Sheila’s designs are always cute. It’s been a while since I tested for her. This design calls for sock weight or fingering yarn which is always my preference for our SF Bay Area temperate climate.

I did my provisional cast-ons like this.

What I did differently:

• The pattern size I chose turned out to be quite huge on me. I’m in between sizes and should have selected one size smaller. And even though my stitch gauge was nearly perfect (row gauge was a little longer), the garment had way too much ease around the bustline and below. Therefore, I had to do quite a few more decreases as I approached the waistline. I decreased on the sides during the entire lace chart and continued this for a few rounds beyond the chart. I had 176 sts when I got to the waistline which is where I started the ribbing - about an inch after finishing the lace chart. (Waistline measured 32” at this point which is a lot bigger than my waist.) Therefore, I switched to size 1 US needles for the ribbing and did one final decrease set on the first round of the ribbing (174 sts). I kept this same stitch count for the entire bottom ribbing.

• I joined in the round on row 45 of the lace chart. My armhole depth was 8.5” since I’m planning on wearing this over a blouse or shirt. The pattern actually gives you the option to choose your own armhole depth, but be sure to keep it the same for both front and back while knitting flat.

• I made the bottom ribbing longer (4.5” instead of 2”) as well as the neck ribbing (3/4” instead of 1/2”). I’m short-waisted, so lengthening the bottom ribbing helps length my torso visually.

• Before adding the neckband, the neckline on this pullover looked huge. It literally fell off my shoulders and below my bustline. In order to bring it in and up, I had to pick up stitches differently than the pattern specifies. My pickup rate for the neckband was 3 out of every 4 sts except for the center lace part. For that my pickup rate was 2 out of every 3 sts. (I did not pick up any stitches in the YOs except for the YOs on each end of the lace panel.) By doing this and using a tiny, size 1 US needle, I was able to salvage what otherwise would have not fit me. I picked up 68 sts for the front and 70 sts for the back. Total neckband sts = 138.

Needles:

I used size 4 US needles for all but the ribbing. Size 1 US was used for all ribbing. Size 0 US was used for all bind offs (Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off).

I followed the pattern directions for picking up sts for the sleeve ribbing (4 sts for every 3 sts on the pullover). Total number of sts for each sleeve band = 100. I did 12 rounds = 1.5”. Bound off (size 0 US needle) with Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off.

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