Talents

You know the show biz adage about never following the kid act? In the Lair Week 2 Blue Revue (Camper Talent Show), we were on after a kid that played the piano while hula hooping and rollerblading. It was a tough act to follow.

Tent 65 sang to the tune of the Trolley Song with Lair-specific lyrics written by Bad Dad. L to R, we sing in tune about 50%, 90%, 30% of the time. BD wanted to keep the nature of the song secret to preserve the element of surprise. I told everyone in advance that I can't carry a tune, but I am a good sport.
Afterwards, one camper told me that I was a good mom for going up there and singing in public with my family. The song was well-received. the audience laughed at all the right places. Leave some comments at Bad Dad to convince him to post the lyrics.

In all fairness, I have to say that Lair food is much better than one line of the song would imply; he had to do that to make the rhyme. This year, the food was the best ever. The cook's bio said that he was heading to culinary school in the Fall. It must be for advanced studies because he is already darned good.

I unveiled Manon on stage because knitting is a talent, right?

I closed it with a button and a knitted loop a la Finishing Tutorial.
The pattern's armscythe depth is shorter than I normally like, but it is still very wearable.
I shortrowed both the shoulder slope and the back neck edge curve. The pattern bound off the neck stitches straight across. I noticed the Vera jacket rides backwards off my shoulders. That doesn't happen with Eileen Fisher sweaters that also have extended front bands that meet in the center back. When I looked at them, I realized that they have a curved, rather than straight, back neck edge.
So I added some short row shaping at Manon's back neck. Problem solved. The collar band lies more smoothly and it is more comfortable to wear.
Manon received Iris' seal of approval. She asked me to knit her one without sleeves. Now that she is 75% of my width, I think a switch from aran (4.5 sts/in) to DK (5.5 sts/in) yarn and knitting the 30" size instead of the 34" should produce something in the right ball park.

Details:
Pattern: Manon from Norah Gaughan Volume 1

Yarn: 5 balls of Cotton Ease in Stone

Size: I used the chart for the triangles for the 34" sweater, but I reduced the stitch count on the top part of the body slightly because Cotton Ease is slightly thicker than Pure Merino.

Needle Size: 4.0 mm

Button: Assorted singleton vintage buttons bought for a song from Merry Wennerberg of The Button Box. 949-581-9663 She supplied the vintage buttons for the Vera Jacket shown in Finishing Tutorial as well.

Changes: I knit long instead of half sleeves. I knit the front and backs as one. I curved the back neck edge. Instead of binding off the neck and shoulders, I shaped them with short rows and then connected the fronts and back with a 3-needle bind off. I attached the back neck ribbing as I bound off the back neck.