The preview for Interweave Spring 2010 is up!  I’ve got a hooded tunic ‘Braided Hood Tunic’ in this issue.  You can find it on ravelry here.  This top was knit in the round from the bottom up.  It starts with a wide hip band, is gently shaped at the waist (the shaping curves the outer cables inwards), then it splits for the armholes and front and back are worked separately.  The shoulders are finished with short row shaping and joined with a 3-needle bind off.  The hood is continued up from there and the top is shaped using short rows which allows the central back cable to continue right to the top.  So there is absolutely no seaming that needs to be done on this piece.

I’ve got a couple of photos that we took before I sent it off to IW.  It was last September and as I was wearing it without a shirt I’m looking a little purple!  This yarn is so super soft, it is 55% wool and 45% cotton but it really feels like wearing cotton.  I can’t wear most wool directly next to my skin but I had absolutely no problem with this yarn.  The top became named ‘Cobra’ in our house – I think it’s a good name for it!

I saw someone on ravelry say that they would like the add sleeves, I think that this would be fun to do.  If I was doing it I would go with my favorite method of working a short row sleeve cap from the top down.  Maybe even running the main central cable down the top of the sleeve and ending with a very wide cuff of moss st to match the edging.  You may also want to reduce the width at the shoulders (decrease a little more at the armhole) so that the top of your sleeves was set a little further in.