theraineysisters knitting and so much more

As I have said before, I love movies.  I have also described the inner struggle that occurs between my “mature female” self and the adolescent male that resides within.  It explains my love of Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead.  If given a choice, we really don’t have a way of predicting which of the two will win!!

Here is a case in point: two movies opened this weekend: Book Club and Deadpool 2.   So, which movie won???

First a recap of the contenders:

Book Club stars a who’s who of over-65 actors that we know and love: Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, Looking for Mr. Goodbar), Jane Fonda (Barbarella, They Shoot Horses Don’t They), Candice Bergen (Carnal Knowledge), and Mary Steenburgen (Goin’ South) for the women; Don Johnson (who looked amazing!), Andy Garcia (not bad either!), Richard Dreyfuss, etc. for the men.  Yes, I mentioned some of their old movies on purpose!!

The titular book club in the movie, at Jane Fonda’s insistence, embarks on reading the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy and it rocks their world.  Humor and romance ensue.

Deadpool 2 is the sequel to the first raunchy, violent comic book super-“hero” movie in the franchise, and stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, and Josh Brolin.  It definitely is a movie for the adolescent male!!  And I swear that the swan floatee in the picture below is taken directly from Book Club!!

Book Club won for two reasons: 1) I wanted to support a movie made for and about mature women and b) I watched Deadpool (1) with my daughter last night and have plans to go to the sequel NEXT week!!

I enjoyed the movie, along with the fairly large audience of 90% women of 60 years plus.  There were many knowing laughs and chuckles throughout the movie.  It was fairly predictable, but we didn’t care.  Diane Keaton looked 100 years old, but that is because she has not had work done.  Jane Fonda has had too much work done, but so did the character she was playing.  Mary Steenburgen looked her age, but all of the three mentioned really kept their figures over the years, which I could not relate to.  Candice Bergen has gained weight — she even admitted in an interview that she enjoys food and isn’t going to apologize for it now; she doesn’t care if she is heavier than she was when she was younger.  I related the most to her!  I care but apparently not enough to do anything about it!!

So, I recommend this light-hearted movie if you are a woman on the mature end of the spectrum.

As for knitting, I am still working on an endless shawl with endless rows of endless knitting, which when finished lead to the even more endless picot bind off!!

Minnesota in the Summer

Nothing is more beautiful then “upnorth” Minnesota!!

I will be teaching at a knitting retreat June 22-25 at the  Norwegian Wood Retreat Center in Princeton, MN.

Friday night I will do a presentation on Herbert Niebling – The Lace Genius, Saturday is an introduction to Invisible Stranding, and Sunday is devoted to Essential Shawl Techniques, such as garter tab cast on, no end stripes, picot bind off, etc.

I will also be there in October with different topics.  Overnight accommodations are available, or people can come to any of the events separately!  It would be amazing if some of you were there!!

June 2018 Knitting Retreat with Susan Rainey

We just wrapped up a whirlwind of a week.  Sally travelled to Minnesota to attend this year’s MKG Yarnover event.  It was a smashing success and loads of fun.  See our April 29th Tip of the Week to see pictures of the two Sallys and Susan at Sunday’s Yarnover meeting with Sally Melville!

On Monday, April 30, we boarded a plane and headed to Colorado.  Susan had not yet seen Sally’s new home.  We had to stop at a yarn store immediately upon landing in Denver.  😉  Fancy Tiger Crafts is a very cute, quirky shop with both yarn and fabrics:

We were still very inspired by all that we had seen on Sunday, so we both bought yarn to make Sally Melville’s L’Enveloppe.  She said it was her most popular pattern on Ravelry.  Very unusual construction, but cute, stylish, and wearable!  We each bought Malabrigo Mecha — Susan’s is Chuy (blues and greens); Sally’s is Mostaza (electric mustard/green).

Susan’s L’Enveloppe

Sally’s L’Enveloppe

We headed to Sally’s beautiful new home, nestled in the foothills of the Rockies.

Susan had total “kitchen envy!”

…and “view envy!”

The view from the living room couch

The Couch!

The open area is protected from future development and surrounded by walking trails.  This is the view from our walk:

Sally’s House is fifth from the left

Wonderland Lake

Our goal was to finish our new projects while Susan was in Boulder, but we had to hit a few more yarn stores!!  Fort Collins (about an hour from Boulder), for reasons unknown, is a knitting mecca in spite of its relatively small population.  Our first stop, for obvious reasons: My Sister Knits!!

