Weekend WIP

I have been working hard on two things this weekend. First - black lace.

The border is not too difficult on this one. It's 12 rows, or 6 double joins, which, by my maths, means 60 repeats on each side plus the corners and ends. Ends are probably another 6 each. No idea about corners. I've done 8 repeats, so all I really know for sure is, I've got a way to go yet. Luckily, like I said, it's not difficult - just sometimes hard to see.

A handy hint I can share with you after taking these pictures - when lifting your lace scarf into position for its close up, be certain that the needle attached to the live stitches hasn't stuck itself into the ground. This is important because if it has, and you don't notice, you'll put that needle right out and have to try and find the 7 black lace stitches again.

Second - barber pole.

I've been wanted to knit this top for at least a year, in spite of being relatively certain it will not suit my body shape. It involves knitting a parallelogram of stripes, grafting the provisional cast on with the live stitches, then picking up for ribbing around the top and bottom and adding knitted straps with a cute button. I will be adding ribbon straps because this ribbon inspired me to knit the top in the first place. I found a lovely button at Wonderwool.

So, for somebody with such a pronounced pear shape, can we imagine how this will fit me? Badly, I am imagining. I thought about doing some short rows for a flared bottom, but I have thus far been unsuccessful in thinking of the how for this scenario. Instead, which I am thinking is that I will knit the parallelogram wide enough to go round my hips which may or may not be a full 8 inches too big for my underarm measurement (I haven't actually measured) and then perform chicanery with the ribbing. Tight ribbing on a smaller needle with a few k2togs on the first row I pick up around the top. No ribbing on the bottom - maybe an applied icord instead.

We'll see. I'm unsure about going down another needle size - it's already fairly bullet proof, being knitted on 3.25mm needles instead of the 4mm recommended for Smoothie. It isn't fun to knit at this tension. All I want to do is get the Chiaogoos out and cast on the blue linen I bought last weekend. But, I've bought so much Smoothie and never yet finished anything I've knitted from it, so I really must persevere.