We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone for participating in the search for the right button for the Lace Leaf Pullover. This was a hard choice. I originally thought that the whimsical wooden flower button was the right choice. It was my first pick, and a lot of my blogging buddies spoke up for it vociferously in the comments. I was particularly swayed by Azure's "Trust me." She was speaking my language! Alas, although I had the greatest confidence that this was the right choice, after I sewed it on it just stood out too much.

And this is always the problem, isn't it? The button we love - the one which is clearly the coolest button ever - competes with the sweater and just won't cooperate. You really have to choose one - the sweater or the button - to steal the show and then allow the other to be the type to stay in the wings. That's why I bought the Grey Pearl Beauty in the first place.

Sleek and minimal, it has class, charm, and understatement.

I loved the Asian-Inspired Etched Button from the first time I saw it. It was "the button that got away" and I returned to Michael Levine determined to have it, and to use it. Somehow, it got away from me twice. I really can't use it for this project, but I will go back and pick up several (in a smaller size) and design a simple, yet elegant sweater around them sometime next year. They won't get away from me a third time!

The Whimsical Wooden Flower was my compromise button. It was fun, yet understated enough that I thought it would do the trick. This one will make it's way onto a kid's sweater sometime in the future. Something bright and wonderful.

The Grey Pearl Beauty really is the best of the three for this sweater (although I agree with KS and Mary that it would take more serious searching to find the perfect button). I'm happy with it, and I had a great time hearing from all of you!

If you want to see the final tally, go here. We ended with 499 votes!

Pick a button, any button...

Alright. So I know it's a little unfair to post an FO and then admit afterwards that it isn't really an FO, because there is a little bit of business that needs to be taken care of. But, you see, there are woods in DC (the better for taking the pouty picture, my dearies), and there are buttons in LA, and prior to the photoshoot there was not time for the twain to meet. So I pulled out a bobby pin, and did what I had to do: secured the collar, shot the pouty pics in the woods, and then hoofed it back West to select a button.

Which leads to the second issue: which one?

I have three great buttons, and I'm a little torn. So like other knitters before me, I ask you - which one? Here's a little more info to inform your choice:

Option 1: The Grey Pearl Beauty (shell)

Sleek and minimal, it has class, charm, and understatement.

Option 2: The Whimsical Wooden Flower

Playful and bold, it clearly belongs on a chunky knit.

Option 3: Asian-Inspired Etched Flowers (wooden)

Delicate, interesting, international in flavor - sophisticated.

Let me know what you think. If you have a particular reason for liking or disliking a certain button, I'd love to hear about it in the comments, too.

Lace Leaf Pullover: Pattern Notes

Lest you think the days of imitating haute couture knitwear are past, I present you with my version of Teva Durham's Lace Leaf Pullover, complete with styling:

I am a pouty wood nymph in a fabulous sweater. Envy me my indulgently sour expression.

Lace Leaf Pullover
Loop-D-Loop or Interweave Knits, Summer 05, designed by Teva Durham
Knit with 10 skeins - and not a pinch left! - (53 yards/50 meters/skein) of Twilley's Freedom Wool (100% Wool - not merino!) in Moorland (408) on Inox 29" circulars and Addi Turbo 24" circulars in size US13! (9.0mm), in a guage of 10 sts and 14 rows per inch in Stst.

Size: smallest.

The Pattern:
This is a wonderful and well-written pattern!!! It justifies several exclamation points!!! I don't usually knit on big needles - this is the first time I've ever gone past a size US11 - but when I saw this yarn on my trip to Cleveland, I just had to have some, and I knew that this was the one chunky sweater I had seen that I really wanted to make. I wasn't disappointed.

The construction of the Lace Leaf Pullover is pretty unique. It's knit from the bottom up to the center, and then from the top down to the center, so that the leaves can point in opposing directions - very clever. You will notice that my version does not have leaves on the body, though Teva's does. (That's because Teva knows that to really show off the design you should knit it in a solid color. Julia knows this, too, but she never buys chunky yarn, so she made some modifications to make it work.) I actually knit this as designed the first time, despite some reservations, but during one of my myriad "fitting" sessions Moxie noted that keeping the leaves in that position made it "look like I fucked up". He was right. We can't have that!

