i am really liking this shawl!!  I am in the early phase of infatuation when you need to knit all you can! It fades quickly as we all know. Strike while the knitting needle is hot, as they say.
I am done with the first two charts (130 rows complete): 26 x 13 inches:
The finished shawl is supposed to be about 50×100 inches!! Using my bogus math skills, that means I am ~13.5% done.  That’s not too bad, though I will never keep up the same pace.Â
Tomorrow is Monday :(.
I have been working on a stealth project for a while and finally finished it. However, it did not turn out quite the way I wanted, so it will not be going to the use for which it was intended. I think the yarn is too heavy for the project and also not of high quality — the color runs! I was disappointed but not devastated.
The FO is a shawl: Alix’s Prayer Shawl designed by Myrna A.I. Stahman. Many people have made this shawl and it is a nice (and FREE!) pattern. The origins are from a novel by Debbie MaComber which was lent to me by a work peep. It has a knitting theme so she thought of me. The books are a light and easy read with a lot of knitting references and quotes from many notable knitters. I am reading them in the wrong order (3-1-2), but it’s no matter! The Alix shawl was part of Book 3.
I used a mohair blend from my stash and US Size 9 needles. I really think this is a nice, easy lace shawl pattern and would look wonderful in a lightly variegated or semi-solid sockweight yarn (like Koigu).Â
I also started another project which is just getting off the ground — it, too, is a shawl. What is with the shawls lately?? I have no idea! Maybe I got the shawl bug from Surly. I have at least three more in queue!
Anyway, I am making the Mystic Waters Shawl.Â
It is a gorgeous pattern. I am again using yarn from my stash (I am so proud 
) — Zephyr and Silk Laceweight in Sage. I am already in the 90’s for rows completed, which means it’s about 5″ long! This is tiny knitting and a huge shawl. Many people have also made this shawl — will 2 skeins of Zephyr be enough?? I’ve seen 2-3 listed and I only have two.
Mitered Jacket is in a slump but is the only knitting I can take with me. The MWS is too intense (must follow the pattern stitch by stitch, line by line!).Â
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Thanks for the great and supportive comments about my book-buying spree! I can’t wait until they all arrive!
Kelli already has the Retro Knits book and had this to say:
“I just received the Retro Knit book in the mail today and it is fabulous!!! I actually plan on writing the authors via publisher, asking them to expand on the patterns and do another book. I love vintage patterns. This book is well done with original photos of the original publications. The added tips, yarn alternatives and sizes are also great. This belongs in every knitters library. There is something for everyone in this book.”
That is SO good to hear! As I mentioned, Kari Cornell will be at Tuesday’s MKG meeting and will be selling copies of the book. She told me that the book was originally supposed to be out last fall, but the work involved in re-writing the patterns for modern sizing, yarns, etc. was more time consuming than they originally anticipated. If the book does well, I’m sure they would consider a second volume. They probably had a hard time deciding on which patterns to include and have dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of additional options.
Well, yes, I could stand to lose more than a few el-bees, but I am talking about a book diet! I have been stuffing my fat face with new books lately and it is leaving me very little $$ for yarn (or food, or gas, or…). Here is a sampling of the books I have on order:
Numero Uno:
This delectable book is due out in October and was written by my blog friend Romi Hill. I couldn’t diss her by bypassing her book, now could I?
The next sweet lil morsel is brand new and co-authored by someone I know IN PERSON: Kari Cornell. Kari is a member of the knitters guild and will be talking about this book at our meeting on Tuesday, May 20.
Again, would it not be rude to diss a member of the guild?
Okay, another luscious tidbit (tres cher, like high quality sushi) is this acquisition:
And like sushi, an acquired taste — there are some German patterns, translated into Japanese with a few English pages thrown in for reference! I feel like I’m in a WWII movie. There is a pattern that I am very interested in which I will describe in a later post, I’m sure ;). Yvonne asked for the source of this book: I bought it from Lacis ($67 plus handling).
This is bad, very bad! Each book contains potential projects and another trip deeper down the rabbit hole. My bookcase is overflowing. Where will it end?
Now, many of you are probably thinking: why doesn’t Susan just go to the library like all frugal/smart people do? One phrase stops me in my tracks: OOP — out of print! 
G-r-r-r-r-r! So many great knitting books go OOP and become a) unavailable and b) highly sought after.
