Thursday, July 12, 2007

The goat entrails worked...

After the failure of the last halter, I had to think quickly. I had already told Lisa I had a pattern I thought she might be interested in, and I must have had an inkling in the back of my mind that the bamboo halter was too good to be true, because I started casting on for the second version while the first was blocking.

This time, I used the Cathay I'd had in my stash forever; in fact, the very same magentish Cathay that I tried, and failed, to get rid of at the beginning of this project.

I reworked the back and beginning of the halter shaping completely, hoping it would improve the fit. There were a bunch of smaller details I changed as well. I really should re-knit stuff more often. It's not as experimental and fun, but it sure as hell gives good results. I'll show the back first:


Ta-da! Nice, smooth line. No drooping, high enough to hide the back of a strapless bra.

And the side, compared to the first version, 100% better:


A lot of this is due to the fact that the Cathay simply holds its shape better than the bamboo. So the waist actually ends up at my waist! Amazing.

And the front:


Yes, wearing this made me happy even while waiting for Dublin Bus. And that is no small feat.

If you also want to be happy while waiting for the 46A, you're in luck.

As I was knitting up the second version, I wrote up my notes on the construction, then worked out a pattern for it. Lisa and Jacqui at This is Knit have very, very kindly agreed to put it up for downloading- free!- from their website. It should be up in a week or so, assuming they don't find some terrible error in my amateur pattern-writing. Squee!

8 comments:

Ger said...

Just beautiful! You are duly rewarded for all your hard work and persistence.

jacqueline said...

I like it. don't have to bod for it, but I still like it. well done!

Anonymous said...

Lien, it's just super! Glad you persevered to such a successful conclusion.

Erin said...

Beautiful work. I just started Knit & Tonic's Sizzle with some Cathay, and I am in love with this yarn.

Knitelly said...

Looks lovely, well done.

Unknown said...

That´s beautiful. I really like the colour too. It was definitely worth the re jigging!

Michelle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michelle said...

That is a lovely halter. I can't wait to see the pattern. I especially like how the pattern in the center mimics an arrow, indicating eye contact rather than, ahem.