Sunday, May 27, 2007

Color Madness!

Here's a story.....of a little cardi....who wanted to grow up to be beautiful someday.
In case you're just joining me, here's the pattern: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTarietta.html. I'm really starting to think I should have just gone with the original colors, which are lovely. But, no, I had to think I could make it a little more 'girly', and now I'm having some issues. I decided to use the yarn that is
called for in the pattern, Shine Sport by Knit Picks. The first colors I choose you can see in the
third picture, they were Willow(brown), Blush, Hydrangea, Silver Sage and Cloud (gray). I swatched on my 3's like a good girl and found that I got too tight of a fabric for my liking. I ended up getting gauge on 5's. Don't know if this makes me a tight knitter or the designer a loose one, but that's what I got.
Anyhoo, I wasn't liking how the Cloud (one of the contrast colors) was fading into the Willow (brown) too much. So I pondered and pondered and decided to order some Butter (yellow). Funny thing how a few balls of Main Line ended up in my cart as well......
So I thought the yellow would contrast nicely with the Hydrangea and the Silver Sage could be used for the Blush, since I always love pink/green combos. Well, you can see the start of my sleeve. I'm not liking how the Butter makes the Hydrangea look blue. The other thing that concerns me is just the overall brightness. Will I really like this when it's finished?? Will I feel like I need to go to a Garden Tea Party, or will the guests run away screaming from my hideously colored sweater?? What to do, what to do.
The other thought I had was to put the Blush and Butter together, which I originally didn't want to do since they are both 'brights'. That's the weird little swatch on the bottom, under the bigger one. I was trying to see if the Hydrangea/Sage and Blush/Butter combo would be better.
Argh! On top of it all, I'm sick as a dog with some flu type thing and can hardly walk across the room. My brother is in town and supposed to drive me back up to Philly, PA on Tuesday for a vacation. And....my Birthday is tomorrow! No fair.
Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this or how to make it better. Remember, I do still have the Cloud yarn as well, but I really can't buy any more colors right now.
Namaste,
Elizabeth
Frustrated in Western North Carolina

Friday, May 25, 2007

FO~Knitting Nature Shell Tank




Yeah! A new FO I can wear! It's the 'Shell Tank' from Norah Gaughan's "Knitting Nature". I used Knit Picks Cotlin in Island Coral. It's a funny thing about this color. Originally, I bought it to make the Dollar and a Half Cardi from IK. I swatched and was not happy with it, plus I was concerned that I wouldn't like a whole cardi in this color. Then on Mother's Day I was knitting this tank in the car and again being concerned on the color.....then I realized I was wearing a camisole in the same EXACT color! How funny is that?? So I DO like it after all.

Anyhoo, I ended up on this tank, which I loved when I first saw it. Figured it would be an easy knit. Not so much! I learned a LOT on this tank. I learned to really take your time to read the directions, not just that, but you need to understand them too. I frogged the whole right front panel because I thought the shaping 'at the same time' didn't begin until the armhole. Whoops. The cable panel was really fun. Putting it together took a while and several tries on picking up the correct amount of sts on the armholes. (Realized quickly why too many is a bad thing...all wavy!)
The yarn was really nice, not great like the current Shine yarn I am using, which I just LOVE. There was bits of plant material which I picked up fairly easily, some I didn't bother, maybe it will come out in the wash. I'm curious to see how the top will hold up, since I heard linen gets better with age, I'm actually going to put it in the machine.
It's a little bit shorter than I would like, but I think it may stretch a bit when it's washed. Yes, I know, I didn't block it! I actually like the very organic look of the yarn and the stitches not being all perfect. Overall, I would recommend this yarn for summer tops, think it would also make great washrags.
I also want to mention that I've been VERY pleased with Knit Picks. I have ordered twice recently, both times my order came very quickly (the first one was 3 days). The Shine yarn that they have is a really lovely yarn, and machine washable too! I've started my Arietta cardi from Knitty, think I finally got the colors right. I'll post some pics of that soon. I'm also using the Options needles, boy are they nice! Very light, very smooth, you really feel like you are knitting faster. A bit slippery with the Shine yarn, also my joins came a bit loose, but then I used the tightening tool, so hopefully that will remedy that issue.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Colors!!

Here's the pattern: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTarietta.html - here's the yarn: http://www.elann.com/productdisp.asp?NAME=elann.com+Lara&Season,
so here's some options: What do you think? #1: Deep Olive, Turkish Blue, Marine, Toast, Cream, #2: Claret, Green Tea, Toast, Tiffany Rose, Butter, #3: Oasis, Claret, Toast, Butter, Cream, #4: Ballet Pink, Toast, Antique Blue, Green Tea, Cream? Thoughts?? Hope I can get this yarn for Mother's Day. Guess I'll have to give hubbo a not-so-subtle hint. As in, "here's what I want for Mother's Day". Well, I have a Birthday at the end of the month too, so I deserve it, right?

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Progress on Summery Knits







Progress is good....especially considering I still haven't ripped back Wicked yet. I realized after about a million rounds of increases, that I was forgetting to to the 'plain' rows, now I have to frog! That's OK, that just means I get to enjoy the Kimono Angora yarn a little longer.
Here's some pics of my current progress: first we have the asymmetrical tank from Knitting Nature in Cotlin from Knit Picks. This is a shot of the cable panel for the front. Just one more panel to do then I can seam it up!
Next there is the modular wrap from Spring '06 Vogue Knitting. This was the little technique section done by Iris Schreiber. For Mother's Day, then I realized I was going to run out of yarn, so now it will be late. Blah.
Lastly is a shrug from this lovely handspun that just hasn't been happy with anything I've tried to make with it. I think this design will work, a cute little shrug pattern from the 50's, with a crazy drop stitch design. When it's all blocked and done, I think it will be smashing!! (Is that a 50's word??)