plan B...

As I was knitting on this TLR cardi (watercolour WCD) I knew that it was going to be tight finishing up without running out of yarn. In the back of my mind, I was telling myself that it would look better anyway with a solid-coloured front band - because of the stripey-ness of the yarn, a stockinette band was going to look so much different from how the colours mixed in the tuck lace rib. Sure enough, by the time I was at the underarm of the second front (I made the sleeves first) I had to rewind that 5-inch mistake-filled back piece and that took me through the end of the last front. I weighed what I had left - 16g! not very much. I confidently knit the bands using midnight tweed WCD and attached them, still feeling good about the outcome. Pressed it lightly and kept patting it and holding it up in the mirror, trying to convince myself that it looked fine. I even squinted a bit...left it overnight, hoping it would look better in the morning - NOT! I removed the button band (8 rows times 2, plus folding row and cast-off row which shows on the outside of the garment) and weighed that - 8g!

Backup plan: with fingers crossed, re-knit the bands using the solid colour for the inside/facing - which won't show anyway - and use the watercolour for the outside/front side of the band. Ah! Complete, even the back neck band, with about 16 inches of yarn to spare! Redemption! I can hold my head up again!
One more item crossed off my to-do!

mental note...

They don't work for me anymore! I need something much more blatant!
For the past several knitting projects on my standard gauge machine, I've been telling myself to change the sponge bar before the next thing. At Christmas when I was doing that 4Fhoodie, I was noticing that the needles were up so high that picking up stitches for increases and decreases was becoming more difficult and I thought to myself, I guess it's time to change the sponge bar. Then I did that circular scarf and once you're into a project, it is difficult to change out the bar so I just kept re-knitting the tucked stitches and sort of blamed it on the fine yarn and the circular knitting and maybe sticky latches. I made Nathan's hoodie in early February and it didn't present any issues - heavier yarn, not much shaping, easy work - so it slipped my mind again. I did the swatches and the actual oxymoron scarf for February and I slipped in the close knit bar, completely forgetting the sponge bar issues and everything worked fine. Socks were not a problem or so I thought.
Yesterday, completely oblivious, I set out and cast-on the full width of the needle bed  to make sister Janet my TLR cardi (http://knitwords.blogspot.ca/2015/07/my-plan-worked.html- 'my plan worked...' July 23, 2015) from last summer, for her upcoming birthday. I have enough of the watercolour WCD left over from her last dress and I thought it would make a nice outfit with the dress. So the cast-on wasn't exactly a quick and easy thing - anyway, the point was, after knitting about 80 rows and ripping back a few times because I thought the tuck patterning was messing up, I finally gave up and took the piece off - OMG! what a disaster - glad I gave up when I did! Out of the 80 rows (it's a 6 row repeat), I had three spots where the tuck didn't work all the way across but then started again. V-8 bang on the forehead! that freaking sponge bar! I pulled it out and man! I've never seen one thinner! Replaced it, knit up a perfect sleeve and life is good again!

my plan worked....

I'm ready for you, Minneapolis! (and I've decided that it's tuck lace rib!)

I used the shape from Mazatlan (KW#45) with vee neck, elbow length sleeve and mid hip length for the body. Because I wanted to add a crochet-look hem after the fact, I started off with stockinette waste yarn, using the ribber comb for the cast-on, (see blogpost, Wasted...Not! Nov 25, 2008) so I would have it to hang the weights for double bed work. After the ravel cord, I knit 2 rows of stockinette and then transferred to the ribbed tuck lace arrangement - I needed to have a plain row to be able to rehang the stitches for the hem, but found that 1 row was not enough because they were getting moved around and some doubled, so 2 plain rows worked much better. I used the crochet-look look hem from Tumbleweed (KW#53) but didn't do the RTR in the middle, just tucked the alternate needles on the last half and it worked beautifully. I used the stockinette bands and buttonholes (starting one tension number tighter to make up for this lighter-weight yarn) from Purple Purls (KW#52) - it's gorgeous - I don't care how hot and humid it's going to be! Hope to see you there!

ribbed tuck lace or tuck lace rib...

I knocked off that skirt, no problem and I'm on a roll - looked around for something else to do...I have a ribber class to do in Minneapolis as well as the seaming techniques for the manfriend hoodie which was all single bed, so I think I should do a project on the double bed just for a bit of practise. Oh, I know, I mentioned after San Diego that I would like to use that tuck lace rib stitch that was in the old cover garment tunic from 1994 (blogpost, cover story, May 20, 2015).
You may have noticed that I have an affinity for cardigans - rarely do I make a pullover, so it's kind of a given here. I like cardigans because they give me more wardrobe options and to be honest, I always feel fat in a pullover. The illusion of a small waist is easier to maintain with the vertical lines down the centre of the button front, open or closed. You'd think I'd get over it one day but it doesn't look like to  be happening soon, so, cardigan it is!
I want this to be really lightweight,  MSP can be very hot and humid in late July, so I've chosen Wool Crepe Deluxe - I have 2 family weddings in September and this could be a good option for at least one of the associated events. I made the first swatch and as I was knitting it, I remembered one of the problems with this tuck lace is that it tends to lengthen and narrow and, as it is WCD that I'm using, which is usually at 34 to 38 stitches/10 cm that could make more trouble than it's worth.
I also want the lacy holes to stay open and not get dragged down as the fabric narrows. I throw on the 'tuck-every-other-row' option on the ribber and wow, what a difference! not only takes the stitch gauge from 49 sts/10 cm (top swatch) to 35 sts/10 cm, but adds a flatness and width stability to the fabric. A few tweaks to my cast-on edge so it's easier to rehang and add one of my favourite trims (a variation of #33 XOXO trim from Band Practise) and I have a plan!