janestarz | Entries tagged with project: crocus

Although this project has been done for a while, I didn't get around to blocking it properly until last weekend. And wouldn't you know it...the light at night is just awful for taking pictures. Whenever we would be home, it would already be turning dark or I'd forget about taking proper pictures until it was dark already.

But we managed, and here it is in all its glory.

Taking the pictures with just a bra underneath showed...um....far too much of my not-quite-lean belly, so we had to re-shoot the pictures after I put on a camisole for decency. You can still see my jeans waist showing through quite well.

Of course, casting off this project on September 11th and blocking it on the 20th means I won't be wearing this until the next heatwave, probably somewhere in 2021. The weather turning colder is impacting my need for munchies and it's not pretty.

This was my first time knitting with linen. It's nowhere near as stretchy as wool, and it can be quite coarse. It behaves rather well on the needles though, and it will get softer with wear. The best part of this project is that is was a KAL and Kat knit the same top in cobalt blue, and we had the best fun.

My next big project will be the Pumkin Ale cardigan, swatching is already done. First though, I promised myself to finish that one final pair of socks that are still on the needles. And....they are the very last WIP that is on the needles too! I usually have three projects in various stages of completion lying around the house, but pandemic does weird stuff to the brain. Once the socks are done all my needles are EMPTY.

Nothing like diving face-first into a new project to fix that, am I right?

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Al heb ik voor mijn gevoel deze week niet veel gebreid, vorig weekend was het er een van bingen van een goeie serie (Sons of Anarchy) en lekker veel breien. Eisirt had nachtdiensten, dus de avonden zijn dan raar. Als ik om vijf uur richting huis ga is er eerst een raar anderhalf uur niksen voordat ik hem om zeven uur wakker mag maken voor het eten. Om negen uur gaat hij dan op de fiets richting het werk en daarna kan ik nog een tijdje gamen voordat ik naar bed ga. Een zeer onrustig avondbeeld en omdat hij ook met gebroken slaap zit komt er qua huishouden, boodschappen, en plannen voor het eten ook niet veel uit zijn handen.

In any case. Ik had wel al door dat ik weer moest passen omdat ik al best weer een hoop meerderingen had gedaan. Het patroon stelt zeven keer minderen, vijf centimeter rechtuit, en zeven keer meerderen. Nu ben ik wel een stuk omvangrijker dan boven de taille, maar dat doet er voor deze berekening niet toe. Ik moest vooral zorgen dat de afname van steken boven de taille op een veel rustiger tempo ging dan normaal, omdat met mijn grote buste en lange lijf de afstand van schouder naar taille groter is dan gemiddeld. Dat zie ik ook in de proportie-aanpassingen terug die ik in mijn naaipatronen moet doorvoeren.
Ook rekende ik even de gewenste taillemaat door naar het aantal steken waar ik op uit moest komen en bleek dat ik precies goed uitkwam met die zeven keer minderen, dus dat was fijn.

Maar na de juiste hoeveelheid minderingen, het stukje rechtuit op de taille bleek ook nog eens dat ik vanaf dat punt snel vorderde. Oké, ik had allang wel door dat ik wat sneller moest meerderen om de heftige ronding van mijn heupen op de correcte manier in mijn kledingstuk te krijgen. Hoe vervelend is het als je eindeloos aan een shirtje loopt te plukken om hem weer naar beneden te trekken! Dus op 'heenweg' (van de buste naar de taille) minderde ik elke zevende toer, maar op de 'terugweg' (van de taille naar de heup) meerderde ik elke vijfde toer. En die aantallen komen gewoon een beetje uit de lucht vallen. Granted, ik was al een keer bij de taille aangekomen en wist dat op de manier uit het patroon minderen veel te snel ging voor mijn lijf en uiteinelijk was ik nog veel verder terug gegaan om zo'n beetje alles vanaf de lace yoke aan te passen, dus ik had een basis idee van wat niet werkte.

Ik had echter geen idee dat het zo ontzettend goed zou werken!
Dit was gistermiddag voordat we gingen zitten voor ons eten (pannekoeken) en de voorgenoemde serie. Omdat ik een joggingbroek aanheb vind ik het iets moeilijker om te zien hoeveel verder ik nog moet, maar Kat vertelde dat de ribbing bij haar 4 centimeter toevoegde. Als ik zie dat de zoom iets omkrult, en ik bedenk die 4 centimeter erbij dan...zit ik eigenlijk wel op de gewenste plek voor de zoom!

Het is nu dus een kwestie van de laatste loodjes. Het einde is in zicht. Nog twee toeren gaatjes breien en een klein stukje 1x1 rib, en dan is Project Crocus af!

