FO: Make Up Your Mind Tank

I finished something! It's been a rare for me to finish something larger than a dishcloth lately, so I'm pretty excited to share my finished Make Up Your Mind Tank:

Fin

The result isn't 100% perfect (there are some mistakes in the lace pattern that I didn't notice until I'd joined the straps) but this is the first wearable FO (Finished Object) that I've made. That is - I might actually wear this. Maybe.

All the mistakes are, sadly, in the front, so let me show you the back! It turned out great!

Racerist!

Forgive the styling here and the few strings you might see - I was excited to show a finished project and still have to weave in a few ends. Now it's time to start Holiday Knittery 2011. I know you're excited.

First up is a cardigan for the Boyfriend's darling goddaughter. The pattern is the Maile Sweater and it looks like this:

Cute, right?

Part of the joy of holiday knittingis getting rid of the yarn I've over-indulged in during the year. That is the case with this sweater - I ordered the wrong color of yarn for the endless cardigan project I never finished and just held onto it.

Mine looks like this. Well, actually, that's a misstatement. This is the worst possible picture of the project at the moment, but I have to have SOMETHING to show you:

Pretty? Ugly? or Pretty Ugly?

The yarn is way less obnoxious than that, even though I'm still not 100% sold on it. I need more than just the border to know for sure... Jingle Bellz,  ya'll.

Make Up Your Mind!

Hello, there.

My on-again-off-again blogging style had been upsetting my two readers. I came back with a flourish in early 2011 and blogged about nothing but my ongoing knitting projects. This brought the readership squarely into the zero digit category. So, why not move all my knitting to a space that promises only knitting updates?

Sure, the world is not  in short supply of knitting blogs, but I need a hobby and you need something to do when facebook is really, really slow one day. Help me build my knittery brand, won't you?

So, what am I up to? I'm thrilled you asked. I was inspired by the Sweatshop of Love's summer sweater knit-along (also known as a "KAL") to start on the Make Up Your Mind racerback tank.

Make Up Your Mind - will you actually wear this?

Now, this photo presents a lot of problems for me.

1) This woman is stunning. She is also the designer of this pattern, so the tank fits her perfectly.
2) I don't wear lacy or crochet-y things. I find them to look sloppy, bulky or like those macrame plant holders your loopy neighbor had on her porch when you were a kid.

BUT THEN, this looks like a lot of fun to make - you get to change patterns often and it might knit up pretty fast. And maybe I really WILL wear something like this, I just haven't been bold enough.

Drunk with power that a birthday check from grandma and grandpa offers, I bought the yarn for this and cast on.

Knit Pick Comfy yarn in the colorway "Planetarium" Fingering weight (*snort*)

I started a new job at the beginning of August which included a longer commute, which translates to PROGRESS:

After a week of commute knitting

My other sock-weight yarn project has been rusting on the needles due to boredom and running out of yarn for the second time, so I was not sure how fast this project would move. Turns out: quickly!

Racin' with my Racer Back

So, now I'm thisclose to being finished. I've got straps and just need to finish up the back and graft them together. THEN we'll see if I actually can talk myself into wearing patterned stripes across my gut.

There are a few mistakes here and there, but overall, I'm happy with it. What do you think - would YOU wear it? is there a way to ensure it doesn't look too Grateful dead? What do you think of the color?