two steps forward, you know the rest

Manon was progressing very quickly, the peplum was done a few days ago and I picked up the stitches and knit up. I made some changes to try to accommodate the unbalanced aspect of my bust measurement. (There's more in the front than the back.) It wasn't enough.

manon… progress, but not

As you can see I got all the way to the shoulders. The loose bit on my shoulder is the back of the collar which needs a three needle bind off and to be sewn down. I didn't want to do that part, though, until I was certain that I was going to keep it as is. Right now, I am certain I am not. I took it in to Purlescence  so I could get Sandi's advice. She's given me good tips on where to change the shape of a garment before and she came through again. I have a plan now which, unfortunately, involves ripping back to the ribbing above the peplum. Here's the plan:

1. Plain st st after picking up for 0.5 inch (with the decreases I already added in at the back).
2. Then 2 inches worth of short row bust darts in the front.
3. The total heigh of the st st (aside from the bust darts) should be 3 inches.
4. Don't forget to redo the decreases of 4 st total (2 in 2 rows on each front) right before underarm bind off.

That might not make sense if you haven't knit this pattern or don't live in my head, or maybe both? If not, sorry, let me try to explain. I knit the size of the peplum (the triangles) that I thought would fit my bust. I know my bust measurement is skewed to the front so after I picked up the designated number of stitches for the back and both fronts I decreased evenly across the back so that section has the right number of stitches for one size down. Then, after knitting what I thought would be a big enough bust, I decreased four stitches in each front to make them match the backs after I knit the portion after the armhole. If I hadn't done that the armhole would have been too big and I wouldn't have had the right number at the shoulder when I got to the three needle bind off. Knitting the backs and fronts in all one piece and finishing the shoulders with a three needle bind off were things I added in to avoid more seaming and also because I'm not sure what is to be gained by having that short side seam.

So, that's what I've been doing recently. Lots and lots of Manon. In stash busting news I sold two balls of All Seasons Cotton to someone on Ravelry because she needed the dyelot I had, which brought my total used or destashed since starting my deal with Kristi to 1447 yards. I also think I have been totalling the wrong column in the stash spreadsheet Ravelry exports for me. No wonder it seems like I didn't have enough yarn! According to the most recent export I have 59,145.10 yards or 33.6 miles of yarn. That's a big difference, eh? Luckily, as soon as I'm done with Manon that will be one mile less. I'm going to have to stick to this deal for a while. What I'd really like to do is stick to it until all of my yarn fits into the four bins I had stacked in the living room and isn't expanding all over the house anymore.

Wish me luck!

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