This adorable shop is located in a carriage house behind a larger home.  This picture does not do it justice!

Yes, there was a chicken coop right in front!  So, we HAD to buy chicken-themed yarn!!

Susan’s Chicken Yarn – looks like that little fella on the left of the picture, or maybe the one next to him center front!

Sally’s Chicken Yarn — not sure Sally’s chicken was on the premises.

Then it was off to The Loopy Ewe – a well known on-line presence, with crazy quantities of yarn.  Every yarn they carried was fully stocked in all/most colorways!  They do not stock Shibui and Brooklyn Tweed, but My Sister Knits carries their full lines!!

Acres and acres of beautiful yarns — and fabric, too!  It was a bit overwhelming.  Here is some of their Wollmeise:

We did finish our L’Enveloppes, had a lovely dinner out with Sally’s daughter and SIL, watched some riveting TV and movies, and stared out the window at the view.  It was a great trip – the first of many to come. 🙂

PS to Julie about the Shaping of L’Enveloppe: The shape and seaming of this garment is unusual and difficult to explain or visualize until you are near the end of the line.  The sleeve is created by closing the long edge on the left side with a short seam.  The gold bar in the picture below shows approx. what is seamed to create the sleeve – you adjust this to your own size.

I am staying true to my goal of no knitting this week.  I feel like the episode of Malcolm in the Middle (Season 4, Episode 6, “Forbidden Girlfriend”) where Hal and Lois can’t have sex for a week due to a medical issue — their house is spotless and their lawn goes from dirt and weeds to the envy of the neighborhood!  They have so much more time on their hands!!

Well, not quite like that! 😉  My house is still a mess and I never have done the yardwork, BUT I do feel like I have more time on my hands. 🙂

Capture the Moment

Blocked and done.  I love it!

Sally arrives Friday, so I do have some preparations to do and packing for next Monday when we head to Colorado.  Hope to see many of my peeps this weekend at Yarnover!!

This is a hard week for me.  I decided for the sake of my sore hands (sore everything) that I would knit like a fiend to finish my latest project and then NOT KNIT THE REST OF THE WEEK.  Okay.  Project done as of last night.  Blocked it tonight.

Okay.  Now what?  I sit.  I stare.  I think.  I straighten things up a little.  I actually watch TV.  Time passes.    S   L   O   W   L   Y   .     V   E   R   Y        S   L   O   W   L   Y   .

How do non-knitters survive the relentless boredom?  I really don’t know how much more I can take…I even had to resort to writing a blog post!!

At least I can tell you about my latest FO!!!  I am 99.2% finished with Carol Sunday’s Capture the Moment.  The big knitting is done – and I mean lots of knitting on tiny yarn with small needles.  It is truly acres and acres of stockinette!  All I have left to do is to sew down the pocket linings.  Here is Carol’s prototype so you can see how stylish it is on someone young and cute:

I just fell in love with it!  I should have gone with my instincts and used Carol’s Angelic 3 ply, but I decided to use her merino Eden 3 ply for the color Twig, which is very nice yarn…but it’s not Angelic!  Angelic has the softness and halo of angora.

My blocking picture is horrible so I will show an in-progress pic:

Here is the awful blocking picture:

It is not this brown.  It is gray with a slightly green cast.  Anyway, I wanted to have it done for this upcoming weekend.  Sally is coming into town for the MKG Yarnover Event and then I will fly back to Boulder with her to see her new house and hit every yarn store within 50 miles!!

Took another blocking pic that show is better:

I hope to be able to knit on the trip.  I bought yarn for Joji’s new Fading Point Shawl (I am such a lemming!!).  I snagged a Primrose Yarn Co Kit. They sold out of kit #12 in 2 minutes, but I got one!!

The picture isn’t quite right, but I LOVE this yarn!!!!!  Hoping to start on the shawl while travelling.  I would cross my fingers but I am trying not to overuse them!!

PS to Eunice: That is such a good idea (reading Monica Ferris murder mysteries).  I had Achilles tendon surgery in 2011 and was completely laid up for weeks.  I read a ton of her books!  The author came to our knitting group a couple of times and actually named one of her characters after a member of our group (Idonis).  I am trying to get the house in order for Sally’s visit and am working through tomorrow as well.  But I may add one of her books to my Kindle!!

