theraineysisters knitting and so much more

We’d like to announce an exciting new adventure for The Rainey Sisters and (we hope) for our readers.  For the new year, we are launching our own group on Ravelry:   The Rainey Sisters.

No, we’re not abandoning the blog!  However, blogging can be a bit one-sided and we don’t always post as frequently as we could or should.  We hope our new Ravelry group will be a place for more casual conversation and dialogue.  We want you to ask questions, post about your own projects, discuss patterns and yarns, and share tips and techniques.

We frequently hold off posting here until a project is finished — in our group, we’ll post more informal updates about what we’re working on.  We see the group as our home away from home and we’d like to invite you to come on in to knit and chat together.

To celebrate the launch, we are having a special give-away!!  All members of our new Ravelry group will be eligible to win – except for Susan and Sally 🙁

The prize is a wonderful book called Drop-Dead Easy Knits.  Susan received a copy to peruse prior to our giveaway (you may recall that we ran into the authors when Little Darcy Went to Washington!).  The book is W O N D E R F U L – 29 fabulous designs.  Drop-Dead Easy does NOT mean boring or plain.  Here is a stunning shawl:

Abide by Kirsten Kapur

Want simple, quick and stylish”??  try this cowl made with two skeins of Malabrigo Rasta:

Portillo Cowl by Gale Zucker

Who doesn’t adore a cute toy?

Bear in a Bunny Suit by Susan B. Anderson

And simple can mean elegant, classy and gorgeous!

Keynote Pullover by Mary Lou Egan

All you need to do to enter is scoot on over to Ravelry and join our group.  The winner will be announced on January 15, 2017.

PS (January 2) — We are thrilled with the response from our readers!  Over 275 members so far!!  You rock!!!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!  Ours was extremely low key this year, which was all I could muster!!

Well, I finally made it to eternity!!  I finished this blankety-blank afghan in time to give it to my daughter for Christmas.  Once I focused and saw the light at the end of the tunnel, I did 8 inches in one day!!

The pattern is Umaro and I used Berroco Vintage Chunky, Color Sunny.  I forgot to weigh it to see how much yarn it took.  I forgot to take good pictures.  I think I wanted to forget the whole thing!! 😉

Buh-bye, Umaro!!

PS — DD loved it!  She uses it constantly so that makes it all worthwhile.

Tomorrow is my last day of work before the holidays and I usually exchange very modest gifts with my co-workers.  I could not come up with any great ideas, so I bought some candy and made them each a small, knitted Christmas hat ornament:

The hats are knit with stash yarn in a light worsted or DK as follows:

On Sz 3 dpns: Cast on 32 sts.  Join to work in the round.  Work 4 rnds 2×2 rib.  Work 10 rnds stockinette.  Start Decreases — Rnd 1: (k2, k2tog) to end of rnd;  Rnds 2&3: knit; Rnd 4: (k1, k2tog) to end of rnd; Rnd 5: knit; Rnds 6&7: k2tog to end of rnd.  Cut yarn and pull through rem 4 sts.  Weave in ends and steam to block.  Finished size ~ 2.5 x 2.5 inches at widest and longest dimension.

I embellished with small pom poms and some embroidery using lighter weight yarn — it’s supposed to be holly and poinsettias!!  Quick and done!!  Actually, everything took longer than it should have, but you all know how that goes!!

You may recall my Vintage Velvet Scarf.   It is a thing of wonder!  The soft, velvety fabric is unbelievable.  When I bought the yarn, I first purchased the right color (Chianti) but in the “Touch Me Lux” version – which has sparkles in it.  That was not the look I was going for, so I set it aside.  I finally got inspired to knit it up because of the holidays (my one small burst of holiday spirit) – the color is so festive.  I found the pattern Adama, and thought it might work.

I needed to enlarge the pattern, or so I thought, because of the shrinkage that occurs with felting.  I doubt it was necessary!  Also, there is a lace pattern in there somewhere — completely obscured by the felting process!!  Probably a lot of extra knitting and effort for nothing.

