06/04/2016

Upon starting the front side, I have discovered several errors on the back.

Even though I read the pattern multiple times, my ribbing is comprised of SCs, not SLSTs. I was probably too focused on the count and gauge to notice. Looks okay for now.

When I had reached the arms section on the back, I discovered that I had too many shells and I couldn’t figure out why. When I first started the shells on the front and got the right number I went back and counted the number the back. After fixing the first couple of rows too many times I finally figured out the problem. The first row of shells were crocheted incorrectly. Instead of putting two DCs in one stitch and the next two DCs in the second, I put all four into one stitch.

06/06/2016

Finished. And it’s way too big. Should have made the size medium. Doesn’t help that I had those extra shells on each row. I really didn’t take into account how stretchy the finished fabric would be.

I tried to guess the neck opening due to the extra shells and it turned out way too wide. After crocheting the side seams, I ended up removing the top two rows on either side of the front piece and redid them so the neck opening was much smaller. I crocheted nine shells, with the half shells on either side for each side of the neck opening (count 1/2 shell + 9 shells + 1/2 shell).

The sleeves were too long for my five foot frame. I decided to only seam four full shells for the neck to make a split sleeve.

I tried adding a little SC border along the neck, but I didn’t like the look and took it out. It was too heavy for the fabric.

After that I just had to weave in the five gazillion ends. It was a Hydra. Every time I wove in one end, three more appeared.

Still, I do like the finish product. The cheap acrylic yarn was much easier to work than I thought, it’s held up well so far, and it’s super light weight.

For Next Time

• Use the medium size.
• Doing the SLST hem seems bothersome, so use an F or G hook to do a SC BLO ribbing.
• I crocheted twelve rows of shells before fastening off for the top section with the arms. On the back, I crocheted 18 rows on the second part involving the arms. On the front, count 16 rows on the sleeves before beginning the final two for the neck.
• I’m not a fan of the shell stitch used. If I redo this shirt, I’ll use a different stitch.
• Sleeves were way too long on me. Take out one or two shells on either side.
• I used a C hook to connect the front and back. Ribbing was SLST together and the lace was SC together.
• Use a crocheted lace edging on the sleeves.