My First Sweater, pre-cast-on phase.
Sep. 7th, 2010 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stitchy_stitchyThe sweater: Krista, which also appears as the "Shaped Lace Tee" in the book Knitting Lingerie Style, which was graciously loaned to me by a friend at work. I hope she wasn't in a hurry to get it back. Available sizes: 33.5", 38", 42.5", 47", 51.5", 56" bust; the stitch pattern is vertical stripes of stockinette separated by simple, narrow lace panels.
The yarn: Berroco Weekend, a cotton/acrylic blend. I have 5 skeins in Orchid, a light purple shade. I hope it's enough - especially depending on sizing issues, I was pretty sure I'd end up with leftovers. The price was good, and in general I trust Berroco synthetics to not feel like plastic; based on the swatch, it feels nice, but it knits a little splitty (it's constructed of a multitude of tiny plies). Most importantly for the upcoming process: it can stand up to being frogged a couple times.
The swatch: Made, washed, and blocked as much as you can block a cotton-acrylic blend! The pattern calls for size 5 and 7 needles; to get gauge for the larger needles, I needed to use 10.5! Good grief; I know I'm a tight knitter, but I suspect Joan McGowan-Michael may be a loose knitter too. Or maybe my swatch lied.
The boobs: Measured. Gulp. I'm about to share with the class here, because it's really relevant to the issue at hand... my full bust is 50", divided up 21.5" in back/28.5" in front. My high bust is 44". Shoulder to waist over the front is 5" longer than down the back. Needless to say there is no size of this sweater that will fit me as-is - I'll end up with some combination of too much fabric in back and not enough in front if I knit a pattern that assumes I'm symmetrical! I think I can add short rows to the lace pattern without it looking too horrible, especially if I do two sets of wrapped stitches and just avoid wrapping any of the stitches in the lace part - but that doesn't address the assymetry issue. Some alternatives:
Punt: Make a tee with a plain pattern instead of lace, and do "regular" short rows and vertical darts without having to worry about messing up the stitch pattern, or make a less-fitted sweater. On some level, this is probably the "smart" choice, but it feels like surrender.
Hard, but "right": In theory what I could do, and what Joan has advised people to do on Ravelry, and what I think she teaches a class on that I'm unlikely to ever have the opportunity to take, is knit the back of the 42.5" size and the front of the 56" size, keeping the side seams even and fudging the sleeves and shoulders a bit, and if this were intended as a tank that's just what I'd do - but sewing in sleeves is a nervewracking process at the best of times, and I can't imagine getting a good result from "fudging" until I have a little better handle on sewing sweaters together as-written. I'm also concerned that putting a 28" piece over my 23" high bust area will leave me with a saggy, baggy neckline; if I go down to the 51.5" size, that's a little more like right there (25.75"), but almost 3" of negative ease over the bust. Whooboy! I know Joan likes negative ease, but that might be a bit much. (And that's the size my full bust measurement would suggest I make! Assymetry, yup.)
Easier to seam, but might not look as good: it might be possible to play with the stitch counts in the stockinette panels. If I start with the 47" size, and then above the waist shaping take one stitch out of each panel that doesn't end up pointed at the shoulder seams or armholes, that would narrow the back by about an inch without affecting anything I need to sew. Meanwhile adding a stitch to each panel in the front would give me one more inch, and it could be decreased out again above the bustline. Maybe combining that with a switch to Even Larger Needles would give me enough room to play with. If I'm going to do this I might want to knit every other lace section plain, giving me 5 wide stripes instead of 9 narrow ones, and adjust the count in each by two stitches. I don't know how much this would change the character of the tee - but I'm going to find out, because I think it's what I'm going to do.
To some extent this is going to be a trial-and-error process. I will probably need to remind myself from time to time that I started with a pile of yarn, and the worst case is that I end up with a pile of yarn...which will be the point at which yes, I do punt and make a Bombshell or a Shapely Tank or maybe something cute for Daughter instead.
