Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

I finished my Coral Seas Top and have mixed feelings about this one. First of all, it was very hard to find a ribbon for it. In retrospect, I *should* have found a ribbon before I started knitting! Anyway, I tried to find a matching color, but the ones I found were either too pink or too orange for it. So I ended up with a very yellowy beige color. This is me nudging myself out of my comfort zone a bit as far as mixing colors go (yeah, I'm pretty conservative). Sometimes I like it just fine. Other times, I feel like an Easter egg!

The other thing about this top is that it is hard to keep the ribbons in place. After you wear it for awhile (especially if you're sitting a lot), they tend shift around and bunch up in certain areas. I guess I *could* go back and tack the ribbon down in more places.

And finally, the top is a bit big for me. At the armhole shaping, my instinct was to make more decreases, but I figured that that would give it the same shaping as just about all my tanks, so I decided to go with the pattern. If I had it to do over, I *would* have gone with my instincts. I had to bind off very tightly at the top to keep both the front and the back from gaping out. The other change I would have made would have been to change needle sizes between the bottom ribbing section and the top part more gradually. The pattern calls for you to jump from a size 4 to a size 7. Even though that comes with some stitch decreases, if you look above the ribbed section, you'll see the tank bulges in places where I don't really bulge.


So all in all, it's a really nice pattern and looks super-flattering on the designer. But on me, it would need more tweeking to work. Oh well. They can't all be winners! :-) If you want more details, they are in the gallery.

Orange You in the Mood?

Obviously, I am. I have discovered that I really like the color orange. It can be autumnal when it has reddish or brown tones. Or it can be bright and summery like in these two examples.


This is Fifi, done in Rowan Calmer, in the discontinued Tangerine color. I got this as a Ravelry destash. I'm not really sure that it's a good color for my skin tone, but regardless, I like the color because it reminds me of Orange Creamsicle pops. Very yummy and summery! Unfortunately, I'm going to have to frog back quite a ways. My gauge is a bit off, and I thought I could get away with it since Calmer is so stretchy. The top does fit, but I have to admit it is just too small and is the cables are stretched in unflattering ways when I try to wear it. I thought about adding short row shaping for the bust, but I decided I'd just be happier redoing it in a larger size. Also, I saw this version (Ravelry link), which has some extra cable twists at the top, and I wanted to incorporate that.

And this second one is Coral Seas, (ie. Emerald Seas from last summer's Knitty). I'm making it in Tahki Cotton Classic. The color is actually called Flamingo Pink (which is not that appealing), but it looks to my eye like it's a more orangey, coral-like pink. So there. Now, I picked up this yarn on sale at my LYS because it was the right gauge that I was looking for. After I got it home and looked it up on Ravelry, I was alarmed by the inordinate number of dishcloths that have been made with this yarn. I have nothing against dishcloths, of course, but I didn't want to look or feel like I was wearing one! Luckily, it is working out fine so far. We'll just have to wait and see when it's all done.

Celebrations, Part 4: Birthday (and Contest)

Yes, it's my birthday! I treated myself to a bunch of new yarns over the last couple of weeks. The Calmer is from a Ravelry destash and the rest are from a recent sale at my LYS. Let's look at some yarn porn, shall we?

This is Berroco Linen Jeans. As you can see, I've already knitted 1 skein's worth on Athos from the new Norah Gaughan book. So far, it's very nice and drapey!



Next up is some Rowan Calmer, in the discontinued Tangerine color. I intend to make Fifi with this, and I was actually all set to swatch for it. I had somehow thought that I could download the pdf of the pattern but was really bummed that I couldn't. So I'll have to wait till I find a site or local store that carries these patterns. Darn!



I love the color of this Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton. I am really hoping that the swatch will work out for the Mirabella cardigan from the new IK.



This is some Tahki mercerized cotton. I was thinking about this for the Emerald Seas top from Knitty or for the Drop-Stitch Lace Tank from Fitted Knits, but I need to swatch it and see if I like it for either.



I realized after I finished making all those scarves for Christmas that I actually have very few scarves of my own. So I bought myself some yellow Malabrigo to make a Shifting Sands scarf and some variegated purple Manos Silk Blend for a My So Called Scarf.



Ahhh, I love it! Okay, now, it wouldn't be right to bask in all this fiber goodness by myself. So I decided I'd have a little contest. It's easy. All you have to do is guess the time of day that I was born. Remember to indicate AM or PM and make sure I have some way to contact you, either through your blog or email. The contest will run through next Saturday, February 23. The prize? The person who comes closest to guessing the actual time wins 2 skeins of Malabrigo in her choice of color. Enjoy!