claudette!

Oui oui, Claudette, elle est fini!

I am so excited... this is the first non-scarf garment I've ever made for myself, and I am particularly proud of the fact that I designed it, and it worked, and it fits, and I can't wait to wear it!

This is also a bit of a revolution in my knitting, because as I have mentioned before, I never ever knit myself anything. In my New Year's Resolutions (woe unto so many of them!), I vowed to knit things for myself and wear them once in a while. The baby tiger scarf was a less-than-impressive first attempt. Claudette is the triumphant comeback.

You're waiting for a picture, aren't you? I love you guys. It's coming, I swear.

Back to the verbosity: I struggled and struggled with the neckline. I wanted vintage laciness, and assumed crochet was the way to go. So... I took up crocheting, borrowed books from generous friends, practiced on scrap yarn, and eventually decided crochet was not the answer. The evidence:


big chunky first crochet picot attempt


slightly daintier second crochet picot attempt


f**** crochet! knitted lace rib sample
what does it say about my camera that this yarn is a different color in every picture?

The single crochet hook leaves me feeling like I have giant tiger cub paws for hands, and I fumble like crazy. Give me my two knitting needles any day!

After finishing the little cap sleeves, I was really liking the clean look of the ribbing, so I just used the really simple lace rib from sample #3. And voila! Here she is!


i think i'm going to be wearing this more than just once in a while.

There are some adjustments I need to make to the pattern to smooth out some bumps, but overall I am quite proud of my little design. Perhaps it will be made available via an upcoming Free Pattern Friday, if I can figure out how to offer other sizes without knitting this thing over and over again.

By the way... I love all this saving-money and saving-the-earth resulting from Use What You Have Month II, but my consumerist acculturation is hammering at me. I am really looking forward to June so that I can rush out to buy me some Opal Rainforest sock yarn (thanks ever-so Gray la Gran for tipping me off to this yarn). My debit card is humming in anticipation...