theraineysisters knitting and so much more

What is on my needles right now?  A couple of things, but my mindless, soon-to-be finished WIP is a rendition of Phiaro.  This is the latest in my knitting group’s many “lemming” projects.  We run off the knitting cliff arm in arm!  I bought the yarn at Lakeside Yarns during Shop Hop on April 9 as did a couple of others.  The rest took the leap at Yarnover last weekend!!

We are knitting our wraps out of Rowan Purelife Revive.  My colors (from top to bottom) are Jade, Flint, Grit, Pumice, and Granite.

You knit a tube, cut it at the beginning of the round and then drop sts to create an openwork wrap with braided fringe — very cute and summery.  Some people do a combination of ktbl and purl sts.  Ugh.  I think they do that when using slippery yarn.  This yarn is anything but slippery!!  It is like knitting with sand paper!   The shop sample was just knit in the round and it seemed to work fine, plus it is M I N D L E S S knitting.  I am on the last color and have about 20 rounds to go before the bind off /dropped sts finale…yay!!  I will add a picture of the finished stole when it is done — hopefully SOON.

Just a word about Yarnover.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!  The dinner Friday night was fantastic – really delicious food and a presentation by none other than knitting royalty: Meg Swansen.   She shared wonderful stories about her life and how she became the knitting icon that she is today.

I did not sign up for classes this year but shopped in the vendor market – found some beautiful things which will be shared when their time is at hand.  😉  Some people had complaints about the venue, especially parking and accessibility.  There are always complaints about the venue.  Different venue, different complaints!  I know from having been on the committee that they try so hard to make it a perfect day and really take concerns to heart.  I know they will do their best to make improvements for next year.

PS – I did finish this yesterday except for the “finishing”!  I dropped all the sts and started the braided fringe.  Whoa.  Slow going there!!  I did 15 out of 50 and had to call it for the night!

The Crescent Swallowtail – this has been a goal of mine for a while now.  I wanted to convert the triangular shape of the beloved Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark (over 11,000 Ravelry projects!!) to the crescent shape that I now prefer for shawls.

How hard could it be?  🙂  Harder than I first thought!

The difference between a triangular shaped shawl and a crescent is the rate of the increases.  A standard triangular shawl increases 4 stitches every two rows.  A typical crescent increases at a rate of 6 stitches every two rows.  I figured I would just use Excel to chart it all out and voilà!  My math skills started out a bit sketchy, but it all worked out in the end!  I also increased needle sizes along the way to enlarge the outer circumference.

I knitted up three samples to verify the accuracy of the charts.  I created two different styles and two different bind offs.  You can mix and match to create the look you want.

 Standard Option
This option uses all the elements of the original shawl: Budding Lace to start, Lily of the Valley nupps, and standard lace edging with original bind off.

Lv2knit’s Crescent Swallowtail

Blue Crescent Swallowtail out of Hazel Knits Entice, Color Twilight

Stockinette/Picot Option
I substituted stockinette for the Budding Lace pattern and added a picot bind off.  They are the same shape — I just laid them out differently for photos!!

Crescent Swallowtail in Shalimar Paulie (color: Orange is the New Black)

No hump cast on!

Picot Edging (this photo looks washed out!)

I wrote my mods up in pattern format so anyone and everyone can re-knit this shawl if they wish.  I recommend that you go to my Ravelry page to always be sure you have the most up-to-date version…I already made one correction and others may follow!!  I have one more on the needles and maybe more in my future…I’m loving this shawl!

Enjoy your own Swallowtail!!

PS to Janet: I did not share my spreadsheet and do not plan on it – it is kind of a mess!

PS2 — I finished my third Crescent Swallowtail!  Done in Malabrigo Sock (Impressionist Sky).  I did the standard version with the picot bind off (I think it’s my fave):

PS3 to Tina: I will admit to being a shameless enabler!! 🙂

There are so many fabulous striped shawls and scarves available now, aren’t there??!  They are so popular and fun to knit.

A new person to our knitting group was working on a striped shawl that had a background color with periodic stripes of a contrasting color.  I showed her how to start the new color without an end to weave in and said, “You can avoid an end when you start the color, but there will be always be an end to weave in when you stop it.”  That bugged me!  Why does there need to be an end at the end??

So, I came up with a way to eliminate the pesky ends in striped shawls and scarves.  The only end I couldn’t get rid of was the bind off!

