Sunday, July 29, 2007

done!

I finished up my coachella yesterday. High points: It fits great, the yarn is machine washable and dryable, its super comfortable. Low points: the back is shorter then the front so it has a tendency to ride up in the back, wick is so smooth it really shows any gauge irregularities.

FinishedCoachella.JPG

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

uh oh!

The good news, I really like Wick, it is soft and springy. But other then that, it is mostly bad news. I started making a size M, but when I got to the trying on part, it was just too drape-y in the boobs, and it was loose enough in the rest of it that I decided to start over and make a S. In the process, I lost my newly purchased size 7 circ and had to run out and get a new one. The second in 5 days! But, I had a long plane ride and got pretty far along in the new smaller version. But, yesterday, when I tried it on, this is what I found:

TwistedCoachella.JPG

If you look closely you will see that when I connected back to the front I had flipped it over so it is twisted around the neck. At least, if I am visualizing it correctly, I just have to rip back those 10 rows and reattach the front and back. But I think I will take a break from it for a few days. Because even in size S the front is still super low. Currently I am thinking it will still be wearable, because I am not ripping all the way back again, so it better be!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

well, everyone else may be finishing their coachellas, but i am just starting. my yarn arrived this weekend and i just finished my swatch. i broke a cardinal rule of swatching though, i swatched flat because just realized i don't have any size 9 circular needles! i will be off to joann's shortly to rectify that. in the meantime, here's a picture of my yarn.

ChartreuseWick

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Breaking the news: Coachella is in Istanbul now


and she is heading to Constanta-Romania.

It was a fast knit (2 days in which I burnt the food twice being so focussed to finish it asap) in S-size, no bust shaping. Soon I'll be leaving to my home town, Constanta in Romania and I am decided to put my Coachella in my luggage too.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Finally!

After 3 rips and a couple of mods...


I'm quite pleased.

Yarn:Mission Falls 1824 Cotton , 5 balls, Colour 202

Needles: US #9&7 as called for in the pattern

Size: small

time to knit: 10 days, with 3 sessions of frogging included.

Mods: I did a 1x1 ribbing on the bottom. The twisted stockinette was too rigid for my taste. I added edging on the armholes as found here.

The back isn't uneven, I didn't realize (and neither did my volunteer photographer) that it was sitting funny when we did the shoot! I was just so excited to have it done.

Next time I might knit the next smallest size. Or possibly decrease a couple of stitches in the front. I really like the way the back is, the front is a little loose for my tastes. But it is definitely wearable and will be worn!

As a side note, I am wearing a convertible bra with the straps in "x" mode.

Ciao

Old pictures


Finally, an old picture (and bad, too)! I am currently a few rows away from starting the waist shaping, so you can tell how old these are. I still love the fabric it's making and haven't yet put it on waste yarn to try on. I did do one round of short-row shaping. I am tempted already to head over to Michaels and grab some of the on-sale Cotton-ease I hear people raving about to make another. Ah well, hopefully new pictures soon, but for now, here at least you can get an idea of the color/yarn (FFF's Must ribbon yarn).


Sunday, July 1, 2007

Evening Coachella done!

That was a fast knit. Started Thursday night and finished Saturday morning. Wet it, laid it to dry, and wore it out Saturday night. This is a really sexy knit. I knit the smallest size even though I am the 2nd smallest size because from washing my gauge swatch I knew this yarn loosened up a bit after washing. I'm glad I did this, otherwise the drape would have been too much for me. As it was my bra sometimes showed. I wore it with a strapless bra, and in fact sometimes you could see the top of the band in the back armholes area. I saw it in some of the pictures I took, and had to readjust things so it wouldn't show. I don't know what to do about this, as the armholes were already as tight as could comfortably be. I have to say that I don't really think this top works super well with a bra, only if the top sits just right and doesn't move around too much. Oh, I'd also do fewer increases towards the bottom, as it puckers there as it is now. Anyway, here it is:



Saturday, June 30, 2007

Finished it, but not ready to wear it yet


I need to do some kind of modifications. It fits ok, but the drape is somewhat immodest for my taste. I could just tack it together where I'd like the drape to overlap and close, but I think it'll look weird. I'll have to play with it some more. I might try another one with some modifications. I'm thinking it would be very pretty in Glitterspun or something similar. Anyway, here are the other pictures. The 3/4 profile one is the only one that's even mildly attractive, but I thought I should post the back and front views in the interest of full disclosure. Enjoy!

Friday, June 29, 2007

Evening Coachella?

Hello, Everybody! So I decided to make an night-time going out type of Coachella. I don't know if this will really work, but this is a quick knit so we'll find out soon enough. It's always a little risky to go for the hand knits at a cool lounge, but we will see.

I swatched 3 yarns for this. The first was Louisa Harding Glisten. It, like the called-for yarn, is a 100% nylon tape/ribbon type yarn. The color is black with periodic black shiny bits. I really wanted to use this yarn for this top, I had just the right amount in my stash. But after swatching, I see that it is rather stiff and would not have good drape, and to get gauge (or anything above the ball recommended gauge) gives me open mesh that is see-through and looks like a fish net.

