theraineysisters knitting and so much more

March 17, 2024

From Susan — Double Yoke

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 11:52 am

If you buy jumbo eggs, you are often rewarded with a double yolk.  Nice if it’s an egg.  Not as great if it is a yoke sweater!!

I started a Dreyma top-down yoke sweater earlier this year.  I used very similar colors and absolutely loved the look of the yoke.

As I continued, it became clear that the yoke was just not working.  There was WAY too much fabric in the chest area, above the bust line.  Handfuls!

The body fit.  The neck fit.  But what was wrong?  Using the following formula, the numbers were right.  However, reality begged to differ!

So, I cut off the yoke and started a bottom-up yoke instead.  I cut off the sweater on the round right after the underarm cast on.  Then I reversed direction to head up.  I calculated all my numbers and, using the same stitch count, converted it to the Riddari, bottom-up, yoke.  I provisionally cast on the sleeve sts so they could be knit top down.  It worked perfectly!!

Here you see no bulging, no extra fabric, absolute perfection.  So, if the stitch count below and above the two yokes were identical, why the difference?

I attribute this to three factors.

  1. The repeats of the two yokes are different.  Riddari has an 8-stitch repeat, and Dreyma 10 stitch.  That means for each dec/inc there is a change of 36 sts (Riddari) and 29 sts (Dreyma).  That is about an inch and a half difference for each dec/inc.  When I say “dec/inc” what I mean is: Riddari decreases per repeat; Dreyma increases per repeat.
  2. The placement of the dec/incs are different.  Riddari has sets of 5 decs and Dreyma has 4 incs.  On Riddari, they go lower down on the yoke.
  3. As I was knitting, I changed needle sizes.  I usually go up a needle size for colorwork.  The body is being knit on sz 7, so I started the Riddari colorwork on an 8.  There was a single-color row in the Riddari chart, so I changed back to a 7, but I did not change back to an 8.  Later, there was a second single color row.  Again, I went down to a smaller needle (sz 6) and did not go back up.  I finished out the yoke on a sz 6.  On Dreyma, the colorwork was done on a sz 8 throughout.

I think all of the above variables contributed to the improvement.

I prefer the look of Dreyma, but I wasn’t able to transfer it to the Riddari chart without major rework and thinking!  I did incorporate a few elements, but it does look much more like Riddari.  It is growing on me!  If this didn’t work, into the bin it would go!  I am thinking of knitting some ribbing onto the Dreyma yoke to make it into a capelet.

I haven’t had this trouble with every yoke.  I have had successes with these:


Alpine Bloom


Pagan Sky

I guess I am wondering why my first Jennifer Steinglass was a flop when so many people have made her sweaters without issue.

PS to Chloe: My neckline was fine, so I’m not sure that that was the problem.  I usually do a provisional cast on for top-down sweaters so that I can control the size of the neck opening.  I start with a stitch count AFTER the first set of increases.  I prefer a larger neck so it’s not so constricting!  AND I like tighter knit ribbing so I need more sts to do that.

February 26, 2024

From Susan — A Perfect 4.0

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 4:12 pm

Loyal readers will be at least vaguely aware that my husband John is a cross country ski fanatic.  He has skied the American Birkebeiner since before we got together.  It is a 50 km (~35 mile) trek through a hilly section of beautiful Wisconsin countryside.  There have been bad snow years in the past.  One 60 degree day stands out!  But this year took a prize.  No snow to be had!  The remedy was trying to make enough man-made snow to cover a long enough loop to make skiing worthwhile.  They were able to cobble together a 10-km loop.  Elite skiers were already nearby thanks to the World Cup races in Minneapolis the weekend before.  The most thrilling of the skiers was Jessie Diggins, who leads the Women’s World Cup in points and is a local celebrity!!

The big news for John was that this was his 4oth Birkie, out of the 50 total Birkies that have been held.  He missed three or four finishes due to illness or conditions.  We were worried that this year wouldn’t happen, but they made it work.  He only had to ski 30 km to call it official (elite skiers did 5 loops).  Here he is at the start of the strangely configured race day.  I was able to stand right next to him as he entered the gate.  Unheard of!!

He had a fantastic ski and loved every minute!  Here he is receiving his 40-year award:

You may notice his hat!  I knit him an official American Birkebeiner 50th Anniversary Hat for his birthday (always during Birkie week!).  The hat was designed by Allison Snopek Barta, who was there touting machine-knit versions of her Birkie sweater.  Here are some additional pictures:

I used Rauma Finull yarn from Norway to be more authentic.

PS to Chloe: Last year we had TONS of snow!  We have no idea what’s in store!

February 15, 2024

From Susan — A Quick Birthday Wish!

