Nori’s Stuff

I’m still working on knitting (for me) the perfect bra. I have over a dozen bras I’ve knitted toward that effort, all saved to document the progression of ideas, everything from strap width to fastening methods. It’s been a heck of a journey and it doesn’t appear to be over yet.

Each time I think I might be getting close to the ideal design I learn something new. At that point I inevitably back up a bit to catch the flaw. The process in and of itself is a challenge with many opportunities for improvement ideas to go streaking through in their naked glory. I knit and frog and knit and frog and knit and . . . uh . . . well . . . you get the idea. The last iteration I knit was partially frogged at least six times. ONE iteration, six partial frogs. Now multiply that by in excess of a dozen iteration. If I didn’t find problem solving quite so fascinating I would have quit already . . . uh . . . except for the need of a really well fitting bra, comfortable, supportive, comfortable . . . something EVERY woman craves.

Each iteration (design alteration) shows me the weakness in the updated design. This latest iteration fail was the simple use of ribbing instead of icord. Yup. Whole bra, one glaringly obvious flaw which highlighted itself in a total fail. No, the bra should NOT do that. It’s a “change one thing, effect EVERYTHING else” world. Not kidding.

It’s the journey, not the destination, right?

I’m living that.

Woot! Overall I’m pretty pleased. It’s not perfect but it’s close enough. I love the neck, love the shoulders. This was knit in conti-rag. I’m hoping it’s long enough.

I’m liking this . . . a lot. I keep wanting to pet it which is a really good sign. Having the back and sleeve caps being different than the yoke is really pleasing.

From here success is what I do next. I’m going to try swapping out one of the variegateds I’m using for the yoke with BP Frosty Morning. It may not work but I won’t know until I try. It *might* be the perfect transition.

I’ve started a mosaic cloud on the back. I still don’t know if that’s going to work. So far I’m okay with it. I need to stop the Shoreline (gray) before it starts to get stripy. Once that happens I may split the Shoreline in half and use it just for the sleeves. Stripes would work there.

I’m trying something different for the top of helix. I’m still doing a sunset but . . . different. I’m not a fan of repeating stuff. I don’t learn new stuff that way other than been there, done that.
The edging is a mostly pink orange, like a pale sherbet. It blends pretty well with the yarns I’m using for the shoulder. The start of the shoulder is two rows of Bamboo Pop Blueberry Swirl and two rows of BP Khaki Girl. Instead of breaking the yarn I’m trapping them with the front edging yarn.
I don’t intend for this to go too far . . . to the end of the sleeve cap shaping, I think. I think I want to use a different (solid?) yarn for the sleeves. I haven’t tried this before so it should be interesting. Maybe a dark navy. BP Anchor maybe though I’ll have to get more. Or one of the grays I used for the body helix.

Yeah, this is not working. The helix bottom is brilliant and deserves a much better top than this. I realized that (or finally accepted that) when I got the helix bit done and couldn’t figure out what to do with the sleeves. So, time to innovate!

Rather than frog the whole thing I’ll separate it at the start of the helix or at the underarm (probably there as it gives me the most flexibility) and frog the top. I can use some of the Shoreline, maybe a bit of the dark blue, add more color, change out the gray I used for the edging and pattern the top after a shrug I made for my sister. Then it’s just Kitchener the two parts together and I’ve got a totally different sweater.

I thought about just separating them at the helix but I’m not happy enough with the top to try add a different bottom to it. And yes, I’ve Kitchenered a sweater together before. It’s only ever scary the first time.

Sunset on the farm mosaic

I frogged my first attempt all the way back. The test fit SUCKED. Totally. The shoulders were too pointy.

In the first round of knitting I got the neckline totally done and realized it would look SO much better if I used a solid color for the back neck and front facings. I sorted colors and picked the closest blue and the closest gray and started reknitting. I got about four rows into adding Shoreline and realized I was making a mistake. I should save the Shoreline so I can knit seamlessly from it into the helix . . . or as close as I can get. So, gray caston, blue shoulders transitioning into Shoreline as soon as the shoulders were built.

I’m questioning some of my yarn choices, one of which is the yarn I used for the neck facing but not to the point I’m willing to frog this. All in all I’m fairly happy. I’m using only short repeat variegateds for the scrappy line of the helix and I’m really liking the effect. I think I have enough variety to finish a shorty without repeating a variegated or using a solid. I think I have enough of the neck edging color for sleeve and body hems. One of the variegateds is the very very very last bit of BP On Parade, now discontinued. I wish I could find more of it. It’s SO useful.

