Saturday, June 10, 2006

Civilized

The party was last night, so (Cher's lovely and supportive comment notwithstanding), I thought I would post a rather more civilized photo of the finished steek vest (seen here with a bias cut black skirt from Le Chateau and black pearl drop earrings of my own design):

Pattern: yarn-over steek vest, p.104 of Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop.

Yarn: Jaeger Celeste (50% viscose 30% polyamide 20% linen) in white. I purchased 4 x 50 gm balls (90 m / 98 yds per 50 gm) but only ended up needing 3. Knitted on 10 mm needles as per the pattern.

Comments: I love the finished product, but this ribbon yarn was not the easiest to handle, and since the ribbon itself is very stretchy, my garment gauge wound up a bit smaller than my swatch. I knit the medium size, but since I have a long torso, I added an extra inch on the ribbing and an extra 5 or 6 rounds in the steek portions below the armholes - I could easily have added a bit more than that to compensate for the contracting gauge. Like so many sleeveless tops, creeping bra straps were an issue (and yes, I am one of those prudes who feels that showing bra straps just indicates poor planning). What I especially loved about the design was the steek portion - they actually don't reveal any more skin than the knitted stitches, but create a tantalizing illusion that they could - and therein lies one of my favorite fashion devices: the art of alluring suggestion.

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The interminable dark and stormy weather this weekend has done nothing to abate my present passion for red. I decided to keep this for myself (had been debating whether to gift or sell it):


I think of it as "that 70's bag" because I knitted and felted it from vintage wool which had been languishing in the backroom bargain bin of a small town LYS since the 1970's. Knitted in the round in "make it up as you go along" fashion.

And the red socks:


I just LOVE how this is knitting up - it's my first project with hand dyed wool, and everyone seems to go on about "pooling" but this looks just gorgeously blended to me. It is Fleece Artist merino sock wool in Red Rock. I am knitting a simple ribbed sock to my own dimensions just to let the yarn shine. I'm not sure when I will venture into written sock patterns - I don't have "average" feet and ankle dimensions and I can't bear to use such lovely yarn on socks that might slouch.