theraineysisters knitting and so much more

As soon as I saw Vest of Luck designed by Zaneteknits, I wanted to make it.  I thought it was really cute.  I did not like the styling, however.  I do not do tight or cropped, so I made some elemental changes to its silhouette.  I knit it longer, wider, and changed the armhole openings to be deeper like the popular Lulu Slipover that both Sally and I already made.

The yarn I used is Léttlopi in Black Heather, Rust Heather, and Apricot.  My gauge was a bit off, and I wanted the length, so I recharted the design to add rows.  That added width as well, which worked out fine.  I did some duplicate stitch just below the jewel neckline to add interest.  I really, really like this little vest!

Here you can see the motif I added to the neckline:

All in all, a success!!

PS to Anne: I’m sure you can make adjustments to the back width, but mine comes right to the shoulder line on me.  No over hang.  The little cap is done with short rows and can be eliminated of course, but I happen to like that detail so left it in.  Just do some measuring and math.

I made two of these in identical colors for my girls.  Same color, no drama!  Quick and fun to make: Easy Granny Christmas Bauble.

It is crocheted, but I suspect there are a few crocheters lurking out there!!

Tortured title, for sure!  My latest FO was a challenging, fun knit!  It is the Snowflake Vest, and it involved dreaded intarsia.  Ugh!

The yarn is Sandnes Garn Kos, a blown yarn.  I know you want to see the inside:

Dozens and dozens of ends.  But that is the price you pay for knitting intarsia.  🙂  I love it.  It’s cute and cozy and Christmasy.  I hope all of you are almost ready for the holidays, because the clock is ticking!!

PS to Lisa and others: Blown yarn is actually a knitted tube (like i-cord) that is filled with wool fluff.  Examples are Luft, Snefnug, and Cantata.  The theory is less pilling, but I’m not sure that’s always true.  It is nice to knit with, and joins well if you know how.  I’ve used this type of yarn on several projects.

PS2 to Pam: I was afraid someone would ask me that!  Basically, you use a tapestry needle to thread one end through the other for several inches.  It’s hard to describe the final step, but this Belfair project has pictures that kind of show what I do.

The holiday bug has hit, but only on tiny knitting, and nothing to be gifted!  I stumbled on this next little design on Faceb00k and bought the pattern on Etsy.  I prefer to buy on Ravelry so the pattern is in my library.  The pattern is on Ravelry, but I did not know it’s full name until I bought it: Ice Crystal Snowflake Ornament.

ETA: I heard from the designer that she ONLY sells her patterns on Ravelry and that someone was fraudulently selling a stolen copy on Etsy.  Please use the above Ravelry link if you are interested in making this snowflake!

I used Classic Elite Fresco in Parchment from stash.  This is a fussy knit.  It didn’t help that KNITTERS CAN’T COUNT!!  You do a Judy’s Magic Cast on.  Six sections of 26 sts each.  You add markers after every 26 sts, which I counted.  BUT, I had SEVEN POINTS in my snowflake!  Argh!!  I didn’t realize it until I was trying to put the sts on dpns: 2 points per needle…so why do I have an extra section??!!??  I was so mad at myself, as this is a physically challenging item to knit.

I did stuff it lightly and I also put in three bamboo skewers from point to point to make it stiffer.  ETA: You must read Gretchen’s comment!!

My other mini-project is a Candy Cane.  I had seen a pattern that had the stripes going across the cane, not wrapped around.  I thought, that’s just wrong!  So, I experimented and came up with this:

The trick is to cast on 5 sts, but knit 3 white then 3 red.  It creates the spiral effect.  I wrote it all out on the project page.  My knitting looks horrible, but does it really matter?  I think not! 😉

It’s the holiday season!!  I am not doing much in the way of holiday knitting this year, but this little project sucked me right in!  It is called Ball-ble, and it looks like tiny skeins of yarn that you hang on the tree.  These knit up quickly in fingering weight yarn.  I haven’t tried it, but larger yarn would yield bigger skeins.  Instead of hanging these, they could be cute in a bowl.

I printed out my labels and then laminated them (I love my laminator!!).  The labels hide the transition area.  These start in the middle and work toward the ends.  Then they are stuffed.

It’s finally finished!  My blue rendition of Jul is off the needles.

I did a modified Derecho hemline with beads and did the same at the cuffs.  The neckline incorporates a modified Tiny Bubbles stitch (from the Killer Queen Cowl):

It fits and is the identical size to my Alpine Bloom Tee.  It was a slog, but the results are pretty good!!

