theraineysisters knitting and so much more

If you can force bulbs, does that mean you can force Spring?  No, I didn’t think so either but I’ve been trying.  We’ve had a long and dreary winter and spring here in Boulder.  To counter it, I’ve been knitting with a lot of soft pastels and bright pinks.  That didn’t stop it from snowing again a few days ago.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that winter will eventually give up and go away.

One of my recent pastel knits is Adelaide by Isabelle Kraemer.  The yarn is Carol Sunday’s Angelic 3-ply in the colorway Ice.  I started this ages ago, knit the fun part (the yoke), and then let it languish.  I hauled it out this winter when I needed some mindless stockinette.

I made a few minor changes:  I added a stockinette roll to the neck, lengthened the short sleeves slightly, and added a few inches to the overall length.  I love the yarn and I think this will be a great transitional weather sweater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On another note, remember this little guy?

What’s happened?  He’s turned into a big boy!

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to knit a summer shawl since my last sweater attempt was a flop (reboot Vitamin D!).  I am making Romi Hill’s 2019 Mystery Shawl, which is no longer a mystery.  The picture below is NOT MINE!!!

This is the mystery shawl by toro525 on Ravelry.  You can clearly see the design.  My darker section is out of a bright cherry pink/fuchsia.  Not sure yet what the bottom will be!

We got connected to the internet and cable today.  It’s been several weeks without.  I must admit that I have felt a bit disconnected from the world.  Some people feel better when they go without those connections, but I like to hear the news and watch a little TV while knitting.  So, I am back on the grid, People!!

PS to Penny: The Dumbo that I made was a major modification of an existing pattern called Elefante.  I changed the head, face, and ears the most.  I described the changes I made but really cannot provide a pattern for it.  He was a labor of love and is one of a kind.  I shared the “pattern” I used for the ears on Ravelry.  The hat and neck ruffle were done kind of freestyle!

PS to Others regarding Dumbo:

The ears were one of the easier mods — the curved trunk was no picnic!!  For the ears, I used a picture of Dumbo and traced the shape onto graph paper(shown on Ravelry as mentioned above).  I had to play around a bit, but it wasn’t too bad.  The really hard part was getting the eyes the way I wanted.  I tried EVERYTHING!  After dozens of tries (no exaggeration!), I embroidered closed eyes onto him:

I hated the way he looked.  It was not the look I was going after at all.  I finally stumbled onto some Amigurumi dolls and thought that maybe a combination of felt and embroidery would work.  I was much happier with the eyes…but something still wasn’t right!

The shape of the face was wrong.  So I took a long needle and yarn and pushed it through his temples to pull them in.  Much better!!