nonaKnits

Left Slanting Woes

This morning my friend "no-sleeves" -- she's determined to get through 2006 without knitting a single sleeve -- and I were bemoaning the fact that the left slanting ssk decreases on our Picovoli Ts were not nearly as nice as the beautiful -- yes, beautiful -- right slanting k2togs.  Now, you know you're a knitter when 1.  you have these kinds of conversations with your friends and 2. you find them highly interesting and entertaining, but I digress -- back to my left slanting woes.  I've tried all the major players in the left slanting world -- ssk, k2tog tbl, and sl1, k1, psso -- and none come close to the clean line created by the right slanting k2tog.  Am I the only one having this problem!?

nona thinks this calls for some out of the box thinking.  Care to join in?  You have 24 hours -- okay, 48 hours -- to put your thinking cap on and invent a new left slanting decrease.  And there will be prizes!

I know, I know, it's hard to see.  You'll have to trust me. 
The right slanting decreases are nice and smooth,
while the left slanting decreases are jagged.

Knit and Re-Knit

Total props go out to my yarn, June.  Not only is this 100% microfiber yarn a delight to knit with --  creating a stretchy light weight fabric -- but it can be knit, ripped, knit, ripped, knit, ripped, knit, ripped, and still knits up beautifully.  I know this, doubtful reader, because it took me 5 attempts to create a presentable sleeve. 

I was hoping to create a slightly longer version of the capped sleeve, but try as I might -- and I tried -- I could not keep the sleeve from bunching under the arm.  In the end, I kept the shorter capped sleeve -- adding a few short rows and some ribbing.  It looks nice and fits well. 

To the waist and heading for home...

Oh Yeah, the Swatch

Warning! Today's post contains mild complaining and may not be appropriate for overly optimistic readers.

Sorry, patient readers, to leave you hanging, wondering about the swatch -- you know, the swatch I knit when I was supposed to be seaming my vest.   I've been a little preoccupied -- okay, obsessed -- with improvisational log cabin knitting.  The swatch, by the way, was for Green Gable -- a top down, raglan, capped sleeve top with a bit of lace in the yoke.  I was eager to knit this top, especially after the last summer's highly successful Tivoli T.  The yarn, June from Nashua, was an easy choice.  Besides being the perfect color, this 100% microfiber yarn has a hint of stretch and knits up beautifully.  Slightly different gauge?  No problem, I'll tweak the pattern.

With calculator, graph paper, and mechanical pencil poised and ready for action, I grabbed the pattern only to be disappointed to find no schematic, no finished sizing, and no bust stitch count.  How am I supposed to even know what I'm knitting?  Still motivated, I did the math to determine how many bust stitches I should have based on the cast on stitches and the yoke increases.  Next, I used the pattern's gauge to convert this stitch count to the finished bust measurement.  You can imagine how shocked I was to find the finished measurement to fit a 36" bust was only 32.8" -- 3.2" of negative ease sent a few alarm bells off.  This may have been the designer's intention, but I know a lot of 36" women who would opt for the next size up -- but how could they when there's no mention of the finished measurement!?  To make a long story short, I abandoned this sinking ship taking the lovely idea of the yoke lace in the life boat and opted to make my own pattern based on the excellent -- and free -- Picovoli pattern.

Modified Picovoli with Green Gable's Yoke Lace -- nice!

The moral of my ode is this... nona's totally happy -- thrilled in fact -- to buy patterns from independent designers.  But if you intend to charge, please make sure you include at least finished size information and total stitch counts so us knitters can make intelligent choices.