theraineysisters knitting and so much more

Hi, all!  Fall is here and I am loving it!  Minnesota has been showcased to the nation and beyond recently with the Ryder Cup and other major sporting events.  The weather has been stunning and everything is a lush green, with just a hint of fall colors emerging.  Here I captured a double rainbow from our front window:

As promised, I am revisiting some of my State Fair entries that I had not posted prior to the fair.

The Ridge Hat captured my attention because of its elaborate cabling…and the fact that it is knit in worsted weight (which I hoped meant a quick knit).

I knit it out of mystery yarn – probably Madtosh DK (KW – do you recognize it?).  I love how the cables completely change up as you near the crown.  It received a 3rd place ribbon which was very nice!

The second thing I want to share is my Strandwanderer Shawl.  Some of you may remember a prior attempt.  I have bought lots of yarn in the past in order to make this intriguing shawl.  The color changes have to be of a specific type and spacing for it to work.

I found Yarn Love Mr. Darcy in the Rainbow River Rock colorway last April at Yarnover.  My “yarn whisperer” Kim thought it would work.  I bought two skeins so it would not be skimpy.  Later I looked at the receipt and realized I had spent $78!!  Ouch!!

The shawl was part of my Camp contest entry – I started my presentation talking about the shawl (Mr. Darcy yarn)…blah, blah, blah!  Then I threw the shawl aside and showed Little Darcy instead.  Though I threw the shawl aside as if it was nothing, that is not the way I feel about it — I LOVE this shawl!

It was kind of tedious to knit but I adore it.  The yarn is gorgeous and it worked perfectly to create the small, repeating boxes that represent the unique feature of this pattern.  The boxes are created by binding off most of the sts across the shawl using 3 garter sts.  This creates regular color repeats.  The boxes alternate with rows of garter, where the pooling changes as the scarf widens.  Brilliant!  I knit this right down to the last 3 grams of yarn.

That’s it for now!

Last weekend I did a little field trip with a couple of fellow knitting enthusiasts to check out two new shops in the southern metro (we live more north by northwest, so we don’t get that way very often).

The shops were both wonderful.  We first stopped at Unwind in Burnsville. So cute, very well stocked and the owner (?) extremely welcoming and helpful.

Next up: The Twisted Loop, located in the Prior Lake Library. Again, the shop was beautiful, well stocked and the staff could not have been nicer.

We went to lunch at The Artisan Bistro because that is the place that everyone mentioned whenever we asked where we should eat.  They were absolutely correct!! I had Mahi Mahi tacos and they were fabulous.

So, what did I buy.  Not much and too much.  I have been looking for yarn for a shawl called Strandwanderer for months.  You need yarn dyed in sections with specific spacing.  Friend Kim is my “yarn whisperer” so I texted her a picture and asked, “Will this work?”

The good news: yes.  🙂  The bad news: Buy two.  🙁

Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock in Boheme

The reason the yarn is so specific is the way the shawl is knit.  When you knit with these hand dyed yarns, as the item gets wider (like a shawl) the pooling continually changes.  With this pattern, you knit plain rows that do that, but you also knit sideways sections with a fixed number of sts.  The sideway sections pool identically throughout the piece because the stitch count never varies.

What you should see are little repeating boxes in the sideway sections.  I have the little repeating boxes.  What I don’t have is a color that I like.  The brown-pink combo just isn’t doing it for me!  Oh well.  I may continue my quest for the perfect yarn for this project.

PS to my Commenters: Wollmeise is the yarn used in the pattern itself, but it is not always easy to come by nor easy to judge the colors from a picture.  I did try that route but thought I would be better off seeing the yarn in person.  Maybe my mistake!!

PS to Kathy: according to the pattern I am about 22% done, not even close to being finished!!  This project is a slog on size 2 needles, and all the sideways rows are much slower than normal rows.  I don’t know when I will get this thing done.  I may make it smaller and just use one skein.