theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I usually knit in my spare time.  It is portable and I derive both pleasure and knitted garments from it.  Yay.   I used to sew much more than I knit, but those days passed many years ago when I decided that knitting allowed me to spend more ‘creative’ time with my family (instead of being sequestered in my sewing room!).   This weekend I have to bust out the sewing machine again.  I have no clothes to wear.  At all.  It is more than simply embarrassing.

The other thing that suffers with my knitting is cleaning (ugh squared!).  I am committed to doing a little of that this weekend, too.  B-O-R-I-N-G!!!!

So, this weekend I plan on sewing and cleaning and not getting much knitting done — though I will still knit on my frequent breaks! 😉

Hour One: One bathroom cleaned and our bed linens in wash.  Motivation already gone.  Checked out fabric stash.  Fabric options are there, but no thread or other notions.  Run to store will interfere with continuity plan for day.  See golden opportunity fading.  Making more coffee to think.

Hour Three:  Drank coffee; made list.  Back from store with 80% success ratio.  Is it too early to take a movie/knitting break?  OK, even I know the answer to that one…will at least set up my cutting area. 🙁

Hour…??:  It’s hopeless.   I started cutting out one of my items.  Younger DD called for ride.  Came home and sat at computer.  Can’t seem to find my way back to my cutting table.  I need a break.

Day 2
I did finish cutting out Item #1.  I am trying to decide if I should sew Item #1 first or cut out Item #2 and then start sewing.

Decision Made: Cut first, sew second!

Hour 3: Cutting done; one more trip to the fabric store 🙁 and now I will begin.  I am not coming up except for coffee until something is accomplished!

Day 3
One item done except for the hemming.  I will work on the second to the hem and then sit with a good movie to do the handwork.  The Mad Men finale is on tonight 🙁 so no knitting or sewing then!

Second item done but for the hemming as well.  Now to the TV for the handwork!!

Sunday night: all three items are done with 2 minutes to spare!!  The third item has been marinating for two years an only needed to be hemmed.   Three hems in one day — yuck!

Day 4
In the light of a new day, I don’t think I like any of the items I made over the weekend and may have to do some tweaking.  🙁

Day 5
I am wearing one of my new outfits today and actually got a compliment — mostly because it is new and not something I have worn every third day for the past 15 years!  Woo Hoo!

This post will have absolutely nothing to do with knitting.  BUT, it is similar to knitting in that it involves creativity that is a long time in the making!

In 2005, my hubby (John) decided that our deck was too small and so he was going to extend it slightly.  Once into the project, he realized that the original deck had completely gone to dry rot — the entire deck needed to be replaced!!  Rut roh!  He was very gung ho and got the main (flat) part of the deck done in no time (I’m being facetious).  John always does excellent work, but at a snail’s pace.   However, the deck railing was not to be.   Some progress shots:

Expansion Phase

The DH at Work

In 2007, fate stepped in and John suffered a significant health issue.  This prevented him from working on the deck for another 3 years…which brings us to 5 years without a usable deck.  Without railing, you felt like you were sitting in an empty parking lot!  This summer he decided to tackle the deck again in earnest.  There is still much to be done, but he is making great headway! 

Yay, John!!

Both Sally and I are still laboring away on our respective Eala Bhans — and personally, I am loving it!  I love the feel of the wooly yarn on my fingertips and I love watching the design slowly emerge.  But progress is measured in tenths of inches.  I have spent two evenings trying to get one inch done.

I also have another project going — simpler for group knitting and in front of certain TV programs (Mad Men, I’m talkin’ about YOU).   I am using the gorgeous alpaca and silk yarn I bought while I was visiting Surly.  

The pattern is called Ophicleide (huh??  WTF??) .  I have no idea what it means, how to pronounce it, or what the heck it has to do with knitting!  I do like the beautiful stitchwork in the yoke and the fact that after the fun knitting on the yoke, it is plain stockinette.  There are two sleeve options, and I will be going for 3/4 length.  Here is my progress thus far:

So, quite a way to go.  It will be more of a spring sweater, so I am in no rush.   The yarn is absolutely butter soft and much prettier in person than you can tell here.  I only got through about half a row tonight at knitting group!!

