Rauma Sweater and Hat

I have the task of making a sample for Arnhild's Knitting Studio for the TNNA show in June. This is my sweater kit for one of the new patterns from Rauma Designs of Norway. Pattern #2090RVF and 19 skeins of Vamsegarn and Finullgarn for the size medium. It is quite the pile of yarn!

This cabled cardigan uses 2 strands of yarn which change colors to make subtle horizontal stripes. The blue is Rauma Vamsegarn, a worsted weight yarn. This color will stay the same throughout. The 3 brown shades are Rauma Finullgarn, a fine weight yarn. The two yarns knit together are making a beautiful heathered knit.

The pattern calls for 5mm and 7mm needles. Unfortunately, US needle sizes don't include a 7mm. US10.5 is a 6.5mm and US11 is 8mm. I tried the 6.5mm to make a simple stockinette swatch but that seemed too tight. I did some with the 8mm but I was still not sure about the gauge so I started on the hat first. It is knitting up very quickly on size US11(8mm) needles. It will be a fun chunky hat.

There are cables all around the hat. Can you see them in this close-up? Click on the picture for a larger view. You might be able to see where I changed the browns too.

I had to show off my new yarn helper too. Arnhild's brother-in-law makes these. The balls spin easily without rolling all over the floor now! I can't tell you how many things I have tried for keeping my yarn handy. This is a wonderful solution! I am sure if you contact Arnhild she can let you know how to get one too!

Details
Pattern: Rauma 2090RF
Yarn: Rauma Vamsegarn and Rauma Finullgarn, 2 strands throughout
Needles: So far I am using size US8(5mm) and US11(8mm)

Our online shopping cart is up!

We did it! The online shopping cart is up and functional now! You can see it at DenisesNeedleWorks.com. You can shop for Rauma yarns here. All of the patterns are here.

My congratulations go to Philip, my second oldest, who did all of the web work for me! He has put together a beautiful site which I hope will be easy to use too. You will find his name on all of the pages.

Thanks also to Wesley, my 17 year old, who spent time staring at the computer screen to cut out all of the yarn pictures and resize them and the pattern pictures to fit into our boxes.

And Amy, my 14 year old, who did a lot of the data entry for the yarns page. She is a great typist though I think she likes writing stories better than doing data entry.

Oh, and my thanks to Rosie who kept Carl entertained so Mom could work on the web site!

Felted Mittens

I finally found time to post a picture of the felted mittens that I started during the knitting retreat in late February. These beauties are nice and thick and warm! Too bad I didn't think of this sooner. They would have been nice to have when the weather here was below zero.

I used Rauma Vamsegarn for these on size 8 needles. They were knit in the round on double point needles. It took less than 2 skeins of the yarn. I am getting quite the collection of little bits of wool yarn. I might have to find a project to use up the small bits.

This is one of the patterns in the Rauma LVS 3 book. It shows some embroidery and an tassel on the cuffs but I have decided that would just get caught on things so I will leave it off I think.

Now my hands will be warmer!

Pattern can be found here

The yarn is also available at my web site www.denisesneedleworks.com