Summer IK

I have spent most of my week being completely fascinated by the construction of Manon.

I’ve completed the right peplum and one sleeve, and I’ve begun on the left peplum. I love the All Season cotton – I think I may have found a new summer favorite! People compare it a lot to cotton ease, but to me it’s softer and doesn’t cause the crazy uneven tension that I sometimes get from Cotton ease. I like the color too, which is a heathered gray/green. This design is brilliant because while you are knitting it you can’t imagine how it’s ever going to turn out in a sweater shape, and then it does!

I’ve also been knitting on Tuscany, although I don’t think I love that pattern quite as much as Manon. It does make a nice break from the cotton. I’m just not such a big fan of all those K3togethers.

This is 4 repeats in. The pattern calls for 11, but let me tell you right now I won’t be making it there – thank goodness my yarn is thicker than the yarn called for in the pattern! Also: never let it be said that I shy away from bright colors. This yarn is practically radioactive it’s so purple, but I adore it!

This was a great week for new patterns – Nectar came out, and I have already assigned yarns to Jasmine (4 ply cotton) Joy (denim, had to buy yarn for this!) and Dawn (handknit cotton.) In addition, we got the preview for the Summer Interweave Knits. I must say, I don’t like this issue nearly as much as the Spring issue, but since the spring issue was one of my favorites ever I suppose that’s to be expected. A bit too much color work for my taste, but ah well… it’s still miles ahead of many of the past summer issues (I did like last Summer’s quite a bit, but the year before was icky to me.) I did order yarn to make the Wallis cardigan (are you shocked? it looks exactly like something I would make!) I’m going to try making it from Ella Rae Bamboo silk, which I ordered just under the wire on the WEBS sale. Unfortunately, the color I ordered (a bright green) is out of stock, but they will send it when it comes in, and it’s not like I’m going to knit this next week anyway. I also really like the Gossamer Stars scarf (2nd photo) and plan to use my Ivory Lady Godiva for it – I was saving that yarn for Manon, but I have fallen out of love with that design, and like the idea of making the scarf just a tad bigger. My other favorite is the Wakame lace tunic, but I’m not sure at all what yarn to use for it, and in addition I’m not sure on the size – it’s shown with 5″ of ease and it looks nice, but I fear looking like I’ve been eaten by my sweater. I also like the hoodie, but I probably won’t knit it, and the skirt is nice (but again I won’t knit… the smallest size would be too big for me anyway.)