I am not a technical knitter.  I definitely enjoy trying new techniques out, but I have to say that I often go with the tried and true.  I still do a long-tail cast on for pretty much everything, and I still use double pointed needles.  They work for me.  Some knitters really like to broaden their repertoire and gain new skills, and I greatly admire that.  If I absolutely need to, I will learn a new cast on or bind off, but I am just not one of those people…

…but I did find a new technique that I quite like – well, it isn’t so *new* considering it is a traditional technique used in Finland and Estonia, and possibly many other countries with long knitting histories…

Tuulia’s Karelian Embroidery Mitten 

I started this lovely mitten pattern at the Nordic Knitting Conference a few weeks back, and I actually ripped out my progress and went down a needle size, so this is fresh and new.  And my new technique is that little vikkel braid on each side of the stranded colorwork…

-Vikkel Braid Tutorial at The Daily Skein-

It isn’t perfect – it is supposed to be alternating colors instead of a random smattering of stitches – but I am pretty happy with how it looks, even with two red stitches in a row!  (I am not losing sleep over it!)  Tuulia patiently taught the class how to knit the vikkel braid and it wasn’t until I did this second go at it that it really “sunk in”.  It took me awhile to do the one row, but it is worth it!  Nancy Bush also uses this technique in some of her sock patterns, but I never knew how to do it until someone actually showed me.  Thanks Tuulia! 

 …now I am gonna “vikkel” all the time!

Well, maybe not all the time. Simple edgings are definitely appropriate for lots of projects;  I still love the plain edge of the long-tail cast on in a pretty yarn…

…a new beret in a lovely kid mohair…

Through this blog and through the web knitting community, I have met some wonderful Finns, among many other people all over the world.  I have learned more about Finland through blogs, posts, and photographs.  I already wanted to travel to Finland, but I have to say that after actually meeting a wonderful Finn, and learning even more about Finnish culture and textiles, I am ready to pack my bags!

The Nordic Knitting Conference was absolutely great.  Taking classes with Tuulia?  even greater!

Lucky Lolly had a full day with this knitter/designer extraordinaire.  Friday started with a long bus ride and my own personal tour-by-bus through Seattle on my way up to the Nordic Heritage Museum.  Once I got to building, I registered and peeked around looking for my classroom.  Tuulia and I talked a few times before class, and we read each others’ blogs (she is in Project Spectrum!) but this was our first time meeting.  I walked into the auditorium and there was Tuulia!  …and she was wearing this!  and I gasped! (yes, all of the drama is completely warranted!)

Seriously people. Get a load of that.  She knit it in a week specifically for this conference.  The stranding at the bottom is based off of two traditional Finnish mitten patterns with the added braids.  So she did that and just kept knitting until she had a beautiful skirt.  She sure can churn out the amazingness (check out her “Northern Lights” shawl!).  She designed even more things – like the two class projects!

The first class, Finnish Mitten Design, went so well.  Tuulia shared a table full of beautiful mittens in traditional patterns, and then unveiled the special mitten pattern for our class.  The patterning on the cuff is based on an embroidery design from the region of Karelia.  She framed this piece with vikkel braids in two colors, and then moved into the simple traditional stranded pattern for the main mitten piece.  Take a look at this beauty:

Tuulia’s class sample and my humble beginnings on the double pointed needles – knit in three colors of Knit Picks Palette yarn.

My classmate, Karen, knitting her mitten.  This was her first foray into stranded colorwork and she just jumped right in and had great results!

Oh vikkel braid.  I have read about you in Nancy Bush’s books – it is an Estonian and Finnish technique – and I had no idea how to do it until Tuulia showed me in class.  Now I want to try it all the time!

The mittens will take me a little while because I have several other projects on the needles.  I teased that this is more likely to become a knitted oven mitt since I am unlikely to knit two full mittens.  However, they are so beautiful that a pair really would be nice (but almost too pretty to wear!)

