I’m starting to get quite nervous, because this design is working up exactly the way it’s supposed to.
I shouldn’t be getting nervous. I should just be really, really excited that for once I’m not having to make any unplanned panic decisions because my gauge is off or I got my lefts and rights confused (happens all the time…) The fact that both of those things and many others have occurred before is making me paranoid. But nothing yet.
Granted, I did do a lot of planning beforehand, which is uncharacteristic. My usual process is to note or chart the bare minimum that is strictly necessary to get started, then figure out the rest on the needles. I’ve gotten pretty good at winging designs; much better than I used to be, but stuff still happens. This is only my third garment design (yep, I said third, even though my Ravelry portfolio only shows one garment—more information forthcoming next week) and I wanted to get it right.
The hardest part of garment design, apart from all-important fit, is translating all elements of the design across multiple sizes. This design’s most difficult feature is the lace shoulder saddles; it was a bit of a bear to make this large lace repeat scalable but with the look and drape that I wanted across all sizes. I did something uncharacteristic and knit a bazillion swatches. This photo just shows two (the one on the right is the final iteration.) Why this one? The number of twisted ribs can be adjusted to make the saddle wider or narrower depending on the size; the placement can also be tweaked to retain flexibility at the edges, which need to be flexible to hang properly over the shoulders.
With each garment pattern, I’ve decided to only add one or two difficult design features per piece, so that I can focus on grading and fit while still creating interest. Since the lace shoulders were the difficult item here, I kept the rest simple—a square neckline, simple armholes, no body shaping. Right now everything’s a bit bunched/rolled up and lacks finishing, but I think it’ll be pretty classy once ribbing is picked up and it’s blocked. What I find really funny is that it looks vaguely ancient Greek right now, which wasn’t the intent—maybe it’s my pseudo-classical education subtly exerting itself. Considering that everything’s coming out the right size, we can work with that.
Right now, the priority is getting done with the body. It needs about 4 more inches; everything else that needs doing after that is trim and finishing. I’m absurdly pleased with all the opportunities to pick up stitches and unzip provisional cast-ons, two of my favorite techniques.
Hopefully next time I post about this design, it’ll be finished and ready for test knitting!
