theraineysisters knitting and so much more

‘Cheaper than therapy’ is a not a phrase I coined and has been used often, but that does not make it any less true.  Mary, you know what I mean!  I need to go to my knitting group — especially now that my job has gotten more stressful.  It really is the highpoint of my week (“What a gripping life you must lead.”).  I’m glad Sally has gotten a group going, even if it is not a regular thing yet.

Mary just completed her Ponchette, but it was still drying from being blocked.  The unveiling is next week.  We welcomed a new member to the group: Ginny.  She is a great knitter and happens to know many of the group members already!  Her knitting journey and mine are running in tandem.  She has many of the same (identical) projects, so I must respect her FANTASTIC taste.  She was working on the most gorgeous garter stitch shawl in Kidsilk Haze (color Trance? — light teal) with a bead accent.  (Sally, you would be starting another shawl, believe me).

If you want to start a knitting group, here are some things I have learned that has made our group so successful:

• have it at the same time every week (establish a routine)
• meet at a local coffee shop or restaurant (check around — they usually welcome you with open arms) — the advantage is that no one has to host (i.e., clean!) and you can come and go as you please
• invite a lot of people — open it up to any knitter of any skill level, not just the ones you know; encourage networking, word of mouth, flyers at your LYS, etc. 
• make an effort to get there as often as you can to guarantee a core group
• share ideas, share enthusiasm, share expertise

After going to my group for five years, my husband finally says, “Oh, it’s Thursday — it must be knitting night.”  Even my work friends caught on after six months!  Oh well, at least he gets it now!

I am taking a few days off, but going nowhere (in more ways than one), so I might get to the “Next Big Thing.”  I need to be mentally prepared to embark on a project that will commit me to several months of knitting.  It is not to be undertaken lightly, but I am just about ready.

You may be wondering what happened to me — I know I haven’t blogged in *cough* a little while. Sorry about that. The problem is that I have nothing of particular interest to share in the knitting department. I’ve been a little preoccupied/busy with non-knitting issues, and the knitting that I have been doing isn’t necessarily blog-worthy.

I am motoring along nicely with the feather and fan shawl. It’s a wonderfully portable project because most of it is straight knitting. I am still using the Knit Pick interchangeable needles on it and I still like the needles. I have found that they will occasionally unscrew slightly and then the join gets a bit sticky. They easily screw back together nice and tightly. This seems to happen when the shawl is shoved into my bag and/or thrown around carelessly. When I’m not mistreating the shawl, the needles behave.

I’ve been swatching for various and sundry projects I might want to knit on, but have nothing of interest to report.

Oh! Last weekend, a group of former employees from the yarn store I used to work at got together for a few hours of knitting and conversation. (Thank you, Jennifer, for being such a lovely hostess.) It was great to catch up and see what everyone is knitting on; knitting is such a wonderful social activity. I don’t belong to a regular knitting group, unlike Susan, and I sometimes forget how nice knitting with friends can be.

I went to the Knitters Guild meeting tonight.  There was no real program, just a short meeting, a picnic and socializing with knitters.  My kind of event!  Kris, who I know from Yarnery knitting classes, was there.  She had just travelled to Ireland so I asked about her trip.  She was VERY disappointed in the lack of yarn.  Not the lack of sheep mind you — they’re everywhere.  But there is very little knitting wool.  What little she found was being hoarded by one of the few knitters of traditional Irish fisherman knit sweaters that she stumbled upon.  The woman would not sell any of it because she wants to continue using genuine Irish wool for her handknits and has great difficulty finding it.  Kris bought one of the sweaters.  She finally found a small amount of less than wonderful yarn and bought it just to have some from her trip. 

When Sally and I were in Scotland and England, we had trouble finding knitting shops.  You can buy yarn in some of the larger department stores, mostly Rowan and Jaeger yarns.  They do not have in-store knitting experts per se, but have company reps that travel to the different stockists to lend their expertise and promote their designs.  We thought we would find knitting nirvana, but really had to search for any evidence of knitting.  Jean Moss (the tour sponsor) said British designers love Americans because we do so much more knitting than the English. 

The wonderful place we did visit was the home of Wensleydale Longwool.  They have the sheep right there and sell the most beautiful colors of this unique wool in their own shop.  They do have a website, and the shop appears to still be in business (Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop). The yarn has a gorgeous sheen and knits up like adult alpaca — a long staple yarn that kind of fights you a little bit.  The sheep are the cutest you have ever seen:

 

Anyway, back to the Knitters Guild!  It was a great evening and wonderful catching up on the local knitting community.  I can’t get enough of all that.

