theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I have been knitting, even though I haven’t posted in a long time.  (Sorry about that!)

My latest FO is a mishmash.  I combined two patterns — Morning Sky by Heidi Kirrmaier and Mirage by Shellie Anderson — into Morning Mirage.  I liked the lace bodice and cap sleeves on Morning Sky and the sheer hem on Mirage.  I don’t knit summer sweaters all that often because cotton and linen are harder on my hands, so knitting a two for one seemed an ideal solution for me.

For the main body of the sweater I used Shibui’s Fern, a soft certified organic cotton with a slightly “brushed” feel.  This cotton seemed easier and more forgiving on my hands than firmer cotton yarns I’ve used.  For the hem, I used Shibui’s Silk Cloud, which I love.

As usual, the sweater looks better on my daughter (wonder why?) than on me so she’s my model.  Her golden retriever Enzo wanted to get into the act.

Sally and I just returned from Knitting Camp.  I don’t have time for a full report, but I did want to share an FO that was part of the Camp experience!  The contest this year was At the Circus, or something like that.  Several of us went all in with elephants, including moi.  I adore Dumbo and knew right from the start that I wanted to knit him.  Who doesn’t cry when his momma is behind bars for protecting the little guy??

He stands just under six inches.  He started off with the body from Elefante – of which I have knit several.  I changed his trunk, eyes, head shape and of course, the ears!!  The eyes about did me in, but I like how he turned out.  I added a hat and ruffle to finish out his circus costume!  The competition this year was fierce, so he didn’t win, but I love him anyway. 🙂

Check out The Rainey Sisters Tip of the Week!

PS to All: Thanks for the nice comments!  The winning entries were absolutely BEYOND!  The winner knitted an entire clown suit from head to toe.  She gave a little speech and then said, “The question we should be asking is NOT how many clowns can fit in a car, but how many cars can fit in a clown!”  She proceeded to pull several TINY hand-knit cars from the sleeve of her costume!  Another person had a small knitted ballerina doing an actual high wire act!  It was crazy!!

PS to Julie – nothing really written “on my pattern” to share, but I did place a reenactment of my ear pattern on my Ravelry pattern page.  Cannot guarantee its accuracy, but it is close!

Circling back on a project.  Have you ever had to do that?  Almost every project?  Okay, then you’re like me!! 😉

This time around the circle I revisited my Circlet Shrug.

I loved the theory of the Circlet as described in this previous post, “What gives the Circlet its style is the seaming — you sew it so the armholes are relatively fitted.  It gives the illusion of an actual sleeve cap when worn.”

Okay, that’s great in theory.  Especially if you are a 20-something with pretty, thin arms.  I have old grandma arms.  When and how this happened is a mystery to me and quite horrifying!  I used to be known for my skinny arms!

I do not show my arms.  Ever.  At all.  Even in 90+ degree weather.  So that means wearing a shirt under my Circlet.  Wearing a shirt meant that the armhole opening was too tight – causing the sleeves to bunch in an unattractive manner.  I decided to open up the seam a bit to allow for the sleeves.

That created wings!  Because the Circlet has absolutely no shaping and is quite a dense fabric, the shoulders looked like a 747 on approach!!  Ugh.

So, I did a little pick up/cast off to tighten the top of the armhole opening:

It needed a little more tightening, but when I tried that it looked “gathered” at the top.  This is a workable compromise.  So Circlet is now wearable and arms discreetly covered.  Yay!!

PS to Alley – I picked up all the way around the armhole but at different rates.  I marked off the armhole into quarters.  Starting at the bottom of the armhole opening (with a size 4 needle), I picked up 3 sts for 4 rows for the 1st quarter, 1 st for every 2 rows for the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and back to 3 for 4 for the last quarter.  Then I just bound off as to purl using a size 5.

PS to Barbara: This won’t necessarily fix your wing problem.  With many vests with standard fit, the problem is that the shoulders are too wide.  If you tighten the circumference of the armhole, it will pull the vest down over the shoulder, but that will not give it the traditional fit you might want.  For that situation, the shoulder shaping needs to be cut in more.  That is a really common problem!!

Just hanging out in the heat.  Working on a stealth project and getting ready for Knitting Camp next week.  Just thought I would touch base to let you know that I am alive!!

Alive!!!  Al-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ve!!!!!