Finally pictures

hey all this is my progress so far on the bodice. It is going well, slowly but well. I am probably going to repeat the chart 2 or 3 times for my bust, but that should be pretty, more color and less green.

here is a nice close up

On to the colorwork!

so I had put down my sweater for about a month to work on some other projects. When I picked it back up I thought I had along way to go in ribbing but it turns out I only had about 4 rounds left. I am now on the color work and it is turning out great. I will post pictures soon because my employer blocks flickr. I think I should be able to finish this before the really cold weather gets to Ohio. I will probably add another inch or two to the bodice to make room for my chest, its better to have more color work than more ribbing any day of the week. :)

Modeling the Bodice

It took like 2 days to dry, but the bodice is finally ready for modeling! Here I am in my sweater--don't mind the serious expression--it was taken early in the morning (why yes, those ARE pajama pants!) :)



I think the sweater came out beautifully. The unevenness of my colorwork went away in blocking, so that's awesome. I did that extra 1" in the bodice, and I almost think I could've done a little more! The only thing I'm concerned about is the fact that it seems to bulge a bit at the point where the ribbing ends and the colorwork begins. It did it pre-blocking as well, so I'm not sure what's up with that.

Can't wait to see everyone else's when they finish! :)

My Finished Bodice!

I can't believe it--I finally finished my Mirepoix Bodice! I just finished the neckline maybe half an hour ago. I still need to block it, but it's done! I tried it on and it fits--the sleeves seem a bit tight, but I'll try to block those a little larger or something, though even if I can't it just makes it more fitted I suppose.

Just trying it on, I'm really glad I added the extra 1" to the bodice part before I began the steeks--I don't think it would've covered my chest fully otherwise.

Anyway, below is a picture of the unblocked sweater. I'll take a shot of me wearing it after I block it. :)

Hiatus

I've put aside the Mirepoix Bodice for a little while so I can work on some Christmas presents. I also have a lot of family stuff happening (as I'm sure we all do!), and I've just decided to focus on the things I have to have done, which means fun fair isle sweater for me are on the back burner. Posts on here have really slowed down, so I think I'm not the only one! Anyway, I'll be back at it once the holidays aren't looming on the horizon. See you all then!

Sleeve Problem

Last night I thought I would start on a sleeve, because it's more portable then all the fair isle, and it always takes me forever to knit sleeves, and when I cast on I thought I had way to many stitches. So, I looked at the schematic, and it has my size knitting 10 1/4" around the cuff. My wrist is only 6" around! In the pictures it looks like a normal sleeve; is there something I don't understand here? I can figure out how to fix it to fit, but it just seemed so wrong, I thought I must be missing something. Does anyone know?

Fair Isle Progress!

I've been working steadily on my Mirepoix Bodice, and I finally have something to post about it! I have a little more than seven inches of the fair isle completed. I've established the neck and armhole steeks; they are about three inches long, and my shaping is almost done.

I'm still really happy with the color substitutions I made on this project. I had a difficult time getting an accurate picture of the colors (for one thing, the orange looks much more garish here than it does in person). I'm also really pleased with how the fair isle looks. I haven't done this technique before, and I was nervous about how it might look. I started off a little loose, but I've gotten a little better at regulating my tension, and now it looks really good.

The alpaca is also behaving better then I had thought it would. It's not sticking together like shetland or anything, but it is felting a little. I'm still going to sew my steeks before I cut, of course, but it gives me a little piece of mind knowing it will hold a bit on its own. I think it's at least as nice for fair isle as superwash wool.

I have to say, this is one of the most satisfying sweaters I've worked on in a while. I'm surprised at how much I like doing fair isle; I guess I can quit avoiding it now! It looks very pretty. I can't wait to get finished and wear it!