In The Meantime

While I give up on give more thought to the 'Easter Top', I have started something more likely to be successful. Another top, but this time, I have the correct amount of yarn. At the correct gauge. And not to mention, in my stash! YEA!! No bank account will be harmed in the making of this top.

The pattern is Skinny Ribs

from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. It calls for DK weight yarn and I am using

Fanion by Phidar, purchased in Nanaimo while on last year's B.C. trip . It is cotton, and made up of several very fine strands of thread plied together. Mine is in shades of yellow and green.

My. My. What a surprise. Brenda is going to have another green top. One of these days, I am going to do a bit of research on the difference (Is there any?) between knowing what colour looks good on a person and being stuck in a rut.

Skinny Ribs is another top-down garment. Like my failed waiting Easter Top the pattern starts at the top of the back with a provisional cast-on. You knit down to the armholes and then put the back on hold to do the same thing to the front. I am a couple of rounds away from joining front to back.

From there is should be pretty mindless knitting down to the hem.

Now the question is - should I set it aside to more-likely guarantee an Easter Top will get done, or carry on so I at least finish something?

It Didn't Work

"Will It Work?" is the question I asked when I wrote this post. So far, I have resisted posting about it because to post it is to admit it. It Didn't Work.

Inspired by my lovely spring-coloured scarf,

and in a fit of inspiration and creativity befuddled brain syndrome I decided to turn the scarf idea into a top. But I'm here to tell you -it didn't work.

The back was coming along nicely.

Working from the top down, the back is put on hold after the armholes, to start the front. The front has two pieces, each about two inches wide that come from the shoulders down to the armholes. Working in garter stitch and changing colour every row meant LOTS of ends to weave in. All those ends, over just a two inch wide strip, so completely distorted the fabric, that I have abandoned the whole idea.

Discouraged, but not defeated, I have chosen a new pattern. Alexandra

from Fitted Knits. Alexandra is also knit top down but the front is garter stitch. Perfect. Much less adjusting for me.

Now my only problem is timing. Seems Easter is in the middle of April, not at the end of April as I first thought. If you see a second post titled. "It Didn't Work" in the near future, you will know that either the pattern or the timing defeated me and I will be wearing dark wool for Easter dinner, yet again.

I'm Going On A Diet

People have always referred to me as petite. I'm five foot nothing and although I weigh more than I used to, no one has ever called me a 'Big Girl'.

So why did I take this book out of the library?

Well, I know Amy Singer to produce great work and even knowing patterns from a book titled More Big Girl Knits wouldn't fit me, I hoped to be inspired.

And I was. Look at my favourites.

This is a fabulous sweater/coat. The cable is great, the coat has waist shaping and falls to a small point at the lower back. Great styling.

This too, caught my eye. I see it in a lighter yarn - more a warm weather coat than Susie, above. This one starts with the 22 stitch panel that separates top from bottom. Stitches are picked up along both long edges and knit both up and down to complete the jacket.

My current fave style is the Vee Neck. More Big Girl Knits had two I loved.

This one, because there is no overlap/wrap - so no extra bulk or knitting. And the lacey edging gives it an 'edgy' feel.

Or this one,

because it is knit in one piece, top down and the body stitches lean diagonally - a slimming effect, I think.

I liked this book and these four patterns made it great inspiration. But according to this book, I am a minor adjustment away from the category of Big Girl. None of the above patterns need more than a slight down-sizing to fit me perfectly.

Yikes!!! How did I go from Petite to Big Girl overnight? When I realised what the book was telling me, it almost burned my fingers. It is going back to the library right now! And I am off to buy some jogging shoes.