I decided to take my dad’s advice: buy every copy they have before the hoarders get them!
I do!
At the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival I found the perfect buttons for my Ode to Joy cardigan. Don’t you love it when that happens?
I may only be able to knit a few rows a day, but at least when I finally finish this project (at this rate, my estimated date of completion will be sometime in 2012) I won’t have to shop for the buttons.
I’m partway through the matching square for the other front. I know. It’s sad.
Today we will have a knitting lesson for all of you new knitters just starting out: when the pattern instructs you to cast on “x” stitches, cast on that number of stitches. Any more or any fewer will cause problems and issues later on. The stitch count requires three things: 1) knowing how many to cast on, 2) casting on that exact number, and 3) being able to count. All three must take place simultaneously for accurate stitch count to occur.
DOH!!
Okay — so I can’t count! No wait, I think I did count correctly, but was aiming for the wrong number. Oh, well. Whatever the reason, I ended up with 72 sts across the top of my sleeve instead of 78.Â
What a doh! This is a bit of set back as I will need to rip out the entire mitered portion of the sleeve 
. Bummer. This is the kind of thing that often relegates WIPs to UFOs…
Response to Twinsetellen: Her suggestion: “If you are going to lengthen it anyway, could you just lengthen and keep widening to the right stitch count?” This is a great idea, but I would still need to redo a sleeve — it would just be the first one I did instead of the second one. Darn those pesky sleeves! They kinda hafta match!
It may not appear to be — since our blog has been knitting free for a while now — but, knitting is still an important part of my “activities of daily living.” ADLs , for the non-healthcare folks out there, means what people need to do each day to function in a normal capacity :).
Before I get into a knitting update, let me just announce that I am a winner!! I won Closeknitfriends’Â bloggiversary contest! Woo Hoo to me and nannie nannie boo-boo to you! 
Here is what I won:
It’s a felt-a-something kit: with feltable yarn, fun fur and beads for accent, all in a cute knitting-related basket! Very cute! Thanks, and I am honored to win!
Now on to the knitting! I have been working on a stealth knitting project that is nothing fancy and not my design, but is a gift of sorts to be revealed at a later date. Because that has taken up a lot of my knitting time, I have not made much progress on my Mitered Cardigan. I did finish one sleeve and discovered it was too short. No problem — I anticipated that I may have to adjust the length:
The length for me needs to be 25″ from very top to very bottom. I will finish off the cuff with applied i-cord. The other sleeve is finished to the point of adding the sleeve cap. I am thinking I should knit that cap next and then figure out the adjustments to the other. It’s not a lot of knitting! I could finish the sleeves easily this weekend, but then there is a lot of finishing left to do.
I really wish I had had this jacket done when I was in New York with Surly. It would go great with jeans and I would have been able to wear some knitting, plus it would have been perfect given the weather. Sally wore her Mermaid while we did our knitting shop round-about and got so many compliments! “Oh, did you knit that?” “Why, yes, I did.” “It’s lovely!” PS: I enjoyed reading all of your comments about our trip.
Shepherd’s Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival is being held this weekend. Last year I worked the MKG booth for a couple of hours and wandered aimlessly for a couple of more. It was really fun and a great way to connect with the creators of our favorite past-time — the sheep and alpaca who make our knitting possible! I may go for a bit tomorrow morning.
What a fun few days we had! Seems like we’ve been gone forever or never left — that strange time warp that occurs with travel. Anyway, we are back and ready to share the adventures of our sisterly travels.
Friday, May 2: Susan Arrives in DC
Susan arrived fairly early, so we felt we could get in a quick trip to a yarn store before lunch. We headed for Knit Happens and paid a lightning fast visit — no stash upload there (we were saving ourselves), but we discovered Le Pain Quotidien across the street and had a wonderful lunch. We found out that they also have multiple New York locations which came in quite handy :). The rest of the day was very low key.
Saturday, May 3: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
We got an early start and arrived at the Howard County Fairgrounds by 9:30. The hordes had already beaten us there! This is the largest sheep and wool festival of its kind in the country. But it needs to be twice as large: twice as many exhibit areas, twice as many bathrooms, twice as many food vendors…!! It was difficult to see all the exhibitors because the crowds were packed in so tightly. Here is a little taste of the event:
Very fun and very exhausting! We bought a tiny little amount of yarn for us: some lace weight, some roving, a finished garment (such a luxury). Sally did not bring anything to display this year because we would not be able to pick it up on Sunday — we were going to be in New York. So no going to the Exhibition Hall to look for ribbons. Le sigh.
