Josephine is complete

Back when I was still working on the front piece, I googled the top to see how other knitters' Josephines were coming out. You know how sometimes you'll think a pattern is unappealing, and then you see someone knitting it and it looks awesome and you want to make it? It was sort of the opposite. There were some really nice ones, but there were also a couple that just looked off. Nothing big, they had been knit well, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Coupled with the fact that the back piece looked really large to me (the lace portion anyway), I started thinking maybe the photos in the mag were creatively posed. But I decided to keep going and fix it afterwards if needed. Fortunately, it didn't. It really did come out like the pictures in IK.



I was a good and patient knitter and knit it following the instructions to the letter. However, if I made another I would do it differently. If you want to make Josephine, do yourself a favor: knit it in the round. Cast on the front and back stitches minus 4 for the seams, knit three rounds, then start the lace pattern and knit flat once you reach the armholes. There is no reason it can't be knit in the round and you save yourself the seaming and the picking up of 250+ stitches along the bottom for the rolled hem.

I love the rolled hem detail on the bottom, neckline and cap sleeves. The lace hasn't been blocked yet, so it probably doesn't look as good as it could. (What's with the instructions to steam, not block? Maybe that's a knitting secret I haven't been let in on yet.)


I hadn't planned to knit the tie cord, but I couldn't have if I had wanted to. This is how much yarn I have left over:

That's six or seven pieces, none more than 18 inches long. I used every bit I could, but I still had to leave out one round in the bottom rolled hem and a couple of rows in the cap sleeves.

The whole thing took me about a week to make - gotta love a quick project. In general, I think this top is suitable for fairly warm weather, but I have to say, walking back from the park this morning, it was sweltering with the tank underneath. Granted it was 9:30 and already about 85 degrees here, which is more than "fairly warm" to me, but I think I could get away with just the top if I'm feeling brave. (That is a deep V!)

I've found one drawback to the Elann.com Callista - a soft haze from the cotton fibers after machine washing, noticed after washing Martine. It's easily removed with the sweater shaver.

Details:
Yarn: Elann.com Callista in Italian Plum, 6 balls
Pattern: Josephine Top from the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits, smallest size (36.5" I think)
Needles: US size 4 (size 3 for the rolled hem on the sleeves only)

Oh, my hands

Between the carpal tunnel from renovating the blog (you likey?) and trying to bust out the lace on the bottom of the second half of Josephine before I get totally bored with it, my left hand is killing me. I've finished three of the five repeats on the lace, so I'm getting close. I'm trying to switch back and forth between this project and another to vary the motion, but it's not doing much to relieve the pain at this point.

"There's simply no excuse for plum abuse"

(I couldn't help it, I watched Funny Face today.) But I don't think this is abuse, I think it is some fabulousness. Josephine is coming along:



I had to go with size 4 needles; the Callista was just too loose on 5's, even though I knit it on size 6's for Martine. Funny how that works sometimes. It also helps reduce the size of the garment a bit. The original measurements were a little bigger than I wanted, but I was afraid to take any stitches out for fear of disturbing the pattern.

I'm actually almost finished with the back now, that photo was taken yesterday. I'm well into the textured pattern on the top, which looks like this:

 

I'm looking forward to the V in the front - should make the second half go faster and be a bit more interesting. Not that the back hasn't been interesting, but it's second half syndrome - like second sock syndrome, but lasts much longer.