And the Winners Are...

I am really pleased with my State Fair results.  Though it is sometimes hard to understand just why they choose the things they do.

Blue Ribbon (first place) and Best Child's Sweater award from the Des Moines Knitting Guild -- Cabled Sweater made in River Jeans cotton yarn. 

Blue Ribbon -- Eggplant round-yoke sweater with stranded designs 

This is my favorite sweater of all that I have knit.

Red Ribbon (second place) -- Purple & Green Stripy Baby Sweater

This cute little sweater has beautiful classic lines with some fun striping.  It was very easy to make.

 

Pink Ribbon (fourth place) -- pink & white sock knitting tote
This is the one that I was most surprised about. It is a very simple project that I put in with the entries because I  had an extra tag. There were several other more complex bags that didn't place at all.

Cowls

Cowls seem to be a very popular item with knitters on Ravelry at least. I think they are a great idea. They keep your neck warm without the dangling tails of a scarf. I found a pattern there recently that I wanted to try.

This is the Willow Cowl, a free Ravelry download, if you are a member there. If you aren't a member go to ravelry.com and sign up! It's free. Ravelry is a wonderful resource for knitters and crocheters.I used 2 skeins of Mini Mochi a very soft sock weight yarn. This cowl has a nice flare at the bottom so it lays over the shoulders just a bit to fill in that spot that your shirt leaves open to the chill. Each of the lace sections creates a roll that lays down in nice folds. It is long enough to pull up over your ears if needed. I will be giving this one away so those other 2 skeins are blues and purples that are waiting to be made into another of these cowls for me!

I also had an opportunity to test knit a pattern for another designer. This Tabitha Cowl is the result of that. We were trying to find out what it would look like in a variegated yarn. The yarn is hand dyed sock weight yarn from Knitivity.com. Ray dyes some beautiful yarns! Take a look at what he has and if you order something, tell him Denise's Needleworks sent you!As you can see, the cables disappear in the colors but I think it is very pretty anyway. The designer is also working on fingerless mitts and a hat to match. This is another Ravelry pattern. Sorry, there is no other way to get it.

I look happy here modeling it but you wouldn't believe how hot and humid it was when we went outside to take the pictures!!! I'm sure it will feel good in January when the weather is not so warm here!

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

Cabled sweater for kids

Another sample for the trade show. This one is only a size 2 children's sweater. It is going quickly in Vamsegarn, a worsted weight yarn. Good thing, we leave in one week for the show and this is supposed to be in the display! I have the body done and one sleeve started now but haven't been able to get photos yet.

I had some problems along the way. No, make that lots of problems along the way. Probably because I am trying to get this done quickly. After doing seed stitch for so long on the Window Pane sweater I totally missed the instructions where it said to do the side panels in double moss stitch. I had been working merrily along for about 3 inches above the ribbing when I discovered it! The second picture is of the side panel after I reknit it plus a couple more inches.

I decided that I really didn't want to reknit the whole thing so I took the stitches for that whole panel off the needles -- gasp! -- I know, I know, for some of you that would be a major trauma but the stitches weren't going anywhere . . . yet . . . this is very sticky yarn so the stitches would just sit and wait for me to do something with them.

Now, fast forward a bit. I managed to cross one of the cables the wrong direction later in the sweater. I was telling my hubby how I had to reknit the side panels and now I needed to do the same thing to this cable. He suggested that I take pictures so I could post a how-to about it.

I am working on the how-to. Red is really hard to photograph well by the way! So bear with me. It will be up soon I hope. In the meantime there is lots of preparation underway for the show.

Knitting Pictures!

I finally found some time to take pictures of the knitting I have been doing. I really have been knitting but just hadn't found time to blog about it. I have spent that past couple of months trying to keep up with Arnhild's business as well as my own business and taking care of my family. I found some time in there to knit apparently too, as you can see!

There are hats and a cowl to go to charity. These will probably go to our church for their fall hat and mitten drive. I have been working on a couple of hats in ISU Cyclone colors, red and gold. These are the kind of knitting that I do while watching Rosie's basketball games or reading email. The striped one was finished at the last game, which they won in overtime!

Another hat and cowl set that I finished recently is this beautiful white cabled set. It is made in Rauma Vamsegarn, a worsted weight wool. The pattern is newly translated pattern -- Rauma 84-10. This one will be displayed at the Arnhild's Knitting Studio Retreat to be held in Ames in late February. The pattern will be released at that time.

I finished the sleeves for the Norwegian Man's Sweater a couple of weeks ago. I have been awaiting further instructions from Arnhild for the finishing. I have started that now. I will need to sew with the sewing machine along the center front and the sleeve openings and then I will cut through the knitting to make openings to attach the sleeves and the button bands. I will be taking lots of pictures as I do that. Arnhild and I are making up a book to give the students who are taking classes in our new Fiber Arts School. We are going to include lots of photos of the techniques involved in making these sweaters and other knitting projects.