.
.
.
Shit. Wat ga ik hierna breien!?

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Progress! It's really going fast when you....don't do much else in your weekend. Eisirt got me hooked on a new series on Netflix, called Sons of Anarchy. It's very well-written, and the characters are rounded out and interesting. I am actually looking forward to the next episode every time, and there's some twists and turns that are amazing. ("You fed crystal to a killer dog, man? Are you retarded?")

It's wonderful to spend a weekend doing nothing much. There was a single load of laundry and the house chores were done because we had visitors during the week. Plenty of time to chill with my dear Eisirt! And with lots and lots of stockinette.

Because I have more stitches on the needles now, I had to recalculate the placement of the decreases. Now that I see the picture, they're not really under the nipple, but it's fine. I did a lot of knitting this weekend and I need to do one final decrease to get to the desired waist circumference. That's still eight rows away though. Maybe this time when I'm done with the decreases I'll actually have gotten to the bra band (tall Jane is tall).

It is *very* comfortable though! I'm almost sad summer will probably be over by the time this is done. I am relieved to see the fit is so much better now, that I don't have to frog again. We fixed it!
So, one more decrease, then a large portion of stockinette, then increases again. But all in all: humongous swathes of stockinette. I will fondly remember them when I cable my way down my planned autumn knitting.

Current Mood: creative
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

After knitting a swatch I frogged all the way back to the lace yoke. This took a little time -- untangling and re-balling the yarn, carefully putting all the live stitches back on the needles and then I found out I was still several rows into the first increases. Instead of taking everything off the needles and risk losing a yarn-over or two on the final row of lace, I just un-knitted until I got there.
Well, almost. I realised I would still need to do those yarn-overs, so I saved some of them from being un-knitted.

Then I consulted Jannigje, math wizard and knitting talent extraordinaire. I really wanted to repeat the short rows in the back panel, but only the back panel this time. The sleeves in the previous version were a bit too wide (I have really narrow shoulders, compared to my bust) and I didn't like how the sleeves fell off my shoulder. I still needed to do the official increases and I also had added four extra rows in the first version.

So to recap:
- add 6 short rows in the back only (not on the sleeves);
- add 4 extra rows for added height;
- do 3 raglan increase rows as per the pattern.

We discussed options and she agreed it would be alright to just do the short rows on the back piece, between the increase markers at the raglan points. I would do an increase row with yarnovers and its companion row where you knit the yarnovers through the back loop. After each "tbl"-row I would do a single set of short rows (wrap and turn, purl back, wrap & turn, knit forwards).

At this time, I have no clue if I added the 4 extra rows or not...my notes don't say. I had calculated that I needed to do this in 15 rows but when tallying off my rounds, I only came to 14 rows. I'm just not sure if there are some extra rows there.
Meh.

In any case, after all the 'tbl'-rows and short rows were done, it was time to wrap up the sleeves. Should the front need some extra height too, I could repeat the short rows on the front without making the sleevelets any wider.
The first row meant casting off the sleeve stitches, and in the row after that you pick up stitches for the underarm. The pattern said to do 20, but now that I know I need more stitches for my bust, I might as well add 22 under the arm, right?

A quick fitting later (late night bra-exposed-super-grainy-non-internet-worthy pictures should not be shared here) and I could confirm this formula worked as well as any. It accounted for the extra height I needed in the back panel, I made a few stitches under the arm, and I even continued increasing after the armscye. I can only get away with that because my bust is so low, so the biggest part of my chest really is quite a way down from my armpit.
And it fit well! The cap sleeve sits right at the top of my shoulder and the underarm stitches don't dig into my armpit. The extra width of the underarm helps there as well, I'm sure.

And now that this finagling is all done, it's knitting straight on until the largest part of the bust.

Current Mood: quizzical
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Quick update on the Crocus project!

After writing yesterday's blog post I decided to spend some time knitting a swatch and getting actual measurements. I knit some 60 stitches in the round with a magic loop and was reminded again how much I hate magic loop.
Although the row gauge is still all over the place, I can conclude the following for BC Lino and my hand of knitting:
2.75 mm: 23 sts per 10 cm
3 mm: 22 sts per 10 cm
3.5 mm: 19 sts per 10 cm

Row gauge is tentatively set at 40 rows per 10 centimeters (my swatch was probably too small to measure accurately):
2.75 mm: 37 rows per 10 cm
3 mm : 40 rows per 10 cm
3.5 mm: 31 rows per 10 cm.

