theraineysisters knitting and so much more

January 20, 2011

From Sally: Look Ma — Warm Hands

Filed under: Updates — surly @ 7:13 pm

Last night, I washed and blocked the sweater I gave my son for Christmas. (He had a long Christmas break, and just left for the west coast this afternoon.) I wouldn’t ordinarily wash and block a sweater so soon after finishing it, but in this case it was a necessity.  He has worn it virtually every waking hour since I gave it to him.   I’m not exaggerating. Nor am I complaining. It’s wonderful to see someone get so much use out of a hand knit garment.

That’s why I was perfectly happy to knit him a new pair of gloves after he lost one of his on this trip. He went down to my stash and chose a skein of Austermann Step Sock Yarn, and this was the result:

He says he likes them, and I believe him.  Here is a quick little photo I took with an iPhone while we were sitting together at the airport.

Gloves and newly washed sweater.  It may not surprise you that a second sweater for him is already on the needles — more on that project when there’s a bit more to show and tell.

PS From Susan — I love the gloves.  I also want to thank Surly for taking the time to give our blog a makeover!  I think it looks much better and our patterns are easier to find.  There are a few more changes to come, but I like what she has done so far.

January 17, 2011

From Susan — Thinking of You

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 7:58 pm

Like most knitters, when a life event strikes, I often think of what I can knit for the person. If a baby is born or expected, don’t we all rattle different ideas through our heads: hat, blankie, booties??

One of my favorite people recently received a life-changing diagnosis and had to undergo surgery. Her prognosis is good and she is recovering nicely…but she gave us quite a scare. This dear friend, I’ll call her DF, is a knitting peep and my “Harry Potter” movie companion, and very special to a lot of people for a lot of reasons.

So when I heard about DF’s diagnosis, I knew I needed to knit her something. Something she would love and that would show her how much I care about her.  I decided on a Damson shawlette.  I had made one before and LOVED knitting it and wearing it, so I hoped she would love it as well.  I tried about 3 different yarns from my stash — all high end, gorgeous yarns, but too variegated to look right.  Off to the store I went.  I chose Malabrigo Sock in Boticelli Red (a very rusty, brick red).  The yarn is butter soft and more tonal than variegated, which I am drawn to more and more these days — too much color variation can look disastrous!

I used the same modification as on my Damson: inserting an open-work mesh into the plain sections.   

She loved it — she is very knit worthy!!  And with every stitch I knit in love and good wishes.

January 12, 2011

From Sally — Sleeping Baby’s Castle Blanket Pattern Now Available!

Filed under: Sleeping Baby's Castle Blanket,Updates — surly @ 1:05 pm

Last summer, I designed a baby blanket for Fibre Space in Alexandria.  When I showed the finished design here, many of you liked the pattern and wanted to knit it.  I am happy to announce that it is now available for purchase.

Close up of the central castle panel:

Shown in cream:

Susan’s version:

The green blanket was knit out of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted; the cream blanket was made with Cascade’s 220 Superwash.   Susan’s was knit out of Plymouth’s Worsted Merino Superwash.

Quick facts about the pattern:

Size: Approximately 32 by 40 inches after blocking.

Gauge: 18 stitches and 28 rows over four inches.

Yarn Requirements: You will need approximately 1100 yards of worsted weight yarn. (Each of my blankets used slightly less than that, but I prefer to give a quantity that allows for gauge differences as well as swatching.)

Instructions: Provided in both chart and row-by-row format.  Two versions of the pattern are included; the bonus version omits the central castle panel.

Cost: $5.00

How to Purchase:

Sleeping Baby’s Castle is available through Ravelry .  Whether or not you are a Ravelry member, you can purchase the pattern by clicking the link below.  You will be taken directly to a purchase page; after purchase, you will receive a link to download the PDF of the pattern.

Edited to add: A couple of readers have asked about the difficulty level of this pattern.  That’s hard for me to answer because perceived difficulty is so variable.  On Ravelry, there are about 9 or 10 Castle Blankets that weren’t knitted by me or by Susan.  (The design was initially available as a kit at a local yarn store, Fibre Space, and those projects were knit from the kits sold there.)

I can’t  know what the level of expertise of each of those knitters was, but the average difficulty rating given by them was between easy and medium.  I don’t know if that helps.  The pattern has a lot of repetition, and is very pictorial, so my sense is that it looks more complicated than it is.  But each knitter is different.

January 10, 2011

From Susan — Happy Birthday!

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 8:44 am

Yesterday we celebrated a milestone birthday for my oldest daughter: 21!!  This pic isn’t the best (she is even more gorgeous in person!), but I don’t have any from yesterday to share yet.   It was a wonderful day and we are so terribly proud of her and the wonderful woman she has become.  Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet, lovely Laura!

Here she is as a baby with my hubby in his “Tom Selleck” phase!

January 6, 2011

From Sally — If It Was Worth Knitting Once. . .

