theraineysisters knitting and so much more

June 14, 2006

From Sally — Another Reason to Buy Extra Yarn

Filed under: Icarus Shawl,Knitting Tips — Sally @ 8:27 pm

Just the other day, I posted about why it’s important to buy extra yarn and I gave some reasons why. Well, I have another one. Just barely into my third skein of yarn on my Icarus Shawl, I have already encountered three knots. It’s unusual in my experience for this particular yarn; I’ve knit literally thousands of yards of Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze without ever finding a knot. So, finding knots in the yarn is annoying but something easy enough to deal with except . . . After one of the knots, it wasn’t the same yarn. I’m not kidding. It changed color. The fuzzy grey, instead of being plied with grey, was wrapped around black. I pulled out a number of yards before I found another knot. At that point, the color changed back to what it was supposed to be. Say what?

That’s a new one on me.

June 12, 2006

From Sally — Icarus Shawl update

Filed under: Icarus Shawl — Sally @ 8:50 pm

A quick update. I’m through with Chart 1, which means I’ve finished all of the main body of the shawl. I’ve done a few rows of Chart 2. There isn’t enough of the lace border to warrant a photograph yet; I haven’t gotten far enough. I’m about to finish up my second ball of yarn and start on a third; as usual, the yarn starts being eaten up quickly once you reach a critical mass of stitches. I’ll put up a progress photo as soon as there is something to see.

From Susan — Brief Sunrise Circle Update

Filed under: Sunrise Circle Jacket — lv2knit @ 7:04 pm

I know a lot of people have had difficulty with the sizing of this jacket, but mine fits me perfectly!  That is a great feeling!  I am still plodding along with my 500++ sts on the combined facing.  It is going slowly, but hopefully it will be worth it.  TTFN* — I must go knit.

*ta ta for now

June 11, 2006

From Susan — WWKIP Update (and Sunrise Update)

Filed under: Back Story,Current Projects,Sunrise Circle Jacket,Updates — lv2knit @ 9:49 am

Yesterday was World Wide Knit in Public Day, as I mentioned a couple of days ago.  I did make it to Barnes & Noble in Blaine to meet up with Mary and her knitting pals, Tessa, Becky, and Emily — very nice young women.  A few of MY knitting pals also showed up: Marilyn, her daughter, Nicole, Julie, and Emily.  My oldest daughter, Laura, came with me with her current knitting project.  It was a lot of fun.  Mary et al are just starting out on their knitting journey.   Some of the rest of us have “been on the road” awhile!  It was fun to share our love of knitting and help out some of the newbies as they interpreted the sometimes confusing world of knitting patterns.  I’ll be there next year, Mary!

I bought this magazine at B&N because of the pattern for the sheep puppets — I do not spin and do not plan on ever learning.  I only have time for knitting.

Sheep Puppets

Are these the cutest things you’ve ever seen?  I think you could substitute fair isle weight shetland.

Sunrise is setting:  I am finishing Sunrise.  What intrigued me about this pattern was the possibility that the entire outer perimeter could be handled as one big circle, instead of working it in pieces — neck, lower back edge, front half circles.  So, I decided to do an I-cord bind off around the entire perimeter (instead of a purl turning row as shown) and then I will pick up the facing and knit it in one piece in the round.  To do this, I’ll either need several sets of circular needles, which I own but probably can’t find, or buy one really long needle.  I had been thinking that the bottom back hem did not need a facing, but I think I’ll go ahead and do it to prevent curling.  The sleeves will not get a facing. 

Sunrise Front I-Cord

This in-progess view shows the right front I-cord bind off completed.  The bottom back edge is also finished.  There is a way to do an i-cord bind off and keep live sts so you can keep knitting.  It was not worth the trouble here and does not turn out as well anyway.  As you can see, this is a fairly slow process, so I doubt I’ll get it done today.  Button shopping is next 🙁

June 7, 2006

From Sally — Icarus Shawl update

Filed under: Icarus Shawl — Sally @ 4:28 pm

I finally used up the rest of the magic ball of kidsilk haze sometime during the fifth repeat of the first chart. I have now started the sixth repeat. I don’t think I’ll need to add a repeat, which is nice. I’ll make a final decision in ten rows or so.

I would be a little bit farther on this project if I hadn’t made an error. This part of the shawl is mindless knitting, but there is mindless and then there is mindless. Here is a webcam shot (bad photography for the lazy) of the center of the shawl.

detail of Icarus

As you can see, there is a single knit stitch with a yarnover on each side. (The little red dot you can see is one of my beaded silver ring markers.) Unlike the other similar “lines” that radiate out from the center, there are no decreases that correspond to the yarnovers. That makes sense because those yarnovers (without decreases) are helping enlarge the shawl. Well, at some point last night I actually looked at my knitting and realized I had inadvertently performed a decrease after one of the yarnovers. About 10-12 rows earlier. My nice straight center line had taken an unexpected detour west.

In order to fix the problem, I had to let the center stitch, the yarnovers, and about three stitches on each side “run down” to the mishap. I then painstakingly laddered them back up with a small crochet hook, moving the center stitch back to where it was supposed to be in the first place. I say painstaking because kidsilk haze likes to stick to itself (because of the mohair) at the same time that it likes to slip and run (because of the silk).

