Sweater started!

Well, for better or for worse, I started the lace v-neck sweater. I diligently measured some store bought sweaters that fit me well that are also cotton and 40 inches definitely seemed like the way to go. Thank you to everyone for their advice on this!

As for the waist shaping, I followed the instructions for making darts that I found here.
So far, so good. I decided to decrease 3 inches for the waist as that is what my store bought sweaters seemed to do. It seemed best to stay a little conservative for my first attempt at shaping. I hope it works out!
For 3 inches, I had to have 4 rows of decreasing, which I spaced 8 rows apart. I think the decreases look nice, as you can see in the picture below. The yarn I'm using, Reynolds Saucy Sport, is good to work with so far. It does knit up a bit uneven looking in certain places, especially around the decreases, but all that evened out when I washed and blocked the gauge swatch I made beforehand. The yarn nicely didn't not shrink or stretch any for me after the wash. I think I'm safe.

One secret revealed...

Thanks for all the advice about the sweater. I will take it into consideration when I start it, which will hopefully be soon. So far I knit a gauge swatch.

This past weekend I was in NJ visiting family and seeing friends. I can now reveal one of my secret projects because I gave my friend Tracey a hat and booties set for her baby at the shower we held for her.
I used KnitPicks Shine Orchid and Cream. The booties are based on a pattern by Debbie Bliss, but I modified them a bit in order to make them smaller so they would fit a newborn. For the hat, I made a picot hemmed edge, which I think is very cute for a baby girl's hat. I really like the Shine yarn. It works well for baby projects because it is machine washable and soft.

During the long car ride, I was able to make some progress on the scarf.

Anatomy thoughts

I'm in the process of planning the lace v-neck sweater (see previous post). The planning process is giving me a bit of a headache so I decided to share my thoughts since I'm hoping only to have to knit this thing once (I hate frogging).

I've only knit one sweater for myself before (the cardigan), and I'm discovering how much more complicated it is to make a sweater for myself as opposed to the ones I made for my husband and baby. Namely, I have curves. Not only that, my proportions have changed since my pregnancy. As I fulfill my mammalian destiny of breast feeding my son, my bust is a few sizes larger than it used to be. Now, I don't plan to nurse him for longer than a year so I'm wondering how much I should accomodate for my new size.

The pattern I am using has the following sizes for the bust at underarm:
36 (p) 38 (s) 40 (m) 44 (l) 48 (xl)

I measured myself at 40 inches. So should I knit the medium sized sweater? Will that fit very snugly? Should I go up a size? 44 inches seems a bit extreme, so I could compromise at 42 inches. Or I could do the medium size and work under the assumption that my bust will shrink back down once I'm no longer lactating. The store bought sweater that I'm wearing today is 40 inches and seems to fit fine still.

I'm also thinking about waist shaping, especially if I opt for the larger size sweater. The pattern does not have waist shaping, but I found good, if slightly confusing explanation of it here. It says darts are often 6-10 inches in length. Since I have a short torso, does that mean I should do 6 inches?

Any thoughts from the more experienced sweater knitters? I'm impatient to start the sweater, but I know I'll be much happier with a carefully thought out sweater that will fit well.

Waves

Check out how cool that garter stitch chevron pattern looks with the blue yarn! Doesn't it remind you of ocean waves? Perfect for something to wear during the cold winter months. At my current rate, I should have this ready for next winter.

But who wants to think about next winter already when it will be Spring next week?
My thoughts turn to a light cotton sweater. I got this pattern and the yarn for it as a gift last year, but my pregnancy postponed the making of this sweater. Now I am ready to cast on soon I think.


















And because I know what you all really like, here is another picture of my baby (he's wearing the cardigan and hat I knit for him and is wrapped in the blanket I knit him so it isn't just a gratuitous picture).
He'll be 3 months old on Wednesday. So big!

Lace scarf!

The lace scarf is finished! I'm pleased with how it came out. I don't have anything like it, so it's a nice addition to my wardrobe.

I was worried I might find the mohair itchy, but it doesn't bother me when I wear it. In fact, it feels quite soft.

I was also surprised that it came out to a decent length with just one skein of SoftKid Mohair. Nice!


It turns out that my previous post encouraged my sister to get her act together and start her blog (or rather finally take pictures and upload them to her blog). Check out Nicole's blog and her sew-sew knitting!