theraineysisters knitting and so much more

…then two are better!  Right?

This summer I made a Trillian and really enjoyed the pattern.   The design takes a long, skinny garter stitch “scarf” (shawl?) and adds a little something to it.

A friend in my knitting group was working on a very similar scarf/shawl called Sandstone Scarf — a freebie from DROPS.  She was knitting her scarf in a stunning combination of two variegated colors of DROPS Delight, #09 and 10.  Just gorgeous!  I quickly went on line to the Nordic Mart website and bought 2 skeins of each in the identical colors.

I started the Sandstone Scarf, but wasn’t sure I liked the garter edges.  So.  I restarted it using the Trillian pattern, and kept at it until it was 80 inches long!  You work both colors simultaneously, alternating 2 rows of one color and then 2 rows of the other.  When I started the final border, I stopped switching the colors — too much going on visually!

You get the “new cow” feeling as you knit because of the color changes.  I did break the yarn a few times to avoid super long runs of one color, or the same color meeting from both skeins.

It is a great carry-along project: smallish and mindless!  Now I have nothing going on. 🙁  I may have to go stash diving…knitting group tomorrow and nothing to knit!

PS – Kim asked about the checkered edge on the bottom two photos.   The checkering is created by the striping of the two yarns.  When I got to the edging for the end of the shawl, the effect was too extreme, so I just used a single color there.

It was cold and windy and cloudy yesterday but my day was bright and sunny!  I spent the day with some lovely peeps and Ann Budd, knitting author and editor.  Ann’s name has long been associated with Interweave Knits (and she still edits for them), but went freelance several years ago.

The class was on cast ons and bind offs.  She was really well organized, as well as a patient teacher.  She provided tags and clear protector sheets — you could put your swatch and the instruction page into the protector for safe keeping.

I bought this book, Top-Down Sweaters:

The book is spiral bound, which means it lays flat when opened – yay!!  Ann was wearing the blue sweater pictured on the bottom of the cover.  I learned some new cast ons and tips.  Never too late to add to your knitting tool box!!

My adolescent male self is anxiously awaiting the start of Season 4 of The Walking Dead this Sunday – Yay!!  For all you zombie freaks out there like me, I want to remind you that you still have time to knit a Beth’s Zombie Apocalypse Slouchy Hat!

I wore mine the other day to walk the dog and it is SO comfortable!  It stretches just the right amount to fit the head, but not tightly.  If you are doing any charity hat knitting this fall, this hat is a fun alternative and works for both men and women.

Summer is definitely over!  We are finally getting some much-needed rain, and the temperature is dropping.  Oh well.  It is what it is!

I did get a sweater finished in the nick of time for the last blush of summer.  It is Sabine by Julie Weisenberger.  I was lucky to use stash yarn – not from MY stash, but from sister Surly’s!  That is even better because it means the yarn cost me nada.  It is GGH Soft Kid (151 yards/25 grams; 70% Mohair, 25% Nylon (Polyamide), 5% Wool).

The picture does not do it justice, but I am experiencing a super bad hair day and have no desire to be pho-togged.  It is soft as a bunny’s belly and has a sheer quality to it.  I wear it with dresses and knit tops alike.  Very wearable!

I did do some modifications:  I original tried the front decreases that give the sweater a “point” in the front (shown in picture below):

I did not quite like the look.  Ripping back meant I had to re-knit half the length from armpit to hemline (!).  I just continued the front increases as many others had done.

I also didn’t care for the flaring sleeves, so I just did them like a normal sleeve, stopping at 3/4 length.  Because of the re-knitting, this took me much longer than it should have, but I am very pleased with the final results so it was worth it.