Filed under: Surly's Ginevra — surly @ 4:57 pm

Just a few weeks ago, I bragged that my son had told me his friends loved the gloves I knit for him a couple of years ago. I should have knocked on wood.  Alas, I did not.  Just before Christmas, he lost one of them and now all he has is a sad little survivor. I imagine its twin somewhere on the side of the road, wet and dirty, hoping to be found. I hope it knows it was loved. ;-{

So, of course I am knitting him a new pair before he heads back to college. I set him loose in my stash, where he picked out some Austermann Step Sock yarn. Here is how the first glove looks. I’ve just finished the thumb gusset. The Austermann has longer and less “jazzy” color changes, but he says he likes it so far.

Le sigh.

My other knitting project is for me (don’t act surprised). I was quite taken by Ginevra’s Pullover from the winter issue of Interweave Knits.

It’s knit using two different weights of Malabrigo: Twist and Lace weight. (Just as Susan and I used two weights of yarn in the same color for our Roslin Hoodie.) I chose Damask, a deep dusky pink.

The body is knit from the top down, and then the drapey collar is worked separately and sewn in. I’m just past the waist.

Those more sensitive readers who think Lucy is a bit of an exhibitionist because of her habitual lack of pants and undergarments may want to avert their eyes from the pictures that follow; she looks like even more of a hussy than usual.

January 3, 2011

From Susan — Happy New Year a Little Late!

Filed under: Updates — surly @ 10:05 pm

That is the story of my life: always running late!

I think I am suffering from the winter blues. Nothing I did today worked. I even got a boo-boo grabbing a bottle of milk out of the case at the store! I started a knitting project that just screams, “WTF were you thinking?” but started it anyway. Time will tell, but all signs are pointing to…blah.

I hope this is not a predictor for the year. 🙁


Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Edited to add: I must have been in quite a funk last night when I wrote this!   My perspective is a bit sunnier this morning.  I’m sure the questionable project will end well: whether it gets finished or not 😉 and the light is at the end of the tunnel for Eala Bhan.  I could finish it in a few days if I would just concentrate on it.

Happy New Year, all!!

December 30, 2010

From Sally — Christmas Wrap Up

Filed under: X Marks the Spot Pullover — surly @ 3:31 pm

When last I posted, I was feverishly trying to knit a sweater for my son before Christmas.  I didn’t quite make it; I was a sleeve short.  But happily, I finished it before the New Year and before he goes back to Portland for college.  Most important, he said — and I quote — “I like it.”  What more could I ask?

I was asked how I repaired the mistake I had made while knitting the body (see post here and scroll down). What I did, as you can see from the photos below, was to isolate the area with the mistake and then unravel those stitches down to the row where I had made an error. Each loose line of yarn you see represents one row of unraveled knitting. I then “reknit” each of the rows to get back to where I had been. It’s the same thing you would do if you had made a mistake with one stitch. Unfortunately, my error spanned several stitches and required me to re-create traveling stitches because of the cable that I had to undo. So it was more complicated than doing the same thing on plain knitting, but the principle is the same.

I also knit a hat as a Christmas gift for my daughter.  The pattern is called Let It Snow; it was published in Twist Collective.  I knit it out of Elsebeth Lavold’s Angora, which I had in my stash.  (I still have enough in my stash to knit about ten more.)  The hat is adorable, and I loved the bit of fuzziness from the angora yarn.  Here are some progress shots featuring a model who shall rename nameless.

Finally, here’s a photograph of my daughter wearing it.   Out in public!  Spontaneously!  Again, what more could I ask?

December 26, 2010

From Susan — The Long and the Short of It

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 11:22 am

I am very excited because I am writing this post on my NEW LAPTOP!!  Santa was berry, berry good to me!  I got a Toshiba Satellite L655 and LOVE it.  It’s a little cheapie, but has a lot of great features.  Yesterday, Surly and I were knitting together via Skype!  Woo Hoo!

Just a little FO to share: the long and short of it.  I made a shorter version of the Easy Missoni Mobebius Cowl for me — longer version described here.   For the long one, I cast on 120 sts, and for the shorter version, I cast on 100.  I made the shorter one a bit wider, so ultimately they took the same amount of yarn:

I love this pattern.  It is quite easy and the welts form in a very cool way with the moebius construction.  On Ravelry, there are a number of projects, and they look good in both smooth and nubby or fuzzy yarns.  Great project for that single skein of luxury yarn that you don’t know what to do with.

December 24, 2010

From Susan — Merry Christmas!

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 12:11 pm

My side of the family celebrated Christmas last night at our house.  It was a lot of fun, a lot of food, and a lot of laughter! 


No fire last night — this is an old photo!


In preparation

We are getting even more snow!  It will make it harder to make my appointed rounds.  I missed my Friday morning knitting group and still have last minute stocking stuffers to buy!

Hoping all of you have a wonderful holiday with those who are special to you.

December 21, 2010

From Susan — Good Morning, PF!

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 11:29 pm


Good morning!  Just sharing a virtual cup of coffee with a very nice friend.   Great seeing you last night at the knitters’ guild meeting — and great seeing many other friends!!

It was the MKG annual charity fundraiser and holiday party.  I had one of the best cookies I have ever eaten: Pistachio-Orange Cookies.  This recipe won this year’s StarTribune Cookie Contest.   I guess they are quite expensive to make because you need raw, shelled pistachios (not roasted and salted!), which are tres cher and hard to find.  Worth it.  VERY worth it!

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