theraineysisters knitting and so much more

It was back to the fair for me on Tuesday – this time with DD and DH!!  We visit very different parts of the fair than when I go with Kim, so it is worth a second trip.  The weather was superb and, because school has started for many kids, there weren’t big crowds.  Yay!

Here, Laura and I share a cuppa Joe!!

And who would believe that nestled between the Food Building and Pork Chop on a Stick is an oasis of serenity and beauty!

Yes, this idyllic resting spot is located right in front of the Horticulture Building and has lots of shaded seating!

The best thing I ate on Tuesday was Bacon on a Stick from Big Fat Bacon.  Yes.  That is what they serve…big, fat bacon.  And it was d e l i c i o u s!

We had a ton of fun but I was so tired I didn’t think I could make it back to the car!  Now, we have to wait a whole ‘nother year!!

PS to Anya: Your husband has excellent taste!

I am fairly certain that I will never have a nicer day at the fair!  The weather was S P E C T A C U L A R.  Could not be better.

My knitting peep, Kim, and I always hit the fair the first day and trot right over to the Creative Activities Building to see how our entries fared.  I had high hopes for Kim because she entered an amazing afghan.  And there it was in the main case:

We went bonkers!!  It was so exciting to see her beautiful blanket festooned with ribbons.  It is the Elephants Blanket by Alice Starmore.  When we could tear our eyes away from the glory of it all, we saw more:

Right above her afghan was her submarine sweater and above it my Newsom Sweater, both with blue ribbons!  Yay!  (I don’t think I got a single good picture of my Newsom).  Close by was Kim’s adorable Lilleput Sweater, which also walked away with a blue ribbon.

You kind of have to hunt around for everything — the good news is that they included people’s names on all the items that won ribbons!!  Really nice addition!

We went around the corner and there was my latest Niebling Doily:

It was displayed so beautifully I was really pleased!  It is in the main case with the needlework and quilting.

I also entered a sweater I just finished, Carol Sunday’s Milkweed Pullover (the color in the top two pics is the truest):

My other Carol Sunday entry, Dancing with Bears, also got a blue ribbon:

I entered a slurry of hats and another sweater that received ribbons:

Except for Woodfords, none of these are on Ravelry yet.  I will come back and describe them later in more detail.  🙂  If you try to find my Mother Goose Hat at the fair, good luck!  It is so far back it is almost in the next county building!!

We were overwhelmed and had to celebrate with fair food.  We were devastatingly disappointed in the corn dogs from our “favorite” location, kitty corner from Creative Activities!  Mine was cold, with uncooked batter around the dog.  Kim’s was only slightly better and not at all up to par!  Ugh!!

And the price went up, too! Now $4 (this picture is from several years ago).

After the fair we immediately went to our Thursday Knitting Group.  Peep Kathy brought in a baby hat that is crazy adorable — Little Frankie Stein:

I got home exhausted but happy after a wonderful day at the fair.

One of things we often do when a new knitting magazine arrives is to page through it together over the phone.  Last week, when we received the new Fall Vogue, we both fell in love with the Leather Caged Purse kit from Maker’s Mercantile (shown on page 9).  The kits weren’t “live” on their website yet.  We hounded them kept checking back until they appeared and then placed our orders before the hoarders could get them all.  And thank goodness we did!  They are now backordered.  Yay for the hoggish speedy Rainey Sisters!

The kit comes with a cage and 3 skeins of  HiKoo by Skacel WoolieBullie in your choice of colors.  The fabric lining can be purchased from them or on your own.

Susan finished the cream colored version with black cage straight away and decided that to justify the expense of the cage, she would make another bag in brown.  She bought the brown yarn locally at Amazing Threads to get going ASAP.

Susan’s husband saw the bag on the table and said, “I just saw that in the most recent issue of Vogue Knitting!!”  😉

Here is the brown version:

Yes, the cream one is cuter, but they couldn’t both be cream or there would be no point!!

Sally selected a red purse cage and cream yarn.  They had several cute fabrics to choose from so she ordered two fabrics with her kit.  Here is her “When in Doubt Wear Red” rendition of the bag:

They all turned out really well and we feel quite cagey! 😉  ::Groan::

From Susan to Purrlie who said, “There’s just something a little perverted about that leather strapping.”  That’s what I like about it!! 😉

Hi, Folks!!  I am immersed in watching Olympic Gold!  The Americans are doing so well!

When  Sally was here in July, she and I stopped in at Blue Bamboo, one of my favorite fabric shops.  It is primarily for quilters, but I find most of my fabrics there.  They had a very cute, Minnesota-themed tote bag as a featured pattern for the quilting shop hop.  You could pre-order the kit, which I did.  Here is the pattern:

I think it is a fairly popular pattern.  I got the kit last week and made it over the weekend.  It turned out so cute!

It looks ginormous in the picture, but it is only about 12 inches high and 15 inches wide!  I had to play around with it a little bit to make the straps longer – the kit only included the exact fabric needed.  It has six very nice pockets inside:

The picture looks like a fish, but is just the pockets! 😉  I added a magnetic snap.  I really like it and may make another, though it was a TON of work.  The second time around I would know what I was doing!

Dancing with Bears!!  If you hang out on Ravelry (and who doesn’t? 🙂 ), you may see newly added patterns flash across the Patterns Page.  I used to check out every single bloomin’ pattern that was added but unfortunately I have not kept up with that practice.  However, a new design by my good friend Carol Sunday was just released!!  It is the same shawl I saw at Knitting Camp that I just had to make.

I knit it out of Carol’s yarn: Angelic 5-ply, color Moth.  I absolutely love, love, love her yarn!!  It is soft and lofty.  The finished items are light as air.

I made a few changes: I made the largest size, but mine is shallower because I continued the short rows at the same pace throughout (this will make sense if you knit it!).  I used smaller needles to make it a bit tighter as well.  I did wrap my short row turns (not picking up the wraps, though, because it was in the garter section).  Carol did not do wraps and that looked good for me on one side but not the other.

A very nice project, though with >600 sts at certain points, it can feel like a slog!!

Hope your summer is going well – we are anticipating a perfect weekend!

PS to Suzan:P Good advice!  I do always read the Sales and Promos Forum!!