You can see from the pictures that the back is much narrower than the front — it is a cowl with a cowl neck!!  Brilliant!!  A cowl within a cowl!!  I knit this in three days — a very quick knit that could be finished in time for Christmas.  If you follow the pattern as written, 300 yards of lovely worsted would work.

And, today is my anniversary.  Yay!!  34 years and counting…

PS to Susan:  you asked for it!

PPS to Cindy: I did get married in a hand-knit, white mohair sweater — I don’t remember the yarn but it was a lightweight, silky mohair (not Le Gran,  something “fancier!”).  Since it was a December wedding I needed something warm!

PPS to Suzan:  Our wedding was a study in frugality!  The entire wedding (our clothes, wedding rings, food, music, venue, JP, liquor, flowers, etc.) was less than $700!  Far less than a wedding dress today!

Knitting sweaters is slow, tedious, and often ends with disappointment: poor fit, unenthusiastic recipient, etc.  Change all that!!

Last year I showed you a cute gift card holder and Christmas tree ornament, called certifiable:

Twitchy Knitter reworked the pattern this year in fingering weight yarn, and asked me to test knit it for her:

I have to admit to preferring the original, worsted weight version, but this might inspire you either way!!  The sleeves on the fingering weight version are longer, but can be stuffed into the front pocket.

Get knittin’ peeps!  The holidays are just around the corner!!  😉

As loyal readers of this blog know, I love Shibui yarns.  The yarns themselves are beautiful and wonderful to work with and they have wonderful patterns.  Simple, classic, stylish.  I’ve knit several and have quite a few in various stages on my needles.  (An embarrassing number of works in progress is my hallmark.)

When I saw Boulevard, designed by Shellie Anderson, I loved it.  It’s knit using Shibui Cima (a lace weight blend of alpaca and merino) and Shibui Staccato (a fingering weight blend of merino and silk).  The result is a sumptuous fabric with wonderful drape.

My sad little photos do not do justice to how beautiful this piece is.  It’s not really a poncho and not really a cape.  It’s long and swingy.  I made a size Medium and could definitely have made the size Small.  It’s very oversized.   It needs to be photographed on a person rather than a mannequin but . . . sometimes it’s hard to take photos of oneself.  Especially when one does not like to be photographed!

I closed it with bracelet findings instead of hooks and eyes as called for.

PS from Susan — a glimpse of our beautiful snowy day!

Pom poms are suddenly the rage and I love big, fat round ones!  My new friend Kari (the one I met doing errands) was purchasing the supplies for this gorgeous wreath!

It must have gone pretty fast because she made it in just a couple of days!  The details are on her Ravelry project page.   It’s so pretty and festive.

PS to Susan — I know Kari used Clover Pom Pom makers.

Here is wreath number two!!

Just when you think you have seen everything!  Nadine, an almost brand new member of our knitting group, shared this picture of her cat, Molly.  Wearing a pom pom hat from the book Cats in Hats.

Really.  I have no words.  Molly looks absolutely thrilled.

Yesterday I was running errands and a very nice woman came up to me and said, “You don’t know me, but I know you.  I read your blog all the time!”  Her name is Kari and we had a wonderful visit!  This happens to me from time to time and reminds me that there really are people out there reading this drivel riveting content!! 😉  Thank you all, friendly readers!!

This is my first post using our brand new computer.  It worked!!

Couldn’t resist the cheesy title!!

I made another Bluebird and stuffed it less:

And then comparing the two:

So, there you go!!

PS to Nancy: I did see that the above photo (with Bird Number Two in a Tree) is now on the Ravelry Pattern Page.  When a designer likes your picture, they can easily ask to use it on their page.  🙂

Feeling gloomy?  The Yarnery in St. Paul is having a mini-knitalong this Sunday.  They are knitting a free pattern, Bluebird of Happiness.  It takes very little yarn, very little time, and a little bit of stuffing.  I can’t be there Sunday, so I made mine today:

Really clever little pattern.  I did not read the part about not stuffing the tail so mine isn’t quite like the original.  I may have to knit another!!  Birds have to have a flock, right??