The smaller needles mean more stitches to get to ten centimeters and if I had a 3.25 mm needle, I would probably be spot on gauge for this pattern. Crocus calls for 21 sts per 10 centimeter. It's lovely to see how slight the changes are between needles and it's encouraging to get closer and closer to the given gauge.

I'm going to frog until the end of the lace part and re-calculate how many stitches I will need now. I will not fit in the official sizes because I'm off-gauge by a bit. (I need more stitches for 10 centimeters, so my shirt will be too small).

I am not disappointed. More fun with the yarn!

Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Current Music: Sarah Bettens - Stay

The pattern stated to start decreases around the fullest part of the bust (or a few centimeters below it if you're large in the bust area) and then to decrease happily every 1.5 centimeters. For me that boiled down to every fifth row, and I was still counting on the blocked row gauge to grow somewhat. (I still don't have a swatch) After seven decreases I would have reached the approximate circumference of the waist (if you're still on gauge).

Ready for a full boob selfie?
No? Well, here it is anyway.

Things I noticed right away:
- The fabric is pretty stretched over the bust area. It's really skin tight.
- That's not my waist.

My 7 times 1.5 centimeters didn't even finish stretching over the full extent of the boobage. I need a LOT more length to even get anywhere near the waist. This may be in part because the stitches over the bust need the stretch width-wise and therefor they get shorter.

How to fix?
Well, first of all: it wasn't uncomfortable. (I'm not going to bore you with further gauge assumptions, but I will admit I've contemplated knitting and blocking a swatch just to get rid of all the uncertainty.)
Even as it is now, it's not uncomfortably tight. I hope the stitches will fluff out a bit so the fabric will become a little less transparent, but I can totally see myself wearing this top with a camisole underneath because I've been knitting with this in my lap for the past few days at 35°C and it's not uncomfortably warm when it's on top of me in this weather. Yay linen!

That said -- I don't like the way the stitches over the bust look so stretched when compared to the stitches right above the bust. I may just rip back more to get the width I need -- and really the only way to do this scientifically is by getting a swatch and calculating how many stitches I will need. With four untouched skeins and a big ball of frogged Songe d'été I will have plenty of yarn. (I may eat these words later, because I know my hips.)

I've also considered doing some short rows to add extra length in the front. The Songe d'été top has a full bust adjustment which does just that. Proportionally my bust isn't very large when compared to my waist and hips but the truth is I do have narrow, EU size 46 shoulders.
But wait...didn't you add a couple of short rows after the lace to the back of the top? And now you're adding short rows to the front....how do you explain that?!

So I took out a photo I took of my t-shirt top pattern. I've used this pattern so many times in the past and although I do have to cut it slightly wider in the side seams under the arm, it is a good representation of my general shape for stretchy fabrics. Note that the back panel is quite a bit slimmer and has a more dramatic curve in the side seam.

t-shirt pattern2

Left: front panel; right: back panel.

I drew in two horizontal lines: one is the back height (rughoogte) line, that runs under the arm. The other is (roughly) at the waist (ruglengte).
In pattern drafting both of these are based on a persons body length, and they may differ proportionally because someone has a hunchback figure (=longer back height) or is short-waisted (shorter back length). But it's really important to see WHERE this proportion differs, because you always add the length where you need it.
I am decently proportioned for my height - my back length is pretty much spot-on for a person that is six feet three inches tall. Because most patterns are made for average-sized humans I do need to adjust for it.

I do need a bust adjustment, but in t-shirt fabrics this is not always necessary because they will stretch. You can see in the above picture the front shoulder is almost as tall as the back shoulder. This accounts for my larger bust. Although it's not very exact, because the armscye didn't move up with the shoulder (which is what you'd expect, because the bust is situated below the first line) But you can also see what stretching the knit fabric will do to those poor stitches.

As I'm still working my way through the pattern science, I think I'm correct in adding the short rows after the lace part. I didn't want the back neckline so low that I'd be pulling on it all the time. In pattern drafting the back shoulder sits 2 cm higher than the front, and some short rows will defintely account for that.
Because the underarm point is pretty much a fixed point on the body that will always sit under the arm, the height between the first white line and the shoulder is pretty much fixed. If you don't add the extra 2 centimeters, the back neckline will sit much lower than the front, because it just can't reach up as high.

And I might also need some short rows on the front to get all of the bust into the fabric.

But....

...maybe I should knit that swatch, and figure out what my blocked gauge is first.
And then make plans.

I'm at home with a slight cough anyway (better safe than spread the plague) and with these kinds of temperatures that swatch will dry in MINUTES!

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Current Music: Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Last I wrote about Crocus it was time to add a few short rows -- and Kwibus was helping by donating some fur on my hard work.
It's been a fun journey so far, and I'm still going strong. Although my narrow shoulders get a little bit lost in the cap sleeve because of the added short rows, it's looking quite right.

