And She Knits Too!

Can this sweater be saved?

Last week I mentioned I finished Pioneer but didn't have much nice to say about it.  That was a bit unfair to the sweater.  It's SILK for goodness sakes!  It's a lovely olive green. I made it with my own two hands!

Now that my house has ceased being molten and I am not a sweaty slug, I decided to give Pioneer another try.

It grew a bit with washing and well the neckline is just too big.  Even with a tank underneath I feel like one of breasts will POP out of the sweater at an inopportune moment.  Just not right.

I'm not sure why the idea struck me, but it did: This sweater can be saved.  Three strands of the yarn, my fringe twister, a darning needle and 5 minutes later, I had this:

I laced the yarn through the little holes in the scallop crocheted edge.  My boobs are contained, the sweater gets a little something extra and I like it.  

So now I can give it a proper photoshoot.

Nice back detail with the faux cables:

Also on the sides (this is a great idea for a top-down sweater, it's just enough detail to keep a knitter from losing her sanity and adds a nice detail to the garment).

Voila!

I have no faults with this pattern.  It's clear, easy to follow and the sizing worked for me.  I think it's better suited to a stretchier fibre like wool or perhaps a wool silk blend--something that won't grow.  Fibre content matters!

And so does dye lot.  The first ball of this yarn isn't quite the same as the others.  I should have alternated yarns.  Oh well...I still saved this sweater.

Colourful Finishing

I've been on a bit of a finishing frenzy the last few weeks. 

Colour Affection is done!

It's a beautiful shawl.  The colours are soft and subtle and the yarn is amazing!  After a nice bath in some Soak, everything softened and bloomed and it's all stretchy garter stitch goodness.

I've only worn it once because we're in the middle of a heat wave but know Colour Affection will be in heavy rotation once the weather cools.

Kimuro Handspun Woven Scarf is done!

I started the spinning Easter weekend and finished the scarf in June.  That's not too shabby. It's really pretty and soft, but I'm still not happy with my edges.   I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but in some ways I don't care since the bumpy yarn compliments the bumpy edges (and may in fact be contributing to the bumpiness). 

The scarf is a gift for Xander's super awesome teacher.  She's an appreciator of art and craft and I know she'll be pleased with it.

Pioneer is Done!

I haven't blogged much about this top.  I started it last summer, worked on it here and there and finally got around to finishing it last weekend.  I'm a bit meh about it.  The Artfibres Golden Chai silk yarn is AMAZING, but I'm not sure if I like the look of the top on me.  I haven't got any finished shots or modelled shots yet--here's a link to my out of date Ravelry page--(and it's too hot to try today).  I find the deep vee neck is complicated to wear and it grew a bit in length when I washed it. 

If I don't wear it, Emma will (she takes many of my knit cast-offs) and I'm happy to have it complete.

What's next?  Socks.  I started a pair of toe-up socks using my handspun from a few years ago.  They're turning out well and sometimes it's nice to have some unchallenging socks on the needles.  

Once it's a bit cooler out I'll plot my next big project.

 

so maybe I started that shawl everyone is knitting...

And maybe, I just about have it finished.  

Yep, a Colour Affliction Affection Shawl.  In Madeline Tosh Merino Light.  I've never used the yarn before and there were buckets of it at the Needle Emporium booth at the Spring Knitter's Frolic and well, I fell down. 

And it's all garter stitch.  I LOVE garter stitch and colour and easy knitting and pretty yarn.  So you can totally see how it might happen that I would be knitting this shawl every chance I had.

It also goes to show that while I'm still a good knitter, I'm a rather poor blogger.  Late April and May was consumed with work and Colour Affection was the perfect diversion after a long day (or even during the evening work sessions where I had downtime waiting for the computer to do it's thing--I was system testing).

I'm at the bind off now and it's taking some time.  I also forgot to count at some point and ended up doing an extra repeat in the 3 colour section.  Not that I mind, the shawl is a bit bigger and it's been a fun knit so it doesn't matter.

The colours are Manor (blue), Thyme (green and impossible to photograph) and Cathedral (reds, pinks, greens and blues and GORGEOUS).  I tried to move out of my usual colour selections, and didn't do very well, but I did choose something more subtle than is normal for me.

Today, I'm taking an actual lunch break and will go visit Lettuce Knit and hopefully bind this shawl off.  I haven't been to my LYS in a long time because of work and ball hockey so it'll be nice to breathe some yarn fumes.  

 

 

Logical Progression

I bought this at Rhinebeck (lovely Into the Whirled targhee top colour Kimuro).

Spun it into this.  (Which was supposed to stripe, but I messed something up, but then it was so soft and squooshy and pretty that I didn't care.)

And now, I'm weaving it into this (Warp is Indigodragonfly Polwarth Silk in Chewing the Plasterscenery and Young helpless damsels in damp climates--it's all I had left of either, hence the skinny scarf.)

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?