Ear of Corn Mittens

Here is a photo of my favorite pair of mittens made from Classic Elite Tapestry (a wool/mohair blend with a lot of shine) and the Year of Mittens pattern book. The main pattern is the ear of corn pattern and the hem was from a different month. I gave these mittens to my friend Sam in Colorado who uses them to take her blind dog on his nightly walks.

I am still working on the Sirdal cardigan and have ordered the Norwegian braid and buttons. I'm near the collar and it is slow going because I'm finding it annoying. The Nature Spun yarn has too many knots, the Addi Turbo needles are too slippery, and I'm not sure if I like the pattern anymore. I really think my bad attitude is because I'm working on one project exclusively which is not my preference. I think I may actually be more productive by working on several projects simultaneously. Perhaps I'll get back to work on the second cashmere mitten today.

NORWEGIAN KNITTING RESOURCES, PART 2





The mailing list for Norwegian knitters is Norgeknit and it is wonderfully run by Wendy Johnson. Join us and browse through the pages of photos of sweaters and accessories. The French counterpart for Norgeknit is TricotNordique and a visit to their photo files, especially the folder titled Norvegiens, is quite inspiring.



The Dale sweater construction FAQ here should be printed out by everyone interested in making a Dale sweater. Also, Knitting & Assembling your Norwegian sweater written by Geane Helfrich can answer many questions. Wendy has two pages of photos and information on Norwegian steeks Here and Here. Karen has added a photo-rich section of her web site documenting in detail the construction of a Dale sweater. Finally, Flor has put together a list of mistakes in Dale of Norway patterns at her Dale errata page.



There are many inspiring web pages by talented knitters. Get yourself a cup of tea because you need to check out the Norwegian knitting photos at Wendy's site, Flor's site, Geane's site, Laurie's site, Amy's site, Karen's web site (with lots of great Dale baby accessories), Sandrine's site (in French but make sure to click on the "realisation" or "plus de details" buttons to see some great steeking and detail photos), and Saartje's site from the Netherlands which has a few Scandinavian knitted accessory photos. Drops has a huge selection of Norwegian patterns here - even if you can't read Swedish, Danish or Norwegian you can enjoy viewing the gorgeous designs.



Theresa has a terrific blog called Bagatell Knitting in Norway which has daily entries about her life and knitting in Norway. There are dozens of online stores for purchasing ready made Dale of Norway sweaters so I won't even attempt to list those. And if you check out Norwegian Wool you'll find out that there is even a market for your used Norwegian sweaters and accessories.

Here is a photo of my second house rabbit, Snickerdoodle, shown with some rabbit socks knit from a Blackberry Ridge Farm pattern. I don't remember which yarn I used - I gave the socks to a friend responsible for us adopting Flip from the House Rabbit Society. Snickerdoodle and Flip hate each other so have separate territories in the house. Flip has the second bedroom which also houses all my crafts supplies and Snickerdoodle has the rest of the house. I have to watch them both around my knitting stuff. Flip enjoys sticking his nose in baskets of fleece and ripping up knitting patterns and Snickerdoodle was caught once trying to eat a tatted snowflake. But his worst transgression by far was chewing on the edge of my signed copy of Alice Starmore's out-of-print and very valuable In the Hebrides.



Still haven't quite finished the main pattern on the Sirdal cardigan - I really can't wait to be finished with this sweater. I should probably order the buttons today. More Norwegian Knitting Resources tomorrow...

NORWEGIAN KNITTING RESOURCES, PART 1



I thought I'd highlight a few of my favorite online sources of Norwegian knitting supplies.





Bea Ellis Knitwear offers yarns and kits for Dale of Norway, Poetry in Stitches and Norsk Strikkedesign sweaters along with pewter buttons, clasps, Norwegian braids and a wonderful line of Norwegian hat kits.



Nordic Fiber Arts has many mitten kits I've enjoyed knitting along with kits for Norsk Strikkedesign and Poetry in Stitches, yarns and books.



Norsk Fjord Fiber has spinning and weaving supplies along with Novi knitting needles, knitting kits, accessories, and books.



