Up to my neck
I have good news and I have bad news. Bad news first: you’re stuck with me this week because Sarah is taking a little well-earned vacation from the blog. What? Yes, you can be excused to go mix yourself a cocktail. Even if it is 9 a.m. where you are.
The good news is that I’ve planned an exciting week for us, full of fun and hi-jinks! Or some reasonable facsimile thereof. Hold onto your proverbial hats! Or pull up your socks. (Hmm. A particular set of thematic resonances has caused the phrase, “It’s too late to save your shoes,” to pop to mind, but I feel almost certain that it has no place here. Ahem.)
Time out of mind is progressing nicely:
Yessir, that’s my baby!
He’s even pretty when you get really close to him, which is more than can be said for most people:
No sir, don’t mean maybe!
While Icarus was my irrepressible bad boy, Time is turning out to be meditative and laid back and mellow. I found him hanging out with my Om necklace the other day, in fact.
Om shanti shanti shanti…
While Time is off in the other room chanting in Sanskrit, let’s talk. I would like to solicit your opinions, if I may. Certain design decisions regarding Time have…how to put this delicately?…not been made. Yes, it’s true. I swatched, I made a few calculations, I cast on, and I cast off! For unknown realms!
Here be dragons: I have not made any final decision about Time’s neckline. And although it may be somewhat ethically questionable to make such a momentous decision behind his back, especially given that it will have such a huge impact on his life and his sense of style and, possibly, his yoga practice, I’m afraid Time’s failure to speak out on the subject has left the matter entirely in my hands.
And now yours. I initially thought a turtleneck would be nice, until I realized that I was working with Malabrigo. You make a turtleneck outta Malabrigo, you make a sweater that—given the current pace of global warming—will be literally unwearable anywhere on this planet within eight years. An inconvenient truth.
The current thinking (and I should add here that this reflects the collected wit and wisdom of a quartet of Woolcott employees: me, the remarkable Kat, the delightful Kerry, and the incomparable Sean) favors a modification of my original, sweltering, nightmarish vision: a funnel-neck (or mock turtleneck) with cable continuity.
But there are other possibilities, of course. And admittedly, we were all hopped up on Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and chocolate chip muffins when we last discussed this, and knitters will say anything after you get a couple of chocolate chip muffins in them. In fact, some attorneys consider knitters no longer capable of giving informed consent under extreme conditions of “muffin inebriation.” Coffee does not ameliorate the impairment, contrary to popular belief.
So about that neckline. What say you all?
January 15th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Unfortunately regardless of the neckline it will be stinking hot. I just want you to be prepared. Beautiful, yes, wearable indoors, no. Well, that’s how mine is anyway. So I would ditch the funnelneck and do something lower — you’ll need some neck exposed. Here’s my lace leaf pullover out of malabrigo: http://slightlyobsessed.blogspot.com/2006/12/ta-da.html Even with lacework up the sleeve it’s still hot and I’m in Cleveland.
It looks wonderful BTW.
January 16th, 2007 at 1:13 am
Hmmm. If there was ribbing on the bottom, I’d suggest a v-neck with ribbing to match… but since there isn’t… hmmm. Boatneck maybe? Slightly rounded boatneck, to allow a little more airflow? Also, it has been way too long since I had a chocolate chip muffin. This must be remedied ASAP.
January 16th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Hmm. I think Melinda’s right on the funnel/mock turtleneck; that strikes me as just as hot as a turtleneck. Branching off from Joanna’s first thought, however…
With no ribbing at the bottom, how about a V-neck with cable edging? It looks like one of the cables goes right up the middle – split it at the point of the V-neck and modify the cable to a simpler, narrow one forming the edges of the neckline. To get a match on the back neckline, this would involve an extension strip of cabling on either side at the top, which you’d have to sew to the cast-off neck edge in back… but that can be done. Talk to Sarah, she probably remembers the Ample Knitters list KAL of the Cabled Tee Sweater: http://www.ample-knitters.com/cabletee.html
The Cabled Tee uses this method for the single cable on the Tee that ran up the front and around the neck. It came out looking mighty snazzy – there’s a link to the gallery of finished Cabled Tee’s at the page above. The pattern’s free and download links are on that page, too. You could read through it and see how the neck shaping was modified to incorporate a cabled neck edging if you ran into trouble fudging it on your own.
Other than that, my only idea is a plain round neckline, with a simple single-crochet edging, no ribbing or anything whatsoever. It wouldn’t detract from the impact of the cables, and you could adjust the neckline as low/high as you needed for comfort.
January 16th, 2007 at 8:54 am
I stand before my under-the-influence suggestion. I wouldn’t even call it a mock t-neck because that’s close fitting. I vote for a wide funnel neck, only about 2″ high. Let’s some heat out, you know?
2¢ given.
January 16th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Only 8:21 here. I guess it’s too early for that cocktail. I vote no to the t-neck, funnel-neck, anything covering your neck. I find that those wide open funnel-y necklines aren’t very complimentary, especially when said neck is made of fabric that induces serious sweating. I think a v-neck would be ideal if it works with the cables.
January 16th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I’m the last person to be giving design advice, but how about something rounded that matches the flow of the cable? I think that would be flattering and not apt to overheat. And it doesn’t have to be a long-sleeve sweater; it could be a vest or a sleeveless/short-sleeve.
Check out some of Bonne Marie Burn’s necklines. She has some that are a little more open/lower/darn cute. Might be good inspiration.
January 17th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I have no opinion on the neckline, but I am certainly glad to be reading your blog. You’re a hoot!
January 17th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I don’t want to start a firestorm among the mock-neck wearers of the world but . . . um . . . mock-necks? Why? I think some people can get away with wearing them but I don’t think they make anyone look their best. Me? Put a mock-neck on me and little forest creatures start trying to lay their charming cartoon tea sets out on my head. Why? Becuase mock-necks make my neck look like a big old stump. That’s why.
I don’t know enough about knitting to know what to suggest instead of the mock, I’m just beseeching you to step away from the mock.
January 17th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
One more thing – gracefully curved necklines look good on almost everyone (not that our esteemed and beautiful Ellen needs to fall back on “stuff that anyone can wear”). How about a low v-neck or a ballet neck? I have no idea how to knit such a thing, but I know what looks good.