theraineysisters knitting and so much more

The kitchen is progressing, but has a long way to go!!  Most of the boxes have been emptied and items put away.  What you see here is the picture you’ll find under the definition: “round peg, square hole!”  There is a lot of room, but nothing fits.  It was so annoying.

DD came over last night, took one look at the counters, and said she thought they would be ‘a little nicer.’  These are old, cut up doors!  John just put them there so we would have some workable space!  So funny!  The real countertops take weeks to “fabricate.”  The floor comes last.  And the globe lights are soon to be 1970’s history, baby!

I will be spending most of today/tomorrow getting ready for the knitting retreat I am doing at the Norwegian Wood Retreat Center this weekend.  So excited because some of my favorite knitters have signed up!

I am not really doing much knitting yet – hand surgery is still healing.  I CAN knit, but not with impunity!! 🙂

PS to Amy: We are using vinyl plank for the floors – floating floors do not go under the cabinets.

PS2 to Chloe: I grew up with an electric stove…got my first experience with a gas range in an apartment.  I could never go back!

My knitting has been curtailed of late due to several factors.  The most obvious is that I had surgery on my right middle finger a couple of weeks ago that has limited my mobility.  As a right-handed “thrower,” my throwing is a bit off!

The other factor is the disruption of remodeling!

When we walked into the kitchen of our [now] home 21 years ago, we burst into laughter — it was the ugliest kitchen we had ever seen!  Photos do not do it justice.  In fact, if I was as photogenic, I would be a high-fashion model even at my present age.  😉  As ugly as it was, held off until now to remodel.

This is how it looked this morning – this does not show every other room, all of which are equally in chaos.  On Tuesday the cabinet installation will begin.  The countertop takes weeks to fabricate, and I have no idea when the flooring arrives!  Not to mention the lights, tile work, etc.  I had hoped to host Thanksgiving in our new kitchen, but may need to wait for Christmas!!

My husband is doing a lot of the work, so when I sit, knit, and watch TV I feel very guilty.  Because of this, yesterday I went downstairs to do all of the above to minimize the guilt!! 🙂

But, it will all be over soon enough.  I’ll post an “after” picture when it’s done!

This is an excerpt from our Ravelry Group Tip of the Week…

September 22 Tip of the Month 2  — Building Better Brioche

The Rainey Sisters launched our new pattern about a week ago.  Part of the process was to divvy up the pockets – who would write up which pocket.  Susan was assigned “brioche” because she had more experience knitting brioche.  The following tip derives from her experience writing up the brioche pocket for Pickpocket:

From Susan:
Most everyone who writes directions for brioche follows the same method outlined by the great Nancy Marchant.  She is the reigning queen of brioche, and rightfully so.  However, in the course of my swatching, I did discover a flaw in the standard method for knitting 2-color flat brioche:

You can see the issue in the following pictures.  I checked out the directions written by several well-known brioche designers and found that they all did it the same way – shown as standard below:

In standard 2-color flat brioche, you leave the working yarn of the contrast color (CC) where it falls when you drop it to slip the edge st(s), then turn to work the next row with the main color (MC).  This is to the RS of the work.  It will then be in the proper position when needed again – after the MC portion of the row is completed.

The problem is, the brioche column is incomplete, resulting in a narrower column with distorted, half-formed sts.

By moving the yarn to the WS of the work when the CC portion of the row is done (before slipping the edge st-s), the CC purl column is completed.  It becomes a fully formed brioche purl column.

The MC row is worked, and then you slide the sts back to work the CC row.  At this point, the CC yarn needs to be moved into proper position (to the right side).  If you are on the RS and need to work a brioche purl, bring the yarn forward; if you are on the WS and need to work a brioche knit, move the yarn to the back.

If you are not a brioche knitter, this won’t make any sense!!  But, if you take up brioche knitting, try swatching both ways and see what you think!  Another tool for the toolbox…

PS from Susan — I sure enjoyed my 15 minutes of fame in the Kristy Glass spotlight!!  Thank you for watching and commenting.  It really means a lot! 🙂

Yes, I am on Youtube!  Remember when I said I had been interviewed by Kristy Glass?  The video is now playing on her YouTube Channel.  It is horrifying to watch yourself for that length of time…

PS to DivaDar: I agree!  Kristy was so sweet and really seemed interested in what I had to say.  She was a really good interviewer!

PS2 to Deborah: I did knit the gold and blue bird sweater in the round and steeked it.  You do the neck or armhole shaping on either side of the steek.

We are so proud to be able to launch our newest collaboration: Pickpocket!  This has been in the works for months…we hoped for a September 1st release, but decided instead to ruin Sally’s anniversary weekend! 🙂

Pickpocket has a choice of six fun pockets (plus three additional choices using the reverse sides), a flattering boxy shape, unique i-cord knot at the neckline, and a split hem. Fun to make and fun to wear!!

Here is Sally’s Pickpocket being modelled by her lovely daughter, Nora:

And here is Susan’s Pickpocket:

The idea behind the name is that you pick your pocket – from 6 options (3 more when the reverse sides of some of them are included):

The other cute touch is the i-cord knot at the neckline:

We chose the boxy shape because it is flattering to almost everyone.  There are 7 sizes included.  The prototypes were knit in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter.  Susan is knitting another one for her daughter in Berocco Vintage which looks great so far!

A little added feature — Susan fixed a basic problem with Brioche Knitting — check out the Brioche Pocket…more on this little gem later.

Hope you like it!!

I had very minor surgery on my right middle finger and ended up with a HUGE bandage!!  I cannot knit and it is very difficult to type!  I hope to have a simple splint on Monday.  The initial numbing agent is wearing off…!!

