Lace Tunic: Finished

In early September I finished the main knitting on my Lace Tunic. The back had already been blocked (I was testing to make sure it would block to size before I invested time in the front) so I only had to lay out the front and side pieces after they had a good soak.

I had to pull pretty hard, but everything was made to match the measurements in the schematics. The pulling just opened up the lace and netting more.

Once they were dry and I had some time, I started seaming the pieces. The squares are turned on point and inserted into the seam at the lower edge of the front and back. Then you seam the front and back together above.

That is a wicked-good looking seam, if I do say so myself.

Next I was supposed to seam the shoulder seams so that the armholes and neck could be trimmed in the round. But I didn't feel like working in the round. (The length is just the right length to be annoying: too long for magic loop and too short to work in one loop. And I didn't feel like working with two cable needles.)

So instead, I knit the armhole trim in the flat,

and then seamed one shoulder seam so that I could knit the neck trim in the flat:

Then I seamed the last shoulder. All the trim was knit in garter stitch so the seams were very easy to hide.

And then that was it; it was done!

I'm still deciding on the length--whether it's just right or a little short. I feel like the body could be a little longer, but I don't want the side pieces to come down below my knees. So I guess I'm saying it's good.

I love the cotton for this pattern. When I first bought the sweater to ravel, I just thought it would be a nice light neutral and had no idea what I would do with it. (I don't use much cotton besides for dish cloths, so who knows what I was thinking!!) But it's easy to wear and just right for an extra layer. It feels good on.

It was an interesting lace pattern. The stitch count is not consistent throughout the repeat. I also didn't do it exactly like the pattern, but followed a modification by KnittingAmazon on Ravelry. I didn't compare the two too carefully, but I believe the modification made the pattern more symmetric.

The lace morphs into a much simpler pattern for the shoulder straps and back yoke. It's a bit of a cop out, but I can understand why the designer did it. Such a big open lace on the shoulder straps wouldn't be stable enough and would be very difficult (tedious) to write out for different sizes.

I am very happy with how my neck trim came out. The cast off is just right; not too tight, not too loose. I also worked carefully to leave no holes along the pick up line and to pull in the lace in the center front so it looked good.

The hemline is a nice scallop. It's starting to roll already (as stocking stitch does), but not too badly.

I still think the side inserts are a clever way to get a bias hem line with straight pieces.

If I get tired of them one day, I could easily remove them and just wear the garment as a tunic with side slits.

But for now I have to watch my hands. I catch myself doing this as I walk around

and that is not a good look!

Project Stats
Started: 23 Jun '13
Finished: 14 Sep '13
Pattern: Open Eye Tunic by Deborah Helmke (magazine it was in was $6.99)
Materials: 263 grams of cotton from a Croft & Barrow Sweater ($1.25)

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

Knitting on my lace tunic during a power outage
in June that lasted a couple days. That would be
too long to go without knitting in the evenings!

So I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working on Troy's socks all the live long day. But sometimes a girl needs a break. And I've been sneaking them in and working on my cotton lace tunic. (shhhhh)

I finished the main knitting a couple of days ago and got the last piece cast off tonight. I hope to have it blocked this weekend and then I just need to seam it together and knit the trim around the neck and armholes. If I'm really good, the socks will be done on time on Monday (fingers crossed) and then I'll be able to finish up this tunic in time to wear for the last few warm days we should (hopefully) get before fall really sets in.

The tunic's been a bit of a funny knit as I got stitch gauge on the "netting" stitch of the side panels but had to do a lot more rows to get the right length. And on the main lace stitch, I was good on row gauge but really had to pull on it to get it to be wide enough (which means my stitch gauge was too small). But I was able to block to measurements so let's hope it fits. :)

I had a frustrating obstacle to finishing the knitting...my ball of yarn ran out with only half a row of bind off to do!

The long tail (top) just wasn't going to be enough
to get the stitches cast off. (Boo!)

So I had to join a new ball of yarn, but there were a few things to consider. 1. The yarn is cotton, which is harder to join reliably and smoothly. (Certainly no wet join was going to work.) There are several methods but they're all pretty bulky. 2. The join was going to be right on an edge that would be worked into a seam and I really didn't need a super bulky join or things would get really ugly really fast. But the good part of it being on a seam is that it didn't necessary have to be the prettiest join.

