theraineysisters knitting and so much more

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the kind words about my friend, Pam.  Means a lot!!

I just finished Riverfront, a unique and fun scarf project, designed by my friend Scott Rohr (co-owner of The Yarnery).  The scarf was part of the ongoing Progressive East End Project (aka PEEP) hosted by yarn shops on the east side of the Twin Cities.  In typical times, people would travel from shop to shop to gather the yarn for the project.  This year, they had to do things differently, and did a multi-clue virtual KAL.  Each shop put together a kit and made the announcement – BOOM!  Kits sold out immediately.  But, I snagged a Yarnery kit.  Yay!  You can knit this without a kit.  It takes one large skein (~80 grams)and 6 minis of 20 grams each, in sockweight.  The kit used Malabrigo Sock.

I of course used my No End Stripes techniques and only had the bind off tail to weave in.  I did full Russian joins when the color transitions were high contrast and simple splicing when the changes were less abrupt.

Riverfront shows the undulating profile of the river that runs through the Twin Cities., the mighty Mississippi.  At least I assume that’s the river that inspired Scott!!  This blocking picture shows the scarf in its entirety:

Yep, it’s all short rows!  Simple garter stitch W&T short rows.

Some people said they ran out of some colors.  I was worried about the purple, so I substituted Abril for the Dewberry in the kit.  I would have had enough, but I’m a tight knitter.  After blocking, the scarf is very soft and drapey — perfect against the skin!  Today it is 25 degrees so I think I’ll get some use out of it!!

PS to Amy:  I have thought the same thing about kits, but didn’t worry about this one because it would be easy to substitute from stash if need be.  With sweaters, I try to order extra yarn because I have to lengthen everything.

A dear peep from my Thursday knitting group has succumbed to a long battle with cancer.  She kept up her spirits and her infectious smile through it all.  She never focused on her illness or negativity.  With the pandemic, we started weekly Zoom calls which she attended until the last few weeks.  Our worst fears were realized — her journey ended two weeks ago today.  This past year, Pam was knitting up a storm — many beautiful items to leave as a legacy to family and friends.  Our group is so much smaller with her passing.

I’ve heard from a lot of friends asking whether we’ve been affected by the fires in northern Colorado, so I thought I’d write a brief update.

There are multiple fires in Colorado right now, but three of them affect us:  Cameron Peak, Cal-Wood, and Left Hand Canyon.

The Cameron Peak fire is not particularly close to Boulder.  It’s due west of Fort Collins, which is an hour drive.  However, it’s a monster — the biggest fire in Colorado history.   It’s been burning for about two months and still only 50-60% contained last I heard.  The smoke from this fire has often blanketed Boulder as well as much of northern Colorado.  On Friday, I took this photo out of my living room window in the middle of the afternoon.    The smoke from Cameron Peak was the worst it has ever been.  The second photo was taken from the same window today at about the same time.   See?  I’m supposed to be able to see the foothills from my window.  And, no, there was no filter used in that smoke photo.  The sky was that color; in fact, it looked worse in real life.

The good news for us is that the Cameron Peak fire is an hour away.  Unfortunately, on Saturday a new wildfire started much closer to Boulder.  Around 12:30 or 1:00 I saw a few puffs of fresh black smoke out my window as I looked north.  I could tell it had to be a new fire — it was too close to be from Cameron Peak.

Within a very short period of time,  it looked like this:

This was the Cal-Wood fire, which exploded down the foothills — it burned almost 9000 acres and 25-30 homes in a matter of a few hours.  Tanker planes and helicopters flew back and forth over our house all Saturday afternoon and evening.  After it grew dark, we could see flames in the distance from our house and from various roads and vantage points in North Boulder.

Just now, another tanker plane flew overhead.  Those guys are amazing — they disappear into the smoke and swirling winds.  Over and over.  Having this fire blow up so close to Boulder city limits was unnerving.  I was so touched at how the community pulled together to help:  offering to rescue livestock, provide pasturage, trailer horses, and shelter strangers.

Last but not least, on Sunday, another smaller fire started up in Left Hand canyon.  Firefighters threw everything they had at it right away and it has stayed under 300 acres.  Thank goodness for lighter winds and a bit of drizzle in this terrible drought we’ve been in.

Cal-Wood is now about 15% contained.  It’s approximately 4 or 5 miles north of us, but they’ve controlled the southern edge so we feel secure.

Bottom line:  We are safe.  We are humbled and grateful.  We are on guard.  And some of us are knitting.

I’ve been working for the last couple of days on Beyul designed by Justyna Lorkowska.  I’m not too far along but I’m enjoying knitting with it.  The pattern is extremely clear and well thought out.  I bought the yarn at my one and only Rhinebeck — Susan and I were planning to go again this year but we all know how that turned out.  Bittersweet to pick it up the weekend Rhinebeck was supposed to take place.  The yarn is Miss Babs Yowza in the color Tulipa.

The back as I work down to the bottom of the armhole.

