theraineysisters knitting and so much more

October 29, 2006

From Susan — I can’t knit ALL the time!

Filed under: Current Projects,Updates — lv2knit @ 7:29 pm

Today I had to clean and do laundry :(.  Here are my definitions of cleaning:

Cleaning the house: you are able to open your door proudly to family, friends, and neighbors

Straightening up: you are not absolutely mortified if someone happens into a room

Natural state: one step ahead of the Board of Health

Today I straightened up — somewhat.  I also finished knitting the Vogue Lace Top and figured out the embellishment for it.  I found some old lace and also bought a beautiful ruffle, but let’s face it: it is for my 11 year old to wear to school, not to a Victorian-era debutante ball.  So, I cheated a little and sewed it on by machine (please don’t turn me in!).

LaceTopDetail.jpg

I’ll try harder on the front to get it perfect but I think it looks okay.  The finishing won’t take too long, but the front and sleeves need to dry.

I also started the raglan shaping on Anya.  I am loving the yarn so-o-o-o much.  It is soft and nubby and a gorgeous color.  Can’t wait to get it done. 

PS — Laura made the soup, too: “Wanted to let you know some one else made the potato cream cheese soup — it’s awesome! I made a double batch, so the freezer is full of emergency comfort soup.”

October 28, 2006

From Susan and Sally — re: Comments

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 11:10 am

Michelle asked what her pattern meant when it said to hold the yarn double throughout (thanks for the question, Michelle).  Sally replied that as Michelle had suspected, it means that you hold two strands together as if they were one strand throughout the knitting of the garment.  It creates a yarn with a bigger gauge or, if two different yarns are used, creates a hybrid yarn with combined characteristics.

Here is the scarf my daughter is currently making.  She calls it Tennis Ball Green, which I think is quite descriptive (this scanned picture is very accurate):

TennisBallGreenScarf.jpg

When you hold 2 or more strands, occasionally you drop one strand accidently or only knit through one strand when making a stitch, so you have to pay a little bit more attention.  If you look at the three yarns Laura is using, the skinny yarn is the culprit and frequently gets left behind.  I’m not sure why so many newbies like knitting with these yarns, except that you get beautiful results with less effort (DUH, I guess that’s a pretty good reason!!).  They are harder to work with.

AND, an unsolicited comment from Patti:

“I just wanted to say that I made your potato cheese soup, and my family thought it was wonderful. Such a delicious soup and it is made in under an hour. Thanks for the recipe.”

I am delighted that the recipe worked for someone else.  I’ve had it happen that another cook tries a recipe and gets a total flop (it’s happened to me many times!).  Thank you for the great feedback.

October 27, 2006

From Susan — redanya

Filed under: Anya,Current Projects — lv2knit @ 9:06 pm

I have been working on my two latest projects: Anya and the Vogue Lace Top.  Lace Top front is done, back is done, sleeve #1 is started.  It would be great if I could get it completely finished this weekend so I can move on to other things.  Yes, I constantly think about the next one in queue, or the next step (how will I finish the top edge?) as I am knitting.  I think I kind of drive myself crazy.

Anyway, here is a picture of my mindless, on-the-go knitting:

Anya001.jpg

I absolutely love the yarn and know I will love the sweater.  I am fashioning it after a sweater that I wear all the time due to its loose fit and comfort.  I always feel good wearing the thing.  But I can’t wear it EVERY day, so I’m making its fraternal twin in this gorgeous, soft, beautiful, deep red yarn.  Sally and I are both in love with red at the moment.

The only change I will make is to convert it into a raglan — I really like raglans!  Raglans are very nice to knit and sew up because a mattress seam is virtually invisible.  I’m just about to the point of the raglan shaping on the back.  I sure hope I get some knittin’ time this weekend.  THAT is the definition of a good weekend!

 

October 26, 2006

From Sally — Look Ma, Even More No Fingers

Filed under: Uncategorized — Sally @ 5:10 pm

Pleased with my first pair of glovelets, I’ve already started a second. These are out of Jade Sapphire’s 4–ply cashmere called Keja, in a sort of Chinese red. I am in love with this yarn; I want to marry it and bear its children. My webcam doesn’t do justice to the colour and I still don’t have a working camera. Imagine a gorgeous, perfect red and you have it.

