This top is such a lovely design and was quick to knit up. At least the front and back were quick; however I was completely lost on the instructions for the sleeves when shaping the sleeve cap. I found the instructions to be confusing when it came to the live stitch count vs the stitch count from the lace chart, among other things.

I had noticed some of the sleeves appeared a tad large in the finished projects and looking at them again once I got stuck, I also noticed the amount of lace people included in the sleeve cap really varied as well. I was able to get some help on the patterns forum and even got a response from the designer – much appreciated! It turned out I wasn’t even incorporating the lace chart correctly when it came to this part. So I started once again but actually found I ended up with too much plain ss instead of the lace, which is what really attracted me to the design to begin with. I frogged it once again and ended up doing my own combination of decreases and eliminating some of the chart sts, working it row by row, all the while matching to the number of decreases and final stitch count indicated in the pattern.

After all that effort and before taking the time to block, finish the neck and seam it all, I quickly basted the entire top to get an idea of the fit (second photo). Now that it’s finished I think the sleeve caps can still do with a little less fabric, but I’m generally pleased with the finished result.

Modifications to reduce the size of the sleeves:

• The body is knit in size 38, but I went with the shorter armhole depth of size 34.
• Knit the sleeves in size 34 instead, along with the additional changes noted above.

I rated the difficulty level as medium only due to the sleeve instruction issues. The rest was a cinch!

Yarn:
Drops Belle is wonderful to knit with and easier on the hands than a plain cotton. It can be splitty, but knits up nicely with care. I also really like how the stitches settle into one another when blocked.