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Last-minute dress-up gear.

Last-minute dress-up gear.

Materials: 2 balls GGH Samoa (50% cotton, 50% acrylic) in blue (#56) from Lakeside Fibers; circular Denise needles (don’t remember the size). One-skein wonder pattern purchaseable online.

Time: 3 days.

Cost: $14

Approximately a day and a half before I was scheduled to leave for Fatty and Erika's wedding, I realized the pressing need for some kind of shoulder-cover. Such things are nice to have when 1) attending a wedding in a sanctuary where bare shoulders are frowned upon, or 2) attending anything in a heavily air-conditioned building while wearing a summer-weight dress. Option #2 was the case here, and because I am too cheap to buy a dress cardigan that I'd only wear once or twice a year and am also too lazy to knit one, the genius (and appropriateness) of the one-skein wonder pattern hit me full force.

With no time to waste (and another few hours before I could take a shower, thanks to a surprise lack of hot water), I jumped back on my bike and made an expedition over to Lakeside Fibers, the only yarn store in the Madison area that I'd yet to visit and by far my favorite. (Not only do they have punch cards, but they also have a $0.25-per-cup tea stash open for customer use!) What's nice about this pattern is that because it takes such a small amount of yarn, you can pretty much buy anything that'll meet gauge. As it turned out, the GGH Samoa that I chose on a whim was awesome -- I've never been a big fan of cotton, but this might turn me into a convert (relatively high price per ball notwithstanding). It's soft, bouncy, completely non-splitty, machine washable, and shows stitch definition like a mofo.

The pattern is ingeniously designed -- it's really straightforward and simple, and you completely forget what you're doing until you stitch two tiny seams and suddenly it's a wearable thing. I was able to do the bulk of the knitting during the drive to Minnesota, finish it off during one of the many reruns of CSI on in the hotel room, and wear it to the wedding. Moreover, Fatty gets mad props for taking time away from his groom-iness during the reception to ask if I'd made it myself.

I plan on wearing this around campus in early fall, as climate control in University buildings leaves much to be desired and it's hella cute. Plus, it really entertains everybody around you when you contort your arms around to try and take it off.