theraineysisters knitting and so much more

November 12, 2006

From Susan — True Confessions

Filed under: Back Story,Current Projects,Updates — lv2knit @ 7:23 pm

Well, I did not think anyone would be interested but, here is the skinny on the el cheapo yarn in my scarf:  No Bo (No Boundaries) yarn, 59% Nylon, 41% Acrylic, $2 per skein (not $1.99, but $2 — it may have been on clearance), 50 gm, 95 meters.  The color shown is #353.  Not a natural fibre within 10 miles!!!

I also finished my daughter’s fingerless gloves with the mini-fingers.  Thank goodness!  I was about ready to cut off one or two of her digits just to get the thing done.  Some projects lose their appeal real fast and this was one of them. 

Next I hope to finish up Anya.  I have been plugging away on it and will post a picture soon showing what I went through to get a nice looking SSK on the raglan.  Then I’m stopping at my OCD meeting ;). 

From Susan — Am I a Reformed Yarn Snob?

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 9:51 am

Reformed?  No.  But do I know a good deal when I see one?  Yes.  I am a bonified yarn snob and proud of it.  I don’t buy yarn at Micheal’s or Joanne’s.  I love silk, alpaca, cashmere, and pure wool — merino and otherwise.  However, I was at a well known discount retailer (rhymes with ball fart) and ran across this yarn in several colors at a ridiculous price.  My eldest daughter has been knitting scarves AND is preparing for a December jewelry craft show.  She mentioned she would like to try to sell a few scarves at the show.  I did not want to invest in the amount of money I spend for yarn on her scarves in case they did not sell.  So I bought the cheap yarn in several colors to try out. 

I decided to see how well it worked before we got too excited.  I knitted up this lovely neutral.  It is the softest yarn I have ever felt.  Ever.  It goes perfectly with my “work uniform” (aka, a beige jumper), and I love it.  I held it double and used size 15 needles so it would be a super fast knit.  Every three ridges I did a double wrap.

Scarf.jpg

I love the very small bits of copper and gold.   So, I have gone to the dark side — at least for one day!!

November 7, 2006

From Susan — In Response

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 10:32 pm

I really appreciate all the thoughtful responses to my “To Be or Not To Be” dilemma.  [I seem to have had a few dilemmas lately].  Many of you recommended that I teach Kayla to knit — and offered some creative ideas.  I did teach Kayla to knit last year.  My favorite memory of last Thanksgiving was the Friday after when my husband had to work and Laura, Jena, Kayla and I were all sitting in front of the fireplace, knitting and watching movies.  The best time ever!! 

I think what I will do is think about it a bit more and recommend to Laura that we pick out some pretty yarn to make Kayla something less involved.  If Kayla is still around next year, maybe I’ll go for something bigger.  Teens tend to move in and out of friendships — if it lasts, we’ll see.

A wonderful thing came out of the “knit worthy” discussion.  June shared a comment, so I visited her blogsite and found a recipe for Hamantaschen.  I practically broke my neck getting to the store fast enough to make these lil cuties.  And they taste even better than they look.  These pastries are a traditional part of the celebration of Purim in the Jewish faith. 

Where have you been all my life?  I took them to work and “the crowd went wild.” 

Hamantaschen002.jpg

The minor changes I made to the recipe: June said she used the zest of two oranges (the recipe calls for 1 tsp of zest).  I used 1 T. and it took the zest of one orange.  I used an entire can of Wilderness ‘More Fruit’ cherry filling.  I made 3″ circles because the 2-1/2 inch size was a tad small. 

I highly recommend these for any occasion and thank you, June, for the fantastic recipe.  It’s already a family favorite — oops, it would be a family favorite if they got to eat any of them ;).

November 6, 2006

From Susan — To Be or Not To Be

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 8:33 am

What does it mean to be ‘knit worthy’?  How many of you have asked this question?  Have any of you been the victim of the “knit-for-boyfriend-and-he-dumps-you” curse.  I have! 