The afternoon class, Finnish Textile Traditions,  was more of a history and storytelling session about Finland, some elements of the culture, and lots of information about traditional textiles.  Tuulia talked about the sheep breeds in Finland, handspinning and the equipment used, weaving, embroidery and needle arts, ryas, and about knitting and crochet.  Like so many countries with early textile traditions, things were created for a function and a purpose, and it was not until much later that items took on a more decorative element.  Lace, stranded colorwork, special embroidery additions:  all of these things are known in Finland’s traditional textiles. My favorite part of Tuulia’s presentation was on her research of the Saami, the indigenous people in northern Finland and through Scandinavia.  She shared some of her experiences of working with the Saami as a historian.  It was so fascinating.  I hope we have the chance to sit together again, I want to hear more stories!

[Full Conference Photo Set Here]

One of my classmates brought in a handwoven textile heirloom for analysis.  Her family was Finnish and she wanted Tuulia’s opinion on origins.

Although I have not started on the class project for this class (alas, no picture!) Tuulia adapted a well-known Finnish pattern to a pair of ladies stockings.  She put together the pattern and I am looking forward to starting it in the beautiful green yarn I showed last time.  The lace stitching looks similar to dragon scales, so I think the lightly variegated green will be perfect!  You can see the finished socks on Tuulia’s blog.

What a wonderful day!  I felt so inspired after seeing her work and learning more about Finland.  Thank you Tuulia!  let’s meet again (stop by DC en route to Finland!)

During the lunch break, I walked through some of the galleries at the museum:

In the process of peeking, I spied a certain Ms. Nancy Bush   That was a nice surprise, and I talked to her and thanked her personally for the great interview I got back in 2006. I hear her classes went quite well – she did a series of Estonian lace classes on two days of the conference.

The Nordic Heritage Museum was a wonderful place, and they are planning to continue the Nordic Knitting Conference in the future.  There was some talk about moving the dates to the fall.  Either way, I would love to go again and learn more about this region of the world and the beautiful textiles that come from it.  As you know, I was already a fan of yoked sweaters and stranded colorwork – so I have plenty of inspiration to knit more and more of these Nordic patterns now!

The influx of spring is hard not to notice. Warm temperatures and sunny skies all week followed by a weekend of torrential rains and thunderstorms. After months of gray and muted browns, the earth has truly blossomed in the past few weeks. The greens popping up in the grasses and trees seem electric and glowing. It is a great season to celebrate the colors and textures of the earth for Project Spectrum!

…and I have been doing just that with some crafting of my own…

After months of saving wine corks, I finally decided to go ahead and use them. I made this cork trivet using a small 4 x 4 pine frame, with particle board backing (purchased at the craft store) and some wood glue. It took some time to come up with an arrangement that I liked, and that fit well into the frame. Once it was settled, I glued the corks to the particle board backing, and voila! now my hot bowls and pots can rest on the pretty corks on the dinner table.

I have a few dozen more corks in the bucket, so I may have to make some more of these! Simple, easy, and instantly functional. Plus, it is a nice conversation piece – each of the corks reminds us of a wine tasting, a vacation, or a special event. If you have some wine corks saved, you might consider putting them to use with some of the tutorials outlined here. I am still thinking about a large cork board with a more intricate pattern. But we need more corks for that… and that means more wine

We had a wonderful afternoon meetup with the DC Namaste Knitters. While the weather outside was frightful (thunderstorms and lightening galore!) we were indoors practicing yoga, knitting, and telling stories. We even had delightful desserts. We were having so much fun that I forgot to take a photo. Next time! If you are interested in joining our group, we will be meeting again on May 10th. More details to follow in the Ravelry forum.

Once I got home, braving the deluge, I sat down with a nice cup of tea and finished my Inca mitts.