These will be a gift, but I have enough to make a pair for myself. And I just might have to.

October 25, 2006

From Sally — Look Ma, No Fingers

Filed under: Back Story,Gallery — surly @ 6:05 pm

Yes, I’m alive (for those who were wondering.) And I’ve even been doing a little bit of knitting despite being very busy with personal and other issues. I picked up a small project I had started a long time ago and never finished. It was such a small project I had actually misplaced it! I had been working on some fingerless gloves out of a very nice, earthy yarn I bought one year at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The yarn has a homespun look and feel and it’s very soft. I bought it to make Eric’s Glovelets, a pattern from Green Mountain Spinnery. As is often the case with me, I rushed home and knit one beautiful little glovelet and then got distracted by something else and didn’t get back to it right away. So, I came across the orphan glovelet and its twin (which had a cuff but nothing else) yesterday and decided to just finish the poor things. Here is a lovely photo taken with my webcam (I’m still having camera issues). The gloves hadn’t been blocked yet, nor had the ends been woven in. They therefore don’t look as lovely in these pictures as they do in real life. They are happily drying now and look much better. It’s amazing what soaking does to yarn; this particular yarn really bloomed and a lot of the irregularities from the hand spinning really evened out. If I remember, I’ll take a better picture when they’re dry.

As you can see, I deliberately kept the glovelets quite short so that I could use my fingers easily while wearing them.

Now for something completely different and not related to knitting.

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING?

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

“Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt.”

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite..

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

“Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand and “lollipop” with your right.

The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter of the alphabet.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

The words ‘racecar,’ ‘kayak’ and ‘level’ are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in “dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: “abstemious” and “facetious.”

There’s no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

Now you know everything.

October 24, 2006

From Susan — Insurance

Filed under: Current Projects — lv2knit @ 8:25 pm

I just bought me two skeins of knittin’ insurance and that makes me feel fine!  I was worried about my Kathmandu and now I am worry free!  I also bought yarn for my daughter to make another scarf — she has one for every outfit almost.  Tonight we bought electric neon green.  It is gorgeous.   She made a purple one this weekend.  When my daughter knits, all is right with the world :).

PS — I love reading all your comments about being a new knitter, etc.  Thank you for sharing!!

From Susan — You won’t be Newbies Forever!

Filed under: Back Story — lv2knit @ 1:37 am

Some of the comments yesterday were about being late knitting bloomers and feeling bad about not being as fast or as far along as others.  You kind of feel like you’re at the starting line when others are rounding the bend.  But it’s not a race.  It truly is a community and everyone brings something into it. 

I used to work with a woman who was much younger than I and a fellow knitter.  I was so proud and excited to share my knitting projects with her.  But she quickly surpassed me — working on gorgeous fair isle socks that I couldn’t believe and designing her own things.  My pride in my knitting was totally overshadowed by her talent, and I didn’t enjoy sharing my knitting with her anymore.  She left to study the knitting arts and make a career of it.  It has taken me many years to get to where she was back then. 

If you are open to trying new things you will learn.  Make sure every new project has something you’ve never done before: cables, buttonholes, colorwork, socks.  Knit what you love out of beautiful yarn.  Pick a pattern that challenges you a little bit, but not TOO much.  Get some good reference books.  Go to knit nights at local yarn shops.  Start or join a knitting group. 

I guess there is no substitute for time and a dose of talent or passion.  Some people make that trip faster than others.  I hope that the newbies in my knitting group never feel as bad as I did — they seem more mature than I was and have a willingness to learn from the other knitters in the group.  That’s the greatest thing about our knitting group — everyone shares their projects with pride and we all learn from each other.

October 23, 2006

From Susan — Response to Comments

Filed under: Current Projects — lv2knit @ 8:11 am

Thank you for all of the positive comments about the new lace top.  Its progress has slowed as expected because I had to do some other things yesterday — darn it!!  I did start the front and got through the second lace pattern, and also tried to start Anya for my “at-work-mindless” knitting, but it is still not quite right, so I have a few more adjustments to make.  The pattern has a small mistake and then there is the issue of my “customizations,” though these will be few (“I like you very much, just as you are.” — MD).