Casting on for the back - it's way more straightforward than the front, and it'll give me a chance to decide whether I like the wider stripes. Like I said - wish me luck!
The yarn: Berroco Weekend, a cotton/acrylic blend. I have 5 skeins in Orchid, a light purple shade. I hope it's enough - especially depending on sizing issues, I was pretty sure I'd end up with leftovers. The price was good, and in general I trust Berroco synthetics to not feel like plastic; based on the swatch, it feels nice, but it knits a little splitty (it's constructed of a multitude of tiny plies). Most importantly for the upcoming process: it can stand up to being frogged a couple times.
The swatch: Made, washed, and blocked as much as you can block a cotton-acrylic blend! The pattern calls for size 5 and 7 needles; to get gauge for the larger needles, I needed to use 10.5! Good grief; I know I'm a tight knitter, but I suspect Joan McGowan-Michael may be a loose knitter too. Or maybe my swatch lied.
The boobs: Measured. Gulp. I'm about to share with the class here, because it's really relevant to the issue at hand... my full bust is 50", divided up 21.5" in back/28.5" in front. My high bust is 44". Shoulder to waist over the front is 5" longer than down the back. Needless to say there is no size of this sweater that will fit me as-is - I'll end up with some combination of too much fabric in back and not enough in front if I knit a pattern that assumes I'm symmetrical! I think I can add short rows to the lace pattern without it looking too horrible, especially if I do two sets of wrapped stitches and just avoid wrapping any of the stitches in the lace part - but that doesn't address the assymetry issue. Some alternatives:
Punt: Make a tee with a plain pattern instead of lace, and do "regular" short rows and vertical darts without having to worry about messing up the stitch pattern, or make a less-fitted sweater. On some level, this is probably the "smart" choice, but it feels like surrender.
Hard, but "right": In theory what I could do, and what Joan has advised people to do on Ravelry, and what I think she teaches a class on that I'm unlikely to ever have the opportunity to take, is knit the back of the 42.5" size and the front of the 56" size, keeping the side seams even and fudging the sleeves and shoulders a bit, and if this were intended as a tank that's just what I'd do - but sewing in sleeves is a nervewracking process at the best of times, and I can't imagine getting a good result from "fudging" until I have a little better handle on sewing sweaters together as-written. I'm also concerned that putting a 28" piece over my 23" high bust area will leave me with a saggy, baggy neckline; if I go down to the 51.5" size, that's a little more like right there (25.75"), but almost 3" of negative ease over the bust. Whooboy! I know Joan likes negative ease, but that might be a bit much. (And that's the size my full bust measurement would suggest I make! Assymetry, yup.)
Easier to seam, but might not look as good: it might be possible to play with the stitch counts in the stockinette panels. If I start with the 47" size, and then above the waist shaping take one stitch out of each panel that doesn't end up pointed at the shoulder seams or armholes, that would narrow the back by about an inch without affecting anything I need to sew. Meanwhile adding a stitch to each panel in the front would give me one more inch, and it could be decreased out again above the bustline. Maybe combining that with a switch to Even Larger Needles would give me enough room to play with. If I'm going to do this I might want to knit every other lace section plain, giving me 5 wide stripes instead of 9 narrow ones, and adjust the count in each by two stitches. I don't know how much this would change the character of the tee - but I'm going to find out, because I think it's what I'm going to do.
To some extent this is going to be a trial-and-error process. I will probably need to remind myself from time to time that I started with a pile of yarn, and the worst case is that I end up with a pile of yarn...which will be the point at which yes, I do punt and make a Bombshell or a Shapely Tank or maybe something cute for Daughter instead.
Casting on for the back - it's way more straightforward than the front, and it'll give me a chance to decide whether I like the wider stripes. Like I said - wish me luck!
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on 2010-09-07 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-09-07 06:26 pm (UTC)