Yay, it’s Surly’s birthday!! There will be merriment and cake involved, I’m sure!
Surly is my peepiest knitting peep and biggest supporter. I know she would face the threats of COVID (i.e., fly here!) if I needed her. She is always in my corner and has my back. Plus, she makes me laugh! Happy Birthday to the surliest sister ever!!
Remember in Bridget Jones’s Diary when Bridget’s mother starts selling cheap costume jewelry? And how she and her orange boyfriend tout certain pieces as being “all rounders”? (Excuse me while I briefly fantasize about Colin Firth. Ok. Done.)
I recently finished an all rounder sweater that checked all the boxes. The pattern is Beyul designed by Justyna Lorkowska. A simple knit with some nice stylish details. Interesting top down construction. Casual, comfortable, and wearable. In fact, I’m wearing it right now! Let me stress the wearable part. Sometimes I knit things that are so interesting or complicated that I never wear them. I love the sweater but can’t find things to go with it or don’t feel comfortable in it or it’s too dressy for my so called lifestyle.
Bonus: I used stash yarn. I knit it out of Miss Babs Yowza in a bright (for me) purple called Tulipa. The yarn has been languishing aging since Susan and I went to Rhinebeck years ago. The pattern was clear and well written and the yarn was really nice to work with.
The photos are not great. This is one of those sweaters that looks better on a human than a mannequin. Sure, I could have asked my husband to take photos of me in it, but his poor photography skills are legendary. If only he were home — he could model it! Sigh.
Surprise! I slipped in a selfie.
Susan mentioned showed off some yarn she’d bought for a Pink Fizz, a future project. As usual, it’s monkey see monkey do. In fact, I think I was the first monkey in this scenario! Here’s a photo of the yarn I bought: La Bien Aimée Cashmerino in Highland and Mohair Silk in Sansa.
Startitis is a common problem for knitters and usually results in quite a few WIPs and few FOs!!! I have about 4-6 projects on my needles right now and a new project waiting for spring.
So, I’m not going to bother listing all my projects just yet, but want to share a gorgeous WIP for the future: Pink Fizz!
It is a new Andrea Mowry design knit in La Bien Aimee yarns. Surly gave me an outrageous gift certificate to La Bien Aimee so I could buy the color of my dreams, which I did: Anemone.
The real color is somewhere between my photo and these from the La Bien Aimee site (bottom two pics). Hubby saw it on the table and thought it was stunning! I plan on re-engineering the pattern slightly to suit my “style” 🙂 🙂 🙂 You hold the two yarns together. It looks like heaven!!
So, my 2021 goals are to survive and thrive! Get vaccinated ASAP!! Get back to my friends and family.
PS to Kathy: I have just too many other projects going right now, but it is going to happen!!
PS2 to Pru: Your yarn sounds lovely! I probably have some of the mohair in stash, but my stash rarely is what I want! 🙁 Keep us informed on The Rainey Sisters Ravelry Group!!
Whew! Got through the holidays! I had one last gift to make and finally finished:
An adaptation of Plinth Mitts in Ella Rae Classic Wool, color Lunar Green. Hubby also received his Cobblestone Pullover. It was a little skimpy 🙁 so I tried reblocking it. For some reason, Shelter just does not budge with reblocking! I got a little more but not quite enough. It does fit okay, though:
He is wearing it as we speak! Yay!! I call that a win!
These are two quick knits to enhance your holiday gifting. I used both as gift card holders/ornaments. — both are free patterns!!
The first is called Santa Knit Gift Card Holder. A very quick knit — add a hanging loop and it can also also work as an ornament.
The other is a mitten ornament designed by Jared Flood. I blocked mine big enough to hold a gift card.
Just wanted to share!! 🙂
PS to Michele: The knitted chicken in my picture is a pattern designed by Susan B. Anderson called Three French Hens. Very cute! I made a matching one for Surly, the other Rainey Sister.
Yep, that’s me! Working on a goal of 500 hats. Or, at least that’s how it feels!! My latest hats…
The first is a Christmas gift for DD’s BF. I cannot post it on Instagram since she follows me! I had hoped for a super slouchy, cool vibe because BF is very cool. It didn’t quite make it. The hat is soft and warm, so it definitely has something to offer! I bought the yarn at The Yarnery: Holst Cielo, in Ash (charcoal) and Chanterelle (gold). I opted for brioche because I love a dark color as the main color and a hot color as the CC. I didn’t use a pattern, but included my notes on my project page. I knit the yarn down quite a bit. It is 18 inches around, because I did not want it to stretch out before he started wearing it.
Here is a picture with the MC on the outside:
Turned inside out:
I kind of like it better wrong side out, so I wove in the final ends invisibly so it is reversible! I used my “work both the MC and CC rnds at the same time” throughout. This short video demonstrates. When I pasted it into the post it was HUGE!!
