theraineysisters knitting and so much more

No, not a typo!  I just finished Katie’s Kep, the 2020 Shetland Wool Week free hat pattern.  I was looking forward to this excuse to do a little fairisle knitting.  My arthritis didn’t appreciate the top of the crown,  but I soldiered on!  I was lucky to have the main colors in stash.  I wish that my purple was a bit softer.  I should have substituted something else!

I experimented a little bit with a technique I’ve used haphazardly in the past for mitigating the “jog” you get in fairisle patterns, that amounts to more of a break in the continuity of the patterning.  Here you can see what I mean on these Fjord Mitts.  The back of the left mitt shows the break in the pattern caused by working in the round.  I wear these mitts with the bad side down, so no one can see it!  But hats are different…there’s nowhere to hide!

A recent Interweave Knits (Winter 2020) had a great article on how to manipulate the pattern to minimize the break.  I charted Katie’s Kep in Excel and played around with the transition from one round to the next.  It was semi successful:

The top motif was totally cut in half and “broken,” but mine is only kind of broken!  The hat is very large, but my husband and I both have big heads so the fit is perfect!

PS — Wore my kep on a morning walk today.  It was cool and breezy, but my kep kept my ears and head warm!  It fits perfectly, too.

With several inches of slushy snow on the ground, I’ve found myself missing the early springs we had in Washington, DC.  The cherry blossoms and forsythia are in bloom there and I know some of my more adventurous tulips and daffodils would have emerged by now.  Here, it won’t be truly safe to plant flowers until after Mother’s Day.

A few weeks ago, as I longed for that first blossoming of warmth, Mirella Freni died.  She was an Italian soprano.  I first heard her on a recording of La Bohème with Luciano Pavarotti.  Her voice was otherworldly.  I used to listen to her haunting version of “mi chiamano Mimi” over and over again.  It is still gorgeous after all these years.

I had just started knitting a self-designed sweater out of a luscious blend of two Shibui yarns when I heard about Freni:  Nest and Silk Cloud in the color Vintage Rose.

These lines from Mimi’s aria spoke to me:

Ma quando vien lo sgelo
Il primo sole è mio
Il primo bacio dell’aprile è mio!
Il primo sole è mio.
Germoglia in un vaso uno rosa
Foglia a foglia la spio!
Cosi gentile il profumo d’un fiore!

(but when the thaw comes
the first sun is mine,
April’s first kiss is mine,
the first sun is mine.
A rose blooms in a vase,
Leaf by leaf I watch it open,
The scent of a flower is so subtle)*

The world has been turned upside down in a matter of days.  The black cloud of uncertainty hovers over us.  How long will it last?  What will the final toll be in terms of lives, jobs, dollars?  It is very distressing.  Knitters hunker down and knit more.  It’s what we do.  Is it the best choice?  I don’t know, but if I am sitting home with nothing to do, I knit.

I recently finished (before the apocalypse) a cool design by Scott Rohr, knit designer and part owner of The Yarnery in St. Paul.  And a friend.  The cowl is called North Loop.  It is unusual and keeps your interest.  I used some of the nicest yarn I have ever knit with: Malabrigo Caprino in a fall array of three colors (fall? !!??).  It is called DK, but is really closer to sport.

Before blocking it looked like something that would emerge from the Black Lagoon!

It is soft and it is cool.  I cast on a new project today and have yarn arriving by mail.  I am sheltering in place, which for me just means not going to my knitting groups. 😐

Last summer our nephew got married, and we were thrilled to learn that he and his new wife will be having a baby in May…yay!!!  The shower in is in April, so I quickly landed upon a baby sweater for a boy (yes, gender is already revealed!).  Most baby boy sweaters seem to be a variation on the “grandpa sweater.”  I chose Elevenses because it has cute pockets and elbow “patches.”

I used Malabrigo Rios, color Denim.  So cute!!  I am in love with this sweater and the yarn and the color.  Hubby wants one of these!  The pattern is extremely well written.  I made a few changes, but nothing like I usually have to do!! 😉  Anyway, I do recommend this pattern.  I knit a size 18 months so I hope it fits in cold weather vs the heat of August!!  So hard to get that part right!