Here is a pic of the open work jacket with its sleeve. (And yarn ends still attached and simply pinned on the far side.)

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I am making progress on the lace panel jacket. I’ve finished one full strip and am about half way through a second. For those that don’t have the pattern, a total of seven strips of lace are worked and then pieced together. Additionally, the sides, the undersides of the sleeve, the collar and the front bands are worked in moss stitch as shaped pieces to give the jacket its curves.

I ended up with the regular purple color of microspun because there happened to be enough of it when I went shopping a second time. Besides, the lilac would probably have shown more dirt on the sleeves from grading papers that students have written in pencil (sour grapes).

Well, here’s a pic:

This angle has obliterated some of the texture, so here is a closeup (that obliterates other elements of the texture.)

Since I said I would post, a quick update:

I frogged and reknit the top of the sleeve on the open work jacket then set it in the scye. It worked much better and now I am excited about it again–but dreading the second sleeve because of the possible shortage of yarn.

So, I have almost finished my version of the Moda Dea Dream Knitted Sweater from Michael’s free patterns. Of course, it is now a TLC Amore Knitted Sweater. Yes, it looks complete, but I have not gotten the ties onto it. I haven’t decided if I want to put them on, but the white bits of yarn are the markers for them.

Construction notes for this sweater:
I used my Brother KX-350 Knitting Machine to knit all but the front band (and ties). Because my machine is considered a midgauge hobby knitter I can’t get any interesting attachments like a ribber, so I had to hand manipulate every other row for the garter stitch at the bottom of the piece. I did not knit the row and then reform all the stitches though; I worked each needle across. This means that the purl stitches are tighter in than in the band which I worked by hand.

Yarn notes:
I really loved how well the TLC Amore yarn ran through the machine. I expected it to catch on the latches because of the texture. If you have never seen this yarn, the best way that I can describe it is to refer you to a terry cloth towel. The fabric that it created is almost reversable. The only problem I encountered with the yarn was the fact that there was LOTS of static and the yarn pulled out of the skein in lightly knotted chunks, especially at the end of a skein. I had to watch the yarn because the machine works so quickly it is easy to pull knots tighter or even pull them through the machine.

Problems with this project:
Minor: One manufacturer’s splice I did not see until it was knitted in. And at one point the machine dropped some stitches so I had a hole I had to go back and fix.
Major: Yee gods, was my swatch wrong? Well, take a look at a large sized tee in comparison–

My swatch was 15×25 instead of 18×26 so I figured I’d work the pattern for the 36″ bust instead of for my real size of 39″. I didn’t plan of the amount of ease that they seem to have built into this thing! I wish that they had included a “finished size” so that I could have picked more accurately. Of course, I guess I could have done more calculating to determine the real size.

The sweater is so large on me that I think I will only be wearing it around the house to lounge in. Also, because of the size, the fronts aren’t pulled tight from side to side so they like to curl under. Hence my first condundrum.

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My second conundrum is the open work jacket I mentioned in my last post (yeah, yeah, its been a while–I don’t want to hear it!) I think my gauge changed because it seems like it will be tighter than I planned on. Also I am worried about running out of yarn: the last sleeve will be made of all the skein ends.

And, the instructions baffle me when it comes to the sleeve. Reading the directions it seems that you knit the sleeve and then the last stitches that are bound off are to be set into the arm scye. Not only that, but the directions say that there should be 16 stitches left at BO after all of the decreases. By my figuring there would be quite a few less. So, I stopped decreasing at 16 stiches on the needle (meaning I skipped two decreases). And there is no way that the sleeve fits the scye! See?!?!–

(getting tired of the bedspread yet?) After much fiddling, I finally determined that I can work with it by frogging and reknitting the end of the sleeve, adding the last two decreases, and then setting the sleeve in the scye more like a raglan.

There are a few other gripes I have about the pattern: at one point, there was a miscount of stitches which should be worked at the beginning or end of a row, the directions for twisting a purl stitch state that you should slip the stich from one needle and then back to the other needle before purling–just work in the back of the stitch!–, the directions for increasing were so confusing I just skipped them (I think it was supposed to be a short row), and the sleeves were written to be garter stitch at the sides–different from the body in stockinette?

Gripe about the yarn: It doesn’t seem to hold its shape well at all in the laddered open sections. The yarn is slippery so some stitches shift, eventhough they were twisted. When I stretch the piece flat, it looks to fit well, when I pick it up, the drape seems like it will be all wrong–like I should have made it much bigger. I like the way the yarn works in the sections that aren’t open though. Here is a closer pic:

Well, now that I am done griping, I am off to do some more knitting–or maybe some genealogy. Either way, I may post again today–don’t hold your breath though! And, I also can’t promise that you won’t see more of my bedspread today!

Joann’s did not have ANY lilac colored Microspun! And Michael’s just across the street didn’t have enough! I can’t buy some and wait to get the rest later because the dye lots might be different!

And what does the resourceful shopper do in a situation like that?

You buy something different! Instead I got some Lion Brand Imagine in grey tones to complete an open work jacket and some Lion Brand Wool Ease in Black to complete a horseshoe lace cardigan. Both are free patterns from elann.com. And yes, I am using yarn which is different from that specified in the patterns. Ain’t SEX great (that is Stash Enhancement Xperience for the virginal.)

I also got some Caron Simply Soft in Violet for a project that will need many more skeins before it is done…but in a no dye lot yarn, I can buy skeins anytime. I will post about this project later.

So, for my birthday a few weeks ago, I asked for a gift card to Joanne’s for knitting supplies. Now, to spend that money!

Tomorrow’s trip will be to obtain 11 skeins of Lion Brand’s Microspun yarn to complete a Lace Panel Jacket pattern, by Joan McGowan, in a 1998 edition of Interweave Knits. I will be changing it from the Kolibri Cotton which is called for, and I will need to see what colors are available tomorrow. I am hoping for lilac.

I will be posting soon about some of the projects, past, present, and UFO, to which I have become committed–yes in the looney-bin sense.