And I love it! It's knit from a handspun, rosemary-dyed silk yarn from Avril in Japan, with a cottony texture that suggests tussah or muga rather bombyx silk.
The construction is based on the One-Shoulder Tunic in Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop. Her pattern used ribbon tape on a size 13 needle; I was using a much lighter yarn on size 5 needles, so I had to change the pattern considerably to adjust to my gauge.
In addition, I added a few inches of crochet to the bottom to keep it from curling, and a few rows of crochet to widen the strap and stabilize the top edge (I might even go back and add a few more rows in the future). I could've added waist shaping, but because it already had some negative ease I didn't think it was necessary.
Martha Graham was my high-brow cultural reference for this project. I have a low-brow reference as well. Do you remember the song that never ends? Back when I was a kid, singing that song was a sure-fire way to be annoying. Similarly, it made for an annoying theme as I knitted this top: "This is the knit that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends. I guess I started knitting it not knowing what it was, and I'll continue knitting it forever just because..."
It took me forever to make this, because I was working with a yarn that was an unknown (and stretched a bit) and because the strap fitting was a bit tricky. I had to do the strap and top inch three times, at 2 hours each. I had to do the bottom crochet three times, at 2 hours each. It became a joke at my weekly knitting night that I was still endlessly working on it. But all's well that ends well!
*I love modern dance and took Graham classes for years, so this was the first thing I thought of when I put on this tunic.
8 comments:
Looks great! I love the color!
so beautiful. i tend to think of one-shouldered get-ups as a tad ice capades but this is gorgeously regal. nice work!
alisa
Very nice. I'm impressed you didn't just run out of patience and make it a tube top--forget the strap! Definitely all's well that ends well. Modern dance? You are full of artistic surprises! Kim
P.S. Sorry I deleted a previous comment, in case you noticed. It was only because I posted it before I realized I was signed in under my husband's name. I thought I should change it to me instead :) .
The tunic looks beautiful on you. It's an absolute perfect fit and the color is very flattering.
I like the detail of the crochet hem. And the strap is lovely!
This is lovely. I too love modern dance, even though my mom force-fed it to me in the 70's.
You look so wonderful in your top.
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