theraineysisters knitting and so much more

May 14, 2006

From Sally — The Ugliest Sweater I Ever Knit

Filed under: Back Story — Sally @ 7:20 pm

Isn’t Susan’s wedding purse beautiful? Some projects are pretty and timeless. Others are — well — I don’t really want to say anything too negative (in part because I am the kind of person who believes objects have feelings. I’ve been known to apologize to a chair for bumping into it.)

Even so, I’ve been cleaning out my closet this weekend and there is one handknit sweater that I will never, ever wear again. I don’t know what I was thinking, although I do remember being quite proud of it at the time. It was knit side to side, a first for me. So it does get a plus in the learning category. It used multiple kinds of yarn — oooh, Aunt Bea. Another part of my learning. It was the first time I did applied I-cord. Woo hoo. I should be too embarrassed to post a photograph but hey — I’m a Clay Aiken fan — I’m used to being taunted. So, without further ado:

Its one redeeming feature is its beautiful amber buttons. I am thinking of removing them and — gasp — throwing the sweater away. I think I need some liquid courage to actually do it.

Remember when I talked about the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival? I did end up going at the last minute. My major purchase was some roving. I have a spinning wheel, but I am not a good spinner. I took a class a few years ago, but stopped practicing. Seeing so much spinning going on got me interested again, so I bought two pounds of Blueface Leicester wool. It’s soooo soft. I got home and pulled out my spinning wheel. It’s a Louet Double Treadle S-51 for those of you who care. I sat and stared at it, trying to remember how the hell to “thread” it and get it to work. Yes, it had been a long time.

I did finally remember, and I’ve spent a lot of time since the Festival spinning. There are occasional moments when I truly “get” it: the fibers pull just right, the wheel spins at the proper speed, and I produce an even, beautiful yarn. But that’s just occasionally. The rest of the time I’m producing novelty yarn. I don’t mind, though. It’s relaxing and addictive and I’m learning. And I’ve got at least a pound and a half of Bluefaced Leicester rovings left.

Finally, in honor of Mother’s Day, here is a photograph of a peony I cut from my garden this morning.

May 13, 2006

From Susan — A Project Complete

Filed under: Current Projects — lv2knit @ 8:09 pm

The Wedding Purse is done:

Wedding Purse

The lace edging is from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns and is called the Queen’s Edging (page 373) — the edging is very fun to knit.  I knitted the bag out of one skein of Dale “Stork” color #2, 100% fine cotton, on Size 1 bamboo double points.  The beads are Japanese silver lined size 8, color XLT Sapphire (138 total beads used).  I lined it in a natural cotton fabric.  And there you have it.

May 12, 2006

From Susan — At Linda’s Request

Filed under: Knitting Tips — lv2knit @ 5:04 pm

Friend Linda asked for the link for making graph paper.  I had it in an earlier post, but here it is again for LV:  Actual Size Graph Paper.  Thanks for your comments! 

PS — this link has been added to our “Knitting Tips” page (see upper right corner of this page).

From Susan — Ballerina Update

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 8:14 am

As promised, here is a picture of the sleeve in progress:

sleeve

Someone asked me if I was working on the collar — it does look a bit odd, doesn’t it?  I’ll be finishing up the beaded wedding bag today and will place a picture then.  I think it is really turning out quite nicely. 

I was very sorry to miss knitting group last night.  I really wanted to go.  Actually, I needed to go!  I had such a busy week and really needed to unwind with my knitting peeps.  However, daughter Laura had school conferences and two works in the art show.  So, I was the the good parent and went to conferences instead of knitting group. 

I got this in the mail:

State Fair Book

Woo hoo — very exciting times!  The State Fair is around the corner!  Thursdays at Four is sponsoring a $25 Gift Card from Panera’s for the sweepstakes winner.  The State Fair is a big deal for knitters in the Twin Cities area so our knitting group decided to get into the action.

May 10, 2006

From Susan — Ballerina Update

Filed under: Current Projects,Updates — lv2knit @ 8:04 am

I have been working on Ballerina.  It is at the “I have to think” stage, which usually is a stalling point.  However, I had already done most of my thinking with Sleeve #1 and took copious notes — graphing the entire sleeve on graph paper.  It made it so much easier to start on Sleeve #2.

First, you put the side “seam” sts on a holder (why do these pictures look so blue?):

Ballerina Side Seam on Holder

Then you work the raglan sts only:

Ballerina Shoulder

The waste yarn you see running up the raglan is to mark the activation of the raglan sts — you activate 1 st, then 2, then 1, etc.  It is very hard as you are working up the raglan to know if it is a 1 or 2 st row, so I wove a piece of waste yarn around the sts marking 1-2-1-2-1-2- etc.  That way no thinking or counting is involved.

Ballerina Shoulder

The Sleeve: Hanne has you cast on 2 sts at the end of each WS row to build the sleeve.  It seemed like a not-so-great method.  I did a provisional cast on of all the sleeve sts at once and then I activate the sts as directed.  I used this method on the first sleeve and it worked great.  I did a 3-needle bind off to join the two sleeve seam edges together and then, in one step, knitted down the side seam (shown on holder above).  Sleeve done.  Seam done.  Sewing none.

I’ll post an updated picture that shows what the sleeve looks like in progress — it is very strange looking.  No one would know what it is supposed to be.

May 9, 2006

From Susan — Response to Comment

Filed under: Uncategorized — lv2knit @ 6:33 am

Thanks, Wendy, for the nice comments about the free mini-purse pattern.  In response: Do your own thing!  Be creative!  Consider the pattern a starting point.  I am already working on a very different version of the bag which I will share in a day or so.  It is a Victorian lace spin on the same bag (for a wedding).