Jul has turned blue!  I just couldn’t stand the unattractive “cream” (?) coloring of my former Jul, so I cut it off.  I wanted to switch to the blue, but only had one skein of the yarn I used in the yoke.  The shop was out so I substituted another yarn and color, but they match pretty well.  I flipped part of the chart upside down so I could transition to the blue.

Here is the original:

Here is where I am now:

It is a different look, for sure!!  Please note that the pictures do not do it justice!!  I will keep on with the blue and hope I get it finished someday.  Stay tuned…

Doing test knitting is a mixed blessing!  You get the pattern free, ahead of time.  That’s it.  People ask if you get free yarn.  NO.  This past June I wanted to test a summer tee (Anitra Vest) designed by Elenor Mortenson.  It was quite complex, so I opted out.  But I felt bad about it, so I signed up for another: Jul.  It will be out later in October.

It is also complicated, but I am now on to the plain knitting.  Here is the yoke:

This really pushed all my knitting skills!

I like it fine but for one problem that has ruined this for me.  There is a very obvious color break right under the yoke.  Yep.  The “hand-dyed yarn” problem!  I was already carrying three colors in the yoke, so I didn’t want to carry a 4th to alternate skeins.  I started doing that after the yoke.  The new skeins have an orange cast vs the gray cast of the yoke.  It’s hard to see it in the pictures but is quite obvious IRL.  I will finish it, but I am very disappointed.

I have decided to make it into a summer tee because of the lightweight fabric and my desire to minimize the effort invested.  ::le sigh::

It’s over.  All finished.  Right down to picking up my entries at the fair.  The weather brought high highs and low lows to fairgoers — there were some major storms with flooding and damage.  We went on the first day (record breaker) and the last Sunday (record breaker).  A true “sea of humanity!”

My knitting did okay this year.  Not great, but certainly not embarrassing.  I entered a couple of things at the last minute and they did well.  I’ll just recap a few.

I knit a Sophie Scarf using yarn I bought at Rhinebeck last fall held with KnitPicks Aloft from stash.  The fabric is absolutely scrumptious.  I knew a Sophie would never win a ribbon of any kind, so I decided to add embellishments.  I crocheted some pansies and embroidered some Queen Anne’s Lace onto the center of the scarf.  It won a blue ribbon!!

The way it was displayed was embarrassing!  It looks like a babushka.  Are we heading into a long, cold Russian winter??  Here is what the back looks like IRL:

The next sweater was a last-minute throw in: my Elton Cardigan.  Yep, the same mannequin.  Styled like you would find it on the floor of your closet!!

Here’s what it really looks like:

My other “throw in” was Broken Oath.  I love this sweater and its fall “pumpkin spice” vibe!  The color is even called Pumpkin Spice Heather.  And, it was displayed like a sweater!!!  The judges raved about this one.  I have never seen so many comments…so, why second place and not first??  Who knows?  I was expecting third place so I was happy!!

I was a little disappointed that Structure Loop didn’t do better.  I worked so hard on this one!!!  But, the comments did mention all the important elements, so it wasn’t that they didn’t “get it.”

I also entered Ris in the sleeveless/vest category, and it came in third:

That’s enough for now.  The Minnesota Knitters Guild hosts their September State Fair meeting on the Sunday of Yarnover weekend, so we will hear the comments and see many of the other entries.

PS to Chloe: I was super nervous to actually start the embroidery.  It sat for a week on my table, as the clock ticked away to the entry deadline.  There are infinite choices!  Full embroidery in one color, more than one color, appliqués, etc.  It finally got to crunch time and I just dove in.  The actual embroidery wasn’t that difficult.  All the decisions made it hard!

PS to Millie: I, too, hoped for better than 3rd place on my Ris.  It had 110 inches of steeks, colorwork short rows, buttonhole loops.  Oh, well!  Entries are anonymous, but a former judge, who attended Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp with me, told me she read my blog!  That meant I could no longer post any knitting that I thought I would enter in the fair.  It also meant that my friend Kim and I could only “show and tell” the previous year’s knitting!

I recently completed a test knit for Justyna Lorkowska (aka Letesknits) called Leafkerchief.  It is a tiny Sophie-sized version of her popular Leaflet Shawl.  I made of two of them relatively quickly.  The first one didn’t show the pattern very well, though it is a pretty color, so I made the blue one.  The finished size is about 35 inches long.

Baah New York, color December 2023 (140 yds)

Sun Valley Fibers MCN (160 yds)

I used my continuous i-cord cast on to avoid the cut-off ends on the original (video here).  I just like the pointy ends better!  I also did regular 3-stitch i-cord along the edges.  I am not a fan of the k1, slip 1, k1 edges.

I knit the red one with a sz 4 needle and the blue one with a sz 5.