5/7/13 - I’m not feeling well but I can’t resist joining this Lion Brand KAL. Hopefully I will start to feel better soon. I really wanted a nice lavender yarn but my store didn’t have anything.

5/8/13 - I’ve been working on gauge swatches. I just finished a swatch with a 10.5 and it isn’t quite right. I got 15 stitches/19 rows to 4 inches, which is 1 off each way. Now I’m starting off again with size 11 and they feel so huge. Seems too big… I guess we’ll see how this one looks.

5/9/13 - with size 11 I get 14 stitches in 4 inches but only 18 Rows not 20.

5/12/13 - Finished back last night and ready to start ribbing for the front. I decided to make the ribbing section about 1 1/2 inches longer. So mine is 10.5” slightly stretched.

Rippit! Just the ribbing I started for the front. I should know not to knit when I don’t feel well.

5/13 - Starting over on front.

5/16 - Finished with the ribbing for the front and starting on the left front. Having a hard time with the additional cast on stitches being too loose and also with them slipping off and disappearing grrr. I switched from my boye interchangeable needles to straight needles and also keeping knitted portion supported to help prevent stitches from stretching out. Going to take a nap and come back to it.

Note: I right clicked on the chart I needed and saved it to my computer so I could print it larger. I printed it the size of a full sheet of paper and put it on a clip board. Using a ruler to keep my row and a highlighter has been really helpful. Someone else said they keep their place with a sticky note. I think I’ll try that on the right side chart.

Sharping armhole: I bound off 6 stitches on row 25 which leaves one knit stitch on needle which has to be counted as the first on the next 4 knits.

Odd rows 27 - 37 have k2tog - which eats one space at the beginning. It looked to me like I should bind off one stitch based on row 25 bind offs but that makes one stitch short. Don’t bind off and just start the row like normal.

5/17/13 - finished left side chart for the top and ready to start on the right side. If my lingering headache would go away I would have a much better time. This pattern is fun and I really enjoy learning new things.

5/18/13 - starting on right side chart.
So Row 25 looks like it has 6 stitches removed at the end of it…. since I can’t bind off at the end I knit to the end and then bound off on the next WS row. I purled the stitches that I bound off except the last stitch which would be left on the needle after binding off the 6th stitch. It is the real first stitch and is a knit stitch.

Done, now to seam it up.
I used this link to learn how to seam my top. It took me a bit to get it but when you pull out on the last two rows of knit stitches you can see a horizontal bar that connects the stitches. You go under that from the bottom to the top and then do the other side from bottom to top and switch sides again. That pulls the first row of knit stitches on each side to the inside like the seam on a sewn top.

Make sure the top of the ribbing is going to line up on both sides.