Sleeveless (for now)

Sorry it's been quiet over here lately. I had (a mild case of) not-swine flu last week, and didn't feel much like doing anything, so I didn't.

I'm looking forward to porting the blog over to a new hosting service once the thesis craziness is over (three weeks!). My computer got a virus a few months ago, and so we stopped using it as a web host. All of the pictures in the blog archives are broken now, and it's pushing me to make some bigger changes that I've been mulling over for a while. I'm looking forward to having time to work on doing some blog development this summer; it's in dire need of an update.

The biggest change will probably involve switching to Wordpress, which is especially exciting because Wordpress is much smarter about facilitating comment-answering. Right now, I have to log into a separate web service (Haloscan), find the comments section, click through to open an email window, and manually copy the comment text into the email body before I can respond. It's not a big deal, but there's usually some inertia to be overcome, especially when I've gotten behind (which I tend to do, because it's not fun to do all this clicking). It's just...clunky. From what I hear, Wordpress is much simpler to use, and I'm hoping that it will help me do a better job of keeping up with the comments. For now, know that I see them, appreciate them, and will eventually respond, probably long after you've forgotten what you were commenting on. =)

I didn't feel much like knitting when I was sick, and so there wasn't a lot of progress last week. This week, things are picking up a bit. I finished the back panel last night, and grafted the body of the lace shell together this evening:

Overall, the fit is really good, though it's a little bit overstretched at the bust. I think this will disappear with blocking. Since the rest of the lace will open up a bit, the extra stretch shouldn't be as noticeable. I'd definitely wear a camisole under this, but it's a pretty dense fabric. Someone more adventurous could easily get away without.

I didn't shape the back panel, except to increase and decrease a little bit around the sleeves. The front had a lot of internal shaping in the ribs, but the back section didn't need it (except at the hips).


Sorry for the dark pictures; I hadn't finished the shoulder grafts when the sun set. We'll take some better pictures when I have actually woven in the ends, which will happen after I decide what exactly to do about the sleeves.

I tend to wear things with sleeves more than tank tops, but I kind of like this as a tank top. Long sleeves are always my preference, but I don't have enough yarn to make them, and this was supposed to be a summery top. I was originally planning to make it short sleeved, but now I'm thinking that might make it seem too formal/dressy. What do you think?