theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I just finished a sweater that took me ages to knit relative to the simplicity of it: Rossore Pullover from the cover of Interweave Knits.

Sally and I both looked at this and thought: Rowan Felted Tweed!!  So, I rushed to The Yarnery and bought a zillion skeins.  Sally had a bunch in stash, so I filled in some of her colors and bought 8 colors for moi.  You may remember that I visited Surly in Boulder in early December.  We collaborated on this sweater while I was there.

The problems started with the gauge difference and the top-down yoke.  We had to make SO MANY adjustments…after MUCH ripping out, we both moved along.  Then we decided that some of the colors we had chosen weren’t that great.  More ripping.  More shopping.  More knitting.  Surly ended up changing out a lot of her colors.  I stayed pretty much on track.  My Rossore is now blocking:

The top color is shown better here:

I hated knitting the Latvian Braid (and reknitting the Latvian Braid!), so we both substituted purl ridges for some of the color transitions (I describe these in detail on my Ravelry project page).  I really like how they turned out.  I also did the neckline with the purl ridges, after plucking out my cast on 🙁 .  I will revisit this project once it is dry and off the blocking board!!  This is not a fabulous sweater, but I think it will be very wearable.  It fits well and I think it will be one I grab often!

From Sally:  I’m still knitting mine.  Yes, I had several colors in my stash, but only one skein of the colors I chose.  And I needed to dip into a second skein.  No one out here sells Felted Tweed.  I ordered it online and they sent the wrong color!

Stick a thermometer in it, this scarf is DONE!!  A year in the making.  Not because I am THAT slow, but because the knitting took place day-by-day (or week by week…month by month??).  I am referring to my Weather or Knot Scarf as created by Scott Rohr at The Yarnery.

This was a super fun project and I am thrilled to get to the end.  My scarf ended up to be 8.5 x 82 inches.  A nice size.  I used Tukuwool Fingering for most of it.  My gold and orange are Elemental Affects.  They ran out of my original gold and the replacement was completely different!!  At that point I subbed Tukuwool.  Tukuwool has a lot more yardage so no running out of those colors.  You really cannot see the gorgeous teal in these pictures — for some reason I could not capture the color!!

I kept reading about people spending hours weaving in ends.  I spent 3 minutes!  I had one end to weave end when I bound off.  I spliced all my other color changes.  I made a few other changes which are described on my Ravelry project page.  I was not thrilled with the blocking of this yarn.  I expected it to soften and be easy to shape.  It looked awful!  I ended up steaming it in addition to wet blocking.  I should have just steamed it!!

And, Happy New Year everyone!!

PS to Amy — I did regular splicing, not Russian joins.  Regular splicing does result in a candy cane effect, which did not bother me at all in this project.  Russian joining, where one color ends abruptly and the new one starts, is more time consuming to do and not really necessary for this scarf.

I recently finished Spring Square designed by Hinterm Stein.  (If you haven’t checked out her wide range of designs on Ravelry, you should.)

My photos are terrible most of the fun in this sweater is in the details along the shoulder.  In other words, arms required for decent photographs.  My mannequin just doesn’t cut it and it’s so hard to take photos of oneself in a sweater!  The floral motif at the back neck gives the sweater its name.

This design uses a really interesting top down construction and way of moving from shoulder to shoulder that was fun to do.  It’s a well thought out pattern; I like the fit enough that I might use the pattern as a template for something else.

It has a sort of modified dolman fit and then tapers to the waist/hips.  I lengthened my Spring Square and made it less tapered.  Other than that, I followed the pattern very closely.

The yarn I used is Carol Sunday’s 3-ply Eden in the Cielo color way.  The contrast color is the same yarn in Mist (left over from the brioche scarf I knit last year).  It is wonderful yarn to knit with and feels great against my skin.

Someone turned one year old a few days ago.  Hard to believe the transformation!

Man, have I been cranking out the hats!!  One or two a day it seems!  I reknit a hat for one of my daughter’s friends.  She had a baby and LOVES the Purl Soho Garter Ear Flap Hat I made him.  He keeps growing!  This is the second redo and to me looks big enough for an adult!  Try to outgrow this one, you little monkey!!

I also knit two hats for The Yarnery.  They asked for some shop samples and this project could not be easier or a quicker knit.  The pattern is called PALET.  I got two hats (child and adult) out of one skein of Woolfolk Flette Bulky.   I blocked them over a plate and bowl/vase.  Kind of an aerial act for the small hat!!

The yarn is super soft and you literally can knit this up in an evening.  Perfect for a last minute gift!!

PS to Marlys: I used Rowan Pure Wool worsted washable for the gray and random stash yarn for the cream.

PS2 to Janet: Thanks for commenting!  Just to clarify…my doilies are handknit, designed by Herbert Niebling!  This one is called Frosted Ferns.

We are getting into that special time of year – holiday parties, family gatherings, work soirees!  The list goes on.  How about adding some festive flair when you host or attend one of these fêtes??  I just posted a FREE pattern on Ravelry called The Hostess Hat!  To wear or share!!