It was a stupid mistake — easy to fix (although tiresome) without ripping back. However, if I had been paying attention I wouldn’t have had to worry about it at all.

This is a busy week for me — my son’s graduation from 8th grade is Friday. He’s been at the school since he was four! Even so, I hope to get to the lace border sometime this weekend. That’s the fun part and I’m looking forward to it.

June 5, 2006

From Susan — 80 Down, 20 to Go

Filed under: Sunrise Circle Jacket,Updates — lv2knit @ 11:37 pm

Quick update: I finished the knitting of the Sunrise Circle Jacket tonight, though I did not block it — too late.  I’ll do it when I get home tomorrow.  It should dry overnight.  I’ll drag out Ballerina to haul around for a while.  I have to have something with me to knit!!  Not real portable, but mindless.

June 4, 2006

From Susan — Sunrise Serenade

Filed under: Sunrise Circle Jacket,Updates — lv2knit @ 10:16 pm

I SO thought I would finish the right front of Sunrise this weekend, but my kids had other plans.  Both of them did nothing but work on school projects all weekend and of course that meant I had to help.  The last of day of school is next Friday, so we can all take a breather!

I am on row 75 of 103.  The end is in sight.  It really did help to place the markers ahead before knitting the row.  Count once and forget it. 

I’ll share my finishing plans later — I have some ideas about the front facings etc.  I am in the knitting groove and should finish Sunrise within a week or so.  Some people think that when all the main pieces are done, the project is over — but many projects fit the “80-20” rule: 80% knitting and 20% finishing.  Finishing takes a lot of time: blocking, sewing, and knitting the edges/collars/facings/making buttonholes, etc. etc.  Finishing is one of my favorite things to do, and I don’t like to rush it.  It can make the difference between homemade and custom made.

I almost forgot: one of the reasons I didn’t get further with the Sunrise Jacket is because I was working on the little wedding bag.  Here it is before grafting the bottom:

Wedding Ring Purse b4 grafting

As you can see, I did not work it in the round.  I just could not make myself do it!  I made a strip of five repeats instead of ten and then picked up 38 sts (72/2 + 2 for the seam).  I also spaced the beads closer together.

Here it is finished:

Wedding Ring Purse

It was a lot of work and I don’t even know if I like it.  The bride wanted two bags, so I thought I would copy Wendy’s very cute design for the second so they will be different — they need to be able to tell them apart. 

June 3, 2006

From Sally — The Icarus Shawl and the Sunrise Circle

Filed under: Icarus Shawl,Sunrise Circle Jacket — Sally @ 8:20 am

I’ve been knitting on my Icarus Shawl, although this week hasn’t been kind to my knitting time — I’ve been doing a lot of gardening. I’m in the fifth repeat of the first chart and am still on the first skein of my kidsilk haze. I think it’s a magic ball of yarn. Now that the rows are much longer, I think it will finally run out soon. I’m not sure it’s worth posting a photograph because it doesn’t look too different from the last one. It won’t look different until I get to the lace border. I still haven’t decided whether or not to add one or more repeats to my shawl. I’ll decide when the sixth repeat is finished.

I’ve also started my Sunrise Circle and am about to block the first sleeve/front. I’ll put up a photograph when it’s dry. I am making the 37″ size, but I’ve decided (pending a quick basting together of the sleeve so I can slip on the first front) that I may add five or so extra stitches to the back to give it a little more ease. We’ll see. I’m going to knit the back before I do the second front because the back is sort of boring knitting in comparison. I’d rather finish with the other front.

June 2, 2006

From Susan — Friday

Filed under: Sunrise Circle Jacket,Uncategorized — lv2knit @ 6:41 am

Today is Friday and I am glad I’ll have another weekend to spend knitting on my Sunrise jacket.  I’d love to wrap that one up.  I’m done with the main part of the second sleeve and will start the circle today.  It is semi-mindless knitting, but I spent far too much time counting sts on the first side.  I am going to place markers where the increases go so I just count once.  Honestly, I think it will take me half the time if all I do is knit instead of count. 

I finally took a few minutes to read through the book I bought at the last knitters guild meeting when Kari Cornell was the guest speaker.  It is a very fun read.

Book

There are a lot of pictures and stories from a variety of sources — many vintage knitting patterns and books, famous knitters, etc.  It is truly a hodge podge, but that’s okay.  It is worth a look.  She said she is working on a book of vintage patterns because so many people who read this book were interested.  Count me in!  It’s due out in fall of 2007 (that seems like a long way off).

May 30, 2006

From Susan — Mini Sunrise Update

Filed under: Current Projects,Sunrise Circle Jacket — lv2knit @ 10:07 pm

I decided to check and see if the Sunrise Circle Jacket will fit before I invested more time into it.  I basted the sleeve seam and tried it on.  It is perfect.  I can’t believe it!  It really makes me want to finish it.  I wish it was not May and 80 degrees right now!

Jennifer asked about Blocking Wires.  I have used them for years and swear by them.  They make the blocking process much easier and foolproof.

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