KnittedGloves AAW No2

I designed and knit a pair of knitted gloves for Him. I used natural indigo dyed our own snag grey AAW yarn (40% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% FinnSheep wool, 10% arctic dog wool,10% nylon) (100g = 238m). They are very warm because of the angora and chiengora (dog wool) fibers. Very sustainable and FasionNOW.

AAW Mittens No8

 

I designed and knit also this pair of AAW mittens. I used plant dyed (coffee) AAW yarn (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool and 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). 

AAW Mittens No7

I designed and knit this pair of AAW mittens. I used plant dyed (saskatoon and coffee) AAW yarn (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool and 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). 

WaterGrassVest OOW

Here it finally is. The result of our 1st ever KnitWithMe project. My own design, knit with you! And I had some pretty winter days with a bit of light to be able to make some pics for you. I call it WaterGrassVest because the shades and the structure reminds me about the grass growing under the water.

The texture is thick because of the knitting method and the structure it creates. That makes it to be a super warm, but not too much if indoors in a chilly building. It is made of our own plant dyed yarns OOW and AAW. OOW (25% arctic dog wool and 75% Finnsheep wool) (100g = 220m) and AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m), they both include so much love and the attitude of FashionNOW. 

True slow craft. Really designed for the functional purposes. I wore the vest this week at the work and am more than satisfied with it. I really am going to make another vest for myself but with a different design of my own. Would you like to knit it with me in the future?

KnitWithMe No1 A

I started a knitting project and had an idea that you could knit it with me. I designed a woollen vest which I am going to wear at work. My craft classroom, where I mostly teach, is big and high. It is a former gym hall! (Perfect place for crafting even bigger projects.) It is a community college building made of the stone right after the WW2 wars in Lapland, Finland. The 3rd winter me working there is about to begin. I do like wear turtle neck polo shirts and a woollen jumper over it. But teaching craft includes a lot of walking around the class room, kneeling down, lifting up etc. Sometimes a woollen jumper is too much but just a polo shirt too little. A poncho or a shawl is difficult but works if I do only office job. That's how I discovered I will make few woollen vests for myself. This is the 1st one. 

For the project I use our own yarns OOW (25% arctic dog wool and 75% Finnsheep wool) (100g = 220m) and AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). They are not available for sale but for your own project you can choose the yarns that are approximately 100g = 220-240m. If you want to make it FashionNOW but have no wool of your own, you can try to buy some local or organic wool. For this project you can use also all your loose end yarns. Anyway, if possible, use 100% natural fibres to avoid supporting oil industry and micro plastic. Also, wool is warmer than other fibers so it helps you to adjust your heating a degree or few lower. That reduces the need of the energy you need for the heating.

You need 60-80 cm long no 3 circular knitting needles (or no 2,5 if you knit loose, no 3,5-4 if you knit tight). I used 80 cm circular knitting needles on the begin but then swap to 60 cm. It's up to you, how you like it.

For the ribbing I use the OOW which I've plant dyed by lupin. 

For the stripes I use AAW which I've plant dyed by reed in 3 different shades.

This instruction is for the size M. If you need bigger, make more. If smaller, reduce. S=172, M=180, L=188 etc. There's 8 stitch gap between each size. No matter what you do, how many stitches you cast on, as long as the final number of the stitches is divisible by 4.

Cast on 180 stitches on your circular knitting needles. You close it up when you start the 1st round. Place the slip marker on the begin of the round.

Rounds 1-14: 2 knit - 2 purl (color 1)

Round 15: knit all (color 1)

Round 16-17: knit 3 - slip 1 (color 2)

Round 18: knit all (color 1)

Round 19-20: knit 3 - slip 1 (color 3)

Round 21: knit all (color 1)

Round 22-23: knit 3 - slip 1 (color 4)

Round 24: knit all (color 1)

Repeat the rounds 16-24 until the vest is long enough and you end up to your armpits. We will continue from there later. 😉

See the notes below.

Place the slip markers on both sides. Make sure it gets even right in the middle front. Meaning that I have 180 stitches. Half of it is 90. The middle front is between the stitches 45-46. In my size the pattern of the 4 stitches figure doesn't fit right in the middle.That's why I marked again the sides so that the back side of the vest gets a bit smaller so I can match the pattern repeat right in the middle front. If it is even one stitch skewed it will be noticed because it comes right under your face at the end. So make sure you match the middle front center there where you want. The front part of the vest can be a bit bigger than the back side. It really is up to one or few stitches so it doesn't matter much.

This is how it starts to look like. The slipped stitches will form out vertical rows. It is like Fair Isle knitting but much easier and faster.

I'll meet you by the armpits! See you!

AAW Headband No1

I knit twisted cross head band. The design is world wide known and easy to make. I used double AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon). One in the natural Pale Fog Blue shade and the other in plant dyed by coffee. I put two threads together to get yarn that's thick enough and create a tweed like impression. It is also double layered which means I knit it in a loop like a sock leg. 

It is a hot summer going on but soon we will turn to August and then we will be knocking the autumn's door and it will be Yuletide sooner than we realize. This is easy and low cost gift to someone very special. You can finish these in few hours. Even a beginner can knit head bands!

AAW Fair Isle Socks No10 (mustard)

I knit one more pair of my own design AAW Fair Isle Socks No 10. For the Fair Isle design I used plant dyed AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). I used tea and fire weed to get the shades of light brown and yellow. The basic color mustard is Kotikulta's Tuokio yarn (75% wool, 25% polyamide) (100g = 200m). My mom gave me some yarn of Kotikulta. I have never used it so we will see how good or bad it is. 

