theraineysisters knitting and so much more

My Roslin is complete and blocking at this very moment.  It seems like only yesterday I was sitting in a coffee shop with a hoodless hoodie in my lap, sipping lattes and wishing I was done.  Hey, that WAS yesterday!  Yeah, I had ripped back the hood a bit, but plundered on.  I really wanted this thing to get wrapped up, so every obstacle was met with determination; every painful part of the process breached (i.e., sewing down the hems :)). 

Here is my baby blocking:

Very hard to get a good shot.

An unblocked “Lettie” shot:

And the namesake:

I quickly started something new because I am an obsessed knitter 😉 — I plan on making a few small things before starting the next “big” thing!  It is a scarf which I have named The Merci Scarf because I am making it as a thank you:

The yarn is drop dead soft: it is Cascade Autunno in Desert Shade (Color #34918, 98 yds/50 gms, 100% Fine Merino).  I had never heard of it, but it is very soft with gentle variegation and a ragwool effect.  I had trouble finding a stitch that would work because of the ragwool coloring — too much going on for many stitch patterns.  I am using a seed rib as follows:

The Merci Scarf (multiple of 4x + 3 sts)
I am using US Size 8 needles and 35 sts

Row 1: *k3, p1* rep betw * * to last 3 sts, k3
Row 2: k1, p1, *k3, p1* rep betw * * to last st, k1

It is mindless and perfect for a scarf because it does not curl and is reversible. 

When Rossie is dry, I’ll slap her back onto Lettie for better pics.

PS1 — AND one for Regina, another Roslin finisher!

Congratulations, Regina!

PS2: I thought I was done, but seeing Regina’s picture reminded me that I need to add the little sleeve pocket, which I planned on doing after I blocked it 🙂

It is amazing to me that this pattern is working!  I know I should trust the designer 😉 , but even though the number cruncher is moi, I was not very trusting.  So the fact that it is working makes me very happy.

I have about 2.5 more inches of raglan shaping to do and then the hood.  I hope to be blocking by this weekend, which means there is no way I’ll be blocking by this weekend!  My self imposed “deadlines” rarely mean anything at all, except minor to major disappointment…

 

I have been hauling this thing to work and getting a row or two done on break.  It’s a lot to drag around, but the knitting is mindless and fun!!

PS: The temperature is supposed to drop 45 degrees between now and tomorrow, with 50 below wind chill — even WE [Minnesotans] can’t believe it’s happening to us!

PS2: The windchill is only 34 below — positively balmy compared to -50!  I am 3″ into the hood!  Maybe I’ll be wearing this bad boy next week…

Not me!  That would send screaming hordes running through the streets in horror!  No, it’s ROSLIN that’s topless– at least for the moment ;):

I joined the three main pieces and now it seems HUGE.  You have the widest portion of both sleeves joined to the widest portion of the front and back.  It seems like a lot of knitting at once!  You decrease 8 sts every other row, which helps fairly quickly.  Once you get to the neck, you go straight up to the hood and then, finito, Bandito.  I did try it on, which looked a bit ridiculous: like an extremely rustic ballgown for the Oscars, and it looks like it will fit.  Yay!

My Roslin has quite a way to go, but here is another finished Roslin from our German knitting friend, Joanna (aka, Asinek on Ravelry) — Guten Tag, Joanna!!

She used very fine merino sock yarn.  It amazes me that people can use all these different yarns and come up with a finished Rossie!  Thanks for sharing!

So, I will continue to plug away on Topless so she will not be topless for long. 

PS to Lorraine: you will always be an honorary Rainey sister because of who you are!  Maybe if we had designed the Fetching glovelets it would be a different story!

I know it’s crazy, but tonight I went to knitting group WITHOUT MY KNITTING!!!  I left my Roslin sleeve in the knitting basket next to my chair!  Horrors!  So there I sat at Panera’s feeling naked and bereft.  Friend Kim let me start a pair of mittens for her: these.  They are the classic Mitered Mittens from Elizabeth Zimmermann.  Kim had yarn leftover from a lovely scarf — an extremely soft baby llama or alpaca (?).  After a little whining, I did get an inch or so done.  I may need to make me some of these! 🙂  They are really cute when they get started.

