theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Thank you for all of your sympathetic comments!  You would think I would be knitting up a storm, but every night I am so tired, I flop on the couch!  I am hoping that today I’ll be a bit perkier. 

The dinner went extremely well.  We had a very casual menu so it wasn’t a lot of work.  I need to do this more often as my house is STILL clean!  I don’t hate my house when it’s clean!  I wish a neighbor would stop by so I could invite them in instead of standing guard at the door hoping they can’t see past me! 😉

There are many reasons not to like housework — too numerous to list.  But I think I have come up with a new one.  Last evening as I was emptying the dishwasher, I put a coffee cup in the left side of the cupboard, which pushed another cup out of the right side of the cupboard: a very heavy, white porcelain mug.  It hit the counter and broke, and then proceeded to the floor.  A large chunk of it hit me above my heel, right at the location of the Achilles Tendon.  It bled like crazy and hurt like hell.  The gash is the shape of an inverted “V” with each leg ~1 inch long.   I could see white behind the flap of skin and presumed that the shard was still embedded in my ankle.  No.  It was my tendon (when I heard that I about passed out!!).  They stitched me up, but I am in pain and limping. 

We have put off our little cookout until tomorrow.  And no, Jena (youngest daughter), I did not do this to ruin your life.  Though, as we all know, everything I do is done in order to ruin her life! 😉

PS: I love Sivani’s idea of convalescence yarn!!

What more could a knitter want than another Swallowtail Shawl??  I loved my first (in Malabrigo Sock, color Solis) so much I decided to make one more.  I got the yarn last year as  a result of the 2009 Sock Summit.  People could vote on different hand-dyed sock yarns from a variety of sources.  I fell for Georgia Peach (at least, I think that was the name!) by Three Irish Girls.  I liked it so much that I ordered a skein.  It took months.  So long, in fact, that I totally forgot about it.  It was like a little surprise package when it arrived!!

I couldn’t think of a good project for it until the last couple of weeks when I needed a second Swallowtail as a shop sample.  The colourway isn’t typical for me, but it is in my “warm, summer palette.” 

I used US 6 needles as called for.  With my first, I used a US 4 and added 5 repeats of the Budding Lace Chart.  They ended up the identical size.  The peach one is looser — and not quite as nice, in my HO. 

As luck would have it, Sharon from the Three Irish Girls will be here next weekend at Darn.Knit {Anyway} in Stillwater.  I didn’t realize until today that Sharon was conducting a workshop.  I teach that day myself so I wouldn’t be able to attend, but I may stop by to see if there is any yarn to buy look at.

Twinsetjan commented on my last post:

“Yay for knitting warriors!!  Twinsetellen got me into the next level of knitting while I was stationed in Iraq.  She sent me a sock pattern, yarn and dpns and told me to just figure it out.  (Up till then I’d been a very basic knitter!)  Knitting in an up-armored HMWVV is one of my favorite memories.”

I love reading Ellen and Jan’s blog because we share so much in common (and they happen to be very interesting people): two knitting sisters, one in Minnesota, one in or near our nation’s capitol.  I really like their blog format of writing a letter to the other in way of an update.

Ellen was certainly instrumental in advancing Jan’s knitting to the next level!!  Surly did (and still does)  the same for me.  Years ago, she got kind of pushy and told me I HAD to branch out beyond knitting in one color.  She dragged me downtown to Ram Wools yarn shop (yes, it used to be located in Minneapolis, right downtown in kind of the warehouse district).  My daughter was 3 at the time, so I figured if I made something for her, it would be easier.  This pattern is an Annabel Fox design from an old Rowan pattern book (Rowan Children #1), and is called the Bill and Ben Cardigan.

That same day I bought some sale yarn in apricot and after completing the above, I tackled another intarsia design from the same book and designer, called Magic Dragon:

The rest is history…once I started using more than one color, I never looked back!  I guess I have to thank Sally for pushing me beyond my perceived limits and expanding my knitting world.

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.