theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Haven’t we all set our sights on the holy grail at some point in our knitting lives (Lyra)?  Adrienne Martini describes her journey in a new book called Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously…

I have not read it yet, but I do know a bit about the plot: She writes about knitting Mary Tudor from Alice Starmore’s classic, Tudor Roses [now out of print]:

The cover sweater IS Mary Tudor.  Sally made this sweater years ago, but I could not find a picture of it here or on Ravelry…maybe she’ll add one (?).  It’s fun to find out about knitting books that are not just about patterns!

ETA by Sally:

Yes, I knit Mary Tudor. It was, if I remember correctly, my second or third fair isle project. I still love it. Tudor Roses itself is one of my all-time favorite knitting books — beautiful projects, wonderful photography, and even some history. Here are a few not so wonderfully photographed pictures of my own Mary Tudor.

…to add some whimsy to your Easter this year!  I made these Easter-themed cuties last Christmas.  Why?  I have no idea!  But, my great niece did not realize how weird it was to receive Easter eggs at Christmas and loved them.

Here are the chicks back in their eggs:

These are my rendition of the Egg-to-Bluebird pattern in Itty-Bitty Toys:

They take minimal amounts of worsted weight yarn (I used Cascade 220) and a small amount of stuffing.  A friend of mine substituted a small amount of orange felt for the beak and it was super cute and a lot easier.  I blocked the egg parts on plastic Easter eggs that are READILY available this time of year!

There is still time — and since I gave mine away, I may need to make one or two more for our Easter baskets.

PS: The first two commenters asked about the shawl on which the peeps are resting, so here is the information:

Pattern: Swallowtail by Evelyn Clark — yes, the pattern that almost everyone has made, including Surly just weeks ago!
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in color Solis

I learned a valuable lesson these past couple of days:

1- if you want comments on your blog, offer prizes
2- if you need an ego boost, bribery really does work!

Thanks to everyone who commented!  It was really fun to read your comments and very gratifying.  I feel quite inspired!

Sally and Nora will be figuring out the official winners — all of our readers are winners, of course — and making the announcement later.  Merci!!

Yes, it has been four years already!  Hard to believe!  We have enjoyed sharing our knitting lives with you…and a small bit of our personal lives as well.

Here is an excerpt from our very first post:

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.

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.

Still true and still unfair!!

In honor of this very special occasion, we are going to have a contest…the prizes are YARN (surprise!).  There are three fabulous prizes and all you need to do is leave a comment.  Nora, Sally’s lovely daughter, is visiting her at the moment and will draw the winning names as an impartial observer.

How to Win:

1- leave a comment by Tuesday, March 23rd, 10 pm EST
2- have name randomly drawn by Nora
3- be contacted via email for mailing information

It’s as simple as that!

Fabulous Prizes:

Six skeins of Dancing Leaf Farm’s Bling Bling. Each skein weighs approximately 80 grams and contains 100 yards. (No fiber content listed on skein.)

Six skeins of Noro’s Cash Irona in color number 42. Fiber is 40% silk, 30% lambswool, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. 40 grams and 91 meters per skein.

Nine skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery’s Mountain Mohair in Elderberry. 70% wool and 30% mohair. Each skein weighs two ounces and contains 140 yards.

Let the contest begin!!

I am still a) waiting for my camera and, b) slaving away on my boring Tea Leaves Cardigan…but, of course anticipating my next project.  I am thinking about a design from this book:

The pattern that called my name from the beginning is The Fan:

Sally and I both love this design.  Its size is deceiving: it takes a LOT of yarn!!  It involves acres of garter stitch.  But, it is beautiful.  In Ravelry, all of the finished projects are gorgeous.   The yarn called for is Isager’s own line of very expensive and slightly hard to come by yarns.  We are looking at Kidlin from Louet:

Kidlin by Louet, Color Woodland

The gauge is dead on and it mimics the original, where two very lightweight yarns are held together.  I have loved this color (Woodland, color 41) — for years and finally pulled the trigger and bought it (at The Yarnery).  I am inspired to start it but I think I must finish Tea Leaves first, or never will.  I hope my inspiration does not wane before then!  That has been known to happen on far too many occasions!

