One shoulder tunic

I finished the first of my stagnating projects. This one-shouldered tunic is splendidly simple, which, of course, means that it was very complicated to figure out.


Here are the basic details: knit from the bottom up, with a turned hem, straight middle, and angled, mirrored front and back. It's knit in just over 2 skeins of Farmhouse Yarn's kettle-dyed bamboo on size 5 needles. The angled top is made by binding off 2 stitches at the beginning of each row, finished off with 2 rows of double crochet.

It grew nearly 2 inches in length and an inch in width with blocking, unexpectedly transforming it from a tight top into a flowing tunic. It's lovely and very easy to wear. I wore it today, in fact, when we went to visit the amazing Earthships just outside of Taos. And, awesomely, I wasn't the strangest-looking person there.


So, that pattern synopsis sounds simple enough, but it took me a long time to get it all figured out. I finished the main body by April or May. I knit up the front top with what I thought would be a clever, self-finishing method: turning the outer 3 stitches into I-cord and doing the decreases as K2tog next to I-cord. But this made for a tight and inelastic edge that pulled the fabric weirdly. I was so frustrated that I just put the project down for a month or two.

When I picked the project last week, I quickly figured out that I needed to decrease by binding off stitches at the edge. But it took me 8 painful tries before I got it all done with the right angle, needle size, gauge, and dyelot (unfortunately, my third skein was drastically different from the first two, so I needed to knit every last inch of those before adding in the third skein). I was so relieved to have it finished. And I'm so pleased with the (ultimately) simple formula that I plan to make another one soon and then write up the pattern for the blog.

On another note, I've gotten requests for "more Isis." Here she is, looking regal and serious against a backdrop of sage and mountains. It's ridiculous how much I love this beast.