FO: Ms Marigold

Project: Ms Marigold, size 34

Yarn: 3.5 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed, rust colourway

Needle: 3.75 mm Denise circular, 3.25 mm bamboo circular, G crochet hook

Techniques: picking up and knitting a neckband, crochet edging.

Mods: Added two rows of increases for some very slight waist shaping. Went with just a simple single crochet around the armholes, which finishes the edge nicely without bringing too much attention to it.

Try on your garment with its intended outfit! When I just fitted the vest over a t-shirt, I was really disappointed with the width of the back; it looked too narrow, and the armholes looked weird no matter what kind of edging I attempted. However, when I tried the vest on over a white long-sleeved work blouse, I was very pleased with the result. Now I see that the back and armholes are constructed so that the fabric of the shirt doesn't bunch up underneath.

I haven't blocked it yet, but on review, I probably should have knit the 36" size. The fabric is pretty stretchy, but the V is a bit wider than I would like it to be.

I spent a week procrastinating on weaving in the ends and sewing up the bottom of the neckline. It took less than an hour to finish this thing. Duh.

The Silky Tweed is a great yarn to work with, but unfortunately it's been discontinued. I wouldn't mind knitting another one of these in a semi-solid wool to wear casually with a pair of jeans. An excellent project all around!

I have officially gone over to the dark side

I woke up this morning just before 5 AM, and because I couldn't shut my mind off and go back to sleep right away, I got up and bound off the waistband ribbing on Ms Marigold:



I LOVE my sleep. I stay in bed until the last possible moment and rush about every morning because I had to spend just another 9 more minutes curled up in the comfy warmth of my down quilt. And yet somehow I have turned into a person who will get up an hour earlier than the alarm just to finish a few more rows on a project. Insanity.

Anyway, now I've hit a slight problem. I own two sets of Denise interchangeable needles, a bunch of bamboo straights and variously sized sock circulars and DPNs. I haven't actually lacked lacked for a needle size in ages, but the pattern calls for size 3 circulars to knit the neckband, and it turns out that's the only size I don't own!

Damn. I put in an Elann order as a birthday present for myself YESTERDAY, and if I'd bothered to check my needle sizes before this, I could have easily dropped a 36" circular into my order. What to do, what to do...I could catch a bus up to Three Bags Full on my lunch hour and pick one up...I could drop in at Michael's this evening and see if they've got the right size...I could hit Knitopia tomorrow and run the risk of falling into another pile of yarn...

Gah

I should have gone one step further when thinking about waist increases on Ms Marigold. I had 142 stitches on the needle after doing one increase row, realized that I had enough body length, and started the 2x2 ribbing. Except I forgot that for 2x2 ribbing to work, I needed a multiple of 4 on the needles, not a multiple of 2. Oops.

It took less than 5 minutes to knit that 2x2 rib, and I know that I'm going to tink it back, add another increase row, and restart the rib. Still.

Just a couple more minutes...

You get to this point, and even though you need to get dressed and put the laundry on and get more coffee and really, really THIS TIME put the knitting down and review that last bit about calculating the cost of capital...

February roundup

What a month.

First, of course, I knit and then frogged the Foliage hat. That hurt. I've got some Rio de la Plata that will probably work a lot better, but I'm still stinging from the initial defeat.

In the midst of the crazy, I rediscovered my knitting mojo, in large part thanks to Ravelry and two swaps that I completed with fellow Rav members. Hurrah for worldwide knitting power! I received two skeins of Lorna's Laces, a yarn I've never used before, and started on a pair of simple stockinette ankle socks for train knitting. The first is complete!



This week, I received this awesome, gigantic skein of Zen Yarn Garden:



It's seriously huge. And in addition, my swapper sent me an adorable ball of Rowan Kidsilk Night in a pale pink called Ballerina:



Crazy, right? People are too kind.

The Secret Project was in fact a French Market bag, and has been gifted to M for her birthday. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the finished object. It felted super quickly in my front-load washer, and is a bit bigger than I had intended for it to be. I hope she likes it!

I swatched and cast on for Ms Marigold this week, and finished Part A in my first session. This is seriously addictive knitting. I even got up early one morning and knit for an hour so that I could make some progress before exam prep hits, um, now. I love this tweedy yarn; it feels wonderful, and it makes my stitches look nice and neat. I got to row 16 on the back section before I had to put it down:



I sort of fell down on my last two goals. I didn't cast on for Elfine because I'm waiting for another sock circular to show up in the mail. And I must admit that I got sucked in by Elann's Sneak Peek page for their 4-ply sock yarn, and ordered a couple of balls for myself along with the samplers that I got for M's birthday package. Does it mitigate my crime if I say I only spent $6 on myself? :)

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February stash knitdown totals: 200 metres on the French Market Bag, 100 metres on the Daffodil socks, 100 metres on the Foliage hat, 60 metres on Ms Marigold, 30 metres on a plain garter stitch dishcloth. 490 metres!

I have conveniently decided to ignore stash enhancements for the purposes of the knitdown. Heh.

Taking a moment from exam prep

A few months ago, I picked up a bunch of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed at a closeout sale. I have enough skeins in a lovely rust colour to make this deep V-neck sleeveless tank, but swatched in the dark brown because I'm always wary of yardage. Here's the washed and dried swatch:



I got gauge exactly: 20 stitches and 28 rows on 3.75 mm needles. I'm a little concerned, though, after reading reviews of the yarn that indicate that it will stretch with wear, and that it doesn't have much memory. The plan is to knit for the 34" bust and adjust for a shorter torso.

Casting on for this will be my reward tonight after studying for the next 5 hours and then going for my scheduled 7-mile run. Yay!