Call It a Learning Experience

Well, Shanghai is a bust. 

I finished the body, and it fit beautifully, but I somehow did not like it on.  I like the knitted fabric and I knew the colors weren't my best but thought I could make it work, but somehow, when I put it on it was worse than blah, it was just plain old "yuck". 

Not the shape, mind you.  If I could just look at the sweater without the added bonus of the complexion of the person wearing it, the sweater was quite nice.  And no, I am not going to show it to you.  It is destined for ripping. 

I kind of fudged the armhole shaping, decreasing more in front and less in back, then increasing a bit back out to the shoulder at the neckline.  I also added vertical bust darts and some bust shaping using short rows and the fit was really really nice.  Luckily I did make notes.  So I can think about this sweater much like I would think of a muslin if I were sewing something.  But a knitted muslin takes longer.  Bummer.

My first reaction was to ditch the whole thing, but I do still like the yarn.  Tonight, while I was working on my new project (which I love by the way) I had another idea, which might actually work quite nicely.  It will be a little further down the queue.  Shanghai and I need to take a little break from each other's company for a while.

Comments

[Mardel]

Well, I have gone through periods where I had this problem with lots of sweaters, but I seem to be getting my feel for it now. At first I was ready just to toss the whole thing in the garbage, but time, and unraveling has helped me to come up with other ideas. Sometimes the flow of creativity seems a bit rocky.

And yes, it was so nice to see the details of fit work out, because I was really knitting by the seat of my pants, with no plan and no maths: just try it on and knit some more. Sometimes, it seems, the intuitive approach is the best.

[materfamilias]

I find this a problem with sweaters, altho' I'm very, very pleased with the latest one. At least I'm enough of a process knitter that I carry on optimistically to make sweaters, but it's frustrating when they don't flatter -- especially since I refuse to wear clothes that I have to talk myself into. But it sounds as if you have a plan for the yarn, and at least you know that the sweater fit was flattering.

[Luni]

I applaud your decision. Not because I didn't like the yarn and the style of the sweater, but I admire that you can abandon the project once you realize it doesn't work out. I usually finish it and put it in a drawer, thus using up not only time and yarn but storage space.