Sunday, January 09, 2011

Scrumptious Selene

Look at this! Two posts in one week!

During the Christmas holidays, I spent a lot of time sitting around at the in-laws' watching TV. Which, of course, meant knitting time. Which was great, because I was behind on knitting a sample for Darn It & Stitch and really just needed one big block of time to finish the thing.

Here's Selene, this time knit in Fyberspates Scrumptious dk in a solid colour:


The original sample was knit in Fyberspates Superwash Merino dk, in a variegated colour, which looked great when worn. However, the variegated-ness photographed badly, and also, my photography skills, being what they were (i.e., nonexistent), did not help matters. I'd actually been meaning to knit another sample because I really think this is a great, versatile pattern that wasn't getting the attention it deserved. So when Jo at Darn It & Stitch started stocking Fyberspates and asked for a display sample, I was happy to finally get the push I needed to do it.


This sample, in a solid colour, looks great. You all know I am a big fan of Scrumptious anyway, but here it really shows off the lace- it's perfect.

I knit the sample in the smallest size and used almost exactly 4 skeins of the dk, and didn't even have to frog the swatch! However, I would definitely advise buying 5 skeins, just in case.

The lace and wide v-neck of the pattern makes the garment pretty stretchy. I'm wearing the pullover with 3 inches / 7.5cm of negative ease and the dress form has 6 inches / 15cm of negative ease! However, I really wouldn't recommend going that extreme- especially as Selene is designed to go over another layer. Pick the size closest to your bust measurement, and round down if you're in between sizes. If you plan to wear anything bulkier than a button-up "proper" shirt under it, then you might round up if in between sizes.


The V is meant to hit just below the bust, and shows up higher on the dress form because of the negative ease.

Selene will be printed up and available to buy at Darn It & Stitch as soon as I figure out which picture to put on it. What do you think? Modelled pic on me, or the dress form pic?

Friday, January 07, 2011

Well into 2011...but happy new year!


The Limey and I went to Lisbon with friends for the new year's celebrations. A friend is Portuguese and was nice enough to show us around a bit. I loved the trip, mostly because I got to eat so much seafood I'm surprised I haven't grown scales. When I wasn't stuffing myself with seafood, I was gorging on cakes and coffee. These people are serious about their cakes, although I am midly disturbed by how much egg and sugar they can stuff into a pastry the size of a golfball.

The NYE fireworks were great!


Lisbon put on a great show. Fireworks were set off from the Tagus as well as from the lovely buildings surrounding the square, so we had 360-degrees of fireworks.

We'd been before, with the same friends, and I rediscovered one of the things I loved about the city then- those tiled pavements!





Aren't they just asking to be knit up with some stranded colourwork?

(All photos by The Limey.)