theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Last chance for the last dance.  Get your name in tonight or you will lose out on the opportunity of a fortnight!  Just click here to find out all the details.  You have approximately seven hours before the close 😉

P.S. from Sally — It’s now just about 11:00 p.m. on the east coast. Two more hours. We’re counting down. (Actually, I’m going to bed but I’m sure someone is counting down somewhere.)

PSS from Susan — it is officially closed!  We will announce the winners sometime tomorrow [today].  Thanks to all who took the time to enter.  🙂

I taught a class at The Yarnery in St. Paul (651-222-5793) the other evening and had such a wonderful time.  And, of course, some of that knitting-type fun had to do with shopping at a great knitting store.  On display was a basket of the cutest felted Easter eggs you’ve ever seen — shown in the photo below. 

The patterns were literally flying off the shelf!  They also had a knitted baby chick pattern.  Marie works at the Yarnery — great idea, M!  Anyway, I will embark on my own quest of knitting, felting and decorating some cute lil eggs for this Easter and post pictures when progress is made.  I have a lot of colors of Cascade 220 lying around, so it should be fun doing some mixing and matching.  I also have too many lots of beads and beading supplies for embellishments.  Sally insisted on a care package with all the necessities, so Happy Belated Birthday, Surly!!  It will be in the mail soon! 🙂

 

I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of comments about my lil clogs.  They really are a nice, very practical project and would make great gifts. 

I finished the second one today and felted it right away.  Melanie  commented that she thought I was stupid brave to felt one clog at a time.  When I started felting the second one, I myself had “second” thoughts!  How will I get them to match???  They kind of do…..

These are an extremely quick knit — you could make a pair in one day.  I used my bread and butter yarn: Cascade 220.  I love it for felting, and agree with Wendy O’C about the lack o’fuzz. 

Here is another case of

From now on, I will read directions. Really. I will.

I neglected to read the fine print in the pattern.  Just looking at the clogs, it seemed to me that it would take more of the lime green than the fuschia — au contraire, my friend!  The opposite is true!  But I bought 2 green and 1 fuschia mistakenly and did not figure it out until I got to the part in the pattern where it said to start the second sole.  Ruh roh!  The soles are double thick.  Anyway, it took me 4 skeins because I needed to buy another fuschia.  Here again, had I not felted the singleton, I could have done some fudging, but since I had to match the two, it became a fairly expensive pair of clogs!  Next time I will know better.

Thanks for all the great comments. 

PS — Don’t forget to sign up for the contest!

PSS — In response to your questions:

Michelle asked about the Cascade 220 — I buy it at my LYS.  It’s about $7 a skein for 220 yds (hence, the name ;)).  I don’t really bother with on-line for that because it’s so readily available.  The pattern is from Fiber Trends AC-33x.  It is also available everywhere.  There’s even a class set up at my LYS for this very pattern. 

And look at how gorgeous these can be:

The picture’s not great, but these were in the State Fair last summer next to my socks, which is why I have a picture.  They are so beautiful!  Sorry that I can’t give you the knitter’s name.  So, you can go wild with these and really make them special.  I don’t think I’m up for that right now, but I am thinking ahead to Christmas and may make a pair or two for relatives.

 

Yes, I know — everyone LOVES Sally’s Feather and Fan Shawl and everyone LOVES Sally’s Bohus and everyone LOVES Sally’s Berry Cluster Pullover — Sally, Sally, Sally (geez, she’s finished a lot of stuff lately!).  I’ve been feeling a little neglected of late — I haven’t finished anything in MONTHS.  So, I embarked on a “quick knit” project, just to feel the juice of getting something done.  And I did finish something.

Well, I finished one of a pair of items.  And it is really impressive.  I KNOW it’s impressive because when I showed my family, they stared in slack-jawed wonder, completely speechless .  Honest — no one said a word!  My thoughtful husband suggested that I finish the first one completely before wasting investing my time on the second.  I’m taking his advice.  I hope I haven’t built it up too much — you know, oversold it!  Click here to see the item before felting. 

Click here for a picture of the FO — needs one more run through though, I think.  I’m sure you’ll agree that this is a classy, timeless and very practical project — to be enjoyed for years to come.   Take that, Surly! 😉

 

Response to question: the “wonderment” was pre-felting!

When I was growing up in Minnesota, school officials had to build in at least 3 or 4 “Snow Days” into the school calendar every year, and they got used.  My kids have had very few, if any (I tried to remember one, and nothing recent comes to mind).  Snow days have become a thing of the past, like rotary phones!  Until now – tomorrow is an official, bona fide, out-and-out, for real SNOW DAY!!  I am as excited as my kids, because I told them at work today that if my school district called a Snow Day, I was staying home.  Man oh man, I am happy!

My husband, the perennial killjoy, did not give the kids 2 minutes of joy before telling them they could clean the house tomorrow.  Au contraire, Debbie Downer!  Though a small cleaning effort may be foisted upon us out of necessity, we are going to enjoy our Snow Day — or what good is it? 

My Knit Snow Day has officially begun ;)!!

A No Knitting Post

A number of older “stars” are going to be on American Idol to be mentors and judges.  Some have retooled their early hits to accommodate the aging baby boomers who make up their fan base:

    1. Herman’s Hermits — Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Walker
    2. The Bee Gees — How Can You Mend a Broken Hip 
    3. Bobby Darin — Splish, Splash, I Was Havin’ a Flash
    4. Ringo Starr — I Get By With a Little Help From Depends
    5. Roberta Flack — The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face 
    6. Johnny Nash — I Can’t See Clearly Now
    7. Paul Simon — Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver
    8. The Commodores — Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom
    9. Marvin Gaye — Heard It Through the Grape Nuts
   10. Procol Harem — A Whiter Shade of Hair
   11. Leo Sayer — You Make Me Feel Like Napping
   12. The Temptations — Papa’s Got a Kidney Stone
   13. Tony Orlando — Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall
   14. Helen Reddy — I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore
   15. Leslie Gore — It’s My Procedure, and I’ll Cry If I Want To
   16. Willie Nelson — On the Commode Again!

I am such a sucker for bad puns!

Speaking of oldies, I had the craziest dream last night.  Through a series of events I met my younger self.  I said to the Young Me, “I’m you, from the future.  This is what you’re going to look like!”  The look of shock and disappointment was a bit off putting!  I kept thinking, why don’t we have more in common?  The Young Me was describing things in her life (which of course should have totally matched MY past) and none of it was correct.  Even her “date” was no one I had gone out with before.  Come to find out, the Young Me had overheard someone talking about a job opening at a different hospital at that time.  Young Me went for the opportunity and got the job.  It changed everything for her — her friends, where she lived, etc.  I started kind of freaking out in the dream — not that one small decision could change everything (because I believe that is true — See Gwyneth Paltrow’s “Sliding Doors”), but why didn’t my present life match up?  It was the coolest dream I’ve had in a long time and very cool that I remembered it in such detail when I woke up!! 

They say we’re getting a foot of snow today: ack! 

PS (1 hour later) — it has started!