The 2009 Oklahoma State Fair was good to me!

Michael Kors Cabled Tunic
1st Place - Knitted Sweater and Best in Show


Printed Silk Cardigan
1st Place - Knitted Cardigan


Prairie
2nd Place - Knitted Shell


Rhiannon Kilt Hose
2nd Place - Knitted socks

Thanks, Bette, for giving me your advice on entering!

FO: Michael Kors Cabled Tunic

Woo hoo! I finished the Michael Kors Cabled Tunic, didn't run out of yarn, the darn thing actually fits, and I am a happy camper!

Modifications made:

• Used Elizabeth Zimmermann's technique for rounding the squared-off bindoff edges of a neckline (dec last stitch on previous row before bindoff then bindoff one less on the bindoff row, it rounds out the square "jog" from one bindoff row to the next).


• Fudged the recommended number of stitches for the cowl to let the twisted knit stitches line up with the knit stitches of the ribbing (probably more trouble than it was worth since the cowl hides it, anyway. But I know it's there. :)



• Used recommended needle size for first 4" of cowl neck, then increased one needle size to 5", another to 5.75", another until the 6-1/2" were reached. This increases the ending diameter of the neckline so that it has room to fold over without being tight. My neck rolls over nicely and doesn't try to crawl back up.

Caston the CPH last weekend during a soccer tournament in Kansas City. Finished most of the back during the 5 hours up and back. Now that's quality knitting time! :)

Yikes - I am running low on yarn!

Oh, this is just getting better. Okay, I KNOW I bought two extra balls for the Michael Kors Cabled Tunic. KNOW it, because I was substituting yarn, although the yarn was the exact same weight and knit to the correct gauge on the same size needles as the original yarn. Now I'm coming to the end of one ball for each sleeve, I'm about 65% done with the sleeves, and I have four balls of yarn left. I'm estimating that the collar will take two, so that leaves two balls to finish the sleeves. And I'm not done increasing on the sleeves yet. Sigh. I guess I'll just see how far I get before going to the trouble of contacting Webs to see if they still have the same dye lot that they sold me SIX MONTHS AGO!!!!! Argh. Maybe I can make up the sweater with a different white yarn.

Why does running out of yarn make you knit faster, like you're trying to outrun the end of the ball and beat it to the finish line?

Front finished of Michael Kors cabled tunic

Finished the front of the Michael Kors Cabled Tunic (VK Fall 06) last night at 11:30pm. I wasn't going to bed until it was cast off! I have reached the "I'm tired of this project I want to cast on something else" stage. I am going to cast on both sleeves together on the same circ so that I don't end up on different pattern rows. I kept detailed notes on the back so that the front would match exactly.