FO: Tea Rose Tank Fail

Pattern: Tea Rose Halter

Needles: US 11 / 8mm

Yarn: Patons Cotton DK in royal blue

Mods: Cast on only 74 stitches for the body, decreased to 62 for the ribbing, increased back to 74 when the lace resumed for the bust. Added two crochet chain straps for a tank top configuration, instead of a halter.

Notes: My darlings, I have a problem. And I'm not sure if this is something that is just a given, or if I'm doing something wrong, but every time I try to do ribbing in a cotton yarn, the ribbing bags and pouches. it does not pull things in, like it's supposed to (like ribbing does when knit in wool, for example). This pattern is knitted with DK yarn held quadruple (which is what I did), do you think that was part of the problem?

So... see how the lace pulls in everything, gives a great shape? And see how that ribbing just makes it... wrong? What happened?! This is not the most flattering thing I've ever knit, that's for damn sure.

 I speedily knitted this up in hopes of wearing it on the recent TTC Knitalong, but no go. I wore this instead. I think, sadly, that the Tea Rose Tank is destined for the frog pond.

Yarn Crawl, Toronto style- TTC Knitalong!!

When the weekend is approaching, people usually ask if you have any plans for the weekend. It's office small talk. And I had so much fun telling people that I was going on a Yarn Crawl. No one looked that surprised that I was doing something that involved yarn, but I did have to explain the concept of a yarn crawl to a few people. I was part of the East Team A (full of fabulous people, indeed!), which made stops at: The Naked Sheep The Purple Purl Lettuce Knit (where the above photo was taken) Americo and Romni I knew that in the face of 5 stores worth of delicious, delicious yarn, I'd need a game plan. So, my rules and goals were:

• no green yarn (I alread have so much green stash you'd think I'd killed Kermit the frog and all his little green friends and spun them into skeins)
• pick up yarn for the uber popular whisper cardigan
• get some yarn for the Tea Rose Halter
• get a set of 6 mm circulars

And I'm pleased to report, that it all worked out: That is 887 yards of grey pima cotton, 10 skeins Paton's DK cotton in blue, and one skein each of Tanis Fiber Arts laceweight in Chestnut and Stormy. I also got the 6mm circs I needed, A cute and kitchy needle case from recycled materials,and there was a bag of awesome swag from The Purple Purl which included a buttery soft skein of Earth Collection Mainland. And how awesome is the TTC Knitalong tote?! Let's have a close up of the beautiful handpainted laceweight for a second: ah, gorgeousness. One of those will be a whisper cardigan. I should confess that I didn't buy the Paton's DK cotton. I was lucky enough to win it for sporting the "Fiercest Knit" on my team- I was wearing my Honeymoon Swallowtail shawl. I'm not entirely sure I deserved it, there were so many great knits in the group, but I'm very pleased to have won- espeically since I was looking for dk cotton and didn't find what I had in mind. But when you go and win ten skeins of exactly what you need- I guess the knitting gods were sending a sign! This is Team East A with all our yarn piled on the tables at the Rivoli: Thanks to everyone who put the event together, and to the stores that hosted us. A good day, indeed!!