Arnhild Norwegian Knitting offers knitting kits, including baby items and accessories, along with a translated book on pulsewarmers and a good variety of Norwegian buttons and braids.



Pinnsvin Design is a Norwegian store offering yarns, books, and knitting kits. Check out their beaded pulsewarmer kits and the Norwegian-English knitting dictionary.



Yarn Barn offers a good collection of Dale of Norway pattern books and kits and is one of the only web sites that shows each Dale design in all the color choices offered.



Allegro Yarns sells a huge selection of Dale of Norway sweater kits.



The Dale of Norway official web site is a place you can spend hours with a cup of tea watching slide shows of their newest gorgeous collections of sweater designs.

Here's one of the St. Enda sleeves in a kind of a nice sage green Gaelic Aran yarn. I'm posting this to remind myself to work on this soon as it is the only fiber goal I didn't accomplish this week. I did spin up the the combed alpaca last night and I should be done with the main pattern on the Sirdal by the end of today while I'm playing bunny nurse to my sick rabbit. It should be a nice quiet day as my husband is off hiking and fortunately the house doesn't need too much cleaning. Perhaps I'll get to work on the second Meida's mitten also.

Yesterday in Wendy's blog, she gave out awards for her favorite knitted sweaters. Actually I think Wendy herself should get an Oscar for her gorgeous work and inspiration to all knitters. Anyway, here is my own choice for Best Socks:













These are the Wedgwood socks from Socks, Socks, Socks done on size 0 dpns with a round toe in Brown Sheep Nature Spun fingering weight yarn. I charted out Merry Christmas from an old Dover book of cross stitch patterns and sent these off for a sock exchange. I wish I had a pair of these socks for myself!



Today it is back to knitting Sirdal and Meida's mittens. My wonderful rabbit Flip, my favorite pet of all time, is suffering from arthritis and can't get around too well this morning so I plan to knit in his room next to him to keep him company. Here's his photo for his award in the Best Pet Ever category:

CREATIVITY





I recently read an excellent article titled "Pushing the Creative Process," by Anita Luvera Mayer in Handwoven, Sept/Oct 1999. The author defined creativity as bringing something into being and discusses that dreaded time between getting an idea and actually realizing it. She talked about how we learn to express ourselves creatively and how we can jump-start the process. (My method is to keep a knitting/fiber notebook with all sorts of notes and color ideas and interesting techniques.) Here is a quote I wrote down from the article.



"Creativity involves learning the process, doing the work, and letting go of fear - whether it is a fear of failure, fear of not doing it "right", fear of looking foolish, fear of being different, or fear of wasting material... When we're being creative we have to learn to trust our own responses and ideas. We go past fear by taking action, trying out ideas, and not giving up."



Yesterday I achieved that wonderful state of flow you sometimes get when working on a project. I was knitting away on the cashmere Meida's mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia and I was completely oblivious to the world around me, just enjoying the pattern and the different colors I chose. I'm up past the thumb and should finish mitten 1 today. I'm hoping to finish the mittens by the end of this weekend and the Sirdal cardigan by the end of the month.

Here's a closeup of the Dale sweater I wrote about yesterday. I wear this sweater often on cold nights or as a jacket here in NM in winter.



I think today I'm going to start working on the cashmere mittens. I'm looking forward to working with Richesse et Soie and any pattern by Nancy Bush (I'll be doing Meida's mittens) is worth the effort. Plus this might help me to stop thinking about buying more yarn. I'm really trying to not buy any yarn until I've finished with both the Sirdal and St. Enda sweaters and I'm trying to limit the books and patterns I buy. I'm currently waiting on the Trondheim pattern from Bea Ellis Knitwear and then I'll figure out something else to order. Since Lucy Neatby is one of my favorite knitwear designers and I don't have any patterns by her I think I'll order some of her stuff from Bear Brain Enterprises next. Lucy's pattern for the Paradoxical Mittens is so wonderful.

