I finally finished the lazy days tunic and shawl kits from Artyarns. I've named them Raspberry Glitter on Ravelry, which I suppose works since I didn't actually produce the same sweater as written.
Basic info:
Lazy Days Tunic and Lazy Days Shawl, both sold as kits from Artyarns. I purchased my kits from L'Atelier in Redondo Beach, CA.
Yarns: Artyarns Beaded Silk & Sequins Light and Merino Cloud.
Needle: size 7 Addi Click. Surprisingly this was actually the recommended needle size, which is odd for me as I historically have been a loose knitter. In fact my gauge did not quite match the pattern gauge, and after trying several needle sizes from size 4 to size 8, I decided I was not going to get gauge and that the size 7 needles produced the fabric which pleased me the most. I simply then recalculated the pattern from there. This proved a little tricky at first as the sweater is knit on the bias, but I eventually got the hang of it, both the knitting and the calculating.
The biggest problem for me was with the sleeves. The first time I knit them I apparently lost my head and knit one sleeve too small and the other too large, so I re-knit both, carefully checking gauge and dimensions as I progressed. These were the sleeves that were on he blocking board in my previous post. Alas, I did not like the way they felt when I donned the finished sweater. They felt snug and itchy, and it occurred to me that I had miscalculated. The sleeves would have fit had I been knitting in the standard fashion from bottom up (or top down), but bias requires different ease than-on grain fabrications and even though I am sure that bias knitted fabric reacts differently than bias woven fabric it was evident that I had knit the sleeves too small. So I ripped them out and reknit them.
But I still hated them when I actually wore the garment. The fabric itched my arms, especially the parts made from the beaded silk and sequins. This could be partially because the wider sleeves were shorter, ending at a more delicate patch of skin than in the original nearly elbow-length sleeves. But I wasn't sure I could make the sleeves longer, primarily because I ran out of beaded silk and sequins, and, being in the middle of knitting the shawl, was not sure how much merino cloud would remain to be used for sleeve-lengthening. The sleeves also felt like the twisted oddly, but this could be more due to my own irregularly sloping shoulders and the way I carry my arms than to anything in the knitted fabric. It ended up that I did have enough merino cloud to make the sleeves longer, but by the time I finished the shawl I was simply done with this project. There would be no 4th re-knit. I hope the sweater itself would work as a shell to be work with the shawl and that the sleeves could simply be forgotten.
Success!
I love the finished project and will wear it. I had been a little nervous, afraid that the bias of the fabric would emphasize my own asymmetricalities, the way Issey Miyake's pleated garments always seemed to cling in the wrong way, emphasizing everything that I wanted minimized, but such is not the case. The drape is nice and the sweater attractive.
Iris Schreier calls for the neckline to be finished with a knitted-on I-cord binding, which was slow, but beautiful. After trying on the sweater numerous times, I decided that the same I-cord finishing would work at the arm openings as well and so proceeded accordingly. The I-cord adds a layer of stability to the edge, balancing the pull of the bias fabric and laying pleasingly against the body.
