Grass Whispers with Foxhill

 While my sew-jo has been lacking, my desire to knit has been blossoming.  So far this year, I've knit 3 pair of socks, a sweater for myself and one for Eleanor and I currently have another sweater and a pair of socks on needles - All from Stash Yarn!

 So, why the resurgence of knitting - I think it has to do with a beautiful pattern catching my eye.  While scrolling Instagram one day I saw a sweater that literally made me catch my breath.  Then the designer had a test knit call.  You can see some of her work on her blog and it's lovely!  So, I volunteered to test knit.

 I have some lopi in my stash, a sweater's worth and it was perfect for this project.  I still have enough for another sweater.

 What I love about this sweater is the loose cowl neck.  I started the neck with a tubular cast on and the size 7.  Why?  Because Lopi is itchy!  And I knew I could decrease the extra stitches out later.

 Another thing that I really love about Teti's designs, is she designs sweaters to be work with dresses.  This particular sweater looks amazing with my black & white gingham ESP dress, as well as the solid violet Foxhill dress that I tested for Cashmerette.  I also have a piece of pink gingham ready to roll as well.

 Anyway, after working the color work section there is more of that twisted cable dividing the yoke from the body.  The original pattern had short rows right in the middle of those cable and had you stop working them half-way through.  Well, I continued the cables through the entire section and into the ribbing at the bottom and sleeve cuffs.  Because consistency.

 Finally - because the size 6 was perfect for my bust, but way too large for my waist, I decreased out another size worth of stitches (12) before starting the ribbing.  Because I'm tall, I added 1 1/2" before starting the waist ribbing and it was the perfect amount for wearing this sweater with a dress, but it's a bit short for wearing with jeans.

 You can find all the important details about the sweater on my ravelry page.  

 I would like to say one thing about test knitting before I move onto talking about the dress.  It's a little disappointing to me that while testing for sewing pattern designers has moved into a paid position in some cases, or providing fabric in many others, knitting has not.  If I had not had the yarn in my stash to knit this, I could not have afforded to purchase enough yarn for this project.  And my final payment was the pattern for free and a DISCOUNT (!!) for another pattern.  And yes, I did volunteer, and I'm still happy I did because my joy of knitting has returned.

 Next, I'll tell you very briefly about the Foxhill dress from Jenny's book Ahead of the Curve.  This is 3rd pattern I tested for the book.  First, if you know me at all, you know that I don't really wear solid colors - I feel like a giant target in solids - it's just me.  But when I made this dress back in 2020, I decided to add a "Kangaroo" pocket which I ultimately put too low and it droops and sags.  And when I finished it, honestly, it was too tight and very unflattering.

 You may be asking why I made a solid color dress when I don't wear solids?  Well, I had this pretty violet ponte on the fabric shelves.  I also pulled a print and then I had a video call with a certain little lady who has definite opinions about things.  She didn't have a purple dress!  I'm guessing by now, she has a purple tunic.  Anyway, we both got purple dresses and no fabric went back into the closet!

 2 years later, this dress fits much better.  I just need to figure out how to 'shore up' the pocket on the inside of the dress and I'll be that much happier with it.  

My daughter was here over Mother's Day weekend and we took the kids to the park on Sunday.  She snapped these photos on my phone.  Again, they are better than what I was getting. Now - I have questions:

 1.  How do you feel about testing?  Sewing and/or knitting?  Do you do it?  

 2.  Where do you stand on solids?  With very few exceptions, I'm a straight up print gal.