whispers-2My second Whispers top is complete. The yarn is the delightful Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in the color Saffron. If you’ve ever ready The Day the Crayons Quit, you’d know there is a fierce debate about whether the orange crayon or the yellow crayon is the “true color of the sun.” I think this Saffron color cinches that debate by being a perfectly sunny blend of the two.whispers-5I used almost two full skeins of the yarn and made the 36″ size. Previously I made a 32″ size due to having just enough yarn in a gradient kit. This top has about 6″ of positive ease, so this worked out, but this time I wanted to preserve the look of the pleats and flow of the top so I made a size that follows the intention of the design. I don’t think I made any modifications to the pattern aside from perhaps an extra inch of length.whispers-3This top has lovely shaping details at the waist, neckline, and sleeve edges. It makes for a professional-looking piece. Though this yarn is superwash, it didn’t grow significantly when I blocked it. Sometimes I want that in a knit, and sometimes with large pieces like this one, tremendous growth can be terrifying. whispers-4As much as I wanted to put up a bunch of goofy pictures of myself prancing around in this finished garment, when I tried to take the pictures this weekend under a perfect cloud cover I couldn’t get the focus to be on me when using my remote. Then it started to sprinkle, and time was short. Sometimes throwing the dressmaking dummy in the street with a top on it is the best I can do for the day. I’m very particular about taking pictures of things before I ever wear them out of the house. Maybe it’s silly, or superstitious. I feel that if I don’t, something will happen to the item and I’ll never have a picture of it in all of its newly-finished-freshly-blocked glory. I wanted to wear this top on Saturday to a local conference for creatives and so I did.

Knit the Hell Out,

Cassy