Knititude

Back in the U.S., um, A.

Apologies to any Beatles fans out there.  Anyway, we are Stateside for the summer; I can already see that this entire Italy experience will be fraught with mixed feelings--glad to be back/sorry to be leaving, glad to see old friends & family/sorry to leave new friends behind, glad to be rattling away in my native English, sorry to be losing my hard-won gains in Italian a little more each day.  And sorry to have left behind what must be one of the best photo-shoot locations ever; do you think I can Photoshop myself into these rooms modeling my future knit projects?!

At least my item (is that vague enough?) for the winter IK is done and I can blog easy:  work in some loose ends, write up some long-promised patterns.  I'd also love to knit Lutea for myself this summer, but  I'm having a helluva time finding any Classic Elite Sundance.  (Anyone know where I can score some of that stuff?)  I may have to substitute a similar yarn, or--more entertainingly--a completely different weight yarn.  Whee!  (I know, I probably need a margarita or a mojito or some new shoes--my fun meter appears to be in desperate need of recalibration.)

Speaking of working in loose ends, I finally did that with my Dayflower Lace top, and even wore it in public!  Sometime in the next few days I'll post for the Create Along and cross-post here.  (Recognize the earrings?)

   

Some notes on Lutea

Have you seen the Summer 2007 interweave Knits, which contains my Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell pattern?  I haven't!  My subscription goes to our U.S. address and my copy hasn't been forwarded.  But a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the roses on the arbor in our yard are a light gold-yellow--just like the Lutea rose!  I posted this photo partly because they are gorgeous, and partly because in my haste to send the completed sample in to meet deadine, I neglected to take any photos.

I did save the swatch, however, which shows the nice stitch definition and the warm, buttery color of the yarn.  (It also shows how much the lace spreads compared to the stockinette).

When I originally sketched the idea for this shell, I thought it would be cool to use short rows to shape a triangular area at the chest, and then have angled shoulder sections coming from the upper sides of the triangle, forming a V-neck AND slight cap sleeves.  Well, the reason that I note in the pattern that larger sizes may require a crossback or strapless bra (unless you don't mind having the straps exposed), is that when I started working on the mechanics of how to accomplish this, I realized that (A) the larger sizes increase much more in bust circumference than in shoulder width, and (B) the "cap sleeve" really had to end at the point of the shoulder, because it didn't curve to follow the top of the arm, but rather stuck out straight, due to the garment contruction, and would otherwise look like something from Star Trek, or maybe "Dallas" (the TV show, not the city).

And this meant that the shoulder section in the larger sizes had to start farther away from the side seam, meaning a more deeply cut armhole.  I've just realized that this is a case where a picture would be worth 1000 words, so in my next post I'll sketch what I'm talking about.