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?

Progress on AH103 Mitten

The past couple of days have been busy so I haven't gotten as far on my mitten knitting. There is a knitting group at Borders that I recently started attending on Tuesday afternoons so I took the mitten along yesterday. I should have known better! Talking and following a pattern don't mix well! HA! I think I need to look closely at the last couple of rows again before I go on. I did get to the decreases at the top though and did the first 2 rounds there. Here is where I am now:


And here is the chain that makes its way up the sides of the mittens. In a Norwegian mitten there are always a few edge stitches which separate the palm design from the back of hand. They usually have a solid line of the main color(the dark one) on either side. You might also notice on the thumb gusset the solid line of the main color on either side. This line will continue up the sides of the thumb when I make it.


We have company coming this weekend from Wisconsin so I am going to be cleaning, cooking and planning for where we will put everyone in the next few days. My knitting time will probably be limited so I may not get this mitten finished right away. It is a fun project though so I will be motivated to get back to it soon.

Denise

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

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

I did get back from Michigan...

really I did. I really left you all hanging though didn't I? Sorry about that!

We had a wonderful time in Michigan with the classes, the people in the classes and with the owners of Threadbear Fiber Arts Studio. Then things got very busy for me!

Arnhild has been in Norway since mid-November so I am in charge of her business as well as my own. Things have been going well for both. We had great sales before Christmas and after when everyone decided to spend their Christmas money. I have packed a LOT of yarn!

I have been working on some knitting for Arnhild's annual retreat. There will be new patterns and samples to show off there. I took the sleeves for the Norwegian Man's Sweater along to Michigan and got the first sleeve mostly knit. Since then I have managed to get the second sleeve mostly knit. It has gone much more slowly because I have had so many other things to do. This one needs to be finished in time for the retreat as well. Deadline is the last weekend of February. I still have a lot to do!

Seeing Stars!

I am finally to the top of the shoulders! Look at those beautiful Norwegain Stars!!

I really enjoy the geometric shapes of typical Norwegian designs. Squares, diamonds, parallelograms, triangles. The small dot pattern is called "lice" because...well...it looks sort of like lice I guess. I think it looks like snowflakes. Actually, the whole thing looks like snow to me. The big snowflakes of a heavy, wet snow and the fine flakes of a very dry, light snow. Okay, enough talk of snow. That time is coming too soon! I am sure we will get plenty of that type of white stuff here in Iowa.

It looks a bit bunched up at the top because of the decreases I did for the neckline. It will have a V-neck when I get it cut open and put the bands on.

So, now I should be starting the sleeves which have the same design. I was going to pick Arnhild's brain about sleeve shaping before she left for the weekend but the time got away from us and we didn't get to sit down and do that. I think I will wait until she gets back to get them started.

I am working on these socks instead for the weekend. Maybe I can get them finished up. I am on the foot section which is plain stockinette stitch. That always goes fast for me.

More Norwegian Knitting

After sending the Berries Cardigan to Terri I picked up this Man's Norwegian Cardigan again. It has gone much faster than the Berries! Partly because it is 6 rows to the inch instead of 11 and partly because the "lice" pattern is very simple and fast to knit.

Here is where I am now:


I have started the V-neck shaping and the larger patterns at the shoulders.

This is fun!!!

Man's Norwegian Sweater -- Rauma 138RS

When the cabled sweater was giving me problems I would work on this for a break. Ha! Some break! I did the increase row just above the ribbing on this one 6 times!!!! The first few times I was doing the math wrong, or at least thought I was. I kept coming up with too many stitches near the end of the row.

Now you have to remember that this row started out with 277 stitches supposedly! So, I would knit across, count, and tink (un-knit) all the way back again and again.

I finally thought to count the ribbing stitches again and discovered that I didn't have 277 stitches but 297 stitches! No wonder I couldn't come up with the right number after increasing!

Instead of ripping and reknitting the whole ribbing I left it and increased to the number I needed for the patterns in the body. I was so glad to finally get past that and start working on the patterns. They are much more fun!

In all of the times that I knit that one row I didn't see any change in the yarn that I was working with. There was no fraying or fuzzing. It didn't start looking worn at all. I am very impressed with the quality of the Rauma Strikkegarn. It holds up very well even when re-knit again and again so I am sure now that it will hold up well in the finished sweater.

Pattern -- Rauma 138RS V-Neck Cardigan
Yarn -- Rauma Strikkegarn

Rauma Sweater progress

Last week I was going to show you my progress on the hat and sweater set that I am making for Arnhild to take to the TNNA trade show. I didn't find the time to get it posted though. So here is where I was last week and where I am now. The sweater is going really fast!

The hat is finished. The sweater is now about 27 centimeters or 10.5 inches. The cables are looking really nice. There are 4 cables across the center back and 2 on each front. This will be a heavy sweater which will be really nice for the cold Iowa winters.

I also started a traditional Norwegian sweater during Arnhild's sweater class at the Blue Heron Knittery. Arnhild would like to have this one as a model to use for a while but eventually DH, Jeff, will get it.

You can see that this one is not going quite as fast! It is a much finer yarn (Strikkegarn) and size 3 needles for the ribbing. There are also a lot more stitches on this one. The ribbing on the blue sweater had 122 stitches, this one is 277! I think I have just a couple more rows of ribbing to go. Then I get to change to size 4 needles and start working with 2 colors.

The yarns are natural black and cream colors which are beautiful together. I have always admired these sweaters with the stars on the shoulders. It will be a very handsome sweater. I have a lot of knitting to go though.