Miette 11: The next part!

How are all the Miette KAL knitters out there doing?  I think some of you are making quite a bit of progress, so I figured I'd better get going and work out some of the next steps to show you!

If you recall, after I tried on my sweater, I decided I wanted to deepen the raglan a little bit.  I put my stitches back on the needle, and worked four extra rows with no raglan increases, to give me about an extra half inch on either side of the armhole, for a total of one extra inch under my arm.

However, doing so threw off the vertical lace pattern that goes down the front.  So for my extra four rows,  I had to follow the lace pattern from my charts for the first and last six stitches of every right side row.  Here's how these four rows worked out for me, doing the medium size:

Row 47:  instead of removing the sleeves, I purled across
Row 48:  I worked this row as written, noting that it corresponds to row 2 of my charts
Row 49:  purl across
Row 50:  I worked the first and last 6 stitches according to row 3 of the charts, and knit all other stitches
Row 51:  I removed the sleeves as written in the pattern for row 48

To remove the stitches on to yarn, just thread some
contrasting yarn onto a needle, and slip the sleeve
stitches onto it, tying the ends together once all the
stitches have been removed.

From there, I moved on to the Body section of the pattern.  This section starts with Row 50 for all sizes, but remember - I added 4 rows.  So from here on out, I had to work the first and last 6 stitches of every right side row according to the charts.  I had already worked rows 2 and 3 as above, so on my first row of the body, I started with row 4.  I found it easiest to place markers to keep these six stitches separate from the rest of the work:

And also to have all my notes written on the sides of my charts.  

I've mentioned before that I like to use a sticky note
to keep track of what row I'm on.  I also clipped my
two charts together, because it was easier for me to
have everything on one piece of paper right in
front of me.

All sizes work 5 rows even before beginning the decreases for the bust darts.  I had decided I didn't want the bust darts though - I want my sweater to be flat on the front (like me!).  So I chose to move my decreases to the side "seams."  (Really, there are no seams, but you know what I mean!)  I counted the total number of stitches decreased for my size - 28 stitches, decreasing four stitches per row six times, and two stitches on the final decrease row.   So that is 7 rows of decreases.  I decided I wanted them spaced out with decreases every four rows, with the first decrease occurring on row 56.  So I made myself a list of the rows on which the decreases occurred in pencil on the side of my charts (rows 56, 60, 64, 68, 72, 76 and 80) and kept track with my "Katcha Katcha" counter.

Here's how my decreases looked after they were done:

I worked my decreases like this:

(RS) pattern 6 stitches from chart, (knit to 3 stitches before underarm marker, ssk, k1, sm, k1, k2tog) twice, knit to last 6 stitches, pattern 6 stitches from chart.

The decreases on row 80 were only worked on the back, because I only needed to decrease 2 stitches in that row.  

It's important to keep the stitch counts in line with the pattern, because there's another bit of lace at the bottom, before the rib.  That bit of lace starts with row 82 in the pattern.  But remember, my lace pattern is off now!  So I had to keep working straight until my work matches with row 82 (which corresponds to row 6 on the chart).  I worked to the end of the chart (row 12 + 1 purl row) because I was on row 8.  This also gave me the extra bit of length in the body that I wanted.

Why is it important to get to the place where your next row will be row 6 on the chart?  Because Andi has made the vertical and horizontal lace patterns meet in a very nice way, but it relies on being at the correct row vertically:

See how the lace rounds the corner?

I've actually finished my body now, and I did a couple of changes to the bottom as well.  The pattern has you do a knit row on row 89, which gives a garter ridge before the ribbing.  I wasn't so crazy about that look, so I purled back.  I also did plain k2, p2 rib rather than the K2tbl rib that Andi used, because I prefer the look of it.

I hope this wasn't too much to throw at you guys!  As always, I'm happy to clarify anything that didn't make sense!