done?

I hate the neckline...

by the way

I am really frustrated with the yarn I picked, Sinfonia Cotton, which I bought at Hobby Lobby. I think, there was no skein that did not have at least 2 knots in the thread. Only in the rose-leaf pattern now, from the same skein, I have had 3 knots already. This means a lot of weaving in, and I am getting rather annoyed, really!

Isabella resisting

Well, it turns out that Isabella is not half as easy as I thought. I must have undone the right front twice and the left one just as many times. First I forgot some bindoffs. Then I had added some knit-togethers in order to make the front opening, which I felt went too high and straight, swoop away from the center a little. I finally got that done, sewed the shoulders together only to find upon trying it on, that, although I followed the measurements in the instructions to a T, it just did not look all that good on the stranded whale in the mirror. As a matter of fact, the top was way too short, and my belly button was quite scared being so exposed.

Since I did not want to undo the whole thing, I did the next best. I reached for a pair of scissors and cut off the hem I had been so proud of not so long ago:










So now I am knitting in the other direction, trying to make it longer. I chose the rose-leaf pattern from "A Gathering of Lace" to adorn the bottom of the top. I think it is going look really good - even on a whale.

Isabella

Isabella

Isabella is the next thing on the needle. I am trying to do it in one piece though. So far this afternoon, I have done the hem, i.e. 4 rows, piquot row and rows. In the 5th row after the piquot, I picked up the cast-on with a crochethook and knitted it together. No sewing needed in the end.

Yeah....

Doily???

For recreation and while figuring out what I want to do next, I practiced on the center panel of the Feather & Fan Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace". I still had a ball of lace cotton, from an abandoned crochet attempt of three years ago. So I figured I use it up and call it a day doily.

done done done done

Oh I'm so proud so proud so proud.

Yesterday, I finally finished the stole and it turned out beautifully. I immediately soaked it in Woolite and blocked it. Then I took a photo while blocking, but the light was not the best. So when I came home from campus today, I put it on the front of my beetle and the sun really brought out the wonderful colors of the yarn.

The size turned out to be much larger than I thought, so Eunny knows best, for sure! As far as the yarn went, if I had not lost some yards due to the failed first attempt, one skein would have been exactly right. Unfortunately I needed to start the 2nd skein for the last 6 rows of the outer edge. Unbelieveable!

So I ended up, knitting the center panel in one piece without grafting, because I did not like the visible line on the photos of other knitters, incl. Eunny's. This turned out just fine. The inner border was no problem, nor was the outer edge, once I figured out the error in the pattern and how exactly the edge was attached to the stole. It also took me forever, or it felt like forever knit the edge. But it was so worth it!