WIPs and FOs

I got some Finished Objects for you today!

First off, I finally blocked the Annie Modesitt Silk Corsett Top. This may be one of the nicest pieces of clothing that I own. Fits like a dream too. As long as I hold in my stomach. Note to self: Eat less, Exercise more.

I got a great deal on the buttons. Buttons are not cheap. There are twenty of them on this piece. I found some simple pearly buttons that were 6 for 90 cents at Joann's. The hubby thought this was outrageous until I told him the usual price for buttons, some of the cheaper being 3 or 4 to a pack that costs $3 or $4. He has absolutely no clue the cost of anything. Obviously he is not the one that does the shopping in the house, huh?

Here's the stats:

Pattern: Annie Modesitt Silk Corsett Top
Yarn: Bamboo by the Bag from DBNY (Discontinued Brand Name Yarn) in Cobalt
Needles: Sz 7
# of times frogged before success: 5
# yarn balls used: 1.5
Total Cost: Around $10.00 - Not bad, don't ya think?

Ubiquitous Bathroom Mirror Pic

Second up: Laburnum Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks w/ a picot edge. Probably won't do the picot edge again. I don't think I really like it. I do absolutely love the colors in this yarn though.



And here is the new WIP: The Clementine Shawlette from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I'm using Lion Brand Micro Spun in White for this one. I take back what I said about acrylic yarns. They are not all bad and this one proves it. It glides on the needles like buttah and is so incredibly soft. I'm going to have to pick up some more of this and make a simple sweater out of it. Just for me, natch.

I'm a little further along than this now, but this was the pic I had.

No, it's not a tie, it really is going to be a shawl.

I'm new to chart reading. All the instructions that I am comfortable with are written out for me or are at least combined with charts. This is the first pattern that I have done that was chart only.

I had a really confusing moment on this that stalled all progress. For those who may have a similar problem:

There is a point where the pattern kind of stair-steps in for a decrease. I was stumped on what I needed to do. What I needed to do was nothing. This is called a "no-stitch" part of the pattern. I just needed to start the whole thing with the next stitch which was a knit. The decrease came in the middle of the row. I was used to seeing the decrease on the same row as the yarn overs. This row just leaves out the yo's and voila! the row takes care of itself. Thank you to the folks on Knitty who helped me out with this!