First Glimpse

Although the US pattern booklet for Dale of Norway’s new Olympic design won’t be released until mid to late August (whaaaaa!), they’ve sent out a peek at some of their new designs for Vancouver:

Dale of Norway Olympic design for men in Heilo or Falk from upcoming Book 213

The new Olympic design for ladies in Daletta; book to arrive Aug '09

Dale kids' design for Vancouver, from Book 213, due in US in August '09

And finally, Dale's designs for the littlest Olympians

Of course, there will be the requisite accessories, too.  And, yes, we will be getting that groovy looking patch in, along with the booklet, just as soon as we possibly can.  (You KNOW all the cool kids will want that patch!)

Marisa brings Høxbro to the nursery

Once in a while, I’m lucky enough to receive photos of some of the truly gorgeous work my customers do.  Here’s one showing a magnificent baby blanket, knit by Marisa from Portland, OR.  Marisa used Dale of Norway Baby Ull for this wonderful modular knitting design from Vivian Høxbro’s book, “Knit to Be Square”. Pretty neat, huh?!

Zooming in on Marisa's gorgeous blanket

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Two Strands on Ravelry

I’ve just started my own Ravelry group, “Two Strands”.  I’m hoping it will grow into a fun place to discuss stranded knitting in general and my work in particular.  You’re all welcome to join in the fun, talk about whatever stranded work is on your needles and ask about whatever is on your mind.  Check it out!

Vancouver 2010 in Fall 2009!

I’ve just hung up from a conversation with folks at Dale of Norway US and, boy, do I ever have good news for knitters!  There will be a Vancouver 2010 Dale of Norway sweater for the Olympics.  It’s scheduled to come out some time this fall.  It will be available in both ready-to-wear and…yep, you guessed it…hand knitting.  Woohoo!

Last year, many of us were very disappointed when we were told there would not be an Olympic sweater for 2010.  We heard that there were issues surrounding Olympic licensing and that we’d have to console ourselves with the designs from the Commemorative Collection booklet, which features 6 designs inspired by North American venues.  While the Commemorative Collection certainly does have some great projects, I think it would have been a shame for Dale of Norway to break their long-standing record of providing the perfect blend of traditional knitting technique, exemplary design, venue inspiration and Olympic spirit, all rolled up into one intruiging project.  It’s great to hear that whatever hurdles were impeding things last year have now been cleared.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with.  I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything further.

Free Knitting Patterns from Dale on Kidsknits

Dale of Norway has just issued several free – yep, you read that right…”free”  – knitting patterns as PDFs for ladies’ summer knitting.  We’ve just put them up on my Kidsknits site. You’ll find them here. Have fun!

Spring 2009 Dale Baby Books

Dale of Norway has recently issued English language versions of several new books on knitting for babies.  Here are the details on a few of my favorite projects from these books:

From Book 197 :

Cardigan and Bonnet from Book 197 design #19701

Okay, I’ll grant you that pretty much anything you’d put on such a bright-eyed, chubby-cheeked sweetheart would look absolutely adorable.   But, I just love this perfect little cardigan, especially with such sweet “icing on the cake” – colorful bits of embroidery done in Baby Ull leftovers.  They simply used 3 lazy daisy stitches + 1 french knot at each point.  (If you’re so inclined, you could get quite carried away with more embroidery – what a great use for stash scraps!)

Sizes 3 (6, 12, 18 & 24) months use 3 (4, 4, 5, 5) balls of Baby Ull in Natural/off white # 0020 (or any color your heart desires) for this cardigan; 3 (3, 3, 4, 4) for the pants; 1 (1, 1, 2, 2) for the matching bonnet.

From Book 203:

Dale of Norway Baby Book 203

Dale of Norway Baby Book 203 design #2, slip stitch cardigan

Uh oh, another adorable little rascal!  And what a great little cardigan!  I think those 3 colors work wonderfully together (but, of course, you could use any 3 Baby Ull colors you like. )  By the way, that groovy color work is all achieved through the (simple) magic of slipped stitches. Sizes newborn (3, 6, 9 & 12 months) use 2(2, 3, 3, 3) balls of light green #9013, plus 1 ball each of lupine #5226 & bright turquoise #6714 for all sizes.  They also have a romper, bonnet, cap & booties in the same set – too cute!  (But I know you…with your magnificent sense of taste…you’d be using vastly nicer buttons, wouldn’t you?!)

