Although you’ll have to forgive me for the poor focus in a few of these shots (I still haven’t worked out the kinks of self-portraits here at the new place), the Waterlily Top is now officially an FO:
Pattern: Waterlily Top by Katy Ryan, from the Spring 2006 issue of Interweave
Yarn: Colinette Giotto, 2.5-ish hanks, color “Sahara”
Time Elapsed: The knitting took about a week
Modifications/Notes: Since I’ve been wishing lately that Interweave would publish this particular fact, I will start by saying that I knit the 38.25″ size for .75″ of negative ease in the bust. I really think that with a yarn as light and insubstantial as a ribbon yarn, negative ease (in the bust, anyway) is crucial for a nice fit.
I made some big modifications to this pattern, and I think they resulted in a fairly flattering knit. First, I shortened the whole thing by about 3″: my finished version is around 15″ from hem to bust. (I’m fairly long-waisted.) Second, while I kept the ruffle at the bottom of the tank I entirely changed the shape of the piece. The original was empire waisted and had at least 4″ of positive ease to the waist and hips (for me) in the size I knit. I just knew I’d hate so much fabric floating unattractively around my middle, so I made the shape more conventional and gave myself around 1.5 inches of positive ease in the waist. I’m really glad I did this, and if I were to make the tank again I’d give myself even less room in the waist.
I alternated from the 3 balls of Giotto through the whole piece, and I’m also really glad I did that. There was some minor pooling around the hem, but surprisingly it doesn’t bother me so much.
If I were to knit this again, I’d make more changes. After all is said and done, I think the tank looks pretty good, but would look lots better if I had changed the bias direction on the top halves to bias out rather than in. They still seem a bit at cross-roads with the v-neck, to me.
(Whoops! Edited to add that the usual FO round-up is available, as well.)
All in all, though, I’m marking this one down as a successful knit. I don’t typically wear tanks but if we happen to get a warm day, I’ll definitely reach for this one.