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

More Projects Finished June-July

It has been a busy summer here. I have not had time to post much but I have been knitting right along. I already showed you the pictures from TNNA with the sweaters that I finished before the show. I also made one of the Bunad stockings from the new LVS 4 book that Arnhild translated. This is a beautiful cabled knee-high stocking. I love the cables in it.

Before the show I saw some beautiful lace cowl patterns on Ravelry. This one was the right weight for Pt 5 Sport yarn so I decided to give it a try. The pattern is Poinsettia, a free pattern from Knitty.

I really struggled with the lace pattern in it. It just didn't seem to make sense to me as I was knitting it. But the result is beautiful. I will really enjoy wearing it this winter. If my neck is warm, the rest of me stays warmer. I may have to try some of the other patterns that I found too. Or make up some of my own.

After the show, there were still other patterns calling to me. Another one of the Bunad stocking patterns that I decided to try was this one. #12 from LVS 4 in red. I forgot to get a picture of the finished stocking before taking it to Arnhild's. These are going to be samples for her to use in display for the new book. Both of the stockings are made from Rauma Gammelserie. It is a sturdy all wool yarn that is the traditional choice for Norwegian historic costumes.

So far, I have only made one of each of these stockings for display. I am not sure if I will ever get around to making a second sock. They are such beautiful stockings that I would love to be able to wear them but maybe that is just a little too out of style for my age? Just how far do you think I can go before my adult children pretend they don't know me?

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!

McMittens finished!

I finished a pair of mittens this weekend!!

I finally got the thumbs finished and there are no holes! YEA!


The Berries Sweater for Terri Shea is coming along too. I have completed 2 repeats of the berries now. Hopefully it won't take as long as I originally thought it would! It is going to be a gorgeous sweater.


Pattern: Esther's McMittens

Summer Knitting -- Mittens of course!

Nice warm wool mittens! These are for charity. They will go to the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota through the Macuwita-sni (which means "I'm not cold.") group.

In other knitting, the Chiri baby sweaters are drying after their final wash. I will try to get pictures of them up later. I think all of the knitting I needed to do for the trade show is finished! Now, I need to start planning and packing my stuff.

Cabled Vamsegarn/Finullgarn Cardigan

It's finished! I found the perfect buttons too!

This sweater has taken a lot longer to make than I thought it would. I got interrupted a lot with other projects while working on it. Then I got bored and really didn't want to do the sewing up parts.

I really don't like the sewing up. That's why many years ago I taught myself how to make seamless sweaters!

This will be a great winter sweater. It is a bulky weight but made with a strand of a worsted and a strand of a fingering weight. That is how it gets those beautiful subtle stripes. Can you see them?

I was hoping to get a picture of me wearing it but I didn't have anyone to help me with that. I needed to take it to Arnhild's so it could be packed with the display stuff. We are getting closer and closer.

Pattern: 2090RVF
Yarns: Vamsegarn and Finullgarn This one is the medium size and I had one ball of Vamsegarn that I didn't use.
Needles: Sizes US8 and US11

Hubby and I spent yesterday cleaning out the store room. It was mostly kids clothes, computer parts and wedding gifts (that we haven't used in 30 years of marriage). We had brought back a bunch of stuff from our college grad daughter, Jessie, which needed a home. I have been trying to get the kids clothes sorted for a long time now but I could only reach part of them for fear of toppling the towers of computer parts! I really should have taken pictures.

Well, we filled up our Suburban with things to donate and the room looks much better now. No, I didn't get DH to give up very much of the computer stuff but we did whittle it down a little bit and we at least got things moved around so I could get to the clothes that I needed to sort. Now there is just one box of clothes for Carl to grow into and several boxes of things that we are storing for Jessie while she is between apartments.

Now we need to start working on the collections of toys that have accumulated after almost 27 years and 8 children! We have so much which could be blessing someone else!

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.........