From Book 8102:

Dale of Norway Favorite Baby Designs II, Book 8102

The cover design is a splendid choice for novice knitters, for it’s done primarily in garter stitch with minimal seaming.  Plus, the kimono-style jacket makes dressing those squirmy little darlings a cinch.  However, my favorite out of this book of favorites would have to be everybody’s favorite:  Dale of Norway’s all-time best selling baby pattern, “marihone”, or as those of us who don’t speak Norwegian would say, “that ladybug sweater” (below).   The reprised version in Book 8102 shows a cute new colorway using current Baby Ull colors. But,  I’m thinking all that yellow, with chartreuse on top, might make some perfectly healthy cherubs look more than a bit jaundiced.  (Mine would have looked like Yoda!) So, here are a couple of possible substitutes that spare the yellow, still use current Baby Ull colors and stay true to the vitality of the design:

Dale of Norway Marihone design from Baby Book 8102

Custom Kidsknits colorway for Dale of Norway Marihone

Custom Kidsknits colorway for Dale of Norway Marihone

And you can shuffle those color bands around to suit your fancy.  The marihone design is written for sizes 3 (6, 12, 18, 24).  Here are the yarn requirements:

Yarn requirements for Dale Marihone, with custom Kidsknits colorways

From Book 8103, “Designs for Newborns”:

Dale of Norway Baby Book 8103

There are eight – yep, eight! – beautiful baby blankets in this booklet.  Some are knit, some are crocheted, some are about as simple as can be, some are quite elaborate.  Indeed, there are too many lovely ones to choose one favorite.  But, the piece in this booklet that really caught my eye was this sure-to-be-an-heirloom dress:

One of three Christening gowns from the Dale of Norway Book 8103, "Designs for Newborns"

Okay, I confess – with 3 boys, I’m a big sucker for little dresses, but this one is really precious! Sized 3/6 months, the gown and its matching bonnet use 16 balls of Dale of Norway Baby Ull.

Sleepy Monkey Blanket

Monkster has something he’d like to show you:

Sleepy Monkey Blanket by Mary Ann Stephens Copyright 2009

That’s my Sleepy Monkey Blanket which I designed for the Spring 2009 edition of Twist Collective.

Sleepy Monkey Blanket - back Copyright Mary Ann Stephens 2009

No, that’s not a second blanket – it’s reversible!

Sleepy Monkey Blanket Copyright Mary Ann Stephens 2009

Nifty, huh?

My 3 boys aren’t babies anymore.  These days, they’re far more apt to take a touchdown pass than a nap.  But as I was knitting this blanket, it was fun to think of how they would have enjoyed it when they were little.  I imagined naptime, when they might have “read” the blanket as they sat on my lap: “Look!  There’s that silly winking monkey!  And there’s that sweet little kissing monkey!  But where did my sleepy monkey go?”  Surely, they would have named each of those monkeys.  Hopefully, they would have picked a favorite – a funny little friend to guide them off to Dreamland.

We’re still not sure if those are Life Savers, Jelly Rings or Fruit Loops on the back.  But, I am pretty sure it would have been fun to pretend my monkeys and I were gobbling them up.

With any stranded project I do, one of the hardest things to get past is picking just one colorway to knit first.  Since this was designed for a publication, there were other opinions to consider, too.  First and foremost, it seemed only right to start with a unisex colorway.  I’ve always adored monkeys and I kind of suspected there might be some calls for some more “girly” options.  (I think the first one came about 15 minutes after the new edition went live!)  So here are a couple of my favorites:

Two of many alternate colorways for the Sleepy Monkey Blanket

The final, chosen colorway used Valley Yarns Superwash Merino.  The “virtual swatch” on the left used colors from Valley Yarns Sugarloaf Merino/Acrylic.  Both of those yarns are available through WEBS.  The “virtual swatch” on the right used colors from Dale of Norway Freestyle 100% washable wool.  That yarn is available from…hey, that one’s from ME!

Wow!  In no time at all, I’ve had quite a few requests for more Freestyle colorways.  So, at the bottom of this post, I’ve added a few more “virtual swatches” (colorized charts, not knit samples) based on Freestyle colors.

If you like to knit in the round, you might like to steek your blanket, as I did.  (There’s a mini-tutorial on this topic within the blanket pattern.  You can also read my detailed article on steeks here.)  If you’re using a soft, superwash yarn, you’ll want to machine-sew your steeks – soft yarns are too slippery for crocheted steeks.  If you’re using the same motif layout shown in the example, you’ll want to use worsted or aran weight (4 to 4.5 sts/inch) yarn so that your squares’ circumferences will be large enough to wriggle through the machine. (Of course, if you add a(n) extra repeat(s) of the monkeys across your blanket, you can get away with steeking a finer gauge yarn.)  If you choose to knit your squares flat, by machine or by hand, there’s no circumference to reinforce and open up, so you can use any gauge your heart desires.

Whatever your choice, I hope you and your mokeys have endless fun. And in case those rings on the back turn out to be Jelly Rings, save some for me!

