Hello Silver Belle

Silver Belle is finished and I have already enjoyed wearing it three times! My next garment will be knit in a size small as I continue to have sizing issues and this piece (like others) is a bit large. In any case, I do love Silver Belle and enjoyed the journey.

For more details look here and check out knittingdivagirl at Ravelry.

Progress

I've completed one sleeve/front combo and am almost finished the 2nd one. Things are going quite smoothly now, and the pattern has become 2nd nature to me. As I mentioned before, I'm making the sleeves size small, but the body size large. I folded the sleeves in half and tried them on to ensure that they'd fit, and they're perfect. I increased as it said for the sleeves, every eight rows. Then, when I got to the part where I have to add stitches to begin knitting the front, I simply increased so that I had sufficient stitches for the large size (evenly dividing the increase stitches on both sides). I think it's going to work, but you never know, until all is said and done!

More info at my blog here

Casting on... here's the plan

I've swatched, gotten gauge with size 7s, and am ready to cast on. I'll need to make some mods, more than I've done for any other sweaters I've made, so I'm a bit nervous. I'm mostly concerned about having a torso long enough to accommodate my bust, so I've been reading this KAL as well as people's project notes on Ravelry, and here's what I've come up with. Please let me know if you see anything I might need to change.

* Knit the peplum in small and lengthen it
* Make the sleeves in small, narrower and longer (I'm unsure how to do this part, but I know I want thinner sleeves that will end closer to the armpit -- advice welcome!)
* Lengthen the torso, in size medium, to accommodate the bust (maybe CO an extra 10 or so stitches on each end, or more to compensate for narrower sleeves -- any thoughts here?)
* Put top of peplum on stitch holder instead of binding off, to do a three-needle BO to attach the torso
* Change the collar (applied i-cord or cable, like ladysmithknitter's and LilySmuul's Silver Belles)

Thanks so much!

Getting Started ...

Well, after a couple of false starts, I'm finally getting the hang of it and have about 8" done on my first sleeve. I love the challenge and complexity of the pattern and the fact that it stretches me beyond the fairly simple cabling I've done thus far. The Jaeger yarn is a dream to work with, as well as very easy on the wallet ... I highly recommend it! I wanted the sleeves to be less baggy than shown in the pattern, so I cast on for size small, with increases every 10 rows, but will actually end up knitting a size large, to accommodate 'the girls' and my behind. More info at my blog here.

New Member

Hi everyone,

Thanks for inviting me to participate in your KAL! As you can see, I've already got my yarn all set to go. It's the Jaeger Extra Fine Merino in 'Blue Star', which was one of my Christmas presents to myself and just arrived this week in the mail! I have 20 balls, so if I decide to lengthen it, or have any problems??, I'll at least have sufficient wool.

As some of you suggested, I'm in the process of writing out the pattern, firstly because my printer is doing strange things to the pattern, but secondly, I want to make sure I'm understanding it all. I've been writing out the charts from the online pattern, as my printer isn't picking up a lot of important details ... :P*****!! I was going along fine until I reached panels B & E (I saved the long ones 'til last!) and I tried to determine the difference between 4-stRC/LC and 4-st RPC/LPC. For the life of me, when I look at the pattern on the computer, I can't tell the difference on the charts between them ... the icons all look identical. (And yes, I am wearing my glasses, which was my husband's first response).

Could someone help me out by perhaps either telling me which panels have which cables, or better yet, if you happen to have it already typed out and are willing to share, would you kindly leave me a comment on my blog here, with your email address and I'll send you mine. I'll make it worth your while :)

**Update December 21st ... all is well! I tried the super, duper printer at work and everything printed off perfectly this time, so I'm good to go! **

Brown belle

I am so in love with my belle. I finished it over a week ago after knitting all but the sleeves twice because the bust was too small on the small size. I finally made a small peplum with a medium yoke and made it to fit me. I have more details of the modifications on my blog


p.s. I will be wearing this sweater a lot!

Ready to cast on

I got my yarn (Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in dark teal) from Webs and am itching to cast on. But I must finish the holiday gifts first!



I've noticed that many people have extended the peplum, which I intend to do as well. But being a "busty" gal, I'm more concerned about the top fitting. I'll do three buttons, as I've read about here, but would you suggest any other mods? I'm thinking of doing the sleeves using the size S instructions and the front and back with the size M, though I haven't looked closely enough to see whether that's possible.

Thanks for any advice you have! All of your Silver Belles have been so inspiring!

Slow Start on Silver Belle

My Silver Belle was started on November 1st, and I have only completed 4 inches at this time. I have set a goal to knit at least 8" this week, now that should get me on track and moving on this project (I do plan to add 2" to the peplum).


My cables are looking a bit open to me so I think I may need to tighten up on my stitches. It was love at first site when I was Silver Belle and would be such a disappointment to complete it and not be madly in love with it.

Error

I have been happily knitting away since I returned from London & suddenly realized that I've made an error. I'm going to have to undo like 8 rows! I'm not happy.

BUT, looking closer at other's photos, my cables are not the same as others. I do not have a lot of experience knitting cables but I do know how to do them & I do know how to read the patterns for them so I'm not sure if I've done something wrong or if others have decided to do their cables differently.

I'm referring to the Panel B cables. My cables look like they are twisted. I actually love the look of it & was very happy with it. Unfortunately I was not reading the pattern correctly for the last 8 rows & for 3-st LPC I was only cabling one stitch instead of 2 stitches. Therefore I have to undo the last 8 rows :(



But why do my cables look different to everyone else's, i.e. twisted, not smooth like the Panel C cables? Have I totally screwed up the whole thing? I'm going to keep doing it because I like it but just thought I would ask to see if anyone could explain why my cables look different. Thanks.

Silver Belle Look-a-like

I'm home from my trip, for a few days before heading off to Shanghai. Didn't get as much done on the planes as I was hoping because flying through Europe, they don't allow knitting needles! I had to check-in my carry on so that they wouldn't take them away from me!

My next trip I should be able to continue knitting, thank goodness. My knitting is looking good. I have almost finished the bottom peplum and I have half a sleeve.

Anyway, I was looking through the newspaper ads & noticed that Kohls is having a sale & right on the front cover is a cardigan that is definitely a ready-to-wear version of the Silver Belle! It has the 3 buttons though instead of the 2. I may have to go to Kohls just to check it out a little closer.

Of course, the knitted Silver Belle is the most beautiful as it has lots of texture but I thought it was interesting. Obvioiusly this is the thing to have for the upcoming winter season!