theraineysisters knitting and so much more

June 17, 2018

From Susan – Potpourri

Filed under: Updates — surly @ 1:08 pm

Thank you for the nice birthday wishes!!  It is always nice to make it to another birthday…

I just finished a lengthy, kind of boring, project: Fading Point by Joji Locatelli.  I have made several of her patterns – she is very talented!  It is drying on the blocking board.

I used Fading Point Kit #12 from Primrose Yarn Co.  It is made up of five colors of their Adelaide Sock Yarn:

Color 1: The Picket Line or The Parade
Color 2: Crime of Passion
Color 3: Just a Girl
Color 4: Squeaky
Color 5: Romance Novel

I had to add an extra section to each half due to my tight gauge 🙁 so used a yarn from my stash to transition (Lost City Knits Merino Fingering in a beige).  I also switched colors 4 & 5 so that Color 4 would be at the center back of the shawl.  The color was such a pretty, speckled pink!!  I placed the beige between Colors 3 and 5.

Sharon F. asked to see the inside of my Farrell Hat, so I must comply!!

PS re: inside of hat: I did not show you the side where all the colors start and stop — definitely not as attractive!!

 

July 21, 2016

From Sally — Shopping Camp, I Mean Knitting Camp

Filed under: Updates — surly @ 11:33 am

Here is my Camp recap:  I bought a lot of yarn.  The end.

Unlike Susan, I didn’t participate in the camp knitting contest.  How could I compete with Mr. Darcy, not to mention the fabulous Girl with the Pearl Earring shadow panel?  (I’ve always wanted to knit one of those pieces of shadow art; I own several of the patterns but haven’t made the commitment yet.)  Instead, I chose to contribute to the economy.

It started at The Yarnery, where I dropped a ton of money on some Shibui Linen and Twig.  (Not pictured below.  That will come in a later post.)  I hadn’t even made it to camp.  Or Wisconsin.  Oops.

My one non-shopping activity at Knitting Camp was participating in Show & Tell.  The only problem was I had nothing to show when I got there.  I felt as if much of my knitting in the past year has been pretty boring and since I only brought two suitcases (not a light traveler) how much knitting could I be expected to have on hand?  I stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning the day of Show & Tell finishing a shawl.  The quickie block I attempted hasn’t held up well.  Here’s a little preview.  I’ll post more photos once I’ve had time to reblock it.  The name of the pattern is Paradise Apples by Alla Borisova.  The yarn is Dye for Yarn’s merino silk fingering in the color Love Is Poison.  The color is more intense than it looks here.

On to the shopping!  Like Susan, I bought the yarn to make Helsinki by Janine Bajus (although I’m using a different background color).  Then I went wild at Sun Valley:  four skeins of Dust in the Wind (gray), 2 skeins of Coral, and one skein each of Antler (white) and Twilight (blue).  Their Painted Desert gradient kit called to me.  Twice.  (Hey, I didn’t know what I wanted to make out of it and I just hate worrying about having enough yarn.)  Finally, I picked up some beautiful silk lace weight from Lost City Knits in the color Silver Bells.  Whew.  That’s a lot of knitting in my future!

 

March 26, 2016

From Susan — Simply Beautiful

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 10:44 am

Our knitting Camp friend, Denise Bell, put her heart and soul into a beautiful endeavor named fittingly Ultima Thule.  Any of the definitions listed could be applied to this book and the lengthy journey it took to get it to press!


Ultima Thule by Denise Bell and Chris Dykes

Denise, with her wonderful Southern drawl, is the talent and spirit behind Lost City Knits.  She creates spun gold out of silk and other natural fibers.  Her yarns are absolutely stunning.  I have a few skeins of her silk waiting for the proper timing and inspiration (or just plain time??):

Denise was also my inspiration to knit the Scatness Tunic.  I sat behind her when she was wearing it and became obsessed!

