Yet another OFO (old finished object)

This is Sophie's ballerina outfit/costume/dress. It is adapted from a pattern in the 2005 Filatura di Crosa Baby book. I guess they have one every year. It is called a dress in the book. Of course all of the yarns are subs and I guesstimated the sizing because of the changed gauge. A request has been put in to Sophie's mother to get a photo of Sophie wearing it, especially now that she can walk. It is quite stretchy and I expect it to fit her for a long time I think it would look nice with a white long or short sleeved t-shirt and maybe tights. Tutus: not just for warm weather anymore!.

The Facts of the Matter:

Pattern: Filatura di Crosa

Yarn: TLC Cotton Plus (very nice hand) & some fluffy stuff

Needles: Yes

Adaptations: Copied idea from pattern and used it to figure out the leg openings. You can sort of see a line across the front at the level where the decreases for the halter begin. The back is straight across at that level. It aquired a line because I first tried a scoop neck and didn't like it that much, and anyway I realized that it would not be adjustable or grow with her unless I got fancy and made the shoulder parts longer and added buttons and button holes. So I went back to the way it was originally designed. The straps have knots that act as buttons which slip through small buttonholes at the corners of the front. The straps cross in back so that they will acquire more length when uncrossed. I believe they are anchored to the top back. The skirt was knit with one strand of the Cotton Plus with a strand of the fluff added every other row or so. The original used a pom-pom yarn that was knit alone. (It was really quite nice.)

Monday Night Nitting

=For about a year now I've been showing up for Monday Night Knitting at the Borders Bookstore in the strip mall which some of us still call Brownport. I found out this Monday that this group has a name: Northshore Knitters. But I haven't seen any Articles of Confederation, a charter, or even the by-laws. Carolyn has just compiled a list of many of the knitters and I was honored to be on it.
=The group was small this week and it wasn't until after Carolyn had gone home that I remembered my new camera. Melissa has been working off and on on this Fair Isle sweater for a while. I wish the camera could do the blue justice. I'd call it more of a dark ocean blue--bluer than teal, but greener than royal blue. It's absolutely a work of art. Maybe next week she'll have it again and we can get a photo of the bottom border.
=Bev was working up a hat to sell. It is out of Manos. She actually had 2 skeins of this particular colorway and was very pleased with the mileage. She got something like 2 hats and 2 pairs of mittens out of it. At the beginning of the evening, this little beauty was only a thin line on the needle. I'm sure it's done by now.
=I played around with the leftover Paris Night yarn from Janie's beret shown in the previous post. Between knitting that night and the 2 1/2 hours I sat at Saturn waiting for my car, I came up with a scarf pattern with which I am very happy. Since then however, I've decided not to knit it from the Paris Night yarn. (I'm making myself something.) I will keep it in mind for future projects for gifts. It is a quick knit and fairly dressy. Of course "dressy" for me doesn't even involve painful shoes. I'm not showing a picture because A, I didn't take one and C., I'm considering making a sample and entering it in Knitty. Of course, who knows?

Bright Red Luv

Aside from more UFO's than I've ever heard claimed by anybody else, I've started a pair of socks out of the bright, bright, bright red Italian Angora that I got at Stitches Midwest for $7.00. They're totally dreamy. I'd like to wear them on my face. They'll really be for bed I think, because they're too luxurious and a little too big to mash into a stinky ol' pair of shoes. I've got about 4 inches done. I'm putting in a pattern of triangles in rows on the instep. I think you can just make out what look like squares. Those are formed by the rows of triangles. You can also see a little bit of the halo.

I just finished a beret for a friend. She asked me to make it for her. I don't usually do that. It's out of "Paris Night" colored yarn from handpaintedyarn.com. I'm going to step out on a limb here and say that it's similar to Manos, only softer. I gave it to her and took it back right away because I need to take a picture of it. I can't really explain why I have no expression on my face. I was trying to look at the camera and not look at the camera at the same time. The picture of the back of the beret looks as if the lighter colored areas are ruts, but they are just lighter colored areas. I had to darken the picture and lower the contrast. The actual color and texture is somewhere in the middle between the two pictures. I have christened the place at the end of a hat where you pull the last stitches as a drawstring. It is the sphincter. So there.

Vintage Knitting Basket on the Way

Here it is. It's the knitting basket I purchased on E-Bay today. I've been looking for one of these for a long time. I finally found something I liked at a price that I liked. Unfortunately, it was moments after I had just settled on an even cheaper one that needed work. With the amount of UFO's (unfinished objects) and stash that I have, neither one will be underemployed.

Another Old Finished Object or OFO

Please to excuse the upside-downess of the pic. It is a tunic length sweater I made myself out of Noro's Silk Garden. It was knit top down with advice from Barbara Walker and Elizabeth Zimmerman books. The big story in it's making was the sleeve patterning. I wanted the striping to be similar in width to the body striping. Seeing as how 1. it was knit in the round and b. my body is considerably wider than my arms, the striping was much, much, much wider and much more subtle on the arms. I posted the problem on the Knitty Coffeeshop message board and someone suggested knitting both sleeves in one piece and then steeking them. That is what I did and then kitchenered them onto the rest of the sweater. I think it turned out really well. It was my first adult sized sweater. It's a little big because I used too large a needle so it grows slightly and because I made the raglans a little too long, wanting to err on the generous side. See the waist shaping? It is quite subtle when on because the sweater is fairly loose. The sleeves end with a very simple chevron-y semi-lacy business. I tried this same border on the hem, but I couldn't make it work. Ditto for the collar. I tried about 3 different collar/neckline treatments. I even frogged once after wearing it. I couldn't get anything to lay right. I went with a rolled neck which is not in the photo. I think the collar in the photo is the original turtleneck. I've worn it several times, finding it just a little itchy. I don't care, though. I really love the sweater. I just have to carefully resist the urge to tweak it. I've had dangerous thoughts about turning it into a shrug.
And yes, that is the world's ugliest carpeting. Thanks for asking! And the blackness in the corner is Musette passing through. That is her little white footie near the neck of the sweater.
In other news I bought a vintage knitting basket from E-Bay. I finally found a good one with a decent price. Here is