FO: Sahara

At long last, she is done!

Here she is in repose:


And in action:


Yarn used: Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran in 008 (Forest), 11 balls
Needles: 4mm for the body and 3.25mm for the ribbing.
Time to complete: Well, I started it at the end of March, but I took many weeks off for various reasons. This was probably 1.5 weeks of serious knitting.
Size: L, though my gauge was a bit off and it's likely somewhere between an L and XL. I know you're supposed to get exact gauge, but I'm a rebel that way.
Pattern adjustments: I added a few increases at the hip, which proved unnecessary in the end, as it is now a bit loose in the hips, though not badly so. I also lengthened it a bit between the neckline and the hip increases. I probably should have taken it in more at the waist. Right now, it has a loose, comfortable fit, and it's meant to be more body conscious.
First time: knitting in the round, doing k3tog tbl (and that's one to avoid if at all possible), knitting backwards (learned in order to avoid k3tog tbl), using a provisional cast-on

Overall, I'm very pleased with it. The neckline ended up a bit off -- it's supposed to be straight, and mine is doing an inverted V, despite my best blocking efforts. I don't think it's an obvious error, though, unless you know the pattern (of course, considering how many people are knitting Sahara these days, most knitters could spot that in a second). I suspect I needed to compensate for my longer form a bit more by making the top longer from the shoulders through the neckline. I would definitely consider knitting this again, either as a summer top in a lighter yarn or with sparkly contrasting yarn for the hem, sleeves and neckline. Not for a little while, though. I need a new challenge.

Still, my first wearable garment is completed! Hurrah!

At last, blocking!

Is there a better feeling as a knitter than the absolute satisfaction of waiting for a piece to finish blocking? Sahara is downstairs right this minute, resting atop a towel and a piece of cardboard, carefully pinned into shape and awaiting her unveiling to the world. I feel strangely virtuous, having conquered my knitting ADD and seen a project through to its completion. Photos will follow, I'm sure, though I'm not quite sure how I'll manage to photograph myself wearing it. I live in a house nearly bereft of mirrors, and I'm not quite ready to trust Loki with the camera.

Of course, that virtuous feeling is only enhanced by the knowledge that I can move on to other projects, completely guilt-free! I started on Lauren two weeks ago, made it about a quarter of the way through, and then tried to knit while my boyfriend was in the room. I don't know what it is, but the man seems to be krytonite to my knitting. Maybe it's because we don't see each other very often (he lives an hour and a half away), and I feel secretly guilty wasting any of our limited time together knitting. Maybe it's because he's a rather chatty fellow, and I get distracted easily. Maybe he just sends out powerful dropped stitch mojo. Whatever the case, I did end up dropping a stitch, had trouble finding it in the lace pattern, ended up dropping a few more, and decided to take a break. And by take a break I mean pitch a tantrum and rip the whole thing apart.

After calming down a bit, a started again this morning and am back to about a quarter of the way through. It's a fairly quick knit on 10mm, which is still quite a step down from the 15mm called for in the pattern. The end result will, naturally, be a much closer weave than the original pattern, but I think it will still work.

Here is a close-up of the lace pattern. Someday I will figure out how to take these closeups without the shadow, but today is not that day. This was taken after carefully stretching out the yarn and holding it in place through the power of mind bullets. I'm a bit worried about how well it will block to shape. The man I bought it from said it was silk, but seeing how it didn't come with a label, I'm taking a lot on trust here. It definitely has the sheen of silk, so I'll have faith for a bit longer. Of course, if I were a practical person, I would have carefully blocked out my swatch, but that seemed far too logical for me.

When it's not stretched out, it rather resembles a shapeless green lump. Loki is not impressed, and completely fails to understand why I am paying attention to a bit of string when he is far more interesting.

You know, I did not intend to be the sort of person who always posted cat photos in their knitting blog. However, I did not anticipate what gigantic camera whores my cats would turn out to be.

What I did on my Easter holiday

1. Redesigned this page. I realise that most people read blogs through Google Reader these days, but I still wanted to do my part to prevent another eyesore from occupying valuable Internet space. Plus, I like playing with all the pretty colours. I might have used too many pretty colours, in fact, but I can't be bothered about that right now.

2. Went to Istanbul! It was fabulous, and I'd post pictures if I wasn't 99.9% certain that everyone currently reading this blog also reads my personal LJ. If I am wrong, let me know and I will happily post my Spice Market photos again. Really, I just love those photos and will take any excuse to look at them, although they do cause me to crave Turkish delight something fierce.

How about some Istanbul flowers, instead? I was there during the tulip festival, and since the tulip is the official flower of Istanbul, they were showing off their mad growing skillz. I decided that I was quite possibly a fabulous nature photographer who only remained unappreciated due to the fact that I never actually took nature photographs. I corrected that by shooting every flower I saw. Since this is a solid example of my floral photography skills, perhaps I did not miss my calling after all.

Now, I did an awful lot of shopping in Istanbul, but had no plans for stash enrichment. Then, just outside the Spice Market, I happened to notice a tiny little shop. I've had walk-in closets bigger than this shop. I wasn't about to quibble over the size, however, when the shop sold yarn. Lovely Turkish yarn, even. Now, I know my stash is already out of control, but it was a souvenir, right? And when I found out that I could buy an entire bag of 100% silk yarn for £5, I didn't even attempt self control. Shown here are two skeins, though the colour is very washed out. Imagine I shot these during the day or took the time to play with hue/saturation in Photoshop for a better sense of the colour. I bought three bags, total -- there is a gold one kicking around my room somewhere, but it seems to have wandered off. I suspect the cats.

These skeins arrived with no labels, so I have no idea how long they are or what the recommended gauge is. It seems to be approximately an Aran weight, so I'll soon be swatching as I try to figure out what I'm actually going to do with this yarn. Something pretty for summer, I'm thinking.

3. Almost finished Sahara! I had almost no time to knit while on holiday, so the work was delayed, I still need to knit the sleeves, sew the neckline and weave in the ends, but I am definitely approaching the finish line. I had a tremendous number of setbacks working the diamond rib pattern around the neckline and the hem, but that is entirely due to operator error and is not the fault of the pattern. It did slow things down a bit, though. I hope to have it completed and blocked by the end of the week.

And now, alas, my holiday is over. Only 11 weeks till summer break! Ahem. Not that I'm counting, of course.

Sahara

I love this pattern. Love it. Okay, the provisional cast on was a beast, and it never properly unzipped when I needed to release the stitches, but that's a small enough thing, and nothing a sharp pair of scissors couldn't fix. The rest of it has been a pure joy. There is an awful lot of stockinette, but with enough increases, decreases, and joins to make it interesting. I already want to knit it again.

About a week and a half in, and it's just past the waist decreases and has been joined in the round.


I did another two and a half inches last night after taking the photo. This is my first time knitting in the round, and I'm loving how quickly it knits up once it's joined. If I was a normal sized woman, I'd already be on to the hip increases, but I'm an Amazon, so I'm going to add another inch and a half before starting those.

The most satisfying part was taking it off the needles last night for its first try-on. It fits! It fits! No frogging necessary! The neckline seems a bit worryingly low at the moment, but the lace detailing should sort that out. Sadly, there will be no knitting today. I had to leave it off the needles for easier packing -- Sahara is about to go to Turkey with me. It's been such a good knit, it earned that adventure.

The yarn is Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran in Forest, and it really is a luscious forest green, richer than in the picture. It's certainly not hurting my enjoyment of this knit. I'm really rather giddy about how well this came together. Knitty giddy, a very special state.