STEEKING





The house is sparkly clean and the laundry is hanging on the line and I'm settling down to knit all day in the warm desert sunshine. I'm past the dreaded boring part on the Sirdal cardigan and I'm already starting to think of doing the steeks on this sweater. I've tried several different methods. The first method I tried was from an online pictorial that basically said to take the yarn you knit with and sew several backstitch lines up and down each side of the steek. This was not good and I could see the little ends working their way loose as I was doing it. The second method I tried was a crocheted steek and I had the same results as the first method. Once Jeanette kindly offered her services as seamstress and machine stitched them. I don't have a sewing machine so the method I've finally arrived at is to use quilting thread and do several cross stitches on each steek side, making sure to catch every yarn with the thread. This does take some time but it is foolproof so far.



I've always wanted to try two unusual steek methods. One is called the wound steek method in Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting - basically you wind the yarns several times around the needle when you get to the desired steek opening then start knitting again. On the next round, drop the wrapped yarn off the needle before winding on a new set of yarn loops. You're making a yarn ladder and when you get to the top you cut in the center of these ladder yarns and darn them all in on the wrong side. I may try this method on the Sirdal for the neck steek. The pattern doesn't have a neck steek but it is a nice way to save time. Most Dale patterns have you working back and forth up at the neckline.



I've heard of a simpler yet more controversial version of this type of steek. You'll need a larger number of steek stitches - at least 4

and probably more. At the top of the knitting, simply drop/unravel the steek stitches to the desired opening, cut the ladder stitches in

the center and then proceed to KNOT every two yarns together. So you'd have a lot of knots along each steek edge but in a Dale sweater where there is always a knitted facing on every steek edge, I'm not sure how noticeable that would be.















Here is my first steeked sweater - it is #79013 in Dale of Norway's book #79 (long out of print) in Heilo yarn. As I was cutting the steeks on the front I actually cut through and made a hole in the back of the sweater! After spending 15 minutes swearing like a sailor, I ended up unraveling the sweater a bit more in the back then using the Kitchener stitch and knitting on double pointed needles to repair it. It isn't noticeable at all any more thankfully.

Since it is Monday I'll start with my fiber goals for this week. First, I'd like to knit through pattern 2 on the body of the Sirdal cardigan and order the buttons from Bea Ellis Knitwear. I'm not ordering the braid at this time because I think the amount specified in the pattern is too much. 7/8 of a yard just to go around both wrists? I'll wait until I'm completed with the sweater and measure myself. Last week I probably knit about 10 inches on it, all in the boring lice pattern.



I'd like to finish another pattern repeat on the Alice Starmore St. Enda - I think I did 1 1/2 pattern repeats last week. And I'd like to spin up about 4 oz of the gray alpaca I combed out last week.



Has anyone seen the pattern and kits for the Magical Mittens? I know Herrschners and a few other online vendors have these. All of them say they take two skeins of Richesse et Soie (cashmere/silk) but when I received the pattern and the yarn I found out you also need a skein of Douceur et Soie (mohair/silk?). I'm not sure 2 skeins of Richesse et Soie are enough for a pair of mittens for my friend Gracie so I need to come up with plan B.



I took out probably my favorite knitting project book, Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush, and decided to make Meida's Mittens so I can leave the upper part of the mitten in cashmere/silk and the bottom will be patterned in some Nylamb from the stash. It is almost as soft as the cashmere. I will get started on those this week also. The Meida's mittens will be my 6th project from the book -here's a photo of Sander's mittens with the fun diagonal fishtail cuff done in some two-ply Alice Starmore Hebridean yarn.

Theresa posted a terrific pattern for a Lace Arrow Sachet yesterday on her blog, At the Still Point of a Turning World. That inspired me to start thinking of making Easter baskets. In previous years I've knit lacy facecloths and washcloths out of some sport weight or lighter yarn - usually a cotton and silk or cotton and linen blend, Euroflax linen, a naturally colored cotton, and even hemp and presented them in baskets for girlfriends with some other goodies. This year I think I'll make some hemp bath mitts to add to mine. Here are two other homemade goodies you can add to your baskets.





EASY BATH SALTS





Just mix 3/4 cup Epsom salts (found in the pharmacy section of your supermarket) with 1/4 cup sea salt and either some nice essential oils or one small perfume sample vial. You can also add dried lavender sprigs or rose petals and even one or two drops of food coloring if you like. Pour into an attractive container and include a gift tag saying to use about 1/4 cup salts per bath.