How long could it possibly take to knit a cap sleeve slightly cropped sweater with color work in the yoke?  A very long time if you go by my Lovebirds sweater.  Of course, knitting the yoke 2 1/2 times didn’t help!  Here’s the saga of my Lovebirds.

I saw this pattern on Ravelry and loved the original color way, which you can see here.  I went out and bought the exact same yarn.  (I already knew that I liked knitting with Spincycle’s Dyed in the Wool.)  After knitting most of the yoke — this is a top down sweater — I didn’t love how it looked.  The Sunset Strip color way was simply too yellow for me.  Yellow is one of those colors I just can’t wear easily.

Here’s a photo taken after I had started to rip it out.  I was much further along.  There’s nothing wrong with the color; I just wasn’t happy with it on me.

I put Lovebirds aside for a number of months and then discovered a color of Spincycle — Midsommar — that was similar to Sunset Strip but had more pink than yellow in it.  I wanted the hearts to pop and so I used some Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in the Devilish Grin color for those.  (It was leftover from my knitted clock.

I started over.  I finished the color work.  I separated for the sleeves.  One of the design options for the body of the sweater is to add cables.  As I was about to start the first cable row, I realized that in my size the center cable was not going to line up with the row of hearts that finishes the color work.  Moreover, now that I was looking at it more closely, I realized that none of the motifs lined up down the center as they had on the pattern model.  Was it me?  Had I screwed up?  I looked at some of the other finished sweaters.  No — it wasn’t me.  I had assumed the motifs would line up on all sizes and had been so busy knitting away I hadn’t noticed that they were off.  (I do not have a photo of what the sweater looked like at this point.)

Let me say that there is nothing wrong with the other sweaters I looked at.  The overall pattern is happy and fun and the finished sweaters looked great.  But as longtime readers know, Susan and I are perfectionists.  I wanted my motifs to line up!

I couldn’t bear to start completely over for a third time.  My solution:  rip out to just before I separated for the sleeves, then shift the sleeve placement so that the patterns lined up the way I wanted.  No problem — except that this is a top down sweater that uses short rows to raise the back neck.  If I simply moved the sleeves, I’d end up with the neck short rows draped over one shoulder.

I decided to cut off the yoke above the color work.  I found the new center of the front and placed the sleeves accordingly.  Then I re-knit the short rows and neck ribbing from the bottom up.

The removed original neckline

Checking to see whether the motifs are lining up and the short rows are working

New neckline finished and knitting the body

It worked!

I hope you’re not tired of ganseys and baby knitting because I’ve just finished two projects using Susan’s new gansey hat and sweater patterns.

One of my nieces had a baby girl last February.  I started knitting a dress for her in the winter but didn’t like the yarn and so I put it aside.  I still needed to knit something for her and the Baby Gansey sweater designed by Susan was perfect.

I used BeWoolen’s Merino DK in the Fate color way — a light pink with gray undertones.  For the trim, I used Mrs. Moon’s Plump DK in Earl Grey (leftover in my stash).  I wanted it to be feminine but not overly girly.  Success!  I’ve decided it has a sophisticated Chanel vibe — don’t disabuse me!

I added a bead to each button.

It’s not a challenging knit, but you do need to pay attention to the pattern.  The directions themselves are very clear.

Next up, I wanted to knit a hat for a friend’s new grandson.  By this time, Susan had finished her Gansey Hat for Everyone pattern.  I used the same gray yarn from my stash that I’d used for the sweater trim.  There’s a choice in her pattern of 3 gauges and 8 sizes.  The baby is only two months old, but I decided to go for the 6-12 month size in the 5 stitches to the inch gauge.  The red trim is some Neighborhood Fibre Worsted in the Cooper Circle color that I stole from my stash.

I added an extra pop of color between the patterning and the stockinette.  To do that, I knit a row in the red and then purled a row.  (If you start by purling, you’ll get bumps of the first color which will spoil the look somewhat.)  I used the method recommended by Susan in the pattern for eliminating the jog when using a color — as you can see from the photo of the back, it worked perfectly.

Both presents are winging their way to the recipients as we speak. Whew!

Hey, remember me??

Last you heard from me I had just launched my Baby Gansey Sweater and Hat Pattern.  I was inspired to keep going with the hats and make the hat versatile enough to fit everyone — over 3 different gauges!  8 sizes and 3 gauges (5, 5-1/2, and 6 sts/inch).  That adds up to 24 options!  You should be able to make this work for anyone.  It’s 20% off on Ravelry through next Saturday!

Gansey Hat for Everyone

I just released my pattern!  It’s called Baby Gansey Sweater and Hat Pattern on Ravelry!!  Yay!!  To promote the launch, it will be 25% off through September 24!!

Oh my.  I have been knitting baby sweaters like a fiend!  I finally finished the last sample!

As I said in an earlier post, this new baby sweater, called Baby Gansey, is actually a reinterpretation of a sweater I knit almost 30 years ago for my eldest daughter.

