Remember that shrug I showed you a brief sneak peek in progress picture of? The one that I told you was finished and worn to a wedding (rehearsal dinner and wedding, actually) almost a month ago? Well, here she is! Isn't she purdy?
Details:
Pattern: Drop Stitch Shrug from the Summer 2005 Interweave Knits staff project. The photo was in the magazine, but the instructions are available in a pdf file from the website (linked directly above).
Yarn: Brooks Fiber Farm Duet in Warm Black (which can be slightly gray-black variegated in some light conditions)
Needles: Um, I've already forgotten. 8 sounds about right?
Completed: I finished sewing it up in the afternoon of May 27, 2005 (after finishing the knitting in the car on the drive up) and wore it to the rehearsal dinner that night.
Comments: I love this stitch pattern. It definitely looks like knot holes in bark, and I love this arrangement of them in an orderly pattern. It also makes the knitting go quicker when you're dropping a bunch of stitches every eighth row. The mohair was perhaps not the absolute best choice to deal with the stitch pattern, since it didn't really like to drop down, but with a little coaxing it worked out OK.
The corners of the arms in the back tend to pull and pucker a bit strangely, and I think that maybe I didn't sew the sleeves up as far as I might have (so it's a bit wider across the shoulders than it needs to be), but that's a simple fix. Also, I don't notice the puckering except in photographs!
One caution about the mohair: it's definitely a bad yarn to use next to the skin when wearing anything sleeveless under it. See, the mohair has a tendency to shed little black fuzzies everywhere, which I don't mind, except when they stick in my armpit and make me look like I have a couple of months worth of growth down there. (Luckily one of my friends said something to me in a non-embarrasing way so I could de-fuzz before too much of the night went on).
I love wearing this over a sleeveless dress or tank. It's also one of the perfect garments for me to take to work in the frigidaire that passes for an office (seriously, we're pretty sure the thermostat is broken in the Arctic range) because it covers my arms, thereby letting me wear the cute short-sleeved tops in the summer, but does not cause me to get too warm and overheat.
All in all, this was a great project. It's actually the perfect thing to make if you're just trying to move on from scarves and don't want to tackle anything too different yet. You do a bunch of increases and decreases, but the basic knitting is a long skinny rectangle. It's then miraculously turned into a garment (really a pair of sleeves) but just seaming up two of the sides and stopping before you get to the middle. Ingenious! I love it! I see lots more shrugs in my future... I'm thinking soft yarn like MicroSpun. These things had better stay in style for a long time!
P.S. Also to note - the super cute super short summer hair cut! Yay!
Posted by Sarah at June 21, 2005 08:05 PM | in: Finished Objects | PermalinkTotally super cute - both the haircut and the shrug! Sorry to hear that you're in sub-zero range in the office. I'm trying to figure out how to rig up a heating element without burning my building down!
Posted by: natalie on June 21, 2005 10:43 PMI love the shrug almost as much as I love the fact that you have the same head tilt in the finished picture as you do in your sidebar. :-)
Posted by: sarah b. on June 21, 2005 11:01 PMIt's so good to see that shurg!! and your hair.
And now I get hit. You look a lot like your cousin. (You know which one!)
MOM
CUTE SHRUG!!!! CUTE HAIR!!! I wanna see more pics of the super cute 'do!!!
Posted by: Lara on June 22, 2005 02:10 AMvery nice! and thanks for the warning about the mohair heehee
Posted by: kim on June 22, 2005 09:33 AMThe shrug looks fabulous on you! I love the new haircut too :)
Posted by: Lolly on June 23, 2005 07:44 AM