theraineysisters knitting and so much more

If you can force bulbs, does that mean you can force Spring?  No, I didn’t think so either but I’ve been trying.  We’ve had a long and dreary winter and spring here in Boulder.  To counter it, I’ve been knitting with a lot of soft pastels and bright pinks.  That didn’t stop it from snowing again a few days ago.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that winter will eventually give up and go away.

One of my recent pastel knits is Adelaide by Isabelle Kraemer.  The yarn is Carol Sunday’s Angelic 3-ply in the colorway Ice.  I started this ages ago, knit the fun part (the yoke), and then let it languish.  I hauled it out this winter when I needed some mindless stockinette.

I made a few minor changes:  I added a stockinette roll to the neck, lengthened the short sleeves slightly, and added a few inches to the overall length.  I love the yarn and I think this will be a great transitional weather sweater.

On another note, remember this little guy?

What’s happened?  He’s turned into a big boy!

I decided to knit a summer shawl since my last sweater attempt was a flop (reboot Vitamin D!).  I am making Romi Hill’s 2019 Mystery Shawl, which is no longer a mystery.  The picture below is NOT MINE!!!

This is the mystery shawl by toro525 on Ravelry.  You can clearly see the design.  My darker section is out of a bright cherry pink/fuchsia.  Not sure yet what the bottom will be!

We got connected to the internet and cable today.  It’s been several weeks without.  I must admit that I have felt a bit disconnected from the world.  Some people feel better when they go without those connections, but I like to hear the news and watch a little TV while knitting.  So, I am back on the grid, People!!

PS to Penny: The Dumbo that I made was a major modification of an existing pattern called Elefante.  I changed the head, face, and ears the most.  I described the changes I made but really cannot provide a pattern for it.  He was a labor of love and is one of a kind.  I shared the “pattern” I used for the ears on Ravelry.  The hat and neck ruffle were done kind of freestyle!

PS to Others regarding Dumbo:

The ears were one of the easier mods — the curved trunk was no picnic!!  For the ears, I used a picture of Dumbo and traced the shape onto graph paper(shown on Ravelry as mentioned above).  I had to play around a bit, but it wasn’t too bad.  The really hard part was getting the eyes the way I wanted.  I tried EVERYTHING!  After dozens of tries (no exaggeration!), I embroidered closed eyes onto him:

I hated the way he looked.  It was not the look I was going after at all.  I finally stumbled onto some Amigurumi dolls and thought that maybe a combination of felt and embroidery would work.  I was much happier with the eyes…but something still wasn’t right!

The shape of the face was wrong.  So I took a long needle and yarn and pushed it through his temples to pull them in.  Much better!!

Julie’s Knitted Bliss Blog features a recurring item she calls Modification Monday (I’ve been featured there a couple of times myself!!).  Surly’s surprising mashup of Birkin and Colors for a Cloudy Day is highlighted today.  Check it out!!

April 29, 2017, I wrote the following as part of a longer post.

As you all know, I sew as well as knit.  My sewing days don’t exactly predate my knitting days, but I did a lot more sewing early in my life.  I bought some fabric a while back because it reminded me of a picture of me from kindergarten, which of course I cannot find.  It also reminds me of a beautiful dress that my grandmother made for my mom.

In the process of packing, I found the picture!  Here is that five-year old girl.

I feel like that little girl a bit when I wear this shirt!!

I finally finished my Drizzle on the Window mitts – made to accessorize my Drizzle on the Window Hat.  Truly, with a small amount of dedication, you, too, can finish these little mitts in two months!!  I started mine in early February and finally knocked them out and wrote up the pattern.

My mitts are knit with Anzula Serenity 100% cashmere, color Mariana.  At $48 a skein, I have not made a matching hat!  I bought the yarn so when I went to “Cocoa and Cashmere” night at Amazing Threads on February 8, I would have cashmere to knit on.

Anyway…when you buy both the hat and mitts patterns you get $2 off — and it applies to previous purchases!

PS to Denise: links to bead sources are included in the pattern and also can be found on various Ravelry Group Drizzle KAL posts.

My Big Love is done and fits great!  I haven’t worn it officially yet, but it is really nice.  I will ask DD to take a picture so people can see how it looks.  The shoulder lands perfectly!!  Lettie is wearing it here:

Some of you may recall a baby hat I made a while back:

It is Purl Soho’s Garter Ear Flap Hat.  I made it for my daughter to give to a friend.  The friend L O V E D it, but alas, the hat was small.  I reknit it a little bigger (it’s not as much bigger as the picture would imply!!):

I hope it fits the little cutie!!

