theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Minnesota Knitters Guild hosts an event each year of legendary magnitude.  This year is the 25th Silver Anniversary!  I have a small role on the planning committee, which is very exciting because I am on the ground floor of the planning and get the inside scoop. 

So what do you get for your money?  A world-class event at small town prices!!

There is a small myth floating around that if you do not register right away, you cannot attend.  Au contraire!  There are MANY classes still open AND many opportunities to participate even if you choose not to attend a class.

The list of teachers is made up of knitting royalty:

Lorilee Beltman
Cat Bordhi
Beth Brown Reinsel
Lily Chin
Edie Eckman
Fiona Ellis
Laura Farson
Margaret Fisher
Jared Flood
Susanna Hansson
Betsy Hershberg
Romi Hill
Melissa Leapman
Ann McCauley
Layl McDill
Sally Melville
Cheryl Oberle
Rita O’Connell
Clara Parkes
Merike Saarniit (keynote speaker)
Joan Schrouder
Gila Shoshany (aka TECHknitter)
Meg Swansen & Amy Detjen
Julie Weisenberger

Yes, some of the classes are filled, but there are plenty more to choose from!!  If you don’t want to take classes, check out these opportunities:

• FREE Vendor Market featuring approximately 40 vendors with a variety of knitting-related wares
• For $5, attend the keynote presentation by Merike Saarniit called “The Evolution of Tradition to Contemporary Knitting” — no pre-registration required…and then go shopping!
• For $40, attend the Friday evening  “Meet and Greet” with the teachers — enjoy a lovely buffet dinner with your knitting idols!
• Meet the Ravelry Crew!  StevenBe of the Yarn Garage is bringing the Fab Four Ravelry Crew to the Vendor Market

For more discussion about the classes and events, visit the Yarnover Ravelry Group.  Surly and I will both be there — hope to see you there, too!

PS: I am so proud!  My husband skiied the 35 km Mora Vasaloppet today and took FIRST place in his age group!  His birthday is next week and he will enter the next age group up, so he is just about the oldest person in that field and won!

PS2: John won this Dala Horse since the race has Swedish roots.

Remember the last scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (one of my faves!!)?  This is my front sidewalk this morning!  Eeek!

I can’t blame the bathing suit for how I look in it.  I do not contribute to the overall look in a positive way.  That can also be said for one of my recent FOs.  It looked so cute in the magazine:

Winter Vogue 2011, design #25

It is supposed to be very wide and cropped.  The word “cropped” should have tipped me off that this style just might not be right for me, but I said, “What the hey,” and proceeded onward.

I had some charcoal gray Lopi in stash — pretty much enough to make the sweater and the same gauge/yarn type to boot.   That made this a FREE sweater (even better). 

Once I started the thing, I kept having second thoughts.  But onward I went.  With the chunky yarn and size 10-1/2 needles, it was a quick knit, so I kept knitting … until the doubts hit me again.  Then I would throw it in a bag, and give up…only to drag it out again and continue.   Over and over I did this, but yet I persevered.  Why?  I don’t know, because the doubts were always there.  Had the VK 360 view been available prior to starting this project, I may have saved myself some trouble…

I finished it, buttons and all. 

It just looks ridiculous on me.  I need to lose 30 years and as many pounds to look good in this sweater.  My husband said, “It’s cute, but it’s about 5 inches too short — do you have any more yarn?”  Uh, no.

They can’t all be keepers!!

PS — Happy Groundhog Day!  Don’t you love that movie?  I watched it tonight.

PS2 — in response to those who recommended layering: been there, tried that.  With long tees of several colors and shirts.  Not so good.

You can’t plan a day like that!  Yesterday was so unexpectedly fun and special! 

My knitting peeps and I had decided to attend a special event at StevenBe’s Yarn Garage Workshop in south Minneapolis on Saturday.  StevenBe is wonderful: he is warm, generous in all ways, inclusive, talented and creative.  You may have seen him in knitting magazines as well.

Steven is wearing a handknit creation knit with bulky cotton and videotape

His workshop used to be a firehouse and is now an eclectic melange of knitting and gifts and all kinds of yarn.  It overwhelms the brain!

Jacket festooned with dozens of buttons: almost too heavy to lift!

We shopped, we laughed, we noshed.  I ran into many old and dear friends and Guild members.  Ellen DeSilva, aka TwinSetEllen, mentioned her special project Warm Hats, Not Hot Heads — check it out on her blog.   We had a great time and did not want it to end.  So, off we went!

