theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Our mother died today, quietly in her sleep, after experiencing several years of declining health.

The beautiful wedding dress she’s wearing in this photograph was made by our grandmother. The post below was written by Susan during our very first month of blogging.   It seems fitting to revisit it today. 

March 31, 2006
Because watching knitting progress can be as exciting as watching paint dry (oh goodie, another inch!), I have decided to provide some hysterical or historical backdrop to our blog.

Before there were the Rainey Sisters there was the Rainey Mother.  Our mom (no longer a Rainey, but that’s a long story in itself) was an extremely talented seamstress, like her mother, and a wonderful knitter.  I use the past tense not because she is “no longer with us,”* but because she no longer pursues these activities.  She taught me most of what I know about sewing and was quite the perfectionist.  She would say things like, “That zipper doesn’t look very good on the inside.”  Huh?!?  Who is going to be looking there?  But it did make ME a perfectionist as well, and I started out as an avid sewer well before the knitting bug bit me hard.  I still sew out of necessity and on occasion for the artistry.

As I said, my mom was a knitter.  I do not remember when I learned to knit or who taught me (my dad’s mom, I think), but I do remember going to mom for knitting help, “Am I on the knit side or the purl side, Mom?”  She would knit beautiful sweaters, and I still have a few of them:

This is a beautiful mohair jacket with 3/4 length sleeves.  I don’t remember when she made it, but I think it is gorgeous.

The next is a sweater that Mom made for me when I was in 6th Grade.  I absolutely love this sweater.  It is a darker tan than it appears here.  I’m not sure what the pattern stitch is — it looks like a variation of the Trinity Stitch:

You can tell that even then I was “the Big One.”  Here is detail from the buttonbands.  You can see the beauty of mom’s workmanship.  Notice the machine-made buttonholes and fine handstitching.

Here is a sweater she made me in high school.  I wore it often.  The color does not show up very well — it is a beautiful, much darker, teal blue out of a very soft yarn.  And it was knit in the round (you go, girl!).

And some details:

So you can see that Sally’s and my interest in the needle arts stems from a long line of crafters.  I owe a lot to my mom’s instruction and encouragement — thanks, Mom!

*To our great sorrow, the past tense is now all we have.

I must be taking my cue from Picasso and am now fully immersed in my “teal period.”  Everything I have made lately is the same color.  The last few years I was in my “rusty-reddish-warm tones” phase!! 

I have been knitting like a fiend and getting nowhere fast.  This project is moving at glacial speed.  Here is my progress so far:

The color is very true here. 

And Happy Mothers Day, everyone!!

Another visit to the place where fiberholics go for their fiber fix!  This time, it was Shepherd’s Harvest in lovely, quaint Lake Elmo.  I volunteered to staff the MKG booth from 10-12.  One of our tasks was to provide Ravelry pins/nametags for peeps who would be attending the Ravelry Meet Up at 12 noon.   We were inundated by Ravelers!  It was great seeing all the faces behind the familiar Ravatars! 

12 Noon — Off to the Ravelry Meet Up: imagine 20-30 people standing in a circle staring at each other waiting for something to happen!  I’m not sure if anything actually DID happen, because I left to shop and wander.  It was too cold to stand there (50 degrees, but felt colder), and I had already seen all of the Ravelers (see Paragraph 1A)!

I did make a small purchase:

The numbered markers will be great for my current WIP.  It has 12 pattern repeats.  I always think I am almost to the end of the round, but then realize I have lots more knitting to go.  By numbering where I am, I will not be deluded into thinking the round end is near!  And what can I say?  I saw the lil Sock Monkey and he had to be mine.  I also bought some honey for my honey.

Can you guess what this woman is doing?  She is spinning angora right off the bunny!!  Apparently the bunny LOVES the gentle rocking of the treadles.  Several people said to me as I was getting out my camera: Hey, this is great blog material!

Anyway, it was fun to run into so many MKG members and quite a few readers of our blog.  Now it’s time to do some serious knitting!  Yay!

Tomorrow is Shepherd’s Harvest — the Twin Cities answer to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!  I will be going as a member of the Minnesota Knitters Guild to help staff our booth.  I will then have an opportunity to redeem myself and remember to attend the Ravelry Meet Up.  I hope we have better weather!