Yarn from commercial sweaters is "unplied" (not
twisted or spun). They feed the yarn to the knitting
machines from separate spools.

Right about that time I read through a thread on the Ravelry Unravelers group about working with the unplied yarn you get from raveled sweaters. Somehow the topic of joins came up and one member commented that they do offset knots on the different plies. Often enough there's a knot in the yarn (in one ply only) straight from the sweater factory and it is knit into the garment with no ill effects. So she figured if you offset the knots, it should work fine as a join. Light bulb goes off in my head as I agree with her.

I decided this is the perfect join for this situation. Not too pretty, but not at all bulky. So I overlapped the ends of the two yarns I wanted to join by about 12". (Yes, this uses more yarn than most joins, but not a lot more.)

I tied a knot in one of the plies at the left end of the overlap. This gave me a final length and I stretched the yarn over a tray so that it would be taut. The only tricky part of this was making sure each ply ended up the same length.

I secured it by wrapping it around the handle.

It didn't have to be super tight or take a lot of pressure. I then worked on the other plies one by one until I had them all knotted. I ended up with six knots over about 8 inches.

Then I trimmed the ends to less than 1/4 inch.

When I used the yarn, I could tell where the knots were if I looked closely,

but that will become hidden in the seam and it isn't noticeable from further away. And no bulk. It is great.

There's a rule that there are no knots in knitting.

Except when sometimes there are.

Scarpetta Progress (Don't Finish Too Soon Please)

I've been making good progress on the Scarpetta. It went with me to Squam and back. After the first sleeve, I made it through the first shoulder, then across the front with the neck shaping. Then the front gets put aside and you work across the back including neck shaping.

Once the back is done to the second shoulder, you start working on the front and back all in one piece again. That's where I am now.

Once the shoulder was joined on the left side, it was a good time to try it on and see if there are any problems going on.

And the verdict is...I think it will fit well, but I have the same concern about it being too short.

I think you can see that it just hits my waist band. It may "grow" during blocking, but knitting usually grows in the direction it was knit, and on this shirt that means side to side, not up and down. But it's not bad enough that I'm going to rip it out.

If blocking doesn't fix it, my plan B is to knit a "fake undershirt hem" or ruffle from underneath the hem. I think I'll do it in the brown multi colour. I'll certainly have plenty of yarn for it. I'm still working on the first two balls, and probably will just barely use any from the second two balls I have (one of each colour).

I'm also considering a matching cowl to make for the shirt. I really like the "detachable collars" or coordinating cowls that I've seen with several designs over the last year or two. (Noticed after I did the Truffle Tunic with its detached turtleneck.)

When I was done all the shaping on the back and realized that all I had left to do was 36 rows of the shoulder and the last sleeve, I started to feel regretful that it was almost done. I know this is a little silly, but it's a bit like wishing you weren't getting to the end of a good book.

So I put it aside and started something new. I was at a fabric store the other day and was browsing their magazine rack while waiting. The latest Interweave Knits (Summer 2013) had some designs I was immediately smitten with. They used cotton and just cried out to be made! Although the cover one was the one that really caught my eye, after looking at what cotton I had available in my stash (from raveled sweaters), I ended up casting on for this one:

I'm not usually crazy about "kerchief" hems, but I really like this piece. And I had just the right cotton for it:

It used to be a Croft and Barrow "sweatshirt" style sweater. I think it will be happier as a lace tunic.

I started with one of the square shapes that are used to make the kerchief hem as a gauge swatch. The stitch gauge was good, but the row gauge was a little short. I also learned that I should not have slipped the first stitch of each row like I normally do. I ripped back the square and started again. I purled the first stitch on each row so the edge stitch is in stocking stitch. I find it a lot easier to seam than garter stitch edges. (Always thinking ahead!)

I added a couple extra repeats to the pattern and got a 15" square, or it will be after a block the crap out of it!

I started the back next. I've done a couple repeats of the lace pattern. I figure when I'm done the back, I'll be half way and I can weigh my yarn and pieces and see whether I'll have enough to finish...