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 9:56 am

My little sistie, Surly, is celebrating one of those “big” milestone birthdays today!  So I am in Boulder for the festivities.  Yay, Surly!  You know how much you mean to me.  Let’s have a really fun day, because…

February 6, 2024

From Susan — Months and Months in the Making

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 1:22 pm

Some projects seem to drag on forever.  This was one of those!  I made a cute little sweater called Bea a while back.  Loved the silhouette, loved the style, loved the fit.  I decided to knit something along the same lines, but with pockets and long sleeves.  I call it Wannabea.  I would drag it to social knitting when I was between projects, so it never got my full attention.  I finally got close to the bottom (it’s top down) and decided to put it on the top of the pile, so it did get done!


Original Bea

I used Harrisville “Shear” Merino-Dorset DK held with Pascuali Manada.  It is butter soft.


Wannabea

I added pockets and placed brass grommets at the corners.  They are for looks only.

It is a cozy cardigan, perfect for cold winter days.  We have not had many of those and right now it’s 45 degrees without a smidge of snow!!  Well, maybe next year…

The pattern was my own kind of mash up of things I like about sweaters, so no real pattern.  It won’t get published because I don’t have the bandwidth to recreate it in ten inclusive sizes.  It is a one-off Wannabea!!

January 15, 2024

From Susan — I Must be into Simple!!

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 4:57 pm

Lately, the simple things are my favorite to wear!  I do like knitting more complex projects, but I love the simpletons.

Case in point.  Surly came into town for a very quick visit.  I needed a really simple, dragalong project to have with me.  She was already planning on going to The Yarnery since she ordered yarn for pick up.  I found some BC Hamelton Tweed 1, color 002 for the simplest capelet ever, The Ponchetta by Elizabeth Smith.   It is a big rectangle with a cowl-like turtleneck.

My gauge was dead on with the suggested size 8, which is unheard of for me.  This quick project took a little over a week, but ended up being very cute and very wearable!!

I added the ribbed sections to the back and did a different 3-needle bind off.  I also lengthened it a tad.  I highly recommend the yarn and the pattern.  A+ from me!!

January 9, 2024

From Susan — Did I Ask for That?

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 4:13 pm

At the state fair last summer, my eldest DD asked me to knit her one of the hats on display: the Oregon Hat.  I knew I had the yarn because I had just made the Oregon Vest.  My plan was to knit it for Christmas, but opted to make it for her January birthday instead.  I presented it to her last night, and she said the words in the title of this post…or close to.  Oh, well!

My only picture and it’s right at the jog — which I didn’t bother to fix!

I charted the crown using trees and the colors of the vest.  The original hat did something else entirely.  At least from the pictures!  The hat is actually butter soft and fits her quite nicely.

PS to our Readers: the yarn I used was leftover bits from knitting my Alice Starmore Oregon Vest.  The yarn is her Hebridean 2-ply, available on-line at Virtual Yarns.  The Oregon Cardigan originally appeared in Vogue Knitting, Holiday 2007 and was knit in Jamieson & Smith Jumperweight.  Now she sells the pattern in kits with her own yarns only.  Her yarn is bigger and softer than Jamieson & Smith or Spindrift.

January 1, 2024

From Susan — You’re Worth It!

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 12:33 pm

Happy New Year, everyone!!  I have good feelings about 2024.  But I also felt good about 2020…right before the pandemic and shut down.

My recent FO involves cashmere.  Beautiful cashmere!  I went to an event at BeWoolen a few months ago featuring Pascuali luxury yarns.  Britt-Marie Brehmer was there, wearing a classic capelet that she had just designed in Pascuali 6/28 100% Cashmere.  They had a sale and gave us a ball of yarn as part of the event.  It was a feeding frenzy!  I, of course, bought the most boring color of them all, Graphite, but also a classic.  The cowl/capelet had not been named so we suggested she name it after one of the BeWoolen owners.  That is where the name Angel comes from.

This was a very slow knit!!  There also seemed to be a problem with the stitch count so that the decreases weren’t symmetrical.  I made corrections and describe them on my project page.  This was incredibly soft while I was knitting, but bloomed and got even softer after blocking.  It is really gorgeous.

December 2, 2023

From Susan — Pickle Lemonade Shortbread Cookies

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 11:33 am

Every year our local paper, The StarTribune, sponsors a holiday cookie contest.  The “reveal” takes place at a public cookie tasting.  I have gone to the tasting in years past in downtown Minneapolis.  This year they opted to hold the event at the first indoor shopping mall in America: Southdale.

I decided to enter a cookie.  I was inspired by the smash hit of this year’s state fair: Pickle Lemonade.  I sent my recipe in right at the beginning of the submission window, thinking others might have the same idea.  And they did.  Five of us entered pickle cookies and one recipe was published.  It was not mine. 🙁  So, I am sharing my recipe here!  I have made these many times and everyone LOVES them!  People who don’t like pickles love them.  People who don’t like lemons love them.  Give them a try!!