We are just 2-1/2 weeks away from moving.  I drove by the house this week and the For Sale sign is GONE — I guess we are committed now! 🙂  This picture is from February…the house isn’t all brick, but it looks nice from this angle!  I am nervous and excited.  My dreams lately have all been of the “high-anxiety” variety!!

PS to Robin: I made the smallest size.  He is not a total infant so it may have fit him early on?  I just don’t know all the details! 🙂

Hey, all!  Yes, we are still alive and kicking.  I am slowly working on my Big Love Cardigan.  Everyone who sees it says they love the color — and I have to agree.  And I am soldiering on despite my middle finger splint and packing to move!

So what is the problem with Big Love??  It is a very cute, boxy, cropped cardi (mine won’t be cropped!!) with almost 350 projects on Ravelry.  I am not trying to diss this very talented designer, but it has a shoulder placement problem.  And it could very well be that she did this on purpose as a design element…so there is that.

This diagram shows how a typical shoulder line aligns with the underarm:

The shoulder should line up right above the center point of the underarm.  Big Love doesn’t do this.  Because there is no neck shaping the shoulder line is pushed toward the back.

It can’t help itself — your neck is in the way!  This moves the shoulder line to the back and rotates the underarm midpoint toward the bust:

This rotation affects the fit.  Also, it pulls the front of the sweater up which makes the front shorter.  The designer added a series of short rows to the bottom of fronts to account for this. 😐

I recently finished Ebbets which has the same construction, but corrects for it.  So what I did was make the front two inches longer than the back.  To do the math, just add one inch to the front measurement and subtract one inch from the back measurement (my original number was 7-1/4″).  The resulting combination is the same overall depth for the armhole, it just places the shoulder in the correct position:

My armhole is still 14-1/2 as needed, but this small tweak deliberately moves the original shoulder line to the back of the neck instead of forcing it there.  The underarm is now centered to the actual shoulder line.  Because of this change, I did not need to add short rows to the fronts.

I reknit the bottom hems multiple times trying to get a nice tubular bind off.  Finally got it the way I wanted.  Now if I can get off sleeve island I can call it done!

And please be kind to Lettie.  She is not fond of nudie shots!!

PS to Tracey: ETA I wrote it wrong where I said to add the inch!!  Corrected now!  The front is longer than the back.  This sweater front needs extra length along the armhole to go up and over the natural shoulder line.

PS2 to Susan: No, I am no longer playing yarn chicken.  I never was apparently!  I started sleeve #1 with a partial skein, but thought it was a full skein.  Before finishing sleeve one, I started sleeve two to see how long to make them (to equalize the shoulder drop on each side).  I have TONS of yarn!!  Unfortunately, I ordered an additional skein prior to this realization and spent beaucoup bucks on a skein I do not need.  I feel really smart!!  Now I have a skein that if sent back wastes a ton of dough on shipping.  Whatta dork.

PS3 to Chloe: The longer version had not yet launched and it is REALLY long.

PS4 to Annie: The extra fabric is due to the extra ease in the body.  There is some short row shaping which shapes the shoulder and lowers the armhole opening.  This does reduce excess fabric but does not eliminate it.  The tight sleeves can easily be corrected by using your own measurements and preferred ease around the arm — then use the size sleeve that matches (i.e., one or two sizes bigger).  I did this and my sleeves were too tight anyway because of tighter gauge!  I am blocking it now and did correct the tight sleeves with blocking.  It is drying right now and I really don’t know what it will look like!!

Off the boards and onto Lettie!

I finally finished something!  Yay!!  Woo Hoo!  🙂  I am now blocking my Time Trades Shawl.  The pictures make it look really small, but it measures the exact size as stated in the pattern: 72 x 18 inches!

And thanks to splicing, only one end to weave in after countless color changes!!

I really like the colorway…but, wait.  It looks really familiar:

Pink speckle and gray tonal.  Hmmm.  I sense a theme here.  Oh, well!  Too late now!!

Sambucus Kit is sold. 🙂

PS to Stashdragon: I block shawls and most everything else on a sheet of hard, one inch thick styrofoam insulation.  The 4×8 foot sheet was cut in half to fit in my car.  It did not fit in my car!  So back I trudged so they could trim 4 inches off each half!  I love, love, love my blocking boards! 🙂

PS2 to Chloe: Home Depot!

PS3 to Lois: I cut the sheets crosswise so they are 4×4′.  If I need them to be the full 8 feet wide, I butt them up to each other and pin them together.