Simple Knitted Bodice

Success!



I finished my SKB on Sunday morning, giving me oodles of time to weave in the ends and give it a stern and proper blocking.

Pattern: Simple Knitted Bodice by Stephanie Japel
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Worsted (100% baby alpaca; 109 yards, 50 grams per skein). Color MC1040 ("Peacock Melange"), 6.5 skeins
Needles: Size 7 for the stockinette sections, size 3 for the lace on the waist and for the neckline, size 2 for the lace on the sleeves.
Started: September 7, 2006
Finished: March 18, 2007

Pattern mods...

1) Basically, any time I can add some additional waist shaping to make a sweater more form-fitting, I usually do... I added a wee bit of what I'm calling "staged ribbing" on the sides beneath the lace section. It's 5 ribs on each side, with the middle one going from the bottom hem all the way to the lace section, the two ribs on either side of that going from the bottom hem to about 10 rows before the lace, and the two outer ribs going from the bottom hem to about 15 total rows in. In visual terms, picture this flipped 90 degrees counterclockwise:

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2) The sleeves have half the number of increases that the pattern called for. The pattern calls for 4 even rounds and then an increase round, repeated 11x total... I did 8 even rounds and then an increase round, 5x total. I am VERY happy with the sleeve width like this. Much wider wouldn't have been practical for me; I don't need any additional help getting my clothes snagged on delivery bins and book carts every day.

3) I changed the cuffs and the neckline from purl ridges to seed stitch. The bottom hem is lying flat for the moment (see above, re: stern blocking), so I haven't ripped it out, and may not need to.



I'm thrilled with how it came out! A coworker today told me that I should wear it again tomorrow, and maybe wear a button that says, "I made this!" She was so funny; we have the same meal breaks almost every day, and I usually spend half my hour eating and the other half knitting, so she's seen me work on this thing since I started working there. When I went into the kitchen today and she saw the finished product, she said, "The last time I saw that [i.e., Friday], it was in a bag, and it was still on needles... and now you're wearing it! That's so cool!" :D

Much love for the Misti Alpaca yarn, by the way. I got this stuff on a whim at Springwater Fiber last year, having no idea what I was going to do with it. The pattern calls for Tilli Tomas 100% silk yarn. It's pretty yarn, to be sure, but I was uncomfortable dropping that much money to begin with... and then the whole "consumer friendly" brouhaha started, and it was revolving squarely around Tilli Tomas. That sealed the deal, and I started stash-digging for a substitute yarn. I lucked out when I got gauge with the alpaca on the first try. The yarn for this ran me $40 total, plus another $7 for the beads. The finished sweater is warm, cushy, soft, fuzzy, luxurious, but still WEARABLE. Yay!

If you can't tell, I may have found a favorite fiber. The Interweave website has a nifty little guide to all you ever wanted to know about alpaca yarn, which came in very handy as I was finishing and blocking this.

I think I can, I think I can

I was working on the never-ending SKB tonight at my knitting group, and Jody told me that she's hoping to see me wear the finished sweater next week. At first, I chuckled. I've been working on this thing for 7 months... I can't FINISH what's left in a week... can I? Hmm...

Maybe I can. On Thursday, one of my most favorite times of the year starts: the NCAA college basketball tournament. This means a lot of me sitting here, knitting and watching basketball. Last year's tournament yielded my favorite scarf... perhaps this year's tournament will include a finished sweater. Here's what's left: 3" left to go on the second sleeve, plus the neckline edging, plus possibly ripping out the hem and redoing it in seed stitch. I admit, I have no idea if this is a realistic goal for me or not, but I'm going to give it a shot. :)

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In other knitting-related news: yay, Eunny! Way to go! Great news for someone very deserving. :)

Blue for PS

Day 1 of Project Spectrum! As it turns out, I'm still working on my Simple Knitted Bodice... which is BLUE, and thus, fits in to the current PS color scheme very nicely. :)

Where are we now?



No, your eyes do not deceive you. That's a finished sleeve, folks. I ended up negotiating a bit with the bell sleeve. I did half the increases called for in the pattern; it flares, but not so much that it'll bother me.

Check out the rolling hem... Hot, eh? No, it's not supposed to be like that. It won't stay flat for anything. Once sleeve 2 is done, I'll go back and rip that out. It'll be replaced with seed stitch, to match the cuffs.

Fun yarn!

I won yarn from Coleen's blogiversary drawing! Yay!



2 balls of Regia 4fädig Linien Color. What look like red stripes there are actually a nice fuschia pink. Thanks, Coleen!

While I'm at it, here's more yarn that I haven't shown off yet:



That's a ball of Karabella Supercashmere Fine, which was gifted to me by Eunny... it is gorgeous stuff. I think I may make the Wine and Roses Mitts from the Winter '06 IK. I may not have enough to do the entire project in this, but I could either a) find another yarn to use for the cuffs or b) make a shorter cuffs. Not casting on any time soon for this, but it's in the queue.

And go me -- I haven't bought yarn for myself since Stitches! I haven't joined an official stashalong or anything, but I have a lot of yarn that I'm quite fond of, and I feel like I should use it instead of continuing to buy more and more.

And the sachet for the white elephant?