EASY SOAP BARS





First you need to find some fun containers for your soap bars. You can go to the craft store and buy some soap molds or look in the candy/cake decorating section of the hardware store for candy molds in shapes you like.You can also use the bottom of milk cartons or paper dixie cups or any similar container you have that might be cute. Just make sure to brush it with some vegetable oil beforehand.



Next find some plain unscented glycerin soap. I use Pure & Natural brand - even if the only glycerin soap you find is colored and scented it will still work. Cut up soap into about 1/2" pieces and put in a Pyrex container. Microwave on high in 30 second increments until completely melted. Now you can stir in food coloring, perfume, dried herb sprigs, small diced pieces of other colored soaps for a confetti look, essential oils (ask at the health food stores which oils are good for use near the skin and which ones are not), oatmeal or cornmeal for a scrubbing soap, flower petals, a small amount of strong herbal tea, small plastic toys for kid's soap, etc. The soap section of the crafts store will have some fun fragrances and colors for your creations. Pour in molds and let set until hardened. If you're using homemade containers like milk cartons or dixie cups, you'll probably need to rip off the carton to get the soap out. Use these soaps to fill Theresa's Lace Arrow Sachets or wrap in tissue paper or parchment paper and tie with ribbon. Voila! A neat gift to give with your handknit cloths.

Here is a 4-cornered hat from a Classic Elite Tapestry hat kit that I made for my friend Brad. I wish they still made Tapestry and I wish they still made those fun kits. The kits just had some photos, some general instructions and a lot of colors you'd never put together in a million years. But I always loved how they turned out. And the mohair content of Tapestry makes the colors so radiant.



I'm more than halfway up through the "dreaded boring part" in the Sirdal sweater. I don't think I'm going to do the button band the way it is in the pattern. I may do something more similar to this similar Norwegian cardigan pattern from Pinnsvindesign with the Norwegian braid and clasps. Pinnsvindesign also has some wonderful kits for Norwegian beaded wrist warmers. I've always wanted to make some but I can't imagine myself ever wearing them. Another kit I've been eyeing lately is this kit for the Van Gogh Stole in the black and rainbow colors. I'd love to try mitered knitting but I'm not sure I want a scarf that isn't reversible.

Spinning Cat Fur

FROM CAT TO MITTENS

First you need an appropriate feline donor. Here is a silly photo of my Persian cat Pumpkin. She's quite spoiled and if she could talk, would sound quite similar to Zsa Zsa Gabor. "Could you fill my food dish, daaahling?" Her fur varies from about 3 to 5" long and spins up really nicely. To do this with other long-haired cats you may have to blend the fur with wool. I have a flame-point Himalayan cat named Bosco whose fur is just as long but is quite slippery and difficult to spin.






Next you need to procure fur from said donor. Pumpkin fortunately likes being brushed - I use a dog comb and save her fur in a Rubbermaid container. (Actually I save fur from all three cats and two short-haired house bunnies in the hope that some day I can spin it up.) In the next photo you'll see the comb I use, the fur, the fur combed out and a rolag. I have spun her fur after simply combing it out and straightening it but for these mittens I made a rolag. To make the rolag I used fine cotton cards (somewhat similar to a slicker brush) and brushed out her fur, then rolled it into a cylinder as I removed it from the card.





Now it is time to spin up the fur. I used my Ashford Traveler spinning wheel but you can also use a spindle. I spun a 2 ply yarn that was roughly similar to a DK weight. Here's a photo of the finished skein of cat fur.



I knit the fur into mittens for myself with a turned up cuff - my own design. They are extremely soft and gorgeous although not nearly black like Pumpkin. More like a grayish brown with a small halo. Now DH wants a hat from her fur but if you read yesterday's blog, you'd realize he'd never wear it.

I forgot I'd promised some photos of the talented Jeanette's knitting so here is a photo of some socks she made - the yarn is Big Print I believe.

