11 Mittens for 2011 - A Challenge

There is a group of knitters on Ravelry who have all taken up the challenge to knit or crochet 11 pair of mittens in 2011. Now, you might think we are all crazy but when next winter comes and your hands are cold, think of us with our beautiful mittens to keep our fingers warm. If you are really nice to us, we might share the warmth! A knitter always loves to have her work admired and appreciated!

I for one, love to knit mittens. You can tell that by the number of mittens I already have on the needles. As I was counting up UFMs (Un-Finished Mittens) my count kept going up as I found project after unfinished project. I think I was finally up to at least 6 pair that had been started at some point in the past year. I was told that I can't count the mittens that are already started as part of the challenge but if I have only knit one I could count the other one as half a pair and combine it with another half-pair.

I don't especially like to follow "rules" in knitting, especially rules like this where it doesn't "really" matter that much, right? Hey, life happens! If I commit to knit 11 pair or 111 and don't manage to do it, the world will not end! If there is one thing that I have learned from raising 8 children, it is that you have to be flexible!

So, on to the pictures! That is what you wanted to see, right? I know I love the pictures in a blog. Here are the mittens that I will be working on for this mitten challenge. I already finished knitting the Navy Felted mittens so those won't count but they were part of the UFM list when the challenge was announced. There are some that I don't have pictures of -- some plain charity mittens, and a pair of plain gloves. Oh, gloves count too as long as the fingertips are covered(no fingerless gloves).

First: The blue and white is a Latvian mitten in Lamullgarn. I think it is too tight so I may have to rip out to the red line at the top of the cuff and try it again. Now how do I count this one? Can I count it as 1 3/4 pair? See what I mean about the "rules?"



The pink one is from pattern AH103 in Strikkegarn. This one is almost finished then I need to make a second mitten. There is even a UFH (Un-Finished Hat?), hmmm, I don't think that abbreviation works very well. Anyway, there is an unfinished hat that matches these pink mittens. I really should try to finish the whole set this year.



Next: The teal and blue is a glove from Selbuvotter in Finullgarn. This is another one that was set aside because of fit issues. It is too big for me and needs to be ripped back to the top of the cuff and knit tighter. By the time I do that, I will have knit most of this one.



Lets hope these first 3 pair don't end up like these blue and white ones. They are pattern AH102 in Strikkegarn for Carl. Or at least one of them is for Carl. He is 8 now and the one on the right fits him fine but the one on the left (with the needles still attached) was knit tighter and will hardly fit over his hand and is about an inch shorter! I will be knitting 2 more mittens in the hopes that I can make a mate for each of these. I will donate the smaller pair somewhere. No sense ripping out an almost complete mitten!




Finally: Now this mitten doesn't count in the UFMs. I just started it this year. It is the new Kitty Selbu pattern from Terri Shea, author of Selbuvotter. She designed this pattern to help pay the vet bills when her daughter's kitty was very ill. It is knit in Finullgarn and I am really liking the pattern so far.



Hopefully, I can make the challenge and finish up these mittens plus enough others to make 11 pair. But if life intervenes, that's okay too. What is the saying? If life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Well, for me that means I will probably just make socks! Hey, they will keep your feet warm!

Wild Blue Horses and Norwegian Mittens

The Wild Blue Horses Cap is growing. You can start to make out the horses now. See the nose on the right and the mane on the left? Soon I start decreasing for the top of the cap. Then the rows get shorter and it starts to go faster.
Here is where I am on the sides that have the flowers.

I have also been working on some Norwegian mittens. The star mittens are from an Arnhild's Knitting Studio pattern, AH102 Child's Eight Pointed Star Mittens and Hat I made the first one to time how long it takes for me to knit them. We were trying to get an idea of how much class time would be required. So it took me about 6 hours. Some of that was while I was watching TV or tinking back to correct my mistakes. That will allow some time for students who might have the same problem or for questions and instructional time.

These will fit Carl so I will finish them for him. They are made of the very sturdy Rauma Strikkegarn. It is a really hard wearing yarn.



These plain navy mittens are also Norwegian mittens. They are the Tovede Votter (felted mittens) from the Rauma LVS-3 book. The yarn is Rauma Vamsegarn, a heavy worsted/aran weight. I made the men's size because I have long hands and I want to really felt these down for some really warm mittens. They were really fast to make on big needles. Just one more thumb to go. Great quick project. Hmmm, maybe I should make more for Christmas presents. You won't tell will you?

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Me Away

You know that saying, right? Well, in this case the Wild Blue Horses dragged me away to knit this fabulous 5-sided cap. Here is the designer's picture of it:


And here is my progress so far. It is going pretty well, I think. The colors look different in my photo because of different lighting but they are the same colors as the original.

