Finished: Slanting Gretel Tee for Cat

Some time after I finished my Slanting Gretel Tee, my twin sister Cat requested one for her birthday. Although she's a knitter now, she wasn't feeling quite up to the task of knitting one for herself. She picked out a color and after I finished my Ripple Cardigan, I cast on. Finishing this top was delayed by the birth of a good friend's daughter, but I still managed to finish it before I left Virginia. I even got a chance to take a photo or two of my sister modeling it before I returned to Texas.


Pattern: Slanting Gretel Tee by Petra Manis
Size: Smallest with some modifications
Yarn: 6 skeins of Ella Rae Baby Cotton (50g/ 100m/ 88% Cotton/ 12% Nylon) in Color 04 Aloha
Needles: Size 5 Circular and Doublepoints
Modifications: My sister has a tall upper body so I added an extra 2 1/4 inches (16.25 inches instead of 14 inches) to the length before beginning the sleeves. My sister was also concerned about a tight fit in the armpit so I picked up extra stitches to either side of the stitches put on hold for the armpits. I also increased in these stitches when binding off.

Finished! Part Maid Marian and Part Xena

I finished my Slanting Gretel Tee over a week ago, but am finally getting around to blogging about it. Part of the delay was my inability to get a good modeled picture. It was so rainy and dreary here last week (It was very atypical Texas weather; I felt like I was back in Ohio.) that I couldn't get a decent picture.


Anyway, this was actually a pretty quick knit despite the cables and seed stitch that make it look more difficult than it is. The project also moved along more quickly because I am totally OBSESSED with knitting right now. It's all I want to do. My house is a pigsty. I got my first Wii injury...because I was trying to knit while doing Wii Fit. Stupid, I know. I thought I could handle running in place and knitting. Not so much. Oh well.


I enjoyed knitting this top because I love knitting in the round. The cables and seed stitch made it interesting while the stockinette stitch gave me some quick mindless knitting as well. I loved that when you finish knitting, the only finishing work is binding off the sleeve stitches and weaving in a few ends. The only thing I didn't love is the way my M1s look next to the cables on either side of the seed stitch section. I kept getting holes (mostly with my M1Ls). Since I used a cotton, there is no halo to hide these. Oh well. I've already worn the top once and liked it. It's a fun little top. Makes me feel part Maid Marian and part Xena.


Pattern: Slanting Gretel Tee by Petra Manis (in Interweave Knits Fall 2009)
Size: Smallest (30 1/4" bust circumference)
Yarn: ella rae Baby Cotton (50g/100m/88% Cotton-12% Nylon/Color 07 Dusk) 5 skeins
Needles: Size 5 (24" and 16" circular)
Modifications: I added about an extra inch of length before starting the raglan.

Progress

My progress on my Slanting Gretel Tee is actually coming along quite well--despite the fact we got a Wii this weekend (thanks to B's Marriott points) and I've been doing Wii Fit for 30+ minutes a day and it's kicking my out-of-shape butt. Anyway, last night I got all the way to the bottom of the sleeves and am about to start the raglan.


Here's a picture of the bottom edge of a sleeve.

It's a strange construction. I'm used to top down instead of bottom up. For this sweater, you make a crochet chain and then pick up the stitches on it to create the sleeve. Interesting...

So far I'm happy with the sweater. I don't love how my increases (M1R and M1L) look on either side of the cables, but otherwise it looks good. The only problem with using a cotton is that it has no halo to hide any imperfections. Oh well.

In other knitting news, my secret project has been delayed. I realized that there is no way I'd get it done in time for a birthday present so it's been moved to a Christmas present. Although I have tons of things I want to knit next, I am going to take a break from me-knitting and knit a helmet liner for some local troops headed to Afghanistan this fall.

That's all for now. J had his first day back at pre-school today and seems to have had a good one. Apparently, he didn't talk to his teacher at all today, but had tons to say to me on the way home so I think all will work out in the end. I really like his new teacher and I think it will be a good year for J.

Update

My progress on my Slanting Gretel Tee continues.


I'm moving a little faster now. I'm making mine a little longer so I'm moving the decreases some. This caused some slow down as I pondered wear to place them. I think I've got them straight now. We will see.

My progress will be slowed again soon as I have another project that I'm squeezing in. It's a surprise as it's a gift for someone who reads this blogs. However, my knitterly friends can see a sneak peak of some LOVELY yarn on Ravelry.

Today B and I took the boys to a local park. We had a blast. There is a splashpad there and, even though they weren't dressed for it, we let the boys get a little wet. The boys were intrigued by this part of the splashpad:



Neither of them actually went under it, but they loved watching it. It was pretty adorable.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

A Little Knitting

After finishing my Petal Tank, I jumped into another project for myself, the Slanting Gretel Tee. (By the way, I like this new trend of knitting for myself.) This is a short-sleeve tee knit in the round (bottom up). It is shown worn over a long-sleeve tee in the Fall 2009 Interweave Knits. Since it's so hot here in Texas, I decided to do mine in a cotton blend (instead of a wool blend) so I could wear it alone for 3/4 of the year and over a long-sleeve tee in the cold month or two.

I've only done about 20 rows so far.


I had a slow start and made a few mistakes and ended up ripping out about 8 rows to fix them. Now that I've got my M1Rs and M1Ls straight, things are moving much more quickly. (I think of the M1R as the BFF [back to front, knit through front] and the M1L as the FBB [front to back, knit through back].) Here's a close-up of the edge of the front. It's a section of seed stitch with a cable border.



So that's my current knit project. I'm not 100% sold on the color, a lavender-pink (this is pretty true to color), but I hope this will be something I can wear often with shorts, capris and jeans.