My daughter’s best friend said to her yesterday, “I keep hinting to your mom that I LOVE that sweater in Vogue Knitting (design #15 — thank goodness it’s in Cascade 220 and not cashmere!) and would love for her to make it for me for Christmas — she just doesn’t seem to be getting the hint.”  So, should I take the hint?  She is my daughter’s best friend, she comes over every morning before school to eat breakfast and give Laura a ride, she is called “The Third Sister.”  Why oh why didn’t she ask for something a little simpler??!!@@#??  Aaaaaaaaacccccckkkkkkkkkk!  Now I must decide how to spend my precious knitting time.

My daughter is definitely knit worthy, and because I just made something for the little one I must now make something for the big one.  We loved the lace glovelets in the new Interweave so I started a pair for her yesterday.  She wants fingerless gloves with actual fingers, so I have extra work to do on them.  The gauge is supposed to be 8 sts per inch but mine is more like 9 so some adjusting was necessary.  I’ll post a picture tonight after the first glovelet is finished.  I’m on the fingers now.

October 31, 2006

From Susan — Scary on So Many Levels

Filed under: Back Story,Sock Monkey Dresses — lv2knit @ 2:29 am

Happy Hallowe’en, everyone!  I thought in honor of goblins, ghosts and other scary creatures, I would share the scariest of them all and return to the horrors of the Sock Monkey!  Last summer when Sock Monkey Dresses were haunting us everywhere, I got caught up in the moment and purchased some socks designed solely (forgive the pun) for the making of Sock Monkeys.  

I started my Sock Monkey creature immediately but did not put the finishing touches on until this evening.  I sensed from the first moment that this creature would not be loved, but reviled.  A creature so hideous and malformed that children would scream, women faint, and men tremble.  Perfect for Hallowe’en!! 

 

SockMonkey002.jpg

AND I got to use my pom pom maker!  Now the question remains: is he so ugly he’s cute or just fugly?  Look into those little black eyes and decide.

SockMonkey004.jpg

Happy Hallowe’en ;).

October 25, 2006

From Sally — Look Ma, No Fingers

Filed under: Back Story,Gallery — surly @ 6:05 pm

Yes, I’m alive (for those who were wondering.) And I’ve even been doing a little bit of knitting despite being very busy with personal and other issues. I picked up a small project I had started a long time ago and never finished. It was such a small project I had actually misplaced it! I had been working on some fingerless gloves out of a very nice, earthy yarn I bought one year at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The yarn has a homespun look and feel and it’s very soft. I bought it to make Eric’s Glovelets, a pattern from Green Mountain Spinnery. As is often the case with me, I rushed home and knit one beautiful little glovelet and then got distracted by something else and didn’t get back to it right away. So, I came across the orphan glovelet and its twin (which had a cuff but nothing else) yesterday and decided to just finish the poor things. Here is a lovely photo taken with my webcam (I’m still having camera issues). The gloves hadn’t been blocked yet, nor had the ends been woven in. They therefore don’t look as lovely in these pictures as they do in real life. They are happily drying now and look much better. It’s amazing what soaking does to yarn; this particular yarn really bloomed and a lot of the irregularities from the hand spinning really evened out. If I remember, I’ll take a better picture when they’re dry.

As you can see, I deliberately kept the glovelets quite short so that I could use my fingers easily while wearing them.

Now for something completely different and not related to knitting.

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt.”

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite..

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

“Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand and “lollipop” with your right.

The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

The words ‘racecar,’ ‘kayak’ and ‘level’ are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in “dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: “abstemious” and “facetious.”

There’s no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

Now you know everything.

October 24, 2006

From Susan — You won’t be Newbies Forever!

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 1:37 am

Some of the comments yesterday were about being late knitting bloomers and feeling bad about not being as fast or as far along as others.  You kind of feel like you’re at the starting line when others are rounding the bend.  But it’s not a race.  It truly is a community and everyone brings something into it. 

I used to work with a woman who was much younger than I and a fellow knitter.  I was so proud and excited to share my knitting projects with her.  But she quickly surpassed me — working on gorgeous fair isle socks that I couldn’t believe and designing her own things.  My pride in my knitting was totally overshadowed by her talent, and I didn’t enjoy sharing my knitting with her anymore.  She left to study the knitting arts and make a career of it.  It has taken me many years to get to where she was back then. 