The design is by Cynthia Wasner of Norsk Needlework. She also has a sweater and mittens with this design and several other sets that are also quite fun. I have been trying to get all of her patterns listed on my web site but it is going a bit slowly. I did get this pattern up though and you can find it here. Watch for more of her designs to be posted soon.

The cap is made of Rauma Finullgarn and there are 3 blues and white in it. Two of the sides have horses facing to the front and the other 3 sides are flowers. It takes some flipping of the graphs as you work around but they are easy to follow and it is fun to see the design develop.

Hopefully, I can stick with this project and get it done quickly. There are lots of UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) that need my attention soon. Our temperatures are dropping and winter is in the air. I have a daughter who is in Alaska and they are already well below zero so she needs more warm woolies. Another daughter is traveling with a theatrical show around the US and Canada. She spent the past couple of years in the South US where it is warm all year so there will be some warm knits on her Christmas list too I'm sure. Lots of knitting to keep me busy!

Educational Opportunity

I had the chance to set up a booth for Scandinavian Days in the small town of Story City, Iowa at the Son's of Norway lodge last month. It is an annual celebration that brings the whole town and many from surrounding towns out for fun and food.

I brought lots of great Norwegian knitting to show off. It was fun talking with people about their heritage. I heard so many say, "My grandmother(mother, aunt, etc.) has a sweater like this!" Knitting has been such a big part of the Norwegian culture and of course our ancestors brought it with them.

AH103 Eight Pointed Star Mittens by Arnhild Hillesland

A knitter commented on Ravelry that the AH103 pattern possibly had mistakes. Arnhild created the pattern in the early 1990’s for classes she was teaching. She hadn't had any comments before now, but mistakes can happen. She has gone through several computer systems in that time and has revamped many of the patterns. Sometimes in making changes and reprinting things can accidentally be changed. She works very hard to make sure there are no mistakes. She does not want to have to post page after page of errata as many publishers seem to do.

So, in the interest of making sure knitters will enjoy working with these patterns, we decided to test knit it again just to check. I have not knit it before so I was elected to do the knitting. I am following the directions exactly to see what happens. I am making the Ladies size on 2.5mm needles. The yarn is Rauma Strikkegarn as suggested in the pattern. I chose 2 of the discontinued colors that Arnhild had.

4/10/10 so far I have knit the cuff and hand through the gusset stitches. Stitch counts all came out right and the fit is good. The first design (arrows) is a 4 stitch repeat. The diamonds are an 8 stitch repeat. That works.

I have knit the gusset stitches on to a holder and I am ready to do the rest of the palm and fingers. I don’t see any problems so far. Stitch counts all came out right and the fit is good.

4/11/10 tonight I knit about 2 inches up from the thumb gusset. At this point there are no changes in the pattern to worry about. I just keep following the graph until I get to the finger tip decreases.

I have been practicing holding both yarns in my left hand as I knit. I usually hold one strand in each hand when I do 2 color knitting. I am very pleased with how even the knitting is.I am not getting as much bumpiness in the work as I usually do. My gauge is loosening up though as I get more comfortable with this technique. I am getting a slightly larger gauge now than I need for this mitten so I need to try to tighten it back up. Otherwise, I will have a very “roomy” mitten.
I have noticed 2 minor things as I have been working.

1. The diamonds on the cuff need to be shifted 2 stitches over to line up exactly with the stars. Remember that I am following the pattern exactly. If I had not done that I would have checked for this alignment and corrected it. Norwegian patterns generally assume that the knitter will know some of these things.
   
2. There is a funky diamond in the cuff just under the thumb gusset. This is the beginning of the round and there really isn't a good way to avoid a jog at that spot. Who is going to see it on the underside of the arm anyway?
   

This is a very pretty mitten. I love the chains that go up the sides of the hand. I will try to get a better picture of those later.

So far, there don't seem to be any errors in the pattern so maybe the knitter just misunderstood something. These mittens are not a beginner project but hopefully with a little help, she will get her mittens made so she can enjoy them. I will knit this one and then do the right mitten as well to see if it works up the same in reverse.

More later,
Denise

Retreat 2010 Photos

What a fabulous weekend! It was the last weekend of the Olympics so we had to celebrate that. This is our Olympic display. Aren't those sweaters gorgeous! The Norwegian ski team was not doing well in the Olympics, so there was some disappointment but overall, it was a great weekend for the 15th annual Arnhild's Knitting Studio Retreat.

We packed up Brunhild (she is on the left here), and her more delicate sister and all the shelving, sweaters and Rauma yarns that we could pack into 3 minivans and a Suburban and we set up a Denise's Needleworks store at the hotel. Everyone loved it!


