Simple and beautiful knits

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New pattern sneak peek: Winter Berries shawl

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Winter Berries shawl pattern from Woolenberry.

Ready to cast on for a winter shawl?

Winter Berries, the fourth and last shawl in the 2018 Woolenberry Shawl Club goes live next week. I asked for yarn recommendations from my e-letter subscribers a while ago, and DK weight was a popular choice. And I agree. The resulting shawl is warm and cosy, but it won’t be too heavy even if your winters are milder than our Finnish ones.

Using DK weight yarn for Winter Berries gave me an opportunity to work with The Fibre Co. Lore. I’ve wanted to try this new yarn as soon as it came out and it didn’t disappoint. It feels very appropriate for winter, all woolly and warm. The colour palette is gorgeous, and with winter on my mind, I chose a beautiful blue shade called Calm for my shawl.

If you’re using the same yarn, you’ll need 3 skeins of Lore. And if you’re substituting with another DK weight, you’ll need approximately 750 m / 819 yds of it.

We had a photo shoot for Winter Berries on Wednesday, and (as usual) I was knitting it to the last minute. (Even though this time there were two of us knitting, like I shared previously on this post.)I blocked the shawl the night before the shoot. But with the rainy weather here in Helsinki, it wasn’t quite dry in the morning and I couldn’t take it off the blocking mats. But that’s what hair dryers are for, right? So there I am, on all fours on our living room floor at 9 am blow drying the shawl as a couple of painters walk in. “Uhm, are you drying a rug?” I wish you could’ve seen their faces!

Winter Berries goes live next week and it’s only available to Shawl Club members until January 2019. If you’re already a member, you’ll get an email with a download link as soon as the pattern goes live.

If you’re not a member yet, it’s not too late to join! You’ll get the three previous patterns immediately and I’ll send Winter Berries to your inbox and Ravelry library next week. I hope you’ll join us!

Learn more and join the Shawl Club here.

Winter Berries shawl pattern from Woolenberry.

On my needles: New sweater with Malabrigo Arroyo

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On my needles: Sweater with Malabrigo Arroyo

Like I mentioned on this post last week, I’m currently working on a sweater for this year’s Warm & Woolly collection. I’ve made quite a lot of progress since then as I just don’t want to put it down. I’ve separated the body and sleeves and I’m now knitting the body. You can now see the beautiful lace panel on the front, and you might even recognise it from Lake Song, one of my all-time favourite shawls.

I’m knitting the sweater with sport weight Malabrigo Arroyo. I love working with this yarn and the colourway I’m using, Pearl, has to be one of the most beautiful colours I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, the sweater is growing quickly and I can’t wait to wear it!

What I love about seamless top-down sweaters is that you can try them on while knitting. And it seems I can’t stop trying this sweater on! I knit a couple of rows, and then I have to try it on again. The proper way to do that, is to either insert all stitches to a scrap yarn (the time-consuming way) or to take another circular needle and knit (or slip) half of the stitches to it (the smart way).

But sometimes you’re in such a hurry to try the sweater on that you convince yourself that “Surely this 100 cm / 40 inch circular needle I’m using is long enough so that I can get the sweater over my boobs without losing any stitches if I’m super careful.” And then 45 seconds later you’re trapped wearing a half-sweater with stitches unravelling under your left armpit (where you can’t even see) and your husband (who doesn’t know how to knit to save his life) is ordering you to stop moving so he can try rescuing the running stitches… But I’m just being hypothetical here, as I always use the smart way with two circulars to try on my sweater. From now on, anyway.

I’m happy to hear that so many of you are also eagerly waiting for this sweater to be finished. You can follow my progress on @woolenberry Instagram. The pattern will be out later this year along with the rest of the Warm & Woolly collection.

Sign up to Woolenberry e-letter to stay in the loop!

On my needles: Sweater with Malabrigo Arroyo

Still knitting: Winter Berries shawl

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WInter Berries shawl from Woolenberry.

Look at how Winter Berries has grown! I’ve been busy with the new Warm & Woolly collection, so I sent my Winter Berries wip out into the world. I just got it back from my assistant Pauliina, who helped me out by knitting it a bit for me.

I’m very excited about this design and the yarn I’m using. The Fibre Co. Lore is a dream to knit with – both Pauliina and myself can attest to that! It’s very woolly and slightly rustic yet still soft. And it promises to be very warm. (More about my yarn choice in this previous post.)

I love how this simple eyelet pattern looks like berries scattered on a garter stitch base. The shawl is almost at a point where I can start working on the textural lace border, where the berry theme will continue. You can see where the pattern name comes from, can’t you?

Winter Berries pattern will be out in November as part of the 2018 Woolenberry Shawl Club. You can still join the club here.

I have a photo shoot scheduled for the finished shawl next Wednesday, so I better get knitting. Stay tuned for Winter Berries sneak peek next week!