Seafoam Cowl

The first of the new yarns is already a FO - a basic seafoam stitch cowl. No pattern, just 9 repeats of the 20 sts seafoam stitch rapport for a length of approx. 130 cm and as many rows as the yarn would yield, resulting in 20 cm width. Luckily, although the minimal repeat was 4 long rounds, I was able to finish the last repeat with yarn leftover of only 50 cm.

Pattern: Seafoam Cowl
Yarn: Alize Cashmira Batik, 100% wool, 100 g, 300 m
Needle: 4 mm
Time to knit: a day and a half

Last night I dyed the white Alize Ecolana in warm orange-red tones. It's already dry and ready to be wound into a ball and knit into ... probably another cowl or a scarf. I have an interesting pattern in mind ;)

Seasonal Stashing

Let me share with you my latest stash enhancements. There must be an inner need for knitting in me, crying out loud, because the less I knit - and I haven't knit much this last month, the more yarn I buy.
First - the greens, though the camera makes them look more like dark blues:

1) 300 g of Cashmira, color 598, 100% fine merino. This should become a cabled sweater, still haven't picked the pattern, but the color - deep pine green - was very tempting.

2) 300 g of Alize Lanagold, color 586, wool-acrylic mix. I bought it for a man's vest - I've had my eye on Debardeur for some time and always imagined it in petrol melange.

3) 100 g of Alize Cashmira Batik, color 3130. A spontaneous buy, I had even forgotten I had bought it too :)) Last year I had an idea to knit Lanesplitter in this yarn, but something else got in the way. Maybe I'll test the yarn in a hat or a cowl first.

4) 50g Alize Superwash, color 433. I haven't knit with this yarn, so I bought this small ball to test it. I'll sample it together with a viscose yarn I bought some time ago (in a momentary lapse of reason) for this shawl - Glitz at the Ritz. I actually meant to buy a proper glitzy yarn, like Angora Gold Simli, but when I saw it in the yarn store it was too glitzy for my taste.

And two yarns bought with a dye job in mind:

5) Alize Ecolana white 55, 100% wool. I'm planning Aidez with Ecolana, but first I'll test it on a scarf or a hat, hand dyed in advance. Or maybe I'll drop everything and just buy a pack of Ecolana and start Aidez first :)))

6) YarnArt Pure Merino, color 2557, 100% merino. This I want to dye in yellow-brown and to knit into Wildflower cardigan.

Missoni Style Dress

Finally, the Missoni style dress is done. It didn't take that much time actually, only three weeks. I had my doubts in the beginning that 300 g would be enough, but while procrastinating my visit to the yarn shop, the progress of the knitting indicated, that the yarn might actually suffice. And it did - I have only some 5 or 6 m left! Just as I love it - no left over yarn :)

Pattern: Missoni Style Dress (personal pattern)
Yarn: Alize Diva Batik, 100% microfibre, 300 g, 1050 m
Needle: 3.5 mm
Time to knit: three weeks

I've never been a fan of thin belts, but I think I like this dress better with a belt.

The pattern is entirely improvised in the course of the knitting - with increases and decreases included in the chevron repeats. Initially I had planned a different finish at the top, but when I reached the underarms, I opted for the raglan upper part, thus keeping the color lines relatively even. 

I also decided not to bother with a lining. The knitting is fairly dense and the dress is not transparent or lacy, and anyway I'm not sure it would get much wear. Not that I don't like it - I do! I just don't see myself wearing a knitted dress a lot. The project was interesting and I'm glad it turned out successful but like the 30 some cross-stitch pictures I keep in a box in my wardrobe, it was all more about the process rather than the finished object :))

Surprisingly, my husband is very impressed by the dress and claims that it is one of the best things I've done and that I should wear it. I'll think about it :))