For her birthday, my daughter LadyU was hoping for a loose-fitting crocheted sleeveless poncho type of garment of about hip length, preferably from a pattern that incorporated pineapples and an asymmetrical hem. She said her favorite colors are pale teal, purples, and blues, or greens on the blue side of their color scale. She texted me a couple of photos showing some similar pieces that she liked, but I was having trouble finding a pattern designed to be anything close to what she was describing.
So I texted her a photo of my Swingy Shawlivest and asked if it would be something she might wear. I mean, I totally live in mine all winter long -- it's like my own personal blankie to keep me toasty all day and night. She said she liked the look of the vest and if I could add a row of pineapples along the hem that would make it perfect for her. That is how this project came about.
Based on her color preferences I knew the Caron Simply Soft Paints yarn in the Oceana colorway, which I've worked with many times before, would be ideal.
I worked her Swingy Shawlivest following the pattern through row 40 then started working the pineapple border starting at row 19 of the chart from the Cute Halter Top pattern.
I had looked around for some time trying to find a pineapple border that looked the way I wanted it to -- with a bottom edge that let the pineapples hang with individual "teeth" along the bottom edge (as in LadyU's second concept photo) rather than a totally straight bottom edge. The bottom edge of the halter top pattern fit the bill.
I worked on most of this project while I was on vacation, so when I ran out of yarn on the very last pineapple (UGH! yarn chicken fail) I had to set it aside for a few days until I got home and could order another skein (of which I only used a few inches).
And so, naturally, since I had to buy another skein of the Oceana yarn but only used a tiny bit of it to finish the Shawlivest, it just seemed logical to use part of the rest of that extra skein to machine knit a coordinating turban twist headband for LadyU. (80 rows on the Sentro 40, gauge of about 4 sts/4 rows to the inch on medium tension.) This gives her two pieces that she can wear either together or separately. 😊
