Rosanna

FO Friday (and new pattern): Rosanna Wrap!

It’s so nice to have a plethora of projects that I’m allowed to show off!

This is my newest design, Rosanna Wrap:

I picture this wrap being perfect for dressy nights out in the summer–it looks fab with a little black dress. And it’s long (75″), so there’s enough fabric to actually keep one warm.

Blocking the finished wrap was a bit of an adventure. I wanted a nice straight edge (obviously), but I don’t own blocking wires (haven’t ever needed them before) and had only about 50 pins. First, I went out and bought a couple more packs of pins. Then I used a method I found on Ravelry: I ran cotton yarn along each edge, pulled tight, and then braced the cotton with pins so the lace was pulled tight and able to open up.

It worked rather well, if I do say so myself–but slowly weaving in the cotton yarn and putting in a few hundred pins isn’t an experience I care to repeat very often!

I also decided to up the dressy-factor by adding a knotted fringe. I had to look up tutorials on how to do this and I figured others might have to as well… so I included my own photo tutorial in the pattern.

Here are the specs on my FO:

Pattern: my own Rosanna Wrap, available to purchase on this website or through Ravelry here.

Yarn: madelinetosh tosh merino light, 2 skeins in Tart. I blogged here about my worry that my two skeins (purchased at different times) were too different from each other… but oddly enough, that appears to have been completely addressed by blocking. The dye ran pretty severely when I soaked the FO–I had to empty the sink and add fresh water five or six times before it was clear. The excess dye seems to have evened out the difference in the colors, which is so lucky I can hardly believe it. But the proof is in the pictures!

WIP Wednesday

Now that the hubbub of Blog Week has died down, I can get back to regularly-scheduled blogging!

The green sweater is currently languishing in the WIP basket, waiting for buttons and possibly afterthought pockets. I’m giving it some time to marinate while I decide.

In the meantime, I’m working on a shawl design (my first!) in Tosh Merino Light. Being a newbie at shawl design, I didn’t plan for enough yarn, so I had to order another skein.

And now I’m paralyzed by doubt. I knew getting a similar-enough color was a total crapshoot, but I thought I got lucky–the new skein looked close enough in color when it arrived, but now that it’s caked I’m not sure. I don’t want to rip out the whole thing and alternate skeins (I’m 3/4 done!), but I have a bad feeling there’s going to be a noticeable line.

Hmm… although, looking at the picture, the new cake doesn’t look very different. I should probably just bite the bullet and work a few inches before making a final judgement.