It’s just for fun.  It’s a quick knit and is a great introduction to beaded knitting.  A skein of Cascade 220 (Ruby color #9404) will make 2 hats and one skein of Natural (8010) will be enough for FOUR hats!  Happy knitting!!

PS to Samina and anyone else who has never knit with beads: This could be one of the easier beaded projects to learn with!  The beads are big, the yarn is big, the crochet hook, though small, is kinda big!!  The knitting is basic…

Or is that knit a clock?  You decide.

Over the years, we’ve both been intrigued by knitted clock patterns.  This time, we actually did it!  The pattern is by Stephanie Earp.  Although she offers several variations on the pattern, we both chose the same design.

Sally’s Clock

I dug through my stash for my clock.  The background was knit using  Sunday Knit’s Angelic 3-ply in Smoke.  The “numbers” are out of Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in the Devilish Grin colorway.  I am very excited that the clock actually works.  Or, as my daughter said:  “It lives!”

Susan’s Clock

I, too, was intrigued by this design and also rummaged through stash yarn to knit my clock.  I stumbled onto Grinning Gargoyle Shiny Penny and dark brown Malabrigo Sock.

It was a fun knit and also fun to put together.  My clock seems to have a mind of its own: it’s on time, then stops, then starts, runs slow, then runs fine!!  In other words, don’t rely on it if you have to get somewhere!!

Hi all, remember me?  I am still a Rainey sister and I do knit occasionally!

I’m sharing my latest FO.  I think of it as a Halloween sweater because of the orange in it and because it’s a combination of several patterns/ideas.  I was going to post it on Halloween but alas it wasn’t quite finished.

The main pattern I based this on is Sagemoor designed by Veronik Avery.  I used 8 colors of Brooklyn Tweed Loft as called for in the pattern:  Cast Iron, Pumpernickel, Embers, Cinnabar, Tent, Meteorite, Sweatshirt, and Button Jar.  The link above is to my sweater, the original can be seen here.  I really liked the dark gray and orange colorway, the knitted as you go sleeve, the V-neck, etc.  But while knitting it, I kept running into issues that made me uncertain as to whether it would turn out the way I wanted.  Based on the notes from one of the model knitters, it also appeared that they were knit differently than the directions.  I’m sure that the pattern can work — I just wasn’t sure it would work for me.

Susan reminded me of Arrina, a really cute sweater designed by Emily Williams.  I decided to start my Sagemoor over again and incorporate some of the elements of Arrina.  So:

1.  I switched from top down to bottom up.  I used a provisional cast on, and then knit the garter rib hem in the other direction at the very end so I’d know how much length I needed.
2.  When I got to the armhole, I stopped knitting in the round and used a provisional cast on to add sleeve-like extensions at each end of the front and back to make this into more of a vest/popover.  (Arrina has full length sleeves.)
3.   Using the general idea of Arrina’s garter stitch rib yoke and short rows, I calculated new numbers for my gauge.
4.   I joined the shoulders and the under arms using a three needle bind off.

I’m very happy with how it turned out and I always love not having to knit sleeves.  It was very hard to get decent photos.  My mannequin has no arms and I think arms would have helped.

Just finished up “Knit Purl Hunter’s” final KAL: The Audition Shawl.  It was fun and still available FREE until November 15…snag it now!

I used HiKoo® by skacel Simplicity Spray (Vintage) and Malabrigo Yarn Rios (Cape Cod Gray).  This took every last inch of both yarns!!  I used my No End Stripes techniques throughout, so only one end to weave in.  This was a fun, easy knit with gorgeous results!  Lots of bang for the buck!

A note about the beautiful Channel Island Bind Off: I had to go down 2 needle sizes to keep the edge from rippling.

PS to Pippa: The pattern is available on Ravelry here: Audition

It was also available on Michelle Hunter’s blog, but this way it will be right in your library.

Time is passing and the weather is changing!  We have had a cool year, even as the climate takes its toll on others around the globe.  My Weather Scarf is up to date through October.  Just 61 days and 122 rows to go.  It has been really fun to see the shifting of the temps.

I have an FO to share once I get it blocked and some pictures taken!

It’s time for another Drizzle on the Window Hat!!  I vowed I would not knit another.  Not that there is anything wrong with knitting these hats…it’s just that I have made quite a few!!  But, I was teaching a class on this hat at The Yarnery the past three Saturdays.  On the last day, a couple of students brought in beads they had purchased to make some more Drizzles.  They loved knitting the Drizzle.  They chose to go gray…and one had selected beads that also went gradient: clear for the smallest beads, light gray for the medium beads, and darker gray for the large beads.  I could not get to Stormcloud Trading fast enough!!!

It is impossible for me to get a truly representative picture.  The yarn is Classic Elite Fresco in Parchment — the “old” Parchment, which was more like ecru.  Fresco has been discontinued and I have yet to find a great substitute.  You just can’t capture the softness, the halo, the sparkle of the beads in a picture.  And, I enjoyed knitting the hat again!!