Kyoto Meltdown
I've hit a serious roadblock with Kyoto. I finished knitting the collar tonight, which I picked up and worked for about 2.5 in garter. It looked awful, I picked up way too many stitches to knit in the same gauge as the body (plus it is at a slight angle). So I frogged it.
Worse than that, I'm just worried about the general fit of the garmet, specifically of the bust. The bottom of the frontspieces fits around my ribcage just touching as per the pattern. However, even with a collar of 2 or 3 inches, there is way too much of a neck opening and no room to overlap to close it. I should have put short rows in the front pieces. I thought the overlap structure could substitute for them but I didn't realize there is just not enough fabric to cover my boobies, let alone do a shaped overlap.
The worst part is that with the way I have knitted Kyoto so far, reknitting the front sections would also mean reknitting the sleeve since I picked up the stitches for it.The sleeve is the largest single piece of knitting in the garmet so far. I wish I could forget about the collar issues and just knit the other sleeve, but I don't want to do that if I'm just going to end up having to reknit the damn front pieces.
I don't know if these were my first tears of knitting frustration but they were my most deeply felt. The temptation came to frog the whole thing and abandon the project completely.
I also feel deeply frustrated at having to rework patterns to fit me because the pattern specs stopped at 1x. Omar and I did extensive calculations but we just didn't allow enough room for the bust, nor at the time did I know enough about short rows to incorporate them into my changes.
I have three options. Make your vote now.
- 1. Try to knit a collar at a smaller gauge yet very wide (4"-5") and see if that will provide enough coverage while correcting the bunchiness of the previous collar. I'd also want to just do the wider collar at the sides and keep back of the neck at about 2", and I haven't quite figured out how to do that elegantly.
- 2. Frog entire project, to be reknitted at a later date, or not.
- 3. Frog sleeve and two front pieces. Reknit front with short rows, reknit sleeve with much patience.
It has been a long night, my friends. A long night, a long knit.
*sigh*
Comments
ugh...I don't have an answer...let me sleep on it tonight and tell ya what i think in the morning....:(
Posted by: Delicious Yarn | August 28, 2004 3:15 PM
Why did you do the collar in garter st.? Could that be messing things up?
Hmm. I see from your photos on LJ that your boobies don't just point straight out, they reach for the side a little, too. :D That is definitely the problem, and short rows are needed, or else a wider front.
Do you know anyone who has actually finished that sweater? Everyone I know who started it has stalled. I say put it down for a bit unless you have the fortitude to rip out the fronts and sleeve.
Bastards!
Posted by: Adrian | August 28, 2004 8:01 PM
Habsgirl on Knitty made and finished Kyoto.
Others have had problems. Looking at your photo, it's not so much short rows you need, but increases from the underbust zone up to the bust point. then decreases again to offset that. complicated! Short rows would give more verticle room, which helps the front hem of a boxy sweater hang straight over a large bust. But you need more girth, from the sound of things.
My vote is leaning toward frogging and reworking. But don't frog until you really analyze just where you need extra room and how to get that without throwing off other stuff.
I can't believe women pay to get big boobs! For all the fitting problems they cause, I would happily scale down to a B.
elizabeth
Posted by: elizabeth | August 28, 2004 11:00 PM
I see myself having the same problem as you as I am large chested too. I'm not sure what I would do. I say walk away for a bit then bite the bullet and frog. I know it's heart breaking but it's better to have a sweater you'll love in the end then to hate the pile of yarn that is a partial sweater.
Posted by: Cheryl | August 29, 2004 12:00 AM
I did finish Kyoto, but it wasn't always pretty. I frogged the back and sash when I decided I needed to go up to the XL.
Hmmm, I just pulled it out and measured, and it seems to have grown in width by a couple of inches. Could just be a function of time, but it is even bigger than an XL.
Have you done the sash yet? You might want to try doing a partial sash in scrap yarn to see if that helps how it lies. Or you could just frog and retry. You won't be the first or the last to do so.
Posted by: Sarah/habsgirl | August 29, 2004 12:40 AM