FO: Lonicera [Finally!]

Yesterday between shifts I came home and dragged Chris outside to take some pictures of the Lonicera.

Lonicera, Kirsten Kapur in Dragonfly Fibers Selkie

I love the finished product.  It is absolutely lovely.  The yarn is so soft and did that blocking thing where all of the little imperfections just seemed to disappear.  That is one thing I will say about this sweater.  Even though I swatched, I still forgot how much it would grow!  The Selkie did not have as much drape as the original yarn, but here you can't even tell the difference.  It took just over two skeins to knit the medium, but I'm willing to bet that you could remove one body repeat to get a slightly shorter version out of two.

I used a US size 9 needle and kitchenered the two pieces together, rather than using a three needle bind-off.  My only problem was the amount of ends to weave in.  It took an entire episode of Stockinette Zombies to get through them all.

This little baby is packed up and ready to head to Kate for display in the Dragonfly Fibers booth.  If you see her at a show, stop and say hi!  Pet the sweater.  It is amazing yarn.

In the meantime I am trying to decide what Star Wars gear to wear today while I have a "knit all the things" kind of day.  I worked the midnight release of The Avengers last night, so I have the day off for crafty and geeky goodness.  May the Fourth be with you!

Check out other finished objects over at Tami's Amis!

Forever Blocking

Today I begin what will probably be an all day possibly all night process.  Remember that giant pile of chocolate wool?  It's actually a Lonicera.  This is a giant sweater vest designed by Kristen Kapur that has taken me forever to knit.  I had a couple of false starts and a yardage scare, but I am happy to say that after a month and a half it is finally blocking.

Even though I found myself cursing it often, the construction of this pattern is genius.  You just can't see it in a pile of wet wool.  And that wet wool?  Yeah, it's Dragonfly Fibers Selkie -- a decadent blend of 60% wool and 40% silk.  Before you get too jealous and paint me a yarn snob you should know that I don't get to keep it.  This baby is going to be a show sample for Kate's booth.  I'm fairly certain that she will send tons of yarn off of this alone.  Not because I'm an amazing knitter but because the fabric is delicious.  The color bled a little when I put it in wool wash, but nothing serious.  I'd go on and on but I have no photos to back up my claims, so you'll just have to trust me until this thing finishes the epic drying that I'm sure five feet of yarn shall take.