the blue blog archives: a class in katy

I brought katy in to my intermediate knitting class on Tuesday to use her to demonstrate shoulder and side seaming. I wasn't quite far enough along on my NBaT to seam anything, plus I was anxious to sew up the body of katy to see if she fits. Once I'd seamed a few inches, my love of seaming kicked in again, and I couldn't stop until all those crisp, neat seams were finished.

Let me just interject here how incredibly annoying it is that Debbie Bliss hasn't given knitters any help in this pattern regarding how do all the decreases along the armhole or that long v-neck. There's cables and ribs and a lot of seaming and picking up of stitches to be done later and if you simply decrease at the edge, it's gonna be UG-LY! I kept one selvedge stitch in stockinette all the way up, doing all decreases in pattern one stitch in from the edge. This certainly helped, giving me a clean, straight edge for seaming, but something like the clever lines of decreased ribs that you always see in the Rebecca patterns might have been nicer.

I went ahead and added the collar, both to be sure that that single selvedge stitch was going to look acceptable with the picked up collar, and so I'll know how much yarn I've got left over for the sleeves.

For those of you considering katy, the original neckline is VERY open. I believe Amber referred to it as "flashdance". I made a couple of adjustments to the pattern to give my katy a more functional and modest neckline. First I added two extra decreases to the armhole to get rid of that droop shoulder effect you see on the model. Then I changed the width of the shoulders by ADDING five extra stitches to each shoulder, effectively trimming down that mega-wide neck. (By adding, I mean that I pretended the instructions were written for five more stitches on each shoulder. On the back, that meant binding off ten fewer stitches for the neck and on the front, ending the decreases earlier so that the shoulders contained five extra stitches.)

I'm happy to announce that katy fits, the neckline looks great and provides full coverage and I've got a healthy four and a half balls of yarn remaining for the sleeves. Phew! She's been kind of a pain in the tush, but I guess hard work really does pay off. Now to fiddle with those sleeve instructions....

posted by alison at 9:50 am | in katy

Comments

It looks so beautiful. A yummy buttery color, looks to be your favorite color lately.

Posted by: Leslie at July 8, 2005 10:16 AM

OMGoodness! She is absolutely beautiful...I think I need one of those...my lys will give me the yarn and pattern to make and let them use! woohoo.

Posted by: christine at July 8, 2005 10:31 AM

Katy looks terrific! Can't wait to see it completed.

Posted by: brooke at July 8, 2005 10:49 AM

Thanks for detailing your adjustments. I'm working Katy now and that info is going to come in really handy later. I'm only an intermediate knitter and I doubt I would have worked all that out on my own. She looks gorgeous, btw.

Posted by: Tracy at July 8, 2005 11:03 AM

It looks great. Sometimes I wonder if DB is cranking out those pattern books so fast that she only has time for the concept and the details are ignored in the rush to the publisher in support of her yarns. Just seems so totally $$$ crazed to some degree. The art of engineering a great knitted garment, sacrificed on the altar of commerce...or maybe I'm just crabby!

Posted by: Pubah at July 8, 2005 11:06 AM

Looks great! Good ol' Debbie, she's always terse with advice, isn't she? I'm glad you were able to make the best of it!

Posted by: grumperina at July 8, 2005 11:47 AM

This looks so great! I've always wanted to knit this, so I'm living vicariously through you.

Posted by: Purly Whites at July 8, 2005 12:00 PM

Still looks great. I like your changes, I did notice the droopy shoulders on the model.

Posted by: Vicki at July 8, 2005 12:36 PM

That's really pretty!

Posted by: LauraA at July 8, 2005 1:17 PM

Katy is so eerily similar to the Tennis Sweater seen in the Summer Vogue Knitting. (is DB a recycler?) I am currently knitting it and it is my first v-neck. I had trouble figuring out the decreases, but luckily I did keep an edge stitch. Katy looks great!

Posted by: Amanda at July 8, 2005 2:08 PM

Wow, good points to know on Katy! I have that on my long list of things to knit, and I am definitely going to bookmark your Katy entries. Beautiful work, Alison!

Posted by: MJ at July 8, 2005 4:59 PM

wow - very classy :)

Posted by: rebecca at July 8, 2005 7:13 PM

Super pretty! can't wait to see it with the sleeves!

Posted by: Dani at July 8, 2005 7:30 PM

Looks great, I'm considering starting up a Katy myself.

Posted by: Alexa at July 8, 2005 9:29 PM

Absolutely gorgeous! All those cables look like they are just begging to be touched. Would you mind posting a close-up of the picked up stitches? They look so perfect around that neckline, the decreases are so clean and finished-looking!

I love a lot of Debbie's style, but she is a little stingy with the details. I always chalked that up to being British (she is, isn't she?) That knitting is more of a cultural thing, that some details can go unsaid because the designer assumes the knitter already knows?

Posted by: Amy Lu at July 8, 2005 9:48 PM

Katy looks great. I know what you mean about Debbie Bliss leaving the info. on the decreases out. It drives me crazy. A shop owner told me that the company she is with is really difficult to work with so they do not carry the yarn any more.

Posted by: Diane at July 8, 2005 10:35 PM

Katy doesn't just fit; she looks beautiful, too! Your careful planning and attention to details really show. I admire the way you take charge of patterns and show them who's boss!

Looking forward to seeing the sleeves....

Posted by: Linda at July 9, 2005 11:10 PM