Arisaig

Thank you so much to Webbo, Seahorse and Dreamcatcher for the warnings, advice and assistance over Arisaig.

I am in love with my swatch; the 1TB thinks the yarn is definitely addling my brain as I keep waving it at him going "look I made this". "Quite obviously" he thinks as he didn't do it and the cats can't hold knitting needles so it must have been the one that is trying to explain the household insulating properties of yarn. I should say that the crafting fever has got to even him though - he's currently making a latch hook rug for our friend's nephew - with Peter Rabbit on it!
My swatch is on gauge I think and I decided that I should be brave and not give up on this beauty at the first hurdle. As guided I searched Ysolda's blog and did some reading up generally on the web and I found that the main concerns centred around the arms not being scaled up in proportion for the larger sizes.

I borrowed a copy of the Ann Budd book to check the measurements and Arisaig fit with the set in sleeve measurements from there. My theory is that basically we choose a pattern size based on bust size, larger bust generally equals larger everything else but often not at the same rate. For the body of this pattern I should be a XL, for the arms an L. Now I'm quite happy to have a little extra around the arms at the top and I think I shall extend the deep ribbing from the body to the arm which should draw in the bottom a little. I shall also make the arms a little shorter as I have unusually short arms for my height - not quite as bad as T-rex but getting there :o) I think I will also knit the arms first and then I can double check that they won't look like batwings. This is going to be a real long term project but if I like it one tenth as much as the swatch it will be worth it - must read this post back over in six weeks when I'm wondering what ever possessed me!

This research on sizing has been such a useful exercise as it made me think much more about all the dimensions of a pattern. This is something I didn't look at with Flair and I have made much snugger fitting arms than they look on Wendy. I'm reserving judgement as to whether I will have to reknit them larger. As I grow in experience I hope I will become more confident in putting in adjustments and get perfect fitting garments.

Talking of she who should not be named I have sneaked up on her this week; I implemented a two row policy - two rows of Flair before I could knit anything else. Fingers crossed she may be done by the end of the weekend (that'll have cursed it!).