FO: Summertime tunic

OK, it's time to get some of these FOs blogged before the new year. First up is my modified version of the Summertime Tunic.

Hideous picture, but you get the idea

Pattern: Summertime tunic from Interweave Knits Summer 2007 (Rav link)
Yarn: Classic Elite Premiere, colorway 5295, 50/50 cotton/Tencel, 108 yds/50 gr, every single inch of 5 skeins were used (size 37.5 with modifications)
Needles: US 6/4.0 mm
Start/finish: 3/2/08-9/22/08 How embarrassing is that? 6+ months! Phbbbt.
Comments/modifications: The first thing to say is that I absolutely love this yarn. I don't usually really like knitting with cotton, but the 50% Tencel in there makes all the difference in the world. It knits up fluid and drapey, and in the wearing doesn't stretch out quite as quickly as 100% cotton would. Gorgeous stuff.

I did a few mods on this pattern. To wit: 1) I only had about 500 yds of the yarn, so I started at the top and knit down. Then 2) instead of doing the ribbing and continuing down past that as in the magazine photos, I pulled a lacey ribbing pattern out of BW Vol 2 and used that as edging.3) I bought some ribbon to use for the straps and then when I got to that point, couldn't find it, so I worked a 3 st I-cord with the last remaining scraps of yarn and used that instead. That's it. I lucked out on the fit, and after a couple of wearings, most of the stretching was width-wise not length-wise, so all's well.

Thankfully I finally got all the finishing done before "winter" arrived. I've worn this a couple of times and gotten compliments on it, which definitely qualifies as a success.

Parallels

I realized this morning that I'm basically knitting the same thing twice - the Summertime Tunic (top-down version) for me, and Devil's sock yarn skirt. Both simple tubes of endless stockinette (but soothing!), and in both cases I'm planning on dressing up the bottom edge with a simple lace pattern. I'm getting close to the lace stage on both of them, so I've been pouring over pattern books and the few stitch dictionaries I have for the past couple of nights trying to find some ideas.



I've found something that I think I like for the TDST (top-down Summertime Tunic) - it's basically a rib pattern with a bunch of yarn overs and a k3tog thrown in for good measure.

Interweave subscription card for contrast

So far it seems to be working out ok. I was thinking about increasing to allow a little extra hip room, but with this stretchy rib I don't think I'm going to need it.

Devil's skirt made great progress today (2x1+ hour bus rides, but 1 hr SnB at lunchtime made for several inches of striping). I didn't expect the stripes on this to be so wide - imagine how wide they'd be on half the stitches in a sock! - but I am going to have enough yarn, which was a small worry in the back of my mind.


Picot edging on top hem

I have a couple of candidates for a bottom border to mull over and decide on - she goes back and forth between "I want leaves Mama!" to "Just some pattern is ok". Tough audience! I'm hoping that both of these will join the FO parade in the next week or so, but we all know that predictions like that have a way of blowing up on me. But since I'm not knitting socks at the moment, something else has got to get done, right?

Signs of spring

Texas redbud

What we call the Grape Bubblegum tree - please let me know if you recognize it

Azaleas

And summer sweaters resting in the Mexican Heather

The Summertime Tunic halves are joined and the body is started. Unfortunately what you see above is 2 balls of the 5 available. Hmmmm...might be an awfully short sweater, and God knows my midriff doesn't need that much baring. The good news is that I'm knitting the 37.5 size, and it looks to me like it might be quite big. First chance I get to take it off the needles (probably after ball #3), I'll try it on. I might be able to go down to the next smallest size successfully, since I don't want a whole lot of ease.

Unfortunately, this weekend has been a knitting-free zone - my right hand/wrist have been sore for a few days. I've got a bone deposit on the back of my hand that normally doesn't bother me at all, but if I'm doing a lot of hand motions that involve flexing my wrist, the tendons on the back of my hand get annoyed. I guess there's been too much rabid Firestarter knitting in the last week or so (in addition to getting back out on my tri bike which also puts my wrists in a slightly uncomfortable position). In an attempt to let the tendons chill out a bit and recover, I replaced knitting with spinning over the weekend, and now I've got this sitting on the bobbin.

Last month's (January's actually) HY Fiber Club, Verdant, 50/50 merino/mohair, in my first attempt to spin laceweight. It's a pain in the ass. The fiber is beautiful, and the actual spinning is going fine, but it's the winding on to the bobbin that ain't working so well. I'm currently adjusting the tension between the long-draw and wind-on portions of the program, and it seems to be working ok, but it's not terribly efficient. Plus it takes a really long time to spin 4 oz! No instant gratification here...I just hope I like the end product.

I'm off Wednesday to Portland, OR for a conference, so this may be the only post for the week. However, I have grand plans for finishing off multiple socks while I'm gone, so next week should bring many FOs (famous last words, right?)

Project Spectrum 3: Fire

Over the past couple of years, I've noticed these cool Project Spectrum buttons on numerous blogs, and thought it sounded like a pretty interesting idea. As someone who has 1) trouble deciding what to knit next and 2) has a pretty limited color "safety zone", the idea of theme knitting/crafting appeals to me. Wandering around Ravelry about a month ago led me to the PS3 group, and here I am, working on my first PS3 project.

Yarnissima's Firestarter socks. I picked this yarn up in my falling-off-the-Yarn-Diet-wagon splurge and started the socks this weekend. It's lovely and soft, if a bit splitty. This is my first experience with twisted stitches, and at 4 chart repeats (of 5) into the foot, I think I'm finally getting the hang of them. There have been many dropped stitches and vulger epithets thrown around in the meantime.

Being as it's now "spring" here in Houston, I've started work on a summery-type sweater - the Summertime Tunic from IK Summer 2007. I'm using Classic Elite Premiere, which is a 50/50 cotton/tencel blend. It is gorgeously soft, but I am again reminded of why I like wool better then cotton - it hides my tension changes so much better! Hopefully blocking will solve the problem.

The yarn is a gorgeous deep blue-purple. Unfortunately I've only got 5 skeins, so I'm adapting the pattern to knit top down. It remains to be seen if I have enough yarn to get the ribbing, etc done.

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February Progress report

Finished:
Secret project sock design
Ivy (hooray!)
Frosted Forest
Cricket

In progress:
Duck blanket for Devil, somewhat stalled
Verdant - my first attempt at laceweight