Now that I am home, back to Eala Bhan!!!

PS: Kathy provides us with the definition of Ophicleide: a vintage brass horn:

I still have no idea what it has to do with knitting!

For those of you who thought the stories from DC were over — think again!  Yes, there’s more!  Two posts for the price of one. 

One of the things I did when I visited Sally was work on my Maia Shoulderette designed by Romi Hill.  The reason I could not finish it here was because I was out of yarn.  I was using yarn from my stash: Colinette Jitterbug in a light green with rust highlights (Moss)…but I made two fatal mistakes:  1- I added a repeat even though I didn’t mean to (don’t ask!) and b- chose a yarn without much yardage. 

When Sally and I bought the yarn, we got three skeins of ~330 yards each in anticipation of each making socks.  So I am the yarn hog.  I brought my almost finished Maia to DC and worked on it non-stop until that bad boy was done.  By the end, the rows were ENDLESS!!!   I think I probably used two full skeins to finish it.

The fun thing about this pattern is the start: Romi uses a play on the garter tab cast on, incorporating a large leaf motif:

The bottom edge:

Here you can see the unusual shape — a “stay on your shoulders” kind of shape:

Sally and I both worked on this shawlette.  She wrote some notes on her Ravelry project page that describe both of our thoughts about this pattern.

I’m not sure exactly when I’ll wear this, but it is kind of cute.

The countdown has begun!  I will launch at 1010 tomorrow and meet up with Surly around 2pm.  Then watch out, DC, The Rainey Sisters will be on the loose!! 

Houston, we have a problem: a serious yarn shortage in the DC area….

It certainly feels that way.  When I am between large projects I usually take a breather with a few quick knits.  I can’t get through a day without knitting, but I am not yet prepared to embark on the next big thing.  Plus, my knitting group is donating hats to charity this fall.

So, I knit hats — three this week!   The Quincy I already shared, a very basic hat too basic to share and this one: The Tuscan Leaves Hat by Nina Machlin.   This is a very nice hat pattern!  I love the way the leaves meander slowly next to each other.  It is NOT charted, but I had no trouble reading it row by row.

Here are the pictures of Nina’s Hats, which show the hat in its entirety:

I did not have a model, nor do I own a “head” so my pictures are flat and not that good:

I used Ella Rae Worsted Weight Wool.  When finished, the hat looked so tiny that it seemed like it would not fit a soul, but it did block nicely.  I would make this again.  It is so pretty and unique.

There may be a gap in our blogging:  I will be heading east to visit Surly on Thursday!  Yay!

Hello, fellow knitting peeps.  Today was the first day of school for DD the Younger.   She has three years left of high school.  She just got her learner’s permit.  Pray for us.  Pray for us all.

I have a small FO to share — another Quincy Hat by Jared Flood.   I made several of these last year and enjoyed making them enough to do another — it’s a great take-along project.  Our knitting group is knitting hats for charity this year, so I am knitting hats. 

Quincy Hat by Jared Flood in Katia Azteca (128 yds of a 197 yd skein), US Size 10 Needles

The hat is started as a long, garter stitch strip with built-in i-cord along each edge.  Last year, I ran into several people who had difficulty trying to set up the grafting for the center back (I told them to go ask Jared…well, I told them and then I showed them 🙂 ).

You need to graft the first and last three sts as stockinette and the middle sts in garter stitch.  In order to do this correctly, you need to reposition all the built-in i-cord sts to look like the right side of stockinette on each side.  One side will look like reverse stockinette.  These sts must be turned — not individually, but all three at once.   

The sts appear on the needle like this:

Place all three purl side sts on a dpn and then turn the dpn counterclockwise until the RS of the stockinette sts are facing forward.  Now place them back 0n the needle in this new order:

I won’t even try to show how to do garter grafting (yes, I’m a chicken  &^%$)!  Just make sure the center sts are set up properly (there are many tutorials out there). 

The results:

There will always be a jog where the change from st st to garter takes place because you are grafting two different directions of knitting together (heads of sts being grafted to heads of sts — if that does not make sense, you are normal!).

