Dead Serious Knitting

Gathered Front Tank (rav linky) by Mercedes Tarosavich-Clark (Interweave Knits, Spr 11) out of Maggi’s Linen.  Had to buy a short sleeved tee for the proper look, and it wasn’t even on sale.  But I am lovin’ this and I get comments pretty much every time I wear it.  Happened that I had the exact recommended yarn on hand from Yarn Garage Sale Lady #1.   Love it when a plan comes together. Note: buttons from my stash, from a card marked 25 cents!

Weekend Pullover (rav linky) by Diane Soucy (#224) out of Tahki Yarns Baby Tweed.  Took this on our September vacay.  Had lots of this yarn on hand from the Yarn Garage Sale Lady #1, so figured out how much I needed when packing for the trip.  Oops…I looked at grams (100) not yards (60).  Yeah, so as I was closing in on the body, and quickly knitting through the last ball, I was wondering WTH?!  I had plenty at home.  Extra, even…if I had been knitting with sz 17’s as the pattern called for.  The largest needles I have are 15’s, which I considered big enough, and certain gave me a gauge pretty close.  However, the 15’s were small enough to require enough more rounds to eat up all my extra yarn.  The sleeve edges have an abbreviated trim, but the sweater blocked out to fit just fine.  I am glad I don’t have any extra length to the sleeves, actually.

Shalom (rav linky)  by Meghan McFarlane out of Elizabeth Austen Wool of the Andes.  I knit this once, and blocked it, thinking that looks mighty long…and it was.  Down to my knees long.  Yes, there were some things in the directions I overlooked.  I do swatch, albeit an abbreviated routine.  What I didn’t remember was the line about the original piece being knit for someone 6 ft tall.  To my credit, I realize I was never going to wear the sweater as it was, and having a skein left over, I decided to reknit the thing, with a double strand.  So I picked the woven end from the bind off…and pairing with the end of the fresh yarn?  cast on and started my new Shalom…knitting a sweater from a sweater!  I don’t need no stinkin’ re-skeining!  The new knitting allowed me to remember all three buttonholes, and fix an error in the buttonband.  I like the finished project very much.  Maybe I should knit everything twice? Note: buttons from my stash, 3 leftovers from I don't know how far back in time.

Summer Swing Cardi, by Jessica Grzedzinski, out of Reynolds Mandalay (100% silk).  Ooh la la.  I love this yarn.  Looking at the projects in Ravelry, I figured out how to make this larger  (36” bust) than written (32” bust), because I am not…you know…a teenager. It took math and gauge swatches and starting over once, maybe twice, but I figured it out (I thought). And so I knit and purled to my hearts content all through Zion and Bryce and back, with hardly a thought.  Perfect project for knitting while viewing the scenery, and the perfect yarn for it as well.  Well, yes.  As it got closer to being finished, I was having some thoughts about it being…scanty.  I measured my gauge again.  Yep, 4 st/inch…18 inches across…2 x 18 = 36…but after seaming, the sweater was really tiny!  I was not undone, though.  I didn’t weave in any ends (because, bigod, if this pattern didn’t work, this yarn was going to be something else, something else for me!), and I soaked it and blocked it out to 36 ½ “.  After drying, it was much better, even passable, but I had one ball of yarn (plus a bit) left, and I thought I could maybe pick up stitches along the front and add bands to bring the edges close together.  I added about 6 rows of garter, before binding off one side too tight.  After adding the garter edging on the other side, I knew I was on the right track. I un-bound off the first and added some more garter rows before binding off with larger needles.  Perfect. End result was 10 ridges of garter on each side.  No button.  Doesn’t look like any of the other projects from this pattern on Ravelry.

Eldest’s Yoga Mat Bag, Om Nava Shivaya Bag, by Audrey Loopy, out of Tahki Yarns Brilla. Just like mine.  Only it matches the swimsuit cover up I knitted for her…using up my leftovers.  Hope she likes it as much as I like mine.

Like I said...some deadly serious knitting.