Our heat index in Minnesota was 119 degrees yesterday!! Ugh!!
July 20, 2011
July 18, 2011
From Susan — Home from Camp!!
Camp was terrific — Kim is a great knitting partner and travel partner. We had so much fun. Everyone was welcoming to us as Camp Newbies and we got quite inspired. There are some damn fine knitters out there! I also met some loyal readers and loved hanging out with them!!
Meg [Swansen] was still recovering from an unfortunate run in with Lyme’s Disease. She needed a lot of rest and could not participate as much as she would have liked. It was a disappointment to everyone, but we all understood and wish her a speedy recovery.
Not the best picture, but the best people!!
The Day in Action
Break Time!!
Each day was a melange of mini-tutorials, Camper Show-and-Tell, contests and raffles. Serious knitting time with serious, fun-loving knitters. And lots of shopping and noshing opportunities, too!
My shopping:
The yarn is Cheryl Oberle’s special blend called Dancing Colors. One for me, and one for Sally — Sally’s is red-violet and mine reddish-black. Cheryl has a new vest pattern that I want to start ASAP. It should be a quick knit and will soon be revealed ;). The bag is a complete copycat of Kim’s cute camera bag: The ACME Bowling Case from National Camera Exchange…had.to.get.one.now.
Back on the hamster wheel tomorow…
July 15, 2011
From Sally — A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
Unfortunately, however, I simply can’t seem to take a decent photograph of my newly finished Crown Prince Shawl (from Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia). I’ll share some of my mediocre shots in a moment. First, a few details.
I love the shawl design, but looking back it was a slog to knit; the nupps, while not difficult, became a bit wearing. Then there was the outer border. It is knitted in two pieces and sewn to the center of the shawl. I thought about ways of avoiding that for several reasons. First, it sounded tedious and I am not a great seamstress. Second, the reason for making it that way was traditional technique based on lack of circular needles. But I have circular needles and know how to use them. Third, I thought it would be more difficult to block the shawl. I finally relented and did it the traditional way because I liked the border (and it would have been more difficult than it looks to turn the pattern upside down and knit it outward from the shawl). My original fears were not misguided, however. I just don’t think this border looks as nice as one knitted onto the shawl would have looked. I’ll take ownership of that — I’m sure much of it is due to my poor sewing skills.
I love the color of the shawl. As I said in an earlier post, the yarn is Spirit Trail Fiberworks Atropos Bombyx Silk Laceweight. The color is Dragon’s Blood — deliciously appropriate after watching season one of Game of Thrones with my 19-year-old.
I’m still concerned that the shawl is a bit small. It did block out to about 52″ square. That’s close to the size the shawl was supposed to be. I think my personal preference would be for a larger square shawl so I could wear it a bit more dramatically, the way I can wear my large circular shawls. This size means I almost have to fold it into a triangle to wear — and if I am going to do that, I should have done half the knitting and just made another triangular shawl. Again, that’s on me. I knew the size when I started it. It does also look nice sort of folded in half like a stole, so all is not lost.
So if I were going to grade this project the way that my sister sometimes does, I’m not sure what grade I would give. It’s very pretty (which you won’t be able to see from my crappy photos), but I am not sure how much I’ll wear it. Le sigh.
Here is the border being sewn on. The color here is fairly true:
And now some woefully sad attempts at photos:
July 13, 2011
From Susan — Summer is Here
Summer Solstice is here and finished. I love this sweater! The fit is great and the pattern fun to knit. Even though it is stockinette, it has enough little things going on to make it more interesting. I used six skeins of Ethical Twist yarn in color Oatmeal and really like the way the fabric turned out. While knitting it, it looked awful, but it did block nicely.
I hate pictures of myself as you well know, but I knew this sweater would show better on a person. I was wrong. But, I do not have time to dilly dally taking more pictures! I leave Thursday for Knitting Camp and am not ready at all. 🙂
I lengthened the sweater quite a bit. I wanted it to be a sweater to hide in! If I make this again, I will make it shorter and use really dreamy yarn!!
July 11, 2011
From Susan — If You Need a Smile Today…
This is adorable: the world’s shortest and cutest naps!! And those of you who know me know I have a very special fondness for Korean babies!
July 2, 2011
From Susan — It Walks!
Well, more like lumbers, but I am off the scooter for the most part and walking in my boot! It is slow and awkward, and not as speedy as my scooter, but unless I start walking, I cannot move on in my recovery so I am excited about my milestone.
I am also making some progress on my Summer Solstice cardigan. I have put my Double Heelix Socks aside for the moment (though I take my sock with me as a portable project). I was inspired to finish my cardi because I am going to be attending Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp in two weeks and I have heard that the venue tends to be chilly. I am going with my good friend, Kim. Kim is a ton of fun and a great knitter, so it should be a wonderful experience. So, anyway, I am feverishly trying to finish my SS so I can throw it on at Camp. I totally love this pattern and may make another in “pretty” vs. functional yarn.
