Friday, February 01, 2008

A Bella is Born



Here she is--sleeves and all! I had an easy time knitting the sleeves on two circulars (like with socks) from the top down as described in Elizabeth Zimmerman's book "Knitting Without Tears". I fiddled around with the technique and tried using wraps with the short rows (as with toe-up socks), but that looked terrible compared to just turning the work as EZ suggests and slipping the first stitch. I'll stick with doing sleeves this way since I've never been entirely happy with the bit of "bulk" that I always seem to get when sewing a set-in sleeve into the sweater body.

This pattern is a cutie, and I plan to wear it plenty! It tends to ride up a bit, so I'm not sure how much I'll be tugging at it. Perhaps it will ride up less once I seam-out a portion of the lace neckline--there's a natural turn in the lace where the pattern reverses direction at the back of the neck, so I will steek-n-cut that spot out rather than making a seam at the top of each shoulder.

10 comments:

MonkeyGurrrrrl said...

beautiful. I really didn't think the sweater would look better with sleeves, but clearly I was wrong. You did a fantastic job.

Heather said...

Wow - I like it. I'm interested to know if you made modifications to bring the neckline in like that. I was very leery of the actual sewing that the pattern called for to get the neck to be "normal."

Soozletew said...

I think that the reason you're experiencing some "riding up" is that the bodice piece is too short from shoulder to empire (below the bosom). That's been a concern for me with my Bella, and I have added quite a bit to the overall length in order to have the empire start below the breast.
The sweater is beautiful, for sure, and I'd like to learn the technique you used to knit the sleeves in the round from the shoulders.

ShaylaM said...

Very nice! I've been knitting little hats this week for a couple charity projects, but now I want to get back this sweater.

Wondering if I should add a little more length (don't really like my shirts riding up).

Elizabeth said...

Pretty Pretty Pretty!!
How do you do the shoulders???

Robin said...

Love it! The color is gorgeous too!

mary_me_a_little said...

I agree that it's riding up a bit because I needed more stockinette below the bodice. However, after wearing it twice now, it really isn't riding up much--I gave it a tug every now and then, but really no more than I'd smooth out a shirt, etc..while wearing one, either.

I cut the "dart" out of the back of the neck rather than at the shoulders since there was a natural bend in the lace where you reverse the pattern--MUCH easier than making and cutting two darts--one at each shoulder. Sewing the lace with the sewing machine was rather challenging, however--with all of the wholes, I had to stitch it three or four times with the machine to secure it before cutting. But it worked and is quite secure.

As for the seamless set-in sleeve technique--I imagine it's on the web somewhere, but it's described beautifully by Elizabeth Zimmerman in her book "Knitting Without Tears" in the section on the "kangaroo pouch sweater". It's a gem of a book & is nearly a knitter's bible of info and fiber-wit! I highly recommend it!
For the sleeves, you basically pick up stitches all around the arm hole, knit to the top & across the shoulder, making short rows until you have a sleeve cap...then knitting around the entire arm hole until you have the sleeve length that you want.

Marnie said...

I love your modes. The ribbing is so delicate and feminine, the way you did it. The color is gorgeous too. Very nice.

Anonymous said...

The sweater came out beautiful. For the dunces among us, do you remember where you started the short rows (at which stitch), how many stitches the short rows were, and how many short rows you did to make the shoulder cap? I haven't done them before, and I'm one of those that need specific detailed instructions (and I'll still mess it up a few times!). I've ordered the EZ book, but for now I am at your mercy!

luvs2knit said...

Your Bella is gorgeous! I love the way you did the ribbing, would you share your techniqu? What yarn did you use?