As Summer draws to a close...

So my first foray into a shaped and fitted knit has come to a disastrous end. I started knitting Sizzle on the train on my way to work.

To recap: I chose Ella Rae's bamboo/silk blend yarn thinking that the soft and silky yarn would be sizzly enough for the pattern. I had purchased enough yarn to make the XS but had forgotten that when I casted on the first time for the small size. I knit about half of the back and then had to frog it. While knitting I modified the body by working the decreasing every eight rows instead of every six rows. I figured that I could use an extra inch in the waste so that I wouldn't end up with a belly shirt.

Well, to cut to the chase, I seamed up the sides and tried my sizzle on, and well, the sizzle sizzled in a very unintentional way. The very deep v-neck went down to my navel. The hem was more tunic-like than just a little longer.



Modeled pictures to come later.

I just kept thinking, "I can fix it. All is not lost. I can save all that hard work." Even though I still have to do the moss stitching around the neck and armholes, I don't think that'll be enough to save it.

All in all, this is a good lesson in yarn substitution and gauge. When I started working with the Ella Rae, I swatched and got the right gauge. However, with the drapeyness of the fabric the gauge became too stretched out as I knitted.

Maybe I was too ambitious to substitute a yarn given my little experience with making fitted garments. I think that I'll stick to not-so-fitted items.

Like the Lace Ribbon Scarf:

I've started knitting on the Lace Ribbon Scarf again. Yesterday, I finished the first repeat and so far, I'm liking the results. I cast on 62 stitches so that I could have a wider scarf and am working on No. 5 needles to give the piece enough openness to counter the thicker yarn (Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca Silk which is DK weight instead of fingering).

The Yarn:



The Progess:



The Stitches:




And also so Hanami:

Some progress (where did I leave off?):



Close-up of the beaded cast-on:



Some of the stitches:



Also, I have a new roommate. Meet Face (or Catface Meowmers, as I like to call him). He approves of my knitting.