theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Well, Saturday may be optimistic as a finish date, although I should finish it by Sunday or Monday. It’s just going more slowly than I had hoped, and I had to do some ripping today because — well — because sometimes reading directions is important.

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

I’m also not so sure I like my yarn choice for this project. The gauge is 4 1/2 stitches to the inch, and I picked Jo Sharp’s Silk Road Aran Tweed. It’s a nice yarn, but slubbier than I expected from looking at it in the skein. It gets very thick and thin and the “tweed” sometimes manifests itself in blobs of color that look as if they might pill. There is also a fair amount of “roughage” left in the yarn: bits of straw and other detritus. On one hand, that’s okay. It gives the knitting a kind of rough hewn effect that suits the pattern. However, it does cause certain aspects of the cabling, especially where you start the infinite cables, to look very muddy. I am not getting clean, crisp cabling. A smoother yarn might have produced a nicer effect. We’ll see.

I am nearing the center of the back — the crucial halfway point.  I tried it on last night and may regret taking out some of the fullness.  I had read someone’s blog and she said she took out about 4″ in the back by making the gussets narrower — sounded like a plan to me!  I think she must be a bit more petite than I.  Let’s face it — I’m not the smallest cherub in the choir!  It will fit, and it actually looks pretty good, so I am not going to rip it out.  Magic is possible with blocking — Hanne’s knits are loose enough that they can be blocked larger if need be.

Sally and I share many interests, but knitting is our passion.  We decided to share a blog because, as I said to her, it’s like having a garage sale — I don’t have enough to do one of my own. 

My current WIP is my third Hanne Falkenberg jacket.  I am making the Ballerina #13.  I am probably about 40% done.  Even though it is acres and acres of semi-mind numbing garter stitch, I am enjoying it. 

I have been trying to stay focused on one project at a time and find that I make a lot more progress.  I finished Mermaid #6 in 23 days and my Rogue Hoodie (see Sally’s link) in 12 days.  And I am not a speed demon with the needles.

If you check in now and then, you will find that Sally and I knit about 75% of the same projects.  Fortunately for Sally, she has to knit a lot less than me because she is 5’5″ and I am 5’11”.  It is unfair, but cannot be helped.

My sister Susan and I decided to start a joint blog focused on our knitting; we live 1000 miles apart but we talk on the phone almost every day and most of the time we’re talking about knitting. We have absolutely no idea how to create a website, but we do know how to knit.

I’m going to dive right in and talk about my current project, which is the Rogue pullover available from Girl from Auntie.

My sister knit it as part of the Olympic knitting challenge; she enjoyed knitting it so much that I decided to knit one too.

I started it on Thursday, and even though I’ve been sick, I’ve managed to get to the point of dividing for the arms. Here is a photo of the front, which shows its cute little kangaroo pouch.

And here is a photograph of the side. Side shaping is all done through cabling.

I’m hoping to finish it by Saturday — I’ll keep you posted.