theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Buried under the snow and buried under my life!!  🙂  Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration!  I just got back from visiting Surly in Colorado (actually, I was visiting Loki!!).  He is the cutest, sweetest thing you ever saw, but is a biter.  He has sharp, pointy teeth and gnaws on you constantly!!

Loki is happily eating Sally’s knitting pattern!  She must have printed 5 copies of that page while I was there!

So tired after all that trouble:

Right before I left I started a portable project for airplane knitting:

Time Trades

I had the gray/taupey gradient already (Miss Babs Yummy Two Toes Gradient – Pegasus Colorway), as well as the darker pink.  The pink is from Alainn Yarns, Worn Suitcase Fingering in Lady Slipper Colorway.

I dragged several skeins of yarn with me so that when Sally and I went to Fort Collins to visit yarn shops, we could search for the perfect combination.  We hit My Sister Knits (of course!!) and The Loopy Ewe.  Both are great shops, but The Loopy Ewe is beyond anything you have ever seen.  They have almost every yarn imaginable, in every colorway, in sweater quantities or more.  BUT, they do not carry the Brooklyn Tweed line, which gives My Sister Knits their own special corner of the market — plus, it is adorable!!  I ended up getting a pale speckle at Loopy Ewe that tied my colors together (I think the  yarn is Dream in Color Smoochy???).  The Lady Slipper is MUCH thinner than the pale speckle but I am using it anyway!!

My life is in a dither because we are soon to move.  We bought a house, as I mentioned.  We have lived here for over 20 years.  The new house is bigger (square footage wise) but it feels like a downsize because it is laid out differently.

Today I am going to tackle my sewing/knitting room.  Ack!  The new house has an actual sewing room, but of course it isn’t as big as mine since I am currently using a bedroom with two large closets.  Help…

PS to commenters: I WAS tempted to bring Loki home with me, especially since the next time I see him he will no longer be a puppy!  And, Denise, you are so right about boxes!  We are going to go pick up a bunch today that are on the small size for the mountains of books we are taking with – and for other stuff, too.

PS2 to Anya: I searched high and low for the label to my pale speckled yarn, without hope.  Then I just happened upon it in my purse!  It is Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Color 535, String & Key.  It might still be available since I just bought it last week!

PS3 to Alison: Loki is lounging on Surly’s beautiful Sleeping Baby’s Castle Blanket!  Her pattern is on Ravelry and is a super fun knit!

John just started!!  Bib #1013.

He is in a bumblebee suit, bumblebee hat AND one of the few bumblebee bibs! He is an “uberlegger” which means over 30 Birkies!  His bib is black with gold lettering.  They have live streaming in a few places along the course — Sally and I will be hunting for our favorite bee!

ETA: John won his age group!  His 35th Birkie was the best ever!!

PS to Rebecca: He finished in 3 hours, 9 minutes. 🙂

PS2 to Julie: John’s hat matched his ski suit.

Use of the adjective “bumblebee” was not meant to be taken literally!  He was wearing a stretchy ski suit in black and yellow – he is on the right in this picture (which is not very flattering of him IMHO):

I also got a short video of him crossing the finish line!

We are heading to the American Birkebeiner today.  John will finish his 35th Birkie, if everything goes right.  The conditions are spectacular and should be perfect for spectating.

We smashed the record for snowfall in February!!

Sally and I fell in love with a Big Love cardigan in this beautiful pink yarn.  It is Very Light Pink, Le Gros Lambswool, from Biches & Bûches.  The color is stunning.  The yarn itself is a little hard for me to knit with.  But, I soldier on!!

My right middle finger is in a splint and hurts all the time.  This is related to the “minor” surgery I had last September.  Why doesn’t anything heal correctly?  I’m fed up!!

More so because I have a lot of manual labor to do in the near future…John and I bought a house!  We had dreams of a home on the river, but have given those up.  🙁  Instead, our new home is located on Elm Creek Park Reserve, with a view of a pond.  🙂  The park is the largest in the area, with miles of walking paths, bike trails, and cross country skiing.  John spends a lot of time at the park now as it is — roller skiing on an almost daily basis and XC skiing.  The house is three doors down from the most beautiful flower garden I have ever seen.  No, I don’t garden, but I won’t have to!  Every walk to the trail entrance will take me past this unbelievable floral display.

With every new home, you have the “square peg in the round hole” syndrome.  The new house has many positives and a few question marks (“How will we do ‘X'”), but that is true of every change.  We only have two months to get our house on the market, so we have to get in gear!! 🙂 🙁 🙂 🙁  Ack!!

Who could forget that sweet smile and look of innocence??  Surly hasn’t changed much over the years!!  She remains the best sister anyone could ask for and a darn fine knitter…yay!!

