I saw Rachel of Night Owl Fibers working on this in these colors in her booth at Stitches Midwest last Summer and I was absolutely captivated, so I’ve shamelessly copied her!

My gauge was tighter than pattern specs, so I made the size Medium to hopefully finish closer to the Small or Extra Small. I dislike tight sleeves though, so I followed the size Large for those, including the extra depth of the armhole to accommodate them. I made them a tad longer as well, more like half sleeves than short ones (I worked a bit longer before starting the lace, and also did the full five reps of the chart, as for the body).

Other than making this a little more cropped than suggested by the pattern, the only other mod I made was to add a stripe of CC2 to the neckline. I picked up the neck stitches with the main color, as that would have been a bit messy looking if done in the contrast color (I had to do some machinations in order to arrive at the right number). Then, in order to avoid purl blips of color in the ribbing, I worked the first 4 rows as follows:
Row 1: MC Knit
Row 2: CC Knit
Row 3: CC Rib
Row 4: MC Knit
I then completed the balance with MC in rib.

I used the crochet over the needle cast on (w/ an E hook), and Dee’s No Twist Ribbon Method to avoid the dread twist (using the ribbon – not the jump rings). I love this method so much! It works like a charm every time. I use it whenever I have to cast on a lot of stitches and join in the round.

Other Misc Notes:

• Used the larger needles for the body and sleeves, and the smaller needles for the neckline only.
• Bound off the neck & sleeves with *k2tog tbl, return*.
• Alternated skeins of the main color.

I’m really happy with how this turned out. I was a little worried about blocking it – about the color bleeding, and about the superwash yarn stretching out too much. The yarn did bleed a bit when washed, so I didn’t soak it for long. I put a color catcher in the water, and just kind of swished it around a bit. Then I laid it out flat, no stretching or pins or anything, to block it. This worked out well. It dried very quickly and fits me quite nicely. Whew!

The yarn was lovely to work with, except one thing of note about the main color (the Basic Twist base) is that there was a section of about 4 grams that was unplied. Came right off the skein that way. Good thing that I wasn’t playing yarn chicken!

Approximate finished measurements, after blocking:
Bust: 41”
Length from Underarm: 13.5”
Sleeve from Seam: 7”
Sleeve Circumference at Seam: 12”
Neck Opening: 8.5”