Summer Sambuca Done!

Finally dry enough to finish up! I tried the metal clasp, but didn't like the way it looked with the lace, so ended up with just some pretty little pearl buttons down the front.


I'm thrilled, I must say. The project went quickly (3 days total, including drying time on the blocking!). It's a light and airy summer cardigan perfect over a tank top. Let's do some project stats!

Pattern: Sambuca Jacket by Doris Chan (from her book Amazing Crochet Lace)

Yarn: Aunt Lydia's Double Strand (Ocean/Aqua color... of course)

Changes to the pattern: Short sleeves. No border on the sleeves or the bottom. Used one row of single crochet followed by one row of crab stitch (reverse single crochet) for the fronts/neckband. Lenthened the body by a few repeats. Used a much lighter weight yarn, compensated by going up a size.

Problems with the pattern: The pattern is very very wordy, but since this was my second time thru, I "got" it a bit better this time (still have the same mistake in the same spot... stupid turns in crochet can still throw me off).

Overall impressions: what can I say? This is EXACTLY what I wanted. It's light, and airy. I'm happy with the fit. It's a favorite color. Certainly can't argue on how quickly it worked up.

Bring on summer!!!!

Summer Sambuca

Talk about instant gratification... nothing like a little crochet cardigan to work up quickly! This thing is going to take longer to dry then it did to make. It's done except for the drying and the clasp. I'll do the project update when it's dry and I have a modeled pic of it (either on me or my dress form).

Meanwhile, Bee Balm is progressing nicely. The back only needs a few more inches before the sleeve shaping. Here's what the pattern looks like (as Lisa mentioned in my comments about what it was going to look like when it's done):



Ya, I'm loving this project so much, I'm going back to get more of the yarn. It's so lovely for a summer project (and I've got a long list of things I want to make... and short sleeves are sooooooo much faster than long sleeves).

My So Called Scarf

What a great pattern and project. I worked on this in the morning and found the pattern stitch to be quite addictive. I'm thinking a blanket sized one would be fab!

Project Stats:

Pattern: My So Called Scarf

Yarn: Brown Sheep's Lanaloft in Painted Iris

Problems with the pattern: none

Changes to the pattern: none

Overall Impressions: Fabulous! I loved working the pattern stitch. Cast on per the directions, and just kept going til I ran out of yarn. This is one long scarf (enough to wrap around my neck and still have really long sides). Must get a winter coat that goes with it!

Just like honey

Considering how little I'm actually knitting (did I mention that I'm totally engrossed with Fallout 3??), Bee Balm is progressing nicely.

I did the sleeves first and got them out of the way (plus they make nice little gauge swatches). I've also finished up the lace border for the back:


I must say that the heat wave is helping a lot... nice to work a light lacey project (even if the weather is going back to normal in a day or two).

I love this pattern and the yarn (Spa by Caron) is giving it a lovely drape and sheen. I'm betting this will be a fave when done.

The heat and the speed of this projct has me completely obsessing over other little lacey cardigans. I'll probably not be able to stop myself from casting on an other one fairly soon (must get the back done on this first!)

The lace obsession...

I've really been enjoying the simple lace projects I've been doing... however, the drawback is usage on shawls (which is low). What I really need is an other green cardigan.


So I cast on Bee Balm by Fiona Ellis (from the Nashua booklet "Style: Lace and Eyelets".

This pattern should be called "Cindy's Must Cast This On NOW!", as it's got all those lovely little things I so love. It's a cardigan. The pattern is photographed in a lovely shade of green (never hurts). It's got pretty lace. It's got cables. It's feminine, yet not frou frou-ish. It's a MUST KNIT!

The yarn was a birthday splurge (ran into Ann at AC Moore and she had an extra 25% off total coupon... much better than 50% off one item coupon I had). The yarn is Spa by NatuallyCaron.com. Beautiful sheen, drape and colors. I decided on "ocean spray", and remembered this pattern when I got home.

So I cast on a sleeve (aka: my swatch) and I'm very happy with it. Maybe I'll even stay concentrated on it and get it done (would help if I wasn't spending 12 hours a day playing Fallout 3).

A Huge Mistake...

Ya, so I have this goal to finish 24 projects in 2009. I'm on schedule... for now. I even finished a project yesterday. However, I've thrown a monkey wrench into this plan.

I bought and started Fallout 3. I don't normally play RPG's, as they are usually huge time sucks. Fallout 3, even by RPG standards is huge (oh, and they've since released two new "add ons"... to add extra time suckage!).

To say that I'm sucked into this game is an understatement. Meaning, that my knitting time is much more limited! So I'm tackling things that I just want to finish up.

After the ease of the Forest Canapy Shawl, I decided I should just finish up my Flower Basket Shawl. So I did:


I'm fairly happy with it. It's much smaller than I had hoped (I actually had to rip back the final repeat as I ran out of yarn for the border... and still had to sort of fudge the bind off. Used every bit of yarn I had).

Some project stats:

Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl

Yarn: Natually Sensation

Problems with the pattern: Fiber Trends lace patterns never disappoint. I like how they're written (both written and charted). Multiple gauges/sizes.

