What I've learned about the Simple Knitted Bodice
Hey everybody, Karen needs our support raising money for the walk against diabetes. And as if feeling good wasn't enough, everyone who donates will be entered into a drawing for some great prizes!
Trying to sell and find a new home and the girls starting a new school year have consumed almost every waking moment. Hence the lack of posting. In the evenings I've been working on my Simple Knitted Bodice for the KAL.
Let me preface the following comments by saying that I LOVE this pattern. I'll definately knit this again, but with a few changes based on what I've learned on this one.
1. I knit loosely and needed to downsize my needles. Apparently so do many others making this sweater. I don't know if this is due to substitution yarns or if there are just many of us loosey goosey's out there.
2. Elann's Peruvian Silk is nice to work with. It's like a slightly softer version of Cascade 220. There is some splitting but I attribute this to the way I hold the yarn rather than a defect in the yarn itself.
3. The smaller size is still rather large for me. If I make one for myself I'll drop down an additional 7 stitches or so for the purl ribbed and lacey areas to make it more form fitting. Hopefully the purl ribbing place around the neckline during finishing will make this wearable without another shirt underneath.
4. Stringing beads is tedious, but worth it. I was quite liberal with my beads, placing them only 1/2 inch apart.
5. Because my beaded yarn was so densely beaded I am only using this for every other row of the lace (the plain knitted rows). My goal was to create a subtle accent, not something too flashy.
6. When knitting with beads it's easy to become caught up in "placing" the beads exactly where you want them. Although this is probably the proper way to knit with beads it was extremely slow. As a result, I began just sliding them (they do tend to slide and move) to the general stitch and when all is said and done I'll use a crochet hook to coax beads from the inside of the sweater to the outer side.
7. Using a sandwich bag worked great for me to keep my unused yarn from tangling while working on the beaded areas (trial by tangle kind of thing). I hold the sandwich bag to the sweater in progress with a cable stitch holder. Not pretty or professional, but effective for a klutz.
8. The intended recipient of this sweater may receive socks instead. I like it.
9. I really need a haircut.
Trying to sell and find a new home and the girls starting a new school year have consumed almost every waking moment. Hence the lack of posting. In the evenings I've been working on my Simple Knitted Bodice for the KAL.
Let me preface the following comments by saying that I LOVE this pattern. I'll definately knit this again, but with a few changes based on what I've learned on this one.
1. I knit loosely and needed to downsize my needles. Apparently so do many others making this sweater. I don't know if this is due to substitution yarns or if there are just many of us loosey goosey's out there.
2. Elann's Peruvian Silk is nice to work with. It's like a slightly softer version of Cascade 220. There is some splitting but I attribute this to the way I hold the yarn rather than a defect in the yarn itself.
3. The smaller size is still rather large for me. If I make one for myself I'll drop down an additional 7 stitches or so for the purl ribbed and lacey areas to make it more form fitting. Hopefully the purl ribbing place around the neckline during finishing will make this wearable without another shirt underneath.
4. Stringing beads is tedious, but worth it. I was quite liberal with my beads, placing them only 1/2 inch apart.
5. Because my beaded yarn was so densely beaded I am only using this for every other row of the lace (the plain knitted rows). My goal was to create a subtle accent, not something too flashy.
6. When knitting with beads it's easy to become caught up in "placing" the beads exactly where you want them. Although this is probably the proper way to knit with beads it was extremely slow. As a result, I began just sliding them (they do tend to slide and move) to the general stitch and when all is said and done I'll use a crochet hook to coax beads from the inside of the sweater to the outer side.
7. Using a sandwich bag worked great for me to keep my unused yarn from tangling while working on the beaded areas (trial by tangle kind of thing). I hold the sandwich bag to the sweater in progress with a cable stitch holder. Not pretty or professional, but effective for a klutz.
8. The intended recipient of this sweater may receive socks instead. I like it.
9. I really need a haircut.
posted by Heide at
11:29 AM
11 Comments:
It's so pretty. Lovely work. The color is good, too. I think the beading makes the sweater, but yes, it is incredibly slow for me, too.
Love the sweater so far. I'm still waiting for my yarn order and am wondering if I want to do beads or not. I'll have to go bead shopping after the yarn gets here.
Welcome to the PDX area soon!! We live just west of PDX on the west side of Beaverton. Let us know what neighborhood of PDX you end up in.
It's looking great! The color is fabu on you!
Very pretty! And looking great. I see I have some catching up to do!
But dont you have to grow your hair to look like the model in the pattern picture!!!
I must admit, I used to choose patterns because I thought they would make me look like the picture on the front, even the hairdo. It took me a long time to work out why my jumpers never looked like the ones in the pictures. I'm more selective and realistic now.
Your jumper is looking great and I think you'll look great in it.
Cheers Gillian
That is really nice looking. Glad to hear your thoughts on it - I've been tempted by the pattern.
Thanks so much for linking my Walk-A-Thon . . . I really appreciate the support and publicity. :) I LOVE that Bodice, and I really love the purple color of yours. It's looking so beautiful already. Almost makes me want to try one . . . . but I don't think I'm up for something that hard yet.
I was hoping that my 6 balls of Sarubia would be enough for that sweater but it's too thick so I'm doing something else. Yours looks great so far! Have you ever tried a bead spinner, they are so cool!
It looks fabulous so far! I can see why you'd like to keep it!! If I can find some silk yarn here as a substitute, I might actually do this one. You've inspired me.
Heide--email me
mommy _ birdto2 @ hotmaildotcom
so I can tell you what's happening in the PDX area.
That is looking fantastic!
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