theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I have been so torn of late between my knitting projects!  I am trying to be true to my knitting, but it is so hard! 

Here is my Mitered Felted Tote in progress — I’m rounding the bend:

There is a LOT of knitting to this bag!  It takes 6 skeins of yarn (I bought 7 because I added the lighter color).  It will take quite a while to get this baby done.

I also finished finishing the baby sweater for my friend:

Other than the sewing in of the sleeves, the major work involved knitting the top part from the green up, including the neckband.  That was where the pattern got screwy.  They did not have the neck centered on the pattern, so I had to make adjustments. 

They never show a good picture of how the shoulders are put together so here is a shoulder shot:

The left shoulder is faced and just comes together on the fold line.  The right shoulder is finished in the traditional Dale way.  I did the neckband a little different: knitting the first row (from the WS so it looks like a purl row) to separate it from the blue stripe on the body and then I did a picot turning row (k1, *YO, k2tog*). 

Here’s a close up of the button hole loops.  Aren’t the lady bug buttons perfect??

Anyway, that’s done!

I have also been working a bit on the silk top — now I’m at 11-12 inches.  15″ gets you to the armhole shaping. 

On a non-knitting note: Did anyone watch American Idol last night?  I have not been following it at all this year but wanted to see Josh Groban.  Did any of you see it when Celine Dionne sang with Elvis?  It was unbelieveable!  It really looked like he was there!  I’m not a huge Elvis fan, but I found it thrilling to see him singing like he was alive and young and so talented.  Wow, what a show.  It was unnerving to see Simon so human, too!

PS from Susan — a couple of you asked about the buttonhole loops.  I do use a tapestry needle and buttonhole stitch.  I sew on the button first and then wrap the yarn around the button to determine the correct length.  I used 3 strands of yarn for the base.  I count the number of buttonhole sts I do so they are all the same length.  I anchor each end of the loop so that they don’t pull too much when buttoned.

This is a close up of the BH loop I did on my Sunrise Circle:

The difference is that I made a square st by doing the BH sts in 2 parts: the first half is done as above and the second half is done in the opposite direction.

 

Yarnover was a rousing success!  Almost 300 attendees and some very notable knitting legends and legends-to-be.  Meg Swansen, Annie Modesitt, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Arnhild Hillesland, Susanna Hansson (who translates the famous original Bohus designs into English — you go, Girl!) to name a few. 

A newcomer to the group: Ann McCauley.  Her name sounded so familiar to me and then I realized that she also had a square in the Great American Aran Afghan (the Ann McCauley square).  Ann just wrote a book called The Pleasures of Knitting which has some gorgeous designs.  She wore a couple of them throughout the day, and they were very impressive.  It helped that she is a size 2 and weighs 15 lbs.  But I think at least some of the designs could work for normal-sized peeps.

And, now on to the important part: the freebies.  You all know how much I love freebies ;)!!  Look at the great back pack we received:

This could hold half of a good sized knitting stash AND is suitable for camping!!  My favorite is the set of stitch markers:

 

OMG — are these gorgeous??  If my pierced ears worked I’d wear these as earrings! 

After a very humorous keynote by Annie M. we moved to our classrooms.  I taught the Beaded Amulet Bag class. And that’s the title of the class: “Beaded Amulet Bag.”   A woman (who shall remain unnamed) walked in, saw all my beaded amulet bags on display and said, “Well, I didn’t know that’s what we were going to be making.  I’ve made dozens of these.  I want my kit and then I’ll be leaving.”  I said she could have her kit once everyone paid their supply fees, so she left immediately and went off to complain to discuss with the planning committee that she had been misled misunderstood about the nature of the class and wanted to take something else.  It’s a Beaded Amulet Bag class — we were making beaded amulet bags!!!!  What did you THINK it was going to be!??!!

Anyway, to continue.  The class was great fun.  Here are some pictures of the class in progress.

Getting Started:

Great concentration:

How is yours coming along?

There was also a Vendors Market where you could shop like crazy.  I resisted all temptation, but it was tough.  There were some really great shops there.  I did get to meet the wonderful owners of The Tangled Skein in St. Peter, Minnesota that Sally wrote about in January.  The Yarnery and Amazing Threads were there, and most of the other yarn shops in the Twin Cities had a presence. 

After the day wrapped up, the teachers were treated to dinner and then home to collapse.  All in all, a fine day. 

Put it on your calendar for next year: April 12, 2008.  I’ll be teaching again, so if you have any ideas for a workshop, let me know!

I think I should have been a weather-person.  You know, “Here’s Rainey with the weather.”  I mean, Debbie Bliss gets a name that goes well with knitting!

Why bliss?  I spent the afternoon with Meg Swansen, just gabbing, knitting, eating wonderful cookies (thanks, Jean!!) and generally hanging out with very cool people: knitters.  Some very serious and accomplished knitters, such as Meg Swansen, Amy Detjen, Jean Christensen, and Theresa Gaffey — and some not so accomplished (there were several very new newbies hanging out). 

Meg is known for being a very warm, generous, and inclusive-type person.  She is totally famous and talented, but does not let it go to her head AT ALL.  She was talking about Al**e Sta**ore and that she is going to be having a conference call next week with her, Kaffe Fassett, and Barbara Walker — talk about your heavy hitters!!  They are going to be discussing how to help mark the 25th Anniversary of Vogue Knitting.  She said she won’t say anything — too intimidated by AS and her mega talent.  “I’m in such awe of her!” she said.  Hmmmm, and no one is in awe of you??!!??  Meg, you are one of my heroes!

