Ta Da! New Patterns!

I finally finished up some pattern design work this week. Some of these have been a really long time coming. I am glad to have them finished and hope people will like the patterns. You can find them all for sale on my web site www.denisesneedleworks.com along with lots of other great patterns, needles and some fun notions. I am working on adding more products to the site so keep it bookmarked and check back to see what's new!

Jessie's Blanket $5.00




Tutti Fruity Socks $6.00




Magic Family Socks $6.00-- This is the first of a group of "Denise's Favorites" patterns that I plan to do. They will be easy to follow patterns for some of the things that I have knit repeatedly and often teach others how to make.

Finishing out year and starting up the new one

I finished the White Clovers pullover. It went up and down several times as I tried to get the fit right in the shoulders and neck. Here it is finished as the designer has written the pattern, with a turtle neck:

Then I ripped it back again and finished it with a crew neck. I like the looks of the crew neck much better. The Vamsegarn has softened up nicely with wearing. I am really enjoying this sweater. I can see myself making more sweaters like this. It was fast to make in this worsted(almost aran) weight yarn and it fits beautifully.

I also finished knitting the Navy Felted Mittens from the book LVS 3, well they will be felted when I find time to put them in the washer. Our washer stays really busy with laundry around here because of our big family so finding time for felting can be difficult. Last weekend we were gone for four days. When all the suitcases were empty we had a pile the size of "Mount Washmore" as a friend calls it. I always feel like I should have more than one project to felt when I do it since it takes so much water. So maybe I should make some more mittens! Here they are before felting:


Lisa came home from Alaska for Christmas and was telling us about how cold it was up there. She has been buying extra clothes for layering to keep warm. I made her a pair of rag-wool socks while she was home. They are made with Raumaragg yarn, the yarn that the Norwegians use for ski socks. Lisa says that I can make more of these!


I also had picked out a nice sock weight yarn for her birthday in early January. I started knitting those just after her birthday and have one finished so far. Lisa has returned to Alaska so I will have to mail them when they are both finished.


It has been a productive knitting year. Now on to the next year!

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.

Charity Knitting

I was given some yarns for charity projects. There was lots of orange Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted yarn so I have been making socks for Afghans 4 Afghans. They will go to the women and children in Kabul. These are about a women's size 7-8.

I have also made mittens for the children of the Pine Ridge reservation. They are sized to fit a 4-5 year old in the Head Start program. I already have another pair started-- in a different yarn though. I was getting a bit tired of the orange! I will have to see if I have something that I can combine with it to make some other mittens that will look a bit different.

Crazy Zauberball socks

I finished these in record time I think! I was really enjoying this yarn. It is soft and just a bit fuzzy and they colors are great fun. I didn't do any fancy stitching, just plain stockinette.

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!

Socks in the Summer Sun

I took my teal socks outside for better light. The colors are much truer in this one. Just look at how that left one has a beautiful spiral of little navy blips ! I started the right sock from the opposite end of the skein and it has much smaller blips of navy and less white. You can tell they are related but they look like they could have come from separate skeins. I love to watch the color progression as I knit!

Currently Knitting - August 17, 2009

My knitting has been frustrating me lately. I have been ripping at least as much as I have knit I think. This is Rauma 1272 Margrethe. It is a lovely pullover sweater that I started in June. I worked on the hem and bottom border while we were at TNNA. The yellow recommended in this pattern has been discontinued so I have had to make a substitution for it. There is also a green in the pattern that doesn't look green at all on the cover picture so I have substituted a dark gold for that one. You can see how little of that there is. Click on the picture and you will see that there is also one row of a lavendar. Surprise!

This first picture shows the first yellow that I tried. I actually farther along than this when I finally decided that the yellow and gray were just too close in value. You couldn't make out the fan patterns at all. So, rriiiiiiipppppp it went back to the border!

Now this is a Finullgarn sweater, so that was a LOT of knitting on very small needles!!

For this second try I chose a much lighter yellow. Ahhhhh, that's better! It had been moving right along until this past couple of weeks when I have not had as much time for it. I can't read and knit on this one! TV is okay, when I have the time for that.


I have been working more on this pair of socks than on the sweater. The yarn is my favorite teals and blues hand-dyed by Ray at Knitivity. He calls it Turquoise Fade. You will find it toward the middle of the page here.

