Fire Opal Tee
Even with my new self-imposed bedtime, I still managed to finish one thing for both the Selfish Sweater KAL and the Tops, Tanks, and Tees KAL. It’s the Fire Opal Tee by Allyson Dykhuizen.
For all of it’s dropped stitch, cabled fanciness, it really wasn’t that complicated and made good reading/ waiting room knitting. The cable rows only come every so often and they’re easy to memorize. I found I could even follow Bletchley Circle while working on this. The only catch is that you must be careful not to incorporate your dropped stitch into any of the cables. I found, on cable rows, that if I scanned down at all the previous rows to make sure the stitch to be dropped was indeed flanking the cables, I had no problem. I was able to catch any mistakes quickly that way.
I chose Comfy Fingering accidentally because I thought that was the appropriate weight for this pattern. But I don’t mind as even knitting the smallest size, I ended up with plenty of positive ease. If I knit another I will probably try Comfy Sport or Shine Sport and even smaller needles. But still, can you imagine buying this for only $9? That’s what it would have cost had I not added a few inches and needed a bit of one extra skein. On my next one, I’m not adding length. I’ll go for cropped.
I’ve enjoyed seeing everyone else’s versions of this top in the Selfish Sweater KAL. They range from bright summery colors, like mine, to dark jewel tones and smoky grey. The mood of the design completely changes with each one. I decided to let this top be my submission for the TTTKAL too because my Hawt Sands is in tiny little dk stitches that are taking forever to knit up. I do have some major progress on it to show later, though. I’ve spotted another Fire Opal in that KAL as well. You don’t even want to see all of the project ideas going up on that thread. Seriously, you do want to see them. Just scanning through them wastes half of my knitting time.
The things I liked best about this design were the dropped stitches flanking the cables (duh) and the fact that you can play with the yarn weight or needle size and not need to do a lot of math to get it right. It’s a cropped, boxy shape that can work if you knit it a bit larger or smaller than you intended. I have to love things that allow for my sizing errors.
Details: I used size 1s for the ribbing and 2.5s for the body and 4 skeins of Comfy Fingering in the marlin color. After swatching and getting exact gauge, I decided to knit the smallest size, in case. I;m glad I did because a size larger would’ve been too large for me. Since I have plenty of ease and length, I’ll probably throw this in the dryer to get it back into shape after washings.
Oooh yeah, that’s Nathan Fillion, isn’t it? I’m his biggest fan (Imagine my crossed eyes and lisp here.) More on Dallas Comic Con later, I promise. I may find a way to work this photo into every post I do from now on. But then it would have to reside next to photos like this:
(more on ravelry, kollabora, flickr, instagram)
I have another post drafted about eating liver. Liver and Nathan Fillion… I can make that work.
My knitting has slowed down but I can honestly say I’m feeling much better and making new friends on the two knitalong threads has compensated for my slowed speed. I also have a really great summer top for 9 bucks. Thank you Allyson and Shannon for hosting really great group knitting!
Other posts on this knit: swatching, progress, and dropping stitches
this is gorgeous! and uh nathan fillion? lucky ducky!!! i'm not so sure on the liver though. ha. love your photos, as usual. xoxoxo
Another lovely! You have quite the wardrobe now, I'm thinking of completely revamping mine…. my comfy teenager self is pulling hard.
Will I get beat if I say I don't know who Nathan Fillion is………
Aw, I love it! Turned out so fantastic. Will it be cool enough for a Texas summer? I know you talked about trying to make garments that actually work in your climate.
That's a lovely little cardi! And I'm very impressed that your toes match. 🙂 Lovely also that you got to meet Nathan Fillion. I'm here in Hollywood North where I run into actors at Sbuxs (which are on every corner) and weird places, like my gym. I'm always surprised how people on TV looks so different form catching a glimpse of them on the street. The other day I was walking on the sea wall and walked past Susan Sarandon. She's so tiny!
As usual gorgeous knitting, photos and gorgeous you! And Nathan Fillion…he's so dreamy! bahahaha!
That sweater is totally adorable and I would knit one if I was not cold all the time. And Nathan Fillion… I've already told you how jealous I am. How was he? As nice and funny as he seems?
I just got done watching all the episodes of firefly again for the millionth time, plus have you seen him in Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing? So good. I for one would not mind if you posted that picture in every single post.
Your Fire Opal looks awesome. It's been fun seeing all the different versions of this one. I love the colorblock tee that Allyson made, too.
I really, really, really, really love this top! If I can find some time to get back into Firefly, I'll have to do it knitting this top since you have now solidified its connection to Nathan Fillion. 😉 That is such a great photo!
Thank you, Rebecca! Nathan Fillion and anything works for me.
No you won't get beat, Kelly. We'll all just secretly laugh at you. 🙂 He was Mal on Firefly, my favorite sci-fi show. He's also in the new Much Ado about Nothing and Castle.
I too am only wanting comfort these days. I'll look forward to seeing your teenage self's influence in your finished objects.
I think it will, Heather! it was in the nineties the day I wore it for the photo. The thing is, there is nothing cool enough in June thru August. Nothing. It's just a matter of what will survive all of the sweat.
Thanks, Veronica! I didn't even notice about the nail polish until I saw the photos. I never see "the stars" except at two comic cons. They were all extremely normal. But this photo cracks me up because my husband and I totally look like someone's parents.
Thank you Hannah! And agreed!
He was hilarious! He also would mingle a little with the crazy crowd just to please them. We heard his solo Q and A, then the one with most of the Firefly cast. He seemed like a normal late forties kind of guy, but I think they are all really and truly emotional about their time spent working on Firefly. I'm going to put together a comic con post soon. I wish you could've been there too. Maybe one day you can visit the US and we can meet up at some geek comic con where the whole Firefly cast will be there. Oh and we could hit yarn stores too. 🙂
Oh man, wasn't Allyson's version fantastic? I want to cast on another and make it cropped, I think.
I have seen Much Ado. Before it came out, I was watching the last version with Emma Thompson a while back and when I saw Michael Keaton's character I thought he overplayed it and that a guy like Nathan Fillion could do a much better job. I had no idea Joss was making a version, much less that it included Nathan. I thought that was funny.
I loved Joss's version of Much Ado. And that song he wrote for it was stuck in my head for weeks.
Oh thanks, Vanessa! I just started watching it again last night. But I'm taking your advice and watching Castle soon.
Ugh that sounds horrendous. I'd rather -40 to +40 though, so I admire those of you who can survive it without hibernating in a cool dark hole the entire summer (pretty much my reaction to living in humid southern Ontario…). I'll stay up here in the sub-arctic, thanks!
Glad to hear the top works though! I wonder sometimes how well knitting and warm temps actually work out. I have a friend in Houston who's wanted to get into knitting, but just can't stand the thought of all the warm garments it usually makes. Might have to send her over to some of your posts!
I'd love to read about the comic con. My dream is going to the US one day to attend a comic con and a tiki and rock festival, and to meet some of my long distance friends. It would be wonderful to do it soon. Koen is having a conference close to Dallas this July but his bosses made it impossible for him to change the return plane ticket so he can't stay longer. We thought of this possibility and me going some days there, but now that he can't prolong it and that I'm having allergic reactions to almost anything I eat, I guess we'll have to leave it for later. But it will happen one day, I'm sure.
i love nathan fillion! i saw the pic and then was like…what you aren't going to mention him!? but i kept reading. that is just super cool! oh and i really do like the sweater too! ha!
Ha! I will write something about the con this week and link up to some clips from youtube of their panels. I will say he is really good at entertaining people without a script.