PS — I had a mucous cyst on the first joint of my middle finger – caused by arthritis.  The only way to remove these is surgery.  The cyst fills up with synovial fluid and is extremely painful, so you have to get rid of it!!

Hey, I know you need something exciting to do!  Join me for a weekend of knitting, relaxation, eating, and more knitting!

The retreat is October 12-14 at the Norwegian Wood Retreat Center in Princeton, MN.  Details here: registration information.

Friday night I will do a repeat presentation of Herbert Niebling – The Lace Genius.

On Saturday we will explore finishing techniques that can elevate the look of your garments.

Sunday is all about beads!  We will make a Mini-Snowfall Beaded Hat Ornament.  A kit with beads and yarn to make all three hats is included in the registration fee:

Overnight accommodations are available, or people can come to any of the events separately!  It would be amazing if some of you were there!!

• One of my state fair entries underwhelmed the judges but pleases me quite a bit!  It is my Fair Isle Long Hat.  I saw a hat like this on Instagram and loved it.  It was labelled as a purchased hat and no pattern for handknitting seemed available, so I charted it out.  The original appeared to have 6 repeats of 24 sts (144 sts), but I added a repeat for my hat because I have a big head and too many tight hats!

I thought about launching it as a free pattern but opted to link to my notes instead.  I did not want to enrage anyone!  The Fair Isle Long Hat pdf (for the 144 st version) is linked to my Ravelry project page and includes charts and the colors used.  I would love it if others made it.  It is a nice, traditional fair isle hat.  It hangs down really cute in the back and the fat tassel holds it down!

PS to Commenters: the hat is still at the fair.  I will try to get a model after I pick it up!

And these are not my colors – I copied the hat I saw on Instagram.  🙂

PS2 ro Elizabeth: I am so glad you found the chart helpful!  I don’t have a color printer any more, so I write my charts for b&w printing! 🙂

Yes, it is state fair time in Minnesota, which is bittersweet.  It means that fall really is here and summer is almost gone.  I love fall, but what the …??!!  Where did summer go?

Okay, stop ranting!  Kim and I went to the fair yesterday on a picture perfect day.  My dear hubby dropped us off!  The buses were set to start an hour later than usual and that would be well after the Creative Activities doors opened.  The only reason we were a tad late was because I had to use the restroom!  The traffic snafus caused by the transportation changes were the highlight of fair coverage on the evening news.

The first order of business was to hunt for our entries.

The first thing we spotted was my Moose River Cowl (this was made from yarn I won).  And congrats to Lucy for her blue ribbon sweater!

The next two items were next to each other in the case: Pravigan and my latest Plaid Squared Felted Bag.

Doesn’t it look like that rosette ribbon has been snipped off?

Then we eyeballed Kims’ gorgeous fair isle blanket which also won a blue:

After that we had to hunt a little for our other entries.  Here are Kim’s stunning hat and stranded scarf:

My Capture the Moment won a 2nd place ribbon and was kinda flopped into the case:

Our friend, “N,” also won a ribbon – her first time entering!!

Baby Bonnet did well, and is hiding in the garments section!!

Also hiding in Garments is a sad looking little pancake, my Fair Isle Long Hat:

The hats that don’t win ribbons get plopped onto sewing mannequins!  Here is how I see it!

We finally found Dumbo – so proud to see him with his second place ribbon!!

I also entered three items in the senior category:

Bonnie Esplie again won our Penelope Knitters award for a beautiful pair of gloves!

Kim and I volunteered at the MKG booth where we talked to fair goers about knitting and the guild.  A highlight for me was when my dear friend Lynn and her family found us at the MKG booth!!  We also dined on several healthy food choices: Corn Dogs, Mini Donuts, Fried Cheese Curds, ice cream cones, and Big Fat Bacon!!  It’s the Fair!!  You have to eat like that! 🙂

PS to Commenters: Unfortunately I don’t have all the details about Kim’s projects!!  She is Luckydogknits on Ravelry if you want to ask her about them or ask her to post them to her project page. 🙂

PS2 in response to Amy: Amy asked why I entered some items in the senior category instead of regular knitting.  There are several factors.  I entered Fading Point in seniors because I thought it would not do well against the level of competition in the regular knitting category – it would have been entered against shawls.  (Senior has three knitting lots: sweater, scarf, and not a sweater or a scarf, aka “other”!!!).  I entered my Ovale Decke shawl in the “other” lot.  I didn’t know what lot to enter my beaded Snowfall Hat in in the regular knitting.  I already had an entry in the colorwork hat lot so it would need to go elsewhere, but if they moved it into that lot it would have been disqualified because you can only enter one item per lot.  They had a couple of beading lots under seniors: beaded necklace and beaded “other.”  So Snowfall landed in Beaded Other and snagged a blue!!

Sometimes you just want to knit something to knit it…not to gift it or wear it.  I got a little bee in my bonnet (pun intended!) to knit a sweet little Christening Bonnet from Poetry in Stitches.  The original christening cap is so pretty and is adorned with beads.

BUT, they had sewn the beads on after knitting the hat…ridiculous, I thought!  The beads could be added while knitting, right?!?  However, after several attempts with the wrong size yarn and wrong sized beads, I went in a totally different direction!!

I was inspired by the sweater on the book’s cover:

Who wouldn’t be inspired?  It is so beautiful!  So, I morphed the sweater into a baby bonnet:

I used oddments of sock yarns, lined it with a vintage hankie that I trimmed in lace, and added tassels made with perlé coton .  It was fun to knit…but now what to do with it? 🙂

PS to all: The bonnet is already entered in the fair in the “garments” category, infant and child.  I will learn its fate tomorrow.   Wish me luck!