theraineysisters knitting and so much more

October 31, 2007

From Susan and Sally — Quick Correction to Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie Pattern

Filed under: Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie — Both Sisters @ 10:03 am

Oops.

There are two small errors in the pattern with respect to the colors used in the Fair Isle insert. First, we neglected to list Pacific in the materials needed. You should purchase one skein of Simply Shetland 2-ply in Pacific (763) in addition to the other colors listed. Second, although we correctly told you to purchase a skein of Sunset (186), the chart calls it Sunrise, which is a much darker color. We love both of those colors and ALWAYS mix them up for some reason. We apologize for the confusion and will update the chart and the pdf as soon as possible.

Re the question about the “yellow” in the photo. It’s not yellow; it is Granny Smith (1140) as listed in the chart and the materials.

Thank you again for your interest and support.

October 29, 2007

From Susan and Sally — Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie Pattern

Filed under: Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie — Both Sisters @ 8:26 pm

We were both humbled AND inspired by your reaction to the Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie we designed.  Susan worked on the hoodie pattern most of the weekend, and it is ready to be unveiled.  The pattern for the Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie is a free gift to you, our readers. 

There are some disclaimers and suggestions in the pattern.  Please read carefully.  If you find any errors, let us know and we will correct the pdf file.

We hope you enjoy the Roslin Hoodie!

FairisleHoodieSideView3.jpg picture by lv2knit

Oops.

There are two small errors in the pattern with respect to the colors used in the Fair Isle insert. First, we neglected to list Pacific in the materials needed. You should purchase one skein of Simply Shetland 2-ply in Pacific (763) in addition to the other colors listed. Second, although we correctly told you to purchase a skein of Sunset (186), the chart calls it Sunrise, which is a much darker color. We love both of those colors and ALWAYS mix them up for some reason. We apologize for the confusion and will update the chart and the pdf as soon as possible.

Re the question about the “yellow” in the photo. It’s not yellow; it is Granny Smith (1140) as listed in the chart and the materials.

Thank you again for your interest and support.

For additional photos, including closeups, click here.

October 27, 2007

From Susan — Humbled by Response

Filed under: Lyra by Niebling,Plisse,Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie — lv2knit @ 10:02 am

Well, what can I say?  Your response to our little hoodie is overwhelming!  Since the math work falls to me (Sally did the knitting, and I did the number crunching), I will try to write up some additional sizes.  It is that huge mental effort that stopped us in our tracks before.  We shall see! 😉

As I reread our post, I realized it sounded more than a little braggy.  Let me explain. Sally and I wrote the post as co-authors: she wrote the parts about my contribution, and I wrote about hers.  The post sounds braggy but we are really just bursting with pride for the other Rainey Sister!  🙂

I have been working on Lyra day by day.  I am (drum roll) on Round #100!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo! 🙂 Out of 180 :(  I am no where near halfway done — because of the circle thing.  Oh well.  I am almost done with the third set of leaves and have started the “tulips” (if that is what they are).

Lyra10-26-07.jpg picture by lv2knit

My take along knitting is Plisse.  It is at a very strange looking stage.  If asked, “What are you making?” no one would ever believe a sweater:

10-26-07Progress.jpg picture by lv2knit

The teal section is what I have on the needles right now.  Once all of the white is filled in with knitting (quite a while from now, if my current rate of speed is any indication), then I will pick up the peplum and work down.

I won a prize at the Shop Hop two weeks ago from Coldwater Collaborative, so I feel the need to go to a yarn store!!

October 23, 2007

From Susan and Sally — Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie

Filed under: Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie — Both Sisters @ 3:13 pm

While we each plod along, trying to make progress on some other projects we thought we’d share a sweater we designed together a few months back.  We wanted to create a design that incorporated some fair isle knitting into it.  The challenge was that we wanted the fair isle portion to be in jumperweight yarn, but we didn’t want to have to knit the entire sweater out of such small gauge yarn.

