Summer knitting had me a blast (or hot town, knitting in the city)
It's rainy and 65 here in beautiful Brooklyn. I'm desperately trying to get my Sarah tank top done before there are no more 80 degree days left.
As promised, I'm going to sum up Patty's summer of knitting. My summer of psycho crazed knitting began in June when I had my first summer off in years. I was able to spend more time with David then I have in . . . forever, and hang out on my deck and knit. Some might see this as unemployment, but my pal Nell simply called it "P & D's summer V" and it ROCKED!
Here's where you could find me most days:
The first early summer sweater I finished was a bit of a trauma. It was the Moda Dea Curious Diamond top in Distrato Tutti Purple yarn. I like to call it the muppet sweater. This pattern is a LIE!! See the nice model, see the nice model wearing a form fitting sweater, see the nice model wearing a sweater that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PATTERN. So, I knit the entire front (yes, I did a gauge sample, I'm kind of a nut about doing that) and it looked like a shapeless potato sack. I bravely, naively, stupidly knit on thinking "I'm sure the pattern writer knows best, it will all come together." I knit the back. I frogged it and started again. I rewrote the pattern entirely, removed one whole pattern repeat and added shaping to the side. This is the result:
The yarn is this crazy furry stuff that makes me feel a bit like Elmo when I wear it, but that's life.
With a closet FULL of projects, I did the only thing a girl can do as the summer heats up. .. buy summer weight yarn! As the temperature rose (and rose and rose!) it was time to put away all thoughts of wool and alpaca and anything that came from a furry beast, and turn our attention to all things cottony blendy.
Next up was the adorable xback ribbon tank. It knit up in a couple of days. My problem is the ribbon yarn I used was really stretchy, thus making it a little (ehem) whorey to wear braless. I ended up knitting a little shelf bra inside. My mother would be so proud. I had a skein and 1/2 left over, so I made a little shrug
With a big ole bag of cotton & viscose blends, cotton & linen blends, and cotton & strange chemically sounding word blends it was time to delve yet deeper into the wonderful world of summer tops. First stop the Honeymoon Cami. What the hell would I do without knitty.com???? I loved knitting this top, and although I though at first the designer was high when she called a ssk a right slanting decrease. I decided to go on blind faith (although still stinging from the whole muppet sweater affair). It turned out FAB! I think she just meant that ssk was the decrease on the right side of the sweater. Whatever, all is forgiven, cause check it out:
Next came another tank, Evening Diamonds, and another r-0-n-g, wrong pattern. This time I only got halfway through the front before I realized the math was all wrong. By the time you get to dividing for front and back you don't have the right amount of stitches. I counted backwards from the divide to figure out the right number of stitches to cast on. It was also my first foray into crochet (for the edge).
Since the little Evening tank took me a good long while. I decided to move on to instant gratification time. Yes, I'm talking Loop d Loop ballet t-shirt. It knit up (hand to god) in 3 1/2 hours. I bought a bag of ten Filatura Lanarota Summer Soft at Smiley's and it was perfect for this top.
I got a huge cone (my first) of greyish lavender mohair from David's mom. People are constantly dropping yarn and unfinished sweaters off at her house. I told her she could go into business finishing other people's projects. I usually walk away with a little sumin' sumin' for the old stash every time I visit. The mohair seemed perfect for the Fluffy lace camisole and pull off cowl from Weekend Knitting. I'd been meaning to make it for a while, but hadn't learned how to crochet, for the edging. Now that I conquered crochet for the evening tank. I dove it. It's just a big tube, no shaping, so it got a little headachey after awhile, and it didn't look as good on me as the model, but I still like it.
More later about my trip to the NJ Sheep and Wool Festival, and of course, Knit Out NY!
As promised, I'm going to sum up Patty's summer of knitting. My summer of psycho crazed knitting began in June when I had my first summer off in years. I was able to spend more time with David then I have in . . . forever, and hang out on my deck and knit. Some might see this as unemployment, but my pal Nell simply called it "P & D's summer V" and it ROCKED!