The book chronicles her trip through the Shetland Isles and includes some wonderful designs.  The shawl shown on the cover is knit out of her silk laceweight (like that shown above).  Wow.  Again, wow.

So, congratulations, Denise, on your brilliant work!!  And I look forward to seeing you in July with all of your stunning creations!!

PS to Janet: The doily is a knitted Herbert Niebling design called Lotus Flower.  Of all the doilies I have made, this one was my favorite to knit.  The pattern (from Doilyhead) is very well done.

July 18, 2014

From Susan — Letters from Camp

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 1:17 pm

Dear Peeps,

I’m back!  Back into my daily routine.  I thoroughly enjoyed Camp and travelling with my knitting peep Kim.  Surly missed out this year but might go next year!

I spent money like a drunken knitter.  It was crazy!  My knitting funds are now depleted…

I couldn’t help myself.  One of the Campers (Denise of Lost City Knits) was wearing the Scatness Tunic by Kate Davies in Colours of Shetland — so cute!  I could see myself wearing it in so many ways.  I like that it’s not skin tight.  I selected Jamieson Spindrift and had to substitute colors.  As luck would have it, the famous feralknitter is a fellow Camper (Janine) and assisted me greatly!  She is sending me some yarn that was out of stock so I should be able to start this soon.

I have to share another picture.  I went to my knitting group last evening and Jimmy was there with his completed hoodie.  He has been working on it for Y E A R S.  It is not only his own design, but he created the colorway himself by spit splicing colors throughout.  Every few stitches.  All the way along.  We call it his DNA Sweater because the police could surely identify his remains easily with this garment!! 😉

Is he not adorable?

Sincerely yours,

A Happy Camper 🙂

July 22, 2013

From Susan — Capture the Light

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 8:55 pm

Can you capture the light of a firefly?  Can you hold a sunbeam?  YES!  Buy gorgeous yarn!  It is almost impossible to capture the colors in pictures, however.  Here are my skeins of Lost City Silks in Honeydew (green) and Cerillos (aqua) — 1000 yds/90 grams, $60.  Now, go buy your own and see what I mean!

July 19, 2013

From Susan — World Travellers

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 7:28 pm

My DD Elder just returned from South Korea, and Sally and I came back from Knitting Camp in Wis-con-sin (said with emphasis in a nasally Minnesota whine).  That counts (it is part of the world, after all!).

I told my daughter that she HAD to go to a Korean knitting store and get me something with Korean writing on it.

She found Banul:

They seemed to have a lot of cute, knitted toys.

And loved covering the walls with elaborate knitting:

She bought me a Japanese book because the [crocheted] patterns were cuter! 😉

And here is my lovely daughter, proving her knit-worthiness as she models her new Aranami shawl:

I had no idea how to wear it, but she threw it on in a flash with her impeccable fashion sense!

Sally and I had a great time at Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp 2.75.  It is hard to describe what went on, but generally a lot of “show and tell” as Campers shared their latest projects, general discussion/Q&A about knitting minutiae, and other knitting-related activities.  Linda and Penny were our besties at Camp, and next year I hope that Kim can again come along.

We met Denise, a newbie to Camp, who dyes her own line of yarns.  We were gobsmacked by her laceweight silk yarn ($60/skein, 1000 yds/90 gms) — sold at Lost City Knits.  I am just selfish enough NOT to share the link, except that I already ordered two skeins in the colors of my choice: Honeydew and Cerillos.  I am not very original.  Denise had two shawls knit from the identical  colors and I just had to have them both!  She mentioned that Honeydew was not a big seller, so she designed and knit a shawl in that color.  It was drop dead gorgeous and now awaits her test knitters to finish it up.  Hurry it up, peeps!!

I am working on a couple of projects that will be revealed in the near future and I will share pics of my Lost City Silks when  they arrive!!!

June 3, 2021

From Susan — Jesien, the Final Frontier

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 2:36 pm

Yep.  The final Niebling of my knitting career.  I decided I just can’t knit certain things anymore due to the arthritis in my hands.  I’m a bit sad, but resigned.  I mean, I can still knit!  But, not everything.