Did we have to? No, we didn’t.  Jamieson has several weights of yarn in the same colors.  Susan came up with an ingenious way to transition invisibly between Jamieson’s Dk weight yarn (3 ply) and Spindrift (2 ply). Sally did the playing around with colors and design for the fair isle band and did virtually all of the actual knitting (that’s only fair — it was knit to her size).  Susan did the math.  Who got the better deal?

Sally adapted the fair isle design from a typical Shetland-style pattern. Here’s a photo of one of the original swatches.

The sweater features a hood, raglan sleeves, and a “kangaroo” pocket. Here are several views of the finished sweater:

Fairislehoodie.jpg

 FairisleHoodieSideView3.jpg

FairisleHoodieBack.jpg

Susan came up with the idea for a cute little pocket on the sleeve. Here is a close up view — isn’t the button cute?

hoodiepocket.jpg

Finally, this picture shows how nice the transition looks from 3-ply to 2-ply.   

fairisletransition.jpg picture by lv2knit 

The knitted weight of each section is identical: the fair isle band and the body of the sweater have the exact weight and feel. 

The sweater fits Sally perfectly and is great for fall.  Susan keeps threatening to knit one up and by doing so enlarge the pattern — a lot.  Right now it exists as a “one size fits few.”  We debated sending it off to try to be published, but that would require a lot of brain activity from a very dormant brain. 

Mom would be so proud: we have finally learned to play well together!

October 20, 2007

From Susan — Mini Lyra Update

Filed under: Lyra by Niebling — lv2knit @ 1:01 pm

Woo hoo!  I’m in the 60’s for rounds (out of 180) and totally loving Lyra.  The following graphic shows approximately where I am so far (dotted circle).  Talk about slow!  I really don’t know how Soo finished this in two weeks.  I would have to quit my job, leave my husband and abandon my kids to finish this in two months!   Hmmmmmm…….nah! ;) 

Lyra10-20-07.jpg picture by lv2knit

October 19, 2007

From Susan — Well, THAT Didn’t Work!

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 11:11 am

I have yet another knitting snafu.  Homage is totally HUGE!!  The back is at least 2.5″ too wide.  I have about 12 inches done and will have to rip back yet again.  I am starting to feel cursed unlucky.  So I will rip back another day.  I love the way it was looking so I will give it another go, just not today.

I started Hanne Falkenberg Plisse instead.  You begin at the back with the center strip:

plisse-ryg-1.jpg picture by lv2knit

I have about 10 inches of the strip done and will show more once I get the back started.  It is supposed to be knit on US 1 & 2 needles, so I automatically went up a needle size — look, Ma, no swatching!  I have done enough Hannes to know how my gauge compares with hers.  The color I chose (#98, Lagoon) is very nice and similar to Sally’s Tangled Yoke:

Color.jpg Color picture by lv2knit

I am very happy with Lyra once again – I am almost back to where I had to rip out.  The chart itself is very easy to follow; the mistake was all mine.  The Fino Alpaca is really nice yarn to work with.  It is a slow moving project, but nice to work on when you want to focus on your knitting.  I am hoping that Plisse has less mental effort involved so it will be portable.

I am thinking of putting the Modular Tote/purse together soon (maybe this weekend?).  All the main knitting is done — just the constructing and handle to do.  Kauni is not far off the radar either.  It will be very wearable so I’d like to get it done soon.

One of our French readers finished this intriguing knit:

LionBrand.jpg picture by lv2knit

I had already purchased the pattern (Lion Brand!!), but have not found suitable yarn.  This is one of those projects that looks like it could go horribly wrong, so I was glad to see that someone had finished it successfully.  We’ll see if it makes it up the queue! 😉

It’s the weekend, so start your knitting!

October 17, 2007

From Sally — Mermaid Finished

Filed under: Sally's Mermaid — surly @ 12:34 pm

I’ve had very little time to knit the past four or five days, but I did manage to finish the second sleeve of Mermaid and finally finish this project. I’ve even worn it. Indeed, I probably shouldn’t have photographed it after it wadding it up and letting it sit in my car for two days, but such is life. (I could have given it a light steam, but I had so little time to post I didn’t. My bad.)

