Working, working

I have been so busy since I got back from Norway! My kids are back to homeschooling, things are slowly getting sorted out with my father-in-law's estate--very slowly, the household routine is getting back to more or less "normal" and I have been knitting, of course!

My knitting lately has been primarily for some patterns that I have been working on. I finally have the first new on up! DN1009 Mohair Mix-Up Mitts and Hat is a pattern that I developed to use the Plumet Mohair yarn that I have on the web site. It is such a nice quality yarn and very light weight. In this pattern I used it in combination with another yarn to add that soft touch to the mittens and hat.

I have knit a LOT of mittens over the years for my 8 children and charity efforts. I have developed a favorite way of knitting them for a good fit. You may notice that the thumbs are on the sides so they are reversible. That is very handy for small children.


The hat is made mostly from the leftovers from the mittens. It is a very simple hat with a rolled brim knit in the round. A nice way to coordinate the mittens to the hat without being too matchy.

This mitten has the Plumet mohair just in the lime green stripes. The second yarn is PT5 Sport.


This one is made with Rauma Tykk Magi, a sport weight sock yarn and the lime Plumet Mohair. It looks like I worked hard to get the designs in this one but the striping in the sock yarn did all the work.


This light blue one is PT5 Sport in a medium blue and Plumet Mohair in a light blue.

There are sizes to fit kids from about 7 or 8 to adult women.


Pattern DN1009 is available as an Instant download PDF file or a Printed Pattern.

Next, I have a sock pattern that I am still modifying, a cabled hat pattern and a crochet sweater. I can't say which will be done first but I will add it here as soon as I can.

Have a great day!
Denise

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 knitting

Some finished item pictures:

My Candy Wrapper Hat pattern done in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted yarn. This will be a nice warm hat!
More mittens for the International students. They are 100% wool. Should feel good to someone who is not used to Iowa winters I hope.


And lastly, a child size hat. I knit this during Amy's basketball game. Remember how I said that I could knit simple things without looking at them? I was surprised at how quickly I finished it. I had it cast on before the game so I didn't have to worry about counting. I almost finished it during the game. I think I knit faster when the game gets exciting! Amy made the first basket of the game for her team! It was also the only basket made in the first half I think. It is a very inexperienced, young team. They lost 59-12 but they had a great time playing and felt good about how it went.

Four boxes of yarn have been donated recently for the knitters at church. Of course it came to my house because I am in charge of the group. We don't have a very large group at this point so I guess I better keep busy. I certainly won't run out of yarn any time soon!

Blue Candy Wrapper Hat

My Candy Wrapper Hat class went pretty well. The circular cast on was challenging for most but they all did well and got a good start in the first class session. The second session we worked on the cables.

I started this hat in Lamb's Pride worsted so I could demonstrate the techniques the class was going to use. It helps keep me from grabbing someone else's knitting to show them how! I need to finish the hat so I can see how this yarn works up in the pattern. So far it looks like it will be a little thicker but I don't think it will affect the size much because of the cables.

You can find the pattern at my web site Denise's Needleworks.com

Karaoke Candy Wrapper Hat

This color makes me think of Wether's Originals. I like it but the cables don't show up quite as nicely as they do in the plain colored hats.

Pattern: Candy Wrapper Hat--top down, size-women's large
Needles: size 7 dpn and 16 inch circular
Yarn: Karaoke, 50%soy silk/50% wool, 100m

Candy Wrapper Hat in Karaoke

I found this beautiful new colorway in Karaoke 50% Soysilk fibers/50% wool at my LYS. It is really soft! The newer colors of Karaoke are much softer than the older ones.

I wanted to see how the striping would work with the lace and cables of the Candy Wrapper Hat pattern.

So far, so good. I will keep you posted.

Candy Wrapper Hat

My newest pattern!

Candy Wrapper Hat

You will find the pattern available on my web site.


It started with a challenge from my friend Jennifer to "make a sample" from this heavenly soft new yarn that Rosemary got in at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop. It is Silk and Merino from Russi Sales 30% Silk, 70% extra fine Merino from Italy.


I tried a series of cables for a swatch and found that the yarn shows them off beautifully. I wanted to be able to use every inch of this wonderful yarn but I was also worried about running out before I finished the hat if I started at the bottom as most hats are. I only had 120 yards.


Then I thought of the Pinwheel Baby Blanket pattern that has this beautiful spiral start. I combined that with a double cable twist that looks like candy wrappers.



Oh, and I did use almost every little bit of the yarn. I have only a tiny ball left over. I even frogged my swatch and used it!

So come on into the Rose Tree if you can and check out all of the beautiful new colors of Silk and Merino. It is so soft that you may want to take some home too!






My model is my beautiful daughter, Amy. She is rather shy.