theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Ahhh, fall is in the air and I am loving it!  Well, it is actually really hot today, but still.  The Vikings are playing football and school has started, so that constitutes fall for me.

I am cobbling together the yarn to make Dale of Norway 10903 (catchy name, huh).   I linked to WendyKnits blog because that is where I saw this pattern many years ago.  I have loved it ever since and had it in my “I’ll get to that one someday” queue.  Well, that day has arrived.  The yarn hasn’t!  I am going to make it as a cardigan and have changed the blue to one that is a bit darker.  Now I will wait patiently for my yarn and dabble in other things.  I.  Will.  Wait.  Patiently.

In the meantime I am trying to get my SewJo back (sewing mojo ).  I have an event to attend in 2 weeks.  It is a gala.  Old ladies in prom dresses.  I do not own a prom dress and never did.  I am not the evening gown type.  So what does a dud wear to a gala?  I am going to wear a dressy suit.  I bought some drop dead gorgeous gold/brown/black brocade for the jacket and some silky black for a longish dress to go underneath.

Of course, the beauty cannot be captured — elusive as a butterfly!

I have done the cutting and now must start the sewing.  Woo Hoo!!

PS: in response to Julie — Dale of Norway 10903 does not have an official name.  Wendy (of WendyKnits) named it Frida to give it a name.  But if everyone calls it Frida because Wendy named it, then I guess it has a name!

 This guy looks nice enough, doesn’t he?  Would you suspect him of being a stalker?  

The other day after work, I went screaming into the Target parking lot, exited my car, and this very nice looking man said, “I was following you.”  My first reaction was to flip my hair back and say, “But of course you were.” 

Actually, my first reaction was one of stunned silence.  But it seems he was only interested in my license plate — his wife owns Blue Sky Alpacas Yarn!  He was surprised to spot a yarnee so blatantly adverstising her passion!  He took a picture of my plate and it ended up on Twist Your Stitches.  I love Blue Sky Alpacas yarn, have used it frequently and recently, and also just made a sweater from their pattern.   And, yes, I know my car is filthy!!

I took HIS picture because I fortuitously had my camera in the car.  I had been stalking my own prey!  There is a posse of turkeys that inhabits the nature area near my home.  Almost every morning I see them gathered in a particular spot along the roadside.  So, I brought my camera along to capture them.  This particular morning, however, they were not in their usual spot, but in a yard right by my house.  Screech!!!!  I slammed on the brakes and jumped out to get my shot. 

They are so huge and so um, unattractive (?) in a beautiful sort of way. 

I also have been doing a little knitting.  I stumbled upon the Log Cabin Dishcloth pattern and made one up — nice pattern, quick knit, but mine looks a bit wonky:

Hope you are having a great Labor Day celebrating the end of summer.

In response to Susan’s question:

“If you [both] entered the same contest, with the same garment, who would win?”

Sally: Susan, of course.

Susan: Sally would win, hands down!

Thank goodness we’ll never know!!

Today was Day 1 of the Minnesota State Fair!  As I mentioned yesterday, I volunteered to help staff the knitters guild booth.  That is a great excuse to hang around lots of knitters.  And lots and lots and lots of other people, too!  Opening day, perfect weather and “Thrifty Thursday” prices meant a huge crowd.

I got to the fair at 11:30 am and needed to report for duty at 1 pm.  I left right after my shift.  Needless to say, I did not see much of the fair this time around.  BUT, there are a few places I always get to no matter what.

Best Corn Dogs

Location: kitty corner from Creative Activities

The corn dogs are piping hot and fresh, with a tender, melt-in-your-mouth cornbread crust.  Yum!!  I had two.

Best Coffee

Location: Down the street from Creative Activities

They also have a cool jazz trio that plays live music — they are quite good:

I did spend quite a bit of time wandering around the Creative Activities building trying to find my entries.  It took a full half hour to find everything! 

My entries and their standings (full results here):
Baby Cables Pullover — first
Sweetheart Tunic — first
Lace Beret — first
Quincy hat — first
Aran Wrap — second
Sunburst Beaded Amulet Bag — second
Beaumont Beanie — third
Swirl Scarf — nuttin’

I couldn’t find my hats right away because they were on mannequins wearing beautiful sweaters and my eyes were drawn to the sweaters.  I couldn’t find my scarf because it was so well hidden behind everything else in the case!  I mean hidden.  I mean, please make sure no one is subjected to this scarf!  Protect the innocent!

It is very difficult to take good pictures because of the glare off the glass, but here are a few:

Baby Cables — my scarf is in this picture!!  Exactly!

Sweetheart (aka Whiskey) Tunic and Aran Wrap (in the back)

 Could someone PLEASE cough up a few bucks to buy new mannequins?  This next shot looks like “Night of the Living Dead.”  The mannies are downright embarrassing. 

Quincy in foreground

Lace Beret #13 from Vogue Knitting (hi, Trisha!)

Note the special award for intarsia on someone’s fair isle vest!

Sunburst Bag

Beaumont Beanie — on a headless mannequin (almost an improvement!)

And check this out:

No, not the “Night of the Living Dead” creepy child mannequin…look at the hat (by person unknown)!  It’s our Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie knit up as a hat!

