theraineysisters knitting and so much more

December 15, 2007

From Susan — While Waiting for My Next FO

Filed under: Sock Monkey Dresses — lv2knit @ 2:16 pm

Please enjoy this festive vision courtesy of my knitting peep, Cathy — an enabler of my love of all things sock monkey:

Snow Monkey Angels
SnowMonkeyAngels.png picture by lv2knit

From Susan to Marina: this is a Christmas card that I scanned in — she did not set up this craziness!!

December 12, 2007

From Sally — Betsy Is Born. Just Barely.

Filed under: Betsy — surly @ 3:50 pm

Finishing Ballerina was supposed to mean I could knit what I wanted, but that’s not entirely true. I’m very behind on my stealth Christmas knitting, which I can’t blog about until after the holiday. Real freedom won’t come for two more weeks.

Even so, I did manage to start Betsy. As a reminder, here is the pattern I’m talking about:

betsy.jpg

I’m knitting mine out of Simply Shetland’s Lambswool Cashmere in Red Hot (shade 1294). It’s very cloudy today and I can’t seem to quite capture the color but this is fairly close. I haven’t knitted much, but in an unusual moment of farsightedness, I knit my gauge swatch the exact size of one of the pocket linings. I was so proud of myself. So I have two pocket linings and nothing else. I’m not sure I’ll use those buttons with Betsy, but the colors look great together. I really like working with this yarn so far.

The lower front and back are all in seed stitch; I am going to do the body in one piece because I don’t like how seed stitch looks when it is seamed.

December 9, 2007

From Susan and Sally — Why Add I-Cord to Ballerina??

Filed under: Knitting Tips,Sally's Ballerina — Both Sisters @ 1:27 pm

Laura wondered about the i-cord on Ballerina, “I am not clear on why you added the i-cord to the bottom edge since there is already a knitted-in i-cord finish to it.” 

Susan answered this question in an old post here.  Basically, it is because the built in i-cord is not very attractive from the inside*.  With a swing coat, like Ballerina, it is possible that the hem will show because the back is longer than the front.  Doing applied i-cord afterward makes for a better looking finish:

Ballerina007.jpg picture by lv2knit
Susan’s Mermaid at top of photo, Ballerina at the bottom.

*PS from Susan: I should clarify: Hanne’s built-in i-cord is not very attractive from the inside — she does it this particular way in order to have single color i-cord at the hemline even though you are knitting 2-color stripes as shown in Mermaid above.

In general, it is absolutely easy to have built in i-cord on either edge of a garter stitch strip of any width:

For a 3-stitch i-cord edge on ONE side of garter stitch:
Row 1: knit to last 3 sts, bring yarn forward, slip last 3 sts to right hand needle one by one as to purl; turn
Row 2: knit

For 3-stitch i-cord edge on BOTH sides of garter stitch:
All Rows: knit to last 3 sts, bring yarn forward, slip last 3 sts to right hand needle one by one as to purl; turn

December 8, 2007

From Sally — At Long Last!

Filed under: Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie,Sally's Ballerina — surly @ 2:24 pm

 Ballerina is finished. It’s a good thing, too — I really wanted and needed it to be off the needles and in the finished pile. I’m not sure why knitting this drove me crazy or why it took so long. I knit the first half in a very short time period, but the second half just dragged like a bad movie. Oh, well.

I made a few minor changes in the pattern. Like Susan, I did an applied iCord at the bottom and along the neck band because I think it gives it a more finished look. It’s a lot of iCord by the time you go all the way around.

Now, when I finished all of the knitting I tried it on. I was, to say the least, underwhelmed. It was SO boxy that I felt like I was wearing a cardboard box. Cutting armholes in a cardboard box would have taken me a lot less time than I had spent on my poor Ballerina. But I knew from making Mermaid that the yarn would soften and the sweater would have more drape once it was drowned soaked and blocked. It worked. Yay! Here are the obligatory photos of Lucy wearing it. (I’m not sure I’m crazy about how the stripes look wider at the shoulder, but I don’t think there’s much I can do about it.)

