Love Note in the time of Coronavirus

After finishing my fuzzy purple Love Note Memoir, I wanted a spring-ier version to wear sooner. I had this Hazel Knits Lively DK in my stash. I only have one skein of Aquarius and one skein of Beach Glass because they were going to go into a brioche shawl or scarf design, but it wasn’t quite right for the project. This yarn has patiently waited for its time in the spotlight, and now it’s time to shine. I love how crisp and clear the lace is with this yarn.

It’s Love (Note) in the Time of Coronavirus! Love Note is a perfect knit for these strange times; it goes quickly and I don’t have to pay too much attention.

The pattern calls for 600 yards of yarn; I have 550. Because of the limited amount of yarn, this will be short/cropped/normal on me. And it will have short sleeves for spring/summer wear.

How can I use the two colors together and make it look right? I don’t think it would look good striped into a fade, that would look too stripey/sporty for the pretty lace. I could have made the entire top portion in the lighter color, but I don’t know how long the bottom portion will end up being. I don’t want it to look like I chopped the sweater (and me) in half. The color blocks would have to be in the right proportion to each other, and I don’t think I have enough control (or yarn) to make sure that works out.

So….I’m knitting the lace yoke in the lighter color and as much as I can of the body in the darker color. I don’t know what color the sleeves will be, below the lace yoke, until I see how far I get with the dark color on the body. Will I have to have a stripe of the lighter color at the hem? We’ll find out!

I don’t want a neckline as snug as my first Love Note, so I skipped the provisional cast on and just began with long tail cast on with the larger needle at the neck, then knit the ribbing on the smaller needle. Back to larger needle to work down towards the body.

I finished the lace, and continued in the lighter color until just *after* the split for the sleeves. I suspect that I won’t have enough of the dark color for sleeves, so I’m hedging my bets. I don’t want a line of dark at the underarm if I end up having to use the light color for the sleeves. That would be WRONG.

Now I’m on autopilot, cruising down the body. We’ll see how far this single skein of Aquarius will take me.

Oh! My classes sold out at Vogue’s Virtual Knitting Live, so it’s clear that knitters want to get together to knit and learn, even if we have to do it from a distance. There are still a few classes and lectures available at the event, but you should hurry if you want to snag a spot. Here’s the website again.

Away we go!