As I mentioned, the very talented Theresa Gaffey was also at the Yarnery today.  Last night at knitting, Rosemary brought in a felted bag she had just finished — it was fantastic.  I had also seen a guy carrying one like it at the Yarn Harlot event and fell in love with it.  Rosemary said that Theresa had designed it, so of course I had to get that bad boy.  If you use NatureSpun, it gets a boucle appearance when felted which is tres cute.

I chose pretty much the same colors.  It’s done in garter st so it should be a great mindless and portable objet d’art. 

Okay, now I have to go get packed up for tomorrow’s Yarnover Workshop.  I have ten fun people to hang with all day, plus shopping and visiting at the Vendor Market — is that too much bliss for one person to handle??  Woo Hoo!

Signed,

Susan Bliss 😉

PS — re: the pattern.  It is available through The Yarnery for sure, and I believe that Theresa sells her patterns elsewhere also, but I’m not sure where.  Just call The Yarnery (651-222-5793) and they will gladly send you a pattern.  They said they got a few sales of the felted egg pattern because of the reference here — way to go, Yarnery!!

PSS to WendyO — it IS such a dilemma!  I am still knitting on the Woman’s Continental (though now that spring is almost here, the heavy coat sweater seems less appealing).  The above felted bag has a very autumnal colorway, but NEEDS to be in those colours, or at least the first one does.  Could a summery version be far behind?  Too many projects…and no, the Peacock yarn is still not here 🙁

 

My hubris has come back to haunt me.  I said I laugh in their smug faces — what a mistake.  I take it all back, honest!  I didn’t really mean it!

Last night I rushed home to my mail box.  I threw it open and there was the envelope I have been waiting for: it was a special USPS shipping envelope, the right size, it obviously held two balls of yarn, it had the right amount of squishiness.  I was ebullient! 

I tore open the envelope and for a moment could not comprehend what I was looking at — it was not peacock blue, and it was not yarn.  Slowly the realization came over me: it was a rejected design submission.  My knitting design had been rejected and returned.  Snap!  Talk about adding insult to injury!

Later I checked my email and found out the peacock yarn is on back order — probably thanks to Surly, who spawned such a resurgence of interest in the Peacock Shawl that now the Zephyr yarn is sold out throughout the entire knitting world!

The knitting gods do not have a sense of humor, do they?

I just got my issue of Knitter’s Magazine, Spring 2007.  A couple of interesting things, but the MOST interesting was the mention of some beautiful shawl pins designed and sold by none other than Romi, who comments frequently on our blog:

Page 22

Way to go!  I would buy one of each, but my daughter the jewelry maker would feel hurt and rejected  😉 .  Hope you get a huge response, Romi!

PS — I just read The Yarn Harlot’s accounting of her trip to St. Paul and she said she was star struck by moi — well, hey, that’s just crazy talk!  But it made my day!! 🙂

The Peacock yarn did not come yesterday :(, but today is another day :)!!

From Sally: It snowed in Washington, D.C. last night. Here’s a photograph of one of my cherry trees with the blossoms covered in snow.

First I want to thank everyone for the lovely comments about my Grandma Lettie and her beautiful picture.  I was touched that all of you appreciated it so much.  And thanks for all of the wonderful comments about Oregon.

Headline: Yarn Harlot Comes to St. Paul for Book Signing;  Bookstore Expects Ten; 400++ Show Up

I just drank the Kool-Aid and I’m feeling fine! I spent the evening with 400 of my closest friends: knitters , knitters and more knitters.  All of whom gathered to listen to the one and only Yarn Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee).  The event was sponsored by The Yarnery — the staff were wonderful and did a great job putting the event together.  Plus they gave us cute canvas knitting totes!  Woo Hoo!  I LUV freebies!

Here is the gathering of the masses:

This is just the beginning — the place was packed!

Two Sunrise Circles found each other (the one on the left is accompanied by Lynne, fellow “Thursdays at Four” knitting peep). 

Stephanie spoke for about an hour and was very funny.  I wish I could remember more of the talk – I DO remember that she mentioned a sweaty, shirtless sheep shearer named Nick.  I’m not sure why that sticks in my mind.  Hmmmmm.  No shirt, you say?

She basically described the rift misunderstanding that exists between the muggle world and the knitting world.  The answer is more wool.  If everyone in the world knitted, many of the world’s most serious problems could be solved (some in 73 hours or less). 

After the formal presentation and Q&A, Stephanie signed books.  Kim (faithful sidekick for the evening!) and I waited in line for 1 hour 45 minutes (and we were in the first wave!).  On the positive side, we got to visit with other knitters.

So, what do you wear to an event that is lousy with knitters?  A Bohus!  I wore my Bohus because I was hoping that YH would wear hers.  And she did not disappoint.  Here is a picture of our overlapping Bohuses (I grabbed hers off the table as I waited to get my book signed):

Hers is from Sweden and is absolutely gorgeous.  Soft, and light as air.  Very nicely knit as well.  Our Bohuses were very happy to meet each other.

Then I got to meet Stephanie — she was very sweet and liked my Bohus as much as I liked hers.  She signed my book and agreed to a photo:

So the Yarn Harlot sock made it into our lil blog — we are at the feet of famous, people!  The topper was that she said she reads our blog! :)  The day could not get any better than that!

Now it’s off to bed I go.  Knitting is tomorrow night so I must be rested!