Itchy Fingers

I have a case of itchy fingers.  It probably started with the lovely blue skies and warm temperatures of the past week.  It was added to by thinking about what I would knit as an F1 sweater and with spring burgeoning it's way as it will, I started something new.  But not my F1 project.  The F1 season runs till  December 1, and it really deserves to be a winter sweater, and maybe two.

It is spring knitting I am looking for right now.  I hope I get it done to wear this summer.  The wardrobe could use the boost. 

I cast on a kind of simply styled tunic type top with a wonderful drape to it and this dainty lace detail at the neck and sleeves edges.  Lots of plain knitting with just enough quirky bits to keep you interested.  I think.  I hope.  The pattern is Summer Snowflakes by Susan Dingle. 

I'm not 100% sure this is the right yarn for it.  It is designed for a fingering weight silk but it is knit at a DK gauge. I am currently using Elann Sonata and am not 100 percent happy with what I am getting so far.  The fabric is a bit more open on the size needles I am using.  (No I didn't swatch. This is my swatch.)  I really do not want to have to wear a camisole under it.  I have to decide if I want to knit it on slightly smaller needles or if I ought to just knit it from a different yarn.   Smaller needles mean a firmer fabric and I am concerned that with this yarn on slightly smaller needles, the fantastic drape in the pattern will be lost. 

If there is one thing I do have, it is yarn choices.

One of the choices is Berroco Remix Light.  I picked that up in Saskatoon last year and while I did start a project with it, it didn't quite work how I planned. If I switched to the Remix, I wouldn't knit the lace at the top, but I would make it a gradient because I have a lovely gradient thing in the yarn.

Remix Light is also rated at a DK weight though it has no where near the heft of the cotton.  perhaps grist is a better word for what I mean.  It is nowhere near as dense as the cotton.  It would really play off this pattern's wonderful drape.

I also have a very large cone of cherry red silk that would be perfect for this top.

I would have to double strand it to get the right weight for this project, but it would be a stunning top.  The game with this would be a game of yarn chicken.  There ought to be 3600 yards minimum on this cone, so 1500 knittable yards would be available for the project, which ought to be lots.  It would drape wonderfully and look stunning, but in pure silk, it seems like it would be more than I need for wearing around my small world.  It might feel too fancy.  (I ought to get over that.)

So that is what is going to be winding through my head today.  It's going to be busy.