PS2: I don’t drink, but I have a very close relationship with the refrigerator!!

April 15, 2018 Tip of the Week — The Rainey Sisters Ravelry Group

When working top down sweaters, the bottom edge is not the cast on edge obviously, but rather the bound off edge. The standard bind off is very inflexible, unstretchy. We often do a stretchy bind off to mimic the “give” achieved by casting on. Sometimes all that is needed is to go up a needle size or two when doing the bind off, but this tip gives you an addition al option!

We often use our favorite shawl bind off, in whatever stitch combination works best (i.e., rib, plain knit for garter, etc.). Use a smaller needle to make sure the bind off is not ripply!!

Knit Stitch: k2; insert left needle into the front of the 2 sts on the right needle (like you do for SSK) and k2tog through the back loop (1 st bound off, one st on RH needle). Now k1 and cont. as described to end of row.

Purl Stitch: p2; insert left needle into the back of the 2 sts on the right needle and p2tog (1 st bound off, one st on RH needle). Now p1 and cont. as described to end of row.

In the picture you can see a small “dot” in the bind off. That is the extra yarn added by working the sts twice – this gives it the stretch. You can also see in the picture that the finished width of the bind off is the same as the ribbed hem so it does not ripple.

Tip #2: Are your taxes done??!!

Tip #3: Don’t forget to scroll down in case you have not yet seen Surly’s latest FO!

PS to Suzan from Susan:

Suzan commented as follows, “After many less-than-perfect attempts to do a standard bind off using large needles, I decided I should do Jenny’s stretchy bind off instead. And I actually think I can remember how to do it from project to project. Can you elaborate on why your bind off is better than that one for sweaters? Thanks!”

We are not saying this bind off is better than another if that bind off works for you.  In my experience, Jenny’s Stretchy bind off is really stretchy and often “sloppy.”  That can be okay for a shawl when the outer edge needs to be aggressively blocked.  In the sweater above, I did not want the bind off to stretch so much as “give.”  And I did not want it to be wider than the ribbing, which a looser bind off would be.  I also find this bind off to be easy to remember: k1, ** k1, k2tog TBL**  Repeat between **  **

Always it’s Spring and everyone’s in love and flowers pick themselves.  e.e. cummings

I love flowers and yoke sweaters are all the rage, so how could I resist knitting Caitlin Hunter’s Birkin?  I couldn’t.   I did make a few changes because Susan and I rarely leave well enough alone.

A long time ago, I saw another sweater with an intriguing hem:  Colors for a Cloudy Day, designed by yellowcosmo.  I added a similar hem to my Birkin, although I ended up constructing mine in a different way.  (More detailed explanation of how I made the hem is below.)  I also knit full length instead of bracelet length sleeves.  The yarn I used is Brooklyn Tweed’s Loft.  The main color is Fossil, which I already had in my stash.  (Score!).  The other colors I used are Artifact, Flannel, Hayloft, and Thistle.

The photos I have right now are not great.  I’m in Tucson on a family vacation.  When I first arrived, having just finished my Birkin, it was in the 90s.  Too hot to wear wool, even a wool as lightweight as  Loft.  It has cooled off, but it is so windy I can’t get good pictures.  (The hair! the hair!)  At one point my Birkin actually blew away.  It’s a shame because this sweater looks better on.  Unfortunately, my mannequin is back in Boulder, so these photos will have to do.

The fair isle hem in Colors for a Cloudy day was shaped by short rows — the hem itself and the “cut out” curve.  This is a top down sweater.  I made my cutout the way I’d knit a neckline from the bottom up.  I used a slope bind off, eliminating stitches as I worked back and forth instead of in the round.  When the cut out was finished, I had live stitches except where I’d bound off for the shape.  I picked stitches up there and then did an i-cord bind off all the way around.

Here’s a bad selfie that shows what the sweater looked like just before the bind off.

My initial plan was to pick up all the way around for the fair isle part of the hem and shape the inside of the cut out with short rows.  (This was the method used by yellowcosmo.)  I also planned the hem to be a slightly deeper color than Fossil.  I tried my idea with Faded Postcard, a pale purplish pink.  I didn’t like how it turned out for several reasons.  First, despite going down several needle sizes, the knitting looked sloppy — the short rows distorted the fabric.  Second, although Postcard looked nice next to the sweater, it looked too muddy when knit up.  See?

