I Meant to be Good . . . Honest!!

Well, strictly speaking, I haven't broken my cast one off, cast one on pledge. I did finish the Patagonian Night Sky Scarf. The beaded cast off was done and all that remains is to sew in the ends of yarn. Instead of doing that though or continuing with the Vogue Lace Cardi, I cast on another project!

Recently, I joined the Knitting in Japan Yahoo group and have also been finding this website a good resource in that it has sections dedicated to Japanese knitting basics and charts. I also bought several Japanese books and I've been learning how to decipher Japanese patterns. The Yahoo group has several KALs going on currently, one of which is this top. The original was made with silk and a shiny yarn knitted together. One person in the Yahoo group has substituted with Rowan Calmer and another with DB Cathay.


For mine, I'm using Rowan Classic Bamboo Soft, shade 109 (Cambria). I love this yarn, it's breathable so good for summer tops and it feels so silky and has a drape similar to silk. The downside to it is that it's composed of multiple fine strands very loosely woven together so easily splits if you're not careful when knitting it. I've had to adjust for a different gauge and I've also added some shaping, bringing it in at the waist. The original pattern is a basic A-line shape.

You'd have thought that would be enough to keep me content for now, wouldn't you?! However, now I can't wait to cast something else off as I already have my eye on the next project! This is all down to my travels around the knitting blogosphere (always fatal) where I kept noticing references to the Mystery Stole No 3 and my curiosity got aroused enough to follow it up to see what all the fuss was about. Well, when I realised that the pattern's author was none other than Melanie of Pink Lemon Twist whose pattern, Leda's Dream, I bought recently and which pattern was, in fact, Mystery Stole No 1, I'm afraid I cracked and signed up here!!! I'm going to be a bit behind with this one as I'm determined at the moment to cast something off before I cast something else on. Not to mention that I haven't even got a suitable yarn yet, let alone swatched and Clue No 2 is due to be released on Friday! Well, as Melanie so rightly says, it's not a race!

Photos of Patagonian Night Sky coming soon, I promise, once I get to sew those pesky ends in . . .