OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: Karma Tank by Wendy Bernard, from Custom Knits
• Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel, color #9366, Malachite, 4.25 balls
• Needles/Size Gauge: US 6 for 5.5 spi in st st, 32″ chest (2″ neg ease)
• Time to knit: Just shy of 2 weeks in May 2009

Here’s my Karma, for the SKC’s 2nd quarter knitalong.  It’s cool, comfortable and a most lovely shade of green; I could wear green every day.  The yarn is from Webs’ annual sale- the second phase (May).  I ordered from the Webs sale, um, several times, and have been exceedingly pleased with all the yarn.  

Pattern mods were numerous to obtain my “custom size”.  First I didn’t like the yarn knit at 5 spi, I went down a needle size to get 5.5 spi.  My row gauge, especially in the herringbone patt, was terribly compressed.  I cast on the size S and followed the directions, more or less.  I knit 11 rep of the herringbone patt, which reached 9″ at my gauge.  I increased 11 stitches for the bust, the idea was to have a 32″ chest (2″ neg ease).  I did six short rows, after comparing my bust height at underarm to bust height at front (1″ difference, 6 rows= a bit under 1″).  I stopped the stockinette a bit sooner than the pattern, as I wanted a fairly low neck.  To obtain an open, lacy look in the herringbone patt, I did all my M1s without twisting.  Hey, summertime in DC is hot, ventilation is key, and I figured I’d dial up the s*xy factor a bit!

The yarn was lovely, soft like silk, and I used only about 450 yds.  I think the yarn requirements in the pattern are significantly overstated.  I was pleasantly suprised to find that, despite the saturated color, there was no dye runoff after soaking.  My only complaint is that the yarn had no resilence and my short rows looked kind of bad, only on the left side of the bust.  I wrapped all the stitches (and picked up the wraps) consistently, so I don’t understand what was going on there.   I suspect it had something to do with working in the round, bah, I much prefer knitting garments flat!

Last summer I knit several tops that were work-appropriate.  This little top is decidely not and I find myself drawn to bare, lacy tanks this summer, so expect more of the same!