Piecing it together
I have to say — again — that I’m surprised at how quickly this actually comes together. In the last week I’ve completed the front right side, seamed the shoulders together with the three-needle bind-off, and almost have finished with the collar. There’s just one more row until I take the collar off, fold it over, and tack it down.
But. This week’s work was also challenging, particularly this weekend when I was doing the neck shaping on the front right piece. I think the instructions for the right side are actually for the left side. My copy of the pattern says to work the first nine stitches in pattern, then knit across, but the pattern is actually in the last nine stitches, not the first. That was a bit of a struggle, and I’m hoping that I’ve done it right. I know that I haven’t done it exactly right, though, because when I went to do the shoulder seaming I had mismatched stitch counts on both sides. That was quickly fixed by faking stitches, but I’m now worried about how the neck and shoulders are going to turn out. You can see in that second picture that I have some ugly gaps at the neck where the front pieces transition to the back … not sure how that will turn out.
So, on to the collar and then the sleeves. I’m thinking about just picking up the stitches on double pointed needles and then knitting the sleeves in the round, but I’m not sure. If I do that it might be better to seam the sides first, and I’m not sure I want to be a risk taker. :) Any thoughts?
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2 Responses to “Piecing it together”
We are at the same place. I’ll have to post some pictures to my blog and give you the link. I can also send you the re-working of the pattern that I did. Since the right side decreases were the biggest problem on mine (leaving gaps at the collar connecting point), I ripped out the collar, three needle bind offs, and the right side shaping of the neck on the Right Front and Back. Whew. It was frustrating, but worth it since the pieces knit up so quickly and I would have stared at the mistakes each time my daughter wore it. Even with my “fix” though, I feel like the collar looks a bit rough in comparison to the rest of the pretty dress. It might look better when I fold the collar in half and stitch it down- I haven’t done that part yet.
Here are my changes to the pattern. Still not perfect, but certainly an improvement.
RIGHT FRONT NECK SHAPING:
(start on row 37)
37: slip 8 to circular needle, knit rest of row on straights
38:purl on straights
39: slip 1 to circ., knit 3 to circ., k remainder of row to straights
40: P on straights
41: Slip 1 to circ, k2 to circ., k remaining stitches onto straights
42: P on straights
43: slip 1 to circ, k1 to circ, k rest to straight
44: P
45: slip 1 to circ, k rest to straights
46: P
BACK NECK SHAPING ON RIGHT SIDE:
41: knit center 17 onto circ. needle, k to end
42: P
43: slip 1 to circ, k3 to circ, k to end on straights
44: P
45: slip 1 to circ, k2 to circ, k across on straights
46: P
I should note that I’m doing the 3 month pattern and your count may vary if you’re doing another size. But hopefully you can see the sequence and adjust it for your own size.
I also picked up 2 additional stitches on each shoulder when I started for the collar because my three needle bind offs seemed to leave a gap at the seam.
I hope that all helps. How are you stitching the loops down for the picot edgings? That’s a new thing for me and I don’t want to mess it up.