Fad-Classic done!

Well, here it is. All finished! It's actually been finished for over a week now but I've been too lazy to take pictures. I'm very happy with how it turned out and I actually wore it last night when hubby and I went bowling.

Pattern: Fad-Classic by Wendy Bernard at Knit and Tonic and also at The Garter Belt.
Yarn: Almost 5 skeins of Tahki Cotton Classic in Violet (#3912).
Mods: Knitting top down completely in the round is very cool! But I had the worst time figuring out the gauge for this pattern. I ended up going up two needles sizes. The stitch pattern is very stretchy too and that added to my confusion. Anyway, it started out very nice but by the time I joined the straps in the round around the bust I started panicking and thought it might be a little too big. I wanted it to be fitted so I added a few decreases right under the armpits. Now that I look back on it I think that was probably unnecessary but oh well. I added a little more than an inch to the length which was a little risky because I literally only have a few yards left. It was definitely a nail-biter!


So here is my next project. Orangina. I wasn't originally drawn to this pattern but I kept seeing everyone else's in blogland and how beautiful they turned out. So I got some Jaeger Sienna 100% mercerized cotton in Sapling green....I'm breaking out of my pinks/purples/reds groove that I normally go for.

However, I've come back to the gauge issue again. You know, before I began knitting seriously and back in the day when I only knitted hats and scarves...I didn't give a hoot about gauge. I mean, what a lot of work that was! I just wanted to get straight to the project. But now.... now I'm obsessed with getting gauge. I think I knit about 5 swatches for Fad-Classic! It's not so hard when you're just measuring stocking stitch but it's a whole different ball game with stitch patterns. Stitch patterns just seem to be more out of shape and stretchy. If you stretch it one way you get gauge but if you stretch it the other way....totally off! I do know that I'm a somewhat tight knitter and usually go up a needle size or two but with Orangina I think I'm going to stick with the recommended size.