Well, it wasn't a very ambitious knitting night for me. I'm ambitious when I know where I am going, but tonight I felt pretty ambivalent. I'm now concerned about color variations in the Merino Light for my Dad's sweater and worried that when the sweater gets washed it will loosen up too much to be good for him to go running in. I sent an email to Elann about the color problems. Normally I would just bull on ahead, but I just don't want to put any more time into something that might not work out right now.
So for a little while I knit on the mulitdirectional scarf -- I got one more wedge, so I'll wait 'til I'm a little farther to post more pics. While I was knitting on that scarf I decided that it wasn't a good use of a pair of size 8 Addis. Suddenly I could hear that Colinette that Emma sent me calling out:
Don't forget me! I could still be a great fall top! Please don't leave me in this yarn box! You know you want another top. And it's still too warm to knit with all that mohair and wool. Swatch me for that top in Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch... you know the one... Simple and Sleeveless. The model is knit up in Zen -- I'm a lot like Zen! I bet I would knit to guage if you got got those Addis out of that Silk Garden and tried them on me...Silly knitter! How could you be ignoring custom dyed ribbon for silk and mohair when it's still 75 degrees?
I bet you didn't know that Giotto was so persuasive. It is. So I swatched. And to my pleasant surprise, I do get 26 rows and 17.5 stitches (or so) to 4". So I think it's just meant to be this:
So now I get to another moment of severe indecisiveness...what size should I make? Sally says when using a "slinky yarn" for a "closer fit" you should choose one size smaller than your normal size. Her calculation is bust + 1 - 2. For me this would be 34 + 1 - 2 = 33. The pattern is written for 32" and 36" option. I think the 36 would be a little too big in any event, but will the 32" be too small? There's a fair amount of give in my swatch, but I don't want the top to look painted on. Hmmm.
There's lots more to say about The Purl Stitch, but I'll save that for a separate post.
i'd go with the 32 -- don't ribbon-y yarns tend to grow when washed?
I don't know if it will grow or not. Giotto is a cotton rayon blend and I am not sure whether it will loosen up or shrink. The label definitely says hand wash only. Probably I should actually wash that swatch... Heh... you'd think I'd have learned that one by now!
Go with the 32.Giotto won't look painted on as ,even if you press it for a slinkier fabric[work that swatch !] it'll never be thin & clingy.
No idea if it stretches when washed...never got that far.It does stretch if steam pressed.
A lot of the yardages on the Colinette site are incorrect ! The lable yardage is correct.
I love the colour & the shimmer.Might have to get some more for me !
It'll look stunning on you,and be finished in no time.
x
Do you think I meant label ? ;-]
Okay. I better do some wash testing of that swatch, just to be sure. I'm being a little fiber stingy because the project calls for 450 yards and I have 471 yards of the Colinette. Maybe I'll rip the swatch back a little before testing to appease my completely afraid of running out of yarn side!
But otherwise, I think I am going to give this project a go in the 32" size. According to Sally this is an "extra-small". I've never been an extra small before.
I think the directions mean bust plus 1 or 2 inches, not bust plus 1 minus 2 (because then she would have just said bust minus 1, don't you think?).
Regardless, I would definitely wash the swatch first.
You know, I'm really glad that I'm not the only one whose yarn talks back. I've got some downright mouthy yarn.
;-)
**Bangs head against wall**
Sarah -- I think you are absolutely correct. I don't know what I was thinking when I read that. I suspect I should still make the smallest size (a 36 would be way too big, even under normal wooly conditions).
I washed the swatch... I didn't see much change in the dimensions but I did notice that I measured my gauge wrong. (I discovered this after casting on once, yesterday I was having both reading and counting problems). The real guage that I am getting is about 4 st/inch instead of 4-3/8 stitches/inch on size 8s. However, I am getting the right row gauge (6.5 R/inch).
So I recalculated the pattern for my gauge -- I do like the shaping in her design. We'll see how it goes from here.
I want to make that sleeveless sweater, too, out of the white Adrienne Vittadini Adriana I got for 50% off in Grand Haven while you guys were at the Michigan Fiber Festival paying full price and having fun without me.