The sweater was a labor of love then and now!  It was supposed to look like a onesie, with the overlapping shoulders to make it easy to get over the head.  It was knit in pieces.  Seamed.  Sleeves sewn in.  In those days I was a one-trick pony and the only seam I knew how to do was the backstitch.  So the sleeves were backstitched into double fabric!!

I love the design and wanted to preserve as much of the concept as possible, but wanted to modernize and simplify the construction so I could write it up for others.

The sweater comes in four sizes and the matching hat has five:

The hat pattern is free with the sweater!!

So, that’s the story.  I am leaving tomorrow morning to visit my dad with my brother and sister, Surly.  I may not be able to get this completely together until I get back…stay tuned!! 🙂

Is this the longest and strangest year ever??

In case you had any doubts, I’m the one on the right!! 🙂

Sally and I have been doing some knitting.  I am also on a potholder high!  I’ve been cranking them out for my dad, my daughter, and myself.  They are such a dumb little project — kind of like knitting dishcloths — but they are practical and necessary.

My first attempt was a fail.  When I got to the last edge to bind off, the lack of tension caused the whole thing to disembowel.  SO, I came up with an idea to use knitting needles to hold the tension on the bound off sides.  These are super long, strong DPNs, but I had planned on using old straight needles, which would have also worked.

I am also knitting.  When my daughter was a baby, I designed and knit her a baby sweater (she is 30 now).  I have planned for 28 years to recreate the sweater for others and sell the pattern.  It is in process and may take another 28 years at this point!! 😎

Blocking is magic.  Blocking makes things happen!!  And thank goodness for that!

I started the “Stars and Stripes” Wrap designed by Carol Sunday last April.  The lace work was challenging and the stripes boring, so I set it aside for a while.  After finishing my Sandness and Flora Cardigans, I had nothing fun on my needles, so I picked it up again.  Still challenging and it looked hideous!!

I soldiered on, but had my doubts.  I made some changes to the ends: I substituted a crocheted, scalloped edging that wasn’t flared like the original.  I also did a “pick up/bind off” edging on the long sides of the wrap to give it a cleaner look.

But just how much difference could blocking make?  I mean, if it was a full on lace shawl I would have no doubts whatsoever, but this wasn’t full on lace!

Mount Vesuvius??!!  Kilauea??!!  What the beep??

I really didn’t think the miracle of blocking could fix this thing…but, I gave it a go.  Blocking wires assured a straight edge and consistent width:

Mount Vesuvius disappeared!  The color in the next pictures is very true.

So, blocking took it from hideous to gorgeous!  Yay!!  Speaking of gorgeous, the Together Apart Shawl that Surly made me arrived on Monday.  So stunning and more than thoughtful.

Two FOs for the price of one!!

PS to Heather T.: The “pick up/bind off” method I used is very basic.  The edge on this wrap consisted of k2, p1.  Using the same size needle as the wrap, I picked 3 sts for every 4 rows into the left leg of knit st number 1.  This left me with an unbroken knit st to follow.  Then I bound off with a needle one size larger, as to knit from the WS.

For the Weather Scarf, blocking alone might be enough to smooth out the edge.  I don’t know what yarn you’re using, but I had a tough time blocking my Tukuwool.  It ended up looking very nice however!

Melanie Berg is a prolific and talented shawl designer.  I saw her Together Apart shawl knit and loved the  lace pattern and the colors Melanie used (Tosh Merino Light Copper Pink solid with Phantasm stripes).  I bought the identical yarn and began to knit.

About halfway through the knitting, I began to feel guilty.  In her description of the pattern, Melanie wrote:  “Knit two shawls in inverted colorways and send one to your friend! The intertwined colors are a reminder that even when we’re apart, we’re still a part of each other’s lives.”

During the course of this never ending pandemic I’ve had to cancel four trips.  I missed a family vacation (where I’d get to see my son, who lives in Seattle), a baby shower in Minneapolis, a charity gala I attend every year with dear friends, and knitting camp.  I’m lucky that my daughter lives here in town, but I miss my friends and family deeply.  Susan is both my sister and my best friend.  Not being able to visit in person is no fun!

So I bought more yarn and when I finished my predominantly pink shawl, I knit one for my sister in the reverse colors.  It took me about two weeks for each shawl.  (It just felt longer.)  I popped Susan’s in the mail today.

Here are photos of the two shawls.  Someday soon, if we’re lucky, they (and we) will be Together Again instead of Together Apart.

Happy Knitting and stay safe everyone.

PS from Susan: My shawl is stunning!  I know the lace was not a simple pattern and the shawl is very generous in size, so I know how much work was involved.  Whew!!  I can’t wait to get it!  Sally said she had a little trouble trying to figure out the best way to wear hers, but I love this shape and I love the colors!  Thank you to my lil sistie!  I dreamt last night that she popped into town to surprise me.  Even though she spilled the beans about the shawl during our virtual camp Zoom call, it still is like a surprise visit from Surly!