The armscye still feels like it's right up in my armpit, but I figure that will block out. It's not uncomfortably tight anymore and maybe, just maybe I've hit just the right spot so it doesn't sag after blocking and is neat and tidy.

This week was all about getting to the bust point, which is hard to measure when you don't know your blocked gauge. When I did a number of rows I tried it on again, and as it lay on my body it didn't get to the bust point, but as I stretched it a bit (as blocking will do) I would get there.
I will save you further boob shots, because I'm a little uncomfortable with these kinds of pictures. A half-knitted garment cutting my torso in half at an unflattering height and pictures taken from unflattering angles do NOTHING for my self-worth. But at least I hope (think) that once the garment is finished it will fit me so well you won't notice the weird discolouration in my face from UV damage and rosacea or my disproportionally large bust or my weird narrow shoulders. I just have to keep reminding myself it just shows a lot more because of the kind of pictures I take during this process.

At least I look very happy in the pictures, and that is because I am having a BLAST. This is so much fun to knit.
After sending weird boob-angled photos to my friends on Whatsapp I started on the decreases. Also because Jannigje said I should. I realised as she said it that the decreases will always move to the narrower part of the body. Even if the bust point is not really in the right spot, the decreases will make sure the fabric up top will stretch out so the top can sit at a comfortable point.
Famous last words? Maybe. I am working on the assumption that the yarn will fluff up a bit and the stitches will get longer with washing and blocking. And longer is -- in my case -- better.

I've done quite a few decrease rows now, actually. The pattern said "every 1.5 centimeters" and I'm working on the unblocked row height of 5 rows between decreases. If my knitting grows longer with blocking, that will be good for my tall body. If not, it might still work out as being flattering for my body type. Although I can work this as a medium fitted top, the tummy will not be denied. So if the hip flare starts a bit higher because the row height does not increase with blocking....it will still be flattering.

What have we learned? Accurate swatches are a god-send and must never again be underestimated.
And: knitting with linen is very do-able in 35°C weather and should be considered a blessing.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Current Music: K's Choice - Hell Like Heaven

Last time I wrote about Crocus I was a bit further along than I let on. I try to cut my blog posts in thematic chunks and this works well. So when I wrote that the next step was to bind off the sleeve stitches I had already done so.
Ten rows on it turned out that I had been a bit too happy to get this far. Although I haven't actually knitted a real swatch on 3mm needles (but I did on 2.75 and 3.5 for the Songe d'été) I can't tell what my row gauge is.

Aaaah, the new bane of my existance: row gauge! I haven't made a swatch on 3 mm, I haven't blocked said non-existing swatch, and there's no real evidence of how much my row gauge will grow with blocking.
I do know that when I had knit ten rows after doing the armscye it was wayyyy too short. The armscye poked into my armpit and this is never a good thing. Tall Jane is tall.

So I frogged back to just above the armscye and read up on the instructions for making the top of the top taller. The instructions said to add extra rows without increasing further. Check, I can do that.
After four extra rows I decided to check again. It was quite clear that the top sits way higher in the back than in the front. The front neckline is pretty (and if it stretches out with blocking, I won't become indecently exposed) and it reaches down quite far enough, but in the back it reaches nowhere near the armpit.
I can't take a picture of the back while keeping needles in check, alone at home, so this involved quite a bit of pulling and poking to see how the back would sit.

Yes, it was definitely too short. Kat suggested I do a few short rows to make up for the height difference.
Her explanation on the phone was forgotten as soon as I put down the phone (it was one of those weeks) but a quick Google search got me the mathematics. Long story short: after the four extra non-increase rows I also added six rows of short rows.

Short rows are a row that isn't knit all the way around. It's often used in sock knitting, for a short-row heel. To make sure no gaps are created, one stitch is 'wrapped' and and the work is turned. In the first half, each short row is slightly shorter than the one previous. In the second half, you pick up the 'wraps' and knit them together with the stitch they lay around, making sure the tension is tight enough.

Kwibus helped by depositing his summer fluff on my knitting:

With ten extra rows I hope to have added enough height to my work. I just finished the armscyes for the seond time and although I was just a few rows under the arm I had to try it on again. It is definitely better, although it still sits high in the armpit. It's not too tight, but still a bit on the high side. I hope that means that once the top is blocked, it will sit prettily without gaping.

Now for a long straight stretch to get to the bust point...and then we decide on the amount of fitting we want!