And finally I have been learning how to knit socks from the toe up. I have knit dozens of socks from the top down but this takes some different techniques. It has been a challenge sometimes but I feel like I am learning a lot as I go. I have been wanting to learn how to do this because I have some sock yarn which is hand-dyed. I can't get more if I run out and the ball is a little shorter yardage than some that I have used. With this method of making socks I should be able to use up all of the yarn and still have my socks completed. I always worry when knitting from the top down that I will not have enough to finish the toe!

This is a photo from about a week ago. I have both of the socks past the heel now and one is almost finished.

I will try to update more as I work on the Norwegain sweater. It also needs to be finished in time for the retreat in February. There may be some other projects on my list for then too. I'd better keep knitting!

Toddler Sweater and socks

Things are coming together for the TNNA trade show. Only 2 weeks to go and much to do yet! Arnhild and I went over the preparations list again yesterday. We are pretty much packed up for the display now except for the models that are not finished. These 2 projects will be going into one of the rolling suitcases.

The River Jeans cotton Cabled Sweater. I made the size 2-4 toddler. This yarn is so soft and nice. The cables really look good in it and it has really good resilience for a cotton yarn. This is a sweater that is going to hold its shape I think!

You can see the cables better behind the Magi Socks here. Magi is another one of the new yarns that we will be displaying. It is a machine washable sock yarn. 75%wool/25% nylon. Really nice stuff too! This pair is just over 5 inches long. I made the sock to fit a little wooden shoe last that we are going to use for display. I really want to make some socks for myself now with one of the other colors!

I don't usually worry about having the stripes of the 2 socks match. I kind of like having them be fraternal twins but since these are going on the display at TNNA and on the pattern that I still need to write up (ahem), I thought they should probably match. I am very pleased at how closely they match. And I only had to cast on the second sock twice! Oh, if you can't tell in the picture, one of the socks is turned down at the cuff. They will work either way.

My web site designer, and second oldest son, took the socks to the park for a photo shoot. Here is the lovely photo that he took.

I made both of the socks from one 50g ball of Magi and still had some left over.

I am now finishing up the Ladies Cabled Cardigan (2090RVF) in Vamsegarn and Finullgarn. I need to sew in the sleeves yet and knit a neckband. Then I have to pick out some buttons that will go well with it. I find that to be the hardest part sometimes. I will often have an idea in my mind of what I want but does it exist? maybe-maybe not We will see what I find!

I thought I was getting almost finished with the projects for the show but after Arnhild and I went over the list again she handed me a baby sweater in another new yarn--Chiri Alpaca--which needs some crochet for finishing. Then she said that we needed to make more of the baby sweaters in this yarn if we could find the time.

So, I will be knitting.........

Toddler Cable Sweater in River Jeans cotton

I haven't posted in a while because I have been busy trying to get this little toddler sweater knit up for the TNNA trade show next month. This pattern is newly translated into English by Arnhild and will be available as soon as it arrives from Norway.

I am making the size 2-4 for display at the show. We don't have a lot of the yarn on hand yet either but there was enough for this size and it will be faster to knit up than a larger size. I wish it would fit Carl though because it is really going to be a nice sweater.

The River Jeans yarn is 100% cotton and remarkably soft. I have enjoyed working with it. Many cotton yarns make my hands hurt or feel rough but this one doesn't.

This is a great yarn for summer tops too I think. We also have a new tank top and cardigan pattern that is translated and being knit up. There are so many things that River Jeans could be used for. I just wish that it came in more colors!

Pattern -- PT 795-River Jeans Cabled Pullover for Children and Men
Yarn -- River Jeans 100% cotton


Tomorrow we start playing with all of the yarn and sample models to decide how we are going to display them for TNNA. We have lots of new things to show! I hope we can fit it all in the car! I am looking forward to meeting store owners and pattern designers from all over the US.

Finally Making Progress

It seems like this sweater has taken forever to knit! I would knit a ways and discover that I had forgotten to change the second strand to the next color.

If it wasn't that I would find a cable that was crossed wrong. I actually had the right front knit all the way to the shoulder when I discovered that one. I had to rip a bunch of it because some of the stitches were already bound off for the neckline curve. Then I dropped the 6 stitches of the cables down about 20 rows to fix the cable. I am getting rather good at that now!

At this point the body is knit and ready for the shoulder finish, so I started the first sleeve last night. I still have to remember to count the 9 rows of each of the different browns while crossing cables every 4 rows and increasing 2 stitches every 12 rows! See why it gets messed up sometimes?

I think the sleeves will move along more quickly though. Hopefully I will have a finished sweater soon!

Pattern -- Rauma 2090RVF Short Cabled Cardigan and Hat

Yarn -- Rauma Vamsegarn & Rauma Finullgarn

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.

What can I say?

I frogged it! I decided that I really didn't like the back side of the stockinette on this Silky Wool. The pattern has you use reverse-stockinette as the background for the cables. The yarn is rustic enough on the right side of the stockinette that I really was not liking the wrong side.