I do like how it fits; it looks better on because of the way it moves. Therefore, I am actually — gasp — going to post a couple of photographs in which I’m modeling it. Warning: These are not great pictures. There’s a reason I take most of the photographs in the family although it was sweet of my husband to try. I did some serious cropping as well. Part of the problem was that the angle of the pictures made me look even shorter and stubbier than I am. I mean, I know I’m not the tallest Rainey Sister on the blog, but still. Okay. Takes deep breath. Here you go:

Edited to add: I always get nervous about yarn quantities when I work with kits. For those of you contemplating Ballerina, I did have plenty of yarn. I chose to make the S/M. I lengthened the sleeves by an inch or so and then also did the iCord, which uses a lot of yarn that would not have been accounted for by the designer. I have a full ball and a half of each color left over. (Falkenberg gives you enough yarn for the largest size.)

In other news, Astrid finished her beautiful Roslin and kindly let us show it to you — what a fantastic job!  She used Jamieson Spindrift & DK in Peacock (Color 258) as her main color and most of the same colors for the fair isle inset.  To accommodate gauge, she knitted the size small to achieve a finished size medium. 

Astrid1.jpg picture by lv2knit

Astrid2.jpg picture by lv2knit

AstridInset.jpg picture by lv2knit

Astrid, we are so proud of your Peacock Roslin!  Thanks for sharing!

 

December 6, 2007

From Susan and Sally — Roslin is Complete

Filed under: Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie — Both Sisters @ 9:28 am

This is a momentous occasion for us!  Michaela finished her Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie!  It is a fantastic feeling to see that someone actually used our pattern — wow!

Here are some pictures from Michaela’s blog:

MichaelaRoslin3.jpg picture by lv2knit

MichaelaRoslin.jpg picture by lv2knit

MichaelaRoslin2.jpg picture by lv2knit

MichaelaRoslin4.jpg picture by lv2knit

Beautiful!  It certainly doesn’t hurt that Michaela is a superb knitter.  She used Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4 Ply — colors 277, 271, 283, 269, 267, 270.  We’re not sure what she did to adapt the fair isle band to accommodate the different yarn. 

Here is a message Susan received from Michaela on Ravelry:

Hi, Susan and Sally! I finished my Roslin Hoodie last week and I really do LOVE it!  It was so much fun to knit with this easy to follow pattern, the yarn I used is wonderful and it fits perfectly.  I wear it and wear it — it’s my favorite sweater at the moment!  Thanks again for sharing this wonderful pattern!  I hope you’ll like my version of your design!

With kind regards from Germany — Michaela

We love it, Michaela, and thank you so much for the wonderful testimonial.  It makes it all worth while.

From Susan:
This reminds me of an incident years ago at Stitches (when it was here in the Twin Cities).  I was wearing a sweater I had made from a pattern in Knitters.  It wasn’t my favorite sweater, but one of my only summer sweaters.  The designer was at Stitches and practically tackled me as I walked through the Market.  “OMG, you made my sweater!!”  She would not let me leave — she kind of stalked me!  Now I know how exactly how she felt!!

Real, live joke of the day:
My youngest daughter got her spacers put in for braces yesterday, so of course her teeth are killing her.  She got up this morning and said her teeth hurt so much during the night that they woke her up.  My husband said, “I know what time you woke up.”  She asked, “What time?” 

“Tooth hurty!”

December 5, 2007

From Susan and Sally — Our Boo Boo of the Month

Filed under: Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie,Uncategorized — Both Sisters @ 8:17 pm

Astrid, our unofficial Roslin guinea pig ;), found another small error in the Roslin Hoodie pattern.  On page 6, Row 26 of the hood shaping instructs you to knit to the end of the row, but at that point you will be purling — it should read “purl to end of row.”   The pattern link and the errata page have been updated.

This means that Astrid is almost done with her hoodie — woo hoo!!!

December 4, 2007

From Susan — Sleeveless in Seattle

Filed under: Susan's Kauni Cardigan — lv2knit @ 10:04 pm

Has THAT blog title gotten mileage?  I bet it’s been used often!  We all love knitting sleeves so much, don’t we?