Last evening I was reunited with my knitting peeps at our weekly Thursdays at Four knitting group, which I had missed the last two times.   Great to see the gang!!  They inspire and re-energize me!

The Olympics are wrapping up today and I feel like I have experienced them first hand.  My hubby is a cross country skier and participated in the Birkebeiner Ski Race yesterday, and he rocked it…for an old man, that is!

The Birkie is not about winning, but about doing your best.  John came in ~one minute over his best time ever (and this was his 27th Birkie!).  John will be 60 next year.   So, he beat all but one of his times since he started in his thirties.  Wow.

OK, enough about him 😉 .  I had decided NOT to participate in the Ravelympics this year, for reasons already described.  Well, I went to knitting on Thursday and two, count them TWO, of my knitting peeps had knitted up the Olympic Reindeer Hat. 

The hat was patterned after the ones worn by the US Olympians when they entered the Opening Ceremonies.  I had originally started it right after the Olympics started and decided it was the most annoying pattern on earth and dumped it straight away.  But after seeing the cute hats at knitting group, I thought, “Hmmm.  Could I get this done by Saturday morning so John could wear it after the Birkie?”  All I had finished so far was the lining of the foldover band.  I got home at 8 pm, had to pack, etc., etc., but stayed up knitting the ^&&***^%% thing instead.  I worked on it in the car all the way up to Hayward, WI, and did indeed get it done.  He wore it to pick up his bib on Friday night. 

Olympic Reindeer Hat, Cascade 220, US Size 6 Needles

So, here are the details:

I worked the hat using intarsia-in-the-round (suggested by Jimmy in knitting group).  Annoying.  Annoying Squared.  No.  Make that ‘Annoying Raised to the Tenth Power.’  After I knitted the hat, I went back and used duplicate stitch for the antlers…remember, time was a huge factor!…though I did knit the legs intarsia style as I went along.

John loved the hat and asked if I was going to put a flag decal on it.  I said sure, I can put it right…uh oh.  Why isn’t the knitted band centered to the reindeer motif?????  Yep.  Rookie mistake!  I noticed that the band was 4 sts off.  If I added a decal, it would be even more noticeable.  It completely bugged me. 

Had to cut it up:

The top photo does indeed show that it is now centered…after cutting, reknitting some rows, and grafting.  This project was annoying in so many ways!  But it is done, and I consider it at least worthy of a spot on the Olympic roster, if not the podium 😉 .

In general, my projects of late have been pretty small scale.  I have not made a sweater since my Lacy Cardigan last summer.  I used to be all about the sweater, and now I can’t get past mini-projects.  Surly has been cranking out FOs like hotcakes, so I feel the need to play catch up!

Here is the latest of my mini-projects: the Damson Shawlette by Ysolda Teague.  It is made with one skein of sock yarn (Malabrigo Sock is called for in the pattern).  Surly generously shared the remains of the yarn she used for her Swallowtail.  It is beautiful yarn — a rich mix of all the best of the fall colors.  BUT, the skein starts off with slightly less yardage than Malabrigo Sock, and Sally had to dip into the skein she sent me, so I worried a bit about yardage.  I shortened my Damson 6 rows and then did a crocheted chain bind off instead of the multi-row bind off shown in the pattern in hopes of having enough yarn.  I also added openwork as discovered in this Ravelry project by Linda Butkus.  I don’t know if this variation requires more or less yarn, but I DO know that I ended up with only one gram of yarn when I was done.  One.  Uno.

I like it.  It’s pretty.  I’m not sure when I’ll wear it, but it is a beautiful way to use up one skein of gorgeous sock yarn without having to knit socks 😉 !

PS: Barb asked, “Looked on Ravelry but no sign of how Linda did the insert, just lovely pics–did you contact her for instructions or figure it out yourself?”

I figured it out myself by looking at Linda’s version and then revising the chart.

…and into an oasis!  I have been off the grid for over a week now, experiencing pervasive and ongoing computer issues.  I am now back on line and LOVING IT!  New high speed internet (that finally works as promised), new computer with 4 times the memory of the old one, and new printer (because the old was not compatible with Windows 7).  I feel free as a bird, light as a feather, etc. etc.  It is great to have joined the 21st century at long last!