No, that's not a heart... but it's also no longer for the white elephant raffle. I came across something in my apartment that I'd been halfway meaning to get rid of, and since that's what a white elephant swap is SUPPOSED to be, that's what's going. The sachet is very cute. I got 4 squares done, and then I was playing around with it while watching Prison Break and realized that the squares could be sewn together to make this little geometric object.

Now, the question is: how many different types of bread am I taking in for this holiday party? Right now, the count stands at 3... a number which might change once I actually start making dough. (And like there was a chance I was going to bring something OTHER than bread... I haven't made bread for them yet, and I've been working there since Halloween).

I am actually approaching the end of sleeve #1 on the Simple Knitted Bodice. If I could get myself away from my computer for longer stretches of time, it would be done by now. I'm toning down the flare on the bell sleeves, because I want something a little bit more practical that I could theoretically wear to work. Of course, the thermostat seems to be set around 76 degrees in there, so it may actually be too warm for a long-sleeved alpaca sweater. I'm thinking very seriously about ripping out the purl ridges around the bottom hem and doing a seed stitch border instead. Right now, my bottom hem curls up like crazy. Ribbing would make it pull in too much, so seed stitch seems like what I may go for. I'll experiment with the cuffs to see what works. :)

Simple Knitted Bodice body

Not too shabby, if I say so myself...


It would be a passable top even without the sleeves, which I may keep in mind for a kicky summer top somewhere down the line. Using something that's not alpaca.

It's been a lovely day of watching movies and finishing this up. Love Actually and Elf on USA, and now, School of Rock on TBS. And oh, just wait until I get my season 5 dvds of 24 next week... I'll get some mega knitting done then, my friends.

In-progress pics

Blogger is being persnickety today, so I'm trying to make this quick in case it stops working again and I end up having to retype everything.

Simple Knitted Bodice without flash (color is wrong, but fuzziness is more visible):

With flash (color is correct, but yarn looks weird and shiny):

Beaded purl ridges

Getting the beads on to the yarn was an adventure, and not a fun adventure like Goonies... I'm using 6/0 E beads on worsted weight yarn. They fit, but it's a pretty tight fit, and I had to fight with a lot of the beads to get them on. I got about 500 beads strung (and if you've worked with beads, you know that's not an exaggeration), and then went about spacing them out along the length of the skein... and discovered a knot in the yarn about 15 yards in. A knot that I couldn't get the beads to go past. So, I had to cut the yarn and RESTRING all of the beads on the other side of the knot. I'm just glad that the beads look good with the yarn; I feel like it was worth the expletives.

Simple Knitted Bodice in progress

Here's my Simple Knitted Bodice so far:

I'm using Misti Alpaca Worsted, and OH MY, do I love this stuff. It's mostly a peacock blue, with a bit of reddish brown heathering running through it. It is very snuggly, and working with it just makes me want to buy more.

(This one's closer to the real-life colors. The brown is subtler than it is the first picture.)

I'm through about 3 repeats of the increase section. I still need to find beads for the lace section, but as luck would have it, there is a bead store right near my apartment. This would be a good excuse to go check it out...

You know how every woman who goes on What Not To Wear gets herself a fabulous pair of knee-high black boots? Well, I've been looking for a pair for myself for about 5 years, but every pair I've found has been too big or has been too ridiculously expensive. I finally lucked out today and found a reasonably priced pair that fits me. Yes!! I'm up over 5' tall in these things. ;)

Impulsive cast-ons are a bad idea

Well, I had a chat with myself about the Icarus shawl. It was coming out just fine, and I liked the way the pattern was showing up with the yarn... but I don't actually wear shawls. Nobody I know wears shawls. There was a strong likelihood that the finished shawl was going to end up sitting in a closet or just draped over the back of a chair. So, since I wasn't far into it (less than 20 rows), I frogged it. The yarn will be used for something else, but not a shawl. Note to self: don't just cast on the first project you find that matches gauge for a yarn you want to work with.

Meanwhile, I started the Simple Knitted Bodice for the SKC knitalong last week, and have a pretty good start on it. I'm using some worsted alpaca that I had in my stash, in a heathered peacock blue:

It's gonna be pretty, and warm, and cushy. And I'm going to try my hand at beaded knitting for the lace section, as long as I can find some beads that I like that will fit on the worsted weight yarn.

Over the weekend, I went to a new yarn store, Lovely Yarns, with Coleen and Amie. It's in a really neat area (Hampden) with lots of little gift shops and cafes. It reminded me a lot of Carytown back in Richmond. Anyway, I got a couple of balls of lavender Cascade Fixation, which I think I'll use for socks... I'd do another Mon Petit Chou, but I haven't even worn the first one I made, so a second one would definitely be overkill.

I also have some new roving that I've been playing with.

3 oz of SWTC Karaoke roving, which is 50/50 soy silk and wool. I didn't even know that I needed it, but when I was getting the Simple Knitted Bodice pattern from kpixie, I poked through the spinning fibers available and found it. Up until now, I've just been working from a bundle of 100% merino, and I'd been wanting to get something else so I can see what different fibers are like. It's great stuff. The soy silk adds a lot of strength, so I can spin it thinner than I can spin the merino on my drop spindle. While I was getting a heavy worsted with the pink/blue merino, I'm getting a light worsted or heavy fingering weight with the Karaoke.