Next stop: Borealis in St. Paul.   I must admit, it seemed a little tame after StevenBe’s!  But we loved it just the same.  We saw a T-shirt that I would have bought if they had my size.  White shirt, black letters that said,

“I was born to knit.  I am forced to work.”  And another:

“K1, YO, k2tog, P1…If you understand this, we need to talk”

Then off to The Yarnery.   We had a blast there, too, finding yarn and patterns everywhere along the way.  Then to lunch at Cafe Latte — wow.  So much fun.

What did I buy — some C-R-A-Z-Y yarn at StevenBe’s! Linie 282 Zico Yarn in black:

You use it to make this crazy scarf.  I bought it in black for my oldest daughter and finished it last night:

The color of the sweater it’s on is washed out, but the scarf itself looks pretty true.  Just a fun scarf and very fashion forward like my daughter!

I also bought a skein of Fiesta La Boheme in Peacock to make another Moebius Cowl.  I love mine and get so many compliments, and this color is stunning:

We headed home happy as clams.  I love my peeps and we enjoyed a thoroughly fun and productive day!

PS: Check out this article about Steven in the Pioneer Press!  Thanks, Readers!

Several of you asked me about the modifications I made to my Damson Shawlette to produce the beautiful mesh insertions.  I did not come up with the idea — it was the work of Linda Butkis.  She has since written up the chart and it is available as a free pattern adaptation.  You still need to purchase the original pattern, but this designer-approved version is available to all.

There is a great little pattern I found on Ravelry called 198 Yards of Heaven.  It was designed specifically to use one skein of worsted yarn and still end up with something.  Especially nice for luxury yarns that are too expensive to buy in quantity.  I was in luck because I owned one such skein: ArtYarns Silk Rhapsody in Cappucino.  Lovely yarn consisting of handpainted silk held with a Kidsilk Haze mohair.   It is the same yarn that Sally and I used for Sally’s Topsy Turvy Moebius.  It is bunny-belly soft.  I was very confident that I had enough yarn, because each skein has 260 yards and the pattern is called “198 Yards of Heaven” for a reason!

I had one yard left (?!?). 

I made no adjustments to the pattern and my finished shawlette was the exact same size as the pattern stated: 44 x 21 inches.  What gives?  Where’s my 61 yards?  Don’t know.  I even weighed my finished shawlette to see if I was short sheeted, but it was 100 grams.

It is lovely.

Minus.  Twenty.  Three.  Degrees.     It is my day off, and I still had to go out so I could take my daughter to school.

Last night, I washed and blocked the sweater I gave my son for Christmas. (He had a long Christmas break, and just left for the west coast this afternoon.) I wouldn’t ordinarily wash and block a sweater so soon after finishing it, but in this case it was a necessity.  He has worn it virtually every waking hour since I gave it to him.   I’m not exaggerating. Nor am I complaining. It’s wonderful to see someone get so much use out of a hand knit garment.

That’s why I was perfectly happy to knit him a new pair of gloves after he lost one of his on this trip. He went down to my stash and chose a skein of Austermann Step Sock Yarn, and this was the result:

He says he likes them, and I believe him.  Here is a quick little photo I took with an iPhone while we were sitting together at the airport.

Gloves and newly washed sweater.  It may not surprise you that a second sweater for him is already on the needles — more on that project when there’s a bit more to show and tell.

PS From Susan — I love the gloves.  I also want to thank Surly for taking the time to give our blog a makeover!  I think it looks much better and our patterns are easier to find.  There are a few more changes to come, but I like what she has done so far.

Like most knitters, when a life event strikes, I often think of what I can knit for the person. If a baby is born or expected, don’t we all rattle different ideas through our heads: hat, blankie, booties??

One of my favorite people recently received a life-changing diagnosis and had to undergo surgery. Her prognosis is good and she is recovering nicely…but she gave us quite a scare. This dear friend, I’ll call her DF, is a knitting peep and my “Harry Potter” movie companion, and very special to a lot of people for a lot of reasons.

So when I heard about DF’s diagnosis, I knew I needed to knit her something. Something she would love and that would show her how much I care about her.  I decided on a Damson shawlette.  I had made one before and LOVED knitting it and wearing it, so I hoped she would love it as well.  I tried about 3 different yarns from my stash — all high end, gorgeous yarns, but too variegated to look right.  Off to the store I went.  I chose Malabrigo Sock in Boticelli Red (a very rusty, brick red).  The yarn is butter soft and more tonal than variegated, which I am drawn to more and more these days — too much color variation can look disastrous!

I used the same modification as on my Damson: inserting an open-work mesh into the plain sections.   

She loved it — she is very knit worthy!!  And with every stitch I knit in love and good wishes.