Have a great holiday weekend with family and friends!!
June 26, 2011
From Susan — Socks? Me?? Are you kidding???
Some loyal readers may have noticed over the years that we do not feature a lot of sock projects on our blog. Sally and I do knit socks, but it is a rare occurrence and I personally have not knit a pair in years. I prefer almost anything over socks. I know there are knitters out there who love to knit socks, but they probably aren’t readers 😉 !! I do L-O-V-E sock yarn, which is why I am such a fan of the cute shawlette.
So, to get me to pick up the sock banner, I have to be inspired. The new Knitty just came out and there are three sock patterns that I liked: Chasing Snakes, Lingerie, and Double Heelix. Double Heelix not only caught my eye because they are fun and cute, BUT were rated “Extra Spicy.” Hmmm, a challenge!! (I would link to Knitty, but the links did not work — ??).
I loved the green and teal color combo so much I rushed to The Yarnery and cleaned them out of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Solis (blue-green) and Lettuce (mono-tonal soft, acid green). The colors are very nice together.
The pattern calls for Judy’s Magic Cast On — a technique I recently learned in order to make Acanthus. It is easy once you figure it out, but it was hard for me to figure out! I did manage but…
The socks start with the Double Heelix heel. It is the challenging part. After the heel is done, it is pretty smooth sailing. I am not yet done with Sock #1, but so far, so good. They are a great fit! Jeny Staiman gives you three sizes, but I needed a larger size. I have a high arch, which means my diagonal foot measurement (as described in the pattern) was bigger than the largest size. It was easy to make size adjustments by following the guidelines given for the other sizes. Jeny does an unusual short row toe, but I just did my standard toe shaping.
The blue is actually the foot being started (I should have turned this the other way!)
Jeny also created a YouTube video that shows how to do the heelix, which is very helpful. Thank goodness I am making these because now I have a portable project!!
PS: I received a comment from Jeny (the designer) asking me to include more details about my modifications to enlarge the sock. I am happy to oblige!
To enlarge: I did 11 cycles and ended up with 36 sts. Cast on 44 across arch for 80 sts. Decreased to 72 to complete the foot and the cuff. When I get to the ribbing, I may increase back to 80 and go down to 2.25 mm dpns (they are the size I have!).
Ravelry Link to my Heelixified Socks
PS2: To our loyal readers who also knit socks — I was kidding that sock knitters would not read our blog! Notice that there is a 😉 with that statement? Sock knitters are everywhere. But my point was, if you go to a blog looking for socks, you are going to be disappointed at The Rainey Sisters. If you come looking for sweaters, lace, cables, beading, and general all around knitting-related gibberish, then you are in the right place. And all are very welcome!! 🙂
June 21, 2011
From Susan — All Over Now
I am back to work. Back to not knitting all day. Back to s-l-o-w progress on my WIPs. So sad! And yes, I do want cheese and crackers with my whine!
Work was okay, but I was so sore yesterday. I collapsed into my little nest. I cannot get up the energy to work on my boring Summer Solstice Cardigan, even on the day of its namesake.
For my four weeks off, I am four for four lace projects. I finished the fourth on Sunday, on my very last official day off. It is yet another stunning design by Romi Hill, called Fiori di Sole. I knit it out of 100% Mulberry Silk Laceweight, hand dyed by Miss Babs in lovely tonal shades of raspberry, cranberry, and pink lemonade. I added a smattering of beads, which were probably unnecessary except to add annoyance to the knitting process. When it was finished, blocked and drying, I was amazed again at how wonderful knitting is: a fifth of a mile of silk thread becomes an elaborate, beautiful web.
Le sigh. Back to the grind.
PS: I have not knit a single stitch since I started back to work! I knew I would slow down, but did not expect to stop in my tracks!!
June 17, 2011
From Sally — Is It a Handkerchief or a Shawl? That is the question . . .
While Susan rips through project after project, I am very slowly knitting what I fear will turn out to be a handkerchief rather than a shawl. My Crown Prince shawl seems tiny. Tiny. I know it is only half-finished. I know it will have an additional border going all the way around. I know it isn’t blocked and should stretch. But, and this bears repeating, it’s tiny.
Off to do some more knitting. I’m sure my sister will have another finished project within the next day or so.
P.S. To be clear, I am only halfway through the main portion of the shawl (before the border). So it will definitely be larger than it is, but I am not convinced it will be the large square shawl I was envisioning when I started out.
June 15, 2011
From Sally — It’s That Time of Year Again
“The old believe everything; the middle aged suspect everything; the young know everything.” Oscar Wilde.
Today is my big sister’s birthday; she knows everything. And I never lie!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG SISTER SUSAN!!!
Grandma McColgan & Susan
From Susan: Thanks to all for the birthday greetings!