Pickle Lemonade Shortbread Cookies 

Cookie Dough (can easily be cut in half)
½ cup sugar, plus more for rolling cookies 
2 cups flour
¼ – ½ tsp dry dill (opt.)
1/3 cup dill pickle relish (NOT sweet) prepared as below to equal ¼ cup, or more to taste
Zest from one lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter (2 sticks), at room temp
Yellow and green decorating sugars

Pickle/Lemon Icing
3-4 tsp fresh lemon juice
4-5 tsp pickle juice
Zest from ½ to 1 lemon
1 cup powdered sugar
Sesame seeds (opt.) 

Make Dough
Prepare dill relish: use spoon to obtain some of the pickle juice from the jar (push spoon down into the relish) and reserve in small bowl.  If ample juice is not available, use additional juice from a regular jar of pickles.  Measure 1/3 cup of relish and place in small strainer.  This amount should yield ¼ cup relish once prepared.  Use back of spoon to squeeze out as much juice as possible, retaining the juice for use in the icing.  Place relish in a paper towel and squeeze out as much juice as possible.  Set aside.   

Combine all dry cookie dough ingredients in mixing bowl.  Stir in prepared pickle relish and zest.  Add butter and vanilla.  Beat until ball forms.  Chill dough for ½ – 1 hour.   

Preheat oven to 375°.  Combine about 1/3 cup sugar and smaller amounts of the colored sugars in a small plastic baggie.  Roll dough into 1” balls.  Place balls of dough into sugar and shake to coat.  Place cookies on cookie sheet lined with parchment.   Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass.  Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove to cooling rack.  NOTE: these cookies soften once iced, so they need to be crisper and darker in color than standard shortbread cookies.  The bottoms of the cookies should be dark golden brown. 

While cookies are baking, prepare icing:
Combine equal parts of lemon and pickle juice in a small bowl, then add a tsp or two more pickle juice.  Use this to make the icing.  Place powdered sugar in a small bowl.  Add lemon zest and mix.  Adding small amounts of lemon/pickle juice at a time, stir until smooth and desired consistency is reached.  Stir in a few grains of green sugar to the icing to give it a slight tinge of green.   

When cookies have cooled, top with a small amount of icing and spread just to edge.  Sprinkle with a few sesame seeds to mimic pickle seeds.  Let icing dry completely before serving. 

So, how was the official tasting?  A disaster!!  We never even saw a cookie!  Hordes of people descended on Southdale to get a free cookie.

This doesn’t even show how crazy it was!  The organizers rightly assumed that free parking would be a plus, and they were right!  I will not be going next year…

ETA: The recipe calls for dill, not sweet, relish.  Who wants sweet pickles in a cookie??!!?? 😎

PS to Maureen: These really are good.  I’m not kidding!  Pickle juice and lemon juice really mix well together.

PS2 to Bonnie: I can’t wait to hear how it goes!!

November 25, 2023

From Susan — Pumpkin Spice!!

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 3:54 pm

I’m a little late with a Thanksgiving greeting, but I hope yours was lovely.  I made turkey with all the fixings, two beautiful pies, and the best gravy I’ve ever made.  My tip is to keep it warm in a baby crockpot!!

Surly and I went to Rhinebeck this year.  It was fun.  We stopped at Webs on the way there and were very impressed.  Amazing!  While there, I checked out the Plymouth Homestead yarn in Pumpkin Spice Heather — gorgeous and very reasonably priced.  I had Broken Oath in mind, but thought I should get to Rhinebeck first to see what was there.  I found the prototype in the yarn called for: Anne Hanson’s Bare Naked Wool Kent Worsted.  Nice yarn for $40/skein!  I would need 8 skeins.  $320??!!  Uh, no.  I bought 9 skeins of Homestead for about $85, and have almost two left over.

I split the hem and slightly altered the front.  The larger sizes were created by moving the cables farther apart.  I liked them close together, like the original, so I made adjustments.  I also did not bind off and seam the shoulders (too bulky IMHO), but did a 3-needle bind off instead, with the ridge to the outside.

It fits perfectly, is very classic, and I have nothing negative to say about it.  So there!!

PS to Kathy: I did finish this last week, so it was blocked and dried well before Thanksgiving.  However, I never wear good sweaters hanging around at home, and never wear any sweater, good or bad, when I’m cooking!  It gets too hot and the sleeves get in the way!  See you at cookie tasting wearing this sweater! 😉

PS to Sue:

Sorry the post was confusing!  The sweater I made is called Broken Oath and was designed by Thea Colman.  She used yarn from Knitspot in her prototype.  I did link to my project page, which in turn links to the actual pattern page.  Hope you can find it now!

November 6, 2023

From Susan — REALLY Mini Pumpkins

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 6:15 pm

A friend bought earrings at a craft show and wanted to make her own.  She asked me to take a look and see if I could reverse engineer them. Quite an easy one!  I just took the Pumpkin circumference, divided by the diameter, and voilà!  Pumpkin Pi!  ::groan::

Here I am actually wearing them!

The instructions can be found on my Ravelry project page.

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