Current Mood: creative
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Current Music: Radio Veronica: Back to the 80s

Although 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.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Eindhoven
Current Music: The Mighty Jinges (in the background)

After two false starts because of losing a few stitches I decided to start working with lifelines. I've hardly ever needed it, but then this is one of the more intricate laces I've got my hands on so far. And yet it is not so difficult that I want to throw in the towel.

After a start on needles 3.5 I soon switched down to needles 3 mm and up to the largest size of the pattern. All is well now, I'm already 3/4 of the way there, and with two lifelines and a bit longer cable it is going smoothly and is ready for a quick fitting!

And look how prettily it sits right there. No pulling, no problems, no need for blocking! I am quite happy with that.

In fact, happy enough to probably not switch back to needles 3.5 mm when the lace part is done. I can get away with lots of fittings, right? RIGHT?

Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands

This weekend I really wanted to get far enough on the Songe d'été top so I could fit it. After the Epic Row Gauge fail, I was reknitting it on needles 3.5 mm to match the row gauge, and knitting a smaller size because my stitch gauge would also increase.
Saturday I just needed to do the final 50 rows on the right front flap, and starting with just 30 or so stitches on the needles this was pretty fast going. Still, it wasn't enjoying much of it, mostly because it was already the second time I was knitting it. Part of my enjoyment is in figuring out a pattern and getting the Aha! moment.
For this pattern, which is kind of messy to start with, the Aha! moment was already behind me. It was now just the grind to get to the point where I could fit and start on a different set of instructions.

anemoona was the first to mention that it didn't look much longer than what I had previously knit. And because I still had plenty of untouched skeins I had started over from a fresh skein so I could make this photo:

There was a minimal difference so far, and even stretching the knitting out as if I was blocking it rather firmly only did so much. I make plenty of clothing for myself, so I know what kind of shape and size I need even if I'm looking at a flat, half-finished garment.
And maybe the i-cord on the front lace didn't help, preventing the fabric from stretching more.
And I wondered if I even wanted to block this top EVERY time it came out of the wash.

But hey, maybe it's fine. Let's put it on....

It was not fine.

...

I admit, I had a bit of a cry over this. Reknitting something isn't so bad if it works out. But re-knitting and realising that it's not going to work and you'd have to redo everything AGAIN sucks giant dangly donkey balls.

Should have known better. I'm not an average sized human. Granted, the first was epic row gauge fail, it was my own bloody fault it did not fit. Silly me, I learned a lesson. I did better on the second try. I was almost matching row gauge -- and my stitches were even a little bit higher than the pattern suggested. Not much, just a little bit. I needed one row less for 10 centimeters, so we're not talking much. So it was actually a whole half centimeter longer than the pattern prescribed for this part of the knitting. (50 rows from shoulder seam down)
But patterns are made for average sized humans and I'm a whopping 13% taller than the average Dutch woman and 26 centimeters taller than the average French woman. I'm actually fairly decently proportioned for my length, my back is the right length for someone as freakishly tall as me. (I usually do need more length down the front to compensate for a large bust.)

Truth be told, I could probably fix the Songe d'été with an hour or two of math.
I could increase less fast, making it take longer to reach the proscribed bust circumference. That would make the v of the neck deeper, extend the lace portion quite a bit and probably look much better for someone of my proportions. I'd have to really re-work the lace V's on the front and back to make it match properly, so it means mostly reworking the entire top of the pattern to fit me properly. And since I was already going to change the bottom, I'd essentially rewrite the entire pattern for tall people, just holding on to the lace neckline band and the eyelets in a v-formation. Thank you, but no thank you.

So that was it for the Songe d'été. It's frogged. It's gone. Fuck it sideways.

And I'm not the only one that was struggling with this pattern so I'm following in Kat's footsteps and we're starting a new KAL with this yarn. We will be knitting Krokus by Lene Tøsti. Jannigje has already knitted Rosenrot from this designer and was very pleased with the pattern, so there's more faith in the designer and we have confidence that she writes a very good pattern. For starters, the pattern states four different ways to fit around the waist depending on how tight you want your finished garment to be!
And because Jannigje is a knitting MACHINE she will jump in when Kat and I are about halfway, no doubt, knitting herself a second Rosenrot.

---
In other pretty spiffy news, I made my stepdad a very happy man. Ashford is selling a 3D printed sock knitting machine, and a quick google search turned up the open source blueprints to print your own!! I e-mailed him with a very careful 'you know, only if you want to, and if you're not too busy' and my mom is praising me every chance she gets. Luc dove straight in, is tweaking his printer and trying new things and really, really enjoying the project. And I might soon be the proud owner of a sock knitting machine!

Current Mood: disappointed
Current Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Current Music: Faun - Federkleid