theraineysisters knitting and so much more

As Sally was quick to point out, I had a birthday.  I left work early and spent my afternoon lurking in yarn stores.  I stopped by Borealis – in St. Paul – and asked them if I could hang around and knit.  They were very pleasant about it.  There is a scarf in the shop that I have loved since I first saw it.  It is a simple feather and fan pattern made with Cherry Tree Hill sock-weight merino in the color African Gray.  It has every color in the rainbow, predominantly purple and orange (!).  What on earth will THAT go with?  I bought the $22 skein, which actually makes TWO scarves (one for me, and yarn for Sally) and threw it in with my Sunrise Circle Jacket – it is perfect with it!  I think it will actually go with a lot of stuff because it has so many colors in it.  Here is the start of the scarf:

 

I also did finish the Sunrise Jacket.  I think it turned out.  I will need to get the buttons (there’s no rush, so I’m going to be picky), but I think it fits and looks good.  I am going to block it one more time for good luck.

Laura wants me to line her felted purse and include a zippered pocket.  Here is the lining she chose:

For my birthday, my two girls got me some very nice gifts.  The toiletries came in the cutest knitting bag!  I was more excited about the bag than the lovely lotions etc.  It is absolutely perfect for small projects and right now I have 3 going; beaded purse, wedding ring bag, and scarf.  All three will travel in the new bag for

varietal knitting!

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.

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:

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:

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. 

The front/sleeve is done and being blocked. 

I am sometimes asked about how I block: I almost always wetblock by soaking the piece in cool water and then spinning the excess water out in the washing machine.  Wetblocking is great when you need to make the piece larger or you have irregular sts.  In this case, I was knitting tighter to get row gauge, with the thought that I would stretch the width and length as needed — and I needed to!  Here you also see the blocking wires that I frequently use.  Blocking wires allow you to manipulate the piece you are blocking without putting in and taking out a million pins.  You can see how straight the edges are, which is really nice for sewing the seams.  With pins, you get a scallop effect.  Once the wires are in place you can get it to size with very few pins.  The wires hold all edges in place until the piece is dry.  It is the perfect* size now, but I don’t think I could have achieved that with a different blocking method. 

I started the second sleeve tonight.  I’m on a mission because I want to get back to Ballerina, get that done, and move in reverse to Margery.  Had I stuck with Margery at the time, I could start something NEW!!  So, I must knit!!

*perfect remains to be seen!!