A Finished Knit

Whoo-hoo! I actually finished something for a change. Here’s a really bad selfie of my not-quite finished and definitely-not-blocked-yet Buonasera Tunic:

See why I don’t normally indulge in mirror selfies? My mirror is in 3 sections creating lines plus there isn’t much natural light. I was testing to see if I really wanted sleeves and decided that I liked it a lot without. So then I quickly knitted garter bands on the armholes and called it a day. Here she is so you can see the shape:

Buonasera Tunic

Begun:  October 24, 2013
Completed:  December 2, 2013

Pattern:  Rosa’s Sleeveless Cardi-Jumper by Emma Fassio, free pattern on Ravelry. Many mods by me.

Yarn:  Italian noil silk cone yarn, approx fingering weight, deep navy blue.

Needles:  Addi Lace Clicks, 3.25mm & 3.75mm; Clover Takumi bamboo dpns, 3mm.

Gauge:  21 sts and 28 rows = 4” on 3.75mm

Comments:  This yarn was discovered lurking in the stash. I adapted the original pattern to match my size and gauge. Neck and armholes were knit in garter stitch on smaller needles. Skirt increases were carried on until there were enough stitches for the lace edging: (14 + 1 + 1 corner stitch) x 2. I had to fudge the 1 extra stitch to make it come out right. The lace pattern was a simple Estonian edge that I expanded to a larger repeat. I based it on Nancy Bush’s charted version with corners in her book Knitted Lace of Estonia. I finished with the usual Estonian doubled yarn and k2tog bind-off.

Armhole & Hem Details

This was actually an easy TV knit since it’s mostly plain. I used stitch markers to remind me when to increase and just kept at it until it was done. The knitting looked pretty rough until I washed and blocked it. Since this yarn was literally spun from industrial floor sweepings (aka throwster’s waste) I used Unicorn Fibre Wash in the first bath:

Eew, right? Several subsequent rinses and it was still showing brown:

 

It took a few more rinses still before I was at all happy. I think a lot of that was fugitive dye runoff more than actual dirt. The washing and subsequent blocking made the stitches flatten and even out and the handle is now slinky and drapey. It’s going to take a few days to dry on the blocking mats and I’m not going to touch it until I’m sure it’s thoroughly dry.

Now I can find a new knitting project to start. Even though I still have 2 more projects on the go (socks and a lace shawl) neither of them are TV knitting. I keep making mistakes on the socks (Evelyn Clark’s Retro Ribs) which may or may not send me back to plain ones. I started these the day after I started the above tunic, if that tells you anything! I’m liking the effect but there isn’t enough light for me to see what I’m doing this time of year.

Our weather has become much colder in the last day or so. The sun is shining which is always nice to see this time of year but it gets dark very early. The leaves are mostly off the trees now. No snow. Yet. Not that we usually get much anyway but you never know.