Let there be cake, flowers, yarn, and general merriment. I wish I was there to share the big day! You are my inspiration, best friend, and partner in crimes and misdemeanors.
Here’s one of my favorite photos of Susan (taken with my daughter).
:groan: THAT is a tortured title if I ever saw one!!
Hi, everyone! Am I the only person who thinks the yarn world has gone a little bit nuts? $400 for sweater yarn. $120 for hat yarn. $250 for shawl yarn.
Then, you still have to (get to?) knit it! Plus, I just heard about a knitting retreat that is $9500 for three days! Is everyone a billionaire but me??
Okay, Susan, settle down. Anyway, I just finished a cute little hat that I did not spend $120 to make. I spent around $40. Still a lot, but not in the billionaire range! It is the Farrell Hat from the latest issue of Making. The hat struck me right away, as it did my friend Kim. We decided to buy Peerie Yarn – the new Brooklyn Tweed offering – and divide the skeins. That is why it was cheaper!!
Reds sure photograph weird! It looks absolutely electric in the picture — much more subdued in real life. As I started this hat, I hated it. I thought it was the ugliest hat I had ever seen. But it has since grown on me. I love it. It has such a retro, Europe in the 40’s, crazy feel to it!! I see myself wearing this quite a bit. It is very “un-me,” but that is what I like about it.
The yarn was nice to work with and blocked beautifully. 🙂
PS to Pru: It IS a carnival! That is such a good word to describe it! And, yes, Sally and I are blatant and unapologetic enablers! “You knew that when you took us in.”
Well, maybe a Niebling a year! I just finished a Niebling-inspired shawl called “OD — Ovale Decke.” It truly seemed like endless knitting and certainly an endless picot bindoff!!
I used Grinning Gargoyle Seda Sock in color Crater Lake from stash. I would bet all kinds of money that I bought them in two separate years at Yarnover and did not know it! It is a stunning, electrified blue. If I had it to do over, I would have made a smaller size – one that just takes a single skein of sock yarn. This one is a bit big even for my wearing preference!!
I also had an interesting experience yesterday. I was contacted via Instagram by Kristy Glass who asked if she could interview me. Weird, huh? She has a very active podcast series going on YouTube (Kristy Glass Knits).
We met yesterday morning at her hotel for the interview. She was very nice and easy to talk to. We talked about my knitting journey over the past five decades and my knitting designs. It should be ready to air next fall – I will let you know when!
PS to Kathy: Niebling didn’t design shawls per se — he designed table linens mostly. But recently, a number of people have reimagined his designs as shawls because we just don’t use lacy tablecloths like they did in his day!! People knit his full tablecloths in laceweight for a circular shawl, or rework them into crescent shapes like this one.
As I have said before, I love movies. I have also described the inner struggle that occurs between my “mature female” self and the adolescent male that resides within. It explains my love of Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead. If given a choice, we really don’t have a way of predicting which of the two will win!!
Here is a case in point: two movies opened this weekend: Book Club and Deadpool 2. So, which movie won???
First a recap of the contenders:
Book Club stars a who’s who of over-65 actors that we know and love: Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, Looking for Mr. Goodbar), Jane Fonda (Barbarella, They Shoot Horses Don’t They), Candice Bergen (Carnal Knowledge), and Mary Steenburgen (Goin’ South) for the women; Don Johnson (who looked amazing!), Andy Garcia (not bad either!), Richard Dreyfuss, etc. for the men. Yes, I mentioned some of their old movies on purpose!!
The titular book club in the movie, at Jane Fonda’s insistence, embarks on reading the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy and it rocks their world. Humor and romance ensue.
Deadpool 2 is the sequel to the first raunchy, violent comic book super-“hero” movie in the franchise, and stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, and Josh Brolin. It definitely is a movie for the adolescent male!! And I swear that the swan floatee in the picture below is taken directly from Book Club!!
Book Club won for two reasons: 1) I wanted to support a movie made for and about mature women and b) I watched Deadpool (1) with my daughter last night and have plans to go to the sequel NEXT week!!
