Friday, August 24, 2007

Fitted Knit? (Adriana)

Back in March my mom bought Fitted Knits for me as a thank you present for helping get the house ready to sell. When I first flipped through it I loved most of the patterns but I didn’t end up casting any on. One of the patterns I had really liked initially was the Drop Stitch Lace Tank however I started to think that it wouldn’t look good on me (despite Heather’s protests to the contrary). Fast forward several months later, I’m pattern browsing on Ravelry and I come across people who have knit this pattern and it looks great on them! I’m back in love with this tank and I want to cast on right away. I decide to be smart about it and I read the comments on Ravelry, posts on the KAL and I check the errata (I can’t link to it because for some reason it’s a forbidden site at work. Go figure). I decide to knit in the round and to knit into the back loops on either side of the drop stitches for stability. Choosing a size was a little tricky. The pattern said that it was stretchy so to choose a size that was at least 6 inches smaller than your normal size. After reading all the people who found it too big I chose to go 10 inches smaller. I cast on using the Classic Elite Classic Silk I’d gotten from WEBS (on the advice of Grumperina) and merrily knit around and around for several evenings, happily dropping stitches every 6 rows (the best part of any drop stitch pattern).
drop stitch tank1
I got to the point where I was going to switch to ribbing and I thought it would be a good time to try it on.

drop stitch tank2
Houston, we have a problem!
This is one HELL of a stretchy pattern! I consulted with my mom and my very fashionable 15 year-old cousin and it was agreed to take out 4 pattern repeats or 16 stitches. Hopefully this new version will fit better. The tank has been frogged and the yarn rewound but I haven’t been able to bring myself to cast on. I guess I still need a bit of distance from this pattern (plus I’ve been working on the fishy socks and a secret Christmas project). I’m hoping to get back to the tank this weekend. One thing does concern me; last time around I did a cable cast-on and I found it a little tight. Recommendations for loose cast-ons would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Friday everyone!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

that's too bad about the tank. i suggest that you just put it out of your mind for a bit, work on other things and then revisit it at a later date.

as for stretchy cast ons, the stretchiest i know is the lace cast on. would that work for this project?

Anonymous said...

I am glad that you didn't knit a few more inches. What about long tail cast on? It is a great colour.