More ruffles

I love my blue ruffle tank that I finished last summer. It was perfect! And then I was a bit irked when I saw it in a recent family photo, and it was shorter than I wanted it to be, and not as flattering as it was last summer, fresh off the needles. (I had machine dried it per label instructions.) What’s a knitter to do?

Wash and re-block! I regained 1.5 inches in length, and it is once again perfect. But it also got me thinking about how much I love it, and wouldn’t it be nice to have one in a deep cherry red, too? So I went in search of yarn. The blue one is knit with Louet MerLin sport, a Merino wool/linen blend. I had a Mother’s Day gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, but then I found out that my LYS doesn’t carry MerLin any more. They do have Euroflax Linen sport, which is the same weight and the yarn specified in the pattern, but a little bit different. It would have been so easy if I didn’t have to think about gauge this time around, or wondering what the difference in fiber content will do. It’s close, gauge-wise…so I’m just going to forge ahead. I’m too lazy to wash and block my gauge swatch. I’m jumping in, feet first! I’m going to knit it in the round, but I’m starting front and back knit back and forth so I can leave the bottom 2 inches unseamed at the sides.

The Zen Rain KAL is going swimmingly! Come see the finished shawls in the PDXKnitterati Ravelry group. The KAL will wrap up July 21 (a week before Sock Summit), and I’m having a drawing for a couple of prizes, too. It’s not to late to join the KAL, because many of us are still knitting!