Isabella est finie

Tis done!  Hooray, and it actually fits rather well in spite of my fears of it appearing to have been painted on.  Even better than fitting well is the fact that although this is made out of wool it is not suffocatingly hot (thank you to all the ravelers who reassured me that I was not an idiot for choosing 100% wool for a summer tank top).  I wore it to a 4th of July BBQ at my Aunt's house and I was quite comfortable. However the unusually cool weather here in normally sunny So Cal may have had something to do with that!

The lace at the v-neck, the rows of eyelets, and the picot hems really make this a flattering and very feminine top without being too cutesy.  Well, the deep v-neckline certainly keeps it from being cutesy, Mister Vonkysmeed loves that part!

I modified the pattern just a little, following the length for a large size and narrowed the shoulders by following the instructions for a small size, otherwise I followed the pattern instructions for a medium size.  I also knit the whole shebang in the round up to the armhole shaping so as to avoid seaming.  Overall I am really happy with my Isabella and look forward to getting a lot of use out of it this summer.

Pattern: Isabella by Jordana Paige published in Knitty, Spring 2007
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll tonal, Queen Anne colorway
Needles: Knit Picks circulars US #3

All those teeny, tiny stitches...

Can eventually add up to something nice!  I am making progress on my two current projects both of which use fingering weight yarn, it's slow but they are coming along, Haruni & Isabella that is.  Just finished chart A on the Haruni, it has gone much faster than I envisioned (remember this is a Christmas present folks, wow did I overestimate the time it would take!).  For some reason I thought lace equaled many hours of frustratingly, painfully slow knitting, but not so!  I realize the next chart takes up about half the yarn yardage, so I'm guessing it'll take about half the time too, but I am quite happy with how this is going so far.  Based on my time assumption I may have Haruni done in another two weeks at my current pace.  I will admit to being officially hooked on lace and am pondering the next shawl already, maybe Gail?  With beads next time too?!  Wouldn't that be frustrating and bewildering fun!

Isabella is also moving along quite nicely, I have separated the front and back (remember, I have been knitting this in the round because I hate seaming!) to shape the armholes and am rapidly knitting up the back, I have about 3 more inches to go before the neckline shaping.  I am doing more decrease rows than the pattern calls for as I really don't like the extra wide shoulders most of the completed projects on Ravelry have (reminds me of 1980's shoulder pads, I barely survived that decade the first time, let's not do it again okay?).  The top of the shoulder seams stick out beyond the shoulder of the wearee as the pattern is written and to me looks a little goofy and ill-fitting, so I decided to narrow it up a bit.  Hopefully this doesn't backfire on me!

And yes, I am already pondering my next project.  I have yarn for several items in my queue (hats, gloves, a few winter cardigans that are pretty but would be hot to knit during the summer) but of course there is something else I want to make for which I do not have the yarn.  That something would be the Lilas cardigan by Hilary Smith Callis from The Yarniad.  It is beauteous, and from the pictures of finished projects posted on Ravelry it looks equally good on many body types.  Simple, chic, and versatile, this looks like the garment for me (as if I could ever actually be chic, now that's funny)!  I want to try some Spud & Chloe sweater yarn for Lilas, (yummy!) but do I really need to go buy more yarn when I already have stash boxes bursting at the seams?  Hmmm, have to think this one over...

Stuck in a stockinette wasteland

That's right, in my infinite wisdom I have cast on three different projects that each have miles of stockinette I am required to knit.  Currently on the needles are Isabella, Hey Teach!, and Twirly Skirt.  What makes it even worse is that in wanting to make things easier on myself (and see how well that worked out!), I adjusted two of the three projects, Isabella and Twirly Skirt, to be knit in the round so all I am doing is the knit stitch, over and over until the coming of the Apocalypse (at least that's what it feels like!).  Thankfully Hey Teach! gives me a little break as it is a button front cardigan so I am knitting it flat, one row knit one purl, although admittedly I am knitting the two front pieces and back piece all as one instead of in three seperate pieces so the rows seem to go on forever!

I'd give anything for some lace work or some fiddly cables right now, even some scary colorwork would be welcome.  But no, I have to perform the knit stitch, ad nauseum.  Theoretically I know it will be over eventually, but first I have to cross this boring desert of knit to either finish the item or progress to a far more interesting section of the project to work on.

Why not cast on a new project that has a more interesting stitch pattern you ask?  Let me present Exhibit A, the Lacy Shell that took well over 3 months to finish.  That may not seem like a lot to you, but I prefer to finish things in a more acceptable period of time (by my own standards, I am not judging anyone else's productivity here!) and this one kept getting put off with other projects so I instituted the 3 project rule (and I'm sticking to this one by gawd!) of no more than three fiber projects in progress at any one time.  So for now I am in the hinterlands of stockinette, but I will cross this seemingly endless expanse of desert and move onto something more interesting.  Something like the Haruni shawl I have planned, doesn't seem nearly so scary now that I am bored to tears.  Note to self, in the future make sure to cast on different kinds of projects, something with cables or colorwork, lace, ribbing, anything but endless row upon row of stockinette!

Isabella: a tangy tank for summer

When I first saw the images of the Stroll Tonal yarns from Knit Picks I knew that I had to have some.  Yet, I don't knit socks (yet!) so what would I do with beautiful yarn like that?  A quick search on ravelry yielded the lovely Isabella pattern that was in Knitty a few summers ago, I remember admiring it last year but felt it was beyond my abilities.  Well, no more!  I decided to further the difficulty by knitting this in the round, and not just in the round but using the magic loop method.  It took about 5 tries to get it cast on right, but now that I am about 7 rows into the project it is getting much easier.

Casting on was fine, it was the whole dividing the cast on stitches in half and pulling the cable into position while ensuring the stitches didn't twist or get super tight that was a total bitch.  I had actually given up after my first try, thinking maybe I should just stick to the pattern as written and not make things too hard on myself; but after another failed start I thought that if Granola-Mama can do the magic loop for two at a time socks, than by gawd I can do it for one bloody shirt!  Destructo-boy assisted a little in this decision, I had foolishly left my knitting on the couch where he could reach and he pulled all the stitches off one needle after I had started to knit the back piece back and forth rather than both front and back together in the round.  After that I decided to try the magic loop method once again (did I mention that I am also much slower at purling than knitting?).  I waited until the ankle biters were in bed and was able to get it started with a little bit of patience and a lot of luck.

Since the hem will be a picot edge I realized that is okay for the first few rows to look hideous as they will be folded under to be hemmed in place, which really allowed me to relax as I started working through my fear of this project/technique.  I don't know why, but whenever I attempt anything new it seems I have to work my way up to it, giving myself little pep talks just to get over the hump of getting it started.  For the record this is my first time working with fingering weight yarn and my first time using US 3 needles, and using the magic loop method of knitting, a lot of firsts for one project.  It will take forever (maybe I'll get to wear it by next summer!), but I am loving how the colors of the hand dyed yarn are flowing from one to the other so far. Maybe with a lot of luck and patience I'll even get it done in time to wear it by the end of this summer!