Halter Part 1

Having just moved to Bakersfield from the very mild climate of San Francisco, I am anticipating a very warm spring/summer season.  I grew up in the Inland Empire so I'm used to hot summers, and honestly I can't wait.  My new place has a huge living room window and I have a little patio with a door and a window to my bedroom, all in shade.  It'll be nice to get a breeze going through here when things get into the triple digits.

In antici... pation of this, I'm making myself a few tops.  Found the pattern for a halter and it looks so cute.  I ordered the yarn right away.  Totally disappointed that the color in the pattern, Aegean Sea, wasn't available.  I ended up getting Cape Cod Blue instead.  It's pretty, reminiscent of blue jeans.  I have a few pairs of shorts in a light tan color, beigeish, whatever color that is.  Neutral.  I figured this blue would look good with those.

Cotton yarn is not my favorite.  It feels, for lack of a better word, gross on my fingers while I'm working with it.  I'm probably spoiled by working with yarns like Malabrigo (Merino wool) and Noro Kogarashi (wool and silk).  This cotton, however, isn't so bad because there is just a touch of elastic in it.  It's very springy and doesn't feel so, blah, sluggish or whatever it is that bugs me about other cotton yarn.

While it feels ok, it is just weird to knit with, because it is springy.  There isn't much stitch definition.  It probably won't block much, if at all, because of the elastic.  However, for such a tiny little skein there seems to be a ton of yarn in it.  I bought 4 for the top, not sure I'll need all of them.

Though I usually wear a size small in everything, and knitting patterns tend to be even bigger than regular clothes on me resulting in me needing an extra-small, I'm not quite getting gauge on this one.  I started to knit the size small while watching the Oscars last night.  Tried it on after getting about 4 inches done and it was tight as a mo'fo.  Skin tight!  not wanting to look like a street walker, I ripped it all out and cast on for the size medium.  Haven't tried it on yet, but I'm about 3 inches in and it already looks a lot bigger around.  I'm going to knit to the end of this skein and try it then.  I'm using size 4 needles.  My hands are mad at me for this, and my next project you better believe is going to be with bulky yarn on size 11's just to give my poor hands a break.  It's exhausting holding those tiny things.

Seems nuts that I'm worried about a halter top when it is 55° out, but I was here last summer so I know how hot it gets.  Super excited.  I love the heat!