theraineysisters knitting and so much more

It’s been over a week and I think I can finally bring myself to write this post.  My knitting bestie, Kim, died last week of cancer.  Loyal readers would have read about Kim many times over the years.  I did share this news on Instagram, so those who follow me there already know.

Taken January 2, 2020 as we model our newly finished weather scarves. From left to right: Kathy, Mary, Me, Kim, and Beth.  Ellie is the photographer. 

I met Kim several years ago when I was teaching classes at my [then] LYS.  She was funny and quirky and I just plain liked her right away.  It’s hard as an adult to make friends outside of work, so I asked Kim to meet for coffee and knitting.  No coffee for Kim, but there was knitting!  Eventually she started coming to our weekly knitting group at Panera’s.  The rest is history!

In 2011, we decided to go to Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp.  I had gone a couple of times and it was her first.  First timers are supposed to attend Camp 1, but we went straight into Camp 2.75.  We attended every year after that, until COVID shut things down.  Every year but one.  That year was 2013, when Kim announced that since her DIL was expecting their first grandchild, she just couldn’t risk missing the big event by being at Camp.  Sally stepped in and then attended several camps after that.  Really special times.  We would get so inspired that on several occasions we stopped to shop on our way back through town!

Besides Yarnover and other Minnesota Knitters Guild (MKG) events, our annual tradition was going to opening day of the Great Minnesota Get Together, aka the Minnesota State Fair.  We would get there by 0900 so we could be at the Creative Activities Building as the doors opened.  We made it most years!  Especially nice when my husband John started dropping us at the main gate!

We would enter with eager anticipation and look for our knitted items.  Some years that was quite a feat!  But our real interest was in the ribbons.  What ribbons had we won??

We never looked at the results ahead of time — we wanted to be surprised.  2017 was truly the best year ever.  We walked into the building almost smack dab into a large glass case.  In it was Kim’s masterpiece, her Kauni Damask blanket, festooned in ribbons!  I also did well, winning two sweepstakes (in linens, and seniors).  We were beside ourselves!

We were shameless.  We would kind of lurk around close to our award winners and wait for comments.  If they said something nice about Kim’s blanket, I’d say, “Oh, my friend Kim made that!”  Ooooh, ahhhhh!!  She would do the same.  Then we would go eat our faves: corn dogs, Tom Thumb Mini Donuts, fried cheese curds, and Big Fat Bacon.  All to kill time until we could go back and look at the knitting again.  I looked forward to it all year long.  And then COVID took the last two years away.

When COVID hit, no Camp, no Yarnover, no state fair, no weekly knitting at Panera’s.  So, Kim and I texted constantly.  We would also share a lot of Instagram stories that we liked.  Even now, I see something and think, Kim would find that funny or ridiculous or interesting.

The most important thing in Kim’s life was her family: she left behind a husband of over 40 years, two sons, two grandchildren, loving parents, and a brother.  Her life revolved around her family.  Period.

I will miss Kim every day.  She was a special friend and a wonderful person.  This picture really captures Kim — I saw her make this face many times!!

Here are some more examples of her beautiful knitting.

Bohus Scarf

Shhh!

Widdicome Fair

Alfur

Kim is still on Ravelry under the name Luckydogknits.  And, no, I don’t know what it means! 🙂

Farewell, my dear friend.

Oh, that Little Darcy — what a jetsetter!!  He seems to pop up everywhere!!

Little Darcy on display at the Minnesota State Fair!!  I entered Darcy in the “doll” category: Lot 724 — Doll, portrait, single or pair, face & costume representing an individual, living or dead (recognizable or accompanied by a photo of individual).  OMG!  They also have a fictional character category, but I wanted to include a picture!  So it is Colin Firth playing Darcy.  H I L A R I O U S.  When I took him in, I could not stop laughing and seeing him in the case made my life!  Plus, he won a second place ribbon.  Wowie!  If you are looking for Little Darcy, he is located in the main sewing case about halfway down – on the bottom ledge.

Okay.  Let’s talk about the fair.  The weather was spectacular, so the opening day crowds were HUGE.  I didn’t eat as much as usual, but pigged out later at Panera’s! 😉  I did manage to eat fried cheese curds and Big, Fat Bacon!!!