I fear my knitting time is going to temporarily disappear.  The reason is this little cutie who arrived in our home yesterday.  His name is Loki.  We chose that name as a bit of a nod to our beloved golden Thor who died about 5 years ago.  Loki and Thor are brothers in Norse mythology.  Loki is known as a trickster and so far I think the name may fit.  (Click to see the cuteness in all its glory.)  He’s 8 weeks old and is also a golden retriever.

I have been working on several projects lately that require different balls of yarn.  Example: Weather or Knot Scarf.

I read people’s posts about weaving in ends on this and other projects (like fade cardis and shawls).  Please don’t weave in ends!  Please minimize your ends as you go!  It will look better and save time.  This video discusses how to eliminate ends on shawls and scarves that have no seam for hiding ends.  I splice my cast on tail and I splice when I join a new color.  I used this on my Comfort Fade Cardigan and had very few ends when I was done.  It works well on fades because the color changes are meant to flow from one to the other.

On my weather scarf, you are supposed to slip the first stitch unless you join a new color – then you knit it.  That means that the left edge is always slipped but the right edge isn’t.  I slip every first stitch on both edges.  I splice in the new color after slipping.  I don’t care if there is a candy cane effect on my weather scarf as my colors blend quite well…that is until summer!  My red and gold could be very “candy caney” (yes, I made up that word!!).  If it’s too noticeable I will Russian join those colors.  So far, I am into February and do not have a single end to weave in.

I have used this method on many different yarns, even cotton – both plied and unplied.  Yes, I knit mostly with wool, but this works with superwash wool as well as regular.  I have found very few instances where I could not make this work.  If you can’t make it work, then you are no worse off than you were before!

I just completed a project I have been working on off and on for months – my Comfort Fade Cardigan.  It was not my favorite thing to knit.  I didn’t think it was turning out and it was a LOT of knitting and futzing.  I used Goosey Squish DK in a Comfort Fade kit.  Unfortunately the kit wasn’t packed in the proper proportions so I had way more dark colors than light.  By the time I started it, I had had the kit a while, so I decided to make it work.  It meant a lot of adjusting along the way.  I survived! 😉

The sweater has this HUGE collar and I thought that might be something I would want to change…I didn’t.  The sweater is very low cut so you need the collar to fill in.  it is still pretty low cut on me!  obviously I will be wearing a blouse under it, but sweater is pretty open in the upper front.

In the regular pattern, the collar fades to the lightest color.  That means that the lightest color meets the darkest when folded over.  I like mine better!  I think I will wear this a lot this spring!!

PS to Chloe: I knit a lot.  I am a slow knitter, but I do knit a lot of the time!

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and started my Weather or Knot scarf put together by The Yarnery!  They have kits in LOFT and Holst Coast.  I, of course, went in a different direction and selected a similar colorway of Tukuwool.  It is lightweight like the Coast version, so I added 10 sts in width.  I got the yarn yesterday and am already caught up, so this is a fun project with minimal commitment.  Well, you commit for a year!  But, you could actually knit a few weeks at a time sporadically throughout the year.

You knit 2 rows a day based on the high temperature.  You also compare the day’s high to the average for that date.  Each color represents a different range of temperatures.  I created a spreadsheet with the average high temps for the year and then just fill in the daily high.  Easy peasy!!

January is almost over and my scarf is 6 inches.  Maybe I’ll get another half inch by month’s end.  That gives me a scarf roughly 78 inches long, which isn’t bad!  If it seems short, I can add fringe or tassels.  I am loving every stitch so far…

And can I just give a shout out to my knitting peeps?  You are the most over-the-top generous, supportive, and fantastic group of friends one could ever ask for!!  I love you all to pieces!!

PS to Felicity: I used the same colorway as The Yarnery kits.  Purple is the coldest at anything under 14 degrees F.  I know several people who are adding a color for under zero degrees.  We are going into a really cold snap this week — well under zero — for several days.  I may add something really dark for that temperature!!  I am thinking of a Spindrift color (Dusk).

PS2 to Pam: Great weather cowl!  It is very easy to see the temperature trends just looking at the cowl.

PS3 to Maura: Yes, the pattern tells you how to indicate if the temp is above or below the daily average.  Thus far I have one day that is on average.  The rest are about 50-50 above or below.

PS4 to Jenny: Different climates assign different temperature ranges to the colors!!

Can I first say that Surly’s Ito sweater is stunning???  Do not be a bit surprised to see a giant replica in the future!!

Okay.  Today is my first official day of retirement.  I have had Fridays off for years, so today doesn’t seem that different, and yet it does.  My work life is over…well, except for my part-time “job” at The Yarnery!  I purposely scheduled myself to teach tomorrow so I would feel like I still worked.  Now, with polar temps and husband gone all weekend, I question that decision!!  It means I have to walk the dog, etc., etc.  Usually I don’t mind, but it really is cold!

My first trip will be to see Surly and her new puppy.  I can’t go until March so I hope he is still teeny tiny!!  Other than that it will be life as usual!!  Thanks for all of the well wishes and celebrations!