I am using instructions from Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe-Up. I tried Judy Becker's Magic Cast on with the double point needles that I usually use for socks and found that it is nearly impossible to do. I was working in the car while we were traveling to and from Wisconsin so I didn't have much choice along for circular needles. I did have a couple of needles though which were only slightly different sizes so I grabbed the closest two circulars and tried it again. So far, so good.

They were working so I continued on using the Magic Loop technique with the Hiya Hiya needle I had. I don't usually enjoy knitting socks with one circular this way but this needle was particularly cooperative and was slightly smaller than my double points. I liked the knit that I was getting with them so I continued on.

I now have 2 socks up to the ribbing. I like my ribbing to be tightly knit so I was working along in my usual tight mode and decided I should try the socks on again before I finished the rib. Guess what? They were too tight! So again.....rriiiiiipppp when the knitting!

They are back on the needles again and almost finished now. Let's hope I remember to take the finished item photo too!

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?

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

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!

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.

Soctoberfest

This month is Socktoberfest again. Everyone is knitting socks for the winter. Or at least I and a bunch of sock enthusiasts are. I have joined a group of people who are trying to finish up the second sock of a pair. There are 3 on my list that I would really like to get finished soon. Winter is coming, the days are getting cooler and I have already started wearing my wool socks some. Of course today is not one of those days -- it is 77 degrees!

My take-along knitting project lately has been this Magi Sock. I finally finished it the other day and I now am started on the second sock. This basic sock has a ribbed cuff and stockinette foot. There is a free pattern on my web site called Magi Socks named for the yarn that they are made of. I tried to give easy to understand instructions so even a beginner could make these.
I used Magi yarn and size 2 needles and get a gauge of about 8.5 sts/inch. I think I would like to try this yarn with a smaller needle next time to see what it looks like. This is already knit tighter than they suggested gauge on the yarn wrapper but it still seems just a little bit loose. I like my socks to have a nice tight knit so they wear well. Magi yarn is from Rauma in Norway.


This pair is also my own design but the pattern is not completely written yet. This is Tofutsies yarn on size 1 needles. This yarn makes a spiraling stripe design on its own. The individual colors are blended into completely different colors and I feel that you lose the beauty of those colors. You can see that at the top of the sock. I found a stitch pattern that broke up the striping and keeps the colors separated a bit more. I really like how they came out and I will probably write up the pattern when they are finished.

The third pair of socks is one that I think I started last fall, just before Socktoberfest. I am not quite sure why I didn't get them finished then. These are made in Trekking ProNatura Bamboo yarn on size 1 needles. I really like the yarn. I think they will be very comfortable to wear. The pattern is Dublin Bay Socks. It has an easy lace design down the sides of the leg.

So, I have some great small projects and a nice large project to work on right now. Winter is coming I'm sure. It always does here in Iowa! They say it might be a really cold one again like last year and with the cost of fuels all going up it is probably better to wrap ourselves in wool to keep warm instead of turning up the thermostat, right?

TNNA Knitting

Of course I had to have some knitting to do while at a trade show that was focused on Needlearts!!

On the way to Ohio we were trying to finish up some of the display projects. I made several rosettes for the green Pillpi/Chiri hat/scarf/wristwarmers set that was displayed. We needed 20 rosettes so as we took turns driving we also took turns knitting them.

Then I started a pair of adult women's size socks in our new Magi sock yarn. These went with me each day so I could knit as I had the time while in the booth. It was also a great display item so people could see how this brown/gold colorway knits up. I would set it down next to the display of Magi when I wasn't working on it. Very pretty I might add!

Back in our room in the evening I started some plain wool mittens for a charity project. These also made for easy knitting to do on the way home in the car. I also started a charity hat on the way home and knit on it until it got too dark to see to do the decreases at the top. More on that later...





Need to get those last tails woven in on these mittens!

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.........

Some 2007 knitting I can finally show off

Introducing
Tofutsies Weave Socks

I mentioned this project in October. It was an entry for a sock design contest so I couldn't give too much away then. Now that the contest is over I can show them off. Oh, and I got second place!

I love the bright colors of this yarn but I was disappointed with the way my first pair turned out. Two of the colors blend together as you knit to make a spiral of a totally different color! So with this pattern I decided I wanted a way to interrupt that spiral and have each of the colors stand out individually.

You can see in the close-up view the spiral that started in the cuff and also how the weave pattern changed that.

I really like the results! The pattern will hopefully be available on my web site soon.