WIP: Watercolor Cowl

  

A few days ago, I cast on for a little cowl out of some handspun I bought during my unexpected yarn excursion this last spring.  It was about 200 yards of fingering weight, slightly self-striping 2-ply merino handspun, which I was pretty sure I wanted to make into a cowl of some sort when I bought it.

Then, I did my cowl post a while back, and the idea of knitting an Old Shale Smoke Ring by cosymakes got stuck in my head in a major way.  And then I cast on, and blinked a few times, and suddenly it was done!  I had a brief moment of doubt that I would have enough yarn to get a solid cowl - the ball I wound it into was teeny - but in the end, I finished up with ten or so yards to spare and a good-sized cowl that covers my neck and some of my chin, too.

In the last year or so, I've developed a particular soft spot for handspun yarns, especially 2-plies.  There's always something surprising about them, whether it's the combination of hues in the actual yarn, or the softness, or the way they knit up into gentle but complex colors.  This yarn had all of these things.

I don't usually go for blues or browns, much less blues and browns together, but this colorway, called Cowgirl and spun in Olympia by Sunset Fibers, captured something really beautiful to me.  And as it knit up, I delighted in the way the yarn slowly changed from an icy blue, to the color of a lake in summer, to sand, and back to ice.  All the while, it was soft and light and smooth in my fingers.  Even more than most, this skein told a story, and at the end I wished there was more.

FO: Flower Market

  

So I blocked Flower Market on Thursday night of last week, and she was dry by Friday morning.  She went from about 18.5 inches at the spine, to 27 inches after blocking.

I love this yarn so much - in my opinion, Prairie is just about the perfect laceweight.  It's definitely a true laceweight in thickness, and the texture and slight sheen of the single ply is quite lovely.  That, and I've noticed that my first Prairie shawl is still looking crisp and freshly blocked, even though it was blocked about a year ago and was a store sample for several months, too!  I think this must be the superwash in the yarn - it doesn't seem to respond to heat and wet the way that a non-superwash wool does.

So, how about that final product?  Well, I loved this pattern - it was fast, well-written, and relatively easy.  Or at least, very straightforward for a seasoned lace knitter; I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a first lace project just because the motifs aren't as intuitive as, say, an Evelyn Clark shawl pattern, but I had no problems with it.

This is an unusual color for me, but I've found myself reaching for it quite a bit already.  I was talking about it with a knitting friend yesterday, and we surmised that burgundy can be treated a bit like a neutral at times, even though it is technically a color.

Also, thanks everybody for your input about the dress form!  I'm still trying to decide on a name, but I do have it narrowed down a bit.  I'll be sure to share when I figure it out!

Ravelry Page: Flower Market

Pattern: Flower Market Shawl by Allison LoCicero - gifted to me by the lovely Ethan!

Yarn: Madelinetosh Prairie in the colorway Byzantine

Yardage: Probably 600 yards of an 850-yard skein

Needles: Size 6 US Addi Turbo Lace circulars

Modifications: None!

Look What Came in the Mail!

This morning while I was at school doing patternwork, I got a call that my dress form was being delivered today.  My mom ordered it for me only a few days ago - and notification of shipping only came in yesterday! - so I was pleasantly surprised to have it come so quickly.  Setup was super easy, and now I've got my own brand spankin' new form to start working on the garments for my collection!

I ordered a PGM Industry Pro, model 601, in a size 12.  As anybody who has worked with commercial sewing patterns can attest, off-the-rack garment sizing is very different than sewing industry sizing.  So although the size range for my line is a modern size 4-12, and I'm a pretty straight size 8 in off-the-rack clothing, the measurements of the 12 were the closest to mine.

I'm planning to use my approximate measurements for sizing across the whole collection for a few reasons.  First, my collection is designed for an hourglass shape, which tends to be very difficult to fit - hence the small size run.  Although I'd be very interested in doing larger size runs in the future, for now I'm sticking to a limited range of sizes with an 8 as the median.

And second, I would love for these garments to have a second life as pieces in my closet.  I'm shorter-waisted than the dress form by probably two inches or so, but I'm hoping that the separates in the collection will allow for some leeway in the fit.

So, now that I have a form, she needs a name!  Preferably something nerdy, and/or awesome, and/or vintage-inspired.  Inara?  Joan?  Dita?  Hmmm...

Suggestions welcome!

WIP: Provence

 

So this rather twisty mess is the Provence Cardigan, which I started back in July.  It's on two circular needles with two different balls of yarn attached, so it gets pretty tangled in my bag!  After knitting the skirt section of the cardigan, I got distracted by shawls and other, more pressing projects - as one does - and dropped it for a few months.  After the last shawl I cast on last week was giving me problems, I decided to grab a project that was already in progress.

And since then, I've knit all of the right front and a big piece of the back.  I'm hoping that I can keep the momentum going and finish it up in the next month or so, but we'll see how that goes.  I'm still really enjoying the yarn, which is Classic Elite Soft Linen.  It's got linen and alpaca in it, so it has the crispness of linen, with softness and just a touch of bounce-back (at least, more than a plant fiber!) from the alpaca.  I washed and blocked the skirt of the cardigan before continuing on to the upper bodice, and the resulting fabric is soft and drapey, so I'm really excited to see what the finished product looks like.

In other news, last night at school, I had the presentation of my lookbook, moodboard and technical board for my collection, and it went really, really well!  I felt like I had a really clear idea of who my customer is, what materials I'm using, and how I'm going to price my garments, so in the end I felt very ready to talk about it in front of a bunch of people.  Although I started off a little jittery, about a third of the way into the presentation, I finally calmed down a bit and felt much more at ease in front of the audience.  By the end I was feeling pretty great about my performance, so I was able to close on a strong note.  I usually get really stressed out and shaky during presentations, so that was a pleasant surprise!

There were three of us presenting, and we all have very different aesthetics and customer bases, so it was really interesting to see my classmates' presentations as well.  I was really proud of our class - we all worked really hard, and I think it showed.  I can't wait to see the looks walk the runway!

Storyboard class is a big hurdle in my program, so it feels great to have it done.  In celebration, this afternoon I'm going to hunker down, knit, and watch Project Runway.  Hurrah!