This is Roosevelt Island where we took the shot above. You can read about it below.

In addition to "having that shit at the bottom where it looked like I fucked up," the sweater body was a little short when I kitchenered it the first time, so I set out to knit the sleeves with the goal of having a little yarn left over so that I could not only rip out the lace leaves at the bottom, but also lengthen as much as possible when I got back to that section. All this was necessitated by the fact that I had less yardage than called for in the pattern, since all the Cleveland yarn store had was 10 skeins. In case anyone else is this cavalier or cheap, the sweater can be done in the smallest size with a total of 530 yards or 500 meters of yarn in the correct guage, if you shorten the sleeves by an inch, and the body by a smidge. Just be sure to make guage and knit the sleeves first, so that you can use every bit of the yarn. This is not a feat for the faint of heart.

Originally I planned to rip back the section of the body that flashes really obviously. That was before I realized that the lightening bolts of color would be swathed across my not so voluptuous bossom. As soon as I realized what this particular anamoly did for my figure, it was transformed into a "feature". Victoria's Secret has nothing on variegated yarn.

Back to my praise of the pattern, however. This is a very fun knit. You get to use a lot of techniques, including grafting (kitchener stitch), lace knitting, circular knitting, knitting through the back loop, top-down and bottom up construction, etc. I particularly like the ribbing at the bottom, neck and cuffs. At first it is a little irksome to purl through the back loop, but the effect is a lacy ribbing which nicely mirrors the rest of the design. It's a very thoughtful detail. The work moves quickly, and the result is stunning. You're left with a lovely, unique piece that is extremely wearable. That's a lot to ask from a single knit.

Modifications:
I think I covered these in the last section - I tend to digress.

Impressions of Twilley's Freedom Wool:
Freedom wool is gooooood stuff. It's very old school in feel - like Lamb's Pride - and it knits in a very even, satisfying manner. The colors are just lovely, and the wool itself is very soft, despite not being merino. I will have to investigate its provenance. It's a fine fiber. I recommend it to anyone who wants to knit chunky. I may even get more! Also, it's dirt cheap. I bought mine for $4.50 a skein. It's hard to get anything for that price, let alone a yarn this nice. I'd be willing to pay twice that price for it.

Possible substitute yarns:
I don't really do chunky yarns, so I'm not much help here. Something Rowan might be nice. Perhaps Lamb's Pride Bulky? (though that might be finer.)

Tips for Making the Lace Leaf Pullover:
If you have the requisite skillz, you'll be okay. If not, it could be a fun way to learn them!

About Our Photoshoot:
The photo above was not obtained by any small outpouring of energy, but it was taken in a beautiful setting which somewhat eased the pain. Moxie got up this morning, having clearly not checked the weather (26 degrees - has DC become part of the Tundra?), with an itching to go to Roosevelt Island. I immediately thought "Great! Lace Leaf Pullover shoot! I'm on it!" So we bundled up, got Caia into the car, and set out for the Island.

Roosevelt Island, for those who are too lazy to click the link, is a monument to Teddy Roosevelt, great conservationist and President of the United States (I know, I bet you thought that was an oxymoron). It's a beautiful wooded island on the Virginia side of the Potomac, that can be reached by a footbridge. RI is a wonderful oasis for runners, dog lovers and others in the know. It's scenic, quiet, and has many serpentine paths that all lead to a spectactular monument in the center. It's our favorite monument in DC to date - and this city has some good ones. If you want to see more pictures of it, click here for a little tour. If you're a history buff, there are even more interesting sites on Roosevelt Island here and here.

Once there, Moxie assisted me in getting all braided up and set for the shot. This consisted of many fine hair adjustments, and several minute adjustments of position and expression on my part. Moxie did bobby-pin detail and was patient enough to take 30 shots in order to produce the one that you see. Despite the fact that we were both friggin' freezin' to death. Afterwards we shot our hands into our gloves and ran down the closest shortcut path to the monument to snap a few pics before returning home to hot chocolate. All in all, a fun, if brief, outing.

