10/19 --Finished front right shoulder. I am having problems completing the shoulder. I have haphazardly cast off after knitting a few extra repeats of the 12 stitches at the end, but I wasn’t sure how many repeats I should do. I think I’m going to finish the left side and block my pieces. Then I will figure out how the shoulder really works. Must. Trust. Debbie. Bliss.--I redid the right shoulder 3 times.

07/27--After a long hiatus (wow), I’ve started the left front. I redid a gauge swatch, and I went down a needle size (turns out I’m a looser knitter now). I think this was my problem with the right front. My gauge started getting huge, but I kept going. The front didn’t match the back. After I finish this left front, I may rip out the right front to get it to match. Then… seaming and weaving in horrid ends. The finishing may take 2(+) days. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to finish this by Saturday. I’m going to the beach, and I’d love to recreate the cover shot to post on ravelry.

7/28--I don’t know why I didn’t pick this up earlier. I think I was just too lazy to do a gauge swatch. I’m almost done with the right front. If I hadn’t had friends over today, I would have been completely done. I’m still debating about whether or not I should rip out the right front. I know I’ll be happier if I do, but I’m scared about time. I don’t have to rip all of it out; just the sleeve and up is off gauge.
Le sigh.

7/29--Finished right front. Clearly, I didn’t understand the directions for the “Continue until reaching center back” intsructions last time. That only confirmed that I needed to frog & reknit the right front, starting from the sleeve. Frogging completed. Reknitting started. I actually took pretty good notes as I went, so it took a total of 2 minutes to figure out where I was on the pattern.

8/1--Didn’t finish in time to take pictures at the beach. Only have side seaming left. The center back was very fiddly. My original guesstimate for how long to make it was short by about 3 inches. Had to take out the binding off & knit a few more inches on either side. I wish I had blocked the pieces before putting them together but I was hoping I could finish it all at the beach. I decided to stop knitting & enjoy the day at the beach instead. I’m glad I did. :)

P.S. Cotton doesn’t seem like it would be a good pick for a dress because of how it would weigh & stretch the dress down, but so far on the trial runs, the dress has held up well. It seems like the perfect (cheap) material to knit this dress in as a transition weather dress (for fall & spring). Yaya! :)

8/18-- I finally (!) blocked this dress. It took 2 full days to dry. Our room was pretty humid, so I’m sure that added to the time. Anyway-I’m fairly pleased with how the dress turned out. The yarn does seem to shed a lot, but the weight of the yarn is really nice. It’s also a cooling yarn for this weather. Despite being 94 degrees outside, I’m not stifling in a knit dress. The only problem I have is with the shape of the sweater. I have a shorter torso than usual. The dress was designed for taller people in mind. I love where the dress falls on me; the skirt of the dress is wonderful. However, the top of the dress feels too big. I’m pretty sure I will still wear it a lot, but if I had thought beforehand, I would have adjusted the length of the top of the dress. And yes--blocking did make the dress bigger.

NaKniSweMoDo #4