Iowa State Fair

I entered the fair for the first time this year. I have thought about it before but never followed through to get it done. Some of the knitters from the Ames Public Library's Knit and Crochet group were talking about entering so I thought maybe this year should be the year I finally did too. I found that there were lots of categories in knitting. I thought I might be able to enter a few things so I started making a list of what I had and which categories they would fit into. I came up with 15 items!

Click on the picture for a better look.
If you make it to the fair check out the Fiber & Threads, upstairs in the Varied Industries Building.

Finished sweaters

I got the striped sweater finished earlier this week. It is in the tub ready to go to Arnhild's Knitting Retreat tomorrow. It is made of Vamsegarn, a worsted weight yarn from Rauma of Norway. It is a cute sweater but there were sooooo many yarn ends to weave in!

Carl says that he would like it if it didn't have the pink in it. He is okay with the purple though.

I also finished the little pink and blue Baby Surprise Jacket. This one is going with me to the retreat too. It is made of Rauma's Babygarn. Babygarn is so soft you can hardly believe it is 100% wool! It is washable too which is really nice for a baby garment.

We are all packed up for the retreat. We go set up tomorrow morning. It will be a busy weekend!

Out with the old, In with the new

Since the mittens were done I decided I needed to cast on something new. Well, it isn't new exactly. The Baby Surprise Jacket pattern has been around for quite a long time. You can find it in Elizabeth Zimmermann's books and as a separate Spun-Out pattern, all from School House Press.

I wanted to try out the Rauma Babygarn. It is a wonderfully soft, washable, 100% wool baby yarn. And there are lots of colors to choose from, not just the usual baby pastels. I can think of lots of projects that would work well in this Babygarn.

I started knitting this little sweater thinking that I would try to take some progress pictures along the way. It knits up so fast though that I suddenly realized that it was almost finished and I hadn't gotten a single picture of it. So here it is, almost finished. I think I have less than a dozen rows to knit now before I sew it together.

This sweater is a little piece of origami. First you can see it flat as I have been knitting it. The last picture is folded together the way it will be finished.

It is an amazing transformation! I am convinced that Elizabeth Zimmermann was a genius.

Blue and White Baby Surprise

This BSJ is a long time coming but isn't it pretty? After knitting the light blue for what seemed like forever I decided that it was a little boring looking...well, maybe a lot boring...so I added the white and I love the way it came out!

It is made of Hobby Lobby's Baby Bee Sweet Delight Twist in bare blue, 85% Acrylic/15% Polyamide. The label claims it is bulky weight but it seems more like a heavy worsted similar to the Red Heart yarns. Has anyone else noticed that Hobby Lobby's Baby Bee yarns are not labeled correctly? I used most of 2 skeins, 226 yards each, on size 8 needles. The white is some Utopia acrylic yarn that was left over from another project.

I think this one would probably fit about 9-12 months, maybe even to 18 months. It measures 11 inches across the chest when flat, so 22 inches circumference and 14 inches neck to hem.

I added fold back ribbed cuffs and did an I-cord bind off around the edges. I cheated on the shoulder seams and crocheted them together with the white yarn. I haven't decided on buttons yet. I need to go dig through my button boxes and see what I might have.

Yes, I have more than one box of buttons, shoe box size actually.

Mindless knitting projects

I needed something extra for a baby gift so I started the baby bib from Mason Dixon knitting. It is one of my mindless knitting projects. Very easy garter stitch with cotton yarn.

Another mindless project is the hats I am making for Knit-a-cap and the kids at church. I vary the number of stitches, size of needles, type of yarn and even how many strands to get different sizes. I have 15 hats completed now. The top two are the same yarn with different numbers of stitches. The green one is a strand of worsted and a strand of baby yarn.

I also picked up an unfinished Baby Surprise Jacket last week and decided that I should finish it. It is a nice soft yarn from Hobby Lobby's Baby Bee line. It is a fairly heavy worsted weight and I am using a size 8 needle for this one. I think it would be large on the one year old I am babysitting this week.

I have been looking at it and wishing I had added some stripes though. It looks a little boring doesn't it? I am to the buttonhole row at this point. Maybe I can add some color with an I-cord binding and some cuffs?

"But that is not all," said the Cat....

"Oh no, that is not all."

Here are a few more things that I can do....

