An Acid Green Shell

We've had a few batches of houseguests and have been on vacation to boot, so I've been forced to tidy away all my sewing crap. Therefore, no sewing has been occurring at my house lately.

I have been doing a bit of knitting though! Our vacation involved taking the train (the Coast Starlight) from San Jose up to the Pacific Northwest. Besides being relaxing and providing gorgeous views, a train trip gives you a lot of quality knitting time.

Front view

The pattern is called Icy Blue Shell, by Kennita Tully. It was published in the July, 2007 issue of Creative Knitting. My friend, Jessica, was doing an bit of Kondo-ing and was about to toss her old issues when she realized that this pattern still sparked a bit of joy. And, being a good friend, she passed some of that joy along to me.

Side view, trying to show the side panel of dragon skin

I didn't have anything in stash that would get me even close to the right gauge, so I treated myself to two skeins of Stonehendge Fiber Mill Shepherds Wool Worsted in a green that's shuddering on the edge of yellow.  I think of it as Acid Green. The color isn't true in these photos. In real life, it's a little more like this:

It's as close as my face can get to yellow without melting like the Wicked Witch of the West. 

Back view

This was a quick pattern to knit, even for someone like me, who has to parcel out knitting time on account of tendonitis. You work in the round from the bottom up and it's mainly stockinette, except for three panels of what they call Dragon Skin, one under each arm and a double-wide up the front.

Close up of the dragon skin panel - color is totally washed out though

Here it is, laying flat so you can see the side panels a bit. They do look a bit like scales, huh? The stitch pattern creates little curves at the top and bottom of each panel, which I think are kind of cute.

Color is truer here, but still not quite as neon as in person

I squared the neck off a little more than what the pattern called for, partly because I was skating on the edge of running out of yarn. As usual.

If you can get your hands on the pattern, I recommend it! It goes fast and those dragon skin panels liven up the stockinette just enough to keep you awake.

I have a few sewing projects lined up and waiting, so I'll be taking over the breakfast table again soon.

In the meantime, my Ravelry notes (such as they are) are here.