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.

I can't seem to get away from mittens!

I am working on a pair of Mitered Mittens. This is an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern found in both Knitter's Almanac and Knitting Around. The mitten is knit straight using pairs of decreases and increases to give the shaping. It is a very interesting technique and very simple to knit.

The thumb will be added later by snipping a stitch and unraveling some stitches to pick up and knit with. Take a deep breath......and cut my knitting!!

I am working on another pair of Selbuvotter as well. This one is supposed to fit about 7-9 year olds. It is too big for my 5yo and a little snug for my 10 yo so I think I have the gauge correct so far.

I did pull out an old project yesterday. It is a cabled sweater that I started just over a year ago. It is getting really cold here in Iowa and I need sweaters!! I am hoping that I can get more knitting done in the next few weeks though that is unlikely I suppose with Christmas coming.

Simple knitting--Dishcloth

I have been doing a lot of sock knitting lately which is hard on my hands. I didn't have a mindless project that was on larger needles to give my hands a break so I started a washcloth Tuesday. These go so fast that I was able to weave in the ends yesterday and start another one.

I knit this while reading. Have you learned how to knit without looking? Elizabeth Zimmermann talks about doing that in her books. I get a lot more knitting done that way! I can read, watch TV, and visit with someone else and all the while my hands are creating something with yarn and sticks. I don't even think about it any more. But I often get comments about how can I knit without looking at my knitting? Try it some time. You might surprise yourself!

I love the hand knit discloths and don't have very many of them so I think I will keep working on them for a while. This one is plain garter stitch in Sugar 'n Cream Stripes. It is a new color that I found at Hobby Lobby. It is really bright and pretty. I need some bright right now. We have had at least a week of rainy weather. We need some sun!

My first Norwegian Mitten

I finished the first one! I am amazed that it came out so well. I have dabbled in fair isle techniques but I hadn't made mittens like this before. I am very pleased with it.

It needs to be blocked yet. And of course I have to try to knit a second one that looks enough like this one to make a pair! As my DH is fond of saying, "It is easy to make one of something alike."

Mitten Progress

I finished up another pair of mittens to go into the church donation box. These fit my hands with a little room to spare. They will be nice warm wool mittens for one of the International students here.

I have been working on the Elizabeth Zimmermann Norwegian mitten this week too. It is almost to the shaping at the top. I did have to rip a bunch out because the hand part was not going to fit. I started again at the wrist with larger needles. I will tell you later how I messed up the thumb.

I was having trouble following the tiny graph in the book so I enlarged it. Then I printed it on cardstock and covered the whole thing with clear contact paper. Someone suggested having it laminated and using wipe off markers but I was afraid that they might get rubbed off in my bag and I didn't know if they would work with the contact paper. I ran across this great Omnigrid Glow-Line Tape at the fabric store. It sticks well to the contact paper but peels off so I can move it easily. I have been using the same piece for the entire graph!

Warm Woolen Mittens

The weather is changing here in Iowa. The northern part of the state has already had a freeze. We haven't had frost yet but the leaves are starting to lose their color. It will be cold soon and there are lots of hands that need a pair of mittens to keep them warm.

I have been making some simple mittens for the International students at our church. These are some odds and ends of wool yarns. For this pair I used the Easy Striped Mittens pattern. I had to go up to size 8 needles to get the right gauge. I don't usually have problems with gauge so that puzzles me.

I also think there was a mistake in the pattern. There should be 3 more rows before the thumb shaping. The photo's stripes don't match the instructions. This pair should fit a pre-teen to teen. It is a little short for me. I think I will add the extra rows to the next pair so it will fit an adult.

Then I started an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern--the Norwegian mittens from Knitting Around. Size 4 needles with a blue Nature Spun wool and a dark teal Lion Wool. I am using the snowflake design for the back of the mitten.

I haven't done a lot of Fairisle because it takes more concentration than I can usually find around our busy household!

I am enjoying this though. I have been trying to get the tensions balanced which has been tricky. The two yarns are slightly different thicknesses which I think is affecting my tension. I keep trying different holds, knitting one looser, the other tighter etc so this mitten might look a little funny when it is done. But as Elizabeth says in her books--blocking can work wonders.

There are stripes on each side of the mitten and on the thumb. Not as easy as it looks because with the increasing stitches of the thumb gusset the sequence of colors keeps changing.

The palm has a simple pattern. I kept looking at it though and thinking it didn't look quite right. I finally discovered that the white boxes in the chart should have been black and the black-white. I had to rip and restart at the wrist again! I remade the chart in my Easy Graph Designer program so it would be easy to follow.

It has been moving right along since I straightened that out. Having a yarn in each hand is becoming more comfortable as I work. I start to miss it when I pick up other projects!