If you are open to trying new things you will learn.  Make sure every new project has something you’ve never done before: cables, buttonholes, colorwork, socks.  Knit what you love out of beautiful yarn.  Pick a pattern that challenges you a little bit, but not TOO much.  Get some good reference books.  Go to knit nights at local yarn shops.  Start or join a knitting group. 

I guess there is no substitute for time and a dose of talent or passion.  Some people make that trip faster than others.  I hope that the newbies in my knitting group never feel as bad as I did — they seem more mature than I was and have a willingness to learn from the other knitters in the group.  That’s the greatest thing about our knitting group — everyone shares their projects with pride and we all learn from each other.

October 18, 2006

From Susan — Hallowe’en Horrors

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 6:03 pm

margaret_hamilton.jpg

Carol commented on my last post and had a wonderful idea: share your scariest  knitting “boo boo’s” with other knitters in a funfest of HORRORS…ooo-oo-oo-oo-ooo-oooooooo!!!  She and her knitting group brought their UFO’s (read: never to be FOs) and laughed themselves silly.  Knitting Night of Horrors — scary ;).  But in a fun way.

October 17, 2006

From Susan — The Knitter Protection Program

Filed under: Back Story,Updates — lv2knit @ 11:09 pm

I went to the Knitters Guild meeting tonight.  The guest speaker was Inger Fredholm, Swedish knitting designer.  She has an exhibit starting this weekend at the Swedish American Institute in Minneapolis.  I signed up for her European Lace class on Friday afternoon.  She is a lovely woman and appears to be very talented.  I am really looking forward to the class and the reception/exhibit opening that follows.  Her book is called “Knitting with a Smile.”  She had them for sale at the meeting, but I’ll get 20% off on Friday so I decided to wait.  More on her, the book and the class later.

As you may remember, the mitten exchange was also this evening.  MANY of the knitters (most of the knitters) expressed the same level of frustration that I felt in trying to make their mittens.  One woman did not finish her mittens, did not come to the meeting and sent the unfinished mittens with a note saying she would never come back (?).  We figured she became part of the Knitter Protection Program for people too embarrassed by their knitting problems to be seen knitting in public again :(.

I received a gorgeous pair of mittens in the yarn I submitted — Rowan Tapestry.  The knitter (and I am sorry that I do not know her name) also expressed frustration with the yarn I gave her — she said it was thin and rather too soft.  It is DK weight I think and is very soft.  It is a fairly new yarn and I had never knit with it before so I didn’t really know how it would knit up.  She lightly felted them and I LOVE them!  They were my favorite mittens of the night and I am very happy with them.

TapestryMitten.jpg

So, now, as promised, here are pictures of “the infamous mittens.”  I’m sure you will just say to yourself, “Oh.”  There is nothing special or un-special about them.  They are plain old, seen ’em before, whatever !? mittens.

Mittens008.jpg

A close up of the “embellishment:”

Mittens009.jpg

The mittens aren’t that special but I fell in love with pompoms!  I made these little cuties with the following new tool:

Clover-3124-pom-pom.gif

They are beautiful AND easy, just like it says on the package.  I may go crazy for pom poms or pom pons or pompoms (your choice).  My husband could not see the attraction, but I told him they are so out that they’re in.   

So, there you go – I am now off the hook and feelin’ fine, never to do a mitten exchange again.  If you ever hear me say even in jest that I want to participate in a mitten exchange, please call the Knitter Protection Program without delay!! ;) 

 

October 15, 2006

From Susan — Mitten Accompli

Filed under: Back Story,Updates — lv2knit @ 2:52 pm

I finished both mittens last night and did an embellishment that I think took the mitts to the next level (of Dante’s Inferno?!?).  They are done, and now I can move on to other knitting.  I plan on working on Oregon this afternoon, as it has been neglected terribly the last few weeks.  I am so close to the armhole steek that it is a shame not to press onward.  I will post some pics soon.  We have not had any long posts or pictures in a while!

HappyBirthday.jpg to Sterling today :).

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