I ripped it out and redid it in the Fossil.  First, I cast on for the widest part of the curved opening with a provisional cast on.  I then worked the floral pattern, shaping it into a curve through decreases at the side.  When it was the right size for the opening, I picked up around the rest of the hem, activating the provisional cast on stitches when I came to them.  I then knit the leaf pattern.  In other words, the floral pattern was knit bottom up and the leaf section was knit top down.  After I bound off for the ribbing, I sewed the curved part of my fair isle pattern down under the i-cord.  Clear as mud, right?

I finally got to the movie (after surviving a ridiculous illness brought home by my husband 🙁 ).  Here is what I wrote on Ravelry:

Finally got to the movie! I loved it. Seeing the shawl on the screen was amazing. I wore mine to the movie, but certainly without the elegance and style of Lupita! She is so gorgeous and looked amazing in the shawl.

I wanted to stand up and scream, but went to the movie by myself…AWKward!!  I really did love the movie!!

I am not sure if any of you noticed, but I received a wonderful comment from Jeff Gillies’ mom – Jeff designed and made the original scarf for the movie!

I am blown away as I read all the comments on Knitting and this particular Infinity scarf!  Being in Sewing – Alterations and quilting, knitting is new to read about. Whereas I know how to knit and crochet, sewing has been my niche. 

I am Jeff’s mother who has been able to watch him create and design, then put those creations/designs into action on the knitting machine and see the finished product.  What an amazing experience! Not because Jeff is my son but just to watch anyone work a knitting machine and put it into action is to me a marvel. 🙂 🙂  

I have a dear friend who has been a knitter all the years I’ve known her, and made many a beautiful sweater for her kids, grandkids, family and friends.   So accomplished!  Remember “Dr. Who” TV show.  He had this loooong scarf of many different colors that Jeff’s younger brother so admired!  So for Christmas Jeff knitted that scarf and Jason still wears it on occasion. That was Jeff’s first knitting experience and began to be hooked into knitting and later sewing costumes. 

I think it’s great when people notice and give credit to those talented in designing costumes and other items for movies, plays, operas, etc. for the enjoyment of the public.  
Love reading the interaction between you who love this craft.  🙂 🙂   
—  Marje Gillies

Is that cool or what??

From The Rainey Sisters Ravelry Group:

April 6, 2018 Tip of the Week

This week’s tip can be summed up in one word: MONOGAMY! Monogamy means sticking with something through thick and thin, through good times and bad, staying true to your one and only. What does that have to do with knitting?

When you stay true to one project, you make progress. You get things finished. Flitting from project to project may seem fun, but the results are sporadic.

Sticking with that boring project through acres of stockinette can be a bore, but the results are worth it.

Are we strictly monogamous? Heck, no! And there is a place for divergence. Some projects are just too big or complicated to drag around everywhere. Sometimes you hit a point in a project that requires a lot of thinking or calculating.  And a portable, mindless knitting project is a must for grabbing as you head out the door to take your kid to the dentist.

A small quick, pretty hat or shawl can be the perfect sorbet to break up that long, boring slog. No one will fault you! It is knitting – it’s a hobby. We do it for fun! If it stops being fun, what good is it?

But, if you want to finish that sweater, keep at it. Slow and steady wins the race!!

From The Rainey Sisters Ravelry Group: March 24, 2018 Tip of the Week

This week’s tip is about sewing buttons onto knitted garments.  Buttons can make or break a garment and are an essential finishing detail.

We use matching sewing thread instead of yarn.  If possible, we prefer to buy buttons with shanks, but sometimes the perfect button doesn’t have a built-in shank, so you need to make your own with thread.  The shank lifts the button off the surface and should be deep enough to match the thickness of the buttonband.  This lets the button rest on top of the buttonband when buttoned, instead of unsightly pulling.

Susan’s Funky Grandpa

You can use anything as a spacer when making the thread shank – a dpn the thickness of the buttonband fabric works well.  Sew the button on using the spacer to create the required gap and then wrap the thread tightly to form the shank.

Because knitted fabric stretches, it is often helpful to attach the button with a backing button.  This is a non-ornamental button attached to the wrong side behind the actual button to create stability.  It keeps the button from pulling when in use.