Transatlantic Name Calling

Last week, all eleven new Heilo colors arrived.  What fun! Delving into that colorful pile of woolly goodness brought back memories of leaping into piles of freshly-raked leaves and revelling in nature’s colors or filling goodie bags from the candy store’s long bank of jelly bean bins and delighting in all the tasty combinations. Oh, the colorwork possibilities!

Two of the “new” colors are returning friends: you’ve seen white 0010 and wine 4246 before.

heilo wine 4246

They’re old favorites which were discontinued for a while, only because they were so beloved that they were sold out.  Now, they’re back; hopefully, for a nice, long stay.

Some of the allegedly new colors will seem very familiar – even suspiciously familiar!

Heilo yarn at Kidsknits.com

From the top left, we have the new orange red 3237 – a slightly less saturated version of old, discontinued burnt orange 3418, to the right.  In the middle, on the left, we have the new sunglow 2126 – again, a slightly less saturated version of old, discontinued gold (aka goldenrod) 2427.  On the bottom, that’s the new asparagus 9145, which is – you guessed it – slightly less saturated than the old fern green 9155.  Smart cookies like you see a pattern developing here, yes?

So, why move to the softer, less saturated colors?  First of all, they’re more wearable.  For instance, if you walk down Park Avenue in a sweater knit entirely out of the old gold 2427, people might try to flag you down for a ride; make it out of the  softer sunglow and not only will folks stop calling you “taxi!!!!”, but you’ll also have a more flattering sweater that will go with more things. Plus, the sunglow, orange red and asparagus are still lively enough that they’ll happily “pop” in your colorwork.  And, they’ll even play nicely with some of the truly new, more muted colors, below:

Heilo yarn at Kidsknits.com

Here we have petrol 7062 (above left), light steel blue 6642, (bottom left), plum smoke 5062 (top right) and orchid 5042 (bottom right).  Wonderful, wonderful colors, but rather odd names.  Yes, that really is a photo of yarns that really do have those official Dale of Norway color names.  But, if you’re surprised by how much green there is in light steel blue, or you’re wondering if all the orchids in Norway are as greyish looking as this orchid, you’re not alone.   Apparently, these colors were given their English names many months ago, by someone who had only seen a pdf of a digital photo showing these colors; it was much later that the actual yarns hit the American shore and American eyes.

Which brings me to the ultimate “great color, weird name” mismatch:

Heilo yarn at Kidsknits.com

On the far right, at the top, we have…drumroll, please…dark salmon 4624.  Oh, yes we do!  Whadyamean, it’s there, really, it’s right there, right above the ever-popular blossom pink 4203.  Oh, okay, so that color might have a lot more in common with your raspberry sorbet dessert than your (dark) salmon appetizer. And, yes, you would be entirely in the right to return any Norwegian salmon that showed up at your table looking that pink.  Perhaps it’s more the color of that lovely rose between your date’s teeth?  Anyway, it really is a beautiful color.  Just stick with the numbers and you’ll do fine.

When they don’t have to rely upon distorted, third-hand, transatlantic photos, it seems the folks at Dale US can quite adeptly  name their colors. The middle color on the left is their new mist 2425, which came out last year in Baby Ull so, apparently, they had a better peek at that one before naming it, for it truly is reminiscent of the lightest grey seen in the mist on a foggy morning.  Just for comparison sake, it’s sitting between the old standby, light sheep heather 2931 (top) and the classic sand heather 0004 (bottom).  For further comparison, in the middle, we have natural 0020 on top, off-white 0017 (newly discontinued) in the middle and the happily-returning white 0010 on the bottom. “White” – hmmm, now there’s a color name we can agree upon!

Cuteness Alert – New Dale Baby Book #208

Dale of Norway Baby Book 208, "Traditional Designs for Baby", $16 at Kidsknits.com

Baby Book #208, “Traditional Designs for Baby” from Dale of Norway is now in stock.   It features a great collection of truly timeless and absolutely adorable knitting patterns for little sweaters, dresses, pants and accessories, all using Baby Ull,  all based upon four traditional Norwegian designs: Voss, Fana, Setesdal and Sirdal.  Is it possible to pick a favorite?!

Two Strands Headband

Two Strands Headband

Some folks in my Ravelry group recently asked me to recommend a great project for a first try at stranded knitting.  I could point out a few  fine places to start but, to tell you the truth, I couldn’t think of a  perfect stranded starting point.  So, I decided to create one.  And I didn’t have to look too far for my inspiration, either – check out the banner on my Ravelry group, Two Strands, and you’ll see what I mean.

There are several virtues which I think are important for a first-time strander’s project: First, it should be a simple motif with consistent repeats and no long floats. Of course, it should be something useful and attractive.  It should be unisex and it must be free, to openly welcome anyone to give it a try.  And “fun” would be nice!  I think I’ve squeezed all of those virtues into my Two Strands Headband, below.  Give it a try and tell me what you think!

Two Strands Headband

Average adult size; finished circumference = 20”, allowing for 1 to 2 1/2” negative ease.

