Sew Distracted

Call It a Learning Experience

Well, Shanghai is a bust. 

I finished the body, and it fit beautifully, but I somehow did not like it on.  I like the knitted fabric and I knew the colors weren't my best but thought I could make it work, but somehow, when I put it on it was worse than blah, it was just plain old "yuck". 

Not the shape, mind you.  If I could just look at the sweater without the added bonus of the complexion of the person wearing it, the sweater was quite nice.  And no, I am not going to show it to you.  It is destined for ripping. 

I kind of fudged the armhole shaping, decreasing more in front and less in back, then increasing a bit back out to the shoulder at the neckline.  I also added vertical bust darts and some bust shaping using short rows and the fit was really really nice.  Luckily I did make notes.  So I can think about this sweater much like I would think of a muslin if I were sewing something.  But a knitted muslin takes longer.  Bummer.

My first reaction was to ditch the whole thing, but I do still like the yarn.  Tonight, while I was working on my new project (which I love by the way) I had another idea, which might actually work quite nicely.  It will be a little further down the queue.  Shanghai and I need to take a little break from each other's company for a while.

Finally, increases ahaead!

Well, I am done with the mindlessly boring section above the decreases.  Even though it was only a few inches, it seemed like endless rounds of k3 p2.  No distraction was enough to end the tedium.

Truthfully I hid in a corner and read over the weekend, when I could find a spare minute that is.  Nothing like escaping into a little historical fiction to avoid the stresses of life and calm the overactive brain.  I have been reading World Without End by Ken Follet and it has been easy enough to lose myself in it.  The book is far more gripping escapism than Shanghai has been of late.  But although I have a weakness for historical fiction, especially if it is set in the British Isles prior to 1800, and although I am loving this, it is not as dear to my heart as Pillars of the Earth was.

But back to Shanghai.  It is looking good.  And I have finally measured and calculated the increases, so we are getting back into fun knitting territory again.  From the photo, 6 more inches to the armhole shaping, with increases...fun.

Tee Progress

The Shaghai tee is progressing nicely.  I am making this a good 25 inches long or so, so I am not quite at the waist (it looks longer and narrower here than it does on me).  So far I have gotten the decreases just right.  I need to decrease another 12 stitches in the next 3 inches (18 rows) and then run evenly a little bit before beginning to increase again.  I'll do another try-on before I get to that point just to make sure everything is going smoothly.

Otherwise I like the color combinations that I have chosen as they are appearing in the knitted fabric.  Once again, I don't have a plan here, I am just knitting.  So everything is looking good.

Given the amount of yarn I have used so far, and how much is left, I am thinking that this sweater is going to have sleeves, probably 3/4 length, but I could be wrong.  The sleeves will be another experiment. I've never just winged sleeves without a plan before. But then again I am going to wing the armhole shaping too, just trying the sweater on and knitting to fit. 

I am considering knitting the sleeves from the sleeve cap down.  This is something else I haven't done before, although I have read about it.  This might make it easier to make sure any striping across the shoulders matches perfectly at the sleeve. I am about to end the striping on the body, at least until I get above the bust and into the shoulder area, and the sleeves will also be mostly plain.   If yarn quantity is an issue, knitting the sleeves from the top down will also give me a much better idea of  how much sleeve I can get from the available yarn.