I'm in a little bit of a bind. I'm flying off to site again tomorrow, and don't have a knitting project to take with me. Well...actually, that's a lie. I still have Lisette, Florence, and those Rippled Weave Socks, but Lisette is getting boring, Florence is overdue, and socks are just that, socks.
I love knitting sweaters because they're the most functional, but given i'm leaving tomorrow, I haven't had any time to get more yarn and consequently, am reduced to knitting from the stash. I did swatch for the beautiful James Coviello Ruffled Jacket using the lush plum colour that I bought specifically for it, but I wasn't liking the fabric created by the larger needles I was using. So, I've put that aside for now. 
I then had a look in some of my patterns, and found Kid Acne's Seahorse Cami from Rowan #39 which could either come out CUTE, or DISASTROUS.
The plus side is that it's a quick knit, and I have the cotton needed for the project sitting with me but the bad side is that it's a knitted cami with a seahorse on it!? Will I wear it.. will it be a waste of yarn.. or will I actually like it? (Unfortunately, I don't sail so I'm probably not going to have much occasion to wear a seahorse cami with white pants like the model).
I know one thing though - I can't survive two weeks without a single knit stitch... !
Swatching, Swatching, Swatched!
FO: Vogue Ribbed Minidress
Eek! It's been awhile since my last FO hasn't it. I'm not really sure what i've been doing with myself. I vaguely remember starting a million and one (okay, exaggeration, more like 5) knits just before christmas, and not actually having finished any of them. *shame* Somewhere between lost knitting and crazy travel schedules, I managed to find an hour a day to finish off the vogue ribbed minidress.
Details:
Pattern: Vogue Ribbed Minidress by Mari Lynn Patrick, from Vogue Knitting Spring Summer 2007. I knit the smallest size.
Yarn: I used Rowanspun 4ply, in colour Squirrel which I bought for a bargain price off Cucumberpatch. The pattern itself calls for a gauge of 24x28 so I doubled the rowanspun and managed to get stitch gauge, but my row gauge was completely off. I ended up knitting at about 24x36 which meant for a heck of a lot of maths and modification.
The yarn itself is okay to knit with , but not so fun to seam with. The rowanspun is fairly "dry" and snapped a few times while I was seaming. The colour itself is a light grey, littered with little bits of dark greys and the occasional blue. Knit up, it produces some uneven stitches, but it does give an overall interesting texture.
Needles: Denise size US 5 needles, and Addi Turbo 3.25mm for the top parts.
Comments and modifications: The pattern itself is very easy to follow, but because my gauge was completely off, I had to do a whole lot of modifications on the way and it ended up being a fairly long knit. It was well written, and I dont remember finding any mistakes in the pattern at all.
I did however feel that because the pattern was in essence, a raglan style dress, my preference would have been to knit the raglan in once piece as opposed to several pieces and then having to seam them together. This was particularly so since my gauge difference forced me to perform a million calculations.
Overall, I "like" the result, but I don't love it. I'm not sure why, but it just hasn't grabbed me. It may be the colour ( I originally wanted to do it in a dark charcoal colour), it may be my knitting itself, or it may just be that knitted dresses just aren't made for a 39 degree celcius day! 
On the home stretch
I know a lot of knitters who don't enjoy seaming and who just as much loathe finishing. I'm not a great finisher, nor am I great at seaming, but I do enjoy that little home stretch towards a finished object.
Progress has been going well on the Vogue Ribbed Minidress, and I am now on the little homestretch to a new little FO. At the moment though, i'm left a bit uninspired. Having not sewn up the sides yet, my tres chic minidress is looking more sack that chic.
Additionally, some people tell me I have a lollipop head - meaning that sometimes it's too big for my body (haha i say sometimes because I go through periods where my body freaks out and does weird things). So i'm hoping that tiny little neckline will magically expand or fix itself once i've sewn up the rest of the body so that the lollipop half of me will be able to squish through.
Hopefully there will be an FO within the next day or two ! :)
Some Phildar Love
OOh it has definitely been a long time since I last posted! Between then and now, Christmas and New Years came and went, and Ive just returned from another stint offshore. This time, I actually did do some knitting, and I'm making great progress on my Vogue Ribbed Mini Dress. There is just the right sleeve, and finishing left to do. I'll post progress pics very shortly, but for now, I just wanted to share some more Phildar love with you.
PS. Doesnt the model look so happy? I would be too, if I was dressed in such lovely chic knits!