theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I certainly enjoyed myself at Eat-O-Rama -er- Knit-O-Rama!  What a great day — kudos to the fabulous planning committee. 

Let me get the important part out of the way first: the food.  The event was held at The Northland Inn in Brooklyn Park.  I live in Brooklyn Park and have attended many events there. 

Our Room

Outside our room was the snack kiosk.  In the morning, it was stocked with a continental breakfast: pastries, juice, coffee, hard boiled eggs, bagels, fruit, yogurt, etc.  Wonderful.   For lunch, we had the pleasure of sampling their famous buffet: salads, hot entrees, made-to-order grill (I had walleye!), specialty desserts…yum!  After that, we returned to our meeting room and discovered that the breakfast kiosk had been replaced with afternoon snacks: cheese & crackers, bars & cookies, pretzels, gummy bears, malted milk balls, and assorted sodas.  Okay.  I was in heaven!!  Clearly, I could live there and be happy for life!

The Program
A few months ago, an article appeared in the StarTribune about an American soldier in Iraq who was himself a knitter and taught his fellow soldiers how to knit.  Many of us implored the Guild to arrange for him to speak to our group.  Staff Sargent John Sorich IV was the keynote presenter at Knit-O-Rama.

Staff Sargent John Sorich IV

It was more than amazing.  John started out by describing the role his platoon (? right word ?) played in Iraq building bridges for use by both the military and the civilian population.   He talked about the unbearable heat, the emotional toll, and the sense of accomplishment.  After that, he talked about knitting — he learned here in the States and brought his yarn and needles with him.  Despite a bit of ribbing (pun intended!) from his peers, he eventually convinced a few of his buddies to give it a try to help stave off the boredom of their non-working hours.  Several of them really enjoyed it.  He had pictures and video of their knitting group and brought FOs to share.

The curved item in the upper right of the last picture is the ammo magazine cover he knitted from parachute cord, using pencils for knitting needles to get gauge!  You’ll note that all of his FOs are knit in “army green” using vintage patterns from a WWII knitting book.  I believe he said the color is Cascade 220 # 9547.   He said his current project is his first sweater, in (you guessed it) #9547 using one of the vintage sweater patterns!!

John was a great speaker, humble and very interesting.  It was wonderful hearing his story and we were all very grateful that he shared it with us.

Next was the Ugliest Knitting contest — very few entries!!  I think most of us rip out or discard our failures (or gift them….!!), so not many people had anything to show.

Rox Richardson and I were next up for Stump Ask the Expert.  

Susan and Rox

Rox is well known on Ravelry for answering technical knitting questions.  She writes for the Ravelry Newsletter and has a group devoted to her called Rox Rocks with over 550 members.  We answered questions from the audience for about an hour.  Last on the agenda was yours truly, discussing how to enter items in the Minnesota State Fair.

All in all, I think everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did.  I sure hope the Guild offers more of these events in the future.

From Chloe:

“I read somewhere a supposition by a knitter that the reason Middle Ages knitted stockings etc., looked so evenly stitched was the mere passage of time, the element that allowed every knitted item – eventually! – to block out evenly.   I have always thought it useful to hold that thought!”

I had heard that, too, about an Egyptian form of knitting…after thousands of years it looked like a machine had made it!  Egads!  Can we wait that long??!!??

Well, not much.  Both Surly and I are working on some ‘stealth’ projects, though mine will be wrapping up very soon.

As I was looking through some old boxes the other day, I ran across this little baby blankie.  I knit it in the 80’s, before I knew if and when we would become parents.  So, each stitch was knit out of love for a baby not yet born.

After our girls joined our family, they both used this blanket to play with their dolls, so when I happened upon it, it was in kind of rough shape!  I washed it, but it still looks pretty rough.  I used [crappy] acrylic yarn — it was for a baby, after all! — and it is now fuzzy and pilled.  But just finding that blanket was like stepping into the past and returning to a time of anticipation and unfettered optimism — the kind of optimism you can only feel before reality sets in!!

I am thinking about my next project and am narrowing it down. I did buy yarn today so THAT part is taken care of!  One candidate is the Alexandria Cardigan, which I highlighted a week or so ago and the other is the Jali Cardigan from Summer 2010 Interweave Knits.  I bought Shepherd’s Wool in a natural off white.  This yarn is deliciously soft and knits up beautifully.  I really like it!  I know off white sounds boring, but I keep wanting to grab a cream-colored cardi and do not have one!  Now I need to swatch and think…

PS to those with questions about the source of this lace pattern: The pattern stitch is called Rose Trellis Lace and is in the first Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker.  It is written in long hand notation (all 44 rows!) instead of charted.  At the time, I was not a lace knitter and charts were a rarity.  Now, the first thing I would do is to chart it.  By doing so, I know I would have made some changes (such as not starting partial patterns along the side edges).  I can’t even believe I sat there reading each line as I worked this, but I remember having that piece of paper with me and following along!!

PPS: Alexandria won!

Hope you were able to enjoy this long weekend, the harbinger of summer.  It is one of those odd holidays because it is based on sadness, but is celebrated with picnics and water sports.  I feel conflicted because I have personal reasons for honoring this day. 

So, enjoy the beautiful weekend.  Enjoy the rite of spring and summer.  And honor the sacrifice of our service men and women, and the families they left behind.

As many of you already know, our blog has been hit hard by a hacker/virus/whatever!  My own computer became riddled with disease and caused me no end of despair. 

Sally is the “man behind the curtain” here at The Rainey Sisters and spent HOURS working on the problem, both with our host-site geeks and through trial and error. 

It appears that the problem has been remedied, at least for the time being.  These viruses are pesky and determined, so we can’t make any guarantees!  We are sorry if this caused you any problems and hope things settle down.