Suggested yarn:

3 50-g balls of Dale of Norway Falk washable wool yarn, each in a different color.

Colors used in sample:

A – Deep blue #5545; B – Purple #5036; C – Lavender #5224

Suggested needles:

Either a 16” long circular or a set of double-pointed needles may be used.

Two different sizes of needles are required – larger for the outside of the headband, smaller for the headband lining. To get the main gauge which is used for the outside of the headband, most knitters will want either US 4(3.5mm) OR US 5(3.75mm); however, those who tend to knit quite loosely might want US 3(3.25mm) and those who tend to knit quite tightly might want US 6(4.0mm).

USE WHATEVER SIZE YOU NEED TO OBTAIN THE GAUGE, BELOW!

Once you know which size needle produces the correct main gauge for you, drop down one or two sizes smaller for the inside of the headband. (The smaller the size used on the inside, the snugger the fit.)

Gauge: 24 stitches and 28 rows = 4”/10cm in stockinette colorwork on larger needle.

Abbreviations: K = knit; P = purl; rd(s) = round(s); st(s) = stitch(es).

Instructions:

Using A and SMALLER NEEDLE, cast on 120 sts.  Place end of round marker and join work circularly. K 11rds.  P 1 rd. CHANGE TO LARGER NEEDLE.  K 3 rds.  Work Star Chart, below, according to notes in box:

Star Chart:

Work Star chart as follows:  Begin at lower right, i.e., row 1 / column 1. Read all rds across right to left. Each square = 1 st to be K in color shown. Once you have K the 12 sts of a chart row, repeat columns 1-12 of that row 9 more times for a total of 10 instances to complete each rd. Complete rds 1 through 13 of Star Chart.

Using A, K 4 rds. CHANGE TO SMALLER NEEDLE. P 1 rd. K 10 rds. Bind off all sts.  Fold upper and lower linings to the inside on the purl lines and sew together each respective cast-on and bind-off st.

If you want to get really fancy, you can cast on using scrap yarn, then K 1 extra rd at the end, don’t bind off, remove your scrap yarn and graft the beginning and end together for a seamless effect.  For notes on grafting, see this article on my blog:

http://twostrands.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/grafting-911/

As always, post away with any questions/comments.  Happy knitting!

Oh, wait!  Hey, don’t go yet!  I forgot to show you something.  You know, I can’t resist goofing around with endless color possibilities, so take a peek at the first few that jumped out at me…and let me know what you come up with!

Two Strands Headband Alternate Colorways - The Tip of the Iceberg

Vancouver Book 213 + DofN on Facebook

Check out the new Dale of Norway Yarn Facebook page!  Great photos of upcoming books and the latest color cards.

Here’s a pdf showing you great photos from the new 2010 Vancouver Olympics Book #213.

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!)

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.

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.

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

Chrysanthemum Mittens and the Mystery of Hauk vs Heilo

Like ‘em? I’ve just finished my Chrysanthemum Mittens, above. I designed these to be knit in Dale of Norway Hauk yarn, which is essentially good old Heilo 100% Norwegian sport weight wool that’s gone high tech with a Teflon infusion to make the yarn especially water and stain resistant. The Teflon even makes the yarn slightly softer. And it knits at exactly the same gauge as Heilo. So Hauk is a perfect alternative for stain-prone comfort seekers like me. It’s great stuff – I love it!

By using needles a couple of sizes smaller than I’d normally use for sport weight yarn, I ended up with especially dense, warm fabric that I’m really happy with for mittens. But just how much of this yarn we need for these mittens is another question.

I used 1 ball of each color (black, barn red and natural) and ended up with a generous bit of the black left over, tons of barn red left over and a downright stingy four feet of the natural left over. It was a close call, too close for my taste. It’s all too easy to imagine knitting just a wee bit looser and running out of the 1 ball of natural before finishing up. I’m figuring kits to make 1.999 mittens might not be terribly popular . So, it’s time to look further into a question that’s been bothering me for a while now: Do Hauk and Heilo really have the same yardage???

According to the ball bands, they do. Like all Dale yarns, both Heilo and Hauk are put up as 50g balls. Both say they provide 100 meters. But I wonder if that’s precisely true, or merely an approximation, or…perhaps, not even so approximate an approximation.

Given: Heilo + Teflon = Hauk. Assume the 50g does truly stay constant. I’m no chemist, but last I heard, Teflon is not weightless. So, as Teflon is infused into the yarn in the dye bath, it increases the wool’s weight, right? So I’m betting there’s a proportionate decrease in the yardage per 50g ball. Is it so slight a change that there’s no sense in changing the yardage numbers? Or is there more to it?

Having made the first mitten in my second pair ofChrysanthemum Mittens, this time in Heilo, I’m taking a look at what I have left so far in the natural and it seems that I’ve got considerably more natural left with the Heilo than I did with the Hauk. Granted, I’m just going on memory at this halfway point. I’ll report back to you when the second one is done. It will be interesting to see just how much more, if any, of the Heilo natural there is to compare with my 4 feet of Hauk. Any guesses? Stay tuned!