The next hat pattern was a gift from the Minnesota Knitters Guild to its members: the MinneSNOWta Hat! Designed by Kathy Lewinski, guild Prez, who must spend 43 hours a week on guild activities!! I had Jamieson Spindrift in stash, so I dove right in. I did make some changes to “Minnesota,” the crown, and the crown shaping. Here is a link that shows the original design. It is not as slouchy as I prefer (even after adding some rounds), but it fits hubby perfectly and he LOVES it!
So, there you go! I am off to knit more hats! 😉
PS to Gretchen: the Minnesota hat could be adapted to all trees. The MinneSNOWta motif is the same number of sts. The guild is planning on releasing the pattern later for non-members as a fundraising activity.
Yes, it’s that time of year again…when I release a free Hostess Hat pattern!! Second annual!! This year it is The Holly Hostess Hat. It’s the sister to last year’s The Hostess Hat.
Not sure if there will be one next year, but stay tuned!! 🙂
The spirit of Christmas has landed at the Rainey abode! I started knitting this fun Santa Pillow and became very excited for the holidays! Kathy Lewinski, president of the Minnesota Knitters Guild, designed it for KnitPicks. I used yarn in stash: Cascade 220. The face required a purchase. I bought a skein of Malabrigo Rios, color Melon. For the eyes and “nose” I used #2 seed beads from Fire Mountain Gems in black and Ruby.
I think it’s festive and fun…but, it was a lot of work!! I used my woolyboard to block it to the designated size of 20 x 20 inches. I thought that sounded HUGE, but it really isn’t.
The work will be worth it when I pull it out every year!
PS to Gretchen re: the cushion: I thought I would save a few bucks, so I bought a $4 pillow at Target, sized 20×28 inches. The size I needed was 20×20. I have done this before…cut down a full sized pillow. When I cut the end off I discovered that the pillow was actually a flat batting, like you would use in a quilt, rolled up into a pillow shape! I trimmed the outer fabric to size and then cut through the roll. Somehow it worked but was more difficult than I anticipated!
Yes, I’m obsessed with beads. Whatsit to ya??!! 🙂
My newest pattern is called Snowball and includes three designs in two sizes. Yes, beads are required!! It is usually $4, but through November 29 will be $3. Except for the Candy Cane motif, each ball comes in two sizes. The Holly Berry design can be used on “blank” sides of the ball.
Happy Holidays and Happy Beading to You!!
I truly am not obsessed with this issue, but I do like to “fix” things that bug me! I wrote a while back about the wonderful Rikke Hat and how I eliminated the line created when knitting garter stitch in the round. The line appears when you switch from knitting to purling.
I decided to knit my husband a sweater for Christmas…I do not knit for him very often unless it’s a hat! I saw an old pattern of Jared Flood’s…his first pattern apparently! He designed Cobblestone for Interweave Knits in Fall 2007. It is a classic sweater, very simple, very wearable. Surly made one for her son, and he loved it. The good news is that my husband, unlike me, is a very standard size! The only dimension I changed was the cuffs on the sleeve. Many people noted that they are much too big, so I started with fewer sts. Most of the changes I made were strictly technical!
The problem for me with Cobblestone is THE LINE!! Right in the center back for all to see. BUT, I thought, now I can use my two-ball method and get rid of the line. NOTE: The line is not an issue for everyone…some people like it! So I am not dissing the design at all, believe me!! There are THOUSANDS of projects on Ravelry – this is a very popular sweater!
I went to The Yarnery and bought Shelter in color Pumice. A very rustic, but lightweight yarn, in classic grey. I knit the body to the underarm, and knit both sleeves. When I finished the second sleeve, I went to bed…and started thinking. The yoke has two sections of short rows: right after joining the sleeves to the body and close to the neck. Uh oh. Short rows are knit back and forth…NOT in the round! My idea would not work as planned. So, the gremlin in my brain started spinning.
Step One: I moved the beginning of the round to where the left sleeve starts. This is actually where the round started on the body already. I wanted the short row section and the garter line to be less conspicuous. I worked the short rows as written except for where the rows started. I kept a center back marker in place so the placement of my short rows and decreases matched up to the pattern. At the end of the short rows, I left the yarn to the front after a purl row and then joined ball number 2 (keeping it to the inside) and used it for knitted rounds. Purl with Yarn A, knit with Yarn B.
Step Two: When I got to the second set of short rows (at the neck), I had already established my no-line garter. I figured there would be a few rounds with a line where I did the short rows. However, by doing a bit of a hybrid, I was able to camouflage the transition pretty well. It’s a bit complicated to describe here!
Here’s the back, showing where the original BOR was located (at center back) and where I moved it. The center back arrow shows where the garter line would have been.
No line and I even think the short row sections are pretty good. The pictures make the yarn look like steel wool or worse, but it isn’t at all! It softened up quite nicely. My hope is that this simple, lightweight sweater will be one that John grabs often. If not, there might not be another! 😉 I’ll post some pictures after it dries!
Coming Soon!
My next pattern release will be very shortly. A fun holiday knit called Snowball:
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