Tank Madness…

Well, I finished my first skein of yarn on the Shapely Tank! Whee! I have two more increases to go. Then, according to my calculations I have to squeeze in the short row shaping for my bust right away after so that is all done in time to start the arm hole shaping at 14 inches. That means I have to decide soon whether I should do one or two sets of short rows. I’m on the C-D line cup-wise (I know, more than you ever wanted to know), then yesterday I was meadering through the ample-knitter’s gallery and noticed one gal said she was a DD and she only did 2 sets of short rows… I’m thinking maybe one as I’ll be at 3.5 inches extra circumfrence from my chest measurement anyway… Anyone have words of wisdom for me on 1 or 2 sets of shortrows?

Also while strolling through the gallery I noticed at aleast one gal said she did the shapely tank in the round. Ever since I figured out the short row shaping I was wondering if I could do it when knitting in the round (I’m terribly scared of the seaming process, LOL). Do you just temporarily split it in two like you do once you get to the arm and neck shaping? If you are just doing it for the bust do you just split early to do the short rows and then seam at the top? Inquiring minds want to know (and are not ready to delurke on the ak list *grin*).

What I am noticing is that my hands are tiring of the smallish needles and the 100% cotton yarn. So, my SIL2′s birthday is coming up in early May and she is in tank tops nearly 24-7 in the summer. So, I’m going to make Sigma for her. We normally set the price range for b-day gifts around $20, but I splurged and found yarn to make it for about $40 and on size 10.5 needles and from non-cotton so it’ll be a nice break. If I recall, we skimped a bit on Christmas for her gift so it should all be a wash in the end. As I figure it, with it in the round and her being a medium it shouldn’t take me much longer than it takes me to knit a couple hats so I should have no trouble getting it done in a month. I hope.

Since I’m also tiring of solid color st st, I’m going to make her’s stripey. I’m using Kool Wool (I sure hope they are right about it being good in all seasons) in Grass and Eggplant (her two fav colors, though the web site does not do them justice). I’m not positive if I’m going to do a Fibonacci sequence thing or even striping or random striping. I figure I’ll swatch and get the pattern transcribed for this yarn and her size and then make the big decision. I’m leaning towards the Fibonacci though since she was a math major in college, plus I just *love* the look.

Off to swatch…

Slow and Steady???

Last night DH and an out of town friend jammed upstairs and I just couldn’t resist the knitting any longer. So, with a new wrist brace that provides support but doesn’t totally restrict movement I got up to the decreases for the waist last night. Then, today I went to the LYS knitting tea. I wasn’t there too long, but I now have three of the five decreases completed. I’m hoping to finish that section here before I have to go to choir. Though I have to go through the music from Cabaret and erase any pencil markings so it is ready to turn in tonight so I get the music for the next concert at the end of May…

Now that I’m a ways up from the short rows I’m darned proud! And, I’m not going to apologize from being pleased with myself :-) They look awesome and are very nearly invisible! Now if I only understood where to put the short row shaping for the bust. Though if I continue at this pace I won’t be to that point until next week probably…

A group of the gals from the knitting tea are taking a road trip to Brown Sheep’s factory next Tuesday. I *really* want to go, but am not sure my back will hold up to the nearly 6 hours on the road in one day, plus I’ll still have the last lesson for my classes to write next week. I do feel honored they included me though as it seems that group is always talking about phone calls and such they’ve had and I feel a little too on the outside yet. But, today was good. It is so nice to be included!

Oh, I almost forgot that I finished the Critter Knitter Blanket #1 on Saturday night while watching Lilo and Stitch with aforementioned out of town friend. It’s boring so I probably won’t post a pic of it - at least individually anyway…

Yeah! I Did It!

Last night I cast on and did the garter stitch edging for the tank. I stopped there partially because DH wanted to go to bed and also because I thought I’d try figuring out the short row shaping at the knitting tea at my LYS today where there was a good chance that someone there had done them before and could help if I got stuck. But, I did it all by myself! I’ve now just completed the two rows of picking up the wrapped stitches.

