FO: Josephine

I finished Josephine earlier this week, blocking and all, and managed to get it posted to Ravelry, but not here yet, sorry for the neglect! Ta da!

Close up of the overlapped neckline--I like how it came out:


I used handpaintedyarn.com's laceweight (held doubled) in 'sunset' on size 5 needles. I went down a lace repeat on the smallest size because my gauge was a little large but it was easily adjusted for this pattern. The colors came out really well, blending together nicely with only minimal striping in spots. I like the effect and the stitch definition is quite good too.

I eliminated the cap sleeves and just finished the armholes in the same way as the neckline and lower hem. I'm not really into cap sleeves. The yardage held up really well, I have two balls of yarn left, I would estimate they're each around 100 yards at least so that's a good bit of leftovers, not sure what will happen to them! I think it looks good as a sleeveless top. I wet-blocked it with a splash of vinegar to try to set the color. I had blocked the pieces before seaming (more effort that I'll usually put in!) also with a bit of vinegar but then while doing the finished I used un-set yarn so I thought it wouldn't hurt to do a bit more vinegar to try to make sure the color doesn't rub off. It did bleed onto my fingers a bit while knitting, especially on warmer days.

I haven't been able to wear her yet, though she fits beautifully, because I knit the piece in 100% wool and that is not wearable next to the skin the way that cotton would be, which is what the pattern called for. So I'm on the lookout for some sort of cream/pale yellow 3/4 sleeve closefitting top that would be good to wear underneath. Naturally I wouldn't have anything like that in my wardrobe at the moment, that would be too easy.

New Knitty is up! I'm a bit disappointed with the issue for a couple of reasons but there is a nice cardigan pattern called Mr Greenjeans and also I like Ysolda Teague's pattern for a cute cosy hat, called Urchin. Also the lovely lady who designed the pattern for Intolerable Cruelty has a new pattern in there which is really pretty called Cherie Amour; I've queued all these things on Ravelry of course. It has been cool to see the queue counts rise on the new patterns, as everyone tried to get on Knitty at the same time and put all these new things on their lists. I can only imagine the feeling of satisfaction and happiness at seeing that process take place for one's own pattern!

Last night after I determined there was nothing I could not wait to knit on the new Knitty, I could not for the life of me find my pattern notes for the Lace Leaf Pullover I've knit the bottom and one sleeve of, so I had to look elsewhere for knitting fun, now that Josephine is finished. Poking around in a yarn bin (they're accessible now that I've moved, stacked in the living room rather than stuffed under the bed!) I found some Classic Elite alpaca I got halfprice at a sale a couple of months ago and I've pressed it into service for the Urchin pattern, to see if it works, though there is no such size as a 7mm needle in the US, or at least in my Knitpicks Options kit, so I'm trying 10.5 and holding the yarn double since it's not a bulky like the pattern calls for. I swatched and decided to try casting on 28 sts to get an 8 inch length to work across. I'll be working on that tonight. The yarn is really lovely and soft and I'm interested to see how the pattern works, as it uses short row shaping to do a kind of beret.

I've just gone back to find my post about my Intolerable Cruelty and realized that I never posted a better photo of it. Here you go:

I think it came out pretty well. Ok, I think it's hot! What do you think?