Squaring the Hem

I knit the bottom of one panel, and have started to square the hem. Now the dark purple bits are disappearing with the black Boise, and the red, pink, and burgundy bits are popping out against the black. The black Boise is also not as soft or furry as compared with the Red. The colors just shine in the sun.

Ravelry - I'm in!

Woohoo! - I logged onto Ravelry this evening, uploaded 2 projects and joined 3 groups. I'm going to love being on this website. I can already tell.
:)

Shapely Symmetry Sheath started Saturday

Having finished the Long-stitch Wrap, I set my sights on a new project - The Shapely Symmetry Sheath. I started this on Saturday. The yarn on the left is Interlacements' Toasty Toes (100% superwash merino) in Reds Plus colorway (Red, Fuchsia, Burgundy, Purple, Black) - 8oz skein is 560 yds. The plain red is Karabella Boise (50% wool-50% cashmere), 50g ball is 163 yds - from my stash!

The Sheath pattern calles for Art Yarns merion, and uses 4 skeins of Art Yarns 2-ply Cashmere yarn ($50 per skein - yikes!) . As luxurious as the AY cashmere probably is - I didn't want to invest $300+ to make this dress. Luckily for me, I found Boise in my stash that was a closeout from a couple of LYS. Since the Boise yarn is DK weight, instead of 2-ply, I hoped I could also get away with using less yarn. It's possible because the pattern knits to a certain length, rather than number of rows. I would get to the length quicker than the yarn used in the pattern. I was able to get Row Gauge 34 rows per 4" on US 8, while getting an extra stitch - 18 st per 4" along the base of the triangle. Since the triangle base runs along the height of the garment, it won't adjust it that much. The height of my triangle measure 8.25" on the needle, and 9" off. It's 15 garter ridges repeated (between the Merino and the Boise). It's pretty springy together so I think it will expand nicely at my bust and hips without straining.

What's interesting with this yarn is that as I knit with it (from the outside), it turned from a smooth round little ball, into this cute flower-like shape (from the top, and under-side) :

The two triingles face each other point-to-point at the waist:

Here's the fourth triangle looking lively:

...and this was the cute little bit of Boise left over (after 4 triangles were completed). Just 3g left of 50g (about 10 yds) - Phew!

Next phase, I'll unite the red striped triangles with the Toasty Toes and Karabella Boise in Black.

Also checked on my Ravelry. In the last month, I now have only about 1000 people ahead of me, instead of behind me - spooky.

You signed up on September 8, 2007
You are #31816 on the list.
1154 people are ahead of you in line.
13380 people are behind you in line.
67% of the list has been invited so far

Ta Da! Finished the Long-stitch wrap

Here is the front:


Here is the back:


This cutie was on my door jamb last night hiding from the rain - unfortunately, had to use my flash to take the pic at all, and that chased him away...