WIP's and Deadlines

In August, my one-year old neice is being christened. A few months ago, my mom and I picked out an adorable white dress for her to wear. Nice clean lines, empire waist, white bow. Adorable. I really wanted to knit a sweater to go with it and Reid fit the bill perfectly. However, when I read various blogs and message boards, it seemed that there were a lot of sizing issues with the pattern. As written, the sweater would turn out about 26" around (even though the schematics claim that it will be 22"), when she is only 20". Rather than dealing with changing gauge or rewriting the pattern, I just continued to look around for an alternative. After months of searching, though, no pattern proved to be as perfect for the occasion. I was at Knitting in La Jolla last week getting ready to purchase a Debbie Bliss book to make an alternate pattern when, at the last minute, I decided to try making Reid with a finer yarn and a smaller needle. So, I bought 3 balls of Rowan 4-ply cotton in white and basically put myself in a time crunch. I have roughly 2 1/2 weeks to make this fingering weight lace sweater - it has to be done by August 19th, so I'll be posting periodic updates to keep myself honest about it. I have to be vigilant about working on it every day and not letting it fall by the wayside. I'm very motivated though - she's going to look SOOO cute in it. The photo is of the back, which only has one repeat left to go. It's turning out to be about 23 or 24 inches around, still too large, but I guess she'll just grow into it.

A couple of weeks ago, I also decided that I wanted to make the Ribby Shell by Chicknits, and for some reason, I could only see it knit up in espresso colored yarn. I couldn't shake it for some reason. After a thorough search on the Internet, I realized that summer yarns don't often come in shades that are that rich. I went to the Grove to look for yarn, and they had some that is just perfect! It's Kona Bay Cotton by a company called Koma Bay Knitting. I have never seen their yarn anywhere else, even on the Internet, so I snatched up the Espresso and a gorgeously vibrant magenta, project unassigned at this point. I cast on for the Ribby Shell on Saturday, a little gunshy after by Soleil moebius experience, since this is knit in the round, but it didn't get twisted. The yarn is simply the most amazing cotton yarn I've ever used. It's 100% pima cotton, and the drape, feel and look is more like cashmere than cotton. It's incredibly soft and light knitted up and it's going to be such a pleasure to wear. Since it feels more like a wool yarn, my hands don't start hurting, either, like they sometimes do with cotton. I wish more shops carried this yarn. The price is right, too, - $6.25 per skein.