And Happy Beet Greens to Cookie.

Have a fun weekend!

I had my first CSA pickup yesterday. I chose Borski Farms as my CSA this year for a couple of reasons: a single share is small, so it’s just right for supplementing what I have in my own garden, and because it includes fruit as well as veggies. I used a different CSA a few years ago when I lived in a condo and didn’t have a garden, but even a half-share was often much more than I needed.

This is what I got for my first week: Peas, beet greens, garlic, sweet cherries (in the brown bag), and a pot of Italian parsley (I had a choice of basil or parsley).

And here’s how my patio (and part of the veggie garden) are looking these days:

The garden’s looking a bit happier since it has been less rainy. June tied the record for the most days with measurable rain (the other year was 1967). It wasn’t a record breaker as far as total amount of rain, but it was still four times the normal amount.

Now that things are drying out a little, the basil, peppers, and eggplant are looking much better. On the left in the photo are the green beans – three successive plantings to spread out the harvest. On the right are the bell peppers, eggplant, basil and tomatoes. This definitely looks to be a much better tomato year than last year.

On the menu tonight? Shrimp quiche with sauteed beet greens.

Ta daaaaa!  I finished my 12 tops in six months. Yippee!

NaKniSweMoDo #12:

Pattern: Aleita Shell by Bonne Marie Burns, from Interweave Knits Spring 2008.
Size: Small, but at a slightly looser gauge.  Finished top is about 34″.
Yarn: Katia Linen, colorway 8, five skeins (I only used a little of the 5th skein).
Needles: US 6 / 4 mm
Ravelry: Project page

Modifications:

• I did an I-cord bind-off for the back neck stitches, starting with the three held stitches from the right front neck edge, and grafted the end to the three held stitches at the left front neck edge. The pattern has you bind off the back neck stitches, knit neckband pieces from the held stitches at both front neck edges, sew them to the back neck, and graft the ends.
• I only went down two needle sizes (to US 4) for the hem ribbing instead of three (to US 3).
• Added 1″ to length before starting the waist shaping.
• Added an extra column of knit stitches at the side seam, since I didn’t like the large area of purl stitches that would otherwise be at the sides.

There is a small error in the pattern in that it tells you to slip the edge stitches with the yarn in back. That’s fine when you’re working on the RS, but you have to slip the stitches with the yarn in front when working on the WS.

I’m happy with how it turned out. I’ll be able to wear it as a tank top or as a vest over another top.

The pattern has some very nice details, and I’d definitely recommend it, but it’s probably not a good project for a beginner or for anyone who hasn’t made several sweaters before. The techniques include picking up stitches behind existing stitches for the front overlap, and knitting a separate neckband and seaming it (plus grafting stitches). Also, there are a lot of things going on at once at the bodice – splitting the work for the front overlap, decreasing for the neck edge, increasing for the chest, binding off for the armholes and separating the work, decreasing for the armholes, and maintaining the neck and armhole edges in the edging pattern. After doing most of it with counters and marks on paper, I finally gave in and charted it out. Then it was a breeze to just follow the chart. Should have done that in the first place, of course.

And look what came off the needles at 6 pm on June 30th:

NaKniSweMoDo #12 !

Yahoo!

Yes, there appears to be a color change between balls. Dye lots were the same. However, I didn’t notice it when the yarn was dry – only after I soaked it, so I don’t think it will be a problem.

I’ll have more details when I can do a modeled shot.

And in the meantime, of course, I cast on for #13. Basic Black by Glenna C.

Somehow, a black cardigan seems appropriate for the 13th sweater.

But as you can see, I’ve been knitting.

This is my Aleita Shell. I’ve got to say, this is a mentally challenging pattern. There are lots of things going on at the same time when you get to the bodice – increases at the side seams, decreases at the neck edge, decreases on both wrong sides and right sides, armhole bindoff and shaping… it’s hard to keep track of it all.

I should have been smarter and charted it all out to begin with, but I was too smug. But then I got to a place where things just didn’t seem to line up right, so I had to chart it out anyway to figure out where the problem was (a decrease where there shouldn’t be one on the left front armhole shaping).  I could just take out the last decrease and call it good, but it’s not really that many rows, so I’ll rip it back.

But otherwise, it’s going pretty well. The pattern has you do the bottom ribbing with a needle 3 sizes smaller than used for the body. Noticing that a lot of people had problems with the hem rolling, I only went down two, and maybe I should only have gone done one. We’ll see after it’s blocked. I’m counting on the linen content of the yarn to make it work.

Although there’s no errata for this pattern that I could find, the instructions tell you to do the slipped stitch edging by slipping purlwise with the yarn in back. As I discovered (and later saw in a bunch of Ravelry projects), you have to slip with the yarn in front when working on the WS. Either this is an error, or I’m wrong about what “with yarn in back” means. If it means “behind the work”, it’s an error. If it means “on the back (wrong side) of the fabric”, then I’ve always misunderstood it.

I’m planning to totally ignore the instructions for the neckband. It has you bind off the neck stitches, then knit a neckband (working upwards on the 3 stitches at each edge of the front), and sew it on, grafting the ends together. The heck with that – I’m going leave the stitches live and do an I-cord edging.