theraineysisters knitting and so much more

In anticipation of Sally’s ‘Christmas stealth knitting reveal’ (later today or tomorrow) I thought I would share the buttons I found for Kauni.  No, they are not square!  I like the look of square buttons, but do not like using them.

I loved these buttons (purchased at Skeins in Minnetonka, MN).  I did not want to get too gaudy by having too much going on with the buttons.  I need to reblock Kauni and gain 2″ in length, but otherwise, put a fork in it! 😉

I hope you had a wonderful holiday.  Truer words would never spoken as when I described our trip to Grandpa’s as a feeding frenzy!  I ate from the moment we arrived til the moment we left: non-stop!!  Those who know me know that this is entirely possible.  I love food and I’m not afraid to show it!

I received some good books for Christmas, so that will cut into knitting time — but well worth it.  I am progressing on Roslin and will share pictures in a day or two.

Thanks for all of your fabulous comments about the Kauni.  It did dry, and I did finish the inside edges.  I tried it on and the neck isn’t as tight as it was before blocking, so it will be fine.  It will be a wearable sweater with jeans and turtleneck (gee, that’s a new look for me!).

Here is Lettie doing the modelling.  I know, I know — maybe I’ll add a picture of me in it later with buttons ;). 

And the back:

Marina asked me about why I grafted the sleeves and how — here is the response I sent her:

Warning: Esoteric knitting blather ahead

The mattress stitch I tried using to sew the sleeves in just did not look right.  So I decided to try grafting the sleeves in instead.

Looking at the right sleeve as the example, I ripped back to one row after the red squares (a yellow row).  I picked up around the sleeve opening with red, and then used yellow for my grafting yarn.  This created the second row of yellow after the red squares.  When I picked up around the armhole, I used a size 5 needle instead of the 4’s I would have used for the straight knitting portion (I switched between 2 needle sizes throughout my Kauni: 4’s for the single color rounds and 5’s for the stranded rounds).  I did this because the stitch was going through the fabric and I wanted the red line to be visible.

The button quest will now begin…dum de dum dum DUM!!

I am so amazed: I finished my Kauni Cardigan.  I’m not amazed by the finished Kauni — what amazed me was that I allowed myself to BE FINISHED with it! 

As I described to my knitting peeps on Thursday evening (at a wonderful Christmas soiree hosted by Mary!!), I had major Kauni concerns:

1) The sleeves were not going in as planned.  The seaming looked like crapola.  So I decided to pick up around the armholes and graft in the sleeves.  This step was completed this morning.  They did turn out looking better than the seams did.  I should have picked up and knitted down after all :(. 

Note: I chose to knit the sleeves from the cuff up so I could control the color of the cuffs.  It didn’t even work out that way!  I ended up with strange-colored cuffs anyway!  Here’s a pic to prove it:

2) I did not like the front bands AT ALL!!  I had spent 12-15 hours knitting the front and neck bands in one piece on 60″ needles (seriously!).  I did not like the band for several reasons: band too wide, neck opening too small, top buttonhole not centered, blah, blah, blah; yada, yada, yada.  My plan was to redo the band completely, even though many, many hours of knitting would be involved.  I wanted the sweater to turn out, of course. I spent most of Saturday evening pouring over my new, improved approach to the band to “fix” all the stuff I did not like about it, but could not come up with a plan. 

Drum roll, please.  I decided to do nothing.  I bound it off and it is blocking at this moment.  I tossed in the towel.  I gave up.  I caved.  I decided that enough was enough.  AND IT FEELS FANTASTIC!!!!  I did not want to spend umpteen hours re-knitting the bands when I wasn’t even sure they would look better.  I decided that it was GOOD ENOUGH!  I did not strive for perfection or to be the best that I could be — I didn’t care!!  Woo Hoo!  Susan made a breakthrough :).  And, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that I ever get to perfection, but at least I do try to do my best — except for today!!  [Susan is now doing her ‘happy dance’ around the room]

Here is the Good-Enough Kauni:

So I am 95% done with this bad boy!  I need to do some inside finishing and find buttons (always a Ruh Roh! ;)), BUT the main part of the Kauni is behind me.  I’ll post more pictures when it is off the ground!

It feels so good to be bad! 😉

Has THAT blog title gotten mileage?  I bet it’s been used often!  We all love knitting sleeves so much, don’t we?