I finally got back to Kauni, finishing Sleeve #1 and starting Sleeve #2:

Dec408003-1.jpg picture by lv2knit

You can see that my sleeves are totally fraternal in their twin-ocity.  I “planned” it that way 😉 – at least that’s my story.  I’ll tell people that the randomness of the colors is part of the Kauni charm and mystique (and hope they buy it!).

Anyway, I have set a deadline of January 1, 2008 to be wearing my Kauni Cardigan — not too tough a deadline to meet if I stay focused…but, we know that it is easy to get tempted!  And, it is a very busy time of year.

Especially today: I spent 7 hours in my car.  SEVEN HOURS.  I did not drive to Chicago either.  I drove to and from work (1.5 hours EACH WAY) and then drove my darling daughter to the dentist: 2 hours EACH WAY (usually a 30-40 minute drive).  SEVEN HOURS!!!!  People wonder why I hate cars.  The reason it took so long is that it snowed today.  I love snow but this is just plain torture. 🙁

And to prove I’m not a total Grinch, here is the best part of the trip –  I love it when someone has the lights on when I get home.

Dec408001.jpg picture by lv2knit

PS — I enjoyed reading all of your comments and stories re: knitting at social gatherings.  Natalie made me do a spit take when she compared the hobby of knitting to scrapbooking, whittling and collecting dryer lint in public — picturing people dragging these hobbies along made my day.  Thanks, all!

December 2, 2007

From Susan — What We Do and What Muggles See…

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 1:09 pm

…or “Thank you for not knitting.”

I am a member of Ravelry, but to be honest, I do not put much time or effort into it.  I did, however, stumble onto an interesting forum discussion about the rudeness of non-knitters.  There were ~275 comments! 

The gist of the thread was the reaction of non-knitters when we pull out our knitting in regular social situations.  By “regular” I mean where knitting is not one of the purposes of the gathering.  Many people thought it was rude of muggles to say things like, “What are you knitting now?!?” or comment on it other than to compliment the beauty of the work.

Others were more understanding of the muggle perspective.  I guess I fall into the latter catergory.  Obviously, I am an avid knitter and feel absolutely naked without my knitting.  I never go anywhere without it.  My friends and family know it’s “love me, love my knitting.”  That said, I do see how a non-knitter could perceive it as rude when someone brings out a knitting project and works on it in front of them. 

It appears that the knitter is not attending to the conversation, and perception is everything.  I would not think of taking my knitting to someone’s home for a special dinner party.  It would look like I have “something better to do” than converse and attend to the other guests.  Am I able to knit and talk at the same time?  Of course!  But the appearance is that I care more about my knitting than the other people there.  Am I antsy and feel at odds the whole time — you bet!  But I suck it up and knit when I get home.

When I go to break at work I always bring my knitting EXCEPT when there are only two of us.  I want the other person to feel like I am fully focused on them.  And my work peeps are very well trained: they notice when I don’t have my knitting with me (Hey, where’s your knitting!?). 

My close friends know that I would always rather be knitting, but even with them I would not bring my knitting to a special event or occasion.  But “Movie Night” at my house?  That knitting is out the second my butt hits the chair!!

I know that most knitters feel it is our right and privilege to knit whenever and wherever we please, and I do agree that it is great to take your knitting to restaurants, movies (!), dentist offices, etc. etc.  But I also believe we must respect that others may perceive that we are being exclusive rather than inclusive in the vibe we put out. 

PS re: Modular Tote Pattern from The Yarnery — this pattern can be purchased on line but will be sent as a hard copy pattern, not a pdf download.  Sorry about the miscommunication on my part ;).

PSS: From Susan to Elise: I teach workshops at my job and every so often there is a knitter in the audience. I know that people fidget less and concentrate more when they knit something simple and straight forward, so it does not bother me. If I have knitters in the group, I say “I see that there are some knitters in the group today. I do have a problem with people knitting in class — I wish I was one of them!” You handled your grad school situation perfectly by addressing it up front.

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