amount of encouragement that  would make them try out steeking. So Budding includes instructions for a pullover version too. I also asked some of my test knitters to make this as a pullover so you can go through their projects on Ravelry to decide if you want to make yours as a cardigan or a pullover. 

You can find Budding on Ravelry and if you use the code FLOWERS, you will get the pattern with 20% introductory discount.

add to cart

I'm also so happy to be able to offer you another code: you can get Brooklyn Tweed Peerie for your own Budding at a 10% discount from Brooklyn Tweed's online shop with the code 'BuddingCardigan' until February 24th. If you use this link, the discount should be automatically applied.