A Win Win

My latest sweater, the one from Cabin Fever's Need A Circular Yoke? book,  is finished.

 

Excuse my immodesty, but it is perfect.

The fit is superb.  Of course, 'atta girl, Brenda,  that is partly my responsibility.   I had to choose the correct size and shape  for my body and my shape. And of course I had to do a gauge swatch to ensure that the actual knitting matched up correctly to my plan.

But mostly I give credit for the great fit to the pattern.  In the NACY? book, there are opportunities to maximize correct fit.  Bust darts, waist shaping and hip shaping  play a role in getting that fit just right.  Then, there are other options that I will call fit-to-flatter options(with apologies to any other designers who may have coined that phrase).  Options like choice of neckline, sweater length, sleeve length and trims.  Choices in these categories can really make a sweater flatter or fail.

In my case, I like what I chose and think it flatters nicely.  Sorry about the self promo here.

On to Details.
Pattern:  From Need A Circular Yoke? I chose a Mandarin neckline, raised Ridge transitions rounds, and only one panel of decorative yoke design.

 

In addition, I chose to insert bust darts,

 While you have your nose in my armpit in the above photo, you might notice what a nice job I did of eliminating the curse of the top down -the underarm holes.   I have a tip for that.

When adding the underarm stitches as instructed in the pattern, add two extra.  Then on the first, body round following the divide, at each side of the underarm stitches, knit the body stitch closest to the extra stitch together with that extra underarm stitch.  In a pattern, that would read  "Work to one stitch before the underarm stitches.  Knit two together (the last stitch  from the body together with the first stitch  from the underarm.  Work across the underarm stitches to one stitch before the last underarm stitch.  Knit two together, being the last underarm stitch together with the first stitch  from the body.    Closes up that hole quite nicely. You're welcome.

And I also added both waist and hip shaping.

For me, I did one more increase round for the hips than the number of decrease rounds that shaped the waist. You can see the shaping was done on either side of the underarm stitches line.  I like them that way.  It seems more tailored.

Yarn:  Cascade 220.

Needles:  4.5mm for the entire sweater, trim included.  The exception to this is the Mandarin Neckline where I used  needles 2 sizes smaller as per the pattern instructions.

Mods:  Personal Design Elements:  NACY? encourages personal design.  Choose a neckline that suits and flatters.  Do the same with the transitions rounds  - rounds  where the yoke increases are done;   the number of yoke panels  and  what pattern goes in the yoke panels.  As well, chose whether or not to put in body contouring shaping, choose the length of the body and of the sleeves and finally choose the border trim.  The pattern guide give multiple choices for all these options but  of course most knitters have many more available either from their heads or their knitting library. The list is endless.

Really, for the NACY? patterns, I would say - 'mods' is a category that doesn't exist. The knitter is expected to share in the design process. Perhaps not a process that suits all knitters but for me, that is FUN!

Loved the process. Love the product. That's a win win in a knitters world.