I am almost finished with the Cat hat. I just have to weave in ends on the inside before I finish the inside hat. I think I may make a drawstring so the stuffing can be removed for washing. I am not quite sure what to stuff it with yet either.

I also have been trying to get another Baby Surprise sweater finished. Fiaba Baby is a really soft cotton yarn. I need to seam the shoulders and sew on some buttons. I was thinking that I might make a hat and booties too. There is plenty of yarn left. The baby has arrived already but the sweater will be a little big for her right now. Still, I'd better not put it off too long. It is amazing how fast babies grow!

Preemie Baby Surprise Sweaters

These are the cutest little sweaters! They will be going to a very special set of twins that are expected any day now.

This is an adaptation of the Baby Surprise Jacket that Elizabeth Zimmermann designed. Knit on size 4 needles, I used 3 different baby yarns for the stripes. They are very randomly striped. It was basically whenever I remembered to or felt like changing colors.

I used the crochet pattern from Caps to the Capital project for the hats. I unvented a flower for them in crochet too.

Little sweaters

I finished the knitting on the first of the preemie baby surprise sweaters. It is really cute! I need to find buttons for it yet. I am thinking I might crochet the sleeve seam shut across the top so it will be on the outside. With preemies they always seem to suggest that you make seams as flat as possible. I may continue the crochet around the neckline to give it a more finished look. The second sweater is started on a 10 inch needle above the finished one. They will not be exactly the same color arrangement, as you can see. I enjoy mixing it up with the stripes on this pattern.


As I was sorting through yarn one day, my 4 year old decided that he needed me to make a sweater for him. I had been planning to make the Wonderful Wallaby for some time but just hadn't gotten to it yet. We found 3 colors of this TLC Wiggles yarn. I have finished one sleeve and I am almost done with the second. Then it is on to the body. The main body will be blue to match the sleeves with the pouch pocket in yellow and the hood in red. Carl chose where he wanted to place the different colors. I hope I have enough of the blue or we may have to add some stripes to the yoke.

The Wonderful Wallaby is a Cottage Creations pattern. It is a seamless raglan with a knit on pouch pocket sized for tiny baby to large adults. If you do a search you can find lots of helpful information about knitting this sweater. It has been a popular one at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop where I teach. Two of the other teachers have taught it as a class several times now. This sweater is the dress up version of a sweatshirt. Hmmm, maybe I should make one for myself too....

Sweaters big and small

First my Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater:

I have been trying to get this one done because it is bitterly cold right now and I would really like to be wearing it! I finished the color work this weekend and knit the button band. I still need to knit the buttonhole band and seam up the sleeves and underarm.

I really like the fit of this one. I started with the small and increased to the medum at the sides. I think it will be a closer fit through the waist. My last one was rather loose there.

I am thinking about using the same basic pattern but with some cables or other pattern stitches so I can make it all in one color. The fair isle is nice but I don't really want all of my sweaters to look alike! I have enough yarn to make it in either red, black or an aqua green.

Now to the small:

I am working on a preemie size Baby Surprise sweater. It is an adaptation of Elizabeth Zimmerman's pattern. It is going to be so tiny! I will be making a second one as these are for a set of twins.

Okay, so here is the last one:

The Spiral Baby Blanket is getting bigger. It is about 12 inches from the center. I am not sure quite how large to make it. I am thinking that it should probably be at least 30 inches in diameter for an average size newborn baby.

Finished UFO!

This is the Baby Surprise Jacket finally finished! So cute and soft! The yarn is self-striping Mondial Kinder Baby, 70% merino wool/30% acrylic. I used size 6 needles with this. The sweater is maybe a 6-12 month size but the garter stitch is so stretchy that it may fit an older baby. I also added ribbed cuffs to lengthen the sleeves.

It is a gift and I don't know if the baby will be a boy or a girl. This yarn has both pink and blue but was pretty heavy on the blues and green so I am hoping that it will look appropriate for either gender.

I enjoy this pattern so much. I think it is that it is pretty much mindless knitting. As soon as one is finished, I start thinking about which yarn to use for the next one. I want to cast on right away!

Note: Someone asked where they could find the pattern. The Baby Surprise Jacket is in two of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books Knitting Workshop and The Opinionated Knitter and available in a Spun Out as a single pattern for about $3 from Schoolhouse Press. There is even a video that was recently made to go with the pattern.