AAW Fair Isle Socks No 9 (short leg)

For the Christmas I designed and knit one more pair of AAW Fair Isle Socks No 9. The leg part is shorther but otherwise they are similar. I used AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) for the leg part Fair Isle design and Novita 7 veljestä (75 % wool, 25% polyamide) (100g = 200m) for all the dark green parts.

I used plant dye for the AAW Fair Isle stripes. I used garden lupine and nettle to make the shades. I really love to work with our own yarn!

AAW LegWarmers No4

 

I designed, plant dyed and knit a new pair or AAW legwarmers. The yarn is AAW pale fog blue (40% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% FinnSheep wool, 10% arctic dog wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). I used plant dyes tea, weld (reseda) and cochineal to create the shades of brown, yellow and pink. It is a very simple traditional Fair Isle style design but full play with the shades. For this design it is easy to use your loose end yarns!

AAW Fair Isle Socks No6

I have finally been able to finish His sock for Yule 2023. I keep going on my own design theme. I used AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) for the leg parts and Novita 7 veljestä yarn (75% wool, 25% polyamidi) (100g = 200m) for the decoration and foot parts in two different shades.

CamelShadesAAW

I made you even better picture to show the shades of the latest dye I did with coffee and AAW. The white back ground and the original shade in the same pic shows better the result. The shade difference is not actually as huge as you could think according to the previous blog post. But, the difference to original natural shade is incredible visible. 

The 1st 500 g I dyed without the coffee in.

The 2nd 500 g I dyed with the coffee sausage (ha ha ha) in. 

And yes, all the coffee is stuck in my old nylon stockings. :)

AAW Dyes

I have desired and planned this for quite a long time. Finally, I have found some time to do it. I used plant dyes to get some more shades for our AAW yarn (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). You can see the original shade above and dyed ones below.

I used Fair Trade coffee to get 500g light camel brown  and 500g camel brown shades. It's been years since I've been doing plant -or any kind of- dyeing. I didn't stir at all the camel brown shade during the process because I wanted to create uneven and spotty result so that at the end the finished product will have a bit lively look what comes to the shade.

AAW Fair Isle Socks No5

I designed and knit more some warm. I did it before for me&myself and for her. This pair is for my mother-in-law but let's not tell it to her. I don't watch much TV but when I do I knit. Is it the same with you?

Again, I used AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) for the leg parts and Novita 7 veljestä Lapintaika yarn (75% wool, 24% polyamidi, 1% polyester) (100g = 200m) for the decoration and foot parts. I have already started to knit a new pair, it will be for him.

AAW Fair Isle Socks No4

Before I made something WarmForMe. Now I designed and knit something warm for YoungLady. She is taller than I am and has longer tights than I have. To add the length I just added three rows between each decoration pattern. If you compare these two pairs, you can see easily what I mean. This is an excellent and easy way to stretch out the length: to leave some space between figures.

I used AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) for the leg parts and Novita 7 veljestä Lapintaika yarn (75% wool, 24% polyamidi, 1% polyester) (100g = 200m) for the decoration and foot parts.

AAW Fair Isle Socks No3

At spring I finally always have time to knit woollen socks for me for the next winter season. Here is the pair I designed and just finished for myself. 

These socks are extremely warm for two reasons: They reach all the way up to my knees and the leg parts is made of AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). Angora wool is 7 x warmer than sheep wool. 

For the decoration and foot parts I used loose ends of StarDustSet made of Novita Tähti yarn (74% wool, 25% polyamidi, 1% polyester) (100g = 200m) and Novita 7 veljestä Lapintaika yarn (75% wool, 24% polyamidi, 1% polyester) (100g = 200m).

AAW Mittens No6

 

I designed and knit simple plain mittens of AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool and 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). I made two pairs in two different size. They both have similar amount of stitches. I just used knitting needles size 2,5 mm for one and size 2,75 mm for the other. Such a small difference in the needle size create even visible difference in the practical and actual size.

AAW LegWarmers No3

I designed and knit another pair of AAW legwarmers. No2 you can find here. See, the pattern is quite similar but the leg warmers are longer. I used our own ethic produced arctic angora wool AAW snag grey shade (40% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% FinnSheep wool, 10% arctic dog wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m).

AAW LegWarmers No2

 

I usually knit woollen socks to warm up toes. This time I designed and knit legwarmers of our pale fog blue AAW yarn (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m). It is a very simple design and easy to make true.

AAW Fair Isle Socks No2

 

I decided to design and knit another pair of long woollen socks for Him from AAW in Fair Isle spirit.

To knit them I used our own pale fog blue AAW yarn (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool and 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) and green and blue Novita 7 veljestä yarn (75 % wool, 25% polyamide) (100g = 200m). 

This and the 1st pair I will wrap with an art book and give him in November 2021 as a Father's Day gift.

AAW Fair Isle Socks No1

I decided to knit long woollen socks for Him from AAW in Fair Isle spirit. That's why I designed new pair of AAW socks. To knit them I used our own pale fog blue AAW yarn (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool and 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) and grey Novita 7 veljestä yarn (75 % wool, 25% polyamide) (100g = 200m). I am going to knit another long par for him. I've actually started already. They'll be for the next winter.