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Today we will have a knitting lesson for all of you new knitters just starting out: when the pattern instructs you to cast on “x” stitches, cast on that number of stitches.  Any more or any fewer will cause problems and issues later on.  The stitch count requires three things: 1) knowing how many to cast on, 2) casting on that exact number, and 3) being able to count.  All three must take place simultaneously for accurate stitch count to occur.

DOH!!

Okay — so I can’t count!  No wait, I think I did count correctly, but was aiming for the wrong number.  Oh, well.  Whatever the reason, I ended up with 72 sts across the top of my sleeve instead of 78. 

What a doh!  This is a bit of set back as I will need to rip out the entire mitered portion of the sleeve .  Bummer.  This is the kind of thing that often relegates WIPs to UFOs…

Response to Twinsetellen: Her suggestion: “If you are going to lengthen it anyway, could you just lengthen and keep widening to the right stitch count?”  This is a great idea, but I would still need to redo a sleeve — it would just be the first one I did instead of the second one.  Darn those pesky sleeves!  They kinda hafta match!

It may not appear to be — since our blog has been knitting free for a while now — but, knitting is still an important part of my “activities of daily living.”  ADLs , for the non-healthcare folks out there, means what people need to do each day to function in a normal capacity . 

Before I get into a knitting update, let me just announce that I am a winner!!  I won Closeknitfriends’ bloggiversary contest!  Woo Hoo to me and nannie nannie boo-boo to you!   Here is what I won:

It’s a felt-a-something kit: with feltable yarn, fun fur and beads for accent, all in a cute knitting-related basket!  Very cute!  Thanks, and I am honored to win!

Now on to the knitting!  I have been working on a stealth knitting project that is nothing fancy and not my design, but is a gift of sorts to be revealed at a later date.  Because that has taken up a lot of my knitting time, I have not made much progress on my Mitered Cardigan.  I did finish one sleeve and discovered it was too short.  No problem — I anticipated that I may have to adjust the length:

The length for me needs to be 25″ from very top to very bottom.  I will finish off the cuff with applied i-cord.  The other sleeve is finished to the point of adding the sleeve cap.  I am thinking I should knit that cap next and then figure out the adjustments to the other.  It’s not a lot of knitting!  I could finish the sleeves easily this weekend, but then there is a lot of finishing left to do. 

I really wish I had had this jacket done when I was in New York with Surly.  It would go great with jeans and I would have been able to wear some knitting, plus it would have been perfect given the weather.   Sally wore her Mermaid while we did our knitting shop round-about and got so many compliments!  “Oh, did you knit that?” “Why, yes, I did.”  “It’s lovely!”     PS: I enjoyed reading all of your comments about our trip.

Shepherd’s Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival is being held this weekend.  Last year I worked the MKG booth for a couple of hours and wandered aimlessly for a couple of more.  It was really fun and a great way to connect with the creators of our favorite past-time — the sheep and alpaca who make our knitting possible!  I may go for a bit tomorrow morning.

What a fun few days we had!  Seems like we’ve been gone forever or never left — that strange time warp that occurs with travel.  Anyway, we are back and ready to share the adventures of our sisterly travels.

Friday, May 2: Susan Arrives in DC
Susan arrived fairly early, so we felt we could get in a quick trip to a yarn store before lunch.  We headed for Knit Happens and paid a lightning fast visit — no stash upload there (we were saving ourselves), but we discovered Le Pain Quotidien across the street and had a wonderful lunch.  We found out that they also have multiple New York locations which came in quite handy .  The rest of the day was very low key.

Saturday, May 3: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
We got an early start and arrived at the Howard County Fairgrounds by 9:30.  The hordes had already beaten us there!  This is the largest sheep and wool festival of its kind in the country.  But it needs to be twice as large: twice as many exhibit areas, twice as many bathrooms, twice as many food vendors…!!  It was difficult to see all the exhibitors because the crowds were packed in so tightly.  Here is a little taste of the event:

Very fun and very exhausting!  We bought a tiny little amount of yarn for us: some lace weight, some roving, a finished garment (such a luxury).  Sally did not bring anything to display this year because we would not be able to pick it up on Sunday – we were going to be in New York. So no going to the Exhibition Hall to look for ribbons. Le sigh.