For instance, I thought I lost a favorite glove (a Snapdragon).  I was bereft, not for the glove per se, but for the fact that I couldn’t knit its replacement.  I really doubt I could do ten fingers on those tiny needles!!

Jesien is supposed to be easy as Nieblings go.  Right off the bat there was a pattern error.  Okay, regroup and move on.  On infamous round 123, another error.  I wasn’t sure which direction to go, so I threw caution to the wind and went off the grid.  Mistake.  Huge.  Had to rip back.  But, you can’t rip out 750 sts!  It would disembowel if you just pulled out the needle!  So I inserted a smaller needle through each stitch 10 rows back…and it actually worked!!  Jesien was saved.

I figured out the issue with the pattern and soldiered on.  I had ideas on how to “jazz up” Jesien, but in the end went old school.  Sometimes simplicity is best.  No sense in gilding the lily.

I used Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Cotton, which some look down upon, but I have liked knitting with it before.

I measured every point for consistent distance from the center and the next point.  If you don’t do that, it’s noticeable.

Pre-blocking:

So, if you see me knitting another Niebling, chalk it up to “007 Syndrome” — never say never!! 😉

PS to Suzan: Cotton is particularly hard to knit!  But, it was weird.  My wool Mulled Cider killed my hands.  It was very rustic yarn.  Soft merino is easier on my hands!!

PS2 to Annie: Good luck with your cataract surgery.  I just had both eyes done in March and April.  Still can’t see!  They zapped my eyes with a laser last Thursday to help improve my vision.  I’m hoping it will get better soon.

PS3 to Renee: More about cataracts.  I think it’s weird that most eye surgeons tell people who have been near sighted their whole lives to become far sighted.  I had lasik surgery 16 years ago ago and had mono vision: right eye near vision, left eye far.  My husband did it and hasn’t needed glasses since!  My brain kind of fought it: the near eye blurred the far one and vice versa.  So I opted for glasses…pretty weak ones actually.  I can see to my bathroom mirror and dinner plate perfectly and can pass my drivers license exam without glasses.  I decided to keep mono vision for my cataract lenses because it’s what I’m used to and I didn’t want to give up what I had.  I had hoped to get multi-focal lenses (the expensive ones) but discovered you can’t get them if you’ve had lasik!

July 11, 2008

From Susan — My Peeps is Back

Filed under: Mystic Waters Shawl,Wrapped in Care — lv2knit @ 12:10 am

Summer in Minnesota means that people go “Up North” — to cabins and resorts to enjoy our 15,000 lakes.  The city becomes a ghost town every weekend — especially over the 4th.  It has been tough finding two knitting peeps together at one time at my Thursday night group.  However, the peeps showed up tonight, at least 8 or so of us.  It was a wonderful way to spend an evening.  Are you knitting less and enjoying it more?  Then you must be at knitting night! 😉

Thanks to all of you for the unexpected and overwhelming response to the “old baby sweater.”  I guess the old classics truly stand the test of time.  I would share the pattern, but it would take a lot to uncover all the brain-webs and get to my inspiration, lost long ago!

I have been knitting a little here and a little there: trying to wrap up a shawl for Wrapped in Care and one for moi.  Dee Moore received three shawls from persons other than myself and has given one away.  She said when she saw how touched the mom was upon receiving the shawl, she was convinced this is a wonderful thing to do. 

I have been working on the Mystic Waters Shawl.  I hope people love it as my as I when I get it done.  I don’t know if it is a flashy as the Peacock Feathers or some other shawls, but something about it is very appealing to me.  I think it is the variety in the patterning that I like and the repetition of the squares within squares around the outer border.

 

I spoke to Sally today.  She has no cell phone service most of the time and cannot send emails, so she is pretty much incommunicado.   I miss our daily ::hourly:: phone chats and constant emails, etc.  It’s just not the same!

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