The shoulder is conti-rag with a 12 stitch separation from the shoulder line and a 17 stitch drop for the front. Numbers-wise I’m extremely pleased. All the bits ended relatively together. The vee ends really close to the Point C horizontal line. I think the bust dart line is a little high but it doesn’t stand out much. It gives me the extra volume in front which is really all I need. Plus the difference between “I’m wearing a bra” versus au natural is ridiculous so it’s moot point.
If you’re wondering why there are beads at the center back I have a good reason. if I have to dress in the dark I can tell by feel which bit of the sweater is the back. All the sweaters I make for me have short row of beads,

Things I learned . . . the stitch pick up for the front facing has a new easy and intuitive technique. The other thing is just too complicated to explain outside a video.
I’ve been contemplating entering our local fair for the LAP award. I’m thinking something like this would be a worthy contender. I also have sweater’s worth of Great Barrier Reef’s Wine Bay, a really long repeat variegated (a blue based red version of Shoreline) and this is giving me ideas on how to use it without knitting a whole sweater out of it.

In knitting Chaos I did a three yarn helix sleeve incorporating two of the grays in the body and my bag of scrap yarn, a result I found truly fascinating. This is something I want to run with . . . and so it begins.

I’ve got some leftover Great Barrier Reef Shoreline(?, questioning the name not the brand), about half a cake, that would make a lovely start, so gray for one helix yarn, blue for another and my scrap bag bits for the third. (Before I start the helix bit I think I need to organize my scrappies and know the sequence ahead of time so the scrappy choices truly transition into each other.)

So here’s the plan. Start with Shoreline (off white, gray, blue). Once I’m working in the round, start the helix using with light gray, scrappy, light blue. Next transition switch to slightly darker gray and slightly darker blue, continue the scrappy. Repeat two more times, should be at hem of sweater. That’s the plan.

This is where I am (back of the sweater). If you can’t tell at a glance it’s conti-rag with sleeve cap short rows. See how the short rows level out the sleeve stripes! It’s so pretty I couldn’t resist sharing. I need to get to the bottom of the vee neck before starting the helix (working in the round) and I’m about 12 rows from there . . . uh . . . maybe. I’m out of the Great Barrier Reef Shoreline(?) and will have to switch to a starter blue or a starter gray (lightest colors) to push on into the round. I may do a series of three row stripe of light blue/light gray to finish up the yoke and transition into the helix, a pure knit-from-the-hip decision.
Regardless, I love this yarn and I’m delighted to be using up the last bit of the sweater lot of Shoreline I purchased.

All the reknitting is done and I’m past the sleeve separation. All in all I’m really pleased. The photo reads gray and the brights are subdued. The actual sweater is a gorgeous ink navy. Once I get a sunny day I’ll get a better pic.

The intarsia is ~2/3 done. I’ve separated the sleeves. Since taking the progress pic I’ve done the underarm caston. Next is test fit.

Once past the test fit I’ll work in the ends of the finished bits which will tidy things up before continuing to knit.

Better Banner’s been frogged back to the collar. Tomorrow I’ll start the reconstruction using conti-raglan instead of conti-something. I’ve got a couple balls of the frogged yarn that need to be unkinked as well as all the short pieces of brights used for the banner. I’ll spritz and bag them tonight. They’ll have a chance to relax sitting on a rack by the wood stove when Wadly starts a fire in the morning.

It’s done, I’m happy. There are a few things I would do differently if I did a repeat.

• Move the decrease line for the sleeve wedge two stitches farther away from the colored bit.
• Decrease the body wedge width to one third of the current width.
• Start the sleeve wedge sooner.
• Change the straight line of the sleeve wedge to match the decrease line of the sleeve.

Overall I’m really happy with the stuff I learned.

The streamlined conti-something shoulder came out really nicely. I’ve embraced Åsa Tricosa’s Ziggurat philosophy and am no longer breaking my yarn between elements. I’ve also eliminated the closing row which tightens up my conti-something shoulder.

The helixed sleeve rocks. Two solids (dark and light gray) and a variety of solid and variegated scraps makes a really interesting sleeve. Each of the scraps circles the sleeve three times. It’s a striped sleeve without screaming “STRIPED SLEEVE”. I’m really tempted to use this technique with some ombre yarn I’ve had hanging around for quite a while.

The sleeve wedge took ~9 starts before I had something I was happy with. I cycled between messy and ugly before it finally settled out. I’m going to use this single stitch color column technique for a different banner sweater idea. Someday. Maybe.

With Better Banner awaiting a significant frog, I needed a break. With lots of left over bits, balls and skeins it was time for something scrappy. I love from the hip scrappy. It’s my favorite style of sweater to knit. I can grab yarn and do whatever feels happy.

This project is exceeding expectations. For a scrappy palette cleanser it’s come out better than I ever imagined it would. I love projects where I learn something. On this one, so far, the count is at two with (hopefully) another to follow. One, I made a significant improvement to my conti-something shoulder and two, the three-yarn helix will now forever be the base I use for gradients.

I started this project with no plan. I had a sweater’s worth of partial balls in various shades of gray (Hobbii’s Rainbow Bamboo) and a gallon ziplock full of DK weight bamboo/cotton thumb skeins from a variety of manufacturers.

At this point I have one sleeve left to knit. I’m planning a wedge to match the side wedge starting from the elbow in vertical stripes (intarsia) in a twisted echo of the first sleeve. Joy!