theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Dear, dear, Lisa — it snowed in parts of Minnesota yesterday!  Forty degrees ain’t nuthin’!!

You know how horses like to turn it on at the end of the race?  Well, that’s how I feel about the Mitered Tote (and other projects right at the end).  You just want to knit like Seabiscuit to get to the finish line! Whinnnneeeee!!

Here are the two side panels for MT:

You can tell that this is lots and lots of garter stitch!  I am going to rework the pattern and make a smaller version in spring/summer colors.  I did not want to buy the yarn until I see how this Nature Spun felts.  I think it gets that boucle finish, which I want for this bag.

Here is the mitered bottom.  The two halves of the bottom are joined along the center.  I used a provisional cast on:

Here you can see the other side of the bottom where I already picked up the live provisional sts and started knitting.  This piece will change color and start to taper soon, forming a triangular shaped gusset at the top.

At the end, you pick up zillions of sts along the edges and join with a 3-needle bind off. 

And, they’re off!!!

PS — Response to Comments: I will definitely show the construction phase.  I had a terrible time figuring out how the bottom would even knit up.  It was such an odd shape and did not make sense to me at all.  I’ll share pics and diagrams. 🙂

 

I think Katomliz must be a better Mom than I — she spoke so lovingly about going to her kids’ soccer games.  I can’t say that with the same degree of enthusiasm — at all.  Yesterday and today, I froze my a** off and could not knit a stitch because it was so cold!  There is something about this particular tournament.  Every year I freeze.  Yesterday it was 40 degrees with a terrible wind in the morning and 90 without a breath of air in the afternoon.  Today was back into the deep freeze!

Here’s the final score:

knitting = 0
Housework = 0
Laundry = 0
Cooking = 0
Soccer = 12

You can see that the score is not in favor of anything getting done around here ;).

We were “tagged” by Dianna.  Here are the rules and our random facts!

Rules:

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts about themselves.

2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their 8 random things and post the rules.

3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and post their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

 

Eight Random Things about Me (Susan):

1. When I was 12, I won The Froggy-Doo Drawing Contest.  Froggy-Doo was a kids’ show on a local channel.   The prize was a package of Doozies (?!) and when I stood next to the adult male host, I was as tall as he.

2. Our family lived in Puerto Rico for three years (I was ages 5-8).  Our dad was in the Air Force and stationed at Ramey AFB.

3. I almost went over a water fall that had caused the death of every other person who had gone over it.

4. Sally and I attended the taping of one of the last Seinfeld episodes.

5. My mom wanted to name me “Sunny Ann.”  Sunny Ann Rainey.  Really.

6. I could live without ever eating ice cream again, but not without cookies.

7. I have a thing for Colin Firth, the actor.  When I turned 50 my friends put 50 pictures of Colin in my front yard — oooh, Baby!! 

 
Colin as Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (oh my, the poor man looks wet — I’ll help dry you off…)

8. I believe in lust love at first sight.

Eight Random Things about Me (Sally):

1. My favorite word in French is coquelicot.

2. Donald Sutherland once gave me a copy of Auden’s complete works, marking some of his favorites poems for me.

3. When I was learning to drive, I accidentally drove through a set of electric garage doors. Oops.

4. On my tenth birthday, I had chicken pox and my cat died.

5. I have a tattoo.

6. One of my jobs in college was answering a bat hotline. “Miss Rainey, Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife. May I help you?”

7. I’m addicted to salt.

8. I am the one who got Susan hooked on Colin Firth until I found my new Mr. Darcy. (That’s Clay Aiken in case you don’t recognize him.)

(To hear him sing, click the player below.)

[audio:Lover All Alone.mp3]

It is almost impossible to choose whom to tag next, especially because we can only tag those with blogs and those who have not yet been tagged. So here we go: Jennifer, Auntie Ann, Michelle, Gale, Karen, Shelly, Amy, and kmkat.  Have fun!