Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Pearl in “Shenanigans” (for the non-knitters, Pearl is a 51% Silk, 49% Bamboo yarn and it is DIVINE)

Pattern: Gabriella by Ann Weaver

Notes: From my Ravelry page –

OVERALL – I love this yarn with big flowery girly hearty hearts. It was lovely to work with (admittedly I am a yarn snob, and so this hit me in my happy snobby heart) and held up very well to (sigh) repeated ripping out. I was worried after finishing that the twisted stitches didn’t really pop, but after blocking everything was %&#$ing gorgeous!

11/17 – swatchy swatchy!

11/18 – cast on… and rip out. Ball band calls for a 7; pattern calls for a 5; looks like I’ll need a 3 to get gauge. Darn me and my loose ways!

11/25 – new needles in, and casting on!

12/2 – chugging right along, in spite of a few questions about the pattern. My copy of the pattern appears to have a few typos, which should be corrected soon.

12/10 – running out of yarn. May have to rip out and start over. Was trying for the 35” but…

12/12 – ripped out, cast on in next smaller size.

12/13 – just have a gut feeling… as Han would say, ”I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Ripping out again, starting very smallest size.

12/23 – had just enough yarn to finish smallest size. Mad props to my friend Jenn for putting on a still-damp tank top and prancing about my yard in 40-degree weather letting me take photos of her. JENN, YOU ARE A TROOPER!

PATTERN NOTES:

As written, the first six faux cables (fables? HAH!) are staggered in the columns as follows: Column 1, column 2, 1, 1, 2, 1. HOWEVER, if you are leaving – as the pattern indicates – the two columns on either side of the seam (which, btw, is called in the pattern a K2P2 seam even though it is really a K4 seam) blank (without faux cables), then you have an odd number of columns. I just repeated column #1 an extra time and tried not to let my OCD bother me too much.

Also, as you do the arm decreases, column 2 turns into the first column – this isn’t really mentioned but it becomes pretty obvious as you go on. But keep treating it in the charts as if it’s the second one, even though a new chart starts right at about this time. I kept trying to do the twisted stitches as long as I had enough room to do them, and stopped doing them when it became too awkward.

For the size I was doing, after finishing the neckline decreases you are instructed to knit straight until you are 7.5 inches from the beginning of the armhole; however, I was already at 9 inches at that point so I just went into the garter stitch rows and grafting. My friend who modeled it for me (there’s no way I was going to be able to get into a small, not with this rack!) said it felt fine so I was not worried that it might appear too long in the neck/arms.