My Stealth Project Has a Stealth Project

This does not bode well. Here's the yarn that distracted me, and the beginning of another design:

Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton Worsted Weight. The bulky is nice, but the worsted is heaven.

I think that the pressure of so much gift knitting on the horizon has created a monster. I have managed to make some progress on the things I want to finish before Christmas. I finished my gift for Kate's cyber shower (not listed in the sidebar), and have made significant progress on my Give A Little Socks. But other than that, I'm stalled. I haven't written up the pattern for Clementine. River is languishing, and the other projects I have planned for my niece and nephew are, well, not exactly started. I hit a little snag with my stealth knit, too. Here it is in it's current stage, lounging out back:

I'm feeling a little short and stubby - fix me!

I'm a little short on yarn, but I decided that way okay, as I don't need the body or the arms of this sweater to be quite as long as Teva Durham designed them to be. The thing I didn't take into account was that the original yarn has more drape, so the difference in length is a little more dramatic than anticipated. I tried the body on, and as is, I need more. So, I'm going to knit the sleeves, do another fit check, and see how much yarn I have left and how I feel. Regardless of the length, there's a particular offending section that I intend to rip and re-knit alternating skeins.

Just in case there's any doubt, this is the offending section, or as Marnie would say, "Lightening Bolt of Ugliness". I knew what I was doing when I knit it, I just didn't know how much it would bother me. Now I do, but it's really not a big deal - just a few inches in the middle that need to be removed and re-knit. There are some really pretty sections of this sweater, like the neckline:

I'm knit top-down and bottom-up. Isn't that clever?

In fact, having photographed it, I'm reminded of why I stole away with the Lace Leaf Pullover in the first place. If I'm honest with myself, I have enought time to finish up the Lace Leaf Pullover and the charity socks and then belt out Christmas. I do not have time to design the sweater in my head with that lovely Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton. I guess I'll go back to my original elicit knit. Hold me to it! I need the support.

Stealth Knit: Lace Leaf Pullover

Admit it. You know you've done it, too. You have several beautiful things on the needles, many of them gifts, or items that have just been lingering too long that you need to finish, and yet you look them over and nothing appeals. You realize after a few days that you have stopped knitting out of sheer avoidance of these projects. And you think to yourself:

"Self - I need a little shot in the arm. Something to get me back on track, put the umph back in my crafting. I need an elicit knit."

And just at that moment, in comes the stealth knit. It's the project that you've been dying to knit, but have for some reason been depriving yourself of. You work on it in a flurry of ecstacy. You are so devoted to it that it is well on it's way to being a finished object before it even hits the sidebar. It is amazing. It makes you forget about all those new-born babies and little people you really should be knitting Christmas presents for and the charity socks and every obligation that you can imagine. It is the best you've ever had.

Best of all, it is not a midlife crisis. It is a Lace Leaf Pullover:

I am a stealth knit reposing in the garden. Beware my allure.

I realize that this lovely variegated yarn is not, perhaps, the best fiber to show off the beauty which is the Lace Leaf Pullover, but I'm willing to take that risk. The yarn is this wonderful lovely soft stuff called Freedom Wool that I picked up in Cleveland for $4.50 a skein when I was there for my girl's-weekend-slash-baby-shower-extravaganza at the beginning of October. It is the only yarn I have that can be knit on size 13 needles (and I have a lot of yarn), and I love it and that's the way it's gonna be. Plus I think that this particular lace motif is bold enough to stand up to a variegated, if not quite bold enough to absolutely shine:

What do you think? Can you see the leaves? If not, I don't want to know!

Anyhoo.... It's all out in the open now. I took a stealth knit last night. It was great and I don't regret it.

In addition to sneaking in a little extra time with my Lace Leaf, inspired by this post, I also spent a little extra time with my camera over lunch.

This is has been one of the many beautiful days that reminds me how lucky I am to live where I do and to do what I do. I have time to smell the roses (both literally and figuratively) and I have many wonderful roses and other flowers to smell. So, for all of you who enjoy a little photography, here are some more pictures from my lunchtime garden. Enjoy!