theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Sally left today after a whirlwind weekend.  I mean, a crazy busy, out-of-control weekend!  Sally put up with all of my cranky moods and as she left said, “I’m your sister…I will just forget all about it.” That’s why I’m cryin’ in my brewski!   Miss my sis!

We did have a lot of fun in between all of the nervous break downs and speeding tickets! 

Thursday, April 15
I picked Surly up at the airport and made a quick stop at The Yarnery.  Sally bought yarn.

Then we went to my knitting group.  Beth shared her beautiful Boxes Drape Vest from Swing-Swagger-Drape so we could try it on and admire it yet again…everyone wants one! 

Here’s mine so far:

Boxes Drape Vest in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, Color #709 Hermosa

Friday, April 16
We tried to cram a week into one day!  We went to Lila and Claudine’s as our first stop.

L&C is a fantastic shop — you really need to get there just to see it.  They describe it as Alice going down the rabbit hole and it is the truth.  Plus, the people are super nice.  We hung out with Kirsten and other notables and had a great time.  Sally bought yarn.

Then off to Darn.Knit.Anyway in Stillwater, MN.  Again, a great shop with wonderful staff.  Susan bought yarn (but it doesn’t count because it was just an extra skein for my Boxes vest 🙂 )!! 

We needed to pick up stuff for Yarnover and then we stopped by Hopkins High School to do some set up.

Saturday, April 17
YARNOVER ARRIVES!!  Up before dawn and off to the races!  Great day.  Everything went very well.  We saw a lot of knitting friends, both old and new.  We both bought yarn.

That evening we were able to dine with knitting royalty.  We sat next to Jared Flood, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Cookie A., and Romi Hill.  Let me just say that Jared is adorable…absolutely adorable!  I also got to schmooz a little with Meg Swansen — I shared some of the rave reviews I had heard about her classes.  She was thrilled and so humble!  It was a wonderful way to end the day.

Sunday, April 18
We spent the day with family…but somehow managed to find another knitting store!  We visited the lovely Tangled Skein  in St. Peter and resisted the urge to buy more yarn.  I know.  It’s hard to believe!

Monday, April 19
We returned the rental stuff for Yarnover, had a great breakfast and then hit a couple more yarn shops: Borealis must have the best selection of sock yarn in the city.  And then back to the Yarnery.  Sally bought yarn. 

If you happen to be keeping score, Surly bought WAY more yarn than I did. 

Surly will be landing here in the Twin Cities this afternoon — yay!  She is going to be my sidekick at this year’s MKG Yarnover Event (I am on the planning committee). 

We have a very busy weekend planned — stop and say hi if you see us at Hopkins HS on Saturday!!

As you may have noticed over the years, my knitting tends to the conservative, traditional, whatever boring word you want to choose!  But I got inspired by this cute little sweater and decided to go wild!  It is the Kaleidoscope Yoke by Kate Himmelberg in the book Simple Style. 

The design calls for yarn that comes in both a multi-color version and coordinating solid.  I chose a yarn that was heavier than called for, Mochi Plus Intense Rainbow and Intense Red:

Kaleidoscope Yoke by Kate Himmelberg

I knit a smaller size to get the larger size I needed.  The VERY simple construction allows for size adaptation easily. 

The yarn is soft and pretty, but did not knit up very smoothly/evenly.  When knitting stockinette in the round, you should end up with very nice, even knitting.  This was very rough looking and desperately in need of blocking.  I wetblocked it and it grew to ginormous (sp?) proportions.  H-U-G-E!!!  Eeeeek!

So, I decided to do the unthinkable: I put it in the dryer!  And it worked.  It brought it down to the original size again.  The rough knitting is still there but at least it fits!

There are two things I would have done differently: first, I would have knit the entire thing on a US 7 instead of an 8.  I think the knitting would have looked much better.  Secondly, I would have switched to the solid red earlier so the multi-colored section ended above the boobs instead of under — more like the picture.  The color transition occurs right before you start the sleeves, which for most “larger” people or those who do not want tight armholes, means the stripes are under the bustline.  Too late for me, but maybe not for you!

Also, I did do some sleeve shaping.  The pattern has you pick up for the sleeves and just keep on knitting.  They looked way too baggy for my taste.  I ended the shaping a couple of inches above the wrist to get a little bit of flair.

Kaleidoscope Yoke by Kate Himmelberg

Overall Grade: B+
Yarn: A for color and softness, D for knitting quality
Pattern: Very easy and cute, with some changes
Fit: A (!)
Yarn Required: Multi = 6, Solid = 8
Needles: US 8 (should have used 7’s)

All in all, I am happy with this one — quick knit project (2 weeks).

Easter peeps…

Knitters stand out in a crowd!

Our diorama is cute, but nothing like these!  Hope you have a Happy Easter or special Passover with family and friends.

PS: GinkgoKnits is right — there is a knitter in the world famous Peep Show:

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 😉 .