Knititude

Butterfly wings

Not much action on my Wyvern Wrap lately, and here is the reason:  (see swatch).  I had ordered a couple of different colors of RYC Cashsoft DK once I realized I was going to run out of the Trilly, without being quite sure what I was going to do with them.  I didn't want to start over with a different yarn, nor start over just so I could insert a contrasting or coordinating yarn at the lower hem (which is where it most logically belongs, if you ask me...but oh well).  Nor can I put the new yarn on the ends of the sleeves since they're worked sideways in one piece with the body.

I also didn't want to add the new colors to the fronts because I want to be able to take photos of the finished wrap for the pattern, without the distraction of multiple colors.  So this left working the new color(s) into the back somehow, probably in some sort of stripe.   And now that I've begun working on the back, it's time to create a more specific plan (in other words, swatch time).

When I started the swatch I realized that if I didn't want the yarn visible at the sleeve ends (since they are self-finished), I would have to keep the first and last two stitches in each row in the main color, which required either using a separate piece of yarn on one end, or stranding the main color--which is why partway up the swatch I started doing the stockinette column in the middle in the main color.  I actually like the general effect a lot (for some reason it reminds me of a close-up of a butterfly's wing), and I like the curving of the stripes, but the cream color is too similar in tone to the main color, and the sage color is too dark--the stripes are more pronounced than I want.  Both photos are of the same swatch, by the way.

So--I am waiting for more yarn in different colors.  This is turning out to be more complicated than I would have liked.

Progress on Wyvern

Now that I've completed several deadline projects, I can get back to work on Wyvern.   I've finished both fronts and joined them to start on the back.  I finished the right front first and blocked it to make sure my gauge was on, before I started the left front; as you can see, the blocked right front piece is noticeably bigger than the unblocked left front piece.

It's slow going on the sleeves/back combination:  those are long rows to hoe knit!  Plus, I have to decide just how I'm going to work stripes of coordinating color into the mix; I'm quite sure that I don't have enough yarn to finish with the Trilly alone.  It will help keep me going, knowing from experience that the lower back, after the sleeve stitches are bound off, seems to fly off the needles.

(Purchasers of this pattern please note that there are some pattern errata on the pattern page, at the bottom:  aside from the glaring stitch count errors after the side waist shaping increases, they are more like clarifications-- at least I like to think of them that way  :-(  )

Hurry up and wait

After finding out last week that Interweave Knits accepted a couple of my design proposals for their Summer 2008 issue, AND that I have about 6 weeks to knit both samples and write up the patterns, I realized that I had better get a move on to have any hope of finishing my Wyvern Wrap before the yarn for the IK samples arrives.  So knit away I did...and it became quite clear after I finished the Right Front that I will run short of yarn before I finish.  (The Good News:  with calculator and new numbers--the weight of yarn I've used so far and the area of the piece I completed--my assessments of yarn requirements for the wrap, previously based only on extrapolation from the child-sized sample, appear to be quite accurate.  Also, the piece I finished blocked to measurements--no surprises there.)  I did rewrite the sleeves to make them wider after I started knitting...a difference, as it turns out, of about 100 square inches--a necessary addition, unfortunately.  

Sadly, Filatura di Crosa Trilly has been discontinued, and my attempts to find a stray skein or two via the internet-- Google, eBay, Ravelry-- have failed.  So, unless someone out there happens to have a little Trilly in colorway #301794 (lot number?  HA!  I'll take any lot at this point), I've had to mull over alternatives.

Starting over with a new yarn?  No.  Don't have the time.  Working a "waistband" in a different yarn?  This would mean putting the completed front piece on the inside, and doing something to cover the waistband portion of it that wouldn't be overlapped by the left front--a wider sash instead of the modified I-cord, perhaps.  I liked this idea until I realized that the "waistband" would have to be 4 inches wide--too wide, in my opinion.  Knitting the overlapped part of the front in a different yarn?  Hmmm...maybe.  Using a band of a different color across the upper back and arms?  It wouldn't be visible from the front; the stitch pattern would cause the edges of the stripe to undulate, which might be nice....

Nothing in my stash will work for the new yarn, so I've ordered a couple of different colors of RYC Cashsoft DK, which means I will soon get a chance to see this suggested substitute in action.  And now...I wait.  (At least I have my old friend Sherwood to keep my hands busy in the meantime.)

Working on my Wyvern

The right front of my Wyvern Wrap (size small) has been growing at a good clip; I'm almost finished with the side shaping increases, and soon will cast on stitches for the right sleeve.  I'm having a nagging fear that the sleeve, which is essentially a drop sleeve, may end up being too snug for this style, at a circumference of 13 1/2 inches for my size.  I think this fear will be best addressed by knitting a little farther, so I can see how the sleeve looks and feels.

I went into my stash for the yarn:  Filatura di Crosa "Trilly," 50% silk and 50% cashmere, which swatched for me at the same gauge as the Kollage Yarns "Yummy" (merino and silk) called for in the pattern.  The Trilly has a nice tight twist--not the slightest bit of pilling or fuzzing, at least so far--and a silvery green color which reminds me of the leaves of an olive tree--beautiful.  I love the texture of the unblocked fabric, but the wrap isn't going to fit me if I leave it that way!

A cheap trick

I just realized that my first blogiversary is coming up at the end of the month.  Last November, I had no idea I would be living in Italy a year later!  Anyway, here are my first, second and third posts; I'd say they are somewhere around a 7 or 8 on a 1-10 scale of silliness, 1 being somewhere around here or here, and 10 being here or here.  (And I mean no offense to fans of big balls...of twine; lovers of Hello Kitty; or devotees of Marilyn Manson.  Or any combination thereof.)

I know it's a cheap trick to recycle old posts as new, but hopefully I'll soon be done swatching with this yarn so I can post a photo or two, and the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino I ordered from Angel Yarns for my adult Sherwood is en route!

What next?

I truly am pleased with how the Chinese Lace Pullover turned out--and now, it's time to move on.  Not that I haven't done so--the projects have been lining up--but at the moment I have five (5!) non-bloggable ones hanging around:  an unacceptable situation.  If the non-bloggables all get rejected by the various editors considering them, I will suddenly have a wealth of material to blog about, but in the meantime:  Trilly, a lustrous pale celadon in silk and cashmere (a close-out from WEBS!).  Yes, I can only stand to wear any wool, cashmere included, for about four hours--about the time it takes to get dressed in my Saturday finest, go out to drinks and dinner, and return home, where I can sigh in relief as I remove the offending garment.  And yes, silk/cashmere is not the sort of stuff you make into a workhorse cardigan that you can throw over a turtleneck (thus avoiding any itching problems) and wear to your son's late-season soccer games.  Still, this is a gorgeous yarn and I MUST make something of it.