ta da! ... oh oops!

I was going to do the semi-traditional unveiling of the newly completed project, but then I realised that you'd never read any of the in-progress reports.
I swear that I wrote those posts ... in my head anyway ... I was under the shower at the time, because that's invariably when my best blogworthy notions occur
but
somewhere between the genesis of the brilliant, witty , polished verbal gems that were created as I scoured the body, and their full expression via these 'ere innernets, there was a lapse of concentration or communication

so please bear with me as I back up a week:

I do know that last Friday I mentioned Ms Tara's planned visit and the banana cake.
I didn't mention that I'd taken an escape- goat assisted head-first tumble and was nursing some very sore upper body bits, as well as a very slightly bruised knee [ which did develop nicely later when there was no one around to admire the interesting transitions from aubergine to green and yellow ]
Anyway, the right arm was still working so crochet was on the menu, especially as I had only started a new post-ravelympic project the day before.

The fastest spindle in Central Victoria duly arrived after tea and set to work with this gorgeous, shiny, blue stuff. I've forgotten exactly what was in the mix - silk I think, and angora bunny fluff - anyway it was something luscious from Charly at Ixchelbunny.
I think. Tara? can you confirm?

so, achey bits notwithstanding, and fortified by many teas and the banana cake,
this is the Chevron Lace cardi last friday evening after one days work:

and as everyone else in the knitblogverse has commented, it is very easy and an extremely fast and satisfying pattern. I did feel that the instructions for starting the sleeves could have been a little more detailed and I also noticed, when perusing the hundreds of finished projects on Ravelry, that quite a few people missed the direction to join each row of the sleeves and turn the work so that the sleeves were being worked back and forth to match the body. It still looks good if one works the sleeves entirely from the right side - the difference is very slight - and quite possibly a newish crocheter wouldn't even notice. I'm not carping. I really like this pattern. I merely mention it as a heads up in case any of you decide to make one ... which you should.

pattern:
Chevron Lace Cardi by Milobo [ freebie]
yarn:
BWM Luxury 8ply - 300 grams
hook:
After some very unsatisfactory swatching, I went down a size to a 5.5mm and then discovered that the only other person on Ravelry who'd used that yarn [ the lovely Bells ] had done the same. Obviously I should've paid more attention to the specifics of her project page.

mods:
the only minor modifications were to use the 6mm hook for the initial chain and the chains under the arms, and also to make the 2 chain spaces where the underarms joined in only 1 ch, because they have a tendency to 'grow' into a sizable hole in this type of construction.

I also took Bells' other piece of advice too, and blocked it before I put on the front bands.
Luxury has a definite tendency to grow with its first bath. it also becomes much, much softer!

If I hadn't done that, it would've been finished last weekend ... but I might not have been as happy with the result.
With all the rain, it's taken until today to dry properly, and after some quick hook action finished off the front bands, it's had another bath and is back drying on the spare bed.
MissC and Bear are both peeved because I've declared that room off limits to anything that sheds.