Aubergine, Neptune, Fuchsia, Red & Orange

Aubergine, Shamrock, Wildflower, Fuchsia and Horizon

Dark Taupe, Neptune, Petal Pink, Fuchsia and Horizon

Dark Taupe, Spring Green, Natural, Poppy and Horizon

Navy, Shamrock, Pastel Blue, Red and Cornflower

Aubergine, Shamrock, Yellow, Red and Orange

Aubergine, orange, pastel blue, red, cornflower (Freestyle equivalents of original colorway)

My Postwar Mittens on Winter 2008 Twist Collective

Woohoo! The Winter 2008 issue of Twist Collective is out and guess who got a chance to join in the fun:

Postwar Mittens on Winter 2008 Twist Collective

Click here to go straight to my mittens. (Thankfully, they’re infinitely better with the camera than I am. And wait ’til you see who’s wearing them!!) Here’s a little more detail:

Postwar Mittens - optional date on thumb; see Twist Collective for pattern

Postwar Mittens by Mary Ann Stephens, Twist Collective Winter 2008

The absolutely wonderful watercolor illustrations you see on Twist Collective were done by the very talented Eloise Narrigan. You can also see the Postwar Mittens on Ravelry. Need the yarn? You’ll find it here.

Stay cozy!

Steeks

A number of knitters have been looking around this blog, wondering where the heck I’ve hidden my steeks article. Actually, it’s on my Kidsknits store site, right where it’s always been. You can get to it through the menu bar on the top of the Kidsknits index page, or you can click right here. Have fun and happy steeking!

Chrysanthemum Mittens – The Pattern

You are welcome to copy this free knitting pattern for your personal use. You are warmly encouraged to use this pattern for charitable purposes. However, this pattern is never to be sold. This pattern is not to be used for any commerical purposes without the express permission from the designer and copyright holder, Mary Ann Stephens (me).

Please feel free to post any questions or comments regarding this pattern here on the blog. You can also reach me through my main website, Kidsknits, where you’ll find more of my patterns and kits – some for kids (obviously) but plenty for adults, too, including these other ladies’ mittens:

Amaryllis Mittens

Camellia Mittens

And don’t miss my Postwar Mittens from the Winter 2008 edition of Twist Collective.

Postwar Mittens

Chrysanthemum Mittens:

Chrysanthemum Mittens

Although I designed, knit and happily wore these last winter, I couldn’t bring myself to put them out on my site to sell the pattern and/or kit. It’s not that I didn’t want to share them with you. It’s just that, after I made the first (black) pair, I ended up with only 4 feet of the “natural” left and felt we had too close a call for making everyone happy with the kits. To allow for the potential gauge and yarn consumption differences across the population, I’d need to put an extra ball of natural in the kit. Unfortunately, I can’t do that for free. So, raise your hands if you think you’d like to pay 33% more for a kit, only to have a full ball of yarn left over. No one? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Me neither. Now, raise your hands if you don’t mind running out of yarn with just a couple of rows to go before completing a project. What, still no hands? Yep, that’s what I thought…me neither. You see the dilemma? So, what better way to solve such a dilemma than to turn the problem into a freebie, right? So, here it is, below. I’m leaving the yarn requirements in your lap. The cautious &/or loose knitters among you will want 2 balls of color “B” (the off-white / natural shown in each case here); the brave, daring and rather tight knitters out there might give it a shot with just 1 ball of “B”. Either way, I hope you’ll let folks here and on Ravelry know your thoughts and experiences.

By the way, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to read my previous blog post about these mittens. I used Hauk for that first pair. I had so little room for error at the end that it prompted me to think/write out loud about the possible reasons for the near-shortfall and to hypothesize about the same scenario using Heilo. I ended up making the teal/grean ones in Heilo. Interestingly, I did have about one foot more yarn left over with the Heilo, but I hardly think my little experiment with just two pair of mittens really constitutes a decent statistical sample. I tried weighing umpteen different balls of both Hauk and Heilo. They both really weigh in as pretty much the same, although each type occasionally has a ball with very minor variations (100ths of a gram)- variations that could, I suppose, translate to an extra foot or so of yarn here or there, but nothing more than that. Those little differences I encountered between the 2 yarn types could be either entirely diminished or greatly magnified by differences in other knitters’ tension. “Never mind!”

Since I made the Chrysanthemum Mittens (and blabbed about how much I love Hauk yarn), folks at Dale of Norway have decided to …hmmm, how should we say this>…let Hauk “fade away out of production”. The folks at Dale US resisted using the D word (”discontinue”) with me. In fact, when I asked them about this last Spring, they were adamant that Hauk would be around, for it’s very successfully used in their ready-to-wear line. But more recently, it has become apparent that Hauk for knitters has not taken hold nearly as well as Heilo or Falk (superwash version of Heilo) and it’s a goner. It’s hard to compete with Heilo! So, I’ve been told Hauk will be (or has already gone) out of production. I’ll keep trying to stock it until the last ball is gone, but if you’re hoping for some, do try to get it while you can. But if you can’t, don’t despair: Anything you can make with Hauk can be made at exactly the same gauge with Heilo or Falk. Have fun and happy knitting!

