Finished Roundabout Tank

It's been a while since I've had a finished object to show off, and it will probably be an even longer time until the next one. I managed to finish the Roundabout Leaf Tank from Knitting Nature on Friday night as I was watching the Red Sox. It was probably the most comforting action I could have undertaken at such a shameful moment. So I present to you the ROUNDABOUT LEAF TANK:



Yarn: Berroco Denim Silk in color Absynth (yup, followed the yarn procedure to the letter). I think I ordered 9 balls and have about three and a quarter left over
Needles: size 8 Denises (love them Denises, but found that the cord has as much memory as an elephant which became annoying later on.
Modifications: I think I joined somewhere closer to 33 or 32 inches instead of the 41.5 or the 36.5 the pattern suggested. I just held it against me to try to gauge the correct lenght the piece had to be before I joined it. Because of that the part where the strip tapers off at the top ended closer to the middle of the back instead of towards one of the edges. Also, joining it a bit closer created more negative ease which was a very good thing. I found that because I made it so tight across the chest it kind of gave it its own shaping. This might be mistaken for being "too small," but in actuality, I think it works out quite well. It's quite comfortable and I don't feel awkward not wearing anything underneath it, and it's not so tight that it's uncomfortable. It just seems to go to my shape, which is good.

All in all, this is the first project I've ever knitted for my top that's been wearable. The Olympic Project was really supposed to be the first one, but it kind of petered out and looked horrible on (I think because the gauge was too big to be flattering on me). My roommate's going to try it on though, and I'm going to tailor the neck to her specifications. I'm hoping to wear it again this week...hopefully tomorrow to stitch n'bitch, but we'll have to see.

On the needles currently is the Icarus Shawl and the first of a pair of river rapids socks (yup, that's a link to the pattern folks!). I'm not sure I've got the gauge for the socks quite right. I'm somewhat worried that its a bit too small. I'm having issues with Icarus because I can't seem to keep it straight. I think that's kinda pathetic because it looks like such an easy pattern.

I'm also looking around for a Wallaby Sweater pattern that someone told me about at Barnes and Noble a few months ago. I randomly ran into this woman and she started telling me about the sweater and we kinda kept in touch for a bit, she copied the pattern for me, and then I lost all the information that she gave me and when she called me we just kept playing phone tag and trying to connect and it just wasn't happening (psst - if you're that woman, you're really awesome - and I still want to see the sweater - I'll swap you something for it, really!). I really like the idea of it, but the manifestations I've seen online have me a bit worried. Mostly for the armpit area and below. I'd like the sides of mine to be more or less straight with no shaping, but I definitely don't want it to get wider around the chest and taper towards the bottom. I've been thinking of designing something, but we'll see. It seems like such a simple idea that there has to be a decent pattern out there for it.