WhIP it into Shape

It is snowing here. April 8 and snow is falling. You would think that would inspire me to get back to my Whistler. I mean, should I get it done, it would do me a lot of good right now. But instead, I've been working on my spring project. (Partly because it still travels well. The Whistler at this point, not so much.)

I could have sworn I blogged it already, but I see no mention of it since last summer when I found the mohair for the pattern. My deadline to get it done has always been this spring, and I was happy to get it cast on a few weeks ago.

I couldn't get gauge and my 4" swatch ran 5 inches instead--that's a big difference! I went down a size, in pattern and needle size, but after a few inches realized that it was still going to be way too wide.

So I did some figuring and calculating (taking into account the fact that it's horrible to frog mohair) and decided to add waist shaping instead of starting over.

It worked out nicely to take out one repeat of the pattern on each side over 24 rows. I have been taking meticulous notes (for once) and should be able to easily reproduce this on the front.

Then I got far enough to do the armhole shaping. Since my stitch count no longer matched the pattern I had to refigure all the numbers slightly. Although I thought I had done a mathematically correct job of it, after getting about 7 inches done, I realized that the shirt was way too narrow. (This would be the measurement between the shoulders.)

So I was finally forced to frog my mohair. It wasn't exactly fun, but I got it done without any major crises or Prozac.
But I was smart about it: instead of undoing all the shaping and redoing it with new figures, I just picked a point that was wide enough and frogged to that point only. The new width seems good.

Yesterday I got back to the point where the back splits in the middle to form the back slit. (Yes, I had gotten that far before deciding I had to frog it.) And then tonight--even sooner than I expected--I got to the shoulder shaping.
And that is all the shaping for this work in progress (WIP--now you get the title in case you hadn't yet).
Now on to the front. It's the perfect project for this weather and season actually. The colour does me a world of good at the end of winter, and yet it's still cool enough to work with the mohair. My hands literally get hot from holding the knitting on the needles! It's a wonder how thin it is, and yet how much substance it seems to have at the same time.

I can't wait to wear it!