I’m making Belle (Ravelry link) by Cocoknits (designer’s site). The description from the designer begins:
Belle is a slouchy, sheer knit. She is actually a rectangle with waist and neck openings on opposite sides which causes the garment to bias when worn. This effect is deceptively easy to knit.
You will note the lack of words like ‘blouse’ or ‘sweater’. This knit goes beyond such mortal terms, producing an oversized, lightweight, drapey covering for the top half of one’s body. But no decent marketer is going to approve that text.
The ‘deceptively easy’ part is totally fair unless you do what I did, which is decide to make it in a completely different weight of yarn. I wanted to make Belle in the Tibetan Tweed I used for my Morvarch Shawl. It’s a 3 ply with a recommended needle size of 3.25mm. It’s quite far from the DK yarn Belle is designed for. I did not let this stop me. I possibly should have.
I more or less rolled the dice that following the largest size with 4mm needles (not the 5.5mm recommended, and the largest I thought would still give a nice fabric) would give me a garment I could wear. It seems to have worked to a degree, though the neckline is much tighter than the pattern picture.
I had reached the point of adding the first ‘cuff’, which is actually half a sleeve, and had to rip it out after making it far too tight. That was because I went down enough needle sizes to make the ribbing look neat. When I re-do it, I plan to hold the yarn double or maybe even triple? To give solidity and stability while keeping a bit of room to breathe. From my wrists.
The garment is a rectangle and your head and limbs pop out of it in unexpected places. Here’s where I’ve got to so far:
After the cuff/sleeve debacle, I wandered off piste and now I’m back to adding length. I had the correct length as measured but it isn’t sitting as I’d like – plus the yarn will potentially shrink – so I’m building in extra inches. When I tell you that it’s a long haul, believe me. I had the same experience making Morvarch, feeling as though I’d bought magical yarn that you could knit for hours and never gain any length…
Listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen with this item. It could be spectacular, or it could just be a spectacle. I will keep you informed – but it’s probably gonna take a while.
The Crafty Yarnster 