Jul 13, 20182 min read

Knit Fest 2018

The most anticipated knitting event of the year happened last weekend: the third annual Jyväskylä Knit Fest. When such an event is arranged in your home town, you have to attend. And attend I did: four days straight of yarn, knitting, chatting, eating, drinking... then some more yarn and knitting.

On Wednesday night I went to the pre-fest party/knit night hosted at my LYS TitiTyy where Canadian indie dyer Julie Asselin told us about how she got into dyeing, what inspires her, and how she can't help picking up new hobbies (which drive her husband mad!). She introduced her new Finland-inspired colorways, dyed on a brand new, very divine merino/silk single-ply base, Leizu Fingering Simple.

Julie Asselin Leizu Fingering Simple in 6 Finland-inspired colorways

On Thursday I attended a subversive cross stitch class where we designed statement wall art pieces. Most of the allotted time was taken up by hand-drawing the design — stitch by stitch — on graph paper.

Thursday night: another knit night, this time at the Craft Museum of Finland where the curator told us about the current exhibition, Pehmeetä touhua: Nordic Outsider Craft.

Pehmeetä touhua exhibition at the Craft Museum of Finland

The Knit Fest yarn market was open Friday and Saturday with yarns from all over the world.

Fluffy mohair // Handu

iKKe Yarns whose yarns I've used in several of my designs.

Tulliver Yarn from Germany

The Stephen & Penelope booth was so crowded I couldn't even get to it! Can you spot Stephen West in the photo?

Donegal Tweed // Kässäkerho Pom Pom

Petrichor Yarns

Soft Donegal cakes at Lentävä Lapanen

Bling bling // Lanitium ex Machina

The biggest hit of the market: the handdyed 100% Finnsheep singles, Kässäkerho Pom Pom Suoma Single. She had dyed 100 kilos of yarn just for the Knit Fest market and sold out!

Suoma was the one thing that was on my must-buy list. I beelined to the booth first thing on Friday morning and got these four skeins for a new shawl design. Stay tuned for that in the fall...

In addition to yarn shopping I also had a super productive weekend: I cast on a new sweater design Wednesday night and nearly got the body done. It's amazing how much progress you make when you knit several hours a day, four days straight!