Yes, I'm still here. I haven't posted lately because I haven't been doing much knitting. Well, okay, that's not really true. I'm knitting. But I'm working on super-secret surprise gifts that I can't post here for fear that the recipient will see them.
I've worked on Lelah a little, too, but I haven't made much progress on it. I'm about halfway through the 9th repeat of the lace pattern. The new plan is to work 11 repeats of the lace then start the stockinette. I'll switch to smaller needles for the stockinette portion so it's more solid and not see-through. Much smaller needles -- I'm thinking 4s or 5s for stockinette, and I'm using 10s or 10.5s for the lace. I'm hoping to be able to wear the top by itself, without a bottom layer or a lining, without flashing my bra to the world.
More interesting: I finally got around to having someone take good, high-quality photos of Hey, Teach! They show off the whole top, the way it fits, the stitch detail, etc. The pictures also show how the buttonband still gaps a little; I'll eventually work a narrow, tight crochet row (probably one row of single crochet, worked with a small hook) to draw it in a little and hopefully make the buttonband less floppy. I'll probably also work a row around the sleeves at the same time so they fit a little more snugly and are a bit puffier. I just haven't done any of that yet. I can (and do) wear the shirt as-is. I need to do all that soon, though, because I plan on entering Hey, Teach in the county fair!
Ignore the bumpiness on the bottom section of the shirt-- it's just wrinkled from where I've been sitting at the desk all day. This fabric wrinkles like nobody's business. But that's okay, I still love the top.
Photos courtesy of
Jacqueline Jordan. (Yes, she's my editor. She has a photography business on the side. Check it out!)
Hey Teach! Complete!
Back view (Wooo wrinkles!):
Thank God the shirt's made out of 100% cotton, hehe. I can remove the wrinkles fairly easily without having to worry about damaging the fabric.
Stitch and button detail:
If you look in the lower left corner, you will see that I had a bit of a rowing-out problem with the stockinette, as is normal for me. Blocking took care of most of it and you can't really tell when it's being worn. Even I have to lift the hem of the shirt and look at it at an angle to see the slight bumpiness/ridginess.
And a side view that makes me look completely shapeless. It's just because the top was flaring a little over my stomach and at the buttonbands, and I didn't realize it. I'd have smoothed it out if I'd noticed. It doesn't really matter; this picture shows the shape of the top, and the sleeve, quite nicely, I think.
And no, I'm not really headless. I told her to focus on the top, to get as much detail as possible, and to feel free to cut my head out of the pictures because, as you know, I hate pictures of myself. :) And also, my face looks weird today. (A combination of being tired, drinking a Mt. Dew Game Fuel that turns my lips blue and just a bad appearance day. Yesterday was a good appearance day. Can't expect two in a row!)
