theraineysisters knitting and so much more

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. 

More knittin’ and more sewin’??  I found some cute spring fabric at Blue Bamboo and a skein of yarn in my stash that ties the whole thing Newsom together.  More work but twice the fun!

And in response to Grace who thought my dryer technique took nerves of steel — it was necessity and nothing more.  It could not be blocked when it was SO big!!

PS – Several of you asked what I will be making with the fabric.  I will probably make a dress I can wear to work, though the blouse idea is a good one!!  The skein of fingering weight yarn will probably end up as some kind of “Trillian“-like scarf.  It needs to be something that works well with variegated yarn.

That was a tortured title!!  But, it is meant to announce my latest FO: Newsom by Bristol Ivy.  It felt like a bit of a slog, but only took a month so it couldn’t have been THAT bad, plus I threw my Margo Poncho in there somewhere, so quit complaining! 😉

When Sally and I went to Rhinebeck in 2014, I bought three skeins of Miss Babs’ Yowza – Whatta Skein in French Marigold — a jaw-dropping, tonal orange.  I loved it, but could not find the right pattern.  Everything was too this, or too that and most times I did not have enough yarn.  I thought this simple style might work…and it did.

This sweater drew me in because of the clever construction.  The sweater starts at the center of the back, right at the hem.  Bristol says you can’t really adjust the length much but a couple of people tried it as did I.  I am almost six feet tall, people!!  My mods are described in more detail on my Ravelry project page.

The bold line continues up to the underarms, where you attach the sleeves:

Yes.  You are essentially knitting a rectangle: up the right side “seam,” across the back, then down the left side seam.  At the point in the picture, I am ready to attach the sleeves – up the right side, around the sleeve, across the back, around the second sleeve, and down the left side.  it is crazy town!

The two diagonal lines between the stockinette and garter sections continue, becoming the raglan lines on the front of the sweater.  You can see the front raglan line here:

It forms one continuous line from the center back to the front neck.  So cool!  A second [new] raglan line is added where the back and sleeves have been joined:

The color looks light and dark in the picture, but that is just shadow.

Now.  About the fronts.  They do not come together, nor are they supposed to apparently, but I knew mine would not even be able to wave at each other!  So I did a series of short rows to create a wider hem.  I did this after all the raglan shaping was done, right when I was ready to begin the collar.  I did short rows every 6 sts which added 18 ridges to the width on each front at the hem only.  Then I knit the collar, concluding with an i-cord bind off.  I also did an i-cord bind off at the sleeve cuffs.

The sweater fit well but needed blocking.  I wet blocked it and it became GINORMOUS!!  I threw it in the dryer a couple of times and that did the trick.  It fits perfectly and the yarn feels amazing.

Whew!  Another one bites the dust!  Now I need spring weather to wear this bright little puppy. 🙂