This is a small sample that shows the way it looks, with no ends as you knit along.  Is the [right] edge perfect?  No, but if there were a bunch of ends woven in it would look a lot worse!

I do variations on splicing to eliminate the ends.  I spit splice almost every fiber I knit with.  Superwash, singles, cotton, etc.  There have been very few times over the years when I have been unable to successfully splice my yarn.  One annoying exception is some of the beautiful hand painted yarns that we love.  Sometimes the color does not penetrate all the way through, so the inside is white.  When you split off the plies, the white can show.  Then you might get the barber pole effect.

I splice when I add a new ball of yarn, add a new color, and sometimes when I cast on, but I don’t use it all the time — there are times when I want an end.

Regular splicing works when joining in a new ball of yarn in the round and the Russian Join for color changes, but the starting and ending of the new color that I demonstrate is not really meant for working in the round.  It would leave a hole in your knitting, plus you have a place to hide the ends on the inside. But it is another technique to have in your toolbox!

I taught this as a Pop Up a the Yarnery last weekend and 40 people showed up, so I decided to put together a YouTube video so others could check it out.  It is too long and I tend to ramble (and hate hearing my voice!!), but it does show the different techniques.  In the video I use water to moisten the yarn, but in real life I usually suck on the ends!  I wanted to look more refined and classy in the video!! 🙂

There is a picture of a written chart that may be hard to see.  Click here for a pdf copy: Minimizing Ends in Knitting.

And thanks to Gretchen for the timely information about YouTube videos!!

PS to Celeste re: Pop Up class — we held two separate sessions with about 20 people per.  I did demos on the “end the color” technique for 4-5 people at a time with them standing behind me.  It worked!

PS2 to o-stephanephanie:  O-stephanephanie asked about this technique in fair isle.  Fair isle is knit in the round, so I don’t use the half Russian join.  What I do to eliminate ends in a pullover or on the sleeves would be to either do a standard splice (as I do when just changing to a new ball in a project) if the color change flows from one to the other.  If the color change is abrupt, I would do a standard Russian join.  I show what this looks like in this post.  And as the post states, I didn’t even bother with a Russian join on the underside of the sleeves – I just spliced.

PS3 to Jennie – Jennie mentioned my assurance that by twisting the yarn as you go that these methods work with all yarns.  I can only guarantee that this works for me!!  I have been doing this for years with all kinds of yarn, so I know it works, but everyone is different and you may be knitting with yarn I have never tried.  So, be aware that objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear!!!

As Susan mentioned earlier, I have been traveling.  My husband and I drove from Washington, DC (just as our cherry trees were flowering) to the Grand Canyon.  We stayed there a few days, hiking and enjoying the jaw dropping views.  It was very cold — we were caught in several snow squalls and had to buy extra cold weather gear.  It was worth it!

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove down to Tucson for a little vacation with my daughter and her husband. My son and his girlfriend will join us in a few days.

I’d been promised that I would see a road runner while we’re in Tucson. Finally, this morning, I saw two of them. I took a not great video of one of them. I blame the quality of the video on Wile E. Coyote. I bought my camera from Acme, his favorite purveyor of goods.

Beep beep!! I warned you it was crappy video! (And I personally hate how youtube then plugs a bunch of random videos after you watch the one I’ve embedded, but I don’t know how to get rid of that.)

As for knitting, I’ve been working on a couple of projects and hope to have something finished to show you all when I get home.

Sally is travelling but I am sure she would wish the same.

Have you seen these yet, floating about the internet??

Are they not the cutest?  They have sausage inside so they are truly Piggies in a Blanket.  My daughter showed me a youtube video on how to make them but I could not find it.  I improvised with Pillsbury Grand biscuits, and sausage links (casings removed , rolled into balls and baked).  You brush them with egg wash.  The girl has whole cloves for eyes and the boy has peppercorns.

From the back

Anyway, they are awfully darn cute — I almost hate to eat them!!

Our knitting Camp friend, Denise Bell, put her heart and soul into a beautiful endeavor named fittingly Ultima Thule.  Any of the definitions listed could be applied to this book and the lengthy journey it took to get it to press!

Ultima Thule by Denise Bell and Chris Dykes

Denise, with her wonderful Southern drawl, is the talent and spirit behind Lost City Knits.  She creates spun gold out of silk and other natural fibers.  Her yarns are absolutely stunning.  I have a few skeins of her silk waiting for the proper timing and inspiration (or just plain time??):

Denise was also my inspiration to knit the Scatness Tunic.  I sat behind her when she was wearing it and became obsessed!

