Finished Object: Oh, Zelda!

  

Hallelujah and pass the corndogs - at long last, Zelda is finished!

After all the ripping and trying on and pinning and reknitting and nose-wrinkling and reknitting again, I can say that I am super, super happy with this little blouse. She's cute! She's flirty! She's the best damn pink! I'm so glad she's out of my WIP basket!

I've learned a lot about my knitting style from this project. As I was knitting the sleeves, I realized that knitting sweaters is on par with sewing clothing in my crafty hierarchy of enjoyment; I like it, but unlike with other knitting projects, I really do it for the end product. Fit is so important to me - and making garments to fit so often involves reworking them multiple times - that the actual process isn't fun so much as a labor of desire and obsession. On the other hand, I like to knit shawls, socks, and other non-fitted garments for the sheer enjoyment of knitting, and the end product isn't so important.

So given this newly discovered information, it's kind of ironic that I'm currently hooked on knitting sweaters. I like the control of making my own fabric so much that I already have another little blouse on the needles!

Blouse Details

Pattern: Zelda, by Joan McGowan-Michael. Such a cute result, but be sure to check for errata on this one - the magazine it was published in changed hands, so Ravelry notes are your best bet for errata notes and mods.

Ravelry Project Page: Oh, Zelda!

Yarn: Mirasol Yarn Tupa, a 50/50 merino/silk blend.

Needles: Size 5 (3.75 mm) & 7 (4.5 mm) US

Yardage: With 2 extra sleeves fully knitted, this took 8 skeins (1096 yards) but could definitely be done in 7 (960 yards).

Modifications: All my notes and modifications are on my Ravelry project page. I sewed the little tulle shoulder pads for support as written, and they give a lovely little boost to the sleeve caps!

Brooch: Thrifted

Skirt: Cory Ellen Spring 2013

Shoes: Fluevog Miracle Cana

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

 

This morning, I got all excited to set in the freshly blocked, brand-spankin' new reknit sleeves of Zelda. I sat down and eased one in using these nifty little clips, and sewed it in accordingly, and looked in the mirror... and was not happy. Still too much ease in the back of the sleeve! At this point, I threw convention to the wind and decided to set the dumb thing in any way that made it lay correctly, side seam and underarm seam matching be damned. I tried to move the junction mark of the sleeve back, making the shoulder seam meet the sleeve further from the front of the sleeve cap, and sewed it in.  It helped a little bit with the situation in the back, but then there was that sad little pocket in the front of the sleeve, back to haunt me. (No, Armpit Pocket, I still don't need to keep my keys there, thanks though.)

And I came to the sad, sad realization that there is still simply too much ease in the front of the sleeve and the top of the sleeve cap is too wide. It needs that little extra flap of fabric taken out, or it will always bubble unattractively. Luckily, I can easily rip back 15 rows and decrease out the extra (hooray for easy fixes!) but it means that my blouse won't be done this afternoon.

At this point, I think any other person would shrug and accept the silly thing the way it is. But if this blouse doesn't meet a certain threshold of sartorial greatness, there's no way I'm going to wear it, and I've already spent wayyyy too much time fussing with it to accept defeat now.

And so, onward!!

Happy Friday,

Cory

A Tale of Two Sleeves

  

In an effort to clear out my studio, I've started grabbing projects that have been on the back burner for a while to reevaluate, rip, and fix them. This one you might recognize as the Zelda I started two and a half years ago, finally picked up again a year and a half later, and then realized was totally messed up in the sleeve and shoved into the bottom of my WIP basket. I made plans for how to fix it, but put off the actual execution for goodness knows what reason. So the other day, I pin-basted the sleeve in with the extra fabric pinched out, which gave me a starting point to base the new sleeve pattern on.

I ended up keeping the sleeve cap shaping the same in the front, but gradually decreased out about 15 stitches in the back. The problem with the original sleeve was that it was symmetrical in the front and back, which gave too much ease across the back of the sleeve cap; this extra fabric smushed in anywhere it could, giving a lumpy, unattractive shape to the sleeve. Given my usual modifications for forward rotated shoulders in front and prominent shoulderblades in back - severe curve in the front of the sleeve cap, soft curve across the back - it makes a lot of sense that I would need to make the same sort of changes on a knitted garment. Although knits give a lot more leeway in terms of ease, the same basic rules of fitting apply, and a sloppy sleeve is never going to look as nice as a tailored one.

Taking a closer look, you can see that the overall shape of the fixed sleeve (right) is much more natural and flattering on the body. The grain of the sleeve lies straight, and there's very little extra fabric bunching anywhere. It's a small detail, but I think that it will be the difference between a garment that is cute but not quite successful, and one that I'm excited to wear.

In other news, you may have noticed that I got new glasses! They're by LA Eyeworks - the style is called Corncakes, in the colorway Surf and Turf. I've had my old ones for about five years, and a few weeks ago I finally made the plunge and ordered a rather pricey new pair. Considering that I wear my glasses all day every day, I figured it was worth sinking a little extra money into a pair that feels a bit more designed and special. These ones in particular feel very modern, with a retro twist, which I just love. I think they make my face look totally different than my old glasses, but in a good way - it's like getting a new haircut or a tattoo, but I can take them off!

Finishing: Zelda

At this point, poor Zelda deserves her own category of In Progress.  She's a ZIP, not a WIP!  Hahah.

Dumb jokes aside, I've started to feel good about this project again.  It's a Joan McGowan-Michael pattern, and although I love her aesthetic, I fought tooth and nail with this pattern.  This last weekend, I pulled Zelda out from my I-should-really-finish-this-eventually basket and started working on her again.  It's hard to see the difference, but I sewed the shoulder seams and picked up the neckline.  As we speak, she's taking a warm bath so that setting in the sleeves is easier.

Initially, I had been a little worried about how fitted this sweater is going to be, but after trying her on again today I think the fit will turn out just fine.  I expect her to grow a little bit in washing, which hopefully will help tremendously with the fit issues I wasn't sure about, namely in the tummy/high hip area.  I find that sweaters with negative ease in the bust and waist, and a bit of positive ease down from the waist to the hip, is a pretty good look for me - this sweater is negative ease all over, so I'll need to wear her over skirts or high-waisted slacks in order to maintain that hourglass silhouette.

WIP: Zelda Blouse

It's sort of silly that I actually hadn't taken a picture of this blouse-in-progress until this morning.  I started it in November or December, plugged away and finished a big chunk of it.  I've already run into a lot of really frustrating problems with the pattern, the largest of which was that there were two extra decreases added in where there should be none.  The stitch counts were still correct, so I had to look through all the projects on Ravelry and the pictures of the actual garment to puzzle out where those decreases should be removed.

The other problem was mostly my fault, but also a little bit the pattern's: there was no indication that the decreases that I had merrily been doing for the last eight inches of fabric would be changing, so that there were paired increases and decreases that would make the net change in stitch count 0.  I almost threw it against the wall in frustration when I realized that I would have to rip back 4 inches of work.

These issues ordinarily wouldn't be a problem - jump on the errata page and off you go! - but the magazine that initially published this pattern changed hands, and the errata is gone.  I don't mind doing a little thinking with my knits, but it's frustrating to have to rip out over and over because of mistakes or oversights in the pattern.

On a happier note, the yarn I'm using is wonderful.  It's Mirasol Yarns Tupa, a merino/silk blend with a lovely sheen and drape. It really is eye-searingly pink in the light, although these pictures are a little too pink/orange and not enough deep fuchsia.  Ah well.

Now I'm off to make a sandwich and go to work.  Happy Friday!

Pattern: Zelda by Joan McGowan-Michael