Rustic Bodice – or – A Design Story Completed

Posted on | December 7, 2009 | 25 Comments

I thought about writing the whole of this final post and then putting the final pictures and link at the bottom, but… I’m too excited!

My new pattern, Rustic Bodice, is now available through The Sanguine Gryphon Fiber Arts!

ETA: Oops – I jumped the gun a bit! Updated Link and Rav-Link!

Finished Sizes: XS, M, L, 2X, 3X

Finished Measurements: 28 (35, 41, 47, 53)”/71 (89, 104, 119, 134.5) cm Chest at Underarm
21.5 (23.25, 24.50, 25, 25)”/54.5 (59, 62, 63.5, 63.5) cm Finished Length

Sample shown modeled with 3 inches of negative ease.

Yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon QED 4oz/168 yds, 1oz/42 yds 100% Blue Faced Leicester)
5 (6, 7, 8, 9) 4 oz skeins Multiplying Rabbits
1 (1, 1, 1, 2) 4 oz skeins Algorithm
1 (1, 1, 2, 1) 1 oz skeins Nascent
2 (2, 2, 2, 3) 1 oz skeins Evanescent
1 (1, 1, 2, 2) 1 oz skeins Quadratorum

Skill Level: Advanced

Needles:
US8 (5.0 mm) circular needles in a range of lengths, or size needed to obtain gauge.
US7 (4.5 mm) 24” circular needles

Notions:
Stitch Holders (2) or waste yarn
Stitch Markers (4)
Tapestry Needle
Hand-sewing needle or sewing machine and thread

Gauge:
16 sts and 23 rows = 4” (10cm) in Stockinette Stitch with larger needles
19sts and 21 rounds = 4” (10cm) in colorwork with larger needles

Skills Required:

Provisional cast on, picking up stitches, stranded colorwork, short rows, and steeking.

QED is one of the most interesting yarns I have worked with. It is sturdy and strong due to the long staple of the Blue Faced Leicester fiber, and does have a bit of a, well, rustic quality in knitting. It is soft, but I wouldn’t place it in the same category with cashmere or even merino – it also feels like it will wear considerably better. What is both springy and structured in the knitting here blocks out into a beautiful, smooth fabric with a bit of sheen, and more drape than I expected. As I was knitting the sample, I was a little sad in that I didn’t feel my body type was well suited to wearing a fitted garment in this weight and type of yarn, and would not have considered modeling it… But after blocking? I was tempted to knit one for myself. A note too that this finished smoothness came with some growth – Choose the size you’ll knit based on the low end of your preferred fit for this garment type and know that you can gain some room in the wash. Knit a large swatch, give it a good soaking before checking your gauge, and you’ll be fine.

With that piece of business out of the way, I guess I should finish the story, hey?

(Part I & Part II if you’re catching up!)

A year ago last summer, Gryphon was thinking about adding a yarn to her line for colorwork and began working with a mill to develop a BFL yarn – And after I received my submission back, we discussed this sweater concept as possibility for her new yarn. Fast forward a few more months to winter of this year – and imagine a whole other story going on at this time about the process behind working with a mill to develop a new yarn! Gryphon had her new yarn and sent me some samples and suggestions of color combinations. I began swatching and we settled on the color combination that you see here. Then came the real work for me… As I mentioned, I did have a lot to learn in the process and it was nice to take it slowly in manageable chunks (and also promoted my sanity during a wonderful, but very full year!) The knitting itself was very quick – condensed, it might have taken me a couple weeks of concentrated work to have a finished sweater – but I spent a good amount of time on the front end planning:

Sheet one, the body… The back side with the sleeve calculations looks far worse – note the water and (wine) ripples… I had to scan the darn thing before I really destroyed it!

And then stalled a bit at each key point to ponder and calculate. And re-calculate. The waist shaping wasn’t a big deal for me, but then there was a PAUSE for every step after that - Armholes, the colorwork panel and the steeking… (during which I learned that hand or machine stitching would be a better method for this project – but doesn’t that crochet steek look nice?):

Seaming the panel:

Sleeves (I am in yet another Sleeve Pause at the moment – this amuses me!) During the original Sleeve Pause, I learned lots about knitting sleeves from the top down – which is very much fun – But I wasn’t happy with the effect as I was seeing it in this gauge of yarn… Can you see the jog here from the short rows?

In hindsight, after finishing the sweater and seeing the full effects of blocking on the yarn, I think it would have finished quite smoothly, but the jog bothered me as it was – So I took a step back and calculated the sleeves from the bottom up, knit the first to the widest part and then paused again to ponder the cap shaping. After that, and seeing that the cap FIT (into the armhole and also on a body – YAY!)

The second sleeve flew off the needles and all that was left were the hems – easy peasy in comparison – which brings us to this excited post. All those pauses, frustrating as they were, paid off. The knitting was a one-shot deal all the way through except for those sleeve caps – which means that this may represent the least amount of ripping of any project I’ve ever knit. It’s tradition for me to cast on multiple times, for instance. Note to self: Pre-planning pays off (Not sure I have quite learned this lesson yet based on a more current experience which I’ll share soon). Calculating the sizes and writing the pattern took at least as long as the knitting, I’m sure that comes as no surprise now! And then came the final step of tech editing/formating/etc which also flew in comparison.

And now it’s here. I can’t quite believe it, an idea that was hatched more than two years ago. It’s an indication to me of how long this process can take, and worthwhile and satisfying it can be when the pieces all fit. The right circumstances… The right YARN!  I think this project is a great example of how the type and weight of a yarn as well as the colors can change the whole feel of a project. Now, even after the details of the original swatching, and how much I loved that yarn – the QED and Gryphon and Sarah’s beautiful colors took the sweater to a new level.

Thanks for reading along with me and indulging my reminisces here. I hope you like it!

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