Our featured teacher, Annemor Sundbø, was wonderful. She is so willing to share her knowledge of Norwegian knitting history. We all fell in love with this woman who has preserved so much of the history from her rag pile. We are so glad she could come and share that with us.

Before the retreat, I was able to get my Margrethe sweater mostly finished. There were still some facings to tack down inside. This one attracted a lot of attention. I think several people took home patterns and yarn for this sweater. The facings won't get finished any time soon though. Sarah, the owner of Blue Heron Knittery in Decorah, Iowa decided she really liked it too so it went home with her to go on display in her shop. Say hello for me if you visit there!


I love the rack of sweaters that we put together every year. Wouldn't you love to have this many beautiful sweaters in your closet?


There were many beautiful sweaters made and worn by our guests too. Here is a "sweater spotting" picture for you. Click on the picture for a closer look.

Retreat Weekend!

For Arnhild's Knitting Studio's 15th annual retreat!

The cars are all packed. The new models are done (or almost done). The yarn and needles and buttons are waiting patiently. Tomorrow we unload it all at the hotel and transform one of the rooms into a full yarn shop!

Let the fun begin!

Rose Mittens are finished!

I finished them last night. This is a picture against the snow bank, though you can't really tell it is snow. Yesterday was day 56 according to the weather man. We have had 4 inches of snow or more on the ground for the past 56 days! Several days ago, (about 2 snows ago) I heard there had been more than 40 inches of snow since winter started. That gives some indication of just how cold and snowy this winter has been. These mittens are very welcome indeed.


They are made of Istra, which is a DK weight yarn. They feel thicker than some that I made with light worsted weight yarns from other manufacturers. I tested them out this morning while driving my daughter to school. The temperature was still in the single digits but my hands were still reasonably warm! Holding a cold steering wheel makes my hands painfully cold if I don't have warm enough mittens.

I had to get creative with these mittens. I started a pattern that had a hem but found that after decreasing, the hand part of the pattern wasn't going to fit with the yarn and gauge I was getting. So, instead I picked out some graphs that would match the number of stitches I wanted to use. The cuff is #13-1 from LVS 5, Selbustrikk and the hand is #8 from the same book. They came out beautifully with a nice long cuff to cover my wrists up to my sleeves.

The week flew by....

We had a busy week with our daughter home from Nevada for the first time in a year. It was such fun to have her here. Now it is back to our regularly scheduled programming... school, work, making meals, washing laundry, and hopefully knitting!

I have found some time most evenings to knit. I finished up some slipper socks for the girls. Now they all have a pair of nice warm, thick, wool slippers. Carl is asking for a pair of slippers too so his will be next. These are made in Rauma Polar on size 10 needles. Big needles and fat yarn knits up fast!

Lisa's green slippers got away already but here are Amy's blue ones,

and Jessica's purple ones.
and Rosie's multi-colored slipppers.

I stalled out on my mittens when I ran out of the light pink Istra on the thumb of the first one. I have more yarn now so I am hoping to get back to them soon.

So I decided to finish up these pink mittens but I don't know what pattern I used for the first one. I started counting rows and knitting away one night. When I went to put them away for the night they looked like this.
Somehow they just didn't look quite right. I think that second thumb gusset needs to be a bit longer.

I did finish a pair of plain mittens. They are Lamb's Pride Bulky wool/mohair and will probably go to the church's international student program.
I have been modifying some socks that I had knit extra long. I found that they just don't stay up! They were both knit from toes to top so I was able to easily rip back and knit a shorter cuff on them. They will be more comfortable that way. The first pair is done and the second pair just needs a few more rows. I don't have any pictures of those yet but here is a picture of the progress on the Margrethe Norwegian sweater. The pieces are blocked and ready to be sewn and cut. Then I just need to knit a little bit around the neckline and sew the sleeves and hems.

Almost finished!

Those Forgotten Pictures

I often seem to forget to take the final pictures of my projects in my hurry to get them delivered to where they need to go. So here are some that I finally caught up with again. These are all being used as samples for Arnhild's Knitting Studio. They sometimes get loaned out to yarn shops. You may see them at your LYS some time.

Rauma Pattern 138 Man's Norwegian V-neck Cardigan
Yarn: Rauma Strikkegarn 3-ply
Took me more than a year to finish this one.

Rauma pattern 88-1355 Cabled Children's Pullover
Yarn: Rauma Vamsegarn Aran weight
This one went really fast. Start to finish in less than a month I think. It was a last minute model needed for the trade show.