Sunday, May 4: New York City
Up early to catch the train to NYC.  We absolutely loved our hotel — The Casablanca – SEE PS BELOW!!  Sally discovered this little gem.  It definitely has a European flavor, and we were very outnumbered by British and Irish tourists.  It is small, older, cozy, and charming.  The big selling point for us was Rick’s Cafe:

This spacious and welcoming sitting room is open 24/7 with coffee and snacks, and a happy hour from 5-7.  They also serve a lovely continental breakfast:

Needless to say, we were very happy to have a comfy knitting nook at our beck and call.  Sunday evening we went to the theater and then dined at a fabulous restaurant.  Quite a whirlwind of a day!

Monday, May 5
We did a little sightseeing and yarn shop touring.  We strolled through Central Park briefly:

CP is the most amazing place — cannot be believed! 

We went to these shops: String, Knitty City, and Purl Soho.  String specializes in HIGH end (very high!) yarns and their own pattern line.  It was nice, with some lovely patterns, but the prices were a bit daunting. (Note to selves: start saving $$ for more cashmere.)  Knitty City was a real knitters’ knitting store.  Nice yarn, nice people.  Purl Soho is a small, but lovely shop (we were there on our last trip).  They carried a yarn that we really wanted, but could not justify.  We’re keeping it on our “must figure out how to justify it” list.  It’s called Road to China Silken Jewels — this picture was taken by Jess from the Yarnery:

The picture does not do the yarn justice, but trust us! 

After our grueling shopping excursion, we stopped at Le Pain Quotidien for take away coffee and a chance to relax in Bryant Park:

That evening we hung out in Times Square — it was a Monday night and you would think it was Saturday!  People were out milling around all night long. 

We had a great time.  The weather was perfect, everything we did was fun.  We were recognized a few times along the way and felt like rock stars ♥.  (Thanks especially to all of you who said hello to us at the Sheep and Wool Festival.) It is a little bit of a letdown to get back to reality, but our many fond memories will keep forever.

PS — You never know who is reading your blog!  The lovely people at The Casablanca read our rave review of their hotel and are making the following offer for visitors over the summer months:

“We are so delighted you enjoyed your stay with us at the Casablanca Hotel! It was so kind of you to refer your friends to us, so tomorrow, in your honor, I am going to set up a special promo code “sisters”. That way anyone who uses it on our website for a reservation between now and Labor Day, 2008 will get $10 off per room per night. Okay, so it won’t pay for your flight or anything, but it will probably buy you a nice cocktail out or an “I love NY” tee shirt, and most importantly, it is just our way of saying THANKS! adele@hkhotels.com “

Thank you, Adele!

Susan arrived in DC today for a 5-day multi-faceted extravaganza.  Actually, it may be more like deja vu all over again!  Susan was thrilled to see flowers in bloom since spring in Minnesota has been non-existent slow in coming.  It is in the high 70’s here and absolutely gorgeous.

Tomorrow is the start of the world famous Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  Susan has been meaning to come out for this particular weekend for several years.  It happened to hit right after Sally’s recent visit to the Twin Cities — which seems like only yesterday!  Obviously, the focus of the event is sheep and wool and everything knitting/spinning.  We will report back after the big day.  If you see us wandering around, please be sure to say “hi.”  We will be carrying our Rainey Sisters totes for identification.

Sunday, it is off to New York to see a Broadway play and visit yarn shops — something wild and crazy and out of character completely !

Sally has brought out her knitting bag so let’s hope for the best.  TTFN

I haven’t had a lot to contribute to our blog since mid-March; it’s hard to write a knitting blog when you can’t type much and you can’t knit at all. Susan has been gamely shouldering the blogging burden, but I’m going to give her a little bit of relief today.

