The Yarn Made Me Do It!

Oh, my goodness. I swear, I wasn't looking to buy anymore Cotton-Ease. Okay, well maybe a little. I'd thought of making a tank that Lynette mentioned on her blog that was made using Mission Falls Cotton in a maroon red and other shade of red and I believe she was going to do it in orange and red. Since I had that Cherry Red thanks to Stacey, I figured a couple of balls in orange wouldn't hurt to make the tank, but since I've seen the orange in person, there's no way I would use that orange for me. Very, very bright.

However, my Tempting is done and I thought I would go to Jo-Ann Fabrics and get some ribbon(s) to try with it. I swear, all I did was walk up to the front door, and they had carts outside with things marked down and the Cotton-Ease was there in a cart for $1.50/ball. Pretty scary stuff there. I immediately dug in and got a couple of things and then called some of the girls to see if they wanted, nay, needed some yarn. Of course they said yes and a lot of yarn was bought.

I wanted to take the picture like this:



but M thought it looked more dramatic like this:


I must concede that it's not all mine. I had some Candy Blue CottonEase gifted to me by Cathi, but I was concerned with the different dye lots and if I would have a problem as I had enough yarn for a garment for myself, so I bought some Candy Blue, a good amount of the Pistachio Green and a couple balls of Blueberry, which was a color I hadn't seen before. I figure I can use the Candy blue in different dye lots to make some bab things and also the Blueberry color for a baby sweater for my nephew. Who knows what the rest will be, although I do like the Pistachio and the Candy Blue together as some sort of striped thing.

As I mentioned before, Tempting is now done. Just a couple of shots to show the finished result. I picked out two ribbon colors, one is a sheer ivory, which I didn't take the picture with and the other is a taupe, sort of pale brown color.
The front a la Rachael:


and one of the back:



Project: Tempting from Knitty
Yarn: Katia Bufalo, color 17(dusky teal)
Project started: 4/17/2005
Project completed: 7/31/05

Yikes, I just realized it took me 3 months to knit this thing up, so much for it being a quick knit. Although it did lounge around my house for about 3-4 weeks waiting for me to finish it up. Donna is lounging now. I don't forsee me making a blocking board anytime soon, so we'll just forget about that for now. Anyway, overall, I'm very pleased with this project. Initially, actually the whole time I knit this thing, I was concerned about it not fitting. I would normally make the 40" size, but with my gauge, I was not getting the gauge the pattern called for, but I didn't want to go down a needle size, because the fabric would be very dense. I also didn't do a circular gauge swatch and my gauge always tends to go down a bit, so I was concerned Tempting wouldn't fit. I chose to knit the smaller size, 36", only because when I figured out my gauge of stitches per inch and multiplied it by the size I wanted, it matched the number of stitches for size 36, so I followed that size and it worked (this time)! After I did the trial shot, I was quite surprised to see that it fit, so after that, I was bit more inspired to finish it. Now, that I tried it on with a ribbon, first of all, it's still a bit big, especially in the back, so I'm glad I did make this with the intention of wearing it with a ribbon. Otherwise, it wouldn't fit right. Once I put it on yesterday with the ribbon, I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice it fits. I would definitely consider making another one, especially in a more elastic yarn, or wool. The fit is more complimentary than I expected, so I'm quite happy with it. Definitely a successful knit.

I also have a quick-n-dirty FO of yet another OSW, this time in Cherry Red Cotton-Ease. This one feels a bit tight and I made it slightly larger, but I never checked my gauge, so that may have been an issue. Also, I worked the ribbing this time and I think that may have something to do with it. I think if I wear it enough, it will stretch a bit more. This was supposed to be done in time for M's birthday on Thursday and I was knitting all the way up to the restaurant, however, I didn't finish it. And in the end, it was so warm in the restaurant, if I'd worn the OSW, it would have been too hot after all. But here's the pic,nonetheless.




I think the next OSW I make will be done with seed stitch again. I prefer the look of it in the OSW, although I might attempt to make one with longer sleeves, we'll see.

I've decided not to make the Tivoli as I'm concerned it will roll too much and frankly with the other summer knits I've made rolling and growing, if I make another one and it rolls, I will really lose it. It bothers me greatly and I have no crocheting skills to correct this, so for now I'm not going to do it. But if you want to see one that's completed, almost as quickly as it was cast on for, go see
Michelle's. It's a beaut.

For now, my summer knitting is to finish the blue tank top from 2 years. I'm about 1/3 of the way in on it now. I've just cast on for some Clover Lace Rib socks for my Sockapalooza pal and that's about it for my knitting. I want to pick up a project I put down a couple of years ago b/c I ran out of yarn and later this past fall, I bought a solid yarn to work the sleeves in, since the sweater was initially done in a variegated. I would really like to finish up this sweater before we get too far into fall. My thought is if I get the sleeves done this August, then I can work the other front of the cardigan and block it and seam it together. The sleeves were already knitted, the back complete and one front, but since I ran out of yarn, I will have to rip back the sleeves, but use the variegated yarn as cuffs for the sleeves and then knit the sleeves in a solid color and I should have enough to finish the front. I forgot I also have a collar to do, but I will have enough to do that one as well in either the variegated, the solid or a combination of the two.

It feels weird to only have one or two projects going, but as soon as I finish the tank, I will start working on the sleeves of my cardigan. I will have a lot to do as I will need to swatch with the Cascade 220 to get the same gauge I got then on the variegated, rip the sleeves back to the seed stitch cuffs in the variegated and then add the solid orange and begin knitting. After that, I will then have to skein up the remaining yarn and wash it, let it dry and then wind it balls to knit with it again. It's been knit up for over 2 years at this point, so I'm sure I need to do this.

Okay, I guess that's enough of my ramblings for the day.