Fit To Be Tied: A Knitting Saga, Part III, Zarah Recap

Well, it's 2009--a whole new year. The Christmas projects are mostly done. Only the the Kinetic scarf remains to be finished. I should have it done before my brother's birthday. (Yeesh!) I am on the last ball of yarn, but it has reached the interminable stage even though I have knit on nothing else since Christmas. I am really ready mentally to work on something, anything else.

Still, I am nearing the end and trying not to get sidetracked too badly from my NY Knitting Resolutions, although distraction is already starting to occur in the form of upcoming birthday projects and some small projects that I actually have stash for (specifically Noro Cotton Iroha for Clapotis and Tahki Donegal or Cum Matt Cowhair yarn for the Formal Boot Bag).

But I digress. This is supposed to be a post about Zarah. Zarah has lain untouched in my knitting basket since late Summer/ early Fall when I started the Modern Quilt Wrap. This is where Zarah stands: the fronts and the back are done and I am happy with them. The collar and sleeves are done and I am NOT happy with them. The sleeves are too narrow and the proportion seems off. The collar looks slightly too short.

This is the current recap of how much I have knit and reknit on this puppy:

1) the back was knit a total of 2.5 times before I was happy with it.
2) the fronts were knit 1.75 times each.
3) the collar has been knitted 2 times already and it is still not right.
4) the sleeves have been knit 1 time each and are not right.


Here is pic of the current state of the bodice. The black lines are scrap yarn placed over the bust darts so they will show up in the picture. In real life, they are quite unobtrusive.







So here is what is on the agenda: I need to check the sleeve size, recalculate and reknit them both. The pattern for the collar has it as onle long, straight piece, but really it needs to be knit in a slightly horseshoe fashion with some decreases to get it to lie correctly and not bunch up. So, I will try to make some sleeve calcs this week and start up by next weekend. I want to schedule a down day where all I do is knit. (my Eveready Bunny husband is not good with just 'sitting around', so I need to negotiate some me time with him.) The upshot is that I have to have Zarah done by the end of January. I also have some brithday projects to do, one easy hat due by early February maybe not so easy socks due by the end of March. Maybe a couple more, if I can squeeze them in. All these little things early in the year. Argh.