FOs: Wicked and Pea Pod...

Posting is still slow.



Pattern: Wicked by Zephyr Style
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in terracotta, 3 skeins
Needles: US7/4.5mm KnitPicks Options, US7/4.5mm Inox aluminum DPNs
Time: 1 week
Mods: Decreased 12 stitches (4sts/dec rnd) for waist shaping rather than the 10 stitches (2/dec rnd) suggested.

Notes: This is the first time I've knit a top-down sweater for myself (I knit a child's size for the Dulaan Project) and was fascinated by it. Not really fascinated by the process so much as the ability to try the top on as I went.

The top zoomed by pretty quickly since it's mostly stockinette in the round on worsted weight. The Cotton Ease is nice to work with. The fabric feels a bit bulky but luckily it doesn't look bulky when wearing.



Pattern: Pea Pod Baby Set (pdf) by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Ella Rae Silkience in teal, ~3.5 skeins
Needles: US6/4mm KnitPicks Options
Time: 1 week

Notes: Originally I was worried that I'd be short on yarn. I bought the yarn thinking I'd make Trellis from Knitty only to realize that the pattern noted the gauge in the cable pattern while I assumed it was stockinette. So I chose the Pea Pod cardigan instead and hoped for the best since, according to *this* pattern's yardage, I was short nearly 1 skein. I ended up having about 1.5 skeins leftover after the cardi, which I ended up using for the hat. I'm not normally into sets but I don't really like having excess yarn laying around, either.

The Silkience is probably the softest cotton yarn I've ever felt. It's really smooth, although a bit splitty, with a strand of silk thread running through to give it a bit of a sheen. The baby set survived the washing machine in a lingerie bag. I decided I wouldn't try low heat in the dryer. It's a 6 month old size so shrinking wouldn't have hurt but I think I'll leave a note to the mother-to-be about that possibility.


Leafy buttons to go with the leafy lace.

I'm still waiting on the crochet hook so I can finish Isabella. The LYS, which has three locations, thinks they must have misplaced it during an inventory trade so hopefully I'll get it soon.

In the meantime, I finally started knitting the hooded jacket from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2005. This has been in my queue for how long? I think this will be a long term project since I don't have a need for a knit wool coat at the moment.



This is the left front. I have one sleeve done, which sort of doubled as a gauge swatch. Once I finish with this piece, I'm going to set it aside for this:



Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Red Rover. I picked up (the last) two hanks at another LYS. I didn't really want socks so I decided to use it for a scarf or little shoulder wrap. I think it wants to be Sarcelle, something that's rectangular and knit on the bias (I'm not a fan of drop stitch patterns, which rules out Clapotis). Of course, this means that the purple Zephyr Wool Silk I was going to use for Sarcelle needs a pattern.

Good thing I joined Mystery Stole 3. I thought I was going to use black lace yarn for this but I don't really want to buy anymore yarn at the moment. As I thought more about it, and looked at some of the progress pics in the Yahoo group, I realized that purple would work quite well. Plus, I have enough. I'm going to wait until next month to decide for sure. By then, I'll see more pictures *and* it'll be appropriate for Project Spectrum.