Bell Curve

Completed: August 2008

Pattern: Bell Curve, by Kira Dulaney, Knitty

Yarn: Berroco Sensuwool (80% wool, 20% nylon), #6538, 9 x 90yd/50g; #6531, 1 x 90yd/50g

Notes:
Those stars are pretty and very clever, but they are hard on the hands! Here are some things that might help make them a bit easier:

Use pointy, smooth needles if you have them

If you have interchangeable needles, switch out the left needle tip for something smaller. This gives you more room around the stitches to maneuver. Theoretically, you'll be okay gauge-wise since it's the right hand needle that determines the size of new stitches, but if you're nervous about it, you might go ahead and swatch the whole thing with a smaller needle tip on the left. Another option would be to slip the needed stitches onto smaller dpn's if you're not using interchangeables

use a crochet hook to form the new loops for the star.

My row gauge was way off, but it worked out fine since I was going to modify the rate of increases to create a slimmer shape anyway. The skirt is about 1-1/2" shorter than the pattern. At the bottom, I used a contrasting color--knit 1 round, purl 1 round, bind off in purl.

Soul Skirt

Completed: January 2007

Pattern: Soul Tube Top, Rowan Calmer Collection

Yarn: Rowan Calmer #471 (75% cotton, 25% acrylic), 2-1/2 x 50g balls (175yds each)

Notes: I knit this in the round instead of flat, the way the instructions say. This resulted in some unsightly holes along the side, where the cables met up. It was easy enough to reign this in after I finished knitting, by strategically weaving in the ends, but you might want to stick with doing it flat.



This started out as a tube top for me, but it got converted to a skirt for my daughter. To do this, I followed the directions up to the point of the waist decreases. I did not do any of the waist increases. Instead, I just knit straight till I was about 3 inches shy of the desired length. I then switched to smaller needles (from size 8 down to size 6) and knit straight for another 2 inches, completing a cable twist for the serpentine cables. On the next row, I decreased 2 stitches at the top of each cable to prevent them from stretching out and also to get the right size for the waistband. The waistband is just 8 rows of stockinette, 1 row of purl (to make it easier to turn in), and then another 8 rows of stockinette. Since I'm not a big fan of sewing by hand, I folded the waistband over at this point and then knit in the waistband--just as you would knit in a hem--leaving a 1" hole to put in the elastic. I then turned the work over and went back the other way to bind off. After putting in the waistband elastic, I only had a small hole to sew up.