I want to wear this top.  Now.  Right now.

Last week I talked about the 2 color options I had – orange in the middle or the bottom.  I decided on the middle.

The Cast On

I wanted to be sure to get a stretchy cast on.  I have a store bought sweater that’s stretchy everywhere except the cast on edge and it’s SO annoying.  I understand why handknitters have trouble with stretchy cast ons, but machine knit sweaters have no excuse not to use a good cast on.  {/rant>

I did the Very Stretchy Cast On (wish there was a more unique name) and while it was painful to cast on all those stitches it’s living up to its name and is both very stretchy and very pretty.  I love how tonal handdyeds look when they’re cast on.

The Ribbing

The ribbing worked up surprisingly quick even though it’s on 3.25mm needles.  The ChiaoGoo tips really helped speed things along.  And bonus – no unsightly striping or flashing.

Section 1

The first section was straightforward too.  That joining of the second color was a bit fiddly, especially with the intentional purls rolling up into the work.  There might have been some cursing.

Section 2

By the time I got to section 2 I knew what to expect with the joining round so it went smoother – it didn’t fly by but I got better at it and don’t think I even raised my voice or grunted (you rate your knitting that way too right?).

I’m now onto the magenta and can’t wait to get done with these short rows so I can just knit knit knit in the round.  Then it will truly be TV knitting – although I did knit on it at the pub a bunch last night so I guess it’s technically already at that point.

I know I’m not the only one obsessed with this pattern – the number of projects in Rav has almost doubled since I cast on a week ago.  This knitter even went a step further than I did with the color options and mocked up 9 variations to help her decide.  It was fun to look through all the different options she had.

I’ve already been daydreaming about what to do with all the leftovers I’m going to have.  Stripey legwarmers maybe?

I’ll catch you on the purl side.

I wrote on Friday about some projects that have been inspiring me lately.  I love doing that because it puts everything in one place for me when I’m shopping.

I knew I wanted to look for yarn for 3 in 1 and I found the perfect colors at Neighborhood Fiber Company.

I ruminated on colors for quite a bit on Friday night – thinking about what I like to wear (pink, red and purple) and where I have holes in my wardrobe (orange, yellow and maybe some greens).  I knew I wanted to use some colors I don’t often use, but I also wanted to make a cohesive top when I was done.  I was afraid I’d make a top the looked like I just layered on three tops.  Oh and I’m not doing the stripes.  The tonal variations in the Neighborhood Fiber Company is enough for me.

Enter the Color Wheel

There are tons of great articles on using a color wheel to select colors and I thought this one was quite good.  It talks about different types of color combos – e.g. primary, analogous and complementary – and the real value for me – lots of pics of the color combos in action.

I of course started with one of my favorite colors to wear – a deep magenta pink – and added on a green and an orange-yellow.  For the color geeks this is called Split Complementary.

I got Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Sock in

• Charles Village (magenta)
• Del Ray (orange-yellow)
• Anacostia (green)

And look at the cute bag Karida was giving out.  A girl can never have too many bags.

I’m trying to decide which order to use for the green and yellow.  I like both and keep changing my mind.   What do you think?  I’ll be wearing this with jeans so I don’t think that’ll have an effect.

Yellow in the middle

This feels like the less traditional way for me to place the colors – I like that!  Sometimes I like the swath of yellow in the middle and sometimes I think I’ll look like I’m walking around with a yellow boomerang on my midsection.

Green in the middle

I like the way the green and pink look next to each other.  The progression of colors looks like it’s going from light to dark.

I can’t CO until I figure this out because it’s knit bottom up.   Help a knitter out?

I’ll catch you on the purl side.