The Alpaca Queen

I'm only a few rows away from completing Ingenue. (And there was much rejoicing.) One of the two drawbacks of knitting from the top down is that I cannot work on both sleeves at the same time. Knitting the second sleeve has gotten a bit boring.

I'm definitely almost a top-down knitting evangelist/convert at this point. Working this way has many assets:

+ NO SEAMING. If you saw how wonky my seams are, you would agree that this is a Good Thing.
+ You get to try on what you're working on as you're working on it.

It is not without some liabilities, though:

- Your row gauge has to be perfect. I'm sure there are some ways to adjust this, that I will learn after I've mastered knitting from the top down.
- The dreaded second sleeve syndrome.

The sweater also came out a bit more snug than I had initially hoped. It's not indecently snug, but I'm hoping I can get another inch or two widthwise if I block it well. (I knit it a bit longer than was specified in the pattern, which I hope will help with this aspect of blocking.) One can hope, right? This will probably be completed, blocked, and drying before dinner at Durgin Park.

In the meantime, I bought yarn to make my own heavily modified version of Simply Marilyn. Once again, I will knit this from the top down, make the collar a little smaller (go for more of a boatneck than an off-the-shoulder thing), and maybe make the sleeves set-in rather than raglan. I'm a little bit nervous about knitting something at such a huge gauge, but since I'm working part-time on the waterfront during the winter, it's probably okay that I make something that will keep me warm. Even if it does make me look (choose one) pregnant/premenstrual/bloated/like I've been sublimating my desire for Pete Campbell by hitting the cart one time too many (not that I've been obsessing over Mad Men lately or anything). I do have to start working on Mom's gift, though.

As I start this blog, the first project on which I am working is "Ingenue", a sweater from Wendy Bernard's superfanastic book Custom Knits. When I first came across this book, I saw the photo for this project and could not stop staring at it. Writer Wendy Bernard makes reference to Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron -- presumably for the boatneck collar -- but it reminded me of something Marilyn Monroe would wear. Go figure.

The sweater is knit in the round from the top down, and the pattern is written in a clear, easy-to-follow style. My one quibble with the way the pattern is written stems from the sizing. While Wendy listed the measurements at the top of the pattern, I had to read through to the schematic to learn that she automatically sized the sweater down. As a girl who loves the snug-fitting pinup-girl sweaters, I was chagrined to learn that I now had seven inches of negative ease. Before I ripped out, I tried the sweater on and found that it fit me correctly -- this was after having a nightmare that I'd barely be able to pull it over my head! The one other problem I had came from the row gauge. Though I got exact stitch gauge, my row gauge was way off. I got around this by doing increases for the large size, and knitting a few extra rounds once I hit the midriff.

Incidentially, top-down knitting is the way to go. I've been knitting everything in the round (even cardigan sweaters), but even after casting on and doing everything in one piece, I'm finding that my seaming skills are not what they could be. Knitting from the top down not only eliminates the need to seam the sleeves, it also allows you to try on the sweater as you go along. Learning this skill was a lot of fun, and I may very well become a knitting-from-the-top down evangelist.

Right now, I'm about to finish the final round of increases, and will have a few more inches to go before I bind off. I'm hoping to finish everything while I'm at the movies tomorrow. :) Pics to follow...