Tag Archives: Lace Hem Topping

It’s never easy

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So.

 The armholes on the Lace Hem Topping shell are too big.  My bra shows.  Once a woman reaches a certain age, a little peek at the bra isn’t as titillating as it used to be.  Not good.  I took in a couple of stitches at the underarm to tighten it up.  Then I decided to undo the shoulder seams and rip back a few rows to shorten the offending armhole before I attempt the crochet edge.

Remember when I said the mattress stitch was slow going?  That’s because I evidently ROCK at the mattress stitch and weaving in ends.  I’m so darn (not the first word that popped into my head) good at it that I couldn’t find the end to rip it out!

It took over an hour to find and undo the mattress stitching for one of the shoulder seams.  19 stitches.  The other side was about 15 minutes.

So now I need to rip back seven rows and start the neck/shoulder shaping all over again.  This time I will do short row shaping and the three needle bind off at the shoulders since I’ll be knitting both the front and back at the same time.

Word to the wise.  Don’t weave in the ends until you are 10,000% sure you are completely done.  Fin.  Fini.  The end.

Dilemma

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I finished all the seams last night on the Lace Hem Topping and when I tried it on, the armholes seemed a bit too big.  I don’t have the crocheted edge on yet. 

I think I will shorten the armholes by 1/2 inch and see if it fits better.  Or will blocking it again work?  The lighting isn’t good and the color is way off.  And my arms look huge! 

Seamed before edging

Seaming Part 2

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I started seaming one side of the Lace Hem Topping and have four inches done.  I’m not that good with the mattress stitch so this is going to take forever.  It takes more concentration than the mindless stockinette knitting of the actual sweater.  At this rate the finishing touches might get finished over the weekend.

Mr. Aitch works Thursday and Friday nights this week so I won’t have to fix dinner either of those nights.  More time to seam.  Then learn how to do the crochet edging (which I am looking forward to learning!).

My next project will be knit without seams!

On the edge

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I finished the knitting part of my Lace Hem Topping and the two pieces were blocked yesterday.  What’s left is the seaming (ugh) and the crochet edges.  I have several crochet hooks and can do a chain stitch.  The finishing edges on this shell involve a row of single crochet once around the armhole and neck edges followed by a row of reverse crochet.  Does crochet even have rows?  

I did a search for these two techniques and think I have it but am open to more advice.  Can you direct me to any good videos that show these two techniques so I have the confidence to put this shell on my FO list?  Or better yet, come on over and show me!  

Of course I’m itching to get started on another project while waiting for the above shell to dry before seaming and adding the crochet edge.  While in my least favorite store the other day, I came across these fabulous colors of Caron Simple Soft yarn (worsted weight or #4).   

Caron Simply Soft

 

Colors from left to right: Pistachio, Blueberry, Strawberry, Persimmon (soft coral), and Sunshine.  They look a bit bright but they are very soft colors.  

I have three baby sweaters to knit for friends babies and grandchildren by September.  I need help with the color combinations.  Not sure what pattern I’m using but fell in love with this pattern.  It’s for adults but it couldn’t be that hard to take some elements and make it suitable for a  baby or child, could it?  

I think what I like is the texture of the garter stitch against the stockenette.  Do you think I could adapt my eyelet pattern for this?  Or perhaps the 5-hour baby sweater pattern, only make the garter stitch bottom edge extend more into the body by 3 inches and overlap the front edges by 3 inches?  I’m not sure how I would do the neck…and since the pattern is a neck-down pattern, I’d have to figure that out ASAP!  

Color combos?  I would use 2-3 colors for this.  Body (stockenette) in one color, bottom and front panel (garter) in color two, and an optional 2-3 rows in stockenette between the body and garter on color three.  I don’t have a scanner or I would show you my sketches.All sweaters are for girls…as if that should make a difference.  Two for size 6-months and one for 18 months.