This is one of those garments that looks best while it is being worn because of the way it moves and drapes. Half-naked Lucy just doesn’t give the same effect. Nevertheless, here is my completed Mermaid.

October 15, 2007

From Susan — Monkey Hat

Filed under: Sock Monkey Dresses — lv2knit @ 7:06 pm

Today they had an article in the paper about Sock Monkey Girl (aka Rebecca Yaker), famous for her sock monkey ball gowns, etc.  It reminded me that I had forgotten to post this picture from 3 Kittens of this very “cute” baby hat. 

MonkeyHat.jpg picture by lv2knit

Check out the earring!

October 13, 2007

From Susan and Sally — Peeps on the Road

Filed under: Back Story,Homage — Both Sisters @ 1:53 pm

What a day I had!  It was peep-tastic!  Yesterday was the start of the Second Annual Yarn Shop Hop sponsored by seven local knitting stores:

Amazing Threads, Maple Grove
Coldwater Collaborative, Excelsior
Needlework Unlimited, Minneapolis

A Sheepy Yarn Shoppe, White Bear Lake
3 Kittens Needle Arts, St. Paul
The Yarnery, St. Paul
Zandys Yarns

We started north and worked our way to White Bear Lake, south through St. Paul, down to Burnsville, up through Minneapolis, west to Excelsior and back north to Maple Grove.  “We” consisted of several of my favorite knitting peeps: Kim (who drove — yay, Kim!), Mary, Roseanne, and Linda.  We had a ton of fun.  We received a small token at every stop and got to see/buy some great yarn and patterns. 

Did yours truly buy anything?  Mais oui, mes amies! 😉

First off, I need to back up and give a brief update on Loll.  It flopped.  My aforementioned peeps told me so on Thursday evening.  They gave it a definite thumbs down :(.  Good friends don’t let bad knitting happen.  The fringes are cute but the ribbed section was not up to our stringent standards — so it must go.

Loll-1.jpg picture by lv2knit

I will make the fringe into a hat…maybe.  With that decision made, I took the yarn back and bought this instead:

Tapestry.jpg picture by lv2knit

WOW!  Beautiful Rowan Tapestry (70% Wool 30% Soybean Approx. 131 yds/50g Weight: DK Gauge:  5.5 sts/1in Needle: US 6) in the color Lakeland — it looks like the ocean.  Sally already bought this same color.  I LOVE IT!!  I’m not sure yet what I will make, but it is fabulous yarn.

I also bought a couple of patterns — one for a vest and then this one for Lopi yarn:

LopiPattern.jpg picture by lv2knit

I think I have enough Lopi in my stash to make this — it takes ten skeins.  They had a shop sample knitted up and it really is a nice wearable sweater for Minnesota winters.

The other knitting update for me is that “Whisper,” which I was knitting in Kidsilk Haze Aura, is another major flop!  Oh yeah!  Yours truly is really cranking out the disasters.  Sally is turning out FO’s like hotcakes and I can’t even get anything started :(.  It looked just awful.  So, I ripped out that lil sucker and started something else. 

You may remember from a very early post, my mother knitted this many, many years ago:

MomsMohair.jpg Mom\'s Dressy Mohair Sweater picture by lv2knit

It is in mohair, much like La Gran, with a stitch at the hems and front bands that LOOKED like seed stitch until I looked more closely.  It is actually a slip stitch:

Start with an odd number of sts:
Rows 1 & 3 (RS): knit
Row 2: *k1, slip 1 as to purl with yarn at back (to the RS), repeat from * to last st, k1.
Row 4: k1, *k1, slip 1 as to purl with yarn at back, repeat from * to last 2 sts, k2.

