Knitting Sentiment

On Friday, I got a nice email from Stephannie -- she'd received the Noro Kureyon that had been delivered to me because the Ebay seller wouldn't ship outside the US. If you want the whole story (and to see the project it's for) check out her blog. Suffice it to say that I am taking classes at the ThreadBear School of Enabling Sciences. What made me feel all warm and fuzzy was when she wrote that she would be thinking nice thoughts about me while she knit it up. I thought, How cool! Somewhere in Toronto, there's a project that will be special to someone that I had a hand in helping along.

And it reminded me of a lovely package of sock yarn that showed up on my porch in January. A package that would start off a trans-Atlantic yarn trade with Emma, the world's greatest blog ring neighbor. I definitely thought of her when I was knitting up my first pair of socks in one of those skeins of Opal. I've made quite a few pairs since then, and because of her kindness, I almost always remember her whilst knitting socks.

She was also the person who sent me the Colinette Giotto in Jay that I swatched with on Friday. Thus, I would like to think I was knitting good Emma vibes into both projects that I was working on today: the Simple and Sleeveless Top by Sally Melville and a pair of socks for my sweetie from the second skein of Opal. I think this is what makes trading so much fun for me. Somewhere else, in another part of the world, someone is taking the trouble to pick out something lovely. They look at it and decide if it is neat enough to go in a box or a bag and travel to someone else. Maybe they have a theme, maybe it just makes them happy to send a surprise to someone else. And I get to do the same. And thus, we both get to put a little of ourselves into someone else's knitting basket.

So what did I do with that Giotto swatch from Friday? Well, I ripped it down a little bit (I'm such a cheapskate and I hate leaving good yarn in a swatch), bound it off and soaked it in some cool water and some Woolite. It gave up a little color, but rinsed clear. I measured before and after and didn't notice much change in the size of the swatch. Alrighty then, I thought, nothing to worry about, time to cast on!

Nothing to worry about except my inability to do simple measurements. I cast on according to the pattern only to find out that it was about an inch wider than expected. Hmmm.. Me? Gauge Problems? No Way! After all I swatched! Well... I went back to my swatch and to the piece I was working on and realized that my gauge was 4 stitches/inch instead of the 4-3/8 stitches/inch to make the pattern work out.

So, I played frog princess, ripped out what I had started, re-calculated all the stitch widths and shaping in the pattern (with the help of the very handy Knitting Companion) and got started again. And I must say, I'm pretty pleased with myself and my modifications. I know it's not rocket science, but it's a relatively original move for me. So without further ado, here's the back of the top:

Natural light does this yarn more justice, but it the picture gives you a good sense for the variation. I alternated skeins every two rows to prevent any color oddities from occuring. This had the unintended, but very desirable, effect of limiting the twisting of the Giotto ribbon, because I found that by rotating my knitting and the balls of yarn as I was working I could undo the twisting I was creating.

This picture was taken in more natural light (it was overcast and rainy all day here in Chicago, so my camera always wanted to use its flash) and the colors are truer. I liked the way the shaping came out. And because I am head over heels in love with this yarn, here's a closeup of the color and texture of Giotto in stockinette:

I love the flashes of purple and olive green that hide in the colorway. It gives the fabric a lot of depth. And I love the feel of the fabric -- thick and springy. I am a little concerned about how the effects of gravity will play out on the finished garment (I would bet that the back weighs 125 grams or so), but I have hope that the cotton/rayon blend won't let me down too much.

Now I am going to head back to John's sock. Once I hit a milestone with a project, I like to let it sit for a while and do something else. It helps me keep excited about it and satisfies my short attention span.

Tomorrow: A Happy Ending to a Sad Story...