Sorting through patterns, swatching and sweaters/tops

This morning I woke up writing a blog entry in my head. Now, that's not how I normally wake up,...it's more like cotton balls in the brain space until the caffeine kicks in. So I thought that maybe I should just "go with it".

One of the sweaters in my list of possible projects is the Silk Sampler Jacket from Reader's Digest Crochet in No Time: A Simple, Stylish Collection of 52 Quick-Crochet Projects, by Melody Griffiths. Here's a link to "the book at Amazon"
The sweater on the cover is the project that I was contemplating. It would look fabulous in the Bernat Natural Blends Soy that I purchased so long ago. The sweater starts at a very unusual place, I don't think I've seen this construction before...You start with the bottom edging. Start by making a circle, crocheting into it about half-way around, and then making the next circle. After completing enough circles to get across the width of the back, you go around the last circle and start crocheting across the other "side" of the circles for the first row of the body of the sweater.
The worsted weight soy was not going to give me the correct gauge, and I didn't have enough, so I started another swatch in Royale #3 fashion thread. Beautiful! Here's a Little Peek:






I tried several patterns in NaturallyCaron Soy. I love this fiber, it's shiny and soft, I think it's officially listed as a worsted #4, but it's a little light, similar to Caron Simply Soft. I found a lot of projects that I'd like to do in this fiber, but I'd have to order some, not use up some stash. Here's a swatch made from sc foundation stitch, and 2 rows of dc:

Then I found another pattern that I really love, it's a thread tunic-style top. It's called Shallow V Overblouse and is in the Summer 2005 issue of Crochet Fantasy. I swatched a little of this pattern in the Royale #3 fashion thread, and love it. This thread is very economical, so I did order enough for this top. It will probably be my next large project. Here's a peek at the swatch:



I've also found the pattern that I want to use for the mercerized cotton that was "gifted" at a Guild meeting. It's a beautiful jade, but not enough to make the Silk Sampler Jacket, so I spent more time with the magazines and books, and with my legal pad of information. I found the Tall Latte (I've had my eye on that pattern, anyway) in Doris Chan's book Everyday Crochet to fit well with the yardage I have in the cotton. There is no way to get more... I will need to search out a small amount of a comparable fiber to make the contrasting sleeve and neck band. I'm thinking maybe a white or soft cream. My next step then is to wash and dry the cotton, it's mercerized and shouldn't shrink, but it is a deep saturation of color. If there's any chance of the color running (again mercerized, I don't think that it will), I want to get the excess color out before adding the light-colored bands.
Okay, enough writing, it's time to launder and swatch!