Spontaneous project No 2

Here is the second short-sleeved top that slipped into my queue at the time:

Debbie Bliss Prima - loosely following a Drops pattern but I modified this quite a bit because my gauge was very different.  I also didn't knit the sleeves separately to join into the yoke but did a temporary cast-on for those stitches and knit the sleeves back down.   Which means that the zigzag pattern in the sleeves is actually upside down.  Whoops... Not quite intended, really.

This colour navy is unfortunately a discontinued shade. I was incredibly lucky to get more of this yarn (after I, predictably, ran out) from a wonderful website called A Right Good Yarn, whose customer service was tremendous!

They specialise in some discontinued shades/lines and if you can't find it anywhere else (like me) then give them a go.

And imagine how my jaw literally dropped and hit the floor when I realised that somehow I'd lucked into more of the same dyelot! How lucky is that?

I love the way the zigzag and the garter stitch/eyelet strip works together.  I quite like the reversed effect in the sleeves.  The pattern suggested using just one row of garter stitch to start but I decided to repeath the same pattern from the neckline.  I really like it this way.

My silliness in not quite reading the pattern didn't just show up in my upside down sleeves (I should say top-down sleeves) - it started when I 'forgot' to put the zigzag pattern above the hem!  Oh well.

I must say that this very simple hemline is very much my thing.  A lot of my projects look like this.

 There is just something about it.  My most pronounced pet hate is rolled hems (they make me wince) and I am not keen on garter row hems either, though I much prefer those to the rolled hems that, to my way of thinking, just look as if the knitter hadn't realised that stocking stitch will roll up.

The above is the stage when I really got stuck.  Not even running out of yarn quite dampened my enthusiasm in adapting this pattern to my liking (thinking about it, I may have actually decided not to include the zigzag near the bottom, I don't quite remember now...) - but it took me a while to get from the stage shown above to the finished article.

I was very unsure that I had the "right" amount of stitches.  However many that was supposed to be.  My gauge is totally different than in the instructions.  Realising belatedly that I was meant to knit the sleeves hem upwards and unite into the yoke... oops, that slowed me down to a complete full-stop.  A full stop that incorporated much head-scratching and confusion.

Once I checked and found that the zigzag pattern repeat equals ten stitches, and counting mine found that I had 74 - it finally dawned that I couldn't reduce to 70 stitches but would be better off increasing to 80.  Which worked out really well.

If I had gone for decreasing then the sleeve shape would have been exceedingly weird.  An increase and accompanying flaring out, that I could cope with.

So here it is.

PS: 'Scuse the wrinkles, I forgot to take a picture before first wearing this (too impatient for once I guess!) and a subsequent wash.  At least it shows up that the yarn washes very well (just a normal 30 degree mini cycle, not even the delicate or wool function).  I did dry it flat and turned it over a couple of times.  I suppose I should have given the hem area a quick steam before I took the photo.  Next time.