close to blooming?

In a moment of panic yesterday (over the fact that I have 3 swaps to work on, 3 complex fair isle projects, and tons of other crap) I re-cast on a project from last summer that was summarily frogged when it didn’t meet my expectations. The Rose Garden tank top.

I had planned on an Empire-waisted, laced thing of glory last year. This time around I decided that if it fit, it was good, and that it hardly mattered in the long run, so long as I could knit rows and rows of garter stitch until my fingers were numb.

But, because I am insane and the thought of something plain bothers me, I decided to make it a bit more difficult than a simple garter stitch tank top. I knit the underbust section in a 36″ x 11″ rectangle which was then flipped sideways (turning the garter stitch into ribbing) and then picked up the stitches for the bust. I decided to try out Big Girl Knits‘ short rows formula for adapting sweater patterns (as I have a 42″ -45″ bust, depending on my bra) and to try and make a more fitted tank top. I am sick of tent-like sweaters.

Only, whilst knitting the short rows darts something interesting happened. In the middle of my bust a giant inch high row of diamonds appeared. I knew I would get some interesting colour changes as I was knitting with variegated yarn, but this was completely unexpected. It’s… I probably couldn’t replicate it if my life depended on it, and I’m a bit worried about how it’s going to look on me. I mean, there’s a … target in the middle of the front:

how… charming.

I still have two more inches to knit in the round, and then I am going to divide and bind off for the arm holes. Then, maybe I’ll try it on and ask someone other than my mom for an opinion. I love her, I do, but she is so critical of clothing.

While I was knitting today, my package from Knit Picks arrived (wow, that was fast)! I can’t show you the yarns because they’re for a swap project, but I can show you a pic of a certain pattern I found in Here By Wyverns – which is of particular interest. As both Emmos and Avian Flight are big fans of owls…

tee hee hee.