"Beyonce" Structured Tee - Finished!

I actually finished this up this past weekend, but it took forever to dry.  It fits me even better than it fits my dress maker dummy.  This one has only been languishing for 5 months.  It was one of those purchases I made at elann.com.  You can get yarn at really low prices there so I have to watch the impulse buys.  I try to restrict myself to only buying yarn with a pattern so I am not just adding to my stash, I am getting a complete project.  Now I just have to make all those projects.

Pattern:  "Beyonce" Structured Tee - S. Charles Collezione, by Mary Lynn Patrick
Yarn:  S. Charles Collezione Nepal
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

"Beyonce" Structured Tee - Assembly Done

This morning I redid the shoulders with short row shaping and did the three needle bind off to join them.  Then I did the armhole edging, which consisted of picking up stitches and then immediately binding them off again knitwise.  This yields a purled edging next to a single column of knit stitches.  I have seen a number of projects where multiple rows were knit or purled before the bind off, resulting in a rolled armhole edging, similar to what is called for with neck edging.  Seaming would have been easier if I had thought to keep a knit two edging on the bodice.  This would also have continued the knit edging on the corset and provided a more finished look, but I am not going to rip back and redo this.  Maybe if I make another.  Now all I have to do is pick up the stitches for the peplum, and then do the neck edging and it will be finished.

Pattern:  "Beyonce" Structured Tee - S. Charles Collezione
Yarn:  S. Charles Collezione Nepal
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

"Beyonce" Structured Tee - Front Done

I finished the front up last night.  It really didn't take long, and it didn't use near as much yarn as I thought it would.  I was actually a little nervous about running out of yarn after finishing up the back, but that scoop neck really cuts down on the yarn usage.  The front is not dry yet, so no more progress on this until the weekend (at the earliest), because tomorrow Clue 4 of Treasure Island comes out!

I have decided to undo the shoulders and redo them with short row shaping so I can do a three needle bind off to join them, but that should be easy - only 16 stitches per shoulder.  I took a picture of the back pinned to my dress maker dummy so you can see how va-va-va-voom this top is going to be when finished.

Pattern:  "Beyonce" Structured Tee - S. Charles Collezione
Yarn:  S. Charles Collezione Nepal
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

"Beyonce" Structured Tee - Back Done

I picked this project up again last night.  I'm not sure why I haven't felt motivated to work on it, but last night I wanted something simple, and I wanted something that I could make noticeable progress on, a work in progress that I could finish fairly quickly.  I had put it down just after I started the armhole shaping.  I got most of the rest of it done last night and then finished it up this afternoon.  I ended up staying home from work today with the remains of a lingering migraine that has been dogging me for the last week.  This was just about all the mental energy that I could manage today.  I didn't even do short rows for the shoulder and neck shaping, which is something that I would ordinarily do, my brain just wasn't up for it today.  I am a little perturbed at how obvious the rowing is on the top part of the bodice.  The bottom part is in stockinette, but the top part is in reverse stockinette and the purl ridges really accentuate the rowing.  Hopefully once it dries and is worn once or twice things will stretch out and even up some.  The yarn is 100% cotton so it doesn't have the give and memory that wool has, so things just stand out.  You can also really see where the decreases are, too.

Pattern:  "Beyonce" Structured Tee - S. Charles Collezione
Yarn:  S. Charles Collezione Nepal
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Beyonce Structured Tee - 2 Corsets Done

Both corsets are done and blocking.  Unfortunately that means I am at a standstill on this project until they dry as the next step is picking up stitches for the bodices.  I actually had to reknit the first corset because I had messed up on the central spine.  It is one stitch over - if you look at the previous post you may be able to spot the asymmetry, despite the poor quality of the photo (taken at night with flash).  I raveled that piece and the yarn is currently drying so I can reuse it if I need to.

Project:  Beyonce Structured Tee from S. Charles Collezione
Yarn:  Nepal from S. Charles Collezione
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Beyonce Structured Tee - 1 Corset Done

Having finished the knitting on my Draped Vest (I'll finish assembly tonight) and knowing that I had a long telecon today I knew that I needed to find another easy knitting project to cast on, and quickly.  A while ago I actually organized and cataloged my stash, but of course, my stash kept growing, and my storage bins did not so the overflow has been accumulating in random piles, mostly localized, but with some distributed around the house.  Of course, one can only carry on this way for a finite time because yarn is not infinitely compressible and I am not yet allowed to take over the other bedrooms upstairs (kids in college but they do visit from time to time - okay, I did take over the spare bedroom for blocking and storing finished projects in, but it wasn't as if we had actually turned it into a spare bedroom) so in addition to finishing up my unfinished projects I have also resolved to work through the random piles of yarn. This project happened to be very near at hand, and looked to be pretty quick and easy, so I grabbed a ball of the yarn and some needles and started knitting a gauge swatch.  I finished my first gauge swatch, knit on US 5 (3.75 mm) needles and knit a second one on US 4 (3.5 mm) needles on my way uptown for a meeting yesterday (no, I was not driving).  I blocked the swatches after I got home and last night I started on the first piece.

This is a sleeveless top that is knit in 5 pieces, front and back corset waists, front and back bodices and a peplum.  The pattern is from S. Charles Collezione and is knit in S. Charles Collezione Nepal a 100% cotton yarn.  I bought the yarn from elann.com on sale and got the pattern for free with the yarn.  When I buy yarn I do try to only buy it if I have a project in mind, and then I try to put the pattern with the yarn, or a note with the name of the pattern with the yarn so I don't forget what I was going to knit with it.  For a while this yarn was in a bag without the pattern and I couldn't remember what I was going to knit with it, but when I was going through one of my pattern notebooks doing some organizing I spotted the pattern, which I had printed out and put in a page protector, so I took it out of the notebook and slid it into the bag with the yarn.  Ever since then the yarn has been quietly whispering my name.  Maybe it is the hot pink color, or the fun construction, or the fact that it has been sitting in a project bag literally at my feet for months, who knows, and frankly, who cares.

Project:  Beyonce Structured Tee from S. Charles Collezione
Yarn:  Nepal from S. Charles Collezione
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)