Saturday, March 21, 2009

Angevoli

Mom said I had made enough changes to Picovoli that it was like a different pattern. She recommended I write up my notes. Sigh. I'm far too lazy for this sort of thing! But here we go:

The yarn I used, 2nd Time Cotton, knit up at a gauge of 4 st/in on size 8 needles (Denises, if you were wondering) instead of the 5.5 st/in called for in the original pattern. I'm not gonna let a little thing like gauge stop me! This looks like a job for math!
So, the cast-on specified for the size I wanted to make (40-inch bust) was 140. Divide that by the gauge: 140/5.5=25.4545454545... which either I or my cell phone (which doubles as my calculator!) rounded up to 25.5.
Multiply that by the new gauge: 25.5 * 4 = 102
But I wanted a number that divided by 4 evenly, so I made it 104. I could have made it 100 instead, but I didn't. Oh well! I cast on with crochet hook because I like the way that looks with garter stitch, and purled my first round. Right now, and until I finished the garter stitch rows, I was working on a size 6 needle.
At this point, honestly, I think I just picked nice divisible-by-four numbers to be how many I have at front, back, and sleeves. I went with 16 stitches at each sleeve and 36 at front and back. I didn't take very good notes as I went along.
Anyway, with my markers placed, it was time to work my first increase round. I worked the increase rounds thus, every other round:
*Knit to 1 st before marker, yo, k1, sm, k1, yo, repeat from * until end of round. When I finished garter stitch, I switched to size 8 needles but kept on in the increase pattern.
I worked until I had the sweater the size I wanted it, then put the sleeves on holders (extra Denise cables). On front and back I had 76 stitches each, and at each underarm I cast on 4 stitches, which put the sweater right at 40 inches. Cool.
Then I worked even until the point where it was time to begin decreases. At this point I basically followed the pattern except that I had to adjust the number of stitches between markers on the waist shaping:
The original has 52 stitches at front and back and 58 stitches at the sides, so for me
52/5.5≈9.5*4=38 "untouched" stitches at sides
58/5.5≈10.5*4=42 stitches to start waist shaping with.

This is where I switched my size, too, to account for a larger waist and hip. This part is easy: I just stopped the waist decreases early. The I increased as per instructions and then knit even till it was as long as I wanted it. Switched back to size 6 needle, worked 10 rounds of garter stitch, and bound off.
All this part I finished probably in August, not too long after I had started it.

After that I left it in a project bag all by itself for a long time.
When March rolled around, I put one sleeve's stitches on needles, picked up the four underarm stitches, and knit my sleeves, decreasing two stitches at the bottom side every 1.5 inches twice. Then I worked 10 rounds of garter stitch on size 6 to make it match the neck and lower edges, bound off, and did the same thing on the other sleeve. The process took part of an evening.

Then I wondered why I had put it off so long. Oh well, I've got a new top now. It's on Ravelry here!

Octopus Prime

octo front
This little fella came from Tamie Snow's book Tiny Yarn Animals: Amigurumi Friends to Make and Enjoy, which I got way back when I had a birthday. I'm pleased with how he turned out.
Something else I'm pleased with:
redux
the shirt I finished a couple weeks ago, a version of Grumperina's Picovoli that I reworked for a larger gauge and sleeves. I changed the increase ratio at the yoke for this, but maintained the shaping because I love it. It's hella comfy, but the neckline is pretty wide. Which WOULD be okay except that my purse is wool and has a wool strap. Which, again, WOULD be okay except that I'm allergic to wool. So the exposed bit of neck/shoulder turns red. Guess I'll just have to use a different purse when I wear this top.