Michelle asked if I buy my yarn at my LYS or on-line.  I tend to do both, but primarily at my LYS.  Because I teach at two shops, I get a discount.  It usually makes it cheaper for me to buy there AND I like to support yarn stores — to keep them around.  Also, there is the instant gratification aspect.  That said, if the yarn I want is not available at one of the two stores with aforementioned discount, my loyalties end.  I will buy the yarn where I can find the best deal. 

I teach classes so I can afford beautiful yarn.  I won’t waste my time on crap.  It takes as much time to knit something with Red Heart acrylic as it does to knit with merino wool, but what do you have when you are done?  I have made this mistake in the past — as my friend Peggy said, “I only have so many stitches left, so I’m not going to waste them knitting on something I don’t love.”

PS — Michelle, I’m not “one of those.”  I know people who can knit like speed demons and get fair isle sweaters done in a month (you know who you are! :)).  It takes me months to finish those.  The reason I get things done is because I spend a lot of time at it. I wish I was faster because there is so much knitting to do!!

October 22, 2006

From Susan — Some Knitting for a Change

Filed under: Anya,Current Projects — lv2knit @ 12:15 pm

Have you gotten the latest Vogue Knitting?  It has a red scarf on the cover that is very pretty but looks like a lot of effort for a scarf.  Inside is another in their series of gorgeous white camies.  I fell in love with this one for my daughter:

VogueCroppedLaceSweater.jpg

And started it yesterday:

VogueCroppedLaceSweaterBack001.jpg

What fun knitting — rather addictive, really.  It doesn’t hurt that I am making the extra small, which is tres petite for my tres petite daughter.  I have never made a lace shawl with tiny yarn like this.  This is a great introduction to it and not as difficult as I thought it would be. 

I am using a Douceur et Soie/Kidsilk Haze knock off called Ovation from the SRK Collection.  Absolutely wonderful to work with.  The back got done in one day — how long do you estimate the rest to take me?  You know how it goes: lots of activity and then a rapid slow down.  My hands, arms, and shoulders are in pain from doing too much yesterday.  But I’ll try to keep up the pace.

I also bought some yarn for one of those sweaters that you make to wear — a lot.  The pattern is Anya from Jo Sharp.

Anya.jpg

Her Silkroad Aran Tweed is very expensive but I bought the identical yarn called Katmandu in color Plum (I say identical because it is from the same mill and has the same look, gauge, and composition: 85% merino, 10% silk, 5% cashmere).   I can’t start it until I finish the little lace top for Jena — m  u  s  t    k  n  i  t  !    !    !    !

October 20, 2006

From Susan — A Little Touch of Sweden

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 6:16 pm

I am not Swedish, nor of Swedish heritage in any way, but when the Knitters Guild announced that a knitting designer and author was coming to town, I had to get involved.  Inger Fredholm wrote the following book and taught classes here this week.  I took her lace class and even though I did not learn any new techniques, I enjoyed every minute.  She was delightful to listen to and a very generous soul.  We got to see her exhibit and hear about the behind-the-scenes aspects of her lengthy knitting career. 

KnittingwithaSmile.jpg

Her designs include fair isle/Norwegian [Scandinavian] influences and simple lace.  Her philosophy about lace knitting is that the pattern should be so simple that you can memorize it easily and always be able to find your place.  She was wearing a hand-knitted skirt made out of medium gray, heavy-weight, cotton yarn in a feather and fan lace stitch.  It was really quite lovely and something I would consider making.  It is in the book. 

Another thing I promised my knitting group I would share is my recipe for Potato Cream Cheese Soup.  As you may have caught on, our knitting group meets weekly at Panera Bread.  Every Thursday they served this fantastic and very rich Potato Cream Cheese Soup.  It was my stand-by every week — I rarely branched out.  Well, first they switched days of the week and it was no longer available on Thursdays.  I would wander around other Paneras hoping to stumble onto the day my favorite soup was served.  THEN they stopped serving it completely :(.  A couple of weeks ago I experimented with a recipe and came up with a close (not exact, mind you) substitute.  It takes under 45 minutes to make and is great served with buttermilk biscuits.

Slide1-4.jpg

M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m.  I’m going to go have some right now — it’s even better the next day.

 

 

 

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