Here is a photo of the Frostrosen mittens in Rauma Finullgarn from a kit from Nordic Fiber Arts. This is just a series of projects I've made for my husband (two Dale of Norway sweaters, about 6 vests, gloves, mittens, socks, cross-country ski socks, etc.) that he never wears. He always acts interested in my projects and says he wants me to knit for him and approves each individual project but then he never actually wears anything except for some old ugly hiking socks made out of Woolease. And he gets mad if I wear the stuff I make him!



I still keep trying though and am going to make him a pair of socks based on the Baltic Peace Fleece socks out of Cascade 220 in the stash. I really like the color combo and I'll just find some interesting designs to use. I have a bunch of Dover needlework chart books that I can use for inspiration. And for some reason in my blog earlier I said that Jeanette made the Dale of Norway Mt. Rose sweater when actually she made the Whiteface Mountain. Perhaps all this sunshine and warm weather here in NM lately is getting to me.

I finally got out the alpaca fiber I have been meaning to work on. Several years ago I received two alpaca fleeces free from Marcie at DFK Ranch because they were full of VM (vegetable material). After taking them out to the porch and discarding about three-quarters of each fleece I found there was still a good amount I could work with. So far I have one skein spun and plyed and a bobbin spun on my Ashford Traveler wheel. Last night I used a dog comb and combed out (over a garbage can because there's still a lot of hay pieces and burrs) some more gray alpaca in preparation for spinning. I also have a smaller amount of black alpaca fleece and some brown alpaca fleece I bought last year at Taos Wool Festival . I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it all.



Another thing I did yesterday was to bring all my knitting books into the living room instead of in the closet in Flip the black rabbit's room. Now they're nearer my work space and my computer and will help me more. I am currently waiting for the new Nancie Wiseman book on finishing techniques.



And finally, I joined the Productive Spinners mailing list where each member lists and updates their progress on three fiber goals. In reading through recent messages I've found a lot of good ideas to help me get more done.

Ringblomst

Ana from the Norgeknit mailing list is working on the Ringblomst (Norwegian for marigold) sweater. I did mine in black, white and gray Nature Spun sport weight yarn to make it a bit lighter but I still don't wear it often enough. It was really fun to make although I found a few minor mistakes in the chart. You can find the errata for Ringblomst listed HEREcourtesy of Flor.




The bottom of my Sirdal cardigan was rolling a bit so I blocked it a bit last night by getting it wet. I don't know if it was really necessary to do at this point or if I'm just putting off finishing the "dreaded boring part" of the pattern. On patterns with hems such as Dale of Norway's Sirdal and Ringblomst and some of the SLC 2002 variations, I always knit the hems in while I'm knitting. Basically you just knit to the point where you get to an equal distance from the fold (usually done in a picot K2, YO row or just plain purling) and then you knit one stitch of the cast on edge together with the stitch on the left needle. Flor has pictures of this process at her helpful web site HERE. You need to make sure that you knit this hemmed row loosely and that you don't end up skewing the hem to the right or the left if you're not picking up the corresponding stitch from the cast on edge.

Still enjoying St. Enda. I've decided I will make one of the Alice Starmore wraps to use to drape over the couch. I was looking at the two in Aran Knitting but I will also check Beyond the Hebrides since I think there are a few wrap patterns in there. This weekend I received my order of Tudor Roses and I am enjoying browsing through it.

I am knitting away on Sirdal and St. Enda. St. Enda is MUCH more enjoyable these days as I'm at the dreaded "boring part" on the Sirdal body. Once you enter the world of color knitting and charts you'll find that you cannot stand knitting plain sections anymore. Even the lice pattern on Sirdal is just completely boring. I'll start knitting then my mind will wander and I'll get up and start doing something else. Every time I knit a sweater with a plain stockinette stitch section I vow never to do it again. It takes a lot longer to knit one color believe it or not. There's nothing more engrossing than a good two or more color chart, especially one that is so complicated you can't memorize the pattern. I'm addicted.



