theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Miraculously, we both finished our Pueblo Stoles within minutes of each other!!  Here they are side by side on Lettie:

Nothing left to do but weave in the ends – NOT!  But we do need to finish up the fringe and lightly block them.  Toward the end we were desperate to finish.  Why?  New cow.  We had tired of the “old cow” and wanted new cow.

Have you seen the Ashley Judd/Hugh Jackman movie Someone Like You?  It is a pretty cute romantic comedy with so many similarities to Bridget Jones’s Diary as to be uncanny (and was overshadowed by same when they both came out in 2001).  It talks about the tendency of a bull to tire of the “old cow” and want to move on to the “new cow,” and how this applies to men in relationships.  We think it applies to knitters and their projects!

So, our new code phrase is new cow.  The next new cow is always more appealing than the old cow you are working on!!  We acquired many new cows at Yarnover!!  These shall be unveiled along the way, but let us just say that we jump-started the economy big time.  BIG time.  Sally had to buy an extra suitcase to get it all home.  🙂

And today we head to Washington DC and to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, where Yarnover yarns/projects will become old cow…it is a vicious cycle!!!

Yes, it is that time of year: Yarnover is this weekend!  Yarnover features 19 of the top knitting teachers and dozens of vendors.  It is a real treat for the local knitting community and the many people who travel from far and wide to participate.  Sally arrives tomorrow and we start the whirlwind that is Yarnover yet again.

Sally and I are both working on the same new project: Pueblo by Carol Sunday in the High Country colorway.  Carol does a lovely job of packaging her beautiful yarns:

This is a putsy little project!!  Lots of color changes and many inches of knitting!

It is finally to the point that I might be able to take it along with me.  I know the colors now, though still need the charts to follow the color sequencing.  It is super fun and you are motivated by wanting to get to the next color!  I have finished the first half of the scarf, and thought I might get it done for this weekend, but no such luck.

After Yarnover, Sally and I will head east and hit the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  W.o.o.H.o.o.!!

You may remember that I took a class from Elsebeth Lavold in March.  She had this vest hanging there — taunting me!  Both my friend Beth and I kept being drawn back to it.  Inggun.  I thought it was a lovely, unique design that would be very wearable.

The knitting of this vest took some detective work: the book (The Third Viking Knits Collection) is out of print and the yarn, Calm Wool, out of production!  However, my sleuthing paid off…I found both!  The book is no longer available from my source, but the yarn may still be at the Great Yarn Company.

Quoting Elsebeth from page 25 of this book, “I’m not into knitwear design to show off my own skills, but I don’t mind at all if you do.”  Love that!

When I got it done, the vest was way too small, but it did block to the right dimensions.  Whew!

Inggun by Elsebeth Lavold, in Calm Wool, color Red Wine (40% wool, 30% alpaca, 30% camel), 82 yds/50 gms (12)

Grafted back neck – you can see the jog at the knit-purl transitions, but I thought it better than a seam or 3-needle bind off

Stockinette ribs flow into the armhole edging – this was not the way it was designed

I did do some mods to the construction: knit in one piece (so no side seams); grafted the back neck; worked it so the 2-stitch stockinette rib at the sides flowed straight into the armhole edges (no jog at underarm, see picture above); 3-needle bind off at shoulders – ridge to RS; made the shoulders narrower.

The fit is absolutely perfect.  I think this will be something great to throw on that is comfortable and flattering at the same time.

Grade:

Design: A+
Yarn: A
Fit: A+

I am very pleased – and thrilled that Minnesota cancelled spring this year so I can wear it. 🙂

PS to Vania (April 4, 2019): The Inggun Vest is not really available.  Elsebeth Lavold has been transferring some of her patterns to Ravelry.  I will ask her to do this one soon!  Another of her designs, Osk is very similar to Inggun.  The book is still available.

I periodically receive emails from Knit Purl in Portland, Oregon. I made the mistake of stopping there when I dropped my son off at Reed College a few years ago. Their emails can best be classified as “yarn porn” — lots of enticing yarns that are beautifully photographed. I often succumb to temptation, which is probably why they keep sending me emails.

A few weeks ago, they featured some Sanguine Gryphon Eidos in a custom color (unique to Knit Purl) called “Da Vinci,” a mix of earthy reds and browns (inspired by the Mona Lisa). It was right up my alley and before I knew what hit me I had ordered several skeins. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, but I liked a cowl I saw on Knit Purl’s website and decided to go for it.

The cowl is Brooklet, designed by Cecily Glowik MacDonald. It’s a reversible cowl with stockinette on one side and a simple lace pattern on the other. I did the stockinette in the Da Vinci. For the lace pattern, I found several skeins of Koigu in my stash; the color exactly matched one of the colors in the Da Vinci. That never happens!

Ignore the golden retriever fur in some of the photos. It’s everywhere. Le sigh.