I’m still in the splints about twenty-two hours per day. My right hand is improving; my left hand is not. Even so, I was given the clearance to knit a little bit as long as I keep the splint on my left hand while I knit. I’m taking it very very slowly, but I have knitted a few rows each of the past few days. I started my own Ode to Joy (designed by Candace Eisner Strick) in the Cape Cod colorway. I don’t have much to show for it yet, but I’m so happy to do any knitting I don’t care.

Thanks for all of the support and kind thoughts.

Well, I stood around hoping that something new would bite me in the a**, but nothing did!  So I am back to the old Mitered Cardigan. 

You may recall that I am changing this into a more traditional jacket style, with set in sleeves.  I had originally thought that I would simply shape the garter stitch sleeve from the pattern.  I kept thinking about it and decided to try to miter it somehow while still ending up with a fitted sleeve.

This picture shows the bottom portion of the sleeve:

I did a provisional cast on all the way around.  The top edge will be “unsprung” and the sleeve cap knitted up from there.  The two side edges (sleeve “seam”) will be joined using a 3-needle bind off.  To get the sleeve shaping (wider at underam — narrower at wrist) I used short row shaping.  To finish off the bottom edge, I will add an applied i-cord edge.

The short row shaping acted just like standard sleeve increases on a regular sleeve — though I was going upside down and backwards to get there!

The cap is knitted straight for 1-2 inches — allowing for length adjustment — and then the cap shaping starts.  I used Actual Size Graph paper to plot out the cap shaping.  I did knit the first sleeve cap and it was a disaster — my gauge paper was off.  I will re-measure my gauge, adjust the shaping, and reknit the very top of the cap.  It’s not a lot of knitting.  If the sleeve ends up too short, I can pick up from the bottom and add some garter stitch OR reknit the sleeve cap with more straight knitting before the shaping.  Either way, I have a fix for the sleeve length.  It’s all about gauge baby — that elusive little minx!

On a non-knitting note:

Yesterday a friend of mine took two of us on a surprise excursion.  She told us months ago to “save the day” as a play date — no other explanation given!  We met at 10 am and she drove us to Stillwater, Minnesota — a beautiful little river town that is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!!  She had signed us up for a pie making class at The Chef’s Gallery Shop with the “pie guy” — John Michael Lerma.  He has won many pie baking contests and appears regularly on the cooking network. 

John Michael is absolutely delightful and does he know pies! 

There were 20 of us in the class.  We broke into groups and each made one of the following pies:

• Grandma’s Secret Apple Pie
• Coconut Cream Dream
• Razzle Dazzle Berry
• Key Lime Delight
• Vidalia Onion
• Hawaiian Daiquiri — my group made this one

As the pies were either baking or chilling, he gave a pie crust clinic, and then we got to taste all six pies!  OMG!!  The Vidalia Onion Pie was the best and is his signature creation.  He will be on Martha Stewart in May to share it!  It was a fantastic day and something so fun and unexpected.

PS to Rudee: I would definitely serve this as a side dish or light brunch entree.  It would go great with a salad and crusty French baguette!

PS2 to Peggy: Uh, maybe ice sour cream (?). 

Here’s a little diversion that is both knitting and movie related!

Want the answers?  Click here!

Sorry about yesterday — our site was playing ‘pouty teenager’ and refused to do its chores!  Today it’s up and we have nothing exciting to talk about!

My knitting is in the doldrums.  I have been working on the Mitered Cardigan and the enjoyment factor has slipped dangerously low.  On a scale from 1 to 10, if a project slips below a 4, it is in danger of being replaced .  It is teetering very near (below?) the danger zone.  My eye is wandering, my knitting fingers are getting twitchy, and I am close to pulling the trigger on something new.  Yarn Harlot talks about this in such a positive way in her new book, Things I Learned from Knitting, that you almost feel like a knitting nerd if you are monogomous!

Actually, I would start a new project if something would just bite me. 

I thought I would share a knitting tip that some of you asked about in reference to the Mitered Cardigan I am currently working on — it is still progressing at a snail’s pace (if a small, slimey, armless snail could knit ). 

This information can be applied to any knitting project as long as you create graph paper in the appropriate gauge.  I use the Actual Size Graph Paper generator.  I know there are others but this one is the best one I have found.  It will allow you to create graph paper of any ratio.

