1.27.2008

Pattern: Tilted Duster
From: Interweave Knits, Fall 2007
For: Me
Size: 6" bust
Yarn: 6 hanks Berroco Peruvia in 7123 (which I just found out is called Dragon - how fun!), including swatch and seaming (one less than the pattern called for)
Needles: US size 9 (and US 5 for picking up stitches) Knit Picks Options Nicked-Plated Interchangeables
Timeline: started 11.01.2007; finished 01.07.2008

I initially thought I'd manage to knit this for NaKniSweMo, but...yeah. That obviously didn't happen. It is a pretty quick knit, though. The skirt took a good bit of time, but it made for good TV knitting. I had a few issues, but nothing major.

I ended up adding a button to the collar (inspired by Jen likes knitting - Check out her Tilted Duster. It's gorgeous!) to keep it from gaping, so that was knit twice. No big deal, though, since it knit up really quickly. (Directions for how I knit my collar are at the bottom of this post.)

The issues with seaming the sleeves to the shoulders were entirely my own, and made me remember why I knit so much in the round. I redid half of the first sleeve three times. It's just such a pain for me. Also, since quite a few people mentioned how snug the sleeves ended up, I blocked them a bit bigger before seaming them. (A picture showing that, and my first version of the skirt, can be found in the sea monster post.)

Finally, inspired by Skrilla Knits (another gorgeous version of the Tilted Duster), I did about 6 rows of garter stitch to finish off the skirt and avoid the rolling I heard about. However, I decided that the odd waviness I ended up getting at the bottom of the ribbed portion of the skirt was worse than a tiny bit of rolling, so I redid that, too. I bound off in pattern, and the ribbed portions look so much better. I can definitely live with the small bit of rolling on the stockinette sections.

Wow! I really knit a lot of this sweater more than once!

I really enjoyed working with Peruvia. What it lacked strength, it more than made up for in spit splice-ability. If it ever fell apart on me, it wasn't a big deal. Plus, I ended up with only two ends to weave in on the entire skirt. I was initially going to seam with some worsted weight wool, but went ahead and used the Peruvia. It worked out fine, and the seams don't seem particularly bulky to me.

Oh, and...I love it!

Collar:
Pick up the number of stitches called for in pattern.
K one WS row.
One Buttonhole Row: K4, BO 2, K2, knit in pattern to end.
Knit in pattern to bound off sts, CO 2 sts, knit in pattern to end.
Knit 8 rows in pattern.
Two Buttonhole Row: K4, BO 2, K2, knit in pattern to last 6 sts, BO 2, K4.
P 4, CO 2 sts, knit in pattern to BO sts, CO 2 sts, knit in pattern to end.
Knit 8 rows in pattern.
Two Buttonhole Row: K4, BO 2, K2, knit in pattern to last 6 sts, BO 2, K4.
P 4, CO 2 sts, knit in pattern to BO sts, CO 2 sts, knit in pattern to end.
Knit 3 rows in pattern.
BO in pattern.