The rescue of Lavender

I finished my Lavender this past Sunday but there wasn't any chances for outdoor pictures. Yes, the rain is visiting us for the third consecutive week. So I only have these unclear pictures to share as it was still cloudy when I had these photos taken by this morning.
I am in love with this design, so classical and yet in fashion at same time. I made mine a bit longer than the original pattern. I think for you, younger ladies , the shorter version would look lovely! For me, I think some coverage in the tummy area is more adequate. I specially like the 3/4 sleeves and the collar. Lavender would have another look if it wasn't rescued by Erin from OpportunityKnits. Remember I was missing one ball to complete and put an order for it from my LYS? This particular light lavender shade is not available here. I had originally bought this yarn in Singapore and at that time 8 balls sounded enough for a project.
So in a flash time, Erin mailed the yarn to me . And in a few days, I was able to finish it! Lavender would have no collar and would have to be changed to short sleeves if I couldn't have this extra ball.

Due to the weather I didn't block it. I am just worried that it will expand because the final knitted fabric feels a little loose than I hoped for. So far, it fits me quite well. I am just hoping that it'll keep it's original size.
I like collars and had planned to make a wider one. With this in mind, I even knitted more rows but still didn't yield to a wider collar.
The curved areas didn't turned out to be very neat. In fact, I had to sew a few sts in the curved areas to make it look more even. I wonder if there is a specific way to accomplish that. Though I checked the picture in the book and theirs are also not very neat. Anyways, I still like this bolero very much and I will be wearing it around!

Pattern: World Knitting Spring/Summer 2006
Yarn: Egypt Cotton - 100% cotton ( Japan) ( 9 balls, 40g each)
Needles :Japanese 5 ( 3.6mm)
Modifications: Added extra rows to the body and collar.




Erin helped me on rescuing Lavender but not only that she gave me a wonderful surprise!
In the package, there were these sooooo beautifully and thoughtful gifts!
On my favorite purpleish tones and so neatly wrapped. It was hard to have to unwrap them but at same time I could not wait to open the gifts. Though, I managed to take a picture first! ;)




Look at the wonderful things Erin sent to me!
The big white flower is a dishcloth ( I should name as facecloth)! I just love it, it's super soft and it's very special because she knitted it. I will have to save it. It's my habit with things that I like as I have hard time in using them! ;)
There are the Crabtree Lavender soap ( my favorite toiletry shop), my rescue yarn for Lavender, a devotional book to give me strengths, Regia wool/silk yarns with special socks needles and a booklet with instructions ( there are many designs that i like). It's a perfect set for me to take to US during Summer. Erin, thank you so much for this nice surprise! I love all your gifts!

Thank you all for the compliments on Rose, love to receive your comments!
I am working on my last wip that is the outer cardi Gardenia. I made a good progress on it but more crochet work ahead. I am trying to work only on this last wip before I leave to US in couple weeks. Hehe, the persistence mood only lasted for couple days. Yesterday night, I started to swatch for a new project . Haven't knitted much these days because Summer holidays are approaching and along with it comes the summer courses preparation, tickets to go back to US and you know all the end of school year activities.
So hopefully I can still manage to post couple times before my trip.

For Wai-Fong:
I don't have your email so I will reply to you here:
Thanks for visiting my blog and for the nice comments! I think the HengYuanXiang yarn is not available in HK . It 's a famous brand in Shanghai. You can have more details about this yarn from Siow Chin's post ( Little Purl of Orient).