I'm a two-handed knitter. For two colors I'll hold one color in my left hand and knit continental and the other color in my right hand. If there are more than two colors I'll hold the third color in my right hand also, kind of intertwining the yarns in different fingers if that makes any sense. Initially I used to hold the background color in my left hand but I just read in Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves that Shetland knitters hold the background color in their right hand because if you're a two-handed, right-handed knitter the stitches made with your left hand will be larger and thus dominant. I closely examined my knitting and it was true. So to recap - I now hold the background color in my right hand (stitches will be slightly smaller) and the contrast color in my left hand.

Colorful Kin Cap

Thanks for all the nice comments I've received on this blog, especially from some of my Norgi knitting role models like Wendy & Geane.

I doubt I will achieve all my 2003 fiber goals (I may not even START Kashmir since it is last on the list of sweaters to do) but setting goals does seem to spur me on to finish more stuff.


I don't have too many items I've both spun and knit but here is one. It is the "Colorful Kin Cap" from an old issue of Interweave Knits. I found the four colors of dyed Australian wool as roving in my LYS, Village Wools (one of the BEST LYS's there is!). I spun it into a 2 ply yarn. The hat is for DH but it has inspired many people to ask for a hat of their own. I made one other but in commercial yarn. I'm not sure the colors are coming out as brilliantly as they do in real life but I really like them. Normally I am not too capable at choosing lots of colors to go together and I ask DH to do it. My knitting friend Jeanette is excellent at choosing colors and I should ask her advice more often.

TWO ADDITIONAL FIBER GOALS FOR 2003 ------



I forgot to add that I want to make a pair of gloves on size 0 needles in the Regia self-patterning yarn Jeanette gave me. Jeanette is 16 and a tremendously talented knitter. Three years ago she was sitting next to me at Thanksgiving dinner and asked to learn. I taught her to cast on and knit and she just took off. Her second project was socks and then a mohair cabled twin set from Vogue Knitting. She made herself a gorgeous Dale of Norway Mt. Rose sweater and is now making tons of socks on two circular needles. I'll put some photos of her knitting on this blog next week.



My other fiber goal is to teach the abovementioned Jeanette to spin either with a spindle or on my wheel. And Jeanette if you're reading this blog, I'm waiting impatiently for my Norwegian socks you're making me from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. They are going to be gorgeous with incredible colors.

My Knitting and Fiber Goals for 2003 -------



1. Finish my WIPs - St. Enda, Sirdal, vest and the cashmere mittens

2. Buy a kit for the Map of the World Afghan from Ramwools.

3. Make the Spin-Off Entrelac socks in my handspun, kool-aid dyed yarn.

4. Make the Dale of Norway Norge 2000 for my friend Brad (photo of colors I've chosen from Yarn Barn)

5. Make the Dale of Norway Kashmir sweater in Tiur (photo at Allegro Yarns)

6. Buy a tapestry loom and teach myself to weave

7. Make a pair of Latvian mittens for Joelle for her horseback riding

8. Finish spinning the grey and brown alpaca Marcie from DFK Ranch gave me and make an afghan

9. Spin up all the different colored Ashford wool roving and figure out what to knit with it

10. Make the spring socks from Socks, Socks, Socks with all the embroidery

11. Finish up the Best of Show Socks in Wildfoote from Socks, Socks, Socks - 3 colors per row and very slow-going -photo below

Welcome to my knitting blog! My name is Nanette, I live in a passive-solar house on 2 acres outside of Albuquerque, NM, with my husband Bruce, 2 spoiled house rabbits, and 3 cats. I'm the author of 'Tis the Season: A Vegetarian Christmas Cookbook (Simon & Schuster, 1995).



I own a Ashford Traveler spinning wheel and many beautiful spindles and I want to learn how to weave tapestries this year. But my main passion in life is knitting especially Norwegian designs. My current works-in-progress are the Dale of Norway Sirdal cardigan (photo here at Allegro Yarns), the St. Enda sweater from Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore, and a traveling stitch vest.



I'm waiting on some plum Richesse de Soie (cashmere/silk blend) to make some mittens for my friend Gracie. I've never worked with cashmere before and I can barely wait. Here are some photos of my work - Landra's Gloves from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia knit in Stahl Baby Merino











and the Selbu Star Gloves from Vibeke Lind's Knitting in the Nordic Tradition knit in Country Garden DK.