True to my promise to myself, I made a popular knitting design that I found on
Ravelry. I'm actually going to make two of these, and this is the first one. The pattern is called
Dahlia. The coolest part about this pattern is that the designer is a teenage girl. Isn't that incredible? This is one of the first times in my life that I made the garment in a color similar to the original, but that's just because it's the color my daughter chose for it. This was some of the yarn I bought from Knitting Warehouse during my most recent online S.E.X. (get your mind out of the gutter; that means Stash Enhancement Expedition!!!) session.
I know that using Caron Simply Soft for a major garment may seem cheap and ridiculous to some people, but you have to keep in mind that this is for a teenager who may someday move out (one can hope, right??) and who may one day do her own laundry (I'm a hell of a daydreamer) without my supervision. Whatever I make for other people must be washable, dryable and affordable for a prolific knitter such as myself to make for him/her. Once again, my aspirations to ever become a yarn snob are taking a back seat to my inherent thrift. The Violet Dahlia was finished when my daughter got home from school yesterday, and she squealed and put it on immediately. She could not have been any happier had I made it out of 100% cashmere.
...
Okay, that might be a lie. She might have been happier in that case.
If you're looking at the original pattern and then at my version, you'll see that at the request of my daughter I "depoofed" the sleeves and replaced the picot edging with four rows of 1 x 1 ribbing:
The next one is going to be magenta :))
The next project I'm going to complete will be the
Ribbed Lace Bolero, of which I will also be making two, if not three. This is going to be in black. I've started the first one and am using
Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn. This is the first time I've ever tried this yarn. For an acrylic, it's not bad. No squeaking to speak of (okay, I do realize that my low threshold for yarny goodness is showing again). I'm a little put off by the fatness of this supposed worsted-weight yarn. It seems more like an aran weight to me. Never in a million years would I substitute this for a worsted weight yarn in a pattern in which gauge is terribly crucial without making a very careful gauge swatch. I'm not a big huge fan of swatching (who is???) but diving into any project with this yarn without making one is a prescription for disappointment and possible impulsive impaling of someone/something with a knitting needle when you begin to seethe with rage. This bolero will be for my other daughter. The Violet Dahlia daughter also wants the exact same thing in the same color, depending on her critique of how Ribbed Lace Bolero #1 comes out.
A while back I made a black
Scrunchable Scarf. The other day when the temperature plummeted to 60 degrees one of my kids wore it to school. This prompted a request for one exactly like it from one of her friends, and that scarf will be next in the queue. You know, that's one dark purple top followed by three black things. I better intersperse that lineup with something made with some yarn in a lighter color. Most of my knitting is done in the evening, and my aging eyes and black yarn don't get along so well under those circumstances. I find myself more and more often needing to knit with dark yarns in natural daylight. Hmmm. Hmmm. My friend just started a new job, and her office is chilly. She has asked if I would make her some fingerless gloves, so I'll make a pair of those. I have two skeins of
ONline Supersocke Beach Colors that I don't want to really use to make socks because there is a high cotton content. I didn't realize that when I bought it, and I think that yarn would be perfect for some stripy fingerless gloves to wear in Florida, don't you? Not too hot, and the cotton content is less dangerous when you don't have to worry about socks falling down, right?
That's a lot of knitting projects lined up, isn't it? I'm hoping to write and post another pattern this month, as well. Bring on the Red Bull.
Despite the fact that I have comments enabled, in order to comment you need to actually click on the title of this (or any other) post. Sorry!
Posts
