{"id":1815,"date":"2011-05-14T15:01:21","date_gmt":"2011-05-14T22:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2011-05-14T23:01:37","modified_gmt":"2011-05-15T06:01:37","slug":"kal-finished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/?p=1815","title":{"rendered":"KAL finished!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, just in time for summer (or Spring if it ever gets here), we’ve finished the KAL for the summer top in the Spring\/Summer issue of Vogue Knitting magazine. Here are pictures of the top being modeled by the very beautiful Lilia.<\/p>\n

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Overall, I was very pleased with the top and the way it came out. Of course, I have a few comments that may be of aid to you if you haven’t yet finished this top or choose to make it for yourself or someone else in the future. I substituted the yarn that was used in the original design and was very pleased with the choice I made – Patons Silk Bamboo. The resulting fabric was of medium weight but very soft\u00a0 to the touch (very important since this is worn on bare skin) and the drape is perfect for this piece. The cost difference was substantial, so if you are limited by a budget, this would be a great choice. Also, since the finished piece didn’t have the beads of the original design, it goes from casual to dressy quite easily and well. As you can see from the two pictures, it looks great with jeans for a summer picnic or barbecue or a skirt and shawl for a special evening out.<\/p>\n

As for critiques for the overall pattern design, I really only have two, with one of them being my overly anal Virgo self just nitpicking, and you may want to ignore it. So, the first critique is with the length of the straps. In the pattern it calls for 9″ straps that are woven into a lattice on the back. This design is fantastic and innovative. I think, however, that the straps can be adjusted for the height of the person it is being made for. Lilia is 5’31\/2″ tall (I have to give her that 1\/2″ or I’d hear about it), and the straps are a tad too long for her. The design still works, but were I to make this again I would take this into consideration and make them about 7″ instead of 9″. There was mention in the pattern that the back will stretch to fit (average sizes I presume) so I think you would be okay with 9″ straps up to about 5’10” or so. This is just a guess, so if you’re taller you might want to experiment with that. My only thought is that I think there could have been some mention in the pattern about this so that appropriate adjustments could be made.Usually in patterns it is a simple thing to adjust the height between waist and armholes, but not so in this as the front and back are very different.<\/p>\n

The second critique is really nitpicky, but it’s the sort of thing that got me into knitting in the first place. The small of a woman’s lower back has always been a very erotic and mysterious place for anyone who admires a woman’s form (okay, maybe it’s me). There have actually been studies showing that it is very similar to breast cleavage, and most people can’t tell the difference when shown pictures of the two. So, were I to make this again, I would have shorter straps (depending on who it was for), and I would accentuate the first overlap of the straps at the bottom of the piece on the back, to highlight the small of the back. Hey, I said it was nitpicking, and hindsight is 20 – 20, but I can’t help it, I’m a guy, and I love that spot!<\/p>\n

Still, my hats off to the designer, as this is a fabulous pattern, and it has given me ideas for other things to make in the future. If you’re and intermediate knitter and looking for a nifty project for the summer, this one comes with my recommendations. I would give it an 81\/2 out of 10. Oh, a last little note. If you did make this during the KAL, I would love to see some pictures and hear your comments about it!<\/p>\n

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Hugzzz \ud83d\ude0e<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, just in time for summer (or Spring if it ever gets here), we’ve finished the KAL for the summer top in the Spring\/Summer issue of Vogue Knitting magazine. Here are pictures of the top being modeled by the very beautiful Lilia.   Overall, I was very pleased with the top and the way it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,187,191,45],"tags":[959,641,1017,275,969,31,322],"class_list":{"0":"post-1815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-accomplishments","7":"category-just-knitting","8":"category-kal","9":"category-patterns","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-fo","12":"tag-kal","13":"tag-knit","14":"tag-knitting","15":"tag-purl","16":"tag-shawl","17":"pmpro-has-access","18":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pNDS0-th","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1815"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820,"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ittakesballstoknit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}