I also had really made it difficult for myself because I was knitting it in the round from the inside so I could knit all the stitches. Except that meant that I had to do all of the cable work from the back side of the top, reading the charts backwards and making all the knits into purls and the purls, knits. YIKES! It was just too much!

So off to the frog pond it went. I started over again using the front of the stockinette and adding 2 purl stitches beside the cable so it will stand out. I really like it now! I think I may leave out the design that is in the center of the top though. It is just not in a good place for my figure!


I am still knitting caps! I found some fun kid-colored yarns on sale. I don't think I will run out of yarns any time soon. I am up to cap number 10 now. The plain green one came out a little bit small for Knit-a-cap. It will probably go to the international families instead. I have more of this yarn(Red Heart Kids), so the next one is one strand of it and one strand of baby yarn on size 11 needles. I wonder what size it will come out? It really doesn't matter because there is always a child's head that it will fit!


I also did some blanket blocks and a pink ribbon dishcloth for a friend of a friend who is dealing with cancer. Some of the blocks are crochet and some are knit. I pray that these things will give her some comfort and that she will heal and live a long, full life.

Here are some new things I can do...

Of course, finished projects always seem to inspire me to start new projects.

This first one is a breast cancer pink ribbon dishcloth. This is going to a friend of a friend who is undergoing treatment now. It is made from Sugar & Cream cotton yarn on size 7 needles. These aluminum needles are too slippery for this yarn though! I found the pattern online here.

I also finished a prayer shawl which I didn't think to take a photo of. I started a new shawl in a triangular pattern that is started with 3 stitches at the top and worked in increasingly longer rows until it is the right size or you are thoroughly sick of it! I am using up several different colors of worsted weight acrylic. They all seemed to blend together and they were calling out to be used in something.

And finally, I started a tank top. I wanted to make a sample of something from Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool for my LYS. Besides teaching classes there I often make samples for the owner. I chose the Ylva tank that is on the cover of Designer's Choice book nine, The Second Viking Knits Collection.

This top has a double cable up the center front and back which splits for the V-neck in the front. There is also a beautiful knot design in the center front. The pattern has you knit each piece flat and seam them together. The cable band for the back of the neck is knit as a continuation of the fronts and then sewn to the back neckline. I am knitting the body in the round....I hate seaming! I am hoping that I can knit the cable band on to the back as I go, much like a border on a shawl. I am using size 6 needles so this is going to take a lot of knitting but I am doing pretty well considering I just started it on Wednesday. The yarn is color number 42, a beautiful burnt orange.

I am enjoying working with this wool/silk blend yarn. It feels really nice. The pattern is a little bit more challenging than some of the basic tanks I have done before but I think I have that under control right now.....we will see though when I get to that knot design!

Mystery solved!

I finally found all of the goodies in my Mystery Swap yarn. This was lots of fun! Thanks Janet!

There were 3 bags of tea, a tin of Bee Bar Lotion for my hands, a sachet, some pin type stitch markers, Werther's Originals and a tin with 4 very pretty stitch markers. I always need lotion for my hands in the winter. This one smells so good too. I am enjoying one of the teas while writing. I love to try new teas. The Werther's will probably be gone soon as they are my favorite hard candy. Janet, how did you know?

The pin markers are great for marking a stitch or row. I will use those a lot. I have even used them to hold a dropped stitch until I could get back to it! The other markers are made from beads. I really like those too. I didn't have any pretty ones like these. It is almost like jewelry for my knitting! Here is a close-up picture of them.

I used up almost all of the yarn from the ball. There is just a little bit left. My 4 year old suggested that if I used the yarn from the swatch I could maybe make a pair of baby socks. Now that's thinking!

I have used the cabled hat a lot already. When I finished the hat there still seemed to be quite a bit of yarn left. I thought maybe it would be enough to make a headband. I am glad I was right. This one I will keep in my pocket for those days that I don't take the hat because it "seems so nice." Sometimes the ears get cold on a walk, you know?

I made the headband on size 5 needles in a ribbed pattern so it would be nice and snug. I knit it in the round so I could stop when I ran out of yarn... or it was wide enough to cover my ears. It came out so well that I may have to write up the pattern to share!

This swap was really fun! I have never been so motivated to get my projects finished!

Cabled Coronet hat finished

I finished my hat earlier this week. It has gotten a lot of use in the winter weather we have had.

Coronet hat pattern from Knitty.com by Alexandra Virgiel
Universal Yarns Inc. Deluxe Worsted Tweed 100% Wool
Size 8 needles

I really like this hat. The cabled band makes it look so dressy. I think my band may have been a little smaller than the pattern designer's. I knit the hat to the length she suggested and it seems just a little bit tall. But that leaves me plenty to pull down over my ears when it is cold.

I will definitely use this pattern again. I often make hats for charities. I think this will be a good one for that too. There is just something special about it.

This is the view outside my door yesterday. There is ice under about 8 inches of snow. Now you can see why I have needed a wool hat!