And Then There Was Ribbing

and it was good...

My husband's sweater is done- seaming done, neckband done, ends woven in, all that remains is the blocking- with all that ribbing it definitely needs blocking. Stretching it out a bit for a photo helped...

Notice anything ever-so-slightly-off? No, that color variation was not flash inflicted. Who knew there would be such variation even within a single dye lot? If I'da noticed it was that far off earlier, I woulda worked with 2 skeins at a time and striped it to blend things- it probably wouldn't even have been noticeable... well, he's a man, a fairly typical man, he may not even notice...

See it now? Oh well, makes it unique, right? Gives it character, right? It's still a wonderful finished object- the first of the new year! And it's the first thing I've actually knit for my husband...

My 2nd finished object for the year featured even more ribbing, and a tighter gauge to boot. Miles and miles of 1x1 rib, broken up by a section of 2x2 rib...

Here's a bigger sneak peak at an upcoming pattern in Blue Sky's spring line... I didn't design it- I just tested it. It's a lot of ribbing, but the end result is pretty nice. It would definitely hug a girl's curves... It has some short row shaping in the bust that gives enough extra fabric so as not to cause any extra pulling open of the ribbing (one of my pet peeves about ribbed knits and bustlines)- a nice added touch.

One thing I would mention about this knit- the miles of ribbing and measuring can be a little fussy. In general, ribbing should be stretched to the finished width before measuring length as it can be quite a diference... and I would never throw out that practice, but, with a knit like this and a yarn like this, I would go ahead and err on the short side... not by much, mind you, but when measuring and you think to yourself "almost there, just one or two more rows"- you're probably close enough... this piece grew by at least an inch after wetting it to block. I tried so hard to not pull on it at all and even tried to 'scrunch' it up a bit to keep it from growing, and it still ended up an inch longer.

I didn't knit this for myself- I'm not the sleeveless or strappy tank type (though I was thinking this would be pretty cute worn over a smart baby tee...) This piece will be a trunk show sample to be seen in the near future in yarn shop near you!

Well, my sister and my mom will be in California for the next few days at the TNNA Tradeshow... without me... sigh... I'll be here with my housefull of little kiddos who are currently passing around a stomach bug... guess where I'd rather be this weekend? I love my brood, but some weeks I could do with more sun and less puke.

I'll quit my whining now... time to sanitize my hands, maybe start a soup stewing, fold some laundry, work on a scarf...

Keep the contest entries coming in- I can't wait to see all of the finished objects by the end of the month!

Happy knitting-

ali