Then I tried Berroco Bonsai, which is a 97% bamboo 3% nylon yarn. The nylon is shiny and adds sparkle. If I had had this yarn in black or white or gold, I would have chosen it, but I had it in a sage type color and it's not really what I want for going out at night. I think I will make it again in this color and yarn for a day look. This yarn is very drapey and very suited to this pattern, I think.

I finally decided on using some Alchemy Synchronicity that I had in my stash, which is a single ply 50% silk 50% merino yarn. It will be warmer than the others, but that's not too much of a problem since it's for going out at night. It has a nice drape. The color is Pewter. I got this yarn at 66% off (otherwise, who can afford it?) and was sawing it for something else, but I guess I can manage to do the other thing with another stash yarn.

Also, for the neck roll part I held together a strand of Drops Glitter yarn, which is very fine at 10 grams giving over 700 yards. It is a metallic yarn that adds a little sparkle. I'm going to copy the modifications I saw in someone else's Coachella and do arm edging as well, and I will hold the sparkly yarn for that edging, too.

I started last night. Will it be done in time? I'm at the point where I'm about to rejoin the front and back.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

hi everybody!

hey all! i don't even have my yarn yet, but i too am aiming to be done in time for lollapalooza! i will hopefully be making a trip to the yarn store early next week to get officially started. right now i am thinking i might try to use wick, if i can track some down.

thats all for now!
annette

Monday, June 25, 2007

First Post!

Hi all! I'm very pleased to find this KAL. I've been working on Coachella since last thursday. Since I have been unable to find Berrocco products in my town. (indeed, according to the Berrocco website nobody in my town carries its products) I was forced to sub in a yarn. I had Mission Falls cotton in the stash, so off I went! I did the first try on as suggested in the pattern and it looked okay. Tried it on a little further along and at first view it seemed fine.

Looking a little closer, hmmm, might be hanging a bit strange around the bust.Turned sideways and oh boy, strange is not the word!I tugged a bit at it, thinking the cotton was just a bit more rigid than the suede would have been. Upon closer inspection, I think the bust shaping I added was a mistake. It's just too big. So I frogged it back past the shaping and am trying it without the bust shaping. Thank goodness this is a pretty quick knit!

Any thoughts?

Ciao

aloha!

greetings from hawai'i!
i too was thrilled to see this great design on knitty and had to cast on immediately. instead of the suede, i'm using a slubby cotton from suss -- one strand of pale gray and another of a pale mauve/pink. my progress was moving along nicely until i decided to whip up a market bag for a last-minute present. at last i'm getting back to coachella. one issue that confounded me a bit was when rejoining the upper back to the front (after making the armholes), is the marker denoting the beginning of the round on the right or the left of the back stitches? wasn't clear on that but i don't think it matters much.
camera was accidentally left at the party with the market bag so the posting of pictures will have to wait.
-michelle

Froggery!

I got to the point in the pattern where it's suggested I try it on and test the drape over my bust.

It was draping a little... low. Since my gauge is right, this is likely because I pretty much fall exactly between two sizes, and opted for the larger one. It's not terrible, but I'm going to try again with the smaller size.

Other than that, I love the look of the Mission Falls cotton with this pattern. Now to start again...

Friday, June 22, 2007

Designer on Coachella

The woman who designed Coachella, Emily/Fathom Harvill, has posted some notes about the design on her blog. Check it out!

Slow going

I've been a bad, non-posting knitalong creator!

I'm about halfway through knitting the front side of the garment. I have to say--this is a wonderfully quick knit. If I were to knuckle down and make this my only knitting project, I could probably finish it within a week.

However, I left this project at my apartment a few days ago, and haven't been back since. This is also why there aren't any pictures in this post (coming soon). AND I've been working on other stuff in addition to Coachella.

My solution? Well, this Sunday, my friend Elaina and I are staking out spots for friends at the Chicago Pride Parade. We're gonna be there from 8:30 or 9:00 am, and the parade won't start until noon or later. That'll be some quality time for (1) applying sunscreen over and over again and (2) knitting more on my Coachella. Pictures will probably follow after that marathon session.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Hi, I'm Rachel.

I went the cheap route and purchased Lion Brand Cotton-Ease for my Coachella. The color is Lake. My only concern is that it may be heavy and lack memory. I probably won't hesitate to throw it in the dryer. This is three and a half days' progress. I really didn't work on it all that much yesterday, and I have hardly worked on it at all today.I did try to get progress pics while wearing it, but let's just say they were NOT GOOD. It's very hard to take a picture of yourself. Or maybe I'm just self-photography impaired.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Just starting

...with this yarn http://www.yarndex.com/yarn.cfm?yarn_id=1907 in baby blue from my LYS. Once I petted it in the store, I knew that was the yarn I wanted for this, so shiny and silky. Just casting on since I was not careful and ended up twisted, but hopefully progress pics very soon.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Time to start a knit-a-long.

Do you want to knit Coachella from the new Knitty? Well, so do I. Let's get each other going. My goal is to wear Coachella to Lollapalooza this year... can I do it?

If you want to be involved, set yourself up in blogger (if you haven't already) and email me at leah bust com (or leave your email address in the comments, if you're feeling okay about the interwebs). I'll send you a contributor invitation, and you can start posting, too.

To celebrate the beginning of the Coachella singalong, here's a song from a headliner at the Coachella fest this year:

Bjork - Army of Me (m4a)