Friday, June 12, 2015

A Sour Note

My Cotton Concerto has hit a sour note.  The back is finished.  The front is finished.


Sleeve number one is  started. 
 
The sleeves, however are as confusing as the back and front were straightforward. 

The sleeve have a lace pattern.  The sleeve cap is shaped.  Shaping plus lace.  Often I have noted on ravelry the comments of  knitters who struggled to shape lace.  "What's the big deal" I would ask myself.  Well, I like to think of myself as a kinder, gentler person now.  Concerto has given me insight into those struggles.

For the life of me, I cannot determine where I am in this lace pattern.  Partly, I think,  because the sleeve-cap shaping starts at the same time as the lace, there is no chance to get familiar with the lace pattern.  No chance to learn to 'read' the lace.  No chance to 'see' what stitch I should be knitting.


Turning to my trusted info source, I searched ravelry to see what other knitters had experienced.   Maybe I could learn from their experiencce.  Wow!  Only one  knitter has knit Concerto before me. Or perhaps, only one lived to tell the tale. Surose 312.

Surose 312 has a pretty impressive line up of projects on ravelry.  Yet she struggled with Concerto's sleeves, too.  Her comments  - I can definitely say i will not make this pattern again! 
Or   Since the sleeve part of the pattern is impossible to follow...   and  sadly  I’ll just make it a tank top.

Hmmm. It is certainly nice to know that I am not the only knitter confused by these instructions.  But - I think I have a way to solve the problem.  I know two things.  The pattern has a 6 + 1 stitch repeat.  The decreases happen on every other row.  So - if I were to leave enough stitches for one pattern repeat  in plain stockinet at each row end,  I will be many rows into  the lace pattern before the shaping interferes with the lace.  Those end-of-row stitches will be under the arm and seamed anyway.  Who will look there?  Or as my philosophy on washing ceilings states, 'those who stare there  deserve to see the dirt'.   By the time those  stitches are eaten up with the shaping, I should be able to 'read' the lace.   

And everything should work out fine.  In theory.  It is worth a try.






5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree,did not get a favorable review(s).I got the pattern and started another Deb Gemmell Spring Breeze top while I was waiting for it to come.Eventually I will get to it and do the sleeves first, though.
The company has posted these corrections just in case you have an older pattern, FWIW t_a

Correction for Pattern # (Pattern Errata Only):
2654
Changed (Pattern Errata Only):
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 - 13:00

Dewdrop Pattern (Multiple of 6 sts + 1)
Rows 1 and 3 (WS): K2, *p3, k3; rep from * end p3, k2.
Rows 2 and 6: P2, *k3, p3; rep from * end k3, p2.
Row 4: K2, *yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k3; rep from * end yo, sl, k2tog, psso, k2.
Rows 5 and 7: P2, *k3, p3; rep from * end k3, p2.
Row 8: K2tog, *yo, k3, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso; rep from *, end yo, k3, yo, ssk.
Rep these 8 rows for pattern.

Sigrun said...

Without having tried it, theoretically, I would chart the lace if it isn't already charted (print more than one copy),then I would put markers between repeats of the lace--at least as many along the sides as will be affected by the decreases. Then I would cross off on the chart those sts that are gone, and you know where you are. Making a chart would familiarize me with the pattern.
If chart-making is not an option, you can write it out row by row, minus the sts. It's before 7 am here, so this may not even make sense.

Sigrun said...

Can you send me a link to the pattern--not finding it--also not finding it on your project page. I'm intrigued.

Sigrun said...

Never mind--I found it, but since it's a paid pattern I can't check out the sleeve shaping.

Anonymous said...

BO 6(7,8,9,10,11)sts at the beg of nxt 2 rows while working established dewdrop pttrn---12(14,16,18,20,22)sts.
63,(67,71,75,79,81)STS
DECROW(WS) P2,P2TOG pattern to last 4sts,p2togtbl,p2---2 sts decreased.
(61,65,69,73,77,79)sts
NXT ROW (RS) ;k2 pttrn to last2 sts,k2
rep lst 2 rows 19(21,23,25,27,28)times
23 sts. ...

t-a