I enjoyed the movie, along with the fairly large audience of 90% women of 60 years plus. There were many knowing laughs and chuckles throughout the movie. It was fairly predictable, but we didn’t care. Diane Keaton looked 100 years old, but that is because she has not had work done. Jane Fonda has had too much work done, but so did the character she was playing. Mary Steenburgen looked her age, but all of the three mentioned really kept their figures over the years, which I could not relate to. Candice Bergen has gained weight — she even admitted in an interview that she enjoys food and isn’t going to apologize for it now; she doesn’t care if she is heavier than she was when she was younger. I related the most to her! I care but apparently not enough to do anything about it!!
So, I recommend this light-hearted movie if you are a woman on the mature end of the spectrum.
As for knitting, I am still working on an endless shawl with endless rows of endless knitting, which when finished lead to the even more endless picot bind off!!
Minnesota in the Summer
Nothing is more beautiful then “upnorth” Minnesota!!
I will be teaching at a knitting retreat June 22-25 at the Norwegian Wood Retreat Center in Princeton, MN.
Friday night I will do a presentation on Herbert Niebling – The Lace Genius, Saturday is an introduction to Invisible Stranding, and Sunday is devoted to Essential Shawl Techniques, such as garter tab cast on, no end stripes, picot bind off, etc.
I will also be there in October with different topics. Overnight accommodations are available, or people can come to any of the events separately! It would be amazing if some of you were there!!
June 2018 Knitting Retreat with Susan Rainey
We just wrapped up a whirlwind of a week. Sally travelled to Minnesota to attend this year’s MKG Yarnover event. It was a smashing success and loads of fun. See our April 29th Tip of the Week to see pictures of the two Sallys and Susan at Sunday’s Yarnover meeting with Sally Melville!
On Monday, April 30, we boarded a plane and headed to Colorado. Susan had not yet seen Sally’s new home. We had to stop at a yarn store immediately upon landing in Denver. 😉 Fancy Tiger Crafts is a very cute, quirky shop with both yarn and fabrics:
We were still very inspired by all that we had seen on Sunday, so we both bought yarn to make Sally Melville’s L’Enveloppe. She said it was her most popular pattern on Ravelry. Very unusual construction, but cute, stylish, and wearable! We each bought Malabrigo Mecha — Susan’s is Chuy (blues and greens); Sally’s is Mostaza (electric mustard/green).
We headed to Sally’s beautiful new home, nestled in the foothills of the Rockies.
Susan had total “kitchen envy!”
…and “view envy!”
The view from the living room couch
The Couch!
The open area is protected from future development and surrounded by walking trails. This is the view from our walk:
Sally’s House is fifth from the left
Wonderland Lake
Our goal was to finish our new projects while Susan was in Boulder, but we had to hit a few more yarn stores!! Fort Collins (about an hour from Boulder), for reasons unknown, is a knitting mecca in spite of its relatively small population. Our first stop, for obvious reasons: My Sister Knits!!
This adorable shop is located in a carriage house behind a larger home. This picture does not do it justice!
Yes, there was a chicken coop right in front! So, we HAD to buy chicken-themed yarn!!
Susan’s Chicken Yarn – looks like that little fella on the left of the picture, or maybe the one next to him center front!
Sally’s Chicken Yarn — not sure Sally’s chicken was on the premises.
Then it was off to The Loopy Ewe – a well known on-line presence, with crazy quantities of yarn. Every yarn they carried was fully stocked in all/most colorways! They do not stock Shibui and Brooklyn Tweed, but My Sister Knits carries their full lines!!
Acres and acres of beautiful yarns — and fabric, too! It was a bit overwhelming. Here is some of their Wollmeise:
We did finish our L’Enveloppes, had a lovely dinner out with Sally’s daughter and SIL, watched some riveting TV and movies, and stared out the window at the view. It was a great trip – the first of many to come. 🙂
PS to Julie about the Shaping of L’Enveloppe: The shape and seaming of this garment is unusual and difficult to explain or visualize until you are near the end of the line. The sleeve is created by closing the long edge on the left side with a short seam. The gold bar in the picture below shows approx. what is seamed to create the sleeve – you adjust this to your own size.
