Knititude

Clarification for Lutea knitters

I'm afraid my sketch of Lutea's architecture will have to be put off for a post or two; without going into tedious detail, I will say that I've been uber-busy with both non-knitting matters (above:  the view from my new home office) and non-bloggable knitting.

But, I've had several emails from knitters working on Lutea (and congratulations to them for finding me:  does anyone know why Interweave did not put any email addresses or websites at the end of the patterns in this issue?), and I wanted to address their question (yes, they all had the same question) here.  Karen wrote: 

"The first row of the lace pattern says: K2, *yo, k1, yo, k3, repeat from * to end.  I do not have enough stitches for this to come out even.  Is there a typo somewhere?" 

Well, either Interweave edited my original pattern for space, or they simply made an error, and omitted  "end row with k2 instead of k3."  Anyway, they now have corrections up on their website, and have essentially restored my original directions.

Felicia also emailed me about the same paragraph in the pattern; she brought up the fact that the number of stitches changes on some of the rows of the lace pattern.  IK does mention this in a note just before the directions for working each row of the lace pattern; in my original pattern submission, I added this note at the end of the directions for rows 1 (when the sts are increased) and 3 (when the original number of sts is restored).

So read your directions carefully, knitters!  But if you find this part of the "Lutea" pattern confusing, know that you are not alone.

Some notes on Lutea

Have you seen the Summer 2007 interweave Knits, which contains my Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell pattern?  I haven't!  My subscription goes to our U.S. address and my copy hasn't been forwarded.  But a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the roses on the arbor in our yard are a light gold-yellow--just like the Lutea rose!  I posted this photo partly because they are gorgeous, and partly because in my haste to send the completed sample in to meet deadine, I neglected to take any photos.

I did save the swatch, however, which shows the nice stitch definition and the warm, buttery color of the yarn.  (It also shows how much the lace spreads compared to the stockinette).

When I originally sketched the idea for this shell, I thought it would be cool to use short rows to shape a triangular area at the chest, and then have angled shoulder sections coming from the upper sides of the triangle, forming a V-neck AND slight cap sleeves.  Well, the reason that I note in the pattern that larger sizes may require a crossback or strapless bra (unless you don't mind having the straps exposed), is that when I started working on the mechanics of how to accomplish this, I realized that (A) the larger sizes increase much more in bust circumference than in shoulder width, and (B) the "cap sleeve" really had to end at the point of the shoulder, because it didn't curve to follow the top of the arm, but rather stuck out straight, due to the garment contruction, and would otherwise look like something from Star Trek, or maybe "Dallas" (the TV show, not the city).

And this meant that the shoulder section in the larger sizes had to start farther away from the side seam, meaning a more deeply cut armhole.  I've just realized that this is a case where a picture would be worth 1000 words, so in my next post I'll sketch what I'm talking about.

A series of unfortunate knitting events

(Cross posted from the CAL.)

When last we left "Dayflower Lace," it had just been ripped back to the top of the lace.   My original sketch (see here) had featured a single repeat of the lace up the upper center front, and an interesting cross between a V and a square neck. I had discarded this idea because I wasn't sure how I would finish the edge, wasn't sure how the wavy lace would look in a single repeat with stockinette on each side, etc.

But then I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a shot...but I had already decreased within each lace repeat, so to continue the single lace panel up the front, I didn't see any option but to rip back below the decreases (luckily just a couple of rows) and then redo the decreases, EXCEPT for the one center front panel. I had decided to go back to the eyelet holes and twisted cord belt to create a close underbust fit, but then, as shown above, I thought I would also try some columns of openwork within the underbust band.

Well. I completely forgot about the effect that nearby YOs and decreases have on the accent ridge, and in this case, it's not even a nice regular wave, but a lumpy-bumpy mess. Plus I don't like that additional openwork.

Lest you think I'm the Lemony Snicket of the CAL, I'll leave you with this photo:  yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Pinch me,

I must be dreaming.

Pizzicarmi, devo esserselo sognato.

One of my designs will indeed be in the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits (thanks to Katinka for tipping me that the preview* was up)--AND, another will be in the IK Holiday Gifts 2007, and yet another in the IK Winter 2007 issue--just spoke to Eunny a few days ago!

Uno dei miei disegni sara infatti nel periodico Interweave Knits, Estate 2007--ed anche, un altro sara nel IK Regali Festivi 2007, ed ancora un altro nel IK Inverno 2007--ho appena parlato a Eunny alcuni giorni fa!

*Did I do a bad job seaming or is that mostly an unfortunate camera angle?  Gosh, I hope they have some better pictures in the mag.