Holy cowdogs, as my 9 yo stepdtr would say, I finished Orangina. WEEEEEEEEEE!

I was close, close, close, in fact, last Friday I had seamed up the shoulders and bound off and weaved in the ends. And then I tried it on. Helly, tummy! It was just the right length so that as soon as it hit my pudge, it just rode right up. I took a break from it until Sunday, when the same stepdtr suddenly got the most wicked case of hives I've ever seen (I believe it was a reaction to some organic bacon we had, whoda thunk!).  She wasn't up for much besides shrieking here and there when the urge to itch got particularly bad, so we set up a little picnic on the porch. I busted out my new US1 addi turbos, ran it through a row two rows above my bind off, and then frogged it (I looked up first some of this info from knitty; Techniques with Theresa rocks!). It was surprisingly nonstressful to do this, and I think my fervor to finish Orangina had subsided, so I simply just started ribbing and chatting and distracting itchy girl, and it wasn't long before I already had added an inch.

Last night I kept knitting, determined to add at two inches total.  After I measured it (I have six inches in all), I added a row just to be sure.  And then, I started binding off. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson to put it on some waste yarn and try it on, but being impatient, and excited to have this thing done, I bound off (argh again! I forget how long that takes) and immediately flung off my shirt and put the thing on.   Woo hoo! It fits! And, I must say, it's pretty cute.  Dh digs it as well. It sure beat a machete in the shin, that's for sure. (HA!) Here is my luscious Turqina, in it's finished glory (beware, I had to adjust the crap, flash photos to get the right blue, and hence, I am very pink):

Just to recap, I used Dale of Norway "Stork" in turquoise. I bought it from yarnzilla.com, on sale for $3.75.  Beats the $6.50 for Rowan 4-ply.  However, I suspect that the Rowan is much less splitty than Stork. I have never knit with a comparable yarn, so I can't say, but UGH. It is one splitty yarn.  I knit the small size (34" bust) even though my gauge was fairly tight, and I'm glad; this fits me just how I like it. I used Clover circs, 24", US3; I wanted to get 2s for the ribbing but couldn't find any in my price range (and then I just went and got Addi Turbos! such a fickle girl, I am) and just went with it.

I also knit this in the round, which minimized seaming. Do I really know much about seaming? Nope, except for the grand total of the four inches I seamed for the shoulders (which I did willy nilly). And do I want to know more about seaming? Not if I can help it! I'm skeered!  To compensate for my fear, I knit 7 inches of the front and back separately, and then joined and went in the round for another 7.  I k2tog at each join, and then placed a marker.  This altered the beginning of the pattern rows by one stitch.  Say you had to knit 3, then start the pattern repeat; in this case, then, you knit 2, then the pattern repeat. I kept messing up when I'd get halfway through; I'd often forget I still had to do those stockinette stitches before the pattern repeat.

I think that's my only mod; it's a pretty simple, but darn effective pattern! What is not effective is my ribbing. I think it's the slippery, non-resilient cotton yarn.  I feel like I can stand behind my ribbing in other yarns (singing "stand by your ribs… and tell the world to knit them…") But here, the transition from knit sts to purl sts was BLAH. I tried wrapping the yarn clockwise on the first purl st, and then on the next row, purling through the back loop. But I think that made it look worse. Oh well. I'm hoping a few trips through the wash will even it out. And the lace is so pretty, I'm hoping the eyes travel there instead. Yay! I dids it! I knit lace! Which is bad for my Amazing Lace deal, as I'm, um, done before the second challenge. Maybe I'll knit another in black… Hmmm……..