The book chronicles her trip through the Shetland Isles and includes some wonderful designs.  The shawl shown on the cover is knit out of her silk laceweight (like that shown above).  Wow.  Again, wow.

So, congratulations, Denise, on your brilliant work!!  And I look forward to seeing you in July with all of your stunning creations!!

PS to Janet: The doily is a knitted Herbert Niebling design called Lotus Flower.  Of all the doilies I have made, this one was my favorite to knit.  The pattern (from Doilyhead) is very well done.

Thank you all for such an outpouring of wonderful comments.  The overwhelming theme seemed to be that you a) like that we are knitting sisters, and 2) you appreciate the information we share about knitting tips and the adaptations we make to our projects.  We will keep this in mind as we post in the future!

The Winners Are…(and we wish you could all win!!)

Geri — Rakke Shawl

Kristen C. — Plucky Knitter yarn

Karen K. — Woolfolk Tynd

We will be contacting the winners directly to find out their mailing information.   Thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, and thank you for your support!!!

And a really special thank you goes to all those who have supported the Phil Zajicek Medical Fund. with donations, thoughts, and prayers.  We are very touched.  Knitters are such generous souls!!

Just a friendly reminder that our celebratory giveaway ends tonight!!  Last call!! 🙂

As loyal readers know, Sally has a lovely daughter, Nora, who lives in Boulder CO.  She got married about 3-1/2 years ago to a great guy.  You may remember Matt as King of the Mountain.  Matt’s friends tend to be cycling enthusiasts, as well.  His best man, Phil Zajicek was no exception.

Last week, Phil experienced a horrific bicycling accident while riding in Boulder.  He lost an arm and suffered many severe injuries.  His medical outcome is still unknown at this time, but we do know he will incur incredible medical expenses, and need extensive rehabilitation.  He was the breadwinner for his young family.  A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched for Phil.  We are linking to the site here to offer our support in any way we can.  Phil and Liz – you are in our hearts and thoughts every day!!

https://www.gofundme.com/HelpPhilZajicek

We are just about to celebrate our 10th Bloggiversary!!  March 20 marks the momentous occasion.  It really doesn’t seem possible.  Though we have had times when we wanted to quit, and certainly times when we didn’t post very often, we both still enjoy it.  The blog’s original purpose continues to ring true — read our first posts!!

From Sally – March 20, 2006
My sister Susan and I decided to start a joint blog focused on our knitting; we live 1000 miles apart but we talk on the phone almost every day and most of the time we’re talking about knitting. We have absolutely no idea how to create a website, but we do know how to knit.

From Susan – March 20, 2006
Sally and I share many interests, but knitting is our passion.  We decided to share a blog because, as I said to her, it’s like having a garage sale — I don’t have enough to do one of my own.

C E L E B R A T I O N
How better to celebrate than with fabulous prizes!  We are giving away THREE wonderful prizes to lucky readers/commenters.

PRIZE ONE: Rack Up a Shawl
Susan’s Rakke Shawl is being given away to a lucky reader.  This design by Susanna IC was knit in LOFT (color: Long Johns), and would be a beautiful accent piece for your fall or winter wardrobe:

PRIZE TWO: Feeling Plucky??
Originally purchased with the Camilla Shawl in mind, this coveted yarn from Plucky Knitter could be used for any of the wonderful multi-colored shawls found on Ravelry.  Three skeins of Plucky Oxford (430 yards/115 grams, 75% merino and 25% cashmere), one each in Steelcut, Wingtips, and Hats Off:

PRIZE THREE: Tynd to Your Knitting
This yarn is confused.  It thinks it is 100% merino (Woolfolk Tynd 223 yards/50 grams, color Navy), but it makes cashmere feel like sandpaper!!  This yarn would make luscious fingerless or regular gloves because it feels so fabulous against the skin.  Two skeins.

How to Win??
Three lucky winners will be selected at random on Thursday, March 24th by midnight and announced on March 25th.

Simply post a comment and make sure your email address is correct.  We will pay shipping within the continental US.

If you have a preference for which prize or prizes you would like to win, include it in your post.

Thank you to all of our loyal readers.  We have enjoyed hearing from you over the past ten years.  You have encouraged us and raised our spirits on many occasions.