Now, I know they have a few bucks to spend on displays — this glass exhibit looks like a fine art house.  Breathtaking:

They also had an exhibit of vintage-looking lingerie:

Here are some gorgeous crocheted and knitted table linens:

All in all, it was a quick trip, but felt like a full day indeed. 

PS — One of the little knitting items I brought for the MKG booth is my latest FO, and something so clever and cute that a lot of people were interested in the pattern:

It is “Knitted Bunny” and is made with a 6″ knitted square!  It is such a clever idea!  It is all in the way you sew it together.  You knit the ears separately and can also add a little tail.   I wanted to share the link here because so many people liked it.  Mine is made of KidSilk Aura.

…until the Minnesota State Fair!  Corn dogs, Pronto Pups, alligator-on-a-stick.   You name it and you’ll find it at the Great Minnesota Get Together! 

One of the really exciting things you will find ::cough::cough:: — not on a stick I hope — is moi!  I will be staffing the Minnesota Knitters Guild section of the craft booth in the Creative Activities Building from 1-3 pm on opening day tomorrow.  Please stop and say “hi” if you are hanging around looking at the ribbon-festooned knitting. 

I did enter a few smaller items this year and will certainly not be taking the world by storm, but it is always a fun place to hang around.  Especially the first day when all of the hard cores come out to see the knitting. 

If you do stop by, please say your name as I have NO MEMORY lately and need all the help I can get!!

Yarnover 2010 is shaping up to be a stellar event!!

Do any of you remember this Vogue Knitting cover?

It is notable for its glaring mistake.  I bring this up not to diss the designer, because it is a lovely and beautifully knit design.  However, it does illustrate that we are all fallible.  At the time, none of us could believe that no one caught the mistake before it got to the cover.  Not the knitter, the editor, the photographer, the proofer, the layout artist…no one.

Still can’t find the mistake?  Click here.

The magazine is 7 years old — why not let a sleeping booboo lie??  Last night at my knitting group, someone asked me to hold up the project I’m working on.  Mary gasped, “There’s a mistake, right in the middle.”  She then proceeded to apologize for ten minutes for finding the mistake.  Mary, it is MY mistake, not yours!!  And I was very grateful that she found it!  Do I want to end up like the cover of Vogue (like you’ll ever have something on the cover of Vogue, Bubba!) and have my mistake hanging out there for all to see, or would I rather find out now and fix it?

I rushed home and fixed it…case closed.  And thanks, Mary!!

Even though I don’t make a lot of $$ teaching knitting classes, I really love to do it.  I am, by title, an educator in my “real” job, but to be honest, I feel more like one in my knitting classes.

Yesterday and today I am teaching a series of short classes on basic finishing techniques at my LYS.  I really enjoy these classes because they take you right to the heart of knitting and what I enjoy about knitting: honing your skills, learning from others, and connecting with knitters.  Yesterday’s crew included some of my favorite people, so it was fun.

One of the things I say in all of my classes is that I am sharing MY way of doing things and if they took the same class from someone else, they would probably hear something different…maybe even completely contradictory.  By taking classes from different people, you gather tools for your own personal knitting toolkit.  You may take one thing from person A, another from B, and another from C.  Lessons learned that feel right to you and work for you.  I try not to be dictatorial: “You have to do this in this exact way, or else!”  I don’t approach my own knitting that way so why would I impose it on others — and the policing of everyone else’s knitting would be exhausting!

Yesterday we were discussing some technique, and one of the knitters said, “[insert very famous name here] said she never does that.”  So we discussed the pros and cons and why she might do it one way and I choose to do it another.  Like I said, we all have our own approach to things. 

So back I go today to immerse myself in dialogue about knitting, technique, and learning from all of those around me.  Another good day!!

I am peeping out from my front door to say HI and share a small-scale FO that took a long time to finish.  I have been off work all week and so you would think I would have gotten a lot done — au contraire, mes amies!!  I have spent most of my week driving!  Just random driving back and forth, from here to there, taking people hither and yon. 

I did finish my Swirl Scarf.  I absolutely love the scarf and love the yarn I used 🙂 .  It goes very well with my winter coat, and I’ll use it a lot in this harsh climate of ours:

Pattern: Swirl Shawl, from Jojoland — I made the scarf instead of the shawl
Yarn: Acero in three colors (one skein of each), by Brooks Farms (420 yds/100 gms, 60% Superwash Wool, 20% silk, 20% viscose
Needles: US 5 dpns
Finished Size: 9″ by 63″

Pros and Cons:
Overall Grade: A-
The pattern: as mentioned in a previous post, I thought there was something amiss with the pattern, so I made a minor change in the hexes.  However, I did end up with a more angular motif because I played up the hexagonal aspect rather than rounding it out.  There is a lot of knitting involved with this project and it is very putsy, but I did weave in my ends along the way and blocked it as I went along, too.  After every set of three swirls, I steamed the three just completed.  It made it easier to pick up the next set of hexes.  No sewing together at the end!

The yarn: gorgeous yarn; great to work with; love it, love it, love it! (Tell us what you really think!).

The scarf: I love this scarf and will use it a lot!

As for the blog, Sally and I are doing some secret knitting and may not have as much to write about in the coming weeks.  We will keep you posted!!  😉