Lacy Skirt is Complete!

In the long-standing knit blog tradition of bathroom photos.... welcome to my bathroom. May I present... Lacy Skirt.

Stats
Pattern:Lacy Skirt from Greetings from the Knit Cafe

Yarn: stash camel-coloured acrylic (Patons something)

Needles: 4mm and 3.75 mm circulars

Modifications:I changed the waistband to have the same eyelet and ribbon detail as the lacy part with the ribbon, then had to rip the ribbon out because it wasn't stretchy enough to function as a waistband detail.

Notes: Sigh. Where to begin. Well, although I checked my yardage, I'm convinced the yarn leprechuans played a trick on me because I came up a skein short towards the end of the skirt. I bought a new skein, but the dye lot couldn't be matched, no matter how hard I tried. I finished it anyway, hoping it wouldn't be obvious, but.... sigh. Yarn Leprechauns - 1. Julie - 0.
If I did this again (and I might) I would try a different waistband, and I would knit the stockinette completely in the round.... Seaming this sucker took days.

And a close up, of the lovely dark brown ribbon I chose, and the lacy part for which the skirt is named:


And finally, may I present to you why it is probably better to frog than to chance one ball from a different dye lot:

The photograph makes the different shades more dramatic than they actually are to the naked eye. Not that it matters- it's still not close enough. Damn it.

Damn You, Dye Lot!!!

See that? Where the lace and the stockinette meet?

That's my personal hell, right there. I can't believe it. I don't know what to do. Especially since I'm convinced that I had another skein of the original dye lot, and I can't find it anywhere. My mind is playing cruel tricks on me, I tell you.
Now, there is a possibility that the average non-knitter will never be able to see the difference. I'm also *really* hoping that once I thread a ribbon through the eyelet row, you won't be able to see the difference. There is also a possibility that the yarn ages and changes colour-- the stash yarn was at least six months old. Also, I'm hoping that blocking might cause it to mellow, and hopefully decide to be more like it's friend, lace edging. I'm going to persevere, and if worse comes to worst, only wear the skirt at night. In dark, candle-lit restaurants. Which doesn't sound that bad, now that I think about it.

On to happier subjects... I cast on for Thermal on Saturday (see 2 posts below for a photo of me knitting the first rows alfresco), and I'm almost done the first band of ribbing. It's still tiny enough that it fits in my purse, for on-the-go knitting.

I'm using Knit Picks gloss, in 'Dusk', on my new 3mm circulars. I really love this yarn, but I wish it would have been available in more colours (only 8- none of which were a rich forest green, which would have been my first choice). I chose Dusk, a lovely dark, denim-y blue. Now that I'm looking at the photo, i'm falling in love with it all over again. I started to panic a bit about an inch into the waistband, thinking it would be too small, but I bound off the stitches, tried it on, and was pleasantly surprised by how stretchy it was. So I undid the cast off row and carried on.

Public Knitting

Team Knit spent Saturday afternoon in line at the Royal Ontario Museum, to get free tickets to the opening of the new addition, the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. It's been a fairly contraversial addition to the ROM, but I like it. It's gutsy, it's brave, and I think an addition that mimicked the architecture of the original building would be acrylic pretending to be cashmere. I like a good old-fashioned juxtaposition of eras anyway.

So, while in line for the two hours in the blistering hot sun, we did what Team Knit does- we knitted.

Jen's working away at Lelah there, and I'm on the second or third row of the newly-cast on Thermal. I had to put down the Lacy Skirt from Greetings from the Knit Cafe, because I ran out yarn. I checked my yardage when I first cast on, but I'm apparently waaay short. I've stopped just after the lacy repeat, so since there is no way I'll be able to match the dye lot (old stash yarn), I'll have to get something very close, hold my breath, and hope it fools the naked eye.

I'm using Knit Picks 3mm circulars. I love Knit Picks needles-- like Addis, but way cheaper. Here's a recent shot of my newest babies:

That's 2mm, 2.5mm, and 3mm. I love small needles!