Overall Impressions: Not bad. Smaller than I wanted (needed at least one more skein of yarn). The yarn is quite yummy, and since it's heavy yarn, it was actually a fairly quick knit). Nice to just toss over my shoulders on chilly mornings. Or styling over my winter coat. Love the look of the pattern and would definitely make this again (and most likely will).


The only drawback of shawls is that I don't wear them well. I've found that I enjoy knitting them, but I rarely wear them. I'm hoping this slightly heavier shawl will get some practical use. We'll see!

Lateralis

Lateralis is finished. Let's do a quick review of the project, then I'll do actual project stats.

The cardigan was inspired by the Elann Summer Sampler Packs (one pack in greens and one pack in neutruals). I wanted something similar to the Sitcom Chic/Eyelet Cardigan, but as I was doing the math, I didn't get quite the fit I had hoped for. I used the Random Stripe Generator to create the striping, basing my numbers sequence on the Fibonacci sequence. I think it's a bit of a mixed result, but we'll see how much I wear it over the summer before I jump to conclusions that it doesn't fit me well.

Project Stats:

Pattern: none, simple top down raglan using my own math

Yarn: Summer Sampler Packs from Elann (the greens and the neutrals).

Problems with the pattern: uh, I suck at math. The other problem is that I wanted a slim fitting summer cardigan. I simply can't do that with a stripe pattern. I couldn't short row bust darts, so I feel like I don't have a flattering fit. The neck ended up being bigger than I wanted (but I sort of gathered it in when I did the neckband).

Overall impressions: Right now I feel it looks frumpy on me (again, to compensate for my "I" cups, I had to make it bigger than I wanted, and even adding the waist shaping didn't help much. The scoop neck isn't as flattering on me as I had hoped (that might change with the right tee shirt under it). I love the colors and the striping. I loved working with the yarns and quite frankly, it was delightful to knit (if you forget about all those ends to weave in). We'll see how I feel as I wear it over the summer. Might just be my mood this morning (that's happened before).


So I'm holding off my final opinion. I love these sampler packs from Elann, and I do think this was a great project for the yarns. I would easily do this project again, with some tweaking. I would limit Random Stripe generator to only up to 8 rows (the 13 seem dominate to me in the sweater) and I would seperate the yarns into just lights/darks of each color. I have A LOT of yarn left over, but I didn't get to balance my usage as much as I would've liked.

So it was fun to knit and plan... we'll just have to see if it's fun to wear!

Rockin' the 'tober

This is what my skein of STR lightweight in Roctober looked like Saturday at 4:00 pm:



This is what it looked like at 11:00 am on Monday:



This is what it looks like right now (12:30 pm Monday):



Wow, I think I found my instant gratification project! All just because I wanted to try out my new blocking wires from Knitpicks (and LOVE THEM!)

Project Stats:

Pattern: Forest Canapy Shawl by Susan Lawrence

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Socks that Rock Lightweight (colorway: Rocktober)

Changes/Problems with the pattern: none. Super Fabulous Pattern!

Overall Impressions: WOW! This pattern is fabulous. The lace pattern is easily memorized (about half of this shawl was knit while enjoying some mediocre Pinot Grigio... which says a lot about the ease of the lace pattern). The directions are written and charted (which I love for lace). A good use for sock yarn for a non sock knitter (especially for the high pooling colors). I will most definitely knit this again... bigger. I was limited on size with how much yarn I had. So it's more of a scarf than a shawl, but it's going to be perfect in the fall.

Okay, I guess I should finish up Lateralis (took a break from weaving in ends over the weekend). Might be back on schedule soon!

Edited to add some new photos:

Just a little behind schedule

Lateralis is blocking. I still have the neckband and fronts to do... and a whole bunch of *&^$#@ ends to weave in. I tried to do the neckband pre-blocking, but I was concerned with the "floppiness" of what I was getting. I figured I would block it, and see what works best.

So I didn't get it done in March... meaning that I have to get 3 done in April! Yikes! (even though there really isn't much left on Lateralis to do).

I will say that this project has been interesting on several levels. Being able to work with each of Elann's summer yarns was great... as now I know which I love and which I would never with knit again (I'm not a big fan of the Pegasus... but the Sula, Nilo and Coto are all new faves).

I also think that if I do this again (and there's a good chance I will), I'll set the Random Stripe Generator to only do 4 colors. A light green, dark green, light tan and dark tan. This will give me more opportunity to decide as I go which yarns to use and I can use a more balance approach to the yarns. While I used up some yarns (and even ran short on the green Pegasus), I have A LOT of yarn left over.

So now I'll just wait for it to dry (a slow process with the fiber content on these yarns) then tackle that pesky neckband (the neck opening is larger than I calculated... I really do sorta suck at math). Should be done in no time!

Thanks to everyone that left me comments about Hey Cara Mia! I've already worn it several times and I'm still in love with it. I do need to steam the front bands down a bit better (they curl in). knitalot3 asked about doing the lace as an all over pattern... and I've been tempted to do that too. The lace pattern is so easy to work and so pretty that I have been contemplating an other one!

Okay... off to get some grocercies then tackle then next project!