fingers crossed...

Just to have something to do while I’m waiting for my CT8 order without a lot of thinking and prep work – let me back up a bit. The ideas, where do they come from?
On the way home from Toronto last week, I was wearing my blue 1Rt Linen Hoodie   http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/07/road-trip.html - it was quite warm and I was loving the hoodie. I had a black camisole under it with my light jeans and I felt cool and good. I caught a couple of glimpses in mirrors and liked the sheer-look of the fabric and it struck me I could knit a dress of the same fabric. Last year, for a special family occasion, I had sewn a dress of a sheer fabric with a bias-cut slip in black underneath instead of lining the dress and I could use that under a sheer-knit dress. http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/05/cross-training.html  


So, here goes! In KW#46, I did a four-panel fitted dress called Fit ’n Flare – it still fits me! I dug out the schematic/mylar that goes in my wonderful little KR11 knit radar. I have the exact same yarn, Sari – I originally had two cones of the same dye lot and the hoodie hardly took half of one. I had very good notes of the swatches, both unwashed and washed although, in a purging frenzy earlier this year I had trashed the actual swatches. To check the validity of my washed swatch numbers, I measured the actual garment and checked my row count numbers, and yeah, it looks pretty accurate. The only thing I forgot to note was which stitch pattern I had used. Because it is so loosely knit, it’s sort of hard to tell by looking but I feel certain that it was the one from Big Sister, KW#42 – hope that’s not subliminal just because someone mentioned that pattern in an email recently…
Within minutes of deciding to go for it, I was casting on and knitting! It’s a pretty quick knit, even if there are almost 400 rows to each piece and there is shaping happening all over – I got all four pieces knit in one day and even remembered to hang yarn marks at each edge every 10 cm/4 inches – these are long seams and that will be invaluable in making sure the seams are properly matched. Sort of cheating, instead of the fancy double bed hem, I just used a 3-strand ewrap – the fabric is light and floaty and if that doesn’t work, it’s easy enough to rehang and add one of my other edges to it.

the verdict...

 Have you ever had a cotton knit sweater that seemed to get heavier and heavier as you wear it and it is actually stretching and lengthening, growing in size? Well, that never happened!
I told you I was taking Lipstick & Smoke with me to Ireland. I did and I was so glad to have it. I wore it on the plane for several reasons. I was trying to pack light and it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase and I knew it would be nice and cozy for the flight. When I travel, I always take a longer cardigan that I can use as a dressing gown and, if there were cooler evenings, I knew I could wear it as a coat. I wore it so much over the three weeks, my sister was probably sick of looking at it but she never said! I kept waiting for it to stretch out but it never did. Even coming back to Toronto where it can be dreadfully hot, it still didn’t and with all that wear and not being washed for so long, it still looked great! AND, not a pillball in sight!
Impressed is what I am with Cotton Tale 8 and I’ve already placed another order for my next project – I’ve asked for 6 shades of blue – even with the printed-out shade card it’s hard to know what exactly you’re going to get and I want two or three shades that go together for my next long cardigan and I know I’ll use the other colours for something! I made a couple of trial swatches yesterday – I’m looking for textured stripes, maybe alternating knit side and purl side. The bands will be rib-look, with 3 knit stitches alternating with a tuck rib that will widen it out to match the width  of the lace stitches…