I did start a little something that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  There is not enough of it yet to show a good picture, but here is a picture of the prototype:

Sweetheart Tunic by Marly Bird

We found the tunic at the Bijou Bison booth.  It is knit in yak/bamboo yarn but I bought some Whiskey instead:

It is a beautiful dark blue with a lot of brown and is darker than this picture — Whiskey, Color 053, 195 yds/50 gms.  You use a US 5.  I have made very little progress because I am knitting it in the round.  I thought this would be cute over jeans.

I will report tomorrow after to being around my favorite peeps: knitting peeps!!

From Susan:

I’m ba-a-a-a-a-c-k!!  I am back in the Twin Cities after a wet and wild visit to the Howard County Fairgrounds.  I feel like I did three things while I was gone: ride in a car (three round trips to the MSWF), shop, and get rained upon!!

I arrived in DC on Friday, and we immediately trekked to the site of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival so Sally could drop off her entries.  It was well worth it!  Sally entered her Bohus and her Ode to Joy.  On Saturday, we got to see how she did:

Yes, just as I predicted, her Bohus took Best in Show!!  A proud Krusty the Klown Surly:

She also received a 3rd Place Award for Ode to Joy: 

Way to go, Surly!!  There were some other lovely items on display, like this beautiful weaving:

MSWF is the place to go for handspun, handpainted fibers — barns and barns filled with gorgeous yarn for the true enthusiast.  We walked and touched and did a little bit of buying.  I had hoped for major knitting inspiration, but did not come away with any “must do” projects.  AND, due to an unfortunate bout of complete memory loss, we did not get to the Ravelry Meet Up.  Spaced it out completely!!

Here is a taste of the event…

People creating articles of utility and beauty, the old fashioned way.  It was great fun.

From Sally:

It was great fun, despite the vagaries of the weather. Saturday’s weather was fickle, but overall not that bad. Sunday was cold with heavy showers. Heavy showers.

Susan said we did “a little” buying. She’s speaking for herself. I bought far more than I planned on buying, and far more than I needed. Needs. Wants. So hard to tell the difference. The damage would have been far worse if we had discovered Brooks Farm Yarns before the rivers of mud streets were being rolled up at the end of Sunday afternoon.

I think rather than bore you all with photos of yarn, I’ll unveil the purchases as they get knitted up into their respective projects (lo so many years from now). In other words, my camera’s batteries are dead. I did manage to take one photo of a bracelet that I purchased from Moolenschot Blacksmith. I love it, perhaps because it reminds me of a Cylon raider (Battlestar Galactica reference for the uninitiated).

We regretted missing the Ravelry meet up, but were excited to meet some of you and run into old friends. Thanks to everyone who said hello, and a special thanks to Marsha, Lee, Lea, and Phyllis for the picnic lunch.

Susan and I had a wonderful time and, as usual, she was gone too soon.

I’d like to also wish a very Happy Birthday to one of our favorite readers. Happy Birthday to my beautiful and talented daughter and Susan’s niece, Nora.

I started knitting because I enjoy it, but also to make sweaters with long enough sleeves.  It’s also the reason I started sewing (plus, I had the crazy idea that I would save money! Okay, that didn’t work!).  I still sew from time to time, and I still buy clothes with sleeves that are too short.  I can’t always do too much about that, but decided to try with a recent purchase.

I went to Amazing Threads a few weeks ago and Tina (darling, petite little Tina) was wearing a really cute shirt.  She graciously let me read the tag but could not remember the exact store name, which was out of state.  Enter “google.”  I found Country Ewe, which sells the same line of shirts.  Looking at the website, I doubt I would have bought one, but I had seen Tina’s and knew it was really nice.  They are wonderful white cotton — I actually think they are made with flour sack fabric — with lace embellishments.  I ordered a shirt just like Tina’s and was very pleased with it.  It does not look as cute as it did on her, but it fit fine except for the sleeves.  Cotton is very easy to sew, so I thought I could tackle an alteration. 

If you know anything about whites or blacks, you know they are very hard to match.  I found white cotton fabric that was actually pretty close, though I knew it would not have the same “crinkle” effect of the original.  So I decided I needed camoflage.  I bought white cotton lace to cover the sleeve extension.

