Lacy Hug-Me-Tight
the front
aand the back.
I finished! Just in time to wear it to opening night of Madame Butterfly last night. I was very afraid that it wouldn't fit me or that it would turn out badly in some other way, but I can truthfully say that it came out nicely. I did most of the lace for the body border in the car during a 12 hour round trip to Orange County last week. I was really tired of knitting that silly lace after I put in a good 5 hours straight on Sunday of last week.
Pattern: Lacy Hug-Me-Tight from Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman & Mel Clark
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas' Alpaca Silk in "Oyster"
Needles: I used size 8 Lantern Moon needles for the lace, and size 5 Clover circular needles for the interminable ribbing.
Timeline: About two and a half months, interrupted by my stupid arm stitches, plus a baby sweater, a pair of lace socks, the Fetching mitts from knitty, and Steve's scarf.
I like the finished project, but the pattern does have some problems.
1) Incomplete directions. There is no mention of blocking, which is needed. Also, as noted by Kellie, is the 60 inches of lace pre or post blocking? Is it with the lace stretched, or limp? I got lucky and my 57ish inches of lace slightly stretched that blocked to 62 inches was absolutely the perfect amount. I mean, EXACTLY right. I'm glad I stopped when I did. Also, it doesn't say anything about how you sew the seams, which was a little bit of a puzzler for me. I am a new knitter! I did mattress stitch on the side seams, and my own special invention to sew the lace on. It looks good, and that is all I care about.
2) The yarn requirements do not give a different number of balls to make the larger size. I had about 1/2-1/3 of a ball left, which would not be enough for all the extra material for the large size. How was this overlooked?
6 Comments:
I love it! The color you chose is beautiful. I know what you mean about not being sure of the fit until the end. It's hard to figure out how it's all going to come together until it's all finished. Great job Sarah!
It really turned out beautifully! Great fit and look. Glad to see you are already enjoying it :)
Oh that's just beautiful (and I'm not usually a shrug fan!). Kellie sent me over...
Also here from Kellie's blog -- that is such a pretty hug-me-tight!!!! Great job!!
This is just beautiful! Fabulous job and wonderful fit!
My daughter wants me to make it for her (I picked up some alpaca at the MD Sheep & Wool Festival two weeks ago that I'm thinking of using). It seems a rather daunting (as in LARGE) project, though. I just finished the Doctor's Bag from the same book for her (it's on my blog, www.giantsknitter.blogspot.com if you want to take a look). That's a lot of my precious knitting time to use up on one 19 year-pld college kid!! :-)
It's gorgeous! Thanks for your notes on the pattern. I've been wanting to make this, but I'm a little puzzled about the gauge. The yarn is described as fingering weight, but the gauge on a size five needle is 20 stitches to four inches. I can't see how that's possible. Do you know what your gauge was on the ribbing?
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