My Love Note. 💕 It took me a wee while to jump on the bandwagon, but when I realized I had the yarn already in my stash and knowing Love Note would be a quickie, I did jump. The pattern IS a quickie for sure and very easy. The lace bit is a snap and would be ok for a beginner. I was in between a 34" and 38"; what I wanted was a perfect 36". I did not want the lace to stretch across my bust so had to have some positive ease but didn't want an oversized look either. I also did not want the lace to go down into the bust area. I cast on for a 38" and used the following modifications to achieve a 36".

The gauge was 16 sts. per 4" and by changing my gauge to 20 sts. per 4" I was able to tighten up the pattern (and tighten up the fabric too which I prefer). I also cast on less stitches at the sleeve separation. The neck is worked last. The sweater is knit top-down with a provisional cast on. When the sweater is finished, you pick up the neck stitches and customize away, creating a wide neck or crew neck or anything in between. To achieve a crew neck I knit two rounds, then worked a few sets of German short rows at the back to raise the back neck, then knit a few more rounds making decreases (at first I made too many and I couldn't get it over my head!) then knit my k1, p1 ribbing. I was chilly when I was knitting the neck and felt I wanted my neck to be nice and warm. If I decide later to make it a bit more open and wide, it will be an easy fix. I'll wear it a time or two before I decide. I also added length to the sleeves and body.

As per pattern I held two yarns together, a lace weight and a fingering weight. The lace was a frothy strand of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Cream. The fingering was Tusken Knits Fife in the pinky color, Cordelia. It has waves of mottled color with splotches of a blacky-brown. Adding the KSH softened the colors and gave the fabric a hazy pink sky effect. The two worked beautifully together, but then again, adding KSH to any yarn is a good thing! 

Sending love out to my readers. I hope you are having a good good day! xo Kristen

my Ravelry project page

purchase Love Note pattern by Tin Can Knits here or here

purchase Tusken Knits Yarn here