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9August2013: I’ve decided against the i-cord embellishment. It’s just that it was going to be too heavy and I would always be adjusting it, and really, did I even like it? The minute I decided not to do it, I was relieved, wore it out to dinner, and loved it. I am seriously going to wear this all the time.

AND my husband says it’s the sexiest knit I own. Success!

MODS:

1. For the applied i-cord at hems… don’t use a smaller needle as they recommend! It will gather in the fabric, i-cord is really tight. I had to use a larger needle AND knit the i-cord very loosely to get it to the same width as the Haze fabric!
2. I wanted the seamlessness of the garment to extend to the sleeves, too! I picked up stitches along the armhole and formed the sleeve cap using short rows as I learned from Samantha Kirby’s pattern, Emanating.

This is the formula I used:

• Starting at the underarm, pick up every other stitch around the armhole = X sts. Mark the shoulder seam stitch.
• Knit to X / 2 sts (shoulder seam), then knit X / 14 (or there abouts).
• Wrap and turn the next stitch.
• Purl to shoulder seam, then purl X / 14.
• Wrap and turn the next stitch.
• Knit to 1 past wrap, picking up previous wrap along the way.
• Wrap and turn next stitch.
• Purl to 1 past wrap, picking up previous wrap along the way.
• Wrap and turn next stitch.
• Repeat Rows 6-9 until you reach the very beginning of the underarm shaping slope. If you continue to short row until the underarm, you will get a strange pouch. (To be more specific, from the bottom-up, an armhole binds off some stitches, then has several rows of decreases before continuing straight with no more decreases. Only short row the ‘straight’ portion of the armhole, not the decreases.)

A concrete example: If you pick up 70 stitches, knit to 35 sts (shoulder seam), then knit 5 more stitches (70/14) before starting to short row.

17July2013: I finally came up with an i-cord embellishment I liked… with my husband’s help! I tried and tried, but everything looked weird, and often ‘highlighted’ my boobs in a frame of i-cord, lol. When my husband came home, he said pretty fast, why don’t you make these cords into a belt?

Brilliant!

Now, the i-cords tie in the back to make a pretty waist. BUT, that’s not all. This requires no sewing of the i-cord to the delicate fabric, which worried me about sag and drape. All you do is tack the i-cords into the edging, and the belt does the rest of the work!

17June2013: I wanted a quick project that would use the one skein of Softknit Cotton I received from Rowan to review.

It’s such a challenge to use single skeins.

This pattern uses only one skein of Handknit cotton to make the i-cord embellishment. I think Softknit Cotton will do a fine replacement. Plus, it is a chain construction yarn and should make it through my little hand-crank i-cord machine. I HOPE. (because I really don’t feel like knitting meters of i-cord)

My Kidsilk Haze replacement is more silk and less haze, from Artfibers. I used it for this wonderful wrap.

I am adding 1) length, 2) waist shaping, 3) better set-in sleeves. Also, I might change the way the i-cord is placed. In other words, everything!

IntSweMoDo2013#7