Res Completa: Shetland Shorty

From my absolute favorite Knitty cover...


(Sorry for the low light.)

Pattern: Shetland Shorty, by Gudrun Johnston for Knitty Summer 2008
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, a little over half a hank of Petal Shower
Needles: US 3 and US 4 circs
Size: XS
Start to Finish: July 4-14, 2008

Mods: When preparing to make my Shorty, I reviewed the yarn requirements for the smallest size (490) and the yardage in my hank of Smooshy (450) and thought, "Well, that's perfect. I have just enough!" It took me a few days to actually realize that 450 is less than 490 (for someone who was pretty good at math back in the day, this is highly embarrassing). To compensate, I cast on fewer stitches for the garter stitch sash and did a few fewer rows. I think I took out 2 lace pattern repeats on the front and back sections as well. (It would be nice if I had recorded those numbers so this story wouldn't be quite so pointless...). In the end, I got away with only using about 270 yards of the Smooshy in total. I doubt my mods saved that much yarn, so I'm not quite sure what happened. I blame my Continental knitting style, as when I can't think of anything else, that's what I blame.

Notes: What a fun pattern! The Bird's Eye lace pattern was easily memorizeable, but not boring in the least. And of course it was lovely not to have any seams to sew at the end -- hooray for three-needle bind-off! I think the shape of this sweater is so cute and I especially like the little sleeves. It's interesting to me that we usually employ lots of tricks to make things the shape we want, but in this case it was a lack of fancy shaping that gave these sleeves their cute shape.

Unfortunately, I'm not in love with the color I chose. It's too close to my skin tone, or something. I adored working with the Smooshy, but this pinky color may have been better matched with some socks. I also think that a yarn with some silk -- as in the original -- would have been lovely. Maybe next time...

My other "unfortunately" is that I'm not sure my lace looks as it should. There are these funny pieces of yarn in the "holes" that I don't notice on anyone else's Shetland Shorty, in Ravelry-land at least. This is a slightly embarrassing angle, but it shows what I mean...



Let's blame the Continental knitting again.

Unfortunatelies aside, I do quite like the sweater and it will definitely get some wear once the sun comes back out. Thank you for such a lovely pattern, Gudrun!

Res Completa: Lace Ribbon Scarf the Second

Greetings from Ithaca*! I've been here for meetings all week, so I'm way behind in all things knitblog related, but I wrote this post last week (well, not this particular paragraph) and quickly took some pictures before leaving. So without further ado, here is my second Lace Ribbon Scarf, this time in purple!



Pattern: Lace Ribbon Scarf, by Veronik Avery for Knitty Spring 2008
Yarn: Koigu KPM, 4 hanks
Needles: US 3 circulars
Start to Finish: Around June 8-24, 2008 (I'm getting really bad at keeping track of these dates).



Notes: There's not much to say about this scarf except that it was quite pleasant to knit. I had such a nice time knitting and was so pleased with the outcome of my boss' Lace Ribbon Scarf that I decided to cast on for another soon after its completion. For a couple of weeks (possibly more), it was my go-to traveling project. I'd knit a row here and there and use it to keep my hands occupied during many comings and goings -- to work, from work, on business travel, visiting my family on Father's Day. Once finished, it blocked out to a massive 8 feet (!!), which is enough to wrap around my neck about 158 times or to let it hang down to the floor.



I'm a big fan of this color. There's a large Gap billboard that I pass every night on my way home from work that shows several young beautifuls all wearing a similar shade of dusty plum. And instead of buying into the advertising and immediately ordering every article of clothing the ad is selling (even the weird jumpsuit looking thing, which I want badly), I can come home and look at my scarf and feel satisfied.



The color also reminds me of grape Laffy Taffy, which makes me kind of hungry. Anyone else ever have weird flavor associations with yarn?

The only problem with this scarf -- I have to make sure not to wear it the same day my boss wears hers. We all know how embarrassing it is to show up somewhere wearing the same thing as someone else. The fact that hers is a gift I made for her would make it even more strange...

*I would be so stoked if I were on the Ionian island and former home of Odysseus, but I'm actually just in upstate New York.

La Fée Verte Strikes Again

Boy have things been busy around here lately! For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to take three classes this summer (which means ten weeks of schoolwork crammed into five), despite my knowledge that a) Neill and I would have several houseguests and visitors during that time, b) two of those visitors would be Neill's parents, c) we would be throwing a large wedding-brunch-party for Neill's parents' friends' daughter while they were here, and d) I would be going across the country for yet another work meeting. I guess I just didn't want to be bored...

At least I got to wear my new favorite dress to the brunch-party yesterday:



If you happened to read this post, I'm sure it will be obvious why this is my new favorite dress. And not only is it that perfect shade of bright green, it's vintage, too! I found it at my favorite antique store on a recent trip home to Turlock, tried it on in their small bathroom, and pranced around the space (much to the amusement/horror of the other patrons) for awhile before buying it. I knew right away that I would, but I no way was I going to wait until I got home to prance and twirl.

Res Originales: Orange Panties

Yes, you have seen these before, but a lack of photos of my current knits in progress has forced me to scrape the bottom of the barrel and dig up the photos I took of this old knit. And actually, I'm glad to post on this as the completest in me requires that every knitted object be reported on.



Pattern: Panties. Just panties.
Yarn: Neighborhood Fiber Co. Sport, a little less than 1.5 skeins of Lincoln Park (left over from my Germany socks)
Needles: US 3 straights and circs



Notes: To create the pattern for these undies, all I did was take a pair of my existing unmentionables and measure them. They're basically two triangles joined in the middle with a strip. Knit all in one piece, I cast on for the back, decreased down, knit straight for awhile, then increased up to the number I needed for the front. When all was done, I picked up the stitches along what were to become the leg holes, knit in stockinette for two rows, purled a row on the right side for a turning ridge, did two more rows of stockinette, inserted a piece of elastic, and sewed down the live stitches. I had grand plans for a knit waist band as well, but my two attempts were not nearly elastic enough (could barely get them past my knees). (Yes I tried them on.) (YES I was wearing something underneath when I did so!!) I figured the elastic matched the yarn well enough to sew it on directly, so that's what I did.



In case you were wondering, I'm not the weirdo with the grand idea to knit skivvies. The recipient of these woolen bloomers actually asked for them directly. She left me a comment with her request late one night in a half-asleep daze, probably not expecting me to follow through. Oh, but she should have known better.


(Tad is skeptical, but intrigued).

This is certainly my most ridiculous knitted object to date, but also one of the most fun and most amusing. Because I knit the whole thing in stockinette, the sides rolled up while I was working on it, making the whole thing resemble a weirdly shaped thong, which drew some very funny looks on the train...

So Amanda, any more requests??