Aaaah, a Good Rest
Monday, April 18th, 2005I had such a great day off! I spent a lot of time on the porch in my hammock, my favorite place in the world. I ate good food, made brownies, went for a half-hour walk in our lovely neighborhood. And touched a whole lot of yarn!
I knit a lot on my Kelly tank top, have started the fourth ball of yarn (and the piece will probably take 5 balls if I figure right). I’m something like 8 inches from the bottom of the front. I need 11 inches before I start the armholes.
I will finish the front before I tear out the back (see photo). I want to knit more back fabric and maybe widen the straps. This pattern calls for a single-crocheted edge at the neck and armholes (I like single crochet best of all crochet stitches so this part sounds fun, if I can make the gauge work properly). That means it will have wider straps than you see here, but I may still want it a little wider, I’m not sure. I am glad I do not have to decide that today.
Actually, I’m surprised with how the pattern goes for the front panel, since I read it more carefully. The photo shows what I thought were increases at the bustline, for the obvious reason that many women need a little extra room there. Well, there is shaping there, but it’s not really any increase. Apparently the shaping is just to bring the eye to the wearer’s pretty curves. The ribs just stretch to accommodate the shape. Boy bait! That makes sense, since the pattern is geared for a young audience… I am definitely not in their intended demographic group!
I don’t need a new man, I’ve got the right one already. I think I’ll skip all that shaping. That means less chance to make a mistake, faster knitting, and I wasn’t sure if I liked the look anyway. Cool! I’m so funny. I just can not knit anything without changing it.
I thought I’d crochet yesterday as well, but I could not find the crochet hook I bought last week at Yarn Garden for this project. So much for that. Then today I found myself at two different yarn shops and they didn’t have the hook I needed either, I must need some size that is an odd one or something. No matter, I have plenty to work on and will do crochet when it becomes easy to do so.
I was going to felt the Watercolor Bag I made for myself. Well, I can not find it anywhere. The darned bag is AWOL. Drat. I figured I’d left it in my classroom at Foster, but went there on Monday and didn’t see it there, either. That is the last place I remember seeing it for sure, last Thursday during CityKidz Knit. It doesn’t seem to be at Little Red Schoolhouse or Threadbear, either. It isn’t in my car. I guess it’s time to really get down to organizing my house/knitting stuff.
OK… so what I did instead of crochet or felt, is I finally sewed together the four pieces of a toddler sweater that I finished over a year ago. I took a machine knitting class at Yarn for Ewe and our sample project was a sweater in what I think is a size 3T. I didn’t know anyone that size at the time. Now my friend Anne’s daughter probably can wear it. Since it’s getting warmer, I think it’s time to really hurry and finish the sweater.
I think the sweater is really adorable, in turquoise and lime stripes (Encore Worsted, a washable 75 acrylic/25 wool yarn). It has rolled edges everywhere there is an edge. The bottom rolls up enough that I wish I had made the bottom two inches or so, all the same color. I have a lot of ends to hide on that bottom roll, where there really is not a front or back… all sides could show. Hiding the ends is a mess, but I’m doing my best with duplicate stitch.
All I have left is to pick up stitches around the neck and knit a few rows to make a rolled collar. Everyone warns me that children have way big heads next to adults so I need to be sure it will fit OK. I can not find the skein of turquoise yarn so the collar will be lime. No problem, the child has blonde hair, looks typically Norwegian true to her ancestry, and will look wonderful in it that way. Isn’t the sweater adorable so far?
Photos: Back of Kelly rib tank, Toddler sweater sans collar.