Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Shopping Tunic


Completed: April 2007

Pattern: Shopping Tunic, Twinkle's Big City Knits

Yarn: Twinkle Handknits Soft Chunky #05 (100% virgin wool), 3 x 200g hanks (83yds each)

Notes: I chose to omit the pockets from this top because I didn't want bulk in the hip area and also so that the top would be reversible. I think it looks good either way! It was fun to knit, though using such huge needles did make my hand kind of tired after awhile. I did use a felted join, which I've been meaning to try, and it worked great. The pattern is easy to love--a quick knit (3 nights!) that actually looks good. The yarn is easy to love--soft and fluffy and a beautiful color. In fact, there are only 2 things that are not easy about this top:

1. It's hard to find the right weather to wear it. It has to be warm enough to go virtually sleeveless, yet cool and/or breezy enough to wear 100% wool made up in a cowl design. I finished knitting it some time ago but never did weave in the 2 ends till this morning (I did it just by hand), since I finally had the ideal weather for it.

2. It's a bit of a challenge to wash this thing. It sends up a big wet sloppy mess. Ugh. At least it's not too pilly so far.

(Psst...if you want a less cowl-y or cowl-less version of this top, you could get by with 2 skeins for the XS size, I bet. And I think it would still look really cute.)

3 comments:

Susie Cupcakes said...

I love the chunky knit and cowl neck. It looks really modern and cool. Nice that it knits up fast, too!

Nata said...

Usually I'm not a big fan chunky knits, but wow for this! I love the big cozy collar! And it's reverisble? Very clever. In fact I think I'm going to look round for some chunky yarn and see if I can make something similar to it. I would wear it on a windy chilly autumn day with a long sleeved top underneath. No risk of freezing wearing this one!

Unknown said...

I love it short! I sometimes throw my handwashables into my washer on the spin cycle only - think that would work or do you think it would felt, heaven forbid?