I finished my Drops Design Erica Lace Top last Sunday for the Very Shannon #TTTKAL. It's taken me a few days to post because I'm not sure how I feel about it. As I mentioned in my previous post, I went down a needle size to get gauge, and that, in combination with using a linen/cotton blend yarn, meant that my lace work didn't open up as much as the sample in the Drops pattern. I still like my finished lace top, I just don't love it.
So I may keep this top, or I may frog it to knit something else. I'm not sure yet, but in the meantime I do have some notes to share for this pattern:
1. I've already posted some general tips for knitting Drops Design patterns. This particular pattern may seem daunting due to the number of charts involved. But if you want to knit this top, you just need to buckle down for the journey and trust that you won't be asked to do more than you can handle at any one time.
2. Through most of the pattern, you are working 3 to 4 charts all at the same time. I find it helpful to put a post-it sticker on each chart to mark the row I'm working on. Then I just move the post-it up as I knit the chart. Most people don't seem to think of this, but it's the easiest way to keep track of your place on the chart.
And although the pattern doesn't call for this, I placed stitch markers between each change of pattern/chart as I knit across a row. This was an easy way to know where you are when working.
3. Although there are a lot of charts with this pattern, A.2A, A.2B and A3 stay constant and are pretty easy to memorize, so you only need to focus on the chart for the center stitches.
4. That said, I still used a post-it note on both charts for A.2A and A.2B to keep track of where I was so I didn't zone out and do the same stitch pattern on both sides.
5. I'd also suggest that you keep notes on which rows you do your side decreases on, so you can do them in the same place on the second piece.
6. I only did a few very minor modifications to this top:
- On the 2nd and 3rd repeats of Chart A.1, I did the 4 st decrease on row 11 instead of row 13 so that my k2togs would be completely hidden in the garter stitch.
- When I knit what I considered my front piece, and I was working my last repeat of Chart A.1, I omitted the first 4 rows of garter stitch to make the front neckline just a little lower than the back. I compensated for the difference in length by knitting my front straps a little longer by 4 rows to match the back piece.
- Small thing, but when I was seaming the front and the back together, I left about a 2 inch vent at the hem on both sides (which you can't see in the photos). I just liked it better that way.
7. If you run into any problems understanding the Drops Design patterns, which can be quite brief, you can always look at the other finished projects on Ravelry. There are some great finished projects and photos posted there.
8. And the fun/annoying thing about this pattern is that once you get through knitting the front piece, you get to do it all over again for the back piece :) Actually, if you don't want to go through knitting all the charts again, you could knit another gauge swatch and do the math to knit the back in just Stst. Just as an option.
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