Inca Earth Mitts
Pattern: Classic Elite free pattern
Yarn: Habu Lamb Wool Linen A-175 1/3.3
Needles: Size US 3 and 4 dpns
Source: Habu Textiles Store (NYC)

The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I wanted to use this earthy palette together, despite being a lighter weight. It is between a fingering and sport weight, so they fit nice and snug over my hands. The pattern was simple, and could be a good introduction for the knitter who wants to try stranded colorwork for the first time. I made a few pattern modifications, other than the yarn substitution. To lengthen the mitt more, I added another repeat of the butter yellow/sage green pattern on both the top and bottom cuff.

The mitts are part of my stashbusting project, spurred on by the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, a little knitalong I am calling Lord Stanley Stashbusting. Watching hockey and knitting are fine companions! “My” team has advanced to the next round, but I am still devotedly watching the other teams and their competitions. This is a good time of year for stashbusting too… I have a trip to NYC coming up this week (NYC = yarn city) and of course, Maryland Sheep and Wool festival is right around the corner. The stash is moving and making room for the new neighbors!

I have a lot to stashbust… many beautiful skeins of yarn that were never really earmarked for a project, so they languish in the stash. Luckily, I have a Ravelry queue a mile long, so it was simply a matter of matching yarns up with projects. And I also have some time to stashbust with all of the playoff hockey I am watching!

I finished this little cowl on Friday night while watching the Penguins/Senators game. I was casting off just as Malone put in the 4th goal that led to the Penguins win! Two balls of yarn that sat in my stash for far too long are now a pretty wearable knit – in appropriately themed colors too, I might add. I used Karabella Aurora 8 and held it together with an unidentified mohair thread (it was in the clearance bin at Springwater last year, and was ballband-less). My intuition tells me, however, that it is Rowan Kidsilk Spray. Size US 8, 16″ circular needles, about 2.5 hours, and now I have a cowl for spring!

…and I followed with a quick second on Saturday night while watching the Montreal/Boston game…

I am loving the new Classic Elite email newsletters with the lovely free patterns! I saw these mitts [Inca Alpaca Fair Isle Mitts] in last month’s newsletter and knew that they would be a great match for some of the skeins in my stash. My mind immediately thought of the earthy quartet of Wool Linen that I picked up at Habu Textiles last spring in NYC. Perfect for Project Spectrum, and a fun colorwork project too! I finished mitt #1, now on to #2!

The yarn has the sturdiness of linen (20%) with the softness of wool (80%). It is a smaller gauge than the pattern calls for, but the mitt fits nice and snug, even though I went down a few needle sizes from the pattern. I had planned to cast on for mitt #2 today during the Washington/Philly game, but I got a little surprise this morning – Kris got tickets for us to actually GO to the game!!! So, I am thinking that colorwork, thousands of people, and the possibility of beer spilling on my knitting, means that it should wait for another game viewing… tomorrow perhaps?

If you wanna join the stashbusting and hockey fun, feel free! Check out the Puck This! group on Ravelry to follow along, and you can even grab the little button I made!

PS – Happy birthday to two special ladies in my life:  my momma and my JennaPinkMonkey~

The color scheme for my mittens differs considerably from the original pattern (from Folk Knitting in Estonia), but I think it is working pretty well. I swatched around with the colors and this was the one that really popped in my mind. The cuff was a simple ripple pattern, and I am about to start the row with the thumb gusset. The pattern knits up so quickly.

I really love stranded colorwork. I see much more in my future.

I worked on this last night as Kris and I wrapped up the final chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was a pleasure to read it together the way we did. I must admit, however, that Kris had to read many of the final chapters because I was getting a little too teary to read aloud.

The mittens will benefit from a good blocking to even up the little stranding and the lace on the cuff. I am using a size 1.5 needle, and I am wondering if a size 1 would have been better…

Mittens (and gloves) have popped up in a few other places, so I am happy to see I am not the only one thinking ahead for the winter. Did you see Jan’s new Selbu mittens? and Joanna just finished some amazing Norwegian gloves! …and Sandy is thinking about (another) encore for the Warm Hands knitalong. So many lovely patterns to choose from!

~Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!~