Okay, so my vertical gauge is too long by two rows but whatever, I’ll just keep going and see how it looks.

Funny. I’ve been terrified of the yo bl slst for so many months but just now when I went to do the gauge swatch, it turned out so much easier and quite fun to do. And I simply adore the effect. Mind you, I think I got lucky that I tried it first with the Escape Ombre which is quite a chunky 8ply. It almost feels like a 10 to me but that’s fine, I still met horizontal gauge at least.

Really looking forward to vertical lines after the last project. Hoping they’ll flatter my body a lot better than the horizontal lines.

I was a little worried that the ombre would work against the vertical lines but actually the colours are striping really nicely.

Rewound the second skein cos I was worried about the colour sequence but it looks fine. Definitely changed skeins at the end of the row so there’s no unsightly mid-row change.

1 skein = 31 cms across. First panel took about one and three-quarter skeins.

Was worried about the sharp edge of the back panel increases but turns out the top edge turns it into a gentle curve so it’s fine.

Hmm. The top edge of the front panel is supposed to be started on the left corner which is the last row. But with the right side facing me, that’s the right corner. I’m just gunna do it and with a 5mm hook even though that’s not specified in the pattern like it was for the top edge of the back panel.

Really resisted doing the slst border around all the edges but it did finish it off nicely before the seaming. Decided to do an inner loop slst seam on the wrong side.

Didn’t like how seaming the bottom ribbing tightened the hem so left that open and started the side seam from the 16th stitch up to the 52nd stitch where I wanted the armhole to begin. Looks much better.

Typing out the invisible linked increase technique here so I can use it on future projects. Worked over 3 sts to increase by 1.

Work a normal hdc in the first st. Yo, insert hook in back loop of second st, then insert hook in back loop of third st, pull up 1 loop through both stitches. Yo, pull through all three loops like a normal hdc. Yo, insert hook again in back loop of third st, work a normal hdc.

Invisible decrease worked over 2 sts: yo, insert hook under back loop of first st, insert hook under back loop of second st, pull up 1 loop through both stitches. Yo, pull through all three loops on hook. Decreases by 1 st.

More or less invisible when worked in the back loop. Not sure how they will look when the rest of the stitches are normal hdc.

Ooh, I really like the effect of the yoslstblo in the ribbing. I wonder if it will be as cool in a thinner ply.

Yarn over slip stitch back loop ribbing -- use smaller hook

Row 1 (RS): Attach yarn, ch 7. Slst in 2nd ch from hook and down to the neck edge. Mark final slst. (6 sts) Insert hook in under both loops of first free neck edge st, pull up loop, insert hook in second free neck edge st, pull up loop. Pull 3rd loop through first two loops. Turn.

Row 2 (WS): Sk marked slst. Yoslstblo in next st, place marker in this stitch, yoslstblo to end. Turn. (6 sts)

Row 3 (RS): Ch 1, yoslstblo to end, replace marker. Insert hook in under both loops of first free neck edge st, pull up loop, insert hook in second free neck edge st, pull up loop. Pull 3rd loop through first two loops. Turn.

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 around.

Huh. Actually doesn’t look as bad as I feared when all ends are sewn in. Still not something I’d wear but I learnt at least three new techniques plus the actual stitch so I’m pretty pleased with that.