Clearing the Decks

Last weekend I made an effort to finish a bunch of projects which had lingered in an almost done state for too long. I'd like to say that the long weekend inspired me, but the truth is that the pile on the side table was threatening to avalanche. Now that all those T-shirts are hemmed and sweaters are finished there is plenty of blog fodder for the next couple of days. Hooray!

Today we have the Leaf Yoke Top for this summer's Knit Scene.
When I saw the preview photo for this top it made me foaming at the mouth to start it right away. Seamless construction, no sleeves, and leafy lace, Oh Boy!!! Unfortunately what should have been a straight forward knit turned into a gauge nightmare. I will take part of the blame because my gauge swatch was a tad small and maybe it was about .25 stitches off. However the gauge swatch still was a big fat liar, even with a proper wash and block. The gauge swatch told me that that suggested size 6 needle was fine and to go with the medium size. So I motored along finishing the yoke in a weekend, only to find that the dimensions were bigger than the large size. NOOOOOO!!!

So the yoke was ripped out and the yarn sat in a time out for a couple of weeks. Since gauge swatches couldn't be trusted I decided to wing it using a number 5 needle and knit the size small. And what did we get? The perfect size medium.




There is one design mod, just a little bit of extra length added before starting the hem. An extra 4 rounds with an increase was added and then the hem was started according to the directions. Casting off a hem on a top down sweater is a major pain in the ass but it is a pretty finish.



I like it but I'm so happy it's done.