I am staying true to my goal of no knitting this week. I feel like the episode of Malcolm in the Middle (Season 4, Episode 6, “Forbidden Girlfriend”) where Hal and Lois can’t have sex for a week due to a medical issue — their house is spotless and their lawn goes from dirt and weeds to the envy of the neighborhood! They have so much more time on their hands!!
Well, not quite like that! 😉 My house is still a mess and I never have done the yardwork, BUT I do feel like I have more time on my hands. 🙂
Blocked and done. I love it!
Sally arrives Friday, so I do have some preparations to do and packing for next Monday when we head to Colorado. Hope to see many of my peeps this weekend at Yarnover!!
This is a hard week for me. I decided for the sake of my sore hands (sore everything) that I would knit like a fiend to finish my latest project and then NOT KNIT THE REST OF THE WEEK. Okay. Project done as of last night. Blocked it tonight.
Okay. Now what? I sit. I stare. I think. I straighten things up a little. I actually watch TV. Time passes. S L O W L Y . V E R Y S L O W L Y .
How do non-knitters survive the relentless boredom? I really don’t know how much more I can take…I even had to resort to writing a blog post!!
At least I can tell you about my latest FO!!! I am 99.2% finished with Carol Sunday’s Capture the Moment. The big knitting is done – and I mean lots of knitting on tiny yarn with small needles. It is truly acres and acres of stockinette! All I have left to do is to sew down the pocket linings. Here is Carol’s prototype so you can see how stylish it is on someone young and cute:
I just fell in love with it! I should have gone with my instincts and used Carol’s Angelic 3 ply, but I decided to use her merino Eden 3 ply for the color Twig, which is very nice yarn…but it’s not Angelic! Angelic has the softness and halo of angora.
My blocking picture is horrible so I will show an in-progress pic:
Here is the awful blocking picture:
It is not this brown. It is gray with a slightly green cast. Anyway, I wanted to have it done for this upcoming weekend. Sally is coming into town for the MKG Yarnover Event and then I will fly back to Boulder with her to see her new house and hit every yarn store within 50 miles!!
Took another blocking pic that show is better:
I hope to be able to knit on the trip. I bought yarn for Joji’s new Fading Point Shawl (I am such a lemming!!). I snagged a Primrose Yarn Co Kit. They sold out of kit #12 in 2 minutes, but I got one!!
The picture isn’t quite right, but I LOVE this yarn!!!!! Hoping to start on the shawl while travelling. I would cross my fingers but I am trying not to overuse them!!
PS to Eunice: That is such a good idea (reading Monica Ferris murder mysteries). I had Achilles tendon surgery in 2011 and was completely laid up for weeks. I read a ton of her books! The author came to our knitting group a couple of times and actually named one of her characters after a member of our group (Idonis). I am trying to get the house in order for Sally’s visit and am working through tomorrow as well. But I may add one of her books to my Kindle!!
PS2: I don’t drink, but I have a very close relationship with the refrigerator!!
April 15, 2018 Tip of the Week — The Rainey Sisters Ravelry Group
When working top down sweaters, the bottom edge is not the cast on edge obviously, but rather the bound off edge. The standard bind off is very inflexible, unstretchy. We often do a stretchy bind off to mimic the “give” achieved by casting on. Sometimes all that is needed is to go up a needle size or two when doing the bind off, but this tip gives you an addition al option!
We often use our favorite shawl bind off, in whatever stitch combination works best (i.e., rib, plain knit for garter, etc.). Use a smaller needle to make sure the bind off is not ripply!!
Knit Stitch: k2; insert left needle into the front of the 2 sts on the right needle (like you do for SSK) and k2tog through the back loop (1 st bound off, one st on RH needle). Now k1 and cont. as described to end of row.
