Diotima Shell

After more than a few frogs (read the pattern, woman), I’ve finished my Diotima Shell by Kirsten Hipsky. The pattern is pretty interesting for such a simple looking top. You cast under what will become the armpits, knit for a few inches, then bind off the middle stitches for a neck opening. You then cast on the same amount of stitches that you bound off on the next round, knit until the the two halves are the same length, then switch to circulars and knit in the round until it’s as long as you want it.

The pattern tells you to knit a certain amount of rows rather than inches, which isn’t ideal because in order for the top to fit the way the pattern is written, you need to have the exact same row gauge as well as stitch gauge. Stitch gauge is pretty easy to match, but row gauge is much harder, and you would pretty much have to use the same yarn and needle size as the designer. Seeing as I hardly ever end up doing that, I measured the distance between where I wanted the armhole to hit to the top of my shoulders, and knit for that length instead. I also knit a sideways ending instead of binding off in rib. That way, the edge was as stretchy as possible.

Hipsky seems to have retired the pattern and replaced it with the Hypatia Shell. Hypatia seems like it fits differently, and looking at the Webs description it is knit from the bottom up instead of the over-the-shoulder construction of Diotima.