Felted Mittens

I finally found time to post a picture of the felted mittens that I started during the knitting retreat in late February. These beauties are nice and thick and warm! Too bad I didn't think of this sooner. They would have been nice to have when the weather here was below zero.

I used Rauma Vamsegarn for these on size 8 needles. They were knit in the round on double point needles. It took less than 2 skeins of the yarn. I am getting quite the collection of little bits of wool yarn. I might have to find a project to use up the small bits.

This is one of the patterns in the Rauma LVS 3 book. It shows some embroidery and an tassel on the cuffs but I have decided that would just get caught on things so I will leave it off I think.

Now my hands will be warmer!

Pattern can be found here

The yarn is also available at my web site www.denisesneedleworks.com

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.

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!

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!

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

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.

Caps for charity

I got this pattern from the Knit-a-Cap web page. A friend told me about the thank you letters that came from kindergartners after her mother's death. Her mother had made several caps while she was ill. This organization provides handknit caps for the Kindergarteners on Indian Reservations to help prevent ear infections.

The striped hat was made according to the pattern. Size 10 needles, worsted weight acrylic yarn, 56 stitches. Knowing what winter is like here in Iowa this hat didn't seem very heavy to me. It is not what I put on my kid's heads when it gets cold and blustery! So for the next one I tried using 2 strands of Caron Simply Soft yarn with the same numbers of stitches. Much nicer!

I am not sure if I will get enough of these made to be worth sending them to Knit-a-cap or if I will take them down to the church for the children of the international students who are studying at the university here.

Cotton Baby Set from One Skein Wonders

Well, not all of it is directly from One Skein Wonders but it was inspired by the patterns in this book at least. The sweater is the Bamboo Baby and the booties are a very reworked version of the Be-ribboned Booties both from this book. The hat is totally made up by me to match the sweater. The whole set is garter stitch with eyelet edging.

I used size 6 needles with Phildar Licorne cotton yarn. I had 2 balls to start and there will barely be enough left to make ties for the booties. This is a really soft, smooth cotton yarn. Lovely to work with. I think I would enjoy making a summer top from it as well.

This set will be going to the Rose Tree Fiber Shop as a display sample for the yarn when I get the booties finished and find some buttons for the sweater.

Spiral/pinwheel baby blanket

It is finally finished! So much knitting around and around. I love mindless knitting except this is not exactly mindless. I mean every other round you have to remember to put in a yarn over. I was always finding that I had skipped the increase so I had to pick it up on the next round. I can see a couple that I didn't get picked up.

I tried several sideways borders but couldn't get any of them to work out. I finally decided to use a lace pattern that I know how to do-Feather and Fan. Oh, and don't look too closely at the Feather and Fan border. I think I got off in the last section so the yarn overs don't quite line up. But it is done and I think it looks pretty good.

So here is the pattern for the Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket that I used.
I added a basic Feather and Fan border. It took 3-7 oz. skeins of Red Heart Worsted yarn in Mint green on size 8 needles. I was afraid I was going to run out of yarn before I got it finished!

Finished UFO!

This is the Baby Surprise Jacket finally finished! So cute and soft! The yarn is self-striping Mondial Kinder Baby, 70% merino wool/30% acrylic. I used size 6 needles with this. The sweater is maybe a 6-12 month size but the garter stitch is so stretchy that it may fit an older baby. I also added ribbed cuffs to lengthen the sleeves.

It is a gift and I don't know if the baby will be a boy or a girl. This yarn has both pink and blue but was pretty heavy on the blues and green so I am hoping that it will look appropriate for either gender.

I enjoy this pattern so much. I think it is that it is pretty much mindless knitting. As soon as one is finished, I start thinking about which yarn to use for the next one. I want to cast on right away!

Note: Someone asked where they could find the pattern. The Baby Surprise Jacket is in two of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books Knitting Workshop and The Opinionated Knitter and available in a Spun Out as a single pattern for about $3 from Schoolhouse Press. There is even a video that was recently made to go with the pattern.