The Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt (finally!)

I love it! It's great! It's blue! It fits! I am out of short exclamatory sentences! Seriously though, I'm really happy with the way this tank top came out. It started out fraught with difficulties (twisted cast-on, bad needle/yarn combo, etc) but ended well. Granted, it took awhile, but there was an intervening fall and winter not being tank top weather situation, so overall it wasn't too bad. I started in August sometime and finished in late April, but I don't think I worked on it all from late-September until probably February, when I took it to work to be my lunch project. But, what you really want to see are the photos, right?


Project Stats: Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt
Pattern: Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt (which I've also been called the Ruffled Tuxedo Top), by Theresa Schabes, from the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits. I made the 36" size.
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy, navy blue (color 011). About 4.3 skeins. I bought 7, so clearly a math error or a gauge error was made at some point here. Yarn purchased at Acorn Street.
Needles: Size 3 Clover bamboo circulars.
Time on the needles: August 2007-April 2008.
Modifications: Many. First off, I didn't see a good reason for this to be knit in pieces, so I knit it in the round until I had to separate. And even when I had to bind off the center front for the lace panel I knit the rest in one piece flat until the armpits. Second, I didn't see the point of most of the crochet, so the only place I crocheted was around the bottom of the armholes, which looked messy due to the stepped bind-off. My upper armholes looked crocheted already because I had been slipping the first stitch of every row, and the other places that were supposed to be crocheted (straps, front edges, bottom) had nice garter stitch edges already. Aside from the bottom of course, but I didn't think one round of single crochet would keep it from rolling and anyway I like the little roll it has. Then, since I was jettisoning so much crochet, I decided to heck with the scallop crochet around the front lace inserts, which look fine as is. AND, why button it? I like it open, thus open it shall be!

Impressions: I love it, as I might have mentioned earlier. I really like the Hempathy (good thing, as I have a lot of it in the stash from the Webs extravaganza of '08). It was nice to knit with and it feels nice to wear, although I think if one had sensitive skin it might be a bit scratchy for something close to the skin. I'll always be wearing something under this so it's fine. The color in the second photo is more accurate - the first one has some flash issues. The fit on this is perfect - I was a bit worried because I was between sizes and decided on the larger of the two, since this is supposed to be loose-fitting. It worked out as well I could have hoped. Honestly, I didn't measure it when I was finished, so I'm not sure if my gauge was right in the end (I did swatch), or if I'm bigger than I think I am, but either way it fits.

So, I'm really happy with this, and if Anais turns out half as well I'll be thrilled! I'm on a roll garment-wise and I hope it lasts! By the way, the necklace I'm wearing is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry. I got it from my parents for my birthday a couple of years ago and it's a simple silver clasp-type charm that holds a marble. It's interchangeable and fits any small marble, so there are infinite possibilities. I love it, and wear it quite often.

I finally got around to mailing my Yarn Snob Swap package today. I haven't gotten mine yet but the mailing deadline isn't until this Saturday. I'm hoping my package arrives on Saturday as a one-day-early birthday present!