I’m still deciding on my next bigger project…a couple of ideas are floating around so we’ll see which one lands!

PS: Rox’s comment made me re-think the above and she is correct that you are grafting in the same direction as the knitting, so there shouldn’t be a jog.  The fact that there is is probably due to the built in i-cord (?), not the transition from stockinette to garter and back again.  That shouldn’t cause a jog in and of itself.  Maybe I’ll try it and experiment.  Or maybe not. 😉

The State Fair Countdown!  I spent today at the Minnesota State Fair with some very special friends.  I’ll elaborate on their “specialness” in more detail later.

I always like to get to the fair on the first day to see if my knitting entries fared well in the judging.  This year was a mixed bag, but I am not here to complain!  I did better on some things than I expected and not as well on others.  This pretty much happens every year.  Other peeps I spoke to felt the same way about their items: “Not quite what I was expecting.”  The ribbon distribution is based on many variables and luck is just one of them!!  I always feel pretty lucky to win anything when I see the other beautiful entries. 

I entered eight things this year and received the ribbons listed in the title: 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, first, first, first , first.  The sweepstakes went to one of my favorite people: Shelley Monitor, MKG president, for her Large Lace Collar Bohus Cardigan:

Shelley Monitor’s Bohus, Sweepstakes (on a night-of-the-living-dead mannequin!)

Shelley is an excellent knitter and very deserving of the sweepstakes award!  Congratulations, Shelley!

I took pictures of my knitted items and very few of them turned out.  The glare on the glass coupled with the hopelessly unattractive mannequins made a good shot almost impossible!  All of my pictures have a yellow caste which I was unable to adjust.  Edited to add: Sivani, bless her heart, fixed several of the pictures for me and removed some of the yellow.  Thanks, Sivani!!

Ode to Joy Vest, 2nd Place

Olympic Reindeer Hat — 3rd Place Ribbon

Lace Beret, 4th Place

Whisper Cardigan, 5th Place (my biggest disappointment!)

Sleeping Baby’s Castle Blanket — this was entered in the Garment Category under Afghan less than 42×42

Yes, this is Sally’s design!   The color is off white but here it looks VERY OFF white and is not displayed to its full advantage.  You cannot tell there is a castle on the blanket, but I was excited to get a blue ribbon for Sally’s wonderful pattern.

Alexandria, First Place

Aeolian Shawl, First place and JRB Associates Award (terrible picture — lots of glare!)

Brage/Dragon Sweater, First Place and Three Kittens Award (OMG, the picture is horrid, plus they covered up the dragon with the ribbon)

I really have to give a shout out to a couple of people: my friend, Kim, entered a gorgeous hat that received a second place ribbon.  If I was the judge, she would have gotten a blue, but I’m not so there you go.

Ellen De Silva won the Thursdays at 4 special award for her blue ribbon gloves!  I am so happy that it is going to a friend of mine — yay and congratulations (no picture, though 🙁 ).

Speaking of friends, my peeps (Janet, Deb and Martha) really are fantastic people.  I have known them since college.  We made plans to go to the fair together.  As you may recall, I hurt my heel about 4 weeks ago.  The “heeling” has been slow and so I have been severely limping for three plus weeks.  That in turn caused my bum right knee to flare up in rebellion, due to my crazy gait.  I really can’t walk very well right now.   I went to the fair knowing that I would not be able to stay long and certainly would not be able to partake in all of the fair festivities. 

We arrived early (about 6:30 am) and by 10:30, I was done.  I’m out.  Time to leave.  My dear friends said, “Au contraire, Limpy.  We are going to get you a wheelchair.”  And they did.  They pushed me around the fairgrounds until 5:00 pm.  Then they pushed me all the way to my car.  No complaining at all — they just acted like they were having the time of their lives, this is no big deal, we will always remember this and laugh…you name it!   They are true friends in every sense of the word.  I love you guys!!

One of the great things about going to the fair with four people is that you can share food — we got to eat everything and get just the right amount.  Yum, yum, yum!

One more thing: Sally has been busy getting her son settled into college and so she has not been doing much blogging of late.  She’ll be back this weekend and has a beautiful FO to share.  She is now an empty nester.