Simple Knitted Bodice

I took these mirror pics this morning prior to doing my mu & hair, so they've got the obligatory cropped off head look.

Pattern - Simple Knitted Bodice by Stephanie Japel
needles - size 1 & 7 KP circs
Yarn - Brooks Farm Four Play (wool/silk) in Brown C (color not online)
mods -
Started w/the medium size but had to add another increase repeat to get the thing to fit over the shoulders & armholes which resulted in ending up in the large size at the arm separation point. Not a big deal as it would give me more arm room. So while I added length & short row shaping in the bodice section, I decreased the sides down so I only had 3 sts to decrease for the lace section, bringing me back to the medium size again. I fiddled around w/the neckline shaping when I finished the short rows, so it's not quite the same as the pattern.

And for some reason, I decided that I wanted Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Sarah Michelle Gellar) length sleeves. I suppose that if the impractical length really bugs me, I can always undo the bind off and take off some length later.

As I stated in a previous post, I forgot the last 5 rows of the neckline hem, but it does make it match the other hems better, and moved the lace panel on the sleeves down to be approximately the same level as the one on the sweater body.

Notice the transition from the first skein of the Brooks Farm Four Play into the next? Lame me didn't notice this 'til I finished the body. Was so not going to rip the darn thing again and alternate skeins. H-E-double hocky sticks-no. Just frickin' no.

So while I'm waiting for my first Rockin' Sock Club package (still working on my BFF sock though), I practiced the toe-up sock method w/tapmouse's leftover STR med wgt Fairgrounds. For one toddler sock I used Judy's magic cast on, a short row heel using misocrafty's tutorial, and the EZ sewn bind off. The other sock I used the short row toe & heel (but using a regular method like in Nancy Wiseman's Finishing Techniques book) and a regular bind off so I could compare different techniques. So, yup, the EZ sewn bind off is definitely stretchier. I'll probably undo the regular bind off sock & try the Russian or crocheted bind off.

All I can say at this point is that if I do the toe up method on an adult pair of socks, I'll probably want to do Judy's magic cast on and a reverse heel flap. I'm not too thrilled at the way my short rows look and it still doesn't eliminate the need to pick up an extra stitch to close the hole made at the heel.


Last month on my trip to Sacramento, I stopped by the Twisted Stitch & picked up a ball of Tofutsies. I had a hard time believing this thin yarn would knit up on size 2 (2.75 mm) needles and not be too loose 'til I saw a bunch of their sock samples at Stitches West. So off I swatched and I'll be darned! It's actually pretty nice on size 2's. However, I'm going to wait to knit these 'til SWTC releases their sock patterns (free?) on their website sometime after this week to see what they've got though I've seen some samples on their blog & in blogland.

And lastly, monkey1 and I are debating the color selection for her Modella Guiditta. This is what she wants, but I'm having heartburn over the Carribean Sea (blue) and Holly Green (all Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece) next to each other. I've tried subbing in other colors for the Carribean Blue from my Cotton Fleece stash, but it's hard to get agreement since I don't have every single color of theirs nor does she like what little leftover I have in the same gauge in other yarns in my stash. Then again, she did tell me she's the one wearing it, not me. :P Out of the mouth of babes...

Stitches West = SABLE (Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy)

But hey, I'm done knitting my Simple Knitted Bodice! It definitely needs to be washed and blocked as the double purl ridge hems are wanting to curl right at the transition. I'll post a modeled shot later when I can get Monkey1 to snap a pic.

Dets:
Pattern - Simple Knitted Bodice by Stephanie Japel
needles - size 1 & 7 KP circs
sweater size - a combo of the large & medium size as I have broad shoulders & other curves
mods/comments - short row shaping for the bust, mistakenly forgot 5 rows of the neckline hem, but it does make it match the other hems better, and moved the lace panel on the sleeves down to be approximately the same level as the one on the sweater body.

With the sweater done and my auto insurance deductible reimbursed, I was really ready for Stitches West! So, here's a peek at some of the stuff I bought:

I was a bad enabler and failed to convince tapmouse to hit Stitches West (SW) with me, but she did commission me to buy her Cookie A's pattern & hand-dyed yarn. (This obviously doesn't count towards my haul.)

And I can't buy her any Cookie A stuff w/o buying myself something. I had hit the BMFA booth first so by the time I hit the Bay Area Knitting Co-op booth, there were only 4 skeins of Cookie's hand-dyed left (Louet Gems Pearl base, BTW) and her Twisted Flower sock pattern was sold out 'til 4 pm (but I so could not stay that long!). I appeased myself w/a mostly green w/pink & mauve yarn and 2 of Cookie A's patterns.

And of course, I had to get other yarn (not just sock!) too. So in the pic below (in case I forget to bring it in to show tapmouse), the yarns are -

top: Shelridge Farms Peacock fingerling yarn
left to right: Brooks Farm Yarn Acero (wool, silk, viscose) in 2 different colors slated for shawls or scarves, Lisa Souza's new hardtwist merino yarn in Mardi Gras (though that's not what I picture Mardi Gras colors to be), Mountain Colors Weaver Wool Quarters in Painted Rocks (Wool-Gatherers LLC's sock yarn sale), and Baywood Yarns superwash merino in Aurora Borealis, a local dyer's product sold at Nine Rubies in San Mateo.

