Skirt continuation and Summer Top

So I've got a few more pics of the skirt and then I officially stop :)
It really does look better in person and I'm just not that great at taking pictures. Obviously.

So this first pic is my best attempt to show how I got that elastic in there. A dear friend suggest crocheting a chain, slip stitching down a little (to hold the elastic) then chaining again to slip stitch near the top.










Anyway, here is the summer top I finished this week. It's in SR Kertzer's Ranee and Sari. I believe this was 4 skeins of Ranee and 4 of Sari. The Sari is the ribbon and the Ranee is the softer railroad type yarn. They are the same colorway. They are not, however, the same gauge (Ranee is about 4.25 sts/in and Sari around 3.75 sts/in). So I split the difference and worked it at 4sts/inch. The pattern is Heartstring's 3-to-2 Any Gauge Sweater. It is worked from one bottom corner to the other upper corner. I used the Ranee as the sleeves because it is much airier and softer than the Sari -- at least when the Sari is knit up a little tightly for its liking. The top is very cool, very light weight and has incredibly drape. I love it. Dries every quickly in this heat too, so I was able to wash it the night before, lay it flat on top of my drier (the main function my drier has as I mostly line-dry) and by morning I had a dry top. :)

This second photo shows how sheer the Ranee is when knit so loosely. Yes, this is one where I wear a camisole underneath. :)

But did I mention how cool it is? And very versitile. I could put this on for an evening out or pair it with jeans for a more casual look. And I love that kind of flexibility.

~That's all for now! But -- I'm nearly done with a gift! Unfortunately, it's a Christmas gift so no pics for quite some time. I still claim full points for finishing it though!!

Next up? Why, another summer top of course!

~Briony

Better skirt pics

Yes, I got better pictures. I'm wearing a light colored top, and it is showing through the top part of the skirt -- incidentally showing up the pattern a bit. I've got a black slip on as well to just past my knees.


I still love it. Very lovely and cool in the heat, lovely swish. :)

Looks better in person I think.

Now off to work on my afghan square! And then . . . maybe a swatch for a summer top.

~Briony

I FINISHED MY SKIRT!

Ok, sorry for the caps, but I'm so proud of myself. I finally finished the 40" long lace skirt I made in Euroflax Originals. In black. I was *so* glad I listened to one customer who reminded me to hang the skirt for at least 2 days to make sure I knew where I was with length. I knit the thing so loose, you see, and so lacey that it grew oodles -- but mostly on the second day!

Now, I'll back up.

Way back in February I knew I really wanted a summer skirt. Now, I didn't feel that I HAD to knit one. I just wanted a long summer skirt. Which is where I landed into trouble. I adore ankle length skirts. For me, that means about 40". And I couldn't find any. There may be tons out there, but I couldn't find one. And I'm hopeless at this time at sewing. So that left . . . knitting :)

My next plan of attack was to pick a summery yarn -- cotton or linen I thought. And I love black -- so Euroflax Originals won.

Now, I knew I wanted a fairly full skirt. And I didn't want it to bag out when I sat. I wanted to wear this one ALOT so that mean I needed lots of room for me inside the thing. Originally I didn't want to HAVE to wear a slip so I tried to make it all nice and dense . . . well I'm getting so blasted loose that I just couldn't get to gauge without using a 0 or smaller and that I didn't like. On a size 2 I was getting 7 sts/inch but it was still a bit see through. So I stuck with that, bought a slip, and figured on a 38" caston -- wider than my hips by a few inches. Linen won't stretch back and forth ya know. Elastic was added later. I moved up to a 3 after 3" from cast on (used knitted cast on). Then I started the lace (afterall, it was going to need a slip anyway!) from a chart in a book Chrisanne found for me which has feather and fan or old shale increasing along with the pattern (book was A Gathering Of Lace --a great book). I started way into the chart b/c I had so many stitches. I followed it until I had 27 repeats of 25 sts. It seemed enough. I ended with a skirt with about 18 or so feet in circumference.

At about 6.5" I went to a 4. Somewhere in here I started changing needles when I started a new skein (Euroflax Orig. has abou 270 yards) so I moved on to a 5, then a 6, then 7. The 5th and 6th skeins saw me working on an 8 only . At the end of the 5th, after it was soaked and left to hang, dripping itself dry was 23". Skeins 7&8 were on a 9. The end of the 7th skein gave me about 30" Un stretched as it were. After I finished the 8th skein I took it home and soaked it, spun it dry (yes on the needles, I wouldn't recommend this! not that I had troubles, but I had it rubberbanded all over those needle points) and hung it for 2 whole days. It dried on the 1st but I left it. Good thing. At the end of the first day it was about, oh 34"? At the end of the 2nd? 40". Wow. Nearly 41" but I tried not to see that number. Too far. Too far and I still needed to cast off.

Tinking. Yup, the glory. I tinked about 600 sts and then cast off WAY loosely with a crochet hook a la Crazy Toes and Heels.

And ran out of yarn.

So tink-tink went the cast on. And the next 2 rows.

And the cast off was successful this time :)

I finished it Sunday (all of Sunday was tinking and Casting off). I wore it to work Tuesday and so on. I love it.

And I got a lot of interest when I was working on it -- either because it was beautiful (I hope it was this option), or a huge project, or idle curiosity or just an insane project that would surely never work . . .

And here, drum roll please . . . is the skirt (yes I know, too dark, but you get an idea. Better piccys when I can get 'em): At least the second shows the pattern -- white sheet behind the work -- pre-hanging.

So that's what I've been doing. Next -- summer tops! ~Briony