It's been a while since I've had a finished object to report about but today I proudly got to wear my newly finished Waterlily tee so I feel it's only appropriate for me to write a bit about it. You can also look at my Ravelry notes here.
This project was my spring knit and thank goodness that I finished it with one and a half months of the season left to enjoy it. Back in August as we approached the end of the winter I had this itch in my hands to work on something for the warmer months. I began trawling Ravelry for tee patterns and projects that were knit with linen, silk or cotton blends. In my pattern stalking adventure I saw some beautiful finished objects of this Waterlily tee from Pom Pom Magazine's Spring 2014 issue.
It is a lovely tee with lace over the shoulders and bust area, then stockinette stitch down the rest of the body and finished with a garter stitch hem. Knit from the bottom up it was a breeze to whiz through the stockinette and while I was working on that part the project was my perfect travel knitting for trips in the car or while at swimming lessons. However, once I reached the lace section it became my 'need to concentrate' project so sadly it got a little less attention then.
The lace pattern was not overly complicated but with a high number of yarn overs I really had to be a bit more conscious of my knitting to make sure I didn't miss one. The other tricky part with the lace was to pay attention to when I needed to do a K2tog or a SSK decrease because that affected the direction of leaning in the stitch pattern. Also, when I was working the neckline for the front panel I had to play around with the decrease to ensure I decreased 1 stitch at a time. To maintain the pattern some rows I would do a sssk or k3tog to do a double decrease and other rows I didn't decrease at all due to the varying stitch count produced by the pattern. I also followed the advice of other knitters and alternated p2tog and p3tog when knitting the back of the neck so that it wouldn't be too saggy.
I stashed dived for this project and found 2 skeins of Red Riding Hood Yarns Cherie Gold Sock that I had purchased in a preorder last year. The colour way is Princess Leia from Hannah's Star Wars theme and I had originally purchased it intending to make something for Miss L but this tee was calling and I don't regret using it for myself. I am so in love with the colour and the sparkle and I think it works well with the Waterlily pattern. The dominant colour is purple with some subtle bronzey variegation which is not swallowed up in the lace section.
The yarn being a merino, nylon and stellina blend is probably a bit warmer than the Kettle Yarn Co. BFL/ silk blend that the pattern was designed for but I'm wearing it today when it's 23 degree Celsius and I'm comfortable. I want this primarily as a Spring top but I think I can pull it off as an evening top on a mild summer night too.
I am quite happy with the fit of this top on me. It is such an achievement for me to have a well fitting handmade garment in my wardrobe; actually this is the first time I have hit the mark for myself. Love this tee and I'm going to love wearing it.