I am going to knit a boxy jacket-style cardigan based on mom’s sweater and call it “Homage.”  I started it and have this so far:

Homage003.jpg picture by lv2knit

I love it.  I am knitting with yarn spun from clouds.  It is night and day compared to what it looked before.  I thought it was ugly, and now I am in love.  I am knitting with US 8’s instead of 6’s, which makes it looser and allows the light to filter through.  This is a wonderful and very easy stitch.  I will do about 6″ in this and then switch to stockinette, and do raglan-style sleeves.

Lyra is still a joy to work on, though I do not have the time to devote that I would like.  I am on the ~ the 50-ish roundout of 180.  Lots left!  Had a Lyra mishap and am now back to round 40.  BUMMER!!!!!  I had worked on it all day yesterday, too… 🙁

I am feeling much better about my knitting prospects.  Life is good!

P.S. From Sally

While Sue was out yarn hopping, I met a friend in Baltimore for lunch. I didn’t even realize that Stitches was taking place there until I drove by the venue.

I DIDN’T STOP!!!!

Aren’t you all impressed? (Don’t be. If I had been with a knitting friend I would have stopped on a dime.) I did stop at A Good Yarn. I ran in and bought yarn in less than five minutes. I’ll post about that later. I’m happy to see how Susan’s Aura is turning out since I have twenty skeins of it my own self.

October 10, 2007

From Susan — We Walk Among You

Filed under: Lyra by Niebling,Uncategorized — lv2knit @ 12:43 am

‘Those who walk among you’ are knitters who have discovered Herbert Niebling and are now obsessed!  Apparently there is an underground cult of sorts of Niebling Followers — who knew?  I would never have heard of Niebling myself except for the influence of fellow bloggers.  Soo left a nice little comment about my Hemlock Ring Throw so I innocently clicked on her blog, not knowing that it would change me forever.  I found this:

SooLyra.jpg picture by lv2knit

SooLyraCloseUp.jpg picture by lv2knit

My jaw still hurts from hitting the table.  All I knew was that I had to make me one of these!  I am not much of a lace knitter but decided to not let that be a barrier! ;)  The most immediate barrier was finding the pattern.  Niebling died over 40 years ago.  This pattern, called Lyra, was only printed twice.  The most recent was in a 1986 Burda magazine, European issue.  Soo kindly provided many details and I found the magazine in an ebay auction that very day.  It had to be mine!  I paid way too much for it but it was worth every penny.  It arrived last Saturday.  It is written in Dutch, I bought it from a woman in Germany, and it included an English translation.  All the charts are done using Niebling’s unique charting style. 

I started my Lyra already.  I laid out my knitting supplies like an operating room: yarn (Fino Laceweight Alpaca with a Twist — check), needles (Size 2.5 mm — check), reading glasses (check), small crochet hook (check), valium (sorry — all out!), bead mat (check), lamp (check).  I used the Emily Ocker cast on and for the first several rows had the highest anxiety going!  I was so worried I would drop a stitch — then I did and actually fixed it :), so I am off and running. 

Here is my progress so far:

Lyra10-09004.jpg picture by lv2knit

I am not far enough into it to be at the hard part but so far I have not had any trouble.  I have put many hours into it so far and it is still very TINY, though it already has over 300 sts!  Soo finished hers in two weeks.  That’s right: TWO WEEKS!  I will not even attempt to match her pace. 

Because I can’t work on Lyra in anything but the most optimal conditions, I also started this (Rowan’s Calmer “Loll”):

Loll.jpg picture by lv2knit

I am making mine in ivory (Rowan Calmer in “Drift”) and I have about 5-6 inches of the back done; all of the fringes complete — whew, are they ever slow!  I’ll post a picture later.  Why a summer sweater??  Who the heck knows!  It’s something to work on as my take along project.

PS in response to pjknits: I buy 99.9% of my yarn from my LYS’s — I find almost all the yarn I want locally.  If there is something I absolutely must have and it is not readily available (i.e., the Kauni yarn or the Swedish Bohus kits) then I shop on line.  I know a lot of people do not have access to the quality of yarn shops available in the Twin Cities.  We are tres lucky here!

 

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