Rauma pattern from LVS 4 Bunad Strømper og luer (Traditional stockings and hats)
This sock is from design #12 a woman's knee-hi stocking
Yarn: Rauma Gammelserie



The white one is from the same book-pattern #3 Cabled Men's Stockings
Yarn: Rauma Gammelserie

Norwegian and Cabled sweaters finished

I finished the work on these sweaters well before the TNNA show. I was so busy getting things ready that I forgot to take pictures of them though. These are pictures of them in the display at the show.

Pattern: #138RS Man's Norwegian Sweater Black and White with Stars on the left of the two hanging sweaters.
Yarn: Strikkegarn


Pattern: Children's Cabled Sweater-Red between the white pieces.
Yarn: Vamsegarn

Window Pane Sweater is done!

It is finished and ready to go to the show! I think I looks great. I will be a very warm sweater for my hubby next winter too.

Here are the details:
Rauma pattern 2064
Vamsegarn 1100grams of 5 different colors
Needles sizes 4 & 4.5 mm - US 6 & 7

I would usually use a larger needle with Vamsegarn This was all done as knit 1, purl 1 which is always a looser gauge for me than stockinette.

This is an easy sweater to make, it just looks harder than it is.

Sneak Peek

Do you like knee-hi socks? Cables, lace, ribs, stranded 2-color designs like the Norwegain star or even entrelac? You will love this book!

We are working on the translation and samples for a new book to be released at the TNNA trade show in June. Those who came to the Arnhild's Knitting Studio February retreat have already had a chance to see the book.

This is the 4th book in the LVS series. Bunad Strømper og Luer. Strømper is stocking and luer is hat. Bunad is the traditional national costumes of the different regions of Norway. There are 37 patterns in this book from all over Norway. Most are stockings but there are some interesting hats as well. And just so you know, most of these stockings say "Herre" which means they are for the men, not that we ladies will let that stop us from knitting them for ourselves!

The stocking I am making is #3 from Sogn. It has an all-over cable design. Click on the picture for a closer look if you like. This one is made with Rauma 2-ply Gammelserie.

The smaller ball in the top picture is a 1-ply Spælsaugarn from Rauma which we will be carrying. It will be used in the heels and toes along with the Gammelserie for reinforcement.

We will have lots of other new patterns available at the TNNA show too. I will have them for sale on my web site as soon after the show as I can.

The other LVS books and many other beautiful Norwegian patterns and yarns to go with them are all available at my web site www.denisesneedleworks.com

Arnhild's Fiber Arts School & Denise's Needleworks store

I wanted to share some pictures of our school and store. We have 2 small rooms in the basement of the First National Bank on Lincoln Way in Ames, Iowa. One of the rooms is set up for classes and has lots of projects displayed. The other room is my store.

We currently have 2 classes going: Basic Knitting and Norwegian Knitting. The classes are running one night a week for 8 weeks. We cover a lot of information in that time. The classes are individually tailored so the students can work on the project which they are most interested in. Many of the students from our first 8 week session decided to sign up for another session so they could continue to learn as they work through larger projects.

There is more information here at my web site or at Arnhild.com

Here is the store. We have a small selection of Rauma yarns.
And of course, needles and notions for your projects and a catalog of the Arnhild and Rauma patterns.

We have displayed many of the projects made up from the patterns that we carry so our students have lots of inspiration! On the left of this picture is a stand which holds the samples of every color of yarn available which we are happy to bring from the warehouse if someone wants them. Lots to choose from!

Annemor is Coming to Retreat!!

We just got the word that Annemor Sundbø is able to be a presenter at the next Arnhild's Knitting Studio Retreat! Annemor has preserved and recorded much of the valuable history of knitwear in Norway in her books.

• Everyday Knitting: Treasures from a Rag Pile.
  ISBN 82-994657-1-0 (Translated by Amy Lightfoot.)
• Setesdal Sweaters: The History of the Norwegian Lice Pattern.
  ISBN 82-994657-2-9 and (translated by Amy Lightfoot)
• Invisible Threads in Knitting.
  (Translated by Carol Huebscher Rhoades) ISBN 82-994657-3-7

I hope you can join us in February 2010.

Berries Cardigan Pattern is ready!

Thanks to Terri Shea's beautiful design and finishing work this is a gorgeous sweater. I knit the body and sleeves for her and she did the rest. Now the pattern is ready so you can make your own!

Here is the link to the pattern ordering information on Terri's web site spinningwheel.net

The yarn is Rauma Finullgarn colors #487, 488 and 417
Gauge: 30 sts to 4" over stranded stockinette

Such a beautiful sweater! I think I would like to make one for myself. Terri gets to keep this one. It wasn't my size. :)