Very pleased with the colour and broken seed stitch effect.

Inspired by broken seed stitch socks by handepande.

NOTES:

15 Jul 2012

First mistake: accidentally twisted the loop. Only realised it was a mobius strip about 15 rows on. In the end managed to ‘fix’ this by casting off a section of about 4 inches, isolating the loop in this section, then turned the work, starting new rows above the cast-off section with new cable casts. Resulting in a twist, a ‘decorative hole’, followed by correct untwisted body.

Second mistake: been too pessimistic about my size, and made it too big. Only realised this when I am about 20 rows on. Quickly decreased it, but that made the shaping weird, and was tricky to decrease a moss stitch (had to do …p1 k2tog p1 k1 p1 ssk k1…).

Made mistake of decreasing under arm hole instead of under breasts. The decreases make a funny cup shape which would have been more suited for under breasts.

Subsequent decreases after this realisation were made in more central areas, with k2tog p1 k1 p1 k2tog on the right and then ssk p1 ki ssk on the left to avoid ‘cup’ shapes.

In the end I had a brilliant idea that could fix problem with ‘decorative’ hole, weird cup shaping in underarms, too loose ribbing at the top. That is: to reverse the pattern and knit from bottom up instead of top to bottom as initially planned. The hole and shaping won’t look so obvious curled at the waist, and the size and shape actually fits quite well! Pleased.

28 Jul 2012

Blocking it now. Fingers crossed it will fit. Did the binding off twice as the first time it was way too inflexible (couldn’t get my shoulders through). The second try, I used Zimmermann’s sewn cast off, and it works much better.

For future reference: I started the project with 222 sts, then reduced to some sts, and eventually increased again to 194 sts, and then at the end ribbing, reduced to 188 sts.

On hindsight, I could possibly knitted the entire tube without any shaping. That might have looked better.

Being my first 2 colour project, I have learnt so much more about how stitches work together, and have improved my ‘stitch finesse’.

29 Jul 2012

Blocking done, straps done. The blocking did wonders to correct the shaping.

For the straps, I knitted just 5 stitches of stockinette (dropping first stitches each side) and allowed it to curl naturally. Much easier than making i-cord and works as well. And then I connected it using 3 needle bo.

I love this top. It’s beautiful and flattering and I love the colour and pattern. Cheap and quick to make too.