Gray scarf and gray tank top

Sorry for the long hiatus.  I went to Costa Rica with my husband for the first half of February (our honeymoon) and am just getting back into the swing of things now.


I wasn't completely negligent on our vacation though-- I finished the scarf I was knitting on our return flight.  *(^_^)*
Here is what it looks like:

You can't tell from the picture, but it a respectable length: 78 inches.

The width is 5 3/4 inches.

It was my first knitted project, so I stuck to one color and just focused on creating texture with knit and purl.

I made it with Loops and Threads True Gray (100% acrylic) and knitting needles size 8 (5mm)

Steps:

26 cast on.

3 rows of stockinette stitch (just for a little border like section at the ends-- it rolls a little).

Alternate sections of garter stitch (10 "stripes") and moss stitch (9 "stripes"):

For the garter stitch I knitted until I counted 15 of the bumpy s shaped lines. (Each of these bumpy lines was actually made up of two knitted rows, one on the right side, and one on the wrong side.)

For the moss stitch I did:

1st row: knit all in the row

2nd row: purl, knit, *repeat until end of row

3rd row: knit all in the row

4th row: knit, purl, *repeat until end of row

Repeat 1 through 4 seven times until you have 28 rows.

End with 3 rows of stockinette stitch and bind off.

With a little simple arithmetic, I calculated that there are are a total of 14,560 individual "stitches"!

I am proud of myself for sticking to the project and completing it.

I have also completed my first article of "everyday" clothing-- the racerback tank top from Simplicity 2317! I was close to finishing before we left for Costa Rica, but when I tried it on the armholes were too big and I had to snip off some more fabric, so I didn't actually finish it until today. Next time I make something I'll baste it and try it on before I proceed to the final sewing (it would have saved me a lot of time and prevented the frustration of seam ripping and pulling out tiny little pieces of thread).

It's not much to brag about, but I can wear it.

I just finished sewing this tank top.

This is the back.

I used the following settings on my Brother CS-6000i:
90/14 HG-4BR (Organ) ball point needle

For single layer unfinished edges, I used the standard overcast stitch (#06) with the overcast presser foot.
For all straight-line sewing, I used the stretch stitch (#02) with the standard presser foot, changing the stitch length to the maximum.
For the neckline, armholes, and bottom hem, I sewed a straight-line "guideline"stitch (distance from the edge = twice the seam allowance), pressed the cloth to the correct seam allowance, and then finished with the stretch overcast stitch (#08)-- standard presser foot.

For my birthday my husband got me a serger!  I am super super excited about this new piece of equipment.  I spent some time today playing with it (learning how to thread it and adjust it for stretchy knit fabrics) and from just a few hours I can tell it is going to cut down on construction time significantly.