Chrysanthemum Mittens
Sized to fit an average adult female hand; palm circumference = approximately 8 ½ “

Suggested yarn: (see my blog articles – you may want a 2nd ball of color “B”)
1 50-g ball of Dale of Norway “Hauk”, “Heilo” or “Falk” in Black 0090 for background color “A”
1 50-g ball of Dale of Norway “Hauk”, “Heilo” or “Falk” in Natural 0020 for foreground color “B”
1 50-g ball of Dale of Norway “Hauk”, “Heilo” or “Falk” in Barn Red 4137 for cuff detail color “C”
Suggested needles:
One set each of 5 double pointed needles in US size 2(3.0mm) and US size 4(3.5mm).
USE WHATEVER SIZE YOU NEED TO OBTAIN THE GAUGE, BELOW!
Gauge: 28 stitches and 28 rows = 4”/10cm in stockinette stitch with colorwork on larger needles.
Note: The ball band gauge for this yarn is 24 sts = 4”. That’s great for a sweater, but mittens call for extra warm fabric, so we’ll tighten the gauge up slightly to 28 sts = 4”. If you’re shooting for the same size, be certain to use whatever size needles get you the targeted 28 sts over 4”, or 7sts/ inch.
Abbreviations:
A, B & C = yarn colors; EOR=end of round; K = knit; K2tog = knit 2 stitches together; P = purl; rd(s) = round(s); rem = remaining; rep = repeat; SSK = “slip, slip, knit” i.e., slip 2 sts individually knitwise, then K those 2 sts together; st(s) = stitch(es)

Instructions: Using A, cast on 60 sts, preferably using a cable cast on, although a long tail cast on will work fine, too. Place marker. Join and work circularly. *K 1 in A, K 1 in B, rep from * to end of rd.
Braid on right mitten: *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st OVER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st UNDER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. Braid on left mitten: *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st UNDER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st OVER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. Continuing for either mitten: K 1 rd in B.

Checkerboard trim:
Round #1: Break off A, join C, *K 2 in C, K 2 in B, rep from * to EOR. Round #2: *P 2 in C, P 2 in B, rep from * to EOR. Round #3: *K 2 in B, K 2 in C, rep from * to EOR. Round #4: *P 2 in B, P 2 in C, rep from * to EOR. Repeat rounds 1-4 two more times. Repeat rounds 1&2 one more time.
Change to larger needles.

Main body of mitten:
K 1 rd in B. K 1 rd in A. Work Main Chart, starting at lower right corner, always reading from right to left and knitting circularly. Each square equals 1 st to be knit in color shown, unless otherwise indicated (see chart legend.) Read “Thumb details” section BEFORE working thumb indicators on chart.

Thumb details: Once you’ve knit up to your desired thumb placement indicator on the Main Chart,
break off an approximately 18” long piece of scrap yarn, K next 11 sts with scrap yarn, slide 11 scrap
sts back to left needle, K same 11 scrap sts with colors indicated in Main Chart.

Complete Main Chart. Break off yarns, pull ends through remaining sts, tighten, pull ends inside and weave ends in place. Weave in any other loose ends except for scrap yarn used for holding thumb sts. With scrap yarn still in
place, using 1 dpn, pick up 11 thumb sts immediately above scrap sts by inserting tip of dpn under right
side of “v” formed by each st. Using another dpn, pick up 11 thumb sts immediately below scrap sts in
same manner.
Carefully remove scrap yarn. Working circularly, starting at lower right of Thumb Chart,
using colors indicated in Thumb Chart, pick up 1st st in Thumb Chart from right side of thumb opening
(option: twist base of side st before picking up to lessen any gap at thumb base); pick up next 11 sts in chrysanthemumchart
Thumb Chart from lower dpn; pick up 1 st at left side of thumb (same option applies); pick up remaining
11 sts in Thumb Chart from upper dpn. (Thumb sts can be distributed around as many dpns as you like.)
Continue with remaining rows of Thumb Charts, always working circularly and following Thumb Chart
indicators for shaping thumb top. Break off loose ends, pull ends through remaining 8 sts, pull ends to inside
and weave in place. Make 2nd mitten in same manner except be certain to work the 11 scrap sts and the
thumb on the OTHER side!! (Yes, that is said from experience!) Wash finished mittens and block, if necessary.

Chrysanthemum Mittens

Chrysanthemum Mitten Charts