Favorite knits

Everyone in the Finnish school system gets taught how to knit. That doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone learns or even that everyone who learns retains the knowledge. For years, I was like that. I kept yarn around because I wanted to think of myself as someone who knit, but I was never happy with anything that I created and I never wore any of it.

2008 I finally learned how to read patterns and that began a love affair with knitting that lasts to this day. The stuff that ends up as my favorites are always a little unexpected. At least to me.

French Cancan

The French Cancan is the project I’ve made most. I’ve made it four different times. No, five, I forgot about one. It’s an utterly charming shawl, and pretty fun to wear as well. I’ve already made an excessive number of this shawl, I have absolutely no doubt that I will eventually make another. And the reason for this is that this thing, this addictive minx is just so much fun to knit. It hits all my sweet spots as a knitter; it’s fast to knit, it has garter stitch, easy to remember cables and lace, and once you block it, those charming little points that transform the thing from a squishy thing to a lovely, squishy thing. And thus, my quest to make sure everyone in the whole world has their own French CanCan continues.

Spin Raglan

This is the only non-shawl project on this list because it was only last year that I really figured out the joys of a handknit sweater. Spin Raglan was one of the 8 sweaters I finished last year and one of the ones that immediately entered my permanent rotation. It’s squishy and warm and bright green and I love it so much.

Find Your Fade

This is a massive shawl that I mostly wear more like a wraparound sweater. Find Your Fade took Ravelry by storm and I was not immune. Someone helped me pick out colors and I was hooked. It’s warm, squishy and has almost all of my favorite colors (didn’t quite manage to fit in an orange) and it is infinitely wearable. It is the thing that keeps me warm all winter, bundles me up when outside and wraps me close inside.

Celestarium

This is by far the project that I’m most proud of. Celestarium is a pattern that is also an accurate star chart of the northern sky. It took a LOT of work and it is gorgeous and I love it so much. But it’s also not a wear and forget piece like FYF is. It’s unwieldy to wear so I tend to save it for special occasions.

There are other pieces beyond this list that I love, simply because they’re wool and I made them. Because at the end of the day, there’s something supremely satisfying about making something out of some yarn just through your own, and a stranger’s, cleverness.