This is where I’m at right now…

Here is a close up of the BEAUTIFUL short rows! :-)

I cannot express how excited I am to have done this! I know it sounds silly. But I was really, really concerned that I was going in over my head on this to have my first garment ever include techniques that many more experienced knitters than I had never done before. I actually raised my arms and announced that I did at the knitting tea, LOL! Everyone is so wonderful there though so they celebrated with me :-)

No more knitting for me today even though I really just want to keep going on the tank. But, my right index finger is thanking me. I have to get work done this afternoon and then DH and I are going to see Rent tonight! I’m also *very* excited about that.

November 1997 (I think that was the year) I drove down from Grand Forks and met up with Mom, Dad and Amber in St. Cloud and the next day we went into Minneapolis where Mom, Amber and Mom’s cousin, Dawn Rae and I went and saw Rent at the Ordway while dad took a nap at the hotel. Then we went to an awesome 4-star restaurant. The next day we went back up to St. Cloud and watched a Vikings vs. Packers game at a great sports bar there and then I made my way back up to Grand Forks. It was like our family Christmas gift for the year and is one of my fondest memories. After that, my sister and I were obsessed with Rent. I have the piano/vocal book and both Amber and I have the CD set. I think I had a t-shirt and hat at some point too. DH doesn’t understand the obsession, so when I heard it was playing here I got tickets. They aren’t great ones. We’re in the opera (but 4th row). But, if the staging is like that at the Ordway it shouldn’t make a big difference to be that far to the side. Even if I had heard earlier, we probably wouldn’t have gotten much better tickets because they have probably at least 3/4 of the seats sold as season tickets already. There are many people who purchase season tickets and don’t go. They are just in the cue for better seats when someone dies…

Amber is kind of jealous as she has tickets to see it again in April and has had them for some time and I’m going to see it again before her, LOL!

Long story short, I won’t be home watching TV tonight, or at Rainbow Chorus whish is the usual Tuesday night activity so there will be no more knitting today. I must crack the whip and get to work, I only have about 3 hours of work time before DH gets home…

Slight Progress…

I ran away from my work for a bit around mid-day and made a purchase for 7 skeins of Bernat Cottontots in Grape Berry from HobLob. That should allow me enough extra to make the sleeves if I decide to. Though, it gets so hot here in the summer, even though my arms are not in tank form I usually toss aside the vanity for comfort so I’m guessing I’ll probably leave it as a tank. A skein will give me a matching bucket hat though…

As much as I feel like grabbing for the knitting needles tonight while I sit at home alone while DH is off having fun with our friends, I should get more work done. Plus, I don’t think I’m in any mood to start tackling the short row shaping tonight and I am going to make myself practice it before casting on for the tank. Plus, I still need to finalize measurements too… I’m awfully short waisted so I’m little concerned it won’t be hitting me at the high hip, but rather at the widest point so I want to double check that… I also want to measure a few of my knit tops that fit the way I want the tank to fit…

Perhaps when I finally shut down the computer for the night I’ll work some more on the drop stitch scarf to match the purse. I did ~20 rows last night and it’s looking pretty good!

In other news, I’m settling in even more! Like the finished project pics??? It took me a while to figure out all of WordPress’s coding to make it my own. I imagine there will continue to be tweaks here and there. For one, I should add a link to my main web site and perhaps my LJ too…

Swatching…

Well, I’m gauging a few options I have in mind for the Shapely Tank I’m doing as part of Rose-Kim‘s knit along. Yes, I took a leap and signed up - yikes!

Since this will be my first garment requiring any sort of real fitting I don’t want to spend a lot of money on the yarn. So, I have some Bernat Cottontots lying around that I’m swatching with right now. They have an awesome grape color I’d love to have as a tank. That runs only ~$3 at HobLob and I’d only need 6 skeins so that is totally affordable. I am a little concerned about the halo effect I got with the butcket hat I made from it. So we’ll see what happens when I wash and block. I also have some Reynolds Saucy Mercerized cotton here that I’ll try since I know I can get it at my LYS. But, that one is almost $6. I’ll also need some longer sz 5 and sz 6 needles when I actually start. Though I think I will take Knitty’s Advice and practice a bit with the short row shaping before I actually get started.

Thanks Jessica for posting the designer’s notes on the discrepancy of chest and bust measurements and how to adjust the pattern. I’ll have to remeasure my high hip this evening… I suspect I’ll still need to do some adjusting…

I hope I’m not too far behind everyone. As I’ve never participated in a knit along, what sort of time frame are we looking at here? I know my knitting time will be slightly crunched more than normal until mid-April… *sigh*