Sexy Summer Knitting

There aren't that many sweaters that you can knit in the summer that are fashion forward. That's where Allyson stepped in to change that. She has been designing patters for a great cause, Work+Shelter. This is a project that helps provide women in India a safe place to live and a means to sustain their own life. She has created some beautiful pieces.

There was one pattern I completely fell in love with as soon as I saw it. The Lace Sweaters pattern was gorgeous, to say the least. 8 days ago, I decided to cast on my very own summer lace sweater. I did do things a bit differently, though. I decided to use up some of the yarn that is collecting in my basement. The yarn I had in mind wasn't quite the weight the pattern called for. It's left over from a baby blanket I knit back in January of 2010, for Caitlin's son. I was actually really bored with the color when knitting the blanket/bootie set, but thought that it would go great with my hair color. The color is called Mint Charm from Baby Bee yarn, which I bought from Hobby Lobby.

When casting on the 20th, I followed the directions to the letter, including the part about being careful not to twist when joining in the round. It was perfect, until I thought it was twisted and "untwisted" when moving on to round number 2. However, much to my dismay, I actually twisted it! I studied it for about 20 minutes, trying to figure out a way to avoid tearing out the 1+ inches of knitted sweater. After deciding there was no way to fix it, and knowing this before studying it in the first place, I sadly tore it out. I then started casting on again and misjudged my length and didn't leave enough yarn for the stitches. Not once, but twice. Defeated, I headed to bed and decided to try again in the morning.

After some much needed, but very little, sleep, I cast on the stitches needed to start my sweater. I am happy to report that there isn't any twisting going on this time around and I am past where I was before all the deconstruction commensed. It's knitting up quite beautifully but I am afraid that I may run out of the mint yarn before I finish. This got me thinking on color blocking (much like Allyson did with her own Summer Lace Sweater). We may be playing around with some additional colors (I'm thinking a middle set of white and then finishing in a Navy).