May 7, 2006

From Sally — Tales from the Salt Mines

Filed under: Uncategorized — Sally @ 8:50 pm

I work one day a week in a yarn store, sometimes more if they need me. I do it for fun, for the contact with other knitters, and for the discount. Ahem. One of my favorite things to do is to help a knitter solve a problem. Some are easy, some are hard, and some demand to be shared.

Earlier this week, I helped a very sweet elderly woman who was trying to knit a top down raglan cardigan for her granddaughter. One reason she had apparently chosen the pattern was that she wanted to do something a bit different and learn something. She had done the collar and started the sets of increases for the raglan shaping, but she wasn’t sure she was on the right track. Something looked “off.” The first thing I noticed (my vision is not what it used to be, but still) was that she had used ring markers to indicate where the increases should go. Unfortunately, she had knitted them into the sweater. They were embedded into the base of the collar and would not be removable without cutting them or unraveling all of her knitting. Unraveling is what we did because, without the markers, she had been guesstimating where to do the increases. Instead of four straight lines radiating out like spokes, she had a spiral thing going on.

I helped her unravel back to the markers. Then I picked the stitches back up, went over the directions, and watched her knit several rows to ensure she understood how to do the increases and slip the markers so that they would not longer be a decorative addition to the sweater. The underlying problem was that she hadn’t understood the true purpose of the markers or the construction of the sweater. Once I explained what the directions meant and how that created the sweater shaping, it all made sense to her. It goes back to my earlier blogs on mindful knitting.

From Susan — The Voters Speak

Filed under: Back Story,Updates — lv2knit @ 11:16 am

Re: Sally’s Icarus Shawl.  We heard from Wendy that she opted for the Kidsilk Haze in green for a gorgeous shawl she made.  The green is indeed fabulous, but the knitters at Friday’s knitting group liked the grey (it is actually more of a smoky, taupy, lavenderish color) because of the sheen.  It looked pearlescent.  ALL the colors are absolutely stunning, any of them would be fabulous, Sally’s stash yielded several options without even a drive to the store — so therein was her dilemma.  She’ll post a picture soon, so hopefully the full beauty of the color can be seen.

I was talking to some knitting friends and one mentioned that the Aubrey Cap (Simply Shetland 2) is still her favorite hat and that she made several for gifts this Christmas.   I, too, love the hat (if I do say so myself) and have made at least a dozen for different stores in the Twin Cities and even a couple for myself.  When Gregory at Simply Shetland asked me to design a hat (in addition to the Rosemary Pullover), I of course said yes.  I had never knitted a hat in my life!  It is true.  Even though I have been knitting for decades, there are certain things I have never made.  Up until very recently, I had never made socks and I have only knitted giant felted mittens (not real ones for wearing). 

So, the first thing I needed to find was a generic “how to make a hat” pattern!  I used Nancy Lindberg’s pattern to get the architecture of the hat.  Gregory had a very specific style in mind — a cabled watchman’s cap.  I made the hat he requested and then designed the Aubrey Cap in addition.  They preferred the Aubrey Cap and the rest is history. 

May6007.jpg

This cap is knitted up in Cascade 220, Color #I-have-no-idea.  The shetland yarn used in the book is a bit scratchy.  I’ve knitted this up in various yarns successfully.  My knitting group teases me about changing every pattern I ever use, including my own.  I did indeed make some improvements to this pattern that are on the Knitting Tips page.

Please also note that the Beaded Mini-Purse pattern has been added under a new category: Free Patterns.  The formatting is a bit odd, but hey — it’s free!

 

May 6, 2006

From Sally — The Icarus Shawl

Filed under: Current Projects,Icarus Shawl — Sally @ 8:12 am

The Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits, just out in the past few days, has a beautiful shawl pattern designed by Miriam Felton. And, as I keep saying, I’m quite taken by shawls lately. She knit the Icarus Shawl in Suri Elegance, a very fine Alpaca. I decided that it would look beautiful in Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze. I had enough of four different colors in my stash to make it; therein started hours of indecision. Here is a photograph of the back of the shawl (scanned from the magazine).

The four colors I was debating over were a pale green, a deep chocolate brown, a grey with lavender undertones, and a deep rose.

I love the deep rose, which is less fuschia than it looks here, but kept worrying it was too bright. My husband and some of my online friends preferred the pale green. Susan’s knitting group all went for the grey.

I started knitting with the green and then finally switched to the grey. It’s beautiful, but then again I think it would be beautiful in any of these colors. Opinions welcome. I may knit more than one!

May 4, 2006

From Susan — Ballerina Update

Filed under: Current Projects — lv2knit @ 11:25 pm

It feels like I haven’t done much on my Hanne Falkenberg Ballerina (color #13) — I’ve just been kind of chipping away at it slowly but surely.  Here is the updated progress report.  I’m almost to the side “seam.”  I have probably 10 ridges and then I’ll start the right sleeve.  It is such slow knitting.  You’re on very small needles and doing nothing but garter.  I did haul it with me to work today and actually got to knit on my lunch break.  I have not been able to knit at work for awhile — and I need that down time to regroup! 

Ballerina

Here is a detail shot of the back right shoulder shaping:

Right Back Armhole

It is all short rows all of the time.  The technique is the yarnover short row — a Hanne trademark.  They work pretty well for the way it is designed, though not as well when working the short rows from the top down, as I do with my sleeve variation and for the center back gusset of the Mermaid Jacket.  I’ll show pictures of my sleeve detail when I get to that point.

Thursday Knitting Group was quite fun tonight.  I did not get home until 9pm.  Woo hoo — wild social life!

 

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