And now, most of my BMFA Socks that Rock haul:
Patterns: Cookie A's shawl(ette?) pattern in Bambu and a new STR sock pattern
Left to right all lightweight: Little Bunny Foo Foo, Footzey-Foo, new to me Smokey Blue, Tide Pool (but you can see this on flickr.com & the Rockin' Sock Club blog), and Algae.

BMFA didn't have very much medium weight 'cept in the fair isle sets and in a basket of sock club extra skeins (Pink Granite & Fairgrounds). Kaci told me they were low in stock on their medium weight base yarn. They also had heavyweight, Seduction (mmmm!), Geisha (more mmmmm!), the other fuzzy lace yarn that I forget the name of, the twist yarn and Bambu. I was good and didn't buy any Seduction & Bambu which was hard 'cause they had 2 colors unfamiliar to me (Rock Creek and Dark Horse) that wasn't in the light or heavyweight sock yarns. Sigh. And Spring Fling looked so, so cute in Bambu. But I did manage to stay close enough to my BMFA budgeted amount.

Truth be told, my prep for Stitches West started a wee bit early. Last weekend I headed over to Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos (place of the Bay Area Yarn Harlot signing) after e-mailing Hollis back and forth about her having the Fleece Artist Merino in Seashore. I've been wanting Seashore for awhile, especially when the one I got from an online store looked way more like Hercules. Hollis told me she also had Seashore in the new Sea Wool as well. Well, we didn't find the Seashore in merino, but Hollis was kind enough to sell the Sea Wool to me early and I'm glad she did. When I stopped by their booth today, there was precious little of the Sea Wool left and definitely none of the Seashore. This stuff feels yummy!


So my yarn buying itch has been sufficiently scratched and I will be good for awhile. Mainly 'cause I need to shift my yarn money over in my budget to help a couple family members w/things.

Now off to knit a bunch of swatches so I figure out which slew of socks and things to knit next!

Yarn regret?

Not sure if I should laugh about this or cry, but last summer, my friend L & I made several trips to Article Pract to ponder what sale yarns to get, especially the Noro. I fell in total love w/colorway #21. 'Cept in the Iro, not the Kochoran. I don't remember my rationale other than I didn't want something so bulky as Iro to knit into whatever, so I chose the thinner Kochoran in the same colorway. Sure, the royal blue portion wasn't the same in Kochoran as it was in Iro, but I thought, eh, close enough. Little did I know that when I started knitting the Kochoran, the angora would annoy the heck out of me. I suppose I should be grateful it's only making my exposed arms itch and not inducing my asthma, but I am bummed that this scarf I had intended for myself will be gifted away to someone who does like angora. Next sale, I'm going to follow my initial feeling, and go for the Iro.


And in other ambivalent knitting news, I've finally made it through the cheveron lace section and bookin' through the hip shaping on my SKB. I think I won't need to add to the 5 rows of straight knitting in bottom portion before I finish off w/the purl border as I think it'll be long enough. Apparently the majority of my torso length is above the bust line, not below it, proportionally speaking.

The photo monkey1 took of me makes the sweater look like it fits okay, but it's hard to tell w/the neckline curling in. After all the drama I generated in adjusting the bodice portion, it feels a little loose. And nothing like getting the Michelin Man effect in having the chevron lace section highlight my muffin belly (I've been slacking on the gym time mightily). Of course, I shouldn't be surprised that knitting a light worsted weight yarn on size 1 needles would give a corset effect. I probably won't do that again as it's not good for the wrists either, even with a nice yarn.

Squeezing in some knitting stress relief

For just having 1-2 people over Christmas Day, I'm surprisingly wiped out, mostly mentally. However, it probably didn't help that I'm starting to catch a cold. I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas Day.


Pattern: Broadripple socks from knitty.com
Yarn: Socks that Rock (STR) Sock Candy in Hurricane
Needles: Size 2 (3.00 mm) Addi bamboos
Mod: 4-5" cuff/leg
Comments:
These socks are a great example on how to get a fraternal pair of socks from 2 skeins of handpainted yarn. The sock on the right was started on vacation last month in balmy tropical weather. The sock on the left was knit during the week before x-mas. My tension is all over the place on the second sock. But still, I'm happy w/how they turned out. Now the test on how these cotton blend socks will wear over time begins.

I couldn't decide on what to make for my next sock, so I'm kinda/sorta swatching away. The top swatch is the Seacoast Handpainted sock yarn in Butte I got from yarn4socks. I was too lazy to knit the swatch in the round but my flat sock swatches are usually are 1/2 stitch looser so I have a good idea what pattern size will work. Now I need to figure out what pattern to make w/this yarn. The second swatch is actually the cuff of Cookie's famous (or infamous) Pomatomus socks done in the new Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn tapmouse gave me. I want to see how far I get to determine if the Jay color is right for the pattern. And the last swatch is the cuff of the Retro Rib socks from Winter 04 IK done w/my new STR X-mas Balls yarn. Heh, when I go for color, I go for color. Not sure about this yet either as it's definitely too early to tell.

In the meantime, I'm slowly chugging along w/my Simple Knitted Bodice in Brooks Farm Four Play in Brown C. I hope this turns out well as it's such a nice yarn to work with.