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.

Start-itis

I have it bad......I started another project. No, the pink AH103 mittens are not finished yet.

These are going to be the Annemor #15 gloves from Terri Shea's book Selbuvotter. The yarn is Rauma Finullgarn colors #438 and 4705.

People have asked if they can substitute Finullgarn in these patterns for the Rauma Gammelserie that is suggested. The 2 yarns are slightly different in gauge. It is looking like the hand may be a little big for me. I think I could have knit it slightly tighter. The tension above the thumb opening seems looser than the lower part of the hand. Maybe I should start the second one and try knitting it a bit tighter before I finish all the fingers.

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. :)

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!!!

More Charity Knitting

I have several charity projects that I knit for.

There are

• prayer shawls for our church ministry,
  
• hats & mittens for the international families -- also part of our church ministry,
  
• hats for www.knit-a-cap.org,
• and recently I started making wool mittens for Macuwita-Sni (on Yahoo) (and here on Ravelry) a project for the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota

The hat that I started on my way home from TNNA is one of these pictured. I had some made before the show and I have made others since then. These are really easy and fast to make. Some of them will go to the internationals and some will go to knit-a-cap.

The red mittens in my last post are planned for Macuwita-Sni, as are these red and blue stranded mittens. These have been a fun but frustrating exercise. I do not have a pattern to work from. I just thought I should add a simple stranded pattern to make them a little thicker and warmer. HA! The first mitten didn't work out too badly but trying to make the second one match was really a challenge! As my husband likes to remind me, "It's easy to make ONE of anything alike!"

I have ripped out many, many times! But I think I finally have it. Now to see if I can figure out what to do with the thumbs!!

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.

Barnevott - inside and out

I finally finished the first pair of Selbu mittens. Barnevott #10 in the Selbustrikk book. It is a child size pair of mittens. They just fit my 5 yo.

I have already started on the next pair which is a slightly larger size child's mitten. Again it is in the black and white. That is the traditional colors for the Selbu mittens.




Details of the mittens:

Pattern: Barnevott #10 in Selbustrikk LVS-5 from Rauma

Yarn: Rauma 2tr. Gammelserie Strikkegarn, 50g/160meters, one ball each of #400 and #436

Needles: size US2


I thought you might find it interesting to see the inside of these stranded projects. The floats of yarn show the design in the reverse colors.

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!

Fair Isle finally!

I finally finished it earlier this week! I really, really, hate finishing! I try to knit as much seamlessly in the round as I can but I was teaching a class how to make this sweater so I felt that I needed to basically follow the pattern. So armed with caffeine and chocolate, I was finally able to sew underarm seams, add buttons and weave in all the ends!

So the nitty gritty: This is the Fairly Easy Fair Isle from Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller. Knit with Lamb's Pride Bulky, 85% wool/15% mohair, on size 11 needles.

This yarn is sooooo fuzzy! I had fuzz everywhere as I worked and now wearing it, I feel like I am eating fuzz. I even took the lint roller to it before putting it on. When I took it off, my top was covered in more fuzz. Does the Lamb's Pride always do this? or is it just this color? I have worked with smaller projects in this yarn before which didn't seem as bad but maybe it was just the size of the project. I have heard of the mohair halo but I have been pulling handfulls of fuzz off the sleeves and body!

This is the second time I have knit this sweater pattern. It has been a great pattern for my beginning sweater knitters and those that want to learn how to incorporate some fair isle color work. My class decided that doing the color work on the sleeves, which are knit simultaneously on straight needles, was the most difficult part of the sweater. This is such a nice basic pattern.

My first sweater was rather baggy in the waist especially at the back. I wanted this one to be a little fitted so I started with the small size and increased at the underarms up to the medium for the bust and shoulders. I really like how well it fits me! No more cold draft up my back!

I also added short rows at the back neck ala Elizabeth Zimmerman because my last sweater seemed to droop there. Much improved! Now that I have the fit worked out I can see myself making this pattern again maybe with some texture stitches...

I had to share a close-up of the buttons. These are made of polymer clay by a local artist. When I ran across them in the Rose Tree I knew they had to go on this sweater! They really pick up the cream in the color work.


Behind me in the photos you can see my new bookcase. DH and I put it together on Sunday with the "help" of our 4yo son. It will house my knitting books and magazines primarily. It is getting to be quite a collection. So much inspiration!

Sweaters big and small

First my Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater:

I have been trying to get this one done because it is bitterly cold right now and I would really like to be wearing it! I finished the color work this weekend and knit the button band. I still need to knit the buttonhole band and seam up the sleeves and underarm.

I really like the fit of this one. I started with the small and increased to the medum at the sides. I think it will be a closer fit through the waist. My last one was rather loose there.

I am thinking about using the same basic pattern but with some cables or other pattern stitches so I can make it all in one color. The fair isle is nice but I don't really want all of my sweaters to look alike! I have enough yarn to make it in either red, black or an aqua green.

Now to the small:

I am working on a preemie size Baby Surprise sweater. It is an adaptation of Elizabeth Zimmerman's pattern. It is going to be so tiny! I will be making a second one as these are for a set of twins.

Okay, so here is the last one:

The Spiral Baby Blanket is getting bigger. It is about 12 inches from the center. I am not sure quite how large to make it. I am thinking that it should probably be at least 30 inches in diameter for an average size newborn baby.