At long last....

I am pleased to introduce you to "Tiny Dancer", a women's sweater pattern I plan to release in August or September.  I was so excited to share this one that I haven't even blocked it yet, and actually I still have a few loose tails that still need to be woven in.  But, the sun wasn't going to wait for me, so we had to run out to the yard and catch a picture before the moon appeared.  I was lucky to enlist the photography services of my 9-year-old daughter - she's got a pretty good eye if I do say so myself!

The graded pattern is actually one final edit away from being complete, so I have big hopes to get a test knit started late this week.  I'll post when that happens in case anyone who follows this blog wants to participate.  It is sized from a women's 30" to a 42" chest in 2" increments.  The finished chest measurement should be the same as your actual bust, but there's a bit of ease built into the waist and the hips will probably either fit with no ease or just a bit of negative ease.  And did I mention it is completely seamless?  Sleeves look and fit like set-in sleeves, but they are knitted with picked-up stitches and a sleeve cap made from short rows.  It may have taken me six tries to get the sleeves to fit exactly how I want them, but I am very pleased with the way it all came out in the end!

My original vision was for this to be a casual sweater that would be worn over a tank top or a leotard (hence the name) but I'm in dire need of clean laundry and I didn't have any clean tank tops to wear underneath tonight.  If you really wanted to make this as a sweater to be worn with nothing beneath, you could easily skip the last row of neckline bind off which would give you an extra inch on the shoulders and that would cover up your bra strap with no problem. 

The Madeline Tosh Sock yarn that I used for this was a dream to work with.  It's 100% superwash merino wool and is plenty soft to wear against the skin.  (I'm not super-sensitive to wool, but I'm more toward that end of the spectrum than the "Iron Skin" crowd.  If something seems soft enough for me to wear, I think it would seem that way to your person of average sensitivity as well.)

The dye lot on these 3 skeins of the hollyhock colorway were significantly darker than the two I already had.  I was a little bummed because I liked it even better in its lighter incarnation (and I think it was easier to photograph true-to-color, too) but as much as I wanted to believe I could use the lighter yarn and work in a few stripes in the darker colorway to finish the thing, I had to admit my first attempt didn't look as good as I'd hoped.  So, not only do I have this dark purple sweater, but I have a 95% finished stripey one that is just missing the bottom of one sleeve (had to pull it out to get enough yarn to finish this sample!)

Looking forward to moving along with this design.  If you have any interest in testing, check the blog on Wednesday or Thursday and I'll likely be here pointing you toward the web address for the test knit.