that being said...

It's not like I haven't been doing other things, despite the massive amounts of afghan homework I have to do.

After finishing up my beautiful sweater which I love so much, I immediately ordered yarn for another project from Everyday Crochet. Really once you get the hang of the construction, it's SO addictive. So speedy and satisfying. So I decided to do the "Eve's Rib Tunic", for three reasons:
1) it's been my favorite pattern since the first time I browsed through the book,
2) Winter is showing no signs of retreating and I'm really, really tired of wearing the same 3 sweaters over and over again, and
3) my friend Gwen is constantly producing lovely little knitted tops and tees and tunics and wearing them over long-sleeve shirts and I decided to shamelessly copy her look.
And here is the result:

I made a few small modifications. For one thing, since I wanted this to be a cozy cold-weather garment, I changed the shell pattern from the stated (dc, ch 2, dc, ch 2, dc) to (2dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, 2dc), just to add a little more fabric. This had the effect of give the shells a slightly raised texture, which was unintended but I actually like it. It adds to the coziness.
(it's hard to tell in the pictures)

Also, I not only added the bust short rows, but I then tapered 2 shells (from 18 repeats to 16, if I remember correctly) to give it some waist shaping, and then followed the hip shaping as written.
I was debating about the arm ribbing, but I am really glad I added it, it gives it a nice finished feel.

The yarn I used was elann.com Superwash "Chunky", which I assumed meant it would be sorta worsted-y and I was right. C'est la elann.com. All the same, this yarn in this stitch and at this gauge makes for a lovely, huggy, squishy garment, exactly what I was looking for.
If you're wondering, this is I guess my attempt at looking cool. Obviously that is not my strong suit. My face says ennui, but in my heart is nothing but love love love for the vest.

Thank you, as always, Ms. Chan.

Shannon coat: extensive project notes

So, this is probably my favorite thing I've ever made. It's from Everyday Crochet by Doris Chan (I'll do a book review of this soon, there are a lot of things to say about it...) For this project I kept actually day-by-day notes of my work, for once, and instead of taking up all the space on my Ravelry projects page I moved all of the notes over to here.

Just a few comments: I would agree with the "experienced" rating this pattern has. There are some initial frustrations, but after you "get" the pattern, it is SO speedy and SO satisfying. And lovely. And squishy and cozy. Etc etc.

January 3-4: Started this late Saturday night, by the end of Sunday had already gotten through the yoke and underarm joining and a bit of the body. So, it seems to be a rather quick pattern (it is a pretty huge gauge after all), even though it takes sooo much extra time trying to decipher patterns/hunt down other pages in the book. That part was giving me fits. But otherwise I’m really pleased. I LOVE the Sierra yarn, especially for this pattern right now.

January 5-6: The cuff in the picture made the sleeve look a little bulky in my opinion so I’m omitting the cuff altogether; I decided to do the sleeves before the body to make sure I had enough yarn to get the length I want.
I’m done with right sleeve and started on left. Sleeve length in pattern is supposed to be 25 rows, I ended up making mine 36, due to a combination of my gauge is slightly short, my sleeve needs to be longer, and I apparently have what my boyfriend affectionately dubbed “gorilla arms”.

January 7-11: Scratch that. Arm rows = 39. Gorilla arms being what they are. (Note: after blocking, the arms stretched enough for me to be able to fold them up into a different kind of "cuff")

I apparently also have gorilla torso because the hip shaping is supposed to start at 8”, but mine don’t start increasing until about 9.5”. So I’ve lengthened smaller part of the body. I’m at about hip-level right now but I’ve only got 1.5 balls of yarn left. Yikes. It’s not going to be coat length at this point. I’ll just keep working on it until I’m out of yarn and decide if I need more or if it’s okay.

January 12-13: Yarn ran out when “coat” was about 18” from underarm, instead of the prescribed 25”; after staring at it for a long time I decided I kinda like it. It’s a bulky jacket and if it were any longer it would accentuate my, erm, bulkier parts, but at this length it’s actually very flattering I think. So! Body done, ends woven in, need to start swatching for collar.

January 14: The stated gauge for the collar section is bananas. Granted, the Superwash Worsted is on the very fine end of “Worsted”; I had to go all the way up to an L hook to get anywhere near the gauge, which made the fabric look totally unrecognizable and very flimsy, so I am just going with the J hook and being careful to work evenly up the edge.

January 21: Finally finished the collar, which, after the speediness of the body, seems to take forever and ever. But I tried it on, and, wow. It’s, wow. I love the collar. I love love love the whole thing. Now I just have to make the sash and block the whole thing. Oh, how I love it.

January 26: Spent the whole weekend trying to power through the “Sash-A” that’s supposed to go with it, and finally gave up. That thing is surprisingly difficult, and slow, and will make your hands curl up and cry. So I scrapped the whole thing and started over, made a sash that is just like the stitching on the collar and the exact width of the narrowest section of the collar. Also attached little belt loops with what little Sierra yarn I had left over.

Blocked the whole thing. Tried it on. Did a little dance. <--I love you, sweater.