Sunday, May 4: New York City
Up early to catch the train to NYC. We absolutely loved our hotel — The Casablanca — SEE PS BELOW!! Sally discovered this little gem. It definitely has a European flavor, and we were very outnumbered by British and Irish tourists. It is small, older, cozy, and charming. The big selling point for us was Rick’s Cafe:
This spacious and welcoming sitting room is open 24/7 with coffee and snacks, and a happy hour from 5-7. They also serve a lovely continental breakfast:
Needless to say, we were very happy to have a comfy knitting nook at our beck and call. Sunday evening we went to the theater and then dined at a fabulous restaurant. Quite a whirlwind of a day!
Monday, May 5
We did a little sightseeing and yarn shop touring. We strolled through Central Park briefly:
CP is the most amazing place — cannot be believed!
We went to these shops: String, Knitty City, and Purl Soho. String specializes in HIGH end (very high!) yarns and their own pattern line. It was nice, with some lovely patterns, but the prices were a bit daunting. (Note to selves: start saving $$ for more cashmere.) Knitty City was a real knitters’ knitting store. Nice yarn, nice people. Purl Soho is a small, but lovely shop (we were there on our last trip). They carried a yarn that we really wanted, but could not justify. We’re keeping it on our “must figure out how to justify it” list. It’s called Road to China Silken Jewels — this picture was taken by Jess from the Yarnery:
The picture does not do the yarn justice, but trust us!
After our grueling shopping excursion, we stopped at Le Pain Quotidien for take away coffee and a chance to relax in Bryant Park:
That evening we hung out in Times Square — it was a Monday night and you would think it was Saturday! People were out milling around all night long.
We had a great time. The weather was perfect, everything we did was fun. We were recognized a few times along the way and felt like rock stars. (Thanks especially to all of you who said hello to us at the Sheep and Wool Festival.) It is a little bit of a letdown to get back to reality, but our many fond memories will keep forever.
PS — You never know who is reading your blog! The lovely people at The Casablanca read our rave review of their hotel and are making the following offer for visitors over the summer months:
“We are so delighted you enjoyed your stay with us at the Casablanca Hotel! It was so kind of you to refer your friends to us, so tomorrow, in your honor, I am going to set up a special promo code “sisters”. That way anyone who uses it on our website for a reservation between now and Labor Day, 2008 will get $10 off per room per night. Okay, so it won’t pay for your flight or anything, but it will probably buy you a nice cocktail out or an “I love NY” tee shirt, and most importantly, it is just our way of saying THANKS! adele@hkhotels.com ”
Thank you, Adele!
Susan arrived in DC today for a 5-day multi-faceted extravaganza. Actually, it may be more like deja vu all over again! Susan was thrilled to see flowers in bloom since spring in Minnesota has been non-existent slow in coming. It is in the high 70’s here and absolutely gorgeous.
Tomorrow is the start of the world famous Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Susan has been meaning to come out for this particular weekend for several years. It happened to hit right after Sally’s recent visit to the Twin Cities — which seems like only yesterday! Obviously, the focus of the event is sheep and wool and everything knitting/spinning. We will report back after the big day. If you see us wandering around, please be sure to say “hi.” We will be carrying our Rainey Sisters totes for identification.
Sunday, it is off to New York to see a Broadway play and visit yarn shops — something wild and crazy and out of character completely ;)!
Sally has brought out her knitting bag so let’s hope for the best. TTFN
I haven’t had a lot to contribute to our blog since mid-March; it’s hard to write a knitting blog when you can’t type much and you can’t knit at all. Susan has been gamely shouldering the blogging burden, but I’m going to give her a little bit of relief today.
I’m still in the splints about twenty-two hours per day. My right hand is improving; my left hand is not. Even so, I was given the clearance to knit a little bit as long as I keep the splint on my left hand while I knit. I’m taking it very very slowly, but I have knitted a few rows each of the past few days. I started my own Ode to Joy (designed by Candace Eisner Strick) in the Cape Cod colorway. I don’t have much to show for it yet, but I’m so happy to do any knitting I don’t care.
Thanks for all of the support and kind thoughts.
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