WIP Wednesday: Linen Obsession and Waiting For Yarn

 I've been on a bit of a yarn buying kick lately - it was my birthday last week, and what better justification for buying some yarn you've wanted to try for a while? Did I need yarn? The answer to that is basically always no given my ridiculous stash, but did I have the yarn for this top I wanted to make? Also no. Conundrum. Anyway, this time a good sale on Lion Brand caught me on the right day and I made a purchase: linen! I've been kind of loving linen in all forms lately. I love wearing it, but it's so dang pricey that I don't exactly have much of it. Enter the idea of knitting my own linen top, and here we are. 

One of the books I borrowed from the library a few weeks ago was Lovely Lace Knits by Gabrielle Vézina, and I immediately fell in love with this t-shirt design. I never thought I'd be knitting a t-shirt just because a wool t-shirt sounds pretty counter productive for Florida, but then the idea of making it up in linen jumped in my head and I couldn't let it go. So when I saw that Lion Brand sold cones of Silk City Fibers 100% Linen yarn, I pounced. Even the color was close to the example photo, which I loved.

So Monday night I knitted a swatch. I used a size 2 needle and got 8 stitches and 10 rows per inch, which is a bit too small for the pattern, which calls for 7.5 stitches and 8.5 rows. I will confess that the color is slightly less saturated than I was expecting from the photos, but I still like it. I like the fabric I got with my swatch, and linen doesn't fluff up at all with blocking, so I'm just going to do a bit of math and maybe go up one size for mine. The swatch is just so bouncy and drapey - I wish I could convey that in a photo. So, did I need a new project? Absolutely not. I have so many going right now, and I've been on a planning spree with the purchases I've made the last little while, so it was kind of bound to happen. In all likelihood, I won't even finish this top in the summer, lol. BUT it's hot here all the time, so I'm not worried about the season in which I finish it. So that seems to now be in the works.

And my Irish crochet collar is on pause while I wait for another order of yarn to arrive with the connecting thread. I didn't watch the Craftsy class ahead enough to know that you make the connecting mesh out of thinner thread than your main motifs, so my idea of just using all the same yarn for my first project didn't exactly work out. These motifs are all in size 3 crochet thread, so I ordered some navy blue size 10 thread to connect them all. They will be different brands, so I'm not positive I will like the two different navy blues together. I'm thinking I should have the new thread by next week, so we will see. So whether I use the navy or a different color, I'm at the point that I need to join these together. I also kind of need to pick a shirt or make one to put this on, lol. Today I had planned to go to my favorite thrift store, so we will see what I find there.

So things are looking light weight and summery around here with my knitting. I'm still plugging away on my Susan Shaw cardigan since it's my most portable project, and I'm gearing up for Sock Week in July. All kinds of things going on. Love it.

What do you have going right now? Anyone else have plan-itis and cast-on-itis this summer? Let me know!