Here's where you could find me most days:
The first early summer sweater I finished was a bit of a trauma. It was the Moda Dea Curious Diamond top in Distrato Tutti Purple yarn. I like to call it the muppet sweater. This pattern is a LIE!! See the nice model, see the nice model wearing a form fitting sweater, see the nice model wearing a sweater that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PATTERN. So, I knit the entire front (yes, I did a gauge sample, I'm kind of a nut about doing that) and it looked like a shapeless potato sack. I bravely, naively, stupidly knit on thinking "I'm sure the pattern writer knows best, it will all come together." I knit the back. I frogged it and started again. I rewrote the pattern entirely, removed one whole pattern repeat and added shaping to the side. This is the result:
The yarn is this crazy furry stuff that makes me feel a bit like Elmo when I wear it, but that's life.With a closet FULL of projects, I did the only thing a girl can do as the summer heats up. .. buy summer weight yarn! As the temperature rose (and rose and rose!) it was time to put away all thoughts of wool and alpaca and anything that came from a furry beast, and turn our attention to all things cottony blendy.
Next up was the adorable xback ribbon tank. It knit up in a couple of days. My problem is the ribbon yarn I used was really stretchy, thus making it a little (ehem) whorey to wear braless. I ended up knitting a little shelf bra inside. My mother would be so proud. I had a skein and 1/2 left over, so I made a little shrug
With a big ole bag of cotton & viscose blends, cotton & linen blends, and cotton & strange chemically sounding word blends it was time to delve yet deeper into the wonderful world of summer tops. First stop the Honeymoon Cami. What the hell would I do without knitty.com???? I loved knitting this top, and although I though at first the designer was high when she called a ssk a right slanting decrease. I decided to go on blind faith (although still stinging from the whole muppet sweater affair). It turned out FAB! I think she just meant that ssk was the decrease on the right side of the sweater. Whatever, all is forgiven, cause check it out:
Next came another tank, Evening Diamonds, and another r-0-n-g, wrong pattern. This time I only got halfway through the front before I realized the math was all wrong. By the time you get to dividing for front and back you don't have the right amount of stitches. I counted backwards from the divide to figure out the right number of stitches to cast on. It was also my first foray into crochet (for the edge).
Since the little Evening tank took me a good long while. I decided to move on to instant gratification time. Yes, I'm talking Loop d Loop ballet t-shirt. It knit up (hand to god) in 3 1/2 hours. I bought a bag of ten Filatura Lanarota Summer Soft at Smiley's and it was perfect for this top.
I got a huge cone (my first) of greyish lavender mohair from David's mom. People are constantly dropping yarn and unfinished sweaters off at her house. I told her she could go into business finishing other people's projects. I usually walk away with a little sumin' sumin' for the old stash every time I visit. The mohair seemed perfect for the Fluffy lace camisole and pull off cowl from Weekend Knitting. I'd been meaning to make it for a while, but hadn't learned how to crochet, for the edging. Now that I conquered crochet for the evening tank. I dove it. It's just a big tube, no shaping, so it got a little headachey after awhile, and it didn't look as good on me as the model, but I still like it.
More later about my trip to the NJ Sheep and Wool Festival, and of course, Knit Out NY!
posted by Valerie at
1:44 PM
3 Comments:
girl, you been busy!!! lovely summer projects, and a fab
deck to sit N knit!
soon crisp fall weather ill be upon us- and-more yarn...
:-)
By
HPNY KNITS, at 10:26 PM
Hi there. I'm really sorry you had problems with my pattern. Please let me know what size you knit so I can try to fix the issue. I would definitely rather know there is a problem and fix it as soon as someone detects it. Most pattern designers do.
By
Marnie, at 5:36 AM
You are absolutely right. I should have gone on the internet and looked for the way to contact you. My apologies
I knit it up for size small. The biggest problem with the pattern is how far you get before you realize the math doesn't work. Usually patterns have the number of stitches you should have after each step. There are no stitch updates between the CO and the 58 stitches for neck (if you follow your math you will come out at 55 at that point).
Also, may I suggest for the increases and decreases before and after marker you define them. I used the paired decreases and increases featured in the "Honeymoon Cami" on Knitty.com. It makes a really nice side.
By
Valerie, at 7:28 AM
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