Purl Stitch: p2; insert left needle into the back of the 2 sts on the right needle and p2tog (1 st bound off, one st on RH needle). Now p1 and cont. as described to end of row.
In the picture you can see a small “dot” in the bind off. That is the extra yarn added by working the sts twice – this gives it the stretch. You can also see in the picture that the finished width of the bind off is the same as the ribbed hem so it does not ripple.
Tip #2: Are your taxes done??!!
Tip #3: Don’t forget to scroll down in case you have not yet seen Surly’s latest FO!
PS to Suzan from Susan:
Suzan commented as follows, “After many less-than-perfect attempts to do a standard bind off using large needles, I decided I should do Jenny’s stretchy bind off instead. And I actually think I can remember how to do it from project to project. Can you elaborate on why your bind off is better than that one for sweaters? Thanks!”
We are not saying this bind off is better than another if that bind off works for you. In my experience, Jenny’s Stretchy bind off is really stretchy and often “sloppy.” That can be okay for a shawl when the outer edge needs to be aggressively blocked. In the sweater above, I did not want the bind off to stretch so much as “give.” And I did not want it to be wider than the ribbing, which a looser bind off would be. I also find this bind off to be easy to remember: k1, ** k1, k2tog TBL** Repeat between ** **
Always it’s Spring and everyone’s in love and flowers pick themselves. e.e. cummings
I love flowers and yoke sweaters are all the rage, so how could I resist knitting Caitlin Hunter’s Birkin? I couldn’t. I did make a few changes because Susan and I rarely leave well enough alone.
A long time ago, I saw another sweater with an intriguing hem: Colors for a Cloudy Day, designed by yellowcosmo. I added a similar hem to my Birkin, although I ended up constructing mine in a different way. (More detailed explanation of how I made the hem is below.) I also knit full length instead of bracelet length sleeves. The yarn I used is Brooklyn Tweed’s Loft. The main color is Fossil, which I already had in my stash. (Score!). The other colors I used are Artifact, Flannel, Hayloft, and Thistle.
The photos I have right now are not great. I’m in Tucson on a family vacation. When I first arrived, having just finished my Birkin, it was in the 90s. Too hot to wear wool, even a wool as lightweight as Loft. It has cooled off, but it is so windy I can’t get good pictures. (The hair! the hair!) At one point my Birkin actually blew away. It’s a shame because this sweater looks better on. Unfortunately, my mannequin is back in Boulder, so these photos will have to do.
The fair isle hem in Colors for a Cloudy day was shaped by short rows — the hem itself and the “cut out” curve. This is a top down sweater. I made my cutout the way I’d knit a neckline from the bottom up. I used a slope bind off, eliminating stitches as I worked back and forth instead of in the round. When the cut out was finished, I had live stitches except where I’d bound off for the shape. I picked stitches up there and then did an i-cord bind off all the way around.
Here’s a bad selfie that shows what the sweater looked like just before the bind off.
My initial plan was to pick up all the way around for the fair isle part of the hem and shape the inside of the cut out with short rows. (This was the method used by yellowcosmo.) I also planned the hem to be a slightly deeper color than Fossil. I tried my idea with Faded Postcard, a pale purplish pink. I didn’t like how it turned out for several reasons. First, despite going down several needle sizes, the knitting looked sloppy — the short rows distorted the fabric. Second, although Postcard looked nice next to the sweater, it looked too muddy when knit up. See?
I ripped it out and redid it in the Fossil. First, I cast on for the widest part of the curved opening with a provisional cast on. I then worked the floral pattern, shaping it into a curve through decreases at the side. When it was the right size for the opening, I picked up around the rest of the hem, activating the provisional cast on stitches when I came to them. I then knit the leaf pattern. In other words, the floral pattern was knit bottom up and the leaf section was knit top down. After I bound off for the ribbing, I sewed the curved part of my fair isle pattern down under the i-cord. Clear as mud, right?
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