Basically, you draw out the shape you want on the graph paper and then fudge around with the knit shaping to create it.  By “fudging” I mean that the sequencing should make sense to you as a knitter.  For instance, instead of “bind off 5 sts, 3 sts, 4 sts” I would make it “bind off 5 sts, 4 sts, 3 sts” to create the shape, even though either might work with your diagram.

The illustration on the left shows the general sketch for the neck and armhole shaping I used for the Mitered Cardigan.  The red line shows the shaping I was going for and the blue line shows how to recreate the shaping with knitting.  The graph paper shown is not to scale, but gives you the idea.

The picture on the right shows how the final piece matches up with the drawing.  When you use this technique, the knitted piece should follow your outline exactly as long as you use the correct gauge on your graph paper.  It is really cool!

In the case of the Mitered Cardigan, I needed to cast on additional sts to create the shaping, due to the direction of the knitting — shown with yellow arrows.  This is not typical.  Usually, you will be binding off/decreasing sts to create your shaping — the principle is still the same. 

How did I know what the shaping should be in the first place?  For the armhole, I knew the overall width of the body and the width I needed at the shoulders.  The difference between those two numbers had to go!  The neckline is a standard jewel neck: 3-3.5 inches lower than the back.  I made it the same width as the neck in the original pattern (8″ total — 4″ each side). 

If creating your own pattern from scratch, start with some basic knitting books or design books that show the standard dimensions of various necklines and sleeve applications.  Or use other patterns you have liked as a starting point.  That is what I plan to do for the sleeve cap on this sweater: I have a sleeve cap that fits really well so I am using it as the basis of the sleeve shaping. 

I am sure there are various software packages that do this for you, but I am cheap and have not felt the need to invest in it yet!  The “free” graph paper has served me very well over the years. 

I am working on the sleeve right now and will post a picture when it is done — it looks pretty crazy in its current state!

I recently completed my Japanese Pullover, and was very flattered by the reception it got on the blog. Here is a photo as a reminder of what it looks like:

I don’t know what the Japanese name is for the stitch I used, so I called it a Japanese flame stitch. Many of you asked how the stitch is made, and so with Susan’s chart expertise and help, I’m finally able to explain it to you. It’s generally charted in Japanese patterns as shown below. Typically, as the chart shows, it is done by “dipping down” three rows and temporarily increasing one stitch to three. It can, however, be worked over more rows and I’ve seen some patterns where the stitch count is temporarily upped to five.

Here are some photographs to better illustrate what is being done. First, this stitch is started on the right side of the work and is done on a background of reverse stockinette. Look at the number “3″ in the chart — that is the first row in which you do something different. When you get to the row that Susan labeled as #1, you work your way to the correct stitch, move your yarn to the back (b/c you are no longer purling), and increase by knitting, purling, and then knitting into the stitch three rows below). The first needle insertion looks like this:

Knit one stitch. It will look like this:

Move your yarn to the front and then re-insert the needle “through” the bump you went under the first time. It might be a little awkward but it can be done.

Purl.

Then move the yarn to the back and knit as you did with the first stitch.
Now, the next step is really important but it’s easy to forget: DROP THE NEXT STITCH FROM YOUR NEEDLE.

The “next stitch” is really the same stitch you’ve just knit into three times. If you don’t drop it, you’ll accidentally increase the number of stitches in whatever you are knitting. The dropped stitch will eventually run back the three rows on its own, but it can’t go further because you’ve knit into it three times. Remember, so you don’t hate yourself several rows later when your chart is screwed up, DROP THAT NEXT STITCH. Alrighty, then.

On the following wrong side row, purl the three stitches you just made. (Note: the other stitches will be knit because you are working reverse stockinette.) Then purl your way to the three new stitches. Your knitting should look like this:

At this point, you work a central double decrease as described in the chart above.

Then continue with reverse stockinette.

That’s all there is to it!

(Ack!  Ignore my hands in these photos — I can’t take very good care of them right now although they were happy for a few minutes of being out of the splints.)