FO - Simple Knitted Bodice!

 

Photo by Jess. Thanks Jess!

Pattern: Simple Knitted Bodice by Stefanie Japel

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (65/35 wool/silk), Black. On the yarn… I like the feel when washed, but I picked out so much vegetable matter! I haven’t picked this many sticks out of my yarn since working with Chestari - and that at least smells like a barn (I figure the closer it is to the sheep, the more willing I am to forgive VM).

Needles: 3 and 5 (pretty much every 3 and 5 I own: Bamboo, addi, knitpicks. DPNS, two circs…

Gauge: 5.5 st/in on US 5. Much math was done.

Now, I love my sweater, but I didn’t think out my yarn sub completely. The biggest thing I didn’t think out completely is the placement of the chevron lace. See, on everyone else in the world, the purl ridge starts under the bust - more or less at the bottom of one’s bra band.

Now, the pattern has you work to a point, put the sleeve stitches on a holder, and work 6 (or more, depending on your size) more rows, then join in the round, then immediately go into your purl ridges. Now, apparently a lot of people noted that it was kind of sack-y - if you knit to specs the armpit was a fair bit below the actual armpit (and not just in a not binding way), so then doing only a few rows would be enough to have that first purl ridge start at the bottom of the bra band.

(I’m going to get so many spam hits for the number of times I use the word bra in this post!)

So my sweater armpit ended in a normal place for a regular fitting shirt (not sweater). And I did 6 more rows, and blindly joined in the round. This is the one place I went wrong. I should have knit about 3 inches more - the distance from the armpit of the sweater to the bottom of my bra. Maybe some short row bust shaping, maybe not. But at least three more inches. This is about right, since I had to add 5 inches after I finished the hip increases. Measure, measure, measure!

I can see myself making it again, in a different yarn/different material. Maybe I’ll make the long sleeve version for winter.

Up next: I have no idea! I just picked up yarn last weekend for my Eyelet Rib Cardi (based on IK’s Eyelet Rib Bandeu). I’m going to use Ella Rae’s Silkience in a pretty plum color. But I also want to get started on my mom’s Ribbi Cardi (in Cotton Ease - blue and white). And then I also bought Annie Modesitt’s Red Carpet Convertible [click the link! read the story! buy the pattern!]. I mulled about the internet for a while thinking about yarns, and finally decided on Webs’ Valley Yarn Goshen (Cotton/Modal/Silk). In blue. But the yarn probably won’t be here for a day or two more. Maybe I’ll just go make socks. Socks are good.