But…… Have any of you experienced a problem with handpainted yarns?  I know they are lovely and come in beautiful yarns and colors, but I get annoyed.  You spend a LOT more money for them because of the hands-on nature of the dying, but they have issues.  In the case of my Ponchette, the colors are a bit different from skein 1 to skein 2.  Okay.  But the colors are also pooling differently, which you can see in the photo.   

For this project, it’s not a big enough deal for me to worry much about it, but I do know of people who have given up on a whole project because the skeins were so screwy.  Koigu is known for having such a difference between skeins that they do not even look like the same color, much less the same dye lot.  In fact, “dye lot” is a meaningless concept with hand dyed yarns.  I keep telling myself never again.  But here I am!

Not meaning to overshadow our recent post, I have to recount this evening at Panera’s.  We had a fabulous “show-and-tell” night.  Mary, Emily, Linda, and I all had recent FOs to share!  Mary brought a beautiful baby hat and sweater, Emily was putting the finishing touches on something very special for a Christmas gift and had blocked two shawls, Linda finished her Ponchette, and I showed off my newly completed Ballerina.  We leafed through a number of “new” pattern books (some not newly published, but new to us) and of course Knitting Nature.  It was a very fun evening — I really didn’t want to leave but my daughters finally dragged me away.  Away to start a new project that is!  After trying on Linda’s Ponchette I had to cast on with the Lorna’s Laces Lion and Lamb we acquired on the trip.  It is absolutely gorgeous; 50% merino and 50% silk, worsted weight.  Once I get it going I’ll post a picture.  Woo hoo!  I am really back!

PS: Picture of the Ponchette.  I got this far last evening and then ripped it all out because I decided to use an 8 instead of a 7 needle. 

Ponchette: “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful!”  I don’t hate you, I LOVE you!

Sally and I are travelling together. Don’t be jealous — we’re in downtown Omaha visiting our parents. Because we live in different cities, the trip has been a hodge podge of plane and car travel — LOTS of time in the car!! We did manage to make a couple of short visits to yarn shops — we DO have our priorities! I wish we had some good pics to share, but it has been quite a grueling trip and we have not had much down time. We’ll try to share some pictures or stories later.

Deb, thanks for calling from knitting group!!

Wendy in VA asked if I would post a picture of the dress I made — even if it was only on a hanger.  Wendy is a very loyal visitor and commenter, so of course I had to comply.  Here it is, looking a bit limp and unfilled out.

I love the bell shaped cuff the best.  And close up:

You may recognize this as the fabric I bought to make a skirt to go with the Rowan Summer Tweed cardigan of a month or so ago.  It does not go with that sweater at all!  In the store I thought it worked, but it doesn’t.  I bought about 6 yds for some reason, so I had enough to make just about anything.   It is actually a dress under the jacket even though it looks like a skirt.   It will do fine for a one day event, and I can probably wear the dress to work sometime.  

Where have I been?  I have been sewing!  My own version of a sweat shop!  The woman who received the knitted wedding bag is getting married next weekend and I had to have something to wear.   Most people shop in stores, but I “have issues” shopping off the rack.  I will not dwell on my abnormal height or the fact that I am no longer a young school girl, but I find the fashions of today less than flattering.  I made a floral cotton-print suit and it is acceptable.  It has kept me from my knitting for a few days, so I’m going through a bit of withdrawal — but that will soon change.   More about that on Wednesday or Thursday…..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG SISTER!!!

My daughter was knitting the other day and said, “I can’t believe it!  I’m knitting and you’re not.”  She was stunned that I was sitting there and not knitting — this never happens. 

Laura has become one of my most consistent knitting peeps.  She was bringing her knitting everywhere and was even knitting in the car.  Woo Hoo!  She was working on a cute felted bag.  Here are some pics of the project that I am very proud to display:

And here it is drying after being felted:

The tape measure kind of shows the scale.  It shrunk up a great deal obviously.  She used a pretty shade of Cascade 220 in a triple colorway: pale pink, pale lavendar and medium lavendar.  I wasn’t sure what the color would look like felted, but it’s very pretty.  She will add some embellishments, maybe beads or ribbon.  The pattern is from Two Old Bags — the Body Hugging Flat Purse.  I made this purse in a soft green and am knitting one in pink for my younger daughter.  It is perfect soccer game knitting because you just knit in the round for 80 rounds — no looking or thinking required.