PROJECTMAXXING PT.2
This top gave me so much trouble...
Lets start from the beginning…
Here is the pattern I drafted with just an inspiration photo. I was so excited to start this project! This halter looked so simple so I assumed that it would work up very quickly and be done. I even casted on three projects because of ‘how simple’ i knew this one would be😭 I very quickly learned how much of a burden this would become.
Now my intention was to have the top look exactly like the white one in the reference box. I didn’t necessarily do that but let’s get into it.
I started by casting on the stitches number that i’ve included in the drafted pattern. I determined the stitches by making a gauge swatch and counting stitches.
I worked up the back and front of the top and tried it on realizing that the top was too small!!!!
So I frogged the entire thing:
I then had to re-do my measurements because I needed the top to fit me right. For 14 days I tabled this and worked on my knit hood.
My calculations were way off. I didn’t end up redoing my gauge swatch but this time I employed some help.
For any of you who are curious, AI was not helpful. I think the only thing i got help with was how to execute the decrease. Anything else clearly didn’t help.
So I picked up the sticks again and got back to it. I decided to cast on 86 stitches because once i measured the front portion of my body in inches and multiplied that number by my gauge that was what made the most sense? I then set out to knit up the body for 9 inches but I got impatient and only knit up 7 inches before I decreased for the top half.
After all of this mess, I realized that i made it too big overall and thought that blocking would fix it 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️ Silly, silly me.
I don’t know why i thought the piece would shrink after blocking it but it definitely didn’t. It’s even funnier because I am well aware of what blocking does :( Possibly what happened was that I somehow conflated blocking with washing. I know that washing in warm water tends to shrink cotton.
In my defense, I haven’t self drafted anything in about three years so I was a bit rusty and banked too heavily on my skill set from the past.
I decided not to fix it because I was just so annoyed with having to make this over three or so times. I just wanted this to be done.
Now, It’s not a total fail. The halter looks mostly how I wanted it to look. If I decide to make this again I will definitely make the back section half the size that I made it but leave the front the same dimensions because I don’t hate it. I would also make the body portion a bit longer in order to make it look more like the reference photo. My only concern is that my body is not as flat in the back as the models so making the top longer would make the top sit funny over my hips and backside.
Not really the look I’m going for….
I do have a few ideas on how I would modify this in the future:
These are all backs of bodies. I hope that portion isn’t confusing. The x things are just straps and the different formations I can make.
This project taught me that creative ideation with a full time life is hard. A creatives desire to do nothing but create is absolutely necessary because the other factors of life just get in the way. Not only do I need energy to create something new, but the logistics need to be in order. I still have to source my materials and figure out how to keep costs relatively low. It’s all one big thing. As a teen, non of this was a huge to do because I was unintentionally creating. Yes, I was drafting patterns and sourcing materials but for some reason money felt limitless and the world was my oyster 🦪
But I also learned that, I still have great ideas that need to come to fruition and therefore I still will continue to craft!
It's good trouble. Oxymoronically this is where most learning comes from in life. The mistakes the snafu's. This was great and I'm glad you keep pushing. Keep going. I hope u get excited and look forward to the learning, cause there really are few mistakes.