Barb & Cynthia Finish Objects for April 2025
Barb
In April, Barb was dreaming of summer and thinking about how much she'd like to work with a soft, summery yarn on her knitting machine. Even though summer won't be here in Western Canada until June, a girl can dream, right? She decided to cast on and knit another of her favourite wardrobe staples: Whitecaps (design by Yumiko Alexander). For more photos and details on this project, visit Barb's Ravelry Project page.
"This is my third Whitecaps. I made two of them last year and wore them all summer long, either over a t-shirt or summer tank or over a dress or more casually with jeans. I really enjoyed this boxy, lacy pattern design for summer.
This time I'm using a soft fibre with a lot of drape - Sojabama by Schulana, held single. The bamboo and soya silk held up nicely after blocking and gave me the gauge I was looking for at a stitch size 7 on my LK-150 (knitting machine).
I used all of the 350 grams of this yarn in my stash and thought the soft green would make a nice colour for a summer top. I paired it with a handpainted silk lace, held double for the two plain purl rows between the slip stitch pattern rows.
As in my previous two Whitecaps, I modified Yumiko's pattern and changed the purl rows on the public side to be knit rows, so I didn't have to reform those stitches.
I also knew I wanted to add some bust shaping to this top, so I calculated the slope shape and inserted them into one of the pattern repeat sections. That part was pretty easy, but the machine knitting challenge was figuring out how to put stitches on hold for the short row shaping at the edges, while at the same time, keeping the levers in the right positions for knitting and slipping stitches in the middle section of the fabric. I'm happy to say I figured it out, moving needles in and out of work manually and was totally worth the extra effort for a custom fit.
It's May now, and I've worn this top a few times. It's relaxed (and grown) a bit. The soya/bamboo blend is so soft, which I love, but I'm left wishing for a bit more structure. The neckline is more of a boat neck right now, instead of a round neckline, so I'm taking it in an inch on each shoulder and that should help it fit better.
Now with three Whitecaps I'm ready for summer! Bring on the hot weather and sunshine! If I had to choose my favourite Whitecap I would pick the one made in Yumiko's original DanDoh Silk Plus. The silk/cotton blend is cool and the fabric which is very Lacey, still holds it shape despite being lightweight and strong."
Cynthia
Cynthia chose to knit socks in April, as a way to use up those small, leftover balls of sock yarn. She made two pairs of "shortie socks" using Holli Yeoh's pattern for Over Easy Socks and one pair of socks using her own "try as you go" sock recipe. And, not to be outdone by her sister (knitting a whole third sweater!), Cynthia is counting all three pairs of socks as her April Finished Objects project.
"I love knitting socks! It's probably my favourite project to make and this month, I wanted to make something that would help me use up some leftover yarns.
I love the way that Holli Yeoh's "Over Easy" socks allow you to work with two yarns: one for the top of the sock and another for the bottom. These two-tone socks are fun and use up very small balls of leftover yarns. Given my thrifty nature, I have a lot of little balls of sock yarns! I could save them for gnomes or other small projects, but socks? Well, socks are just so practical.
I made two pairs of Over Easy Socks and got over-confident. On the second pair, I used a thicker sock yarn (Ancient Arts Socknado) but worked the same number of rows as my first pair (with Biscotte Bis-Sock) and the second pair turned out longer. Tsk! Tsk! (I didn't check my gauge). Fortunately, as is often the case with socks, they will fit someone.
My third pair used a skein of hand-dyed yarn that I picked up in Canmore, Alberta earlier this year. It's a lovely Merino-Nylon blend and I liked the way its swirled and "flashed" as I knit it in the round. I decided to "whip up another" pair of socks on a weekend getaway to Saskatoon and rather than follow a pattern, I used my tried and true "vanilla" sock pattern. Sock knitters often call a sock without patterning (like cables, lace, or fancy stitches) a Vanilla Sock. This one is tried and true for me: heel flap and gusset, worked from cuff to toe in the round, try on as you go. They fit nicely on me!"
If you'd like to see more photos and yarn details for Cynthia's socks, visit her Ravelry Project page.
We hope you will join us on our quest to finish one (or more) object(s) each month of 2025. Tell us in the comments what you're working on and come and visit our discussion group on Ravelry to tell the story of your finished objects. We'd love to see and hear from you!
~ Barb & Cynthia
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