Don't think I've been here before...

Okay, I have a confession to make - I have NEVER blocked a project before seaming it. I should also point out that I have only seamed one other project, but the fact still remains. So, am I doing this right?

I pinned everything out to measurements (and noticed a few mistakes while I was at it), then lightly misted it with water before leaving it sit overnight. I checked it in the morning, and decided to remove the pins despite some slight curling.

I have since seamed the shoulders, picked up and knit the neckline ribbing, and seamed the sides. Also, the shoulders were VERY wide, so I decided to do some tricky sewing instead of ripping back all four shoulders. I folded the shoulder edge over and sewed it down, then folded the flat edge back over again and sewed it down. It looks so good that I've decided to skip the I-cord on the armhole edging, especially since I definately do not want to make it wider again.

Now I have to pick up and knit the icord on the lower and front edges, then add buttons. Hmmm... I guess I need to go button shopping!

Oh, if I had known then what I know now, I would have cast on fewer stitches for the back front and done fewer waist decreases. I also would have decreased a lot more around the front of the armhole openings and a little more at the back armhole openings. I think that would have provided the room I need for my bust without giving too much room in the lower back and the tummy area. It would also have narrowed the shoulders for me.

The Tunic becomes a Skirt

I got past to the ribbing and realized my guage was way off row-wise, so I tried just working fewer rounds. That doesn’t help with the neckline decrease though.

Anyway, I tried it on the other day. It’s knit in a bulky yarn, and something Lori said struck me - I’m not overly large, but a bulky yarn sweater, esp. a fitted one, makes me look HUGE. DH saw me trying it on, and when he couldn’t refrain from laughing I knew the gig was up.

So here I was, trying to wrestle my way back out of it, and ended up taking it down instead of up to take it off. Pause, glance in mirror… It looked really cute, as a skirt. Plus, at this guage and in this yarn, it's certainly firm enough to be a skirt.


I let it rest for a day or so while I pondered the idea, and I decided to go for it. The hard part right now is I want to do a few decreases above the hip before the waist, and I’m trying to figure out how to do that and maintain the ribbing as well as possible.


I want them to fall here on the backside, and I'd like to maintain the ribbing as much as possible. I need to decrease about 8 stitches overall, two per dart. I want to keep the vertical lines from the outside ribbing and bring them in - first across a purl rib, then across a knit rib. I have about 16 rounds to work them in. I don't want it to be too abrupt, but I don't want to drag them out forever, either.