After rushing home for my Thursday night fix of !!NEW!! Grey’s Anatomy, I did knit on my sleeve:

The pink running thread is for counting rows: every 6 row increases

I have a way to go here!  I did have to re-start this: my first attempt was too big — I have such delicate wrists, you know ;).  But it goes fast and is very mindless — exactly what I need right now.  Tonight is ‘weekend eve’ so I may stay up a little later and catch up on the knitting I missed!

I just finished up the last touches of dismanteling and remanteling my Roslin.  I chronicled the entire disemboweling in pictures and none of them turned out, but I feel the need to include some pictorial evidence of my entrails travails (entrails — get it?: disembowel…oh, never mind!)!  The pictures could not be retaken because these were one-time photo opportunities.

Per Surly’s request, here is a crappy picture of Rossie before I took a scalpel to her:

The surgery required removing the ribbing and grafting on the newly knitted bottom portion (knitted like the original pattern this time ;)).  I know a lot of people hate to do grafting (aka Kitchener stitch) and would rather give up knitting than graft 268 sts!  It does not bother me, which proves I’m an oddball. 

Here I slipped a smaller needle through the row I wished to keep — everything below will be removed (the color in the picture is absolutely horrid!):

The above white marker was used to mark the center stitch.  I had to make absolutely sure that I grafted center stitch to center stitch.  In the next picture you can see that I snipped the yarn of the row below the row on the needle and pulled it out all the way around — this picture is both ugly and blurry!!:

Here, I’m grafting the new bottom half to the old top half.  I started at the center front stitch but left enough tail to graft back the other direction (from the center out to both sides).  I did not bother doing that on the back.  On the back I worked from right to left across the entire back.

 Here is the finished job (the color is much closer to true):

 

The last step was to attach the top of the kangaroo pocket.  I counted rows, centered the stitches again and “sewed” it to the sweater — a close up:

The back:

And a close up showing the back grafting line:

I think it turned out as expected and will improve with blocking, when I get to that point down the road.  The only difficulty was due to the tendency of shetland wool to stick to itself — the grafting yarn and the sts were trying to “become one” as I went along!

Will it fit better?  Will it look better on me?  Who knows (and who cares!!)?  I’m not about to reknit the bottom a third time, so it will have to work! 

Now it is on to the sleeves — which means a trip to the yarn store for knitting needles — can you believe I don’t have the Size 5’s I need?!?  Bummer! ;)  In the meantime, I have picked up Lyra again, so the time is well spent. 

I was heading to St. Paul today anyway.  The Minnesota Knitters Guild annual Yarnover event is on April 12 this year (the website lists all of the instructors).  I am on the planning committee, and we meet today.  Yarnover will be held at Hopkins High School for the first time — it is a beautiful venue.  We are really excited about the program this year.

 

This is a momentous occasion for us!  Michaela finished her Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie!  It is a fantastic feeling to see that someone actually used our pattern — wow!

Here are some pictures from Michaela’s blog:

Beautiful!  It certainly doesn’t hurt that Michaela is a superb knitter.  She used Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4 Ply — colors 277, 271, 283, 269, 267, 270.  We’re not sure what she did to adapt the fair isle band to accommodate the different yarn. 

Here is a message Susan received from Michaela on Ravelry:

Hi, Susan and Sally! I finished my Roslin Hoodie last week and I really do LOVE it!  It was so much fun to knit with this easy to follow pattern, the yarn I used is wonderful and it fits perfectly.  I wear it and wear it — it’s my favorite sweater at the moment!  Thanks again for sharing this wonderful pattern!  I hope you’ll like my version of your design!

With kind regards from Germany — Michaela

We love it, Michaela, and thank you so much for the wonderful testimonial.  It makes it all worth while.

From Susan:
This reminds me of an incident years ago at Stitches (when it was here in the Twin Cities).  I was wearing a sweater I had made from a pattern in Knitters.  It wasn’t my favorite sweater, but one of my only summer sweaters.  The designer was at Stitches and practically tackled me as I walked through the Market.  “OMG, you made my sweater!!”  She would not let me leave — she kind of stalked me!  Now I know how exactly how she felt!!

Real, live joke of the day:
My youngest daughter got her spacers put in for braces yesterday, so of course her teeth are killing her.  She got up this morning and said her teeth hurt so much during the night that they woke her up.  My husband said, “I know what time you woke up.”  She asked, “What time?” 

“Tooth hurty!”