Creative Activities
Friend Kim blew away all the competition and earned her second sweepstakes in a row:

Kim’s Kauni EQ Damask Afghan

Kim used Kauni EQ yarn and the Damask pattern.  The two are a perfect marriage!  She used A. Starm0re’s checkerboard border, building the yarn herself to get long enough color changes to go all the way around the afghan.  An incredible amount of work!!  The exciting part was that her afghan was displayed right IN the main entrance in a glass case — you had to look at it or you would walk right into it!!  Her afghan is truly a showstopper.

Straight back and to the right was my latest (last?) Niebling:

Gloxiniaeflora by Herbert Niebling

This is the second time I have knit this particular Niebling.  The first was in 2012.  It is a dog to knit, so don’t expect a third!!

Funky Grandpa and my Circlet Shrug both got blue ribbons.  Could not get a good picture of Circlet!

Funky Grandpa

My biggest thrill was that my Plaid Squared Bag got a blue ribbon and a special award from Lila and Claudine’s!  It is my own design so it has a special place in my heart.

Plaid Squared, designed by Susan Rainey

Osmanthus got a second place ribbon, which I was thrilled about.  Shawls are usually a pretty competitive lot:

Osmanthus Shawl

I entered a bunch of hats and won two ribbons — Lolo by Brooklyn Tweed (in Carol Sunday 5-ply yarn) took 3rd, and the Dala Hat I made John last winter got 5th place:

Lolo Hat by Jared Flood – not a picture from the fair!

Dala Hat

This year I qualified as a senior ::groan::, so I entered a sweater that would have been in the same category as Funky Grandpa (plain cardigan).  You can only enter one item per category.  Fading Lines took a blue ribbon and the senior sweepstakes:

Good friend Bonnie won the Penelope Knitter’s Award for her Twisted Stitches gloves.

Bonnie Esplie’s Twisted Stitches Gloves

Bonnie won a lot of ribbons this year, as did another knitting friend, Kris King.  Her name is on almost every item displayed in the “blue ribbon” case!!

And we cannot forget Pronto, the Minnesota Knitter’s Guild Yarn Bombed Stallion, on the ramp leading to the Grandstand!!  I got to help sew him together, but others did much more work that can be believed!!  Kathy Lewinski knocked it out of the park!

PS to Pru: Thank you for the nice comments, and as much as I would love to take credit for inventing invisible stranding, I only came up with the name, a hat pattern, and a few twists and techniques!!

Not too much is holier than this FO!! When knitting peep and friend Kim and I went to Knitters Camp last summer, we fell in love with the Swiss Cheese Scarf (free pattern on Ravelry) made by a fellow Camper. So much so that we made a pit stop at The Yarnery on the way back through town to buy a skein of Kauni EQ (Rainbow) yarn. Kim started hers and finished it a lot sooner than I. But here mine is, in its subtle glory:

And in a slightly different pose:

Do you like to do buttonholes? Well this puppy has 171 buttonholes and 48 notches. If you HATE buttonholes, make this scarf. They will not bother you at all by the end!!

I must admit that I am not impressed with the traditional buttonhole of old:

Row 1: bind off “X” sts (in this case, 10)
Row 2: cast on “X” sts using backward loop method

These BH’s are usually kind of sloppy with a large loopy edge on one side. I experimented with a LOT of options and fell back on my standard for larger BHs: the one-row buttonhole, made as follows (for 10-stitch BH):

Note: Back and front mean as they face you, no matter if you are on the right or wrong side (back is the side facing away from you and front is the side toward you).
Step 1:
Work to BH, yarn forward, sl next st as to purl, place yarn @ back and leave it there; *Sl next st from LH needle to RH needle. Pass the first slipped st over it (counts as 1 bound off st). Repeat from * 9 more times more (not using yarn to knit the sts, just passing the sts over). Slip the last bound off st to left needle and turn work.

Step 2:
With yarn to back, cable cast on 11 sts, but on the last st, pass working yarn to front between sts 10 and 11 and then place st 11 on the LH needle; turn work.

Step 3:
With yarn in back, slip the first st on the LH needle to the RH needle; pass the extra cast on st over it to close the buttonhole. Continue to end of row.

Repeat 170 more times and voila!!

Close Up of Buttonholes