I finally got back to Kauni, finishing Sleeve #1 and starting Sleeve #2:

You can see that my sleeves are totally fraternal in their twin-ocity.  I “planned” it that way 😉 – at least that’s my story.  I’ll tell people that the randomness of the colors is part of the Kauni charm and mystique (and hope they buy it!).

Anyway, I have set a deadline of January 1, 2008 to be wearing my Kauni Cardigan — not too tough a deadline to meet if I stay focused…but, we know that it is easy to get tempted!  And, it is a very busy time of year.

Especially today: I spent 7 hours in my car.  SEVEN HOURS.  I did not drive to Chicago either.  I drove to and from work (1.5 hours EACH WAY) and then drove my darling daughter to the dentist: 2 hours EACH WAY (usually a 30-40 minute drive).  SEVEN HOURS!!!!  People wonder why I hate cars.  The reason it took so long is that it snowed today.  I love snow but this is just plain torture. 🙁

And to prove I’m not a total Grinch, here is the best part of the trip –  I love it when someone has the lights on when I get home.

PS — I enjoyed reading all of your comments and stories re: knitting at social gatherings.  Natalie made me do a spit take when she compared the hobby of knitting to scrapbooking, whittling and collecting dryer lint in public — picturing people dragging these hobbies along made my day.  Thanks, all!

I know many readers who like how the Kauni yarn knits up in the Damask pattern are wondering if we have it to give or whether we know where it can be purchased. Sadly, we cannot provide it because of copyright infringement. It’s a Dale pattern and was published in 2001 as a leaflet. It was part of Dale’s “Home” collection and was intended to be knitted as a pillow (at least that’s the case based on the copy I have). I believe that the same pattern and chart may have been used in a sweater, but that’s a vague recollection. I found a link to a sweater with the same name, but I can’t tell if it’s the same pattern or not from the photograph.

I know that there are other, similar patterns out there. It may also be possible to chart it or adapt it yourself by looking at it, but we can’t provide a copy of the chart. Again, I am sorry for that.

On the other hand, a slightly “used” copy of the pattern might be a nice prize for our next bloggiversary.

I have been knitting on the sleeve a bit. I think what is going to happen is that one sleeve will be all blue and red, while the other will be yellow/orange and green. Each sleeve will match up with a different part of the sweater. I will cut quite a colorful figure in my new sweater.

I’ve also been trying to knit on the garter stitch squares of the Modular Purse while reading Harry Potter. I’m only on Book 3 (The Prisoner of Azkaban) and, since reading takes away from knitting, I’m attempting to do both at once. The only trouble is positioning the book properly.

It is a very dark and dreary day here today. The news is full of stories about flooding in southeastern Minnesota. My DH is from there and his dad still lives down there. Their old house surely flooded because it did so 12 years ago during that year’s “100 Year Flood.” This time the flooding is much worse.

PS — Now I’m on Book #4!  Woo Hoo!  However, as you all know, they get LOTS longer from this point on!  And my knitting is not growing very quickly either.

PS2 to Connie — I know that Stephanie (aka Yarn Harlot) said she is going to match up her Kauni Sleeves and I say, “Go for it!”  However, I intentionally do not want mine to match.  I like the look of different sleeves.

PS3 — My hubby’s family is not in the flood area now — their old neighborhood was just on the news and it got hit quite hard.

ps4: The Harry Potter audiobooks are over $50 each AND the copies at the library are back ordered for months.  I had already thought of audiobooks since I have a long commute every day, but the $$$$$$$$$$ just did not seem worth it.  I’ve been reading fairly consistently, but a part of me does not want them to end… 🙁

Ruth Sorensen is just amazing.  She really is the master of working with Kauni yarns.  Here is her latest design:

It is quite striking.  I bought the pattern even though it is not on my short list at this moment in time (I need a little break from my Kauni family ;)).  I bought the pattern to acknowledge the creativity and talent that many of us are taking advantage of with Ruth’s free pattern.  I want her to get something out of her moment of fame!  I need to finish a few things before I even think about this one, though I really like it.  For those of you who have not yet started a Kauni, this is certainly one to consider. 

Hmmmmm, I could start over—-N-n-n-n-a-a-a-a-a-h-h-h-h-h!! 😉

PS — By request, here is a link to the Kauni Knitalong (KauniKAL) that describes another source for Ruth’s pattern.  I actually bought my pattern from this source but gave Ruth’s information so the link would be directly to her.  Sorry if people had trouble buying the pattern from Ruth!