The Race Is On....

..... and now it is nearly over.

On May 8th or so, Victoria and I discussed what model we should knit from the new Vita yarn from Alchemy. It is a great 100% raw silk, so it has a nice texture to it, and it comes in luscious colors, of course:

Usually, if Victoria volunteers to knit something for the store, I approve wholeheartedly, and am thankful that she wants to make it! Unfortunately, I didn't really like the tank top from the book Knitting Nature that was Victoria's choice to knit the model from..... or was it because I had found the thing that *I* really wanted to knit from Vita? I had become quite fond of the Just One More Row pattern from Jill Vosburg, the Diamond Patch Sweater. But when I frowned down Victoria's choice, I could see she wasn't happy about it.... and then I had a brilliant idea.

Why don't we both knit a model from the same yarn, and see which one we like best? Plus, it would be fun. I am not sure exactly when it became a race, to see who would finish first, but it was a race before we wound up our first balls of yarn. Here are the two patterns we picked out:

Victoria chose Vita in red, and I chose a dark, mulberryish purple. My first instinct was to pick the pretty light blue... but I kinda wanted to see what the pattern would look like in a darker color, and it was already pictured in a light color. Here are the colors we chose:

So off we went. Both of us immediately wound the skeins into balls and started gauge swatches. Here are pictures, of yarn balls and beginnings:

Victoria was soon done her swatch and started on her project; I was lucky because my swatch could also double as my first modular piece.

Each of our projects has a somewhat unusual method of construction; mine is knit in modular diamond shapes, and they are knitted in as you go. Victoria's top is knit in a long, thin piece that spirals around as you go, and you add the piece to the lower part of the spiral as you work along, so it is all joined together.

I gave Victoria an extra day to work on her top, because 1) her project required one more ball of yarn than mine did; 2) she is so much younger and less experienced than I am; 3) I am a WAAAAY better knitter, of course; and 3) she gave me a cookie when I begged her for it. It was a really good cookie.

So now it has been a month. I actually finished knitting my top on Sunday night. I still have to weave in the ends, so it really isn't technically finished yet.... but I will weave them in by the end of knitting tonight. So that means Victoria has to finish her top by the end of her knitting group tomorrow night, for the race to be a tie. Hope she isn't reading my blog :D

We both have loved knitting with the Vita yarn ... I would certainly knit with it again! And I know it will be a comfy fiber to wear, too... it is soft and feels good against my skin. The Diamond Patch Sweater is a little shorter than I would have liked it to be... but the directions did give options on how to lengthen it. I liked this pattern well enough that maybe sometime I will even knit it again, or a slightly different version of it... it's the sort of design that makes me start thinking of lots of ideas. That can only lead to trouble!

:)

Comments

[Victoria]

I am reading this, and you're going down. I'm going to stay up all night and knit those straps!

[Beth]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

:)

Actually we're both winners because we both had fun knitting these items!