FO Friday: Royal Tenor Cami

As promised, I'm gonna show you what I made with that purple linen while I was away, my version of the Razor Cami.  It's pretty.  It fits.  It... can't be worn on its own because it's rather see-through.  But I love it, and I hope you do too.

Just as I expected, my slightly large gauge resulted in a S/M size, just right for me.  The straps might be a little bit long, but I prefer to have extra room in the armpits, and since I'll have to wear another cami under this one anyhow that's even better.  

Props to the designer, Katie Marcus.  Her pattern was easy to follow, and I'll never be able to express my full gratitude for designers who give their work away for free.  

The best part about this FO is that it has really strong memories attached to it.  The lace is knit together with the ringing chords of the choruses, the sweet sound of the quartets, the laughter that accompanied the Open Division contestants, and all the excitement of taking the stage for the first time.  Every time I wear this cami, I'm going to remember the people I met, the songs we sang, the late nights and friendship and fun.  

How to Become Lifelong Friends with a Knitter

If you read my last post, you know my chorus went to Regional Competition last weekend.  Awesome job, Sound Harmony!  We had a fabulous debut, and I'm really proud of the sound and energy that we produced on that stage with such a small group.  Check out these beautiful, smiling faces:

Thank goodness for knitting, though, because I did a lot of sitting.  All together, I sat through a 6-hour drive from Seattle to Spokane, 26 quartet performances, 23 chorus performances, a couple of hours worth of judge deliberations, intermissions, and setup breaks, and a 5-hour drive back home.  On Friday, I'll reveal my wonderful creation from all that knitting.

Today, though, I want to tell you how I made crafting friends while at this competition.  Are you ready to hear my method?  Here's what I did:  I held knitting in my hands.

Well, okay, so that's not exactly all that I did.  At one point during a break, to keep myself pumped up about the next quartet, I spotted someone knitting and yelled out, "What up, my Knittah!?"

My chorus promptly disowned me.

I'm not ashamed, though.  Every knitter knows the best way to make a knitter friend:

• Approach knitter, knitting in public.  
• Say, "Hi, what are you working on?" 
• "Can I touch it?"  
• "Is that wool?"  
• "Wanna see what I've been knitting?"

It's foolproof.  We all love that connection.  Anytime I bump into a knitter in the wild, it's as though we've been crafting together our whole lives.  And really, we have.  

Travel Knitting

I've been sort of panicking all week because I don't have enough knitting to last for a 10-hour round-trip car ride.  Tomorrow, I'm heading off to Spokane to compete with my chorus in the Region 13 Sweet Adelines convention.  Yep, alongside my knitting, I sing sweet, sweet barbershop harmony.

But seriously, what was I going to do with all that time in the car?  Twiddle my thumbs? On top of that, I'll be sitting in an auditorium for many hours watching other groups perform.  I need something to work on, and I didn't have a project ready!

So I spent way too many hours on Ravelry this week looking for a pattern that

1. I already had the yarn for
2. Would take a significant amount of time to make
3. Didn't require me to look at the pattern the whole time
4. Wouldn't be enormous by the end of the weekend so I could pack it away when necessary.

It seemed impossible.  Socks are too finicky.  I found a LOT of lace options, but I couldn't immediately memorize any of the charts.  Hats I would finish in the first few hours (though I did consider bringing enough yarn to make 14 hats while I'm away).

Finally, I settled on a tank top.  I have this lovely purple yarn from Newton Country Yarns that's 75% Tencel and 25% Linen, perfect for a Summer project.  I found the Razor Cami pattern on Ravelry, and it only requires me to memorize a single round of lace!  I checked my gauge, and it came out a little bit big.  "No problem," I told myself; the pattern is for an XS-S, and I probably want a S-M, so that should work out.  I cast on yesterday, and I already like it (though it still seems a little small).  

Here's hoping it lasts through the weekend.  Maybe I'll pack some extra fingering weight yarn and needles just in case.  Mawata doesn't take up much space in a bag...