Thursday, January 16, 2014

A New Year's....

...resolution: More Blogging! Enough said, I'll get on with it! I was inspired by a few of my blog readers at an event that I attended to get back here, Thank you Ladies!

I've been knitting up a storm since October, the last time I checked in here...shame on me :( 

In October we traveled to Chicago for a dear friend's wedding and I needed something that was easy to knit for the trip, but not so boring when I got home to finish it. I found the perfect piece! 

The Pattern: Scabiosa Top.

I loved it from the moment I saw it and had to make it. Boring stockinette for the long car ride to and from and beautiful, but not to complicated lace to finish it up when I got home. 

I had the perfect yarn, but I had not the time to dye it before we left. So, I thought I can just dye it when it's done. 

The Yarn: Vivacity Fingering, a Superwash Merino, Silk, Nylon blend with 2% Silver Sparkle. I wanted this top to have that extra special touch of sparkle, a perfect top for my Holiday parties. Now, the pattern calls for DK weight for the bottom portion and fingering for the top. I did NOT want my sweater 2 different colors, no way. I wanted it a classic piece I can wear anytime, with anything, dress it up or down. So, I used the yarn double on the bottom portion and single for the lace. My gauge was spot on -- I was very pleased.

I knit on happily to and from Chicago, 7 hours each way with 3 little munchkins in the car. We had great trips both ways. We had a blast at the wedding and our 4 day stay was a great little vacation.

When we got home I finished up the body and then started the lace portion. It was so fun to knit and the pattern was easy to catch on. I did rip a few times, but I blame that on late night knitting :)

Knitting with white always seems so boring for me, but this wasn't too bad. I guess the sparkle kept me interested and then well, lace, it speaks for itself.

I dyed it, my intention was Kiss Me Pink, but something went wrong and it came out darker, still it was good, I liked it.


It was perfect....or so I thought...just a bit too short to wear with pants....I just wasn't going to wear it much. I had to redo it. I will be happier I thought. Only problem was, I forgot to dye some extra yarn with the sweater....NOT GOOD. I had planned on it, but with my excitement to see it done and dyed I forgot.

I ripped out the bottom and because it was knit from the bottom up I had to cut it and then unravel and put the stitches on my needle very carefully! Sweater Surgery...it brought back memories of working in Neuro Surgery. Very tedious work for those surgeon's a lot of the time.

I dyed up 1 skein, WAY to dark, I did another and it was better, until I started knitting, still too dark. I had to dye the entire sweater again to even out the colors...what a mess I thought, I sure did learn my lesson!

In the end it was a success -- it's almost perfect (nothing is ever really perfect) and it is very wearable and I wore it to all of my Holiday parties and it's a great piece to have in my wardrobe. I am considering another in Kiss Me Pink of course, maybe 100% silk this time around. I have another sweater with sleeves in fingering weight yarn on the needles, just started a pair of baby legs yesterday and I'm swatching for a baby sweater. Haha ~ It might be a while.

So, here is the finished sweater. I am very pleased and love wearing it!



Detail shots (before surgery):




1 comment:

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