Crocus is going SO well
Jul. 25th, 2020 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzAlthough I haven't been knitting much this weekend I finished the yoke on the Crocus top. It's strange to see the old pictures from the Songe d'été and wonder why I am looking so sad. I've definitely re-found the absolute joy this yarn and project bring me that I didn't have with the previous project I knit with this yarn.
(That said, I've been thinking about re-drafting the chart for the Songe d'été, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I want to really get a good measurement on the blocked gauge of the Crocus, because only then will I be sure a second attempt at Songe d'été is worth revisiting.)
I had finished the lace chart earlier this week but I ran into a small problem with centering the design on centre-front:
The white stitch marker at the bottom of the picture indicates the centre-front stitch. And it's ...kind of in a weird place. It's not centered on any part of the lace part, but that was exactly what we were trying to achieve.
This is just a small problem with the pattern. Nothing that can't be fixed by reading the pattern properly. This isn't the first time this has happened to me either...
I am knitting the largest size, and that means that the final number between brackets is the one I should be paying attention to. So if the sizes of a pattern read S (M, L) and the instructions are "knit 5 (7, 9) stitches", it means that for the largest size I should read this instruction as "knit 9 stitches".
Knitting is mostly a secret language where we use the minimum amount of words to make your hands follow intricate instructions.
As the yoke was finished, I was supposed to place markers to decide where the body pieces end, and the sleeve pieces begin. And to ensure the centre front would be pretty, I should slip a number of stitches and move the Beginning of Round (BOR) marker.
I took the final number between brackets, slipped the BOR-marker 12 stitches over, and placed markers for raglan before I started knitting. (Now, just because the BOR-marker has moved doesn't mean you can just skip the stitches. You'd get a long float in the back. I knit those 12 stitches, tally'd a new round on my notepad, and happily went ahead knitting four rounds of raglan increases. )
What I hadn't noticed yet was that the number 12 indeed was the last number between brackets --- but it wasn't the largest size. For some strange reason the English version of this pattern had a minor oversight and the number of stitches I needed to slip was not between the brackets, but direcly after the second bracket. I didn't notice it because it's a pattern that has so many sizes, and I needed the last number between brackets anyway! I'm not going to be counting off "S, M, L, XL, XXL" when I need the last figure that is mentioned.
And because I was placing my markers on one of those days when I was seeing pretty much cross-eyed because it was a long day, I never noticed the little "1" that was hiding after the brackets. I only noticed something was wrong because slipping the stitches didn't have the desired effect.
I frogged back and resolved to doing the math myself when I noticed that little "one" hiding out behind the brackets. I counted the sizes off, and sure enough, the "12" I thought was for my size, was actually for the XL size -- not the XXL.
Frogged back those four whole rows that I had done since finishing the lace chart, slipping the mere 1 stitch, counted off the raglan markers again, and found my new centre-front. And it is perfectly in the right spot, right underneath the final yarn-over of the last row of the lace chart.
And soon enough, I was slipping half my stitches on a second needle for a more accurate fitting. After the five rows or raglan increases it was time to bind off the cap sleeves. But first I needed to see how I was doing size-wise.
It sits very prettily, and it more than covers the shoulder. I call it a win! It's not necessary to add extra raglan rows (without increases) just to make the cap sleeve cover my shoulder, and remember this is unblocked. It may even grow a bit with blocking. It sure will open up dat scrunched bit of lace that is the yoke.
Next up: Binding off the sleeve stitches and picking up stitches under the arm. It's always magical how you can bind off x number of stitches, cast on a slightly smaller amount in the next row, and end up with a perfectly servicable armscye. It almost defies everything I know of pattern drafting, except that knit fabrics are extra special -- and that's why we love them.
(That said, I've been thinking about re-drafting the chart for the Songe d'été, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I want to really get a good measurement on the blocked gauge of the Crocus, because only then will I be sure a second attempt at Songe d'été is worth revisiting.)
I had finished the lace chart earlier this week but I ran into a small problem with centering the design on centre-front:
The white stitch marker at the bottom of the picture indicates the centre-front stitch. And it's ...kind of in a weird place. It's not centered on any part of the lace part, but that was exactly what we were trying to achieve.
This is just a small problem with the pattern. Nothing that can't be fixed by reading the pattern properly. This isn't the first time this has happened to me either...
I am knitting the largest size, and that means that the final number between brackets is the one I should be paying attention to. So if the sizes of a pattern read S (M, L) and the instructions are "knit 5 (7, 9) stitches", it means that for the largest size I should read this instruction as "knit 9 stitches".
Knitting is mostly a secret language where we use the minimum amount of words to make your hands follow intricate instructions.
As the yoke was finished, I was supposed to place markers to decide where the body pieces end, and the sleeve pieces begin. And to ensure the centre front would be pretty, I should slip a number of stitches and move the Beginning of Round (BOR) marker.
I took the final number between brackets, slipped the BOR-marker 12 stitches over, and placed markers for raglan before I started knitting. (Now, just because the BOR-marker has moved doesn't mean you can just skip the stitches. You'd get a long float in the back. I knit those 12 stitches, tally'd a new round on my notepad, and happily went ahead knitting four rounds of raglan increases. )
What I hadn't noticed yet was that the number 12 indeed was the last number between brackets --- but it wasn't the largest size. For some strange reason the English version of this pattern had a minor oversight and the number of stitches I needed to slip was not between the brackets, but direcly after the second bracket. I didn't notice it because it's a pattern that has so many sizes, and I needed the last number between brackets anyway! I'm not going to be counting off "S, M, L, XL, XXL" when I need the last figure that is mentioned.
And because I was placing my markers on one of those days when I was seeing pretty much cross-eyed because it was a long day, I never noticed the little "1" that was hiding after the brackets. I only noticed something was wrong because slipping the stitches didn't have the desired effect.
I frogged back and resolved to doing the math myself when I noticed that little "one" hiding out behind the brackets. I counted the sizes off, and sure enough, the "12" I thought was for my size, was actually for the XL size -- not the XXL.
Frogged back those four whole rows that I had done since finishing the lace chart, slipping the mere 1 stitch, counted off the raglan markers again, and found my new centre-front. And it is perfectly in the right spot, right underneath the final yarn-over of the last row of the lace chart.
And soon enough, I was slipping half my stitches on a second needle for a more accurate fitting. After the five rows or raglan increases it was time to bind off the cap sleeves. But first I needed to see how I was doing size-wise.
It sits very prettily, and it more than covers the shoulder. I call it a win! It's not necessary to add extra raglan rows (without increases) just to make the cap sleeve cover my shoulder, and remember this is unblocked. It may even grow a bit with blocking. It sure will open up dat scrunched bit of lace that is the yoke.
Next up: Binding off the sleeve stitches and picking up stitches under the arm. It's always magical how you can bind off x number of stitches, cast on a slightly smaller amount in the next row, and end up with a perfectly servicable armscye. It almost defies everything I know of pattern drafting, except that knit fabrics are extra special -- and that's why we love them.
