A Battleship Saga

Oh hey, remember how I was knitting a top? Yeah, that seems like forever ago. Battleship and I had a few setbacks along the way, but he's finally ready now and I love him so hard. (Please tell me you all gender your knits, too. I feel like most of the time I default to female, but Battleship is definitely a he.)

To refresh your memory, Battleship and I had a bit of a rocky start to our relationship. I didn't check gauge, and we had to start over from Point A again. After that, things went pretty well, except I was playing chicken with my yarn (Pro Tip: discontinued yarn gotten from a swap might not be the best choice for a yardage-risky project such as, say, a heavily modified blouse). I forged on, knitting to the end of my yarn, bound off, blocked it, and realized that recovering from skin surgery meant I couldn't wear pretty new shirts for a while.

So he sat, sadly, in my bedroom for a few weeks. Once my back was all healed, I tried him on quick, and was so unimpressed. He made me look a little barrel-shaped. Like a dumpy, short-torsoed barrel. If you have any hesitations about the importance of necklines, let this serve you. That neckline is not flattering on me. To reinforce the neckline, I'd picked up stitches all around the neck, knit one round, and then bound off. It certainly made it stronger, but it tightened up the neckline so much that it seriously compromised the drape of the fabric-and the drape was what I really wanted. So I picked out the reinforcing rounds, gave Battleship another bath to coax all the picked-up stitches back into place, and tried again.

Ah. Well, that certainly won't do. At this point I was starting to get nervous-with the neckline undone, the length of the top was perfect, you can see the curve of my underbust and waist, and the way the skirt of the top skims my lower belly is incredibly flattering. The neckline is a little, er, low, however. I'm not really anti-bosom-but that is an awful lot of bosom going on up there. And you know how I always say clothes ought to first and foremost be comfortable? Having a particularly acrobatic breast escape the confines of one's bodice is not comfortable.

I couldn't give up. So...I turned the tank around and tried it on backwards.

Guys, I love Battleship so much. Look at that new neckline! And it scoops so elegantly in back! And it's the length I like! Oh my goodness, he's just absolutely perfect, and I'm so glad I put him on backwards before just throwing him in a bin to forget about. I'm having so much fun coming up with different ways of incorporating this top into my wardrobe, and while I was nervous about the color during the knitting, I am so pleased with how it looks on me. Me and my Battleship-we had our issues getting here, but I think we're pretty good from here on out.

Ravelry Page: Battelship

Pattern: Battleship by Allison Hendrix

Yarn: Universal Yarn Summer Linen, "337 Steel Blue"