Here are the steps:

Original Cuff

Cuff disembodied: too late to turn back now!!

Extension added — the basting thread marked the original cuff line and came in very handy

Lace sewn in place

Blouse back in one piece!!

Phew!  I really liked the shirt before, and now I love it!  It no longer has that skimpy feel.  Yay!

And Ode to Joy is dry:

It fits perfectly, too, so now I have two FOs in my corner, which have been few and far between lately!  🙂

And now for some fun facts about Minnesota — you know we take the State Fair seriously, but there’s something else that makes Minnesotans Minnesotans: hotdish!  You may call it a casserole (?), but here a one-pan meal is called a ‘hotdish.’  And people take it VERY seriously.  Cream of mushroom soup is a mainstay ingredient 99% of the time.  They had a contest this weekend that has been going on for years and growing in popularity.  Here is my favorite quote from the StarTribune:

When a 20-something waitress who finished as the runner-up to Vaughn in a previous cookoff muttered, “Next year, I’m going to take you down,” the 75-year-old Vaughn, a block club leader who has lived in Holland [a Minneapolis neighborhood] for 36 years, shot back, “Bring it on.”

Bring it on!!  Woo Hoo!  I may have to make Tator Tot Hotdish tonight!

At least for today!  It was 85 degrees in Minnesota , though the forcast calls for a major change by tomorrow!

It’s also time for Summer Knits…as seen in the latest IK, which was in my mailbox when I got home from my knitting group:

I am usually underwhelmed by summer knitting designs but there were some cute things in this issue.  I love this felted bag, but how many bags do I need (don’t answer that):

It sure looks like something that might work with leftover Kauni — let the Kauni do the work and use a few solids to tie it together.  Hmmm.  Maybe I could use one more bag! 😉

PS — Surly’s assessment (Your bags have bags.  So I say “No.”) seems a bit harsh!

Yesterday was the Minnesota Knitters Guild Yarnover event.  Wow.  That is all I can say.  It was a great day.  I am on the planning committee, and so it is always a nerve wracking wait to get to the big event.  This year was extremely well organized thanks to the committee and our wonderful volunteers, and a slate of teachers that rival any knitting event in the country. 

I got to meet Romi Hill in person (finally) — yay!  I dined with Romi, friend Kerry Palm, Sharon Winsauer (designer of the Heere be Dragone Shawl), Susanna Hannson, Sally Melville, Ginger Luters, with many other notables at other tables — including the wild and crazy Lily Chin!  It was a who’s who of knitting geniuses.  The Vendor Market was stocked with gorgeous yarns and fun knitting supplies to tempt the most jaded knitter.  My dogs were very tired when I got home, but less so than last year.  Thanks to all for a wonderful event that seemed to surpass everyone’s expectations. 

So, all of that inspiration and where does it leave me?  Waiting to be inspired.  My mojo took a bus to Cincinnati.  It is not from lack of trying.  I have had more false starts in the last month than anyone would dare to believe.  Pathetic little attempts at “stash busting.” 

Sally and I now have a running joke about my Cascade Dolce and my Sublime Aran — I’ll mention a project and Sally will say, “I wonder if Dolce would work,” and then she cackles with an evil glee at how clever she is .   Truth be known, I cackle right along with her because it has gotten to the point of being ridiculous.  I have swatched and reswatched.  Nothing is clicking.  Even going to the Vendor Market yesterday did not help.

Both Dolce and Sublime are gorgeous yarns, so I am not placing the blame there…I just can’t get a project to take root.  Even my Ode to Joy has encountered a terminal illness that has required amputation.  The problem was with the fit — it didn’t.  At all.  No hope.  So, I decided to convert my Ode to Joy jacket into a vest.  When I got home from Yarnover last night, I surgically removed the completely finished sleeve.  Let’s hope the patient can be saved!! 

So, I am going to try to salvage Ode to Joy, continue swatching (!), and hope that when I hit the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in (less than) two weeks with Surly, I am overcome with inspiration!

Surly did not think the cheesy peep diorama was created by moi, so I must clarify for our readers.  I did indeed put together the “line o’